I’m proud of myself that I left the house to be social, not for a horse or Master Naturalist event. I used to do that more often, but I got convinced that the whole town didn’t like me, so I stayed home except for lunch each week and when Anita and I used to have coffee. I’ve been down to just lunch, Master Naturalist, and riding lessons this year, even though I’m no longer concerned about anyone’s opinions. I’m just not feeling social.
I’d rather hang out with the plants.
But I did join the group of more social folks tonight to listen to a friend’s band play. It was nice of Pamela to invite me along! I enjoyed the music and the folks we sat with, too.
KCD Band playing “Guitar Man.”
It’s fun being in the social hub of Cameron and watching everyone greet each other and mingle. It all seems so darned friendly, especially when you’re blissfully ignorant of any local drama. Heck, I even got greeted and hugged—made me feel like part of the community! All in all, a good evening.
That’s Jadan playing his keytar.
Ooh! I almost forgot to share that right after I turned onto our county road, our local Big Cat sauntered across the road, disappearing into the woods. That was exciting to me, and gave me a good story to tell Pamela. And now Alfred has something more interesting to bark at tonight.
When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
A prompt I haven’t answered yet! And I have an answer! That’s great, because I’m pretty wiped out from writing and thinking about other stuff right now. It’s all good—I’m just worn out mentally.
I’ve been busy as this tiny guy getting ready for their first winter.
I thought of the best boss ever as my idea of successful. That’s Bruce Springsteen, someone whose career I’ve been watching since high school. He’s worked hard to be the best at what he does and developed the leadership skills and business savvy to go to the top of his field.
The only Bruce image in the free photo library.
I know plenty of great musicians, wonderful songwriters, and fine singers who didn’t have all those other skills needed to succeed in music. You have to be good at hiring and keeping a great team for your band, but also at hiring honest and dedicated publicists, booking agents, and logistics folks. That’s pretty rare. He’s done it.
The most moving spiritual experiences I’ve ever had were at his concerts.
Springsteen has also done what I find most important in a successful person. He’s given back to the community he came from, helped others, and worked hard to make his country and planet better. He’s shown a strong moral compass and been a great spiritual example, too. He’s the good kind of Christian.
Plus he’s learned from mistakes and grown as a person. That’s important for success. He has a great relationship with a spouse he chose for more than her beauty and great children who are able to follow their dreams.
Jessica Springsteen
I’m sure life isn’t perfect for Bruce Springsteen, because we all have our challenges and regrets, but to be able to do what you love as long as he has is a wonderful thing. It takes hard work, but what rewards!
Doing what you love leads to success so often!
PS: I’m doing things I love, have good friends and family, and I’m having fun. That’s success to me. Let’s hope things stay this way.
I guess my experience with being in a vocal trio with a Kerrville Folk Festival devotee, volunteering at a monthly folk coffeehouse for years, and living with a rock/country guitarist for three years or so doomed me. I became pretty fond of Americana music. What’s that?
I’m lucky to have lived in Austin, Texas (or thereabouts) for 30 years or more. There is a lot of Americana music to watch. I watched and listened to a lot of it with my music friends. I loved this part of my life.
Americana! Featuring my friend Jeff.
Oddly, I don’t listen much anymore. I think it has to do with the loss of my older son, who is a wonderful mandolin player (he’s not dead, just refuses to speak). And some unpleasantness happened to my other son in the music scene. Plus, my vocal cords are now damaged and I can’t sing certain notes now. It has taken away the pleasure of music.
My kid at left.
That took a dark turn. Of course there were wonderful musical moments in my life. And music moves me when I do listen. And not just Americana! I love classic rock, classical, and Celtic especially. and the music of nature, naturally. Heh heh.
Suna sings to me sometimes.
Eh. I’ll stop before I go on and on about favorite artists. Enjoy looking at Fiona and Drew.
It’s still all rainy, but I managed to do nothing but stuff I enjoy. There was no horse fun, just slogging through mud and arguing with Apache over his medicine. I had bird and plant fun, though. Whoopee, the bluebonnets are coming in strong.
The Star-shaped leaves are them.
I indulged my boring American self and watched football coverage most of the day. I especially enjoyed the segment on the history of football on CBS. It was interesting to see the women and people of color highlighted. Jayne Kennedy also is a role model of grace and cool hair.
While I watched all the coverage and the very close game, I finished the third row of this year’s temperature blanket. I like seeing a more normal winter range.
January 1 – February 10
Today isn’t shown, but will get 4 rain chains, since it rained another inch. Luckily we just got lots of standing water, and the creek stayed within its banks.
It’s getting greener, but we can still get another freeze.
I needed to get some movement in today, so I wound some pretty yarn into cakes. It’s a soft merino 4-ply in a DK or sport weight. I’m glad it’s not sock yarn or I’d have had to double it. My friend Ray at Knitivity dyed it, and I just love the colors. Here’s what I made:
It’s mitered granny squares. They will look cool when there are more of them. Since the yarn is thin, the fabric will be light, yet warm. I think this will be a rectangular wrap, unless I have enough yarn for a lap blanket. Well wait and see.
The first one.
I’ll still keep working on the two temperature blankets, but the 2023 one for my friend will finish sooner rather than later, and I can then crochet this.
As for the Big Game, I enjoyed it. I’m glad it was close so both teams can be proud of themselves. The commercials were good. As long as a couple make me laugh, I consider it a win, and I certainly laughed enough. The music was all good, and a nice variety. I like that Reba didn’t overdo the National anthem.
And Usher was such an athletic guy, all while singing. The roller skating, too! The guest performance singers were also enjoyable. I’m sure there were famous people I didn’t recognize, but I’m bad with pop music.
I knew eventually I’d stop being able to keep up! I feel like my dad saying all my music sounded alike to him. On the other hand, I’ve never really liked pop music, dance music, or the hip hop as much as folk and rock (and classical), so I’ll cut myself some slack. Maybe one day I’ll immerse myself into the last 20 years and learn what Beyoncé, Taylor, and all those folks sang.
How could a music lover pick only one album as a favorite? But I have a couple. They are all kind of old. But so am I.
Quadrophenia by the Who. Pete Townshend’s finest work. I could listen to it on repeat, though I’ve practically memorized it, so I don’t have to. There’s more than one Who/Townshend album in my top ten! 1973
The River by Bruce Springsteen. I love every song on this gorgeous work of art. If you’ve never heard the song, “Drive All Night,” you should. 1980
Trio, by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt. If you read my music blog a couple of days ago, you know how much I like harmonies. These three women blend perfectly and the arrangements are haunting. 1987
The Wind, by Warren Zevon. It’s just a gorgeous farewell to life by one of the greatest songwriters ever. “Keep Me in Your Heart,” oh my gosh. I miss this man. His biography by his wife was great, by the way. 2003
Hey, I had a “me” day today and took a watercolor class. I’d never painted with watercolors before. The technique we learned was a bit scary at first, but by gosh I ended up creating some things that looked like roses, which was the goal.
I tried to do a different flower, so I worked on a buffalo bur. The flowers look cool, but not the leaves. I should have used a different technique. If I ever buy paints, I’ll try again.
Look, I am not trained in art. Or not since childhood anyway.
It was worth a drive to College Station on a game day. Luckily we were on the far outskirts of town.
There was a pond!
Please think of our family. It’s a challenging time.
I also found a new-to-me plant along the pond where the class was. Blue waterleaf Hydrolea ovata
My life has always been filled with music. I started “training” my voice trying to imitate Julie Andrews before I started school. We only had one album, Mary Poppins. I sang in choir from 6th grade through high school (where it was chorus, because I guess choir is for church).
I was not the greatest singer, but I was very helpful in choruses, because I could read music (2 years of piano lessons, which I sucked at), I was loud, and I could sing any part but bass, thanks to my range. And I loved harmony, oh so much.
You can see why I sang tenor. Not a lot of dudes.
I also was crazed for folk and rock music, so I kept on singing with Linda Ronstadt and her cohorts. I liked music that was complex but clean, whether classical or rock opera (mmm, Quadrophenia…want me to sing the whole thing?)
High school singing. My brother is at left.
I didn’t sing for many years after high school, due to hard feelings with my music teacher. I don’t remember what it was about. But I sang informally with friends and wished I didn’t have such fat, stubby non-guitar-suited fingers. Listening was always part of life. I wish I had my albums.
I loved to sing. This is our folk group with Eddie Collins added.
I started a second round of singing in my late thirties through 50s. I learned a lot singing in the choir at the Unitarian Universalist church we attended. Our choir director was a great teacher and extremely patient with the motley crew who showed up. It ranged from professionals to first-time singers. It was a lot of fun, and a great outlet for my soul. Harmony is just the best.
Church choir, maybe the concert when my voice quit.
I also worked with the church-sponsored folk music coffeehouse. I met many wonderful Americana artists who are still my friends. For a few years, my dear friend Jeff, a great musician, lived with me and the boys. We had CDs recorded at our house!
Our friend Jeff Tveraas
I think that was great education for my kids, especially the one that became a professional musician. During those years we all heard a lot of live music!
Jeff entertaining a crowd
At some point two of my friends from church and I started learning songs and playing together. Both Bill and Austin sang well and were (are) great guitar players. It was fulfilling to work out harmonies and figure out what songs worked best for our voices. We didn’t perform in public much but it was great fun when we did.
Our band, plus Lee
Later, we joined our church band, and the opportunity to make music with my kids and husband was very special. We ended up doing songs that weren’t suited to me, but I kept trying until we moved to the ranch.
The church band. I’m a-singin’
Probably the most musical fun I ever had was singing with two different choruses in Austin. I got to learn hard choral music and sing with people who were much better singers than me. It was like being the smartest person in high school only to discover you are average in college. Or in my case, grad school. I loved learning the difficult pieces and learning from others!
I can’t forget 6 years as a band mom following my kids around. That counts as music (this is the Cameron band years ago).
My singing stopped abruptly when I damaged my vocal cords singing the highest parts in Judas Maccabaeus. It was fun until I realized I’d list B, C, and D above middle C. That messed up most songs. I was the only second soprano in our church Christmas program and when I tried to sing, nothing came out. I was very embarrassed.
My friends Jim and Sherry, folks I met during the coffeehouse years.
Luckily, I have a very musical family, so for a few more years I got to enjoy Lee and my sons playing. We’d have jams on holidays, and Declan would play his rock songs and classical guitar for me. I truly enjoyed that.
This is my son in a band called Sherry. He’s still in bands with some of these folks.
But. Sigh. Lee’s hands have stopped working. He has pretty bad arthritis. That’s so hard for a lifelong bass player. He played since he was a teen, toured with bands, and worked in radio. He still listens a lot.
This early band Declan was in has folks who’ve moved on to do great things.
I don’t. I probably will eventually, but much of my favorite music makes me sad. I’ve lost my mandolin playing son, and I don’t get to hear Declan anymore. The last time I heard him play guitar was two years ago, when he was playing the Moonlight Sonata and my sister staged a big fall to bring the attention back to her. Unpleasantness ensued. That’s the last time I ever saw her, as she left town the next day and has officially “disowned” me.
Classical guitar time
Declan has never played for us again.
Geez. This took a sad turn. I don’t dwell on this stuff or sit around wondering what’s so awful about me that relatives are fleeing in droves. Stuff just happens. I’ll keep trying to be a good person and not worry about people who have problems with me and don’t want to work it out. What else can you do?
Declan still plays, though. This is Big Dallas.
I’m glad I’ve had so much music in my life. I know I’d be much different if I hadn’t learned so much about music and made so many wonderful music friends. It’s a treasured part of my life.
Not much to say about today, but there was much goodness involved. I’ve been spending a lot of time with friends this week and it’s left me feeling mellow and connected. That doesn’t happen often, so cheers!
And yes, I went overboard with my St. Patrick’s Day theme. Not shown are sparkly green shoes. The shirt says “Lucky,” not what you’re thinking.
I enjoyed lunch with my friends Trixie and Sara, next door. We hadn’t seen Trixie since a health crisis, so it was excellent to do some chatting about horses.
I had breakfast with these gals. The wind was so bad last night that it blew their door open. They just followed me back in when I fed them. Sweet hens.
After work was something very wonderful and long awaited. The Venue that our family members worked on for so long officially opened and had its ribbon cutting by our Chamber of Commerce buddies. Barbara, who is running her catering business there, is so excited. Her entire extended family was, too.
Everyone was so happy. The renovation team got to be in the photos, too. See if you can find my family hiding.
Another exciting part was that my son and his band-mate, Austin, got to be part of the entertainment. It was their first gig in Cameron. They did good, and I got to enjoy it with my friend Pamela! I was thrilled to know so many of my local friends were seeing him play. Proud mom overload!
Serious jazz musicians
I get so proud to be a part of a small-town community and to see how it’s growing through so many people’s hard work and vision. Cheers to the folks with vision and forethought who are making our town fun and full of culture. Now, please enjoy some photos.
Fancy entryCharcuterie BeveragesMaking my Barbarita, a drink in honor of Barbara The son and his construction coworker. I think it’s a kinkajou in the floor. The visionaries of this projectI love the ceilings hereBarbara gets her Chamber plaque. Mariachi band played first. So fu. Smooth jazz and amazing staircaseGuitaringNot sure what I was going for here.
Anyway, life is good. Friends are good. Community rocks.
Sometimes the hits just keep coming. I’m not here to share the stories of others, so let me say that the past few days have been full of unexpected illnesses, complex surgeries, and sudden deaths among my friends and family. That can be hard on an empath, even one with boundaries.
Swamps comfort me. Something about new life and decay, I guess.
One death has hit me particularly hard, since it was of a special friend with whom I had a weird and complex relationship since I was 14. I hadn’t heard from him except on Facebook posts for a couple of months, then, wow, I’ll never hear from him again.
We were fellow singers, and spent a lot of time talking about music, since we both did choral music (that’s how we met in high school). Sometimes when I was a mess, he’d call and sing me “Country Roads” or something like that. Everyone needs good friends, and it’s hard to lose one.
I’ve found music to really help me when I’m mourning a loss, and today, in honor of my friend’s habit of sharing music with others, I’ll share my favorite song of all time.
Oddly enough, this song was on two of the first record albums I ever got, at around age 14, as a matter of fact. Once I heard “You’ve Got a Friend,” I felt heard, like I actually HAD a friend. I’ve sung this song many, many times, and it comforts me. Honestly, when I really think about my life goals, it’s always been to be a good friend (and why I get so sad when I lose one to my own human failings).
And, the first “favorite song” I ever had is STILL my favorite comfort song. That’s almost 50 years of comfort.
I’m not much of a YouTube linker, but if you ever want to hear what music has comforted me in my life, there aren’t many. You can look them up yourself.
You Can Close Your Eyes (James Taylor)
Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen)
The Chorale movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
The Long Black Veil, Chieftains version
Yep, that’s about it. What comforts you? Music, images, books? Do tell. I could use it. I’ll miss my friend. Luckily people live on in our hearts. And remember, you’ve got a friend.
This morning, I was emptying the dishwasher of items used in last night’s holiday meal. I kept picking up tongs. Tongs and more tongs.
Hmm. Tongs.
I’m a person who never uses tongs. I’m not sure why. I just use other kitchen tools. I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally bought tongs. So, how did we get EIGHT pairs of tongs?
Tongs for every possible tonging need.
Anita and I were baffled. With such an extensive collection, we could do so much! We could open a store called “Just Tongs.” When my cousin, Jan, called she suggested a Tong Monster Halloween costume. Hmm.
You could play a game where you try to grab people’s heads with tongs.
My best idea, though, was to form a tong band. With so many sizes and materials, you can get a lot of sound out of the tongs, I think. And they are easy to use as a rhythm instrument.
You could poke an eye out!
The pictures here are me trying out the bass tong and the baritone. They made a cheerful sound! I need to get a couple of other people to help me out and create a composition for tong orchestra.
Another Creative Use
So, at Christmas I gave Lee a lovely silver box with turquoise stones on it, which I found in Utah. He seemed to like it. I had thought he could store some of his nice pens in there, but naturally, he has a set pen storage system that no gift can interfere with.
That’s Lee looking pleased.
Meanwhile, Kathleen gave him a series of joke gifts to help him deal with the woman in the next office (her). There was aspirin, a funny calendar, etc. Lee realized that one of her gifts could be beautifully stored in the silver box.
Yep. That’s hemorrhoid cream.
So, whenever Kathleen is a pain in his butt, he can reach into the silver box on his desk and find relief.
We are quite a creative family, huh?
Did you experience any gift creativity at your COVID Christmas celebrations?
This morning, Lee and I were chatting about the things that make noise in our bedroom. The main “culprit” is our beautiful ceiling fan. In the last year or so it’s started making noises. And often it sounds like it’s “talking.”
The fan in question. This was taken 4 years ago. We have art and furniture now.
It says things like “wilderness wilderness” and “this is Fred this is Fred” and “harmony bound harmony bound” – all depending on how it’s creaking on a particular day. It’s endlessly entertaining while drinking our morning coffee, but can be annoying if you’re trying to get to sleep.
I got to wondering, do other people have talking machines? I can remember making up words to the windshield wipers and turn signals in past cars. And I know people with LG appliances have made up words to the songs they play at the end of a cycle (the company even has a web page about their songs!), but the fan actually talks. A mystery.
I couldn’t find a photo of my washing machine, but it looks somewhat like this.
My guess (and hey, I used to be a linguist, so it may even be an educated guess) is that our brains prefer to organize sounds into things that are familiar, and the rhythms of the fan sound like speech rhythms, so the brain sticks words in there.
I didn’t find any research on this topic. On the other hand…
Wormy Head
The other great musical mystery is inside my head. It has to be the most deeply embedded earworm in the history of my brain. I have had the song “It’s My Life” by Billy Joel playing for many months (at least since January, since I mentioned it in this blog post). I vaguely remember when it started commenting to someone that the new song in my head wasn’t even one I particularly liked. I guess the Billy Joel in my brain took offense, because he is now omnipresent. Different parts of the song are playing at different times, which is a break.
When I went to learn more about earworms (the name of which is a calque of a German word, Ohrwurm) I was relieved to Learn we all get them.
According to research by James Kellaris, 98% of individuals experience earworms. Women and men experience the phenomenon equally often, but earworms tend to last longer for women and irritate them more.
Yes, I am an irritated woman. The Googles gave me these five ideas to block and earworm. I’ve tried them repeatedly:
Here are five strategies, backed by science.
LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE SONG. Earworms tend to be small fragments of music that repeat over and over (often a song’s refrain or chorus). …
LISTEN TO A “CURE TUNE.” …
DISTRACT YOURSELF WITH SOMETHING ELSE. …
CHEW GUM. …
LEAVE IT ALONE.
These do NOT work for stopping earworms. I laughed when I saw the description of this image is “a lot of lying earplugs.” That’s right, LIARS! Photo by @kinek00 via Twenty20
The NPR article I read said that 90% of people get earworms at least once a week. I’ve come to really like it when some OTHER song shows up for a while! Sadly, “I never said I was a victim of circumstance” usually returns pretty quickly. It looks like I may be in for a long cycle. Harriet Brown, the author of theScientific American article I read that lists lots of ways to get rid of an earworm concludes the article by admitting she has had one for over 30 years and now views it as “the soundtrack for my life.”
Make it go away! Photo by @vivivisuals via Twenty20
Um, I hope I don’t end up like the person who had the longest documented earworm, the murderer Jean Harris.
The Hermits' Rest 