Brenley, So good to hear of your healing and finding calm. i love knowing that. Your 22 acres are so lovely to look at and to learn of your love-of-the-land labors is awesome and impressive. my way lately is in reading the complete Norton Anthology of American and British Literature, which I struggled with in school. It's a joy to read all that now. I finally cleared a space in my head and physical environment to partake of that important endeavor. I'm also catching up on learning to play the banjo, a longed-for missing piece, too. Lots of old house maintenance chores to do. Lots of discovery of wonder and beauty still that keeps jadedness at bay. I would love to fix the whole world but learning to find peace in my little world seems like a long-overdue and just-in-time (I'm well passed the Mid-life stage you refer to!) priority, too. i watch too much YouTube because I am fascinated to know music of younger generations, as well. YouTube has great banjo tutorials. That's how I found out that Gordon Lightfoot's daughter, Meredith Moon, as you know, is a wonderful musician and songwriter. Gordon Lightfoot played a full concert at my high school gymnasium outside of Detroit in 1966, which was pretty much the main reason I started playing guitar! It's so cool to be listening to his daughter's music in 2024. BTW, I found out about the very fab Madison Violet through YouTube, thankfully. I appreciate you talking about art (drawing, painting), too, as i was an art studio major in college but got paralyzed doing art since and I really want to get over that. What you say about that really resonates. Thanks so much for the meaningful and community-spirited messages you send out. i'm a big fan of how you use words so it is pleasure to read your writings. Keep on healing, Jessie
Hey Jessie, I have a beautiful banjo that’s been collecting dust for a few years so thanks for reminding me that it’s there waiting for me! Yep, YouTube is a great resource centre especially if you are able to focus and now jump around and open fifty tabs in a day. Who me? 🤣
Thank you for all the kind words here and for the intro to Meridith Moon. Somehow she missed my radar so I will have to check her out. Stay well and have fun reading that Norton Anthology!!
Your blogs are always so interesting! Looks very much like you bought yourself a piece of paradise. Wow! What a great place to live.
Just so you know I’m already a fully paid up member of the “cutting grass and feeding birds” club. That’s my therapy. So we’ve got something else to talk about next time you play Glassel.
We’ve just had a nice spell of weather here in north east Scotland, thankfully, following several weeks of horrible dreich days. The kind you’re well familiar with!
I wanted to share with you that I lost my dear mam very recently. We all knew it was coming, but when she passed it still hit us really really hard. So the initial grief has been intense. She was special. But I’m reconciling more to the fact that my mam really enjoyed her life to the full, and that we, her family, were key enablers in that. We were central to her happiness. And that has been hugely comforting.
Take care, Ian xx
PS - really enjoyed your rendition of John Martyn’s song ….. very brave ….. NOT an easy song to sing
Oh Ian I’m sorry to hear about your mom. It’s the living that feel the loss - I’m certain our parents were quite ok with the leaving part, especially after having lived good long lives but it still makes us ache all over. Sending a bunch of love to Glassel and I hope we will see you again soon. Any Canada plans?
Brenley, So good to hear of your healing and finding calm. i love knowing that. Your 22 acres are so lovely to look at and to learn of your love-of-the-land labors is awesome and impressive. my way lately is in reading the complete Norton Anthology of American and British Literature, which I struggled with in school. It's a joy to read all that now. I finally cleared a space in my head and physical environment to partake of that important endeavor. I'm also catching up on learning to play the banjo, a longed-for missing piece, too. Lots of old house maintenance chores to do. Lots of discovery of wonder and beauty still that keeps jadedness at bay. I would love to fix the whole world but learning to find peace in my little world seems like a long-overdue and just-in-time (I'm well passed the Mid-life stage you refer to!) priority, too. i watch too much YouTube because I am fascinated to know music of younger generations, as well. YouTube has great banjo tutorials. That's how I found out that Gordon Lightfoot's daughter, Meredith Moon, as you know, is a wonderful musician and songwriter. Gordon Lightfoot played a full concert at my high school gymnasium outside of Detroit in 1966, which was pretty much the main reason I started playing guitar! It's so cool to be listening to his daughter's music in 2024. BTW, I found out about the very fab Madison Violet through YouTube, thankfully. I appreciate you talking about art (drawing, painting), too, as i was an art studio major in college but got paralyzed doing art since and I really want to get over that. What you say about that really resonates. Thanks so much for the meaningful and community-spirited messages you send out. i'm a big fan of how you use words so it is pleasure to read your writings. Keep on healing, Jessie
Hey Jessie, I have a beautiful banjo that’s been collecting dust for a few years so thanks for reminding me that it’s there waiting for me! Yep, YouTube is a great resource centre especially if you are able to focus and now jump around and open fifty tabs in a day. Who me? 🤣
Thank you for all the kind words here and for the intro to Meridith Moon. Somehow she missed my radar so I will have to check her out. Stay well and have fun reading that Norton Anthology!!
Hi Brenley
Your blogs are always so interesting! Looks very much like you bought yourself a piece of paradise. Wow! What a great place to live.
Just so you know I’m already a fully paid up member of the “cutting grass and feeding birds” club. That’s my therapy. So we’ve got something else to talk about next time you play Glassel.
We’ve just had a nice spell of weather here in north east Scotland, thankfully, following several weeks of horrible dreich days. The kind you’re well familiar with!
I wanted to share with you that I lost my dear mam very recently. We all knew it was coming, but when she passed it still hit us really really hard. So the initial grief has been intense. She was special. But I’m reconciling more to the fact that my mam really enjoyed her life to the full, and that we, her family, were key enablers in that. We were central to her happiness. And that has been hugely comforting.
Take care, Ian xx
PS - really enjoyed your rendition of John Martyn’s song ….. very brave ….. NOT an easy song to sing
PPS - big hugs from Fiona
Oh Ian I’m sorry to hear about your mom. It’s the living that feel the loss - I’m certain our parents were quite ok with the leaving part, especially after having lived good long lives but it still makes us ache all over. Sending a bunch of love to Glassel and I hope we will see you again soon. Any Canada plans?