Bits and Pieces

Swam in the 82 degree Gulf yesterday - two hours. Of course I was having so much fun I ignored the sun and counted on the clouds. The sun won. I had a hot body and a healthy red glow...

Invited to go dancing at a local place. I know one of the entertainers who has a voice with a range that's magnificent. Last night was "Brylcream" a do wop group. Such fun! By the way, his cd's were for sale at the edge of the stage - another starving artist.

The most fun was watching the dancers. This was not a place for the under 40 set. Couples were all wearing the wisdom of the ages on their bodies and their faces; but for this moment in time, they were back in their youth, dancing to the memories the music mined. Everyone was young, full of promise and energy. The beauty of Florida is the youth in the aged - living large until the last breath.

The last event was the hilarious dinner at the Washington Hilton on CSPAN where I do believe the birther issue has at last been put in its place though the look on Donald Trump's face during his roasting bits was furious - and he's the kind of person who has the money to get even.

The bits and pieces from yesterday gave me such a mellow feeling - a sense of the variety and richness of the world in which we live and the importance of savoring each vignette of joy.

Diane,
glad you had a great evening. Times like that are cherished.
Too bad you suffered from sunburn, however I believe you would do it all over again.

Sounds fun. I need to get out and dance once in awhile. Those seniors you described all get out more than me.

DK,

Sounds like the beginnings of true love. Glad you had fun.

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The bits and pieces from yesterday gave me such a mellow feeling - a
sense of the variety and richness of the world in which we live and the
importance of savoring each vignette of joy.

Beautifully said.

That's whet it's all about.

Ann

I hope each of you will share a few bits and pieces here - the vignettes of joy. Thanks in advance...

Today I took the tram to Clam Pass and sat high, dining on a reasonably priced chicken salad wrap, watching the ocean and those cooking in the sun below No sun for me today. It was still another day of beauty.

Does anyone have a photo to post of a winding river? The talk at church today was about our attempts to travel in straight lines and how against nature that is. Nature is curved lines, ups and downs, lazy rivers that lead to waterfalls and mountains climbed on switchbacks that sometimes travel down to go up....

It sure sounds like you had a good time. Keep on keepin' on and keep on supporting live music.

About selling CDs from the bandstand. It's not just starving artists. When I travelled the jazz festival circuit with an 8-piece swing band, most of our income came from selling CDs from the bandstand. It's what made the tours worthwhile financially for guys who had steady gigs back home. And none of us were starving.

Those CDs were expensive to produce. Cover art, studio time, mastering, production, etc. It was the vanity press of music. Except that we had a ready-made marketplace. Nowadays with affordable top-quality home recording equipment and POD CD manufacturing, any band can do it for next to nothing. Power to the players!

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Does anyone have a photo to post of a winding river? The talk at church
today was about our attempts to travel in straight lines and how
against nature that is. Nature is curved lines, ups and downs, lazy
rivers that lead to waterfalls and mountains climbed on switchbacks that
sometimes travel down to go up....

How about the Llano River, just north of Enchanted Rock? This could be near the place where Daniel fell into the portal and found the red stone.

I don't have a picture, but when I was a little child, there was a river. In big rains it flooded the banks that were 20 feet above that bottom we walked. The bottom was all sparkling sand and some bigger rocks that stayed. I think it was the Turkey River in Oklahoma. It might have been the Red River. I was so young. Memory is such a fluid thing. In it's fluidity, it adds little bits that were not of that space. If memory were a photograph, perhaps the little fluid thing was not there at all. I imagine that is how we imagine in these days that are more fluid than the days we try to remember. Perhaps that is where our writing soul comes from.

Love,
Betty

Thanks! It's sure not flowing in a straight line.

Around here there's lots of great live music, especially jazz musicians. Al, have you ever played a gig in southwest Florida? Winter is the busiest; but I like summer best, friendly and lots of room to dance.

There are quite a few places that have one entertainer and a box full of accompaniment, too. Saturday night was the real thing, five singers and musicians.

Thanks for explaining the cd bit. It's the first time I saw the cd's at the edge of the stage; felt a little tacky - you know, like authors signing books :-)

Betty, I know what you mean about memories; I was sharing memories about a weekend spent in Boston with a friend, who remembered it 180 degrees different than me!

My son remembers a tormented youth;yet, I remember Disneyland and camping trips and 4H and deep sea fishing and sailing and tennis and Halloween and birthday parties and bike trips all during that same tormented time he describes.

Keeping a journal seems to help some memories; yet, when I read what I wrote at 16 years of age, I don't recognize the writer or the events for the most part - a teenager's ramblings about dates and dances and dresses and dreams.

I've become lazy about journals - perhaps I should start again since I can't seem to get in the frame of mind to finish the novels I 've started.

I don't know about "vignette of joy," but I'm getting a kick out of the cheering crowds in front of the White House right now. lol

dkchristi wrote:

Betty, I know what you mean about memories; I was sharing memories about a weekend spent in Boston with a friend, who remembered it 180 degrees different than me!

My son remembers a tormented youth;yet, I remember Disneyland and camping trips and 4H and deep sea fishing and sailing and tennis and Halloween and birthday parties and bike trips all during that same tormented time he describes.

Keeping a journal seems to help some memories; yet, when I read what I wrote at 16 years of age, I don't recognize the writer or the events for the most part - a teenager's ramblings about dates and dances and dresses and dreams.

I've become lazy about journals - perhaps I should start again since I can't seem to get in the frame of mind to finish the novels I 've started.

When I was 15 I was writing a story (fiction) about a submarine in WW2...after page 3, I said, "Domenic, you know nothing about submarines." I have things I wrote twenty years ago...stuff I thought was good...I understand what you say about it not seeming like you wrote it.

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My son remembers a tormented youth;yet, I remember Disneyland and
camping trips and 4H and deep sea fishing and sailing and tennis and
Halloween and birthday parties and bike trips all during that same
tormented time he describes.

Chance son to daughters, DK, and this statement could have been written by me. I wonder part of it isn't the angst of youth. I don't think I would ever want to go back to being a teenager again.

As for journals, I go through times when it's harder to keep them, too.

I remember the advice of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes from The Creative Fire, that we must go through periods of entropy in order to be reborn with fresh ideas.

Ann