What A Difference

What a difference a day makes. Last night, at this time, we were tuning guitars getting ready to go on stage........tonight, doing laundry, sitting in my pj's at home, still blissing out.

I am a tired camper, running on empty, well more like three hours of sleep. That's ok, I'd do again it tonight if given the opportunity.

Life is like that, twenty four hours can turn your world upside down or right side up. Yesterday you could have been living the same life you had lived for years, and something good or bad could change it all in a heartbeat.

Ten years ago this week, Rick's younger brother Darrin passed away. I still miss him very much.

He and I had a great relationship.......he was funny and smart and lived life in the fast lane.

But, he knew that regardless of his life choices, he could always count on me. Darrin was more like a younger best friend than a brother-in-law. I have thought about him often today.......he would have loved our playing the Flora/Bama, he would have been there with all his wacky friends cheering us on. His life was over way too soon, he was on his way to a successful career in tv,but life was difficult for him, he was a fragile soul.......and we all know those are the ones who don't make it.

What a difference a day makes.........yesterday walking on the beach, last night singing my heart out, today back at work, back at home, hanging with the dogs. It's all good.

Bucket List, check one off

One of the things on my "bucket list"........to play the Flora/Bama and everybody gets quiet and listens.....that happened tonight. For those of you who don't know, the Flora/Bama is just a rowdy

fun filled music venue on the Gulf Coast. It is the home of the Frank Brown International Songwriter's Festival. Rick and I were invited down to close tonight's show, and as always it was a loud rowdy crowd. But in my dream, on my bucket list it has always been that the crowd would settle down and listen, well that dream came true tonight. It had been LOUD and ROWDY all evening, but as we began to play, silence spread across the room, and the crowd listened........

My feet have not touched the ground since we closed our set, there were some "heavy" players in that room tonight, folks who are really in the music scene and they listened and complimented us when we finished....and invited us back for next year.

It may not seem like much, to play a smoke filled room, with over served patrons who for the most part ignored most of the folks who were up there playing their hearts out. But it's those moments, when the music gods smile on you.......you gotta get'em while you can.

I have to go to bed, we have a very early day because I teach tomorrow afternoon, but I just want to savor this night for a few more moments. Tonight......I am happy, I am grateful, I am on cloud nine.........I am blessed.

Taking the Cure

A few years ago, I read a book about one of the Impressionist Artists who came down with consumption. Sorry, can't remember which artist it was, but at that time physicians recommended going to the sea shore for the "cure". When my dad was living, he loved coming to the ocean because he said it always made him feel so much better. He had black lung, and for those of you who are not familiar with that disease, I hope no one you love ever gets it.

It is a lung disease that underground coal miners develop. The coal dust gets in the lungs and hardens with the mucus, it is a sad, slow death.

Some of you know that I also deal with lung "gunk" and it seems that for the past several weeks, no matter what I could not get rid of it. At times I have written about craving the feel of the salty air, as it fills my lungs. My body knows best. I have spent a great part of the day outside, letting that salty breeze do its job. It has rained all day, but we have walked on the beach and sat on the veranda and I have taken deep healing breaths. I cannot tell you how much better I feel.......how much easier it is to breathe tonight.

I dreamed of my mom and dad last night and the little cottage on Laguna Beach, Fl where we spent summer vacations. My dad was happy and smiling and I woke up happy and smiling.

I want a cottage by the sea, on the Atlantic coast or northern Pacific coast. I want rocky cliffs and cold grey water and a wind that howls. A place where I can take the cure anytime I need and friends and family can visit . A roaring fire in the fireplace, a pot of soup on the stove and a hot cup of tea, ya'll come, we'll take the cure together.

Late Post/Confession

Ok, here it is..........I don't know how to relax! We walked on the beach early this morning, and I kept thinking, I have to get back, eat breakfast, get dressed.........and then it dawned on me, I don't have to do anything, I am at the beach!!

I came back to the condo, got out the yoga mat, did yoga by the pool. Ate breakfast, picked up a book and read for the past hour and a half. Wow, I don't even know where my watch is. No classes to teach, no calls to make, and I will answer e-mails when I am good and ready. How is that for relaxation?

This is my favorite time to visit the beach. No crowds, skies are grey, wind is howling and rain is on the way, the only thing missing is a fireplace. My biggest decision today......what's for lunch?

Wish you were here.

No Internet access tonight will post Mon

An Ordinary Day

It has been a busy Saturday. My hometown did a Veteran's Memorial this morning, there was a paver placed honoring my dad's service in World War ll and I saw many friends I had not seen in a long time. It was a sweet, beautiful service and I am proud of my hometown, they did a great job.

We had dinner with friends tonight, and watched the Alabama game with them. Grilled burgers and dogs and home made apple pie, life is good. And Alabama won!

It has been a simple, busy sweet day. No drama, just doing ordinary stuff, for me this is a good day. We don't get a lot of these days and I cherish them when we do. Sometimes ordinary is

extraordinary....... doing laundry, grocery shopping, visiting with friends, sharing a meal. These are the things that make life good, that make life manageable, that makes life sane.

According to my friends, I live a pretty exciting life...... and I suppose I do. I think of it as just different. But the basics are important too, there has to be some grounding/connecting, a foundation if you will. That time of doing the everyday, the normal. Nothing will bring you down to earth faster than good friends and time with family. Rick and I are lucky, we are blessed to live our lives doing what we love, but no matter how grateful we are, it is always good to be reminded of the simple joys...........friendship, community, and lots of laughter.

Today was a wonderful ordinary day.

Frozen Moments

I love photographs, it's the next best thing to being there.......and I am lucky enough to have friends who are great photographers. I am speechless by the beauty and creativity of the photographs that my friends share with me. A photograph captures a single moment forever. It can show beauty or raw ugliness, sadness or indescribable joy. A photograph can freeze an image into our brains forever, I mean how could anyone ever forget the photo of John Kennedy Jr. saluting as his father's corpse passed by.

I have an I-phone and one of the most amazing features.....it's a pretty good little camera and down right handy! But my photos fade in comparison with some of the ones that my friends take.

In the past few months, friends have sent me photos of fragile hummingbirds, dazzling waterfalls,

breath-taking skydiving shots, and sunsets that make me want to pack my bags and head for exotic destinations.

I love old photos too, looking at family members and friends through the decades can trigger laughter and tears. There are photos that make me really uncomfortable too, those of me as a kid. Not sure why, but it is very unnerving for me to see myself as a child.

I live with a very good photographer too. Rick has shot some incredible photos through the years. We have boxes of slides and old black and whites, friends, family, and vacations, a smorgasbord of Kodak memories.

I have photos of friends on my desk, scattered all through the house. Laughing, smiling faces,

those split seconds of joy, there forever. I love to take photos of Jordan, my great nephew, but he hates to have his picture taken, you have to be really fast and tricky to get a picture of him.

I have a photo of me singing on stage with the Paul Thorn band, and only a few close friends know this about me, but I was a model in the late sixties through early eighties. Believe it or not, there were photos of me in Seventeen, Runner's World, just to name a couple of mags. That was truly another lifetime ago.

Photos, they are magical, such a unique way to capture a time, a place, a feeling. I have many of my mom's old family photos, this year at Christmas I want to share them with my siblings.

I have decided to just spread them across the kitchen table and let everyone take what they want.

So for those friends who I keep encouraging to do a calendar or book of your photos, take note.

Those pictures really are special, of great beauty and emotion, others want to enjoy them too.

There is a gift in capturing those moments, those times and places should be remembered and shared.