essay's blog

A collection of anecdotes about gardens, music, old houses, and the challenges of ruts and routines.

My wife is among the many millions who enjoy the occasional special shows from Oprah Winfrey's Network. While I don't get much TV time myself, it's usually more watching the local baseball or hockey teams and not "real shows". But somehow or other I got drawn into watching an interesting and inspiring hour special featuring Tony Robbins, another one of the ubiquitious "life coaches" making the rounds these days.

Pondering a planetary peep show, and the mysteries and intricacies of an immense universe.

It would be hard to miss the celestial dance going on just after twilight in the western sky. Jupiter and Venus, coming closer together until about March 13th, bright reflections of our own brilliant star. One closer to the sun, one very far from the sun, yet appearing practically side by side in the heavens. Madeleine and I have been watching them drawing closer together for a few weeks now.

Thoughts on watching a pre-schooler teaching herself about music, the gift of inspiration, and my "Acoustic Guitars You Should Hear" playlist I selected for my guitar students.

Santa brought our 4 1/2 year old daughter a Casio keyboard this Christmas. It's a decent learn-to-play keyboard, but it also has a lot of rythym section and tone capabilities, and comes pre-loaded with 10 songs, which I have now heard about 10 million times. But along with that, I've been watching with my own sense of wonder at how a young mind assimilates this language and vibe we call "music".

The winter holidays arrive again with the ever-present temptations to spend and save, while a music man searches the heavens for meaning.

Another year is winding down in the usual frenzy of big box retail sales and glamorous holiday specials all over the TV. Weren't we just doing this? I mean, I guess there was that long hot wet summer and all, but the flashback effect is pretty vivid.