Not only have the online interfaces totally improved since they started the FastPass+ program a few years back. . .now the technology is actually fun. Although some of that might be due to experience and a careful planning session with my college room mate and her boyfriend a few weeks back.

Anyway, I got everything we wanted. Which is pretty easy now that I'm firmly ensconced in the kinder gentler Disney World touring process. I am so looking forward to plotzing at the Boardwalk Inn....and everywhere else around the Kingdoms.

PS. And I am SO not bringing my camera this year. :)

On the way to work Friday morning a deer was poised to leap across the little road just a few minutes from my home in the village. There were no cars around so I slowed down, put on the hazard lights and opened the car window. The doe stretched her neck even further assessing the situation. She was about five feet from me.

I thought of the William Stafford poem 'Traveling Through the Dark' which I heard him read to our small class whilst in college when he visited our campus. The fragility of life wove over me. So I said to her, oh dear be careful there are cars. She froze and stared right at me. Then she heaved a sigh and turned back under the dappled leaves. From there she disappeared into the woods.

In those small moments there was a glimpse of another life. Her coat was shiny and despite the horrid weather this summer she clearly had been doing well. Hopefully the next seasons will bring more of the same.

Here's a link for the google search about Traveling Through the Dark which is not for the faint of heart but still resonates for me.

https://www.google.com/#q=william+stafford+traveling+through+the+dark+poem

Right now I'm sitting by the slider looking at the lilac tree (or as a neighbor likes to call it, the lilac pillar) because I've tied it up a bit to keep it from falling over and blocking the view at the same time. There's coffee and to my GREAT joy David Mallett CDs.

I used to see him play frequently when I lived near The Folkway restaurant. I've periodically looked in iTunes and online looking for either downloads or CDs because all I had were albums that are long gone. So. . .I've been misspelling his last name. Headdesk. Lots and lots of headdesks.

So finally after all this time last night I got the brilliant idea to search for a list of people who played at that venue, and presto-chango, there he was. I cannot believe it took me this long to get my act together because I've missed hearing his music so much. His songs feel like old friends so familiar and embraced once again.


Here's the link for his site: http://davidmallett.com

I've really never been one to wake up and be anything near alert. So it stands to reason that the alarm setting on my iPhone and iPod Touch is important. I use them as a following back up to my alarm clock. Once the first one goes off I turn my phone on so that the alarm set for a bit later will eventually go off. As an aside. . . the only thing I miss about Blackberries is that the phone could be off and the alarm setting would turn it on so the darn thing could go off.

Anyway, I used to have raven calls for the alarm sounds. However, due to always being a bit blurry first thing I ran into trouble remembering that A) There were no actual ravens perched on my pillow. B) The raven plushies in my bedroom had not miraculously come to life during the night. Which for some reason reminds me of why I had to get rid of the life sized cardboard cutout of Captain Picard that lived in my old place's hallway. Seriously, seeing something like that out of the corner of your eye in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom is enough to scare the dren out of you.

So now I use the Dead's Fire on the Mountain from 5-13-77 (Chicago Auditorium and my second show). I has the added benefit of being really loud and lasting 13 minutes and 18 seconds. That ought to be enough to roust me out.

They really are getting better and better. Last night's Scarlet -> Fire from Folsom Stadium speaks nicely to that. Well done boys.

PS. Couch Tour for the win. I am so appreciating listening from the comforts of my own home, especially given some of the summer weather. Blerg.


In other Dead related news: I never get tired of the 6-28-88 SPAC show. What a sparkling night despite the by then usual crowd idjits. I was glad to be there and am glad still to listen to the recording of it all these years later.

It's such a sunny day here in my living room. Especially since in the past few weeks the giant invasive Burning bushes were cut down. They bracketed the sliders and really blocked the view. Which was fabulous before but now it's even better in a cosy pond-meadow-woods-nice-sky sort of way.

Last weekend was spent visiting B and W up north. B and I went for a small hike in a conserved fen/bog. They've put in a boardwalk so one can wander along looking at various plants. This time of year the Showy Lady Slippers are everywhere along the trail. There are also a few Buttercups sprinkled amongst the ferns. On a sunny day the light is amazing there. There are also various orchids. I'm not very pleased with the Lady Slipper photo; so much of the time I take flower shots the results are rather meh. Oh well, something that works better will be a goal and a process. I do like the Buttercup photo more. I have no idea what the reddish one is.

I had so much fun at this show. The drive home was a tad on the long side, heh.

Yes, I've posted about it before, but it bears repeating. Sugaree. . . Suuuuggggaaaareeee! Well, actually every song could be described in that way. The whole show is flail-worthy.

Here's a link if you're feeling so inclined. It was one giant fantabulous monster of a show.


https://archive.org/details/gd80-09-06.wise.unknown.322.sbeok.shnf

Busy day yesterday so didn't get around to reading the news this morning until a little bit ago. WTF . . . . . . . . . just, WTF.

I'm pretty much beyond words. So grateful two friends of mine in the area were not there. Thinking of all the people who were there along with their families and friends.

This world we live in. I just don't even know at this point.

There are moments and days when choices are made and lasting changes happen. Given the flow of a life it can be hard to track them. If we’re lucky or determined it’s possible to string together the resulting times so that they comprise a set of treasured and always worn beads.

May 12th and 13th 1977 are two such days that generated what my life has become. Sometimes it’s nice to examine the moment everything shifted because of the decisions made. What started during the summer of 1971 when Ripple was sung around the campfire culminated during my first two Grateful Dead shows.

On Friday the 13th there was the moment standing in the sun on Middle Campus at college that lingers and unfolds within me still. That's when the trajectory of experience solidified on every level. Or perhaps instead, it was that in peeling back the accumulation of expectations and daily life I simply became just myself after all.


Moments that echo still:

Watching the crowd move like a sea during Terrapin Station at the 5-12-77 Dead show. The feeling of astonishment as the band I'd listened to for years made music. Right. There. In. Front. Of. Me. Watching how the stage lights colored the architecture of the fabulous Auditorium Theater in Chicago. Walking through the parking lot after the show recognizing that everything was now different.

The next day on the beach at Lake Michigan searching for Seastones. There are small gray and patterned smooth pebbles that still adorn a table in my living room. The apparent giant bird footprints in the sand and stones that turned out to be someone dragging a large branch along in such a way as to make it seem to be the biggest bird.

Sitting under a blooming chestnut tree on South Campus feeling the breeze and the sunshine. Ten years later my college roomate and I visited campus and sat under that same tree during the same month of blooming.

Listening from my dorm room to the 5-13-77 Dead show on the radio from the theater. Wishing I was at the show as I had been the night before. Although, I've always counted it as my second show because the music was happening live; from their guitars to my ears.

Sitting on the steps of a building at North Campus at 8:30am on Saturday the 14th watching the sun glint through the stained glass window of the Episcopalian church across the street.

Looking at the stone pathway that lead from the steps to the edge of the lawn and forward towards the rest of my life.

.

My little village is looking quite green and flowery lately. The sheer amount of lilacs on our property is amazing. Keeping in mind that we have only 30 units on 35 acres there's plenty of opportunity for Spring to spring. Between the beginning of the linden tree summer aroma and the lilacs going outside is a fabulous experience. One just has to ignore the giant black flies and the pollen. Heh.

I've been tying together the random sprouting purple lilac branches outside one of my slider windows for the past three years and somehow appear to have done it correctly because what was a fragile flower is now getting quite robust. There was one drooping branch that the birds loved but a good wind would have been enough to take it down. Thus it got chopped which will probably save my windows the next time things get gusty around here. The top of the tree can be seen from the bay window in my bedroom so it's all lilacs all the time. Even the miniature purple bushes outside my front door are getting in on the act.

In closing, oh my do I love living here.

Holy. Bat. Dren. These shows are incredible. And as 'Betty Boards' you know the sound is astounding. The Red Rocks shows have been favorites of mine since. . .well, 1978. I think as a whole 1978 is an under-rated year. I've already nattered on about the Uptown Theatre Chicago 1978 shows so that's a given.

So, I've burned, labeled, backed up (In six places.) and uploaded the five shows to my iPhone and iPod Touch and am currently blasting 7-1-78 Arrowhead. Oh my. . . Apparently I'm unable to do anything but dance around my living room and randomly type in flails. Yup.

I've already reached the point of deleting as much as I can from the iPhone and iPod Touch in order to guarantee enough room for whatever show comes out of The Vault that I'm unable to say no to. Hey, I do say no. . .I say no a lot otherwise I'd have about two thousand three hundred shows instead of the paltry approximately 66 GB of Dead Music currently in residence. That's not counting the various CDs laying about the place that haven't made it to my computer. Space is not infinite no matter what the astronomers say. Why don't they make a 2 TB iPhone and iPod Touch yet anyway...

In closing, I sure do wish Dick Latvala was around to enjoy these shows with us all:

• 7/1/78 Arrowhead Stadium: Kansas City, MO
• 7/3/78 St. Paul Civic Center Arena: St. Paul, MN
• 7/5/78 Omaha Civic Auditorium: Omaha, NE
• 7/7/78 Red Rocks Amphitheatre: Morrison, CO
• 7/8/78 Red Rocks Amphitheatre: Morrison, CO

This year the date and the actual days of the week match up just as they were in 1977. That means that my first live shows Deadaversary are this coming Thursday and Friday May 12th and 13th. Friday the 13 days always hold a special place in my heart.

Meanwhile, there's the Cornell show. The original Soundboard (Betty Board) of which got out in the wild before some dweeb started holding it for ransom. Literally as he wants the Boys to pay biiiig bucks to get their own frelling tape back. Not that I'm bitter about that or anything. Still, because it was released into the wild before that all went down you can hear crisp copies of it on the Internet Archive.

The show it really just that fine. And the Morning Dew....hell yeah. The Scarlet -> Fire is of course fabulous, but then ALL of the versions of those songs soared in May of 1977. It is of interest to note that the show was chosen to be archived at the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. Indeed.

Hmmm...what icon should I use for this post that honors 5-8-77? Well of course the May '77 box set logo. Now I'm off to crank up the show and dance around my living room.

PS. Here's the link for Blair Jackson's post about the Library of Congress thingy in 2012: http://www.dead.net/features/blair-jackson/blair-s-golden-road-blog-cornell-77-enshrined-ages

Love this quote: "Want to know how many times 5/8/77 has been downloaded from Archive.org? Are you sitting down? I added up the numbers beside each version: 928,006 as of May 23! I’m guessing that adding in all the copies that were made (tape and digital) in the years when the Grateful Dead was actually around, and when collecting was at its apex, the number could easily reach 2 million. Incredible for a so-called bootleg recording."

And here's the Archive link: https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?and[]=date:1977-05-08%2A

PPS. Here's a link to the article at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by the archivist of the Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz: https://rockhall.com/story-of-rock/features/all-featured/7745_grateful-dead-live-at-barton-hall-1977-concert/

What if the names on some products were actually true? For example, 'Arctic Wind' printed on the desk sized fan I have at work....does anyone literally want an arctic wind blasting them to miniscule smithereens?

Just pondering on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Last Spring I could have sworn there was a swan flying low over the traffuck on the way home from work one afternoon. And last week I heard that there are several swans that are living in a large pond down the street just off the main drag (such as the main drag is hereabouts). One of them was winging across the street the other day and looked just amazing. Having seen them a few times I have to laugh at how I second guessed myself last year because they are SO very much themselves. In flight they are just so smooth.

Anyway. . .it makes me very happy to know they exist. They serve to remind me of P.L. Travers book A Fox In The Manger. If you read that book the reference will be clear but too much will be lost in translation if I try to explain.

I do love the clarity that Bill Walton speaks with and about. Great interview although I would (of course) disagree with the writer's description of Must Have Been The Roses as a "minor classic".

http://www.salon.com/2016/04/16/i_am_the_human_being_that_i_am_today_because_of_the_grateful_dead_bill_walton_shares_life_lessons_from_859_shows/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

This quote, yes: "Every time I go out there, there’s some kind soul who I’ll end up next to who’s just telling me all these great stories of life and stories of hope and, and what this all means is that a Grateful Dead concert is like a fantastic book. It makes you laugh; it makes you cry; it changes you. As we stand at the fork in the road, and the concert is over and we say, “OK, what are we gonna do now?” Where are we gonna go?"

And another place I go every day is Thoughts On The Dead. Who has been very thoughtful lately. He is often downright hysterically funny and sometimes a bit beyond where I'm able to go. He's consistently right on target about so many things. These three posts on his site from the past few days are especially fine. I've added on one of my favorites from when he was still over at Wordpress (has his own site now). Even if you are not a Deadhead there's fun to be had including a contemplation of the Doctor Strange trailer.

http://thoughtsonthedead.com/another-stretch-of-route-77/

http://thoughtsonthedead.com/thoughts-on-the-doctor-strange-trailer/

http://thoughtsonthedead.com/rock-paper-garcia/

https://thoughtsonthedead.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/dark-stare/

PS. The comments on the last one clarify a few things. The reason I love that post in particular is this quote: "All he wanted to do was play guitar and all it ever got him was everything he wanted."

Whilst on the phone with my sister B Friday evening I somehow ended up with my iPhone in the fridge. Let this be a lesson to me. . .too much multi tasking when organizing vitamins for the week is a bad thing.

Oh well, that's what my landline is for. Good thing I didn't have to call my cell phone though because it might have been a bit freaky for the Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds ring tone to come wafting out of a kitchen appliance.

What?! Lucy In The Sky is too a subtle ring tone.

First of all, I have a lamp shopping rule. Well, more of a representation of my lamp buying experience. 1) 98% of all lamps are hideously ugly. 2) 1.8% of all lamps are gorgeous. . .and also utterly out of my price range. 3) 0.02% of all lamps are lovely and within my price range.

This experience. . .er, rule turns out to apply to shopping for Grateful Dead T-shirts. That's nothing new, but it seems to be getting worse. Seriously, Tie dye makes my brain bleed. And I don't need a giant ship representing the Ship of Fools from that song. I do like the song, but I don't need it on a T-shirt. Finding a subtle and kind Grateful Dead T-shirt is enough to make me weep. I'm just saying. If I see another Dancing Bear I'm going to scream from here to high heaven.

Here's an example of a Tiffany Studios that makes the cut. It also costs $ 195,000. See, too expensive for me but oh so gorgeous. I am not including an example of an ugly lamp because I don't want to look at one. The same goes for the ugly T-shirt.



In closing, I would like something subtle with quiet colors that displays my adoration of the Grateful Dead. I'd also like the above pictured Tiffany Studios lamp but hey, one cannot have everything in life. Plus, if I had an extra $ 195,000 lying about it wouldn't get thrown at a lamp. Especially as it would probably damage the shade.

Yesterday L and I stopped by the fabulous local cafe in order to grab a few treats before driving about an hour north. On an impulse I got one Maple Bacon Donut for L and me to share. Never even knew they had those there and now wish I still didn't. Because. . .well, holy bat dren that is some Taste Sensation.

Good thing I went for a few miles walk this morning before breakfast.

In closing, those things are so good they should be illegal. Good thing I don't break the usual routine for something like that very often.

OK, I understand that the little submenus on all of our computers have tasks and commands listed alphabetically. But seriously, it's just asking for trouble to have cut and copy right next to each other. Granted I haven't had any cut versus copy debacles, but I know enough people who had slippery mouses or shaky hands at just the wrong moment. Not to mention on Microsoft's email Outlook where if you right click to empty the recycle bin the option of deleting the folder from your favorites is right next to it.


Since it's all Microsoft all the time at work I've noticed these things. Just saying.

Frequently I remember driving around the country in 1978. Today I'm recalling driving along the Bear Tooth highway whilst Pure Prairie League blasted from the car stereo. This would be in the days of tapes so we traveled with a giant stack of music that probably took up more room than anything else. I went to ridiculous lengths to protect the budding live Dead collection.

The hours we drove down the Bear Tooth highway were amazing. The views and the music have stayed with me for all of these years. The feeling of joy and contentment still sustain me especially when stuck in traffuck. Or doing onerous errands.

There's something about a Road Trip. Here's a link for the lovely road. http://beartoothhighway.com

I started listening to Donovan as soon as his music was available in the States. There was something about his sound that made me happy. It also helped me think about stillness, joy, the nature of loss and the reality that sadness just is human. His music has been part of my life ever since. It's true that listening to Donovan was part of what opened the door for me to start listening to the Grateful Dead in 1971. And ack, think of all the shows I could have gone to if I'd run away to join that circus in 1965. . .perhaps my parents might have not allowed that.

The thing about having a 128 GB iPhone and iPod Touch is that I can go back to collecting a lot of the music that with prior technologies I just didn't have room for. Or that I used to have on vinyl and never got around to getting on CD. Now it's so much easier to access and store. This means now some of the other Donovan collections are with reach. Not that I couldn't have them before, but seriously, there is only so much room for albums, tapes, CDs. Perhaps it's a response to the chaos of the my parent's house but refusing to clutter my home up as an adult is a strict rule for me.

I don't feel the need to own everything he ever sang, what I have is plenty to keep me on even keel. That same parameters applies to a lot of musicians I adore. Except the Grateful Dead of course, heh. I still always wish that Jerry Garcia had played Hurdy Gurdy Man, Season of the Witch and Catch The Wind. There is a fabulous version of Season of the Witch on Al Kooper's Super Session album. And oh, if you've never heard that along with the Live Adventures of Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield, hurry on up and get yourself a copy. It's damn fine music indeed.

Anyway, here's the lyrics for Summer Day Reflections Song:

Cat's a-sleeping in the sun
Eyes take heed, the colors call
Sunlight patterns touch the wall
Red kerchiefs sail and fall
Cat's a-sleeping in the sun

Dragon kite in the sky
Wheel and turns, spin and fly
Attacked by rooks who never fail
To cry the sound of fairy tales
The cat is walkin' in the sun

All the pebbles I have seen
Precious stones for Colleen
Every minute I pass through
With the grooves spent with you
The cat is yawning in the sun

Jewelled castles I have built
With freak feelings of guilt
And the words stab to the hilt
Pick the flower and it will wilt
Cat's a-shifting in the sun

Marionette dangles death
Insensitivity is fed
By the TV wizard's wand
Once in the spell, you're conned
Cat's a-smiling in the sun

Cat's a-smiling in the sun
Eyes take heed, the colors call
Sunlight patterns touch the wall
Red kerchiefs sail and fall
Cat's a-smiling into me

It's been a productive morning. I worked out, washed my newly cut hair and puttered about. Now I'm relaxing in my Morris chair and listening to Loggins and Messina 'On Stage'. There's one particular song that always makes me smile.

During the summer of 1978 B (a friend I've known since kindergarten) and I drove around the country. We started off in Chicago since I was just finishing up Spring term. She drove out from where we grew up in Massachusetts. From there we meandered around the country, eventually arriving at Morro Bay California. Once there we drove along the coast up through Oregon and finally wandered back home.

There were many perfect days. And whenever Vahevala is playing I'm back on route 101 watching the ocean, sky, and the redwoods. The air was fine and the music was loud enough so that I swear the echo can still be heard. Music really is time travel. If by time one means Timey-Wimey because it carries the past, present and future in each note.

PS. The whole album is pretty darn wonderful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Stage_(Loggins_and_Messina_album)

I'm old enough to remember watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Listening to their albums took up a lot of time starting when I was a kid. Waiting for the next album to come out was a singular pass time. And I so clearly remember listening to Rubber Soul for the first time. Oh my, a friend and I were stunned. We knew something was coming, something was new. We used to listen over and over and pretty much had nothing to say except wow. That wow grew and grew with each of their subsequent albums. Abbey Road is still my favorite.

That kind of burning star of creativity couldn't last, so the eventual Beatles breakup wasn't a surprise. I do believe that no human can sustain that level of creative genius beyond a certain time frame. If they do; well the outpouring is astounding but it can break the human. Maybe it's something about flying too long and too near the 'ether' as the Jungians say.

For the past three days I've been immersed in listening to the Beatles. As usual, I'm astonished by just how good it all is. And how good it makes me feel. As I type this I've got the second part of The White Album blasting over the Bose sound dock. I remember waiting in line at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge, album in one hand, my father's Coop card in the other. There was a steady cacophony as the other people in line pondered the music and the band.

Members of the Grateful Dead have talked about how seeing and listening to the Beatles opened the doors for them to become what they. . .er, were. Certainly the Beatles opened the doors for me to be receptive to the Dead. Music really did save me in every way possible.

Below is the link for the Wenner Garcia interview on his archive site. Re-reading it reminds me of how aware we were of what was happening in the San Francisco music scene as it was happening. I might have been about ten years old but we were watching what was going on and I wanted to be there so badly. I guess one might say I got there in the end. Even if it did take me until 1977 to start going to Dead shows. The whole point of this nattering on is that the Beatles were my gateway music. Listening to their later albums cracked my head open in just the right way.

http://www.jannswenner.com/archives/jerry_garcia_part1.aspx

This following quote says a lot to me because of just how happy the Beatles made me. Even the sad songs. Several vinyl copies of Abbey Road gave their all as they were played over, and over, and over. Oh man, my poor parents must have gone spare. Sadly I cannot find the exact quote from Jerry about the aftermath of the Beatle's show in 1966.

"REICH: How much were the Beatles important to you?
GARCIA: They were real important to everybody. They were a little model, especially the movies – the movies were a big turn-on. Just because it was a little model of good times. "

The thing about 'good times' is that it's a concept that has so many layers and real existential thinky thoughts attached to it. What makes for good times varies, but I'm pretty sure it involves a human brain and heart immersed in vital music. I'll never take for granted the fact that all of my beloved albums can be carted about on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Really, so much music to have at my fingertips. Bigger on the inside as the saying goes.


PS. I've always wished that Jerry Garcia would have played 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. That would have been quite something indeed.

PPS. And for ease of access I'm adding a few other links about what influenced Garcia so I can find it again later.

http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2013/08/garcias-record-collection.html

I took both photos with my iPhone 6s, because of course I didn't have my camera. Heh. Anyway, the first shot was taken in the parking lot at work at 4:30p. The light was quite something. So were the roads. The second was taken from my mother's driveway. It was warmer at her house during the storm so the snow was heavier and tree branches were literally all over the wires yesterday. None in her area were down, but it seemed to be only a matter of time if the temperature didn't give some relief.

Click on the photo, then click again for the uploaded size.

So here I am, plotzing about and suddenly I'm hit with the wish to be at Disney World. Thankfully that wish was not fulfilled as I'm in my PJs and getting ready to go work out.

Speaking of Disney World. . . here's a salute to the wonderful restaurant The Flying Fish at the Boardwalk. It closes after today for an eight month rehabilitation. I gather it's going to be bigger, but beyond that I don't have a clue. Fingers crossed it's open by my next trip in November.

Since getting the 128 GB 6s iPhone and the iPod Touch 6 I've been puttering about making music lists. There's so many songs and albums that I love and rejoice hearing. Then there are the albums that. I. MUST. HAVE. Of course, there are so many that I already have. I finally narrowed down the giant list of new/old wants to a much smaller list of needs. That includes more Pink Floyd, Buffalo Springfield, Moody Blues, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and of course, Roxy Music.

Ah, Roxy Music I adore. Avalon is an utterly perfect album. It is also the law that I must be able to listen to Out Of The Blue and The Strand live versions. So having completed the downloading I'm having a Roxy Music day at my house. Yesterday was for the Moody Blues. Which always reminds me of my term in Germany in the mid 70's. Magical days indeed.

So. . . Roxy Music. Brian Ferry's amazing voice, Phil Manzanera fabulous guitar; Brian Eno being, well, Brian Eno. I'm this close to adding that great 801 live CD too. But I must have some control, hence the rule of MUST HAVE versus sort of kind-of-love.

One Spring Break during college a group of us drove from Chicago to Boston via New York City. In between those early Grateful Dead tapes (Remember tapes? This was in the late 70's.) we mostly cranked Roxy Music and followed the winding path back to New England. Somehow I ended up driving over the George Washington Bridge at around 1:00am whilst everyone else snoozed. I was completely lost in the city scene from to many cars and not enough sleep. Then I saw a sign that literally read "New England". Catching that exit I found myself on quiet darkened roads.

After an unknown while I stopped at an intersection trying to figure out just where the frell I'd taken us. It was quite a surprise to realize I was about twenty minutes from our shared family place in Connecticut. We were just at the other side of where I always came from. At that point I woke up the rest of the crew and took the turn for Boston. It didn't seem to be a good idea to bring an unwashed and road weary crew to The Farm (As our family place was called.) in the middle of the night. Plus, I really wanted to go home.

Sometimes I think of how New York City looked from that bridge. The piercing shapes of buildings, a scatter of lights and cars slipping by in the corner of my eyes. On the car stereo Roxy Music carried me through to home.

Bowie's Space Oddity came out in 1969, and Samuel Delaney's Driftglass collection of short stories came out in 1971. When I experience one, I feel the other; they are entwined in my heart and mind. The stories and the song spoke well to my experience of this world and the ones I learned about through reading science fiction and fantasy.

I really don't mind that mortality exists. Any story of immortality gained seems to be a nightmare of unforeseen consequences and unbearable being. But oh, Bowie is gone far too soon. Reading various responses to his death, I am especially struck by an overarching recognition. His presence and presentation gave us permission to be more completely ourselves in the various and more truthful ways that can manifest.

Our shared artistic figures give light to their own hearts and minds. If that resonates on any level then there's both an emotional and intellectual echo. It can resound and help sustain our own steps, choices and expressions of self. Even with their imperfections, and maybe because of them; their offerings are still golden.


If you haven't read Driftglass I cannot recommend it enough. Of course I love those stories so much that when I finally met Delaney at Readercon some years back I found myself tearing up amidst goosebumps afterwards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driftglass

This morning involved working out before breakfast. Then it involved pondering the nature of eggs whilst cooking them and waiting for the toast to pop. So. . .I wonder who first decided to eat an egg. I'm guessing they tried it raw before attempting the various ways of cooking it. It's kind of like the first people who ate artichokes. We owe them so much because eggs are good. As are artichokes.

Anyway...just a thought for this Sunday morning.

WHEEEEE!!!!!!

Gaaaah!

meep?

Whoa...

WHAAAH!!!

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.


PS. Needless to say of course I read as many spoilers as I could get my hands on before going to the movie. However, the above review still accurately reflects my subjective experience of the movie.

PPS. I gather they're already starting to work on Episode 7.

Last night my neighbor P and I walked the five minutes to the village green in order to watch the tree lighting ceremony.

The houses in our village are decorated with lights and wreathes. The tree is sweet although compared to the decorations at Disneyworld....well, those are hard shoes for anyone to fill. Anyway, there were singers and Santa and people standing in the lane contemplating all that we are grateful for. There were also moments to acknowledge those that serve and those who have been lost to the violence of the human species.

Walking home, the lines of the small hills in our meadow were barely visible behind the lamps that line the driveway. The lights were echoed by the decorations and trees seen through the neighbor's windows. Beyond that the woods and pond showed in a faint pattern. The fog made it all even more beautiful.

I remain as always dismayed and frighted about the hatred, bigotry and racism in our culture(s). I wish for peace and hope that somehow we can dig ourselves and our planet out of the current ditch. Or should I say, ditches. In the meantime I will enjoy the lights on the tree and the music in the air.

It's a good sign that the online directions for the Breville toaster I got yesterday has specific instructions related to how to properly cook crumpets.