Category: Journal

You Ask – I Answer video

Thank you for being one of a few. You are already my beta readers. Now would you be one of my beta viewers? Let me know what you think about this first video You Ask – I Answer video series. I am making these with Zoom while recording myself. I challenge you. Do something outside of your comfort zone. This certainly is for me. Another challenge: Do something you would have depended on someone else to do before Covid19.

Please leave a comment with feedback and any questions you would like for me to answer.

Later this series will be available to subscribers only.

WHY I BLOG

Zoom Anyone?

Yesterday’s bed dismantled made this Zoom and sewing dedicated space possible. Before the room was like a closet room, a messy one at that. The photo is one corner. I am not ready to show you the whole room or the area behind my living couch where I moved boxes, baskets, storage bins, and bags. It seems my life is a never ending process of sorting, deciding what to keep, what to throw away, and where to put what I keep. I think spiritual life is like that. You can make good choices on what to keep and what to get rid of, but still you have to find where everything goes. Sometimes nothing seems to fit in an empty space. Sometimes a place cries for something beautiful.

In sorting through, I found my sewing machine, a lot of fabric and batting, and some UFOs (UnFinished Objects). Yes, quilting is calling me.

Logical Change

Since I am self-isolated, even family visits are limited with social distancing and masks at times. I will not have overnight company any time soon, yet one of my two small bedrooms was set up as a guest room – until today. I dismantled the bed. In its place, I will set up a Zooming and sewing area.. Having one place with the right lighting and background for Zoom will be a time saver. Having my sewing machine and clutter off the dining room table will keep my stress level lower. I look forward to the time I will feel safe with overnight company. Until I get another bed, there’s the air mattress.

I am practicing answering in short videos the questions I am often asked. Some of them are about Garth Brooks and why he says, “She started it all.”

Learning Curve

For the last two days, I have been consumed by WordPress Growth Summit. For the last month, I have been in the middle of Jeff Goins’ Intentional Blog.

I now know enough to get lost going down any number of rabbit holes. You are going to see a lot of experimental features. Today I am learning I can have columns in individual posts. Edit: Multiple columns in one post do not show in phone view – only in desktop or tablet. Yes – definite learning curve.

How do you feel about being a Guinea pig? If you are reading this, you are. Perhaps, you will be more willing if i call you a beta reader – and listener.

I have decided to go ahead and publish while experimenting.

Blame It On…

No one to blame but me for all the chaos coming until the blog evolves. Including “Wish I Could Blame It on Tequila” lets me experiment adding audio. Sandy Carroll and I wrote the song. It is published in our respective publishing companies.

“Wish I Could Blame It on Tequila” written by Sandy Carroll and me – published by our respective publishing companies – info later

Did you listen to the song? If so, please leave a comment.

Ii think all my followers are personal friends at this point, so I feel free to experiment.

I may not post as often and what I post may be bit scattered while I am playing with content and format.

Obtainable or Pie in the Sky?

When the pandemic started one bit of commonly found advice was to learn a new language. I wonder how many people followed through with that? Building this blog is somewhat like learning a new language. A basic one is not so hard, like learning how to say hello and a few basic phrases of a language is not so hard.

I want to be fluent. Jeff Goins’ Intentional Blog course was a start. (If I were fluent, I would know how to embed that link). That course is as intensive as many university classes I have taken. I am not through with it. Thank heavens, I can always go back through the modules and read and post in the private Facebook group. Now I am enrolled in the WordPress Growth Summit. Until this year, it was in a big city and not virtual, so I could not have attended.

I will know how to accomplish what I want with this blog. I will have the skills. I have content to share. Will I? If I could be as connected and active with others now as I was before Covid19, I doubt I would follow through. I would be doing what I want this blog to do – share songs, host shows, spotlight people, keep conversations going, and tell my story. I can do that in this blog in a more permanent way.

Thank you for being here at the beginning. If you would, please, subscribe to my email list. At some point you will have access to content no one else does. One newsletter a week – if I can keep up.

Who wants to see shooting stars?

Have you ever been to a Perseids party? I had one one year. We spent more time talking, eating, and drinking than we did stargazing. Of course, we could not have seen many shooting stars at 8:00 CST in the city. I have not had another one. After all, what is a Perseids party without the shooting stars?

Go to the following NASA page for all you need to know to have a better chance than I did. They peak this week.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/perseids/in-depth/

“The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long “wakes” of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth’s atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them.

Perseids are also known for their fireballs. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter, with apparent magnitudes greater than -3.” – NASA

The meteors are referred to as “spectacular-earth-grazing-shooting-stars by Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/08/07/perseid-meteor-shower-in-3-easy-steps-when-and-where-you-can-see-spectacular-earth-grazing-shooting-stars/

What Options Are Open?

Before this pandemic, I was active in the Muscle Shoals music community and felt good about my contributions. I organized and hosted shows – big and small. My living room was the chosen place for writing songs with my close circle of cowriters. A hug at my door, good coffee, and soup for lunch were expected. We wrote what we call the song in the room. Those sessions flowed.

I wrote two or three times a week. Now I know those sessions were precious gifts. I miss those cowriting sessions so much. I miss the little things like handing someone a cup of coffee or a bowl of soup, seeing their smiles, and hearing them comment about how good. I miss our deep sharing of our experiences and philosophies. I miss the spontaneous laughter. Oh, how I miss that. I miss the sound of guitars and keyboards and my cowriters’ voices. I miss them all so much that unexpectedly , I am close to tears.

Then there were the Soup and Songs gatherings at my house with my music and other friends. One time I had reached out to young writers that I did not know personally. I greeted one person at the door with, “And you would be? ” One of my goals was to be sure no one knew everyone. How long before we feel the magic of being together again?

I miss the invitation only Circle of Friends Song Circles that I hosted. I miss it all, the planning, the promoting, and most of all sitting in that circle of twenty or so listening to songs. I miss the break with everyone talking so much that someone with a louder voice than I had to get everyone back in their seats for the second round. I miss the more formal Soup and Song Symposiums that I cohosted.

I miss our demo sessions. Our sessions with songwriters, musicians, engineers and soup at East Avalon studio are hard to describe. For some things, words are not enough

We carry on with Zoom the best we can with cowriting, Song Circle, Thursday morning Circle Round Coffee, and with Facebook private groups.

Muscle Shoals music community is close. We miss each other. I ask myself what now, what I can I do to keep what we have and help it grow? How can I be inclusive and help maintain and deepen our connections. I do not know exactly how, but this blog is part of the answer.

Please, leave comments. Ask me questions. We all need interaction. Let us be community.

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In the West

One reason for this blog is for legacy’s sake. I know that it is presumptuous to assume people will want to know about my life, but if they do, I want them to be able to find an account. I want to leave as much behind as possible. If you are familiar with the Native American Medicine Wheel, you will understand when I say I am in the west, my sunset years. Some think I am being morbid or negative, but I think I am being realistic and positive. Sunsets are often beautiful.

A friend recently asked me how old I see myself or feel inside. I surprised myself by answering, “a woman in her seventies”. I am seventy-six. The surprise was I said it with pride. Oh, not that I have not looked back with longing, but in that moment sitting under a shade tree visiting with a dear friend, I was more than content to be where I was and who I am. Even a year ago, I could not have said that. For years I have corrected people who compliment me by telling me I do not look or act my age. I tell them I do look and act my age – just not their preconceived view of my age.

In my sixties, I went through a doom and disaster worry stage. I dwelt on being single, female, low income, and getting older. I was sure my life would not get better. My focus was on maintaining. None of that has changed, but I do not worry about it, as much.

On this blog, I will share some of my past and present journey in hopes of others feeling a bit better about aging. One of the privileges of being my age is some people think I have surely learned something worth sharing. At one point I thought my best advise was don’t cut your own hair. Now I think i have some good advice. Fight the physical side of aging by taking care of your body, but do not fight against the fact you are aging. We all are. Fight any negative attitude about aging. Do not miss the beauty of any part of your life, no matter your age.

Listening to “Betty Jean” – right side bar or bottom of the blog will give you a bit of my journey.

Co-writing Session – What’s It Like?

A songwriter who does not play a instrument or even sing – that’s me. So, how can I say I am a songwriter? I am a word, image, and idea person with limited melody input. I do not write alone. I write with songwriters who do what I do and what I don’t.

This is the first installment.