Bucket List Trip #2 is now complete. As is the case when any goal is set and then achieved, the emotions surrounding it are many. It is much like what I experienced when I was playing recitals. For a long period of time, all of your thoughts and energy are focused on that one thing and then, in what seems like no time at all, it is over. In that “overness” is a swirl of thoughts, emotions, and images. As…
On my 56th birthday, I wrote this post, the first in what I intended to be a weekly post about making my way from 56 to 60. That did not go exactly as planned. I acknowledged my failure with those weekly posts a few days back and am now starting again where I am, with Sailing Toward Sixty #9- Here We Go Again! This post’s title is not what you think. This series of posts got its name from the realization that…
As a musician by profession, it will come as no surprise that I love going to live concerts. I also love live theater. What I don’t like is how expensive tickets to these things can be. “Good” seats for both can cost hundreds of dollars. It is not that I don’t think experiencing these things as a member of the audience is worth the money. I know first hand how much time, energy, sweat, and money is needed to produce…
Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To give the poor dog a bone; But when she got there The cupboard was attacked by a full bottle of soy sauce That made a big mess and kicked her in the rear. Okay…It wasn’t Mother Hubbard or a cupboard. It was me and my pantry. But, the soy sauce and the big mess are truth! Most days I have to laugh at the universe’s incredible sense of humor and how…
I am now a month into summer vacation 2019. As is the case with everything these days, I have no idea where the time has gone. Thus far my break can be summed up as…random acts of…. Today I find myself examining these last four weeks more intentionally, trying to identify in concrete terms exactly what I have done, what I haven’t done, and what I want to be doing with my days. This exploration will hopefully lead me to…
One thing that I think most of us have learned by the time we reach “a certain age” is that there are no guarantees in this life. Thus, we should take nothing for granted, not the big things and not the small things. Our lives can be turned upside down in an instant. Over the weekend, I was out-of-town visiting a friend and participating in a bowling fundraiser. Despite cold, sleet, ice, and snow, it was a great weekend. This…
So what’s up with old, older, old-ish, people over fifty and their fascination, or maybe it’s an outright obsession, with the weather? When my dad retired from the Navy, my parents moved back to their home state of Delaware where, at the time, my grandmother still lived. Almost every evening from 1985 until 2012 when my grandmother passed away, my dad, the the dutiful son, would call his mother to check on her. Inevitably, the conversation always began with, “How’s the weather over…
I realized that when I started this series about making my way from age fifty-six to age sixty, I never explained why I chose the name that I did. Names are important. I always tell my music composition students that they must give their work meaningful names. This lets me know that they have taken ownership of their creation. So, why am I calling these posts Sailing Toward Sixty? One of the reasons that I started writing about my journey toward…
I was out of town last weekend at Click Away, a photography conference primarily for woman, but there were a few brave men who attended, Weber being one of them. We met several of my Capture Your 365 photography friends in Amelia Island, Florida for some fellowship and some sessions to hopefully help our grow our photography skills. As I was packing to go, I realized that I was excited about the photography element of the trip, but I might…
According to Facebook, today is Friends Day. It is really Facebook’s birthday. Since Facebook allows friends to stay it contact with one another over space and time, they have dubbed it Friends Day as a means of celebration. That makes a great tie-in to the post that I intended to write several weeks ago, before the flu so rudely messed up my plans. The week before I got sick, my friend, Becca, came to visit from Illinois. Having a…