Turnaround...

Nostalgia sometimes rolls in like the first dark evening after the time change.  Despite the fact that you had felt it coming for weeks, it still catches you off guard the first time you leave work and it's there.

Today I ran with headphones outdoors for the first time in years.  The city has a fairly strict "no headphones" rule so I've learned to run in the rhythm of footfalls, nature, and mind chatter.  My route was a path surrounded by trees with changing, falling leaves, near a small creek.  It was a mostly yellow rain.

With the musical accompaniment, I remembered the first time I ran for twenty minutes non-stop; I had been on a similar trail.  I could recall when every song was added to the iPod (and to which playlist) and I got a little verklempt at Five for Fighting.  (Don't judge).

I ran by the semi-circle turnaround for the half marathon (which was held earlier this morning) remembering the only time I ran the race was alongside one of the best work friends I've ever had.  At that mile marker, we sang Bonnie Tyler and made airplane arms. I remembered our last runs, his relentless cheering at my first triathlon  swim, and the Monday morning I spoke to his wife when she told me he was gone.

Today I let myself run into the feelings and not away.  On my way back, a gentleman commented on four strangers side by side for one brief moment on the trail.  Someone said "serendipity" and we all kept moving forward, each in our way.

The Band Elwood, The Band

The Ryman,
June 2014

This Friday photo brought to you by:

• a 10 person band
• hearing your name shouted across a parking lot five minutes after arriving to the city
• free parking as a result of the above
• one desperation hot dog, three reading waters, a soda, and caramel corn (though maybe not in that order)
• an opening act which reminded you of Hardly Strictly (without the Solvang Strand)
• feet with dancing blisters
• four hours in the car for four hours not in the car
• a 2:00 a.m. Hey Jude singalong and a 7:30 a.m. conference call
• choosing memories over spreadsheets

Have a great weekend!  Happy reading! 

The Bike is Right

Matt* seemed like a really nice person.  He grabbed the bike beside you in spin and you guessed that during the winter he would occasionally be mistaken for Santa.  Gentle white beard and hair, jolly posture, and a smile.  You were a bit tired; you had given up some sleep this weekend for more play.  He said something about being there because of the bad things he ate over the weekend; you mentioned a cheeseburger.  You both laughed.

The spin instructor is a substitute.  She's wearing a West Point sweatshirt.

The music started.

It was a short warm-up today but you were okay with that because your legs felt like lead.  (You would later change your mind as you moved into the three-minutes "on" and three minutes "off" section of the class.  Hello, West Point?!)

A song plays during the three minute break.  Matt asks you about the band; you say "Santana" and you think as the younger, you're educating him a bit.  He says "That is correct," and your stomach drops for no particular reason.

Work set.  "Do you feel that cheeseburger now?", he asked.

Work set.  "Never let them see you sweat."

Work set.  A series of "Who is this band?" and you don't know anymore if the sweat is from the bike or the barrage of questions which is starting to feel like an oral exam.  (You have a flashback to Materials class.)

You start glancing at the clock a little more often and wonder if you will make it.

You waver on The Beatles to close things out but you manage a smile and back slowly away on the stretches.

Today's Spin lesson:  Don't judge a book by its cover (unless they are in fact wearing West Point, because you will hurt a little.)

*Matt is not his real name but it rhymes with bike.  

Record Breaking

Special thanks to The New York Times for introducing me to the Calliope Author Readings this morning.  In the early 1960s, Harry and Lynne Sharon Schwartz along with Howard Kahn, readers and entrepreneurs, tackled a project to give authors their voice on 33 1/3 rpm vinyl for the value price of $1.95.  As one might imagine, while this project managed to break even (thanks to the help of Kahn's parents), it wasn't a storming success.  [And to be fair, this was a tough era to compete for vinyl dollars with The Rolling Stones and well, The Beatles.]

The story of the onset of the original project is fascinating and the author's list is quite notable:  James Jones, Phillip Roth, and John Updike are highlights.  The series will be released for a second time in a two-volume set; the authors' recordings are between 14 and 24 minutes.  I cannot wait to hear it.  

The Final Frontier

Because Saturdays are really for:

    Sleeping in [down comforter]
    Space Interviews  [Chris Hadfield via The Guardian]
    Singing [Space Oddity by Chris Hadfield via David Bowie]
    Starbucks [triple venti]

and six weeks later moving finally unpacking the 23 boxes that somehow are supposed to fit in your galley kitchen so you can make your first proper meal which doesn't use [oven + a screwdriver].

Happy Saturday folks.  Hope you've got your ground control.

Allegro Presto

There are days when you are tired and if you dared admit it, a little bit sad, and you push yourself to make it through a small mountain of paper which has adhered itself to your desk.  Perhaps on those days especially, you take a little extra time to check on members of your team and in the fifteen minutes or so you spend with a couple of women, you hear two of the most heart-breaking stories you think you've ever heard.  You encourage but know you will need to search out something beautiful with which to end your day.

For those evenings, I recommend Chris Thile playing Bach on mandolin. (Bach is a personal favorite, and Thile happens to think the piano is one of the greatest instruments in the world so he's a man after my heart.)  His performance is amazing.    

"Out of Darkness Comes Light"

While on the West Coast, I saw a sign which said "Jerusalem" which was just enough to get this song (with the same title) playing as background music in my head the last two weeks.  [If you like reggae, trust me, it's catchy.]  I had not watched the video until tonight but many of the scenes reminded me of my trip there a few years back.  [It even jogged my memory to the little note I left in the wailing wall during my visit.]  

No surprise then to be drawn to this Guardian review for the Observer Food Monthly Awards best cookbook for 2013.  There's an entire section on hummus.  

I'll let you guess the title.

Don't Fret About It

I once dated a musician who wouldn't let me touch his guitar.*  He had a Gibson Hummingbird of a vintage year and was quite sentimental about it.  [It was the same guitar that Emmylou plays.]  Since I am a pianist, my genteel fingertips and resulting strums did not have the magic to land me in No Depression but I was allowed a few supervised forays into the world of Girls with Guitars.**

With music on the brain fresh from last night's live performance, this NYT article by Larry Richter grabbed my attention like a capo: Roll Over, Stradivarius: ‘Inventing the American Guitar’ Explores 1840s Innovations.  Martin's been making guitars since 1833.

   * Not a euphemism.
** Playing a guitar and the harmonica in a holder is way harder than it looks, particularly if you are trying to look cool.  [ See also: Flashbacks if you ever wore headgear for braces.]

PS  J, when it was clear that things weren't going to work out, I jammed on your guitar while you were out...a lot.

Soar Winner

Inspiration comes lately at odd hours and from unexpected places.  A day of music and cloud watching interrupted in one set by a v formation of geese.  

It reminded me of a photo of a "to do list" from a friend: 

1) Learn to fly

2) Fly away

And then this: a public art installation of birds made of books entitled "Language of the Birds"

Incidentally, for my fellow knitters out there, this v formation is sometimes called a skein. 

It's So Easy

Linda Ronstadt is one of the artists included in my Dad's record collection.  I can't remember the first time I heard her music, but she's one of the singers who stayed in my personal musical rotation through the years.  Her biography  Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir has been added to my book list at the positive review by another artist and GBC local, Gretchen Peters.

Hope you're finding a little musical inspiration this weekend.

Thursday Night Lights

Historical theatre with a historical band.  Music soothing the soul.

Princess Theatre, Decatur, AL
September 2013

Rhye Smile

Normally, I find inspiration in the morning: a fresh start, the break of day, the first rays of sunlight, chirping birds, coffee....normally...beauty and words.  This morning, even my surprise, gifted, triple venti latte after my cafe con leche wasn't enough to bring me out of the haze.

So this evening, as I've rationalized Cheezits and wine for dinner for the second consecutive evening, I turn to the thing that always lifts my spirits and never fails to inspire.  Music.

Hope you enjoy a little Rhye.

Side A Side B

[I will spare you an Oscars' monologue rant this morning (though it's still on my mind).]

Did you know that Fats Domino (born Antoine Dominique Domino) is 85 today?  In his honor, pull out a few 45s or listen to "Blueberry Hill" or "Ain't that a Shame".  I have memories of both songs playing through our old stereo at home.  I'm grateful my parents loved music and that my dad liked to barter records.

Hope your rainy Tuesday has its own melody.

4/4, 3/4, 4/4....14

I find myself randomly humming songs.  I think sometimes, my brain catches a rhythm  and my mind finds a song to keep time.

Today's ear worm as a 14th day mantra from Lennon and McCartney

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Falling Down

Rain, rain, rain, rain,
Beautiful rain.

Oh, come, never come,
Oh, come, never come,
Oh, come to me beautiful rain

I've had this song lyric stuck in my head all morning.  The version I've been humming is from the ND Glee club, but the Ladysmith Black Mambazo version is also fantastic.  Hope your rainy day doesn't get you down.

Love Them and Leaf Them

I came across this story yesterday and found it to be fascinating.  I also enjoyed the photography/video of the plant transitions.  Courtesy of NPR:  "Nature Has a Formula That Tells Us When It's Time to Die" by Robert Krulwich.

A few notes:

• It's not as depressing as it sounds.
• Warning, this story contains math.
• The opening line of the story happens to remind me of Waxing Wayne, a song an old boyfriend once wrote about the moon and a guy named Wayne who worked at a wax factory.  (You can't live in Nashville without having dated a songwriter.  Well, you can, but you're missing out on the opportunity to pay for a lot of dates.)  

Happy Monday!

A Piece of the Pi

History of pi
Petr Beckman

You probably don't know me very well if you don't know I have a fascination with π (pi).  It started when I was a child enduring (reveling in, actually) my Dad's rhymes about cake and pi when we would cut dessert and continued on though my minor in Mathematics to my present day self, owner of numerous π themed items and of course, books (like this one).

I was pretty excited last night to discover 2Pi:  Rhymes and Radii via NPR.  Jake Scott is a teacher and he's aware that math can appear to some to be quite (I know this is shocking)  dull.  He also knows that kids' attention spans are short.  (Scott is obviously a realist.)  His solution, a math-rapping alter-ego 2 Pi.  The videos were brilliant and I love his statement that "...if there's no connection, then there's no response."  True for teaching.  True for life.

Mr. Scott, I salute your decision to education children, and I adore that you are finding ways to show that math can be fun.

Hark, Joy, Wishing you...

Despite the craziness that is the week before Christmas, I had a few moments of genuine bliss:

• surprising a few (former) neighbors by returning to town to join a party
• hugging everyone at the event more than once (tightly)
• singing perhaps a bit off key (loudly)
• having a photo made with my favorite doppelganger of all time and still having someone confuse us when she entered the room
• walking the streets just any way we wanted (but not loose)
• "performing" for Joy Williams at one of the restaurants, though I only know that via someone else.  (I'm the worst to identify all the songwriters and singers here)
• talking about life and having someone ask me aloud the hard question I've been asking myself for a year (I still don't know the answer and this wasn't exactly bliss but it was probably good for me)
• helping the youngest member of the GBC find a chair for a gingerbread snack
• exchanging presents (books of course!) with GBC P@1ge at 5:45 a.m. when both of us were still half asleep 

Hugs to all and Merry Christmas greetings!  I plan to take a bit of a writing break during the season but I'll be back at least once more before the calendar turns the page.  Wishing you safe journeys, peaceful moments, and lots of smiles along the way.  If you're lucky, perhaps you'll get mobbed by a group of accordion-accompanied rogue carolers who fancy reading water and singing.

Never Stop

It was one of those days that didn't stop from the moment that the alarm went off, through one cup a coffee, a quick cold run with inadvertent ending through sprinklers at 34 degrees on to two more cups of coffee, straight through a series of meetings, standing lunch, emails, coffee, reports and then finally before you know it you're standing in Target just before closing buying dinner and a bottle of reading water.

It must be the type of day which inspired The Bad Plus.  (It is a music month, isn't it?)

Sounds Like...

It's Monday.  It's raining, and for those of you who don't have the day off (like me), you might want a little melody to get you moving.  NPR's All Things Considered will do the job with its flashback to 1972 and this number one hit by Adriano Celentano.  The story behind the song is rather entertaining but you will absolutely lose three minutes and forty-five seconds if you start the video.  It's mesmerizing.  It reminds me of something Madonna may have thought about doing in one of her videos with a slight hint of Paula Abdul if Ms. Abdul was going for stark and Italian.  The melody?  I'm afraid it just may be with me for the rest of the day.