Soul Music

(This week's Fun Monday assignment from Crown Princess is to share the ONE song that most reflects who we are. The song that, wherever it is heard, we smile.)



I was standing in back of the auditorium at Pikeville College nervously waiting to go on-stage to perform in the girl's (yes, it was a long time ago. . .) ensemble portion of the all-state choral competition. My trio would sing "Lo, How a Rose er Blooming" (repeating, it was a long time ago. . .). I prayed I'd remember my part. I hoped no one would notice that the black skirt that I wore was more rusty-red than black. Since I didn't own a black skirt, my mother had helped me make do by dyeing a red skirt black to wear with a white blouse for my costume.

As we waited to go on, the Prestonsburg High School Glee Club walked on-stage. They filled all the risers, looking splendid and professional in their red blazers. And then they opened their mouths and I forgot what they were wearing, what I was wearing, and whether I would remember my trio part later on.

The first soaring a cappella notes of Felix Mendelssohn's "Lift Thine Eyes To The Mountains" from the oratorio
Elijah drifted over the auditorium. I was overcome by its beauty. Right now as I'm typing this I have a lump in my throat. It was the first piece of great classical music that I had heard in a live performance.

I sang the refrain over and over, trying to remember as much as I could. I sang it at the top of my voice, directing an imaginary chorus, while washing dishes. This got me in big trouble with my no nonsense mother who didn't believe in multi-tasking. Eventually, I got to perform "Lift Thine Eyes" with a large choral group. And you know how you'll sometimes drive while singing at the top of you're lungs when you're happy? Well, after all these years, you still may be able to catch me driving down the interstate, singing and conducting My Song.

Now if classical isn't your thing, go over to Crown Princess and check out other Fun Monday participants and their special songs.

(If you'd like to check out the lyrics, just click on sheet music to enlarge.)

Once a Gardener

From the appearance of the yard, you'd never know that a once serious gardener lives on Summit Court. There was a time when I ordered winter hearty roses from Canada, day lilies from Oregon, and dwarf fruit trees from Michigan.

I planned and planted window boxes and containers that looked like paintings with their subtle mixed colors. Out on the deck landing I always had containers of fresh herbs, baby lettuces of all shades and varieties, and flowers at the ready for cooking and color.


These beautiful scarlet peonies were given to me by my 84 year old Aunt Draxie who'd had them in her own yard for over 60 years.






From July through August the Oregon daylilies were in full glorious bloom, massed in sweeping beds of many colors. This one I called Georgia Peach for its soft peachy color.







My idea of a great Saturday morning was to hop in the truck with my neighbor Buddy and pick up a de-thatcher from General Rental. We'd then spend the whole day combimg and raking my lawn until we had a soft green carpet for a wide variety of beautiful flowers, shrubs, and perennials. I was up at daylight and out in the yard working, sometimes still at it after dark by the porch light. I read about gardens, talked about gardening, spent my money on plants and garden tools. Any travel in the U.S. always included visits to the great gardens, especially in the south--the pocket gardens of Charleston, Bellingrath in Alabama, the Biltmore in North Carolina. In New England, it was shopping at the old nurseries like White Flower Farm and Logee's. All the time I was learning about plants and garden design. Then, I tried to apply what I learned in creating my own landscape. Sometimes the student did pretty well, don't you think?
All this was 15-20 years ago. Now my yard looks like the starting photo at the top of this post. The grass is spare and mossy, last fall's leaves cover the ground, branches and limbs from dead trees came down in the recent storms. There are no good foundation plantings around the house and moles have created underground condos all over the yard.

With the first signs of spring--yesterday I saw the first chevron of geese flying overhead on their return from winter feeding grounds--I'm ready to make Summit Court look like a gardener lives here again. These last dreary days of winter will be a good time to get out the books and catalogs and do some plotting until it's time to start kicking up some dirt again.

25 Good Years

(Tiggerlane, The Neophyte Blogger , is host for this week's Fun Monday. She wants to know what's on our Bucket List, the biggies on our to do before we die list. Thankfully, lofty is not required. Tigger says to feel free to share the most whacky, bizzare things we want to do before we roll over permanently. P.S. maybe someone along the way today will explain the origins of the term "bucket list" since many of us still need to see the film.)

Are any of you, like me, getting pretty weary of the idea of Oprah being the Grand Arbiter of Everything from literature to weight loss to presidential politics? I still enjoy her show and read the O Magazine from cover to cover, but sometimes she makes me tired. There's one exception though, her Ask Dr.Oz segments with the very winning and informative Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roisen, authors of the YOU series--YOU: The Owner's Manual, YOU: On a Diet, and the latest YOU: Staying Young.

It's the YOU:Staying Young that's helping me with my bucket list. Early in this book, the good doctors provide a formula for figuring out your biological RealAge based on lifestyle and behaviors rather than simple calendar age. I took the test at www.realage.com in about 30 minutes. I found out what I was doing wrong--like I didn't know already--and what I should do differently to extend my warranty. However, if I don't make any changes--likely--they figure I'll live until 87 years old--that's 25 good years left. So, here's my list:

Animal Rescue-- the faces pop up on the computer screen too often. Faces of animals, mostly dogs and cats, desperately needing rescue--from overcrowded, overwhelmed shelters; abusive or inconvenienced owners; lost or discarded animals. I intend to help some of these creatures find permanent, loving homes by being a card carrying, working member of an animal rescue group like the humane society, Best Friends, or other shelters. Since retiring I've had a small part in finding good homes for a few dogs. There's Spencer the poodle who went to live with three little girls, Jo Jo the handsome black lab that my friend and I delivered half way to a training place for companion animals, and the three Great Pyrennes pups that were abandoned by, we suspect, an Amish farm puppy mill. They went to a Great Pyrennes rescue group to be socialized and homed.

Right now I'd love to foster dogs, but that's impossible because Willie the pitbull insists on being an only dog and since he's 11 years old I'm not going to upset him. When the time comes for another dog, I'll rescue a softer breed like a golden who would be all right with us fostering needy animals. In the meantime, I intend to continue trying to match dogs with good owners and work in a local shelter to exercise and socialize dogs so they'll be more adoptable. I'll also continue to work with rescue groups that coordinate cross country drives to get dogs from one point to another so they can be united with adoptive families. Have crates and economy car will travel!

Adventure Travel-- there's a huge wall map over my computer desk with push pins marking the countries I've been lucky enough to visit for pleasure or work. Most memorable trips include: Rocky Mountaineer train ride across Canadian Rockies, long distance walk across England, watercolor workshop on French river barge, horticultural tours of England, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and the United States, and volunteer work in West Indies and Ukraine.

Once you get the travel bug, it's like the nits that a couple of blogger friends are fighting, hard to ignore, much less get rid of. So, in my remaining 25 good years I want to see and experience as much of the world as possible. This year it may be a September train tour of Europe. . .

Watercolor Artist-- I have the perfect space to paint--a room with great light,tall drafting table with brushes, paint tubes and other supplies at the ready, and many art reference books close at hand. More importantly, I have time to paint. I've studied watercolor with three fine artists over the past 15 years. From them I understand that everyone is an artist, but you have to do the work, spending a small amount of time daily painting and drawing. I know this works because there have been periods when I've done this consistently over a full month and been very pleased with my work. So someday I'd like to be able to say "Yes, I'm an artist" and know that I have the work to prove it.

Health & Wellness-- I'm blessed with excellent health, strong body and relatively stable mind (well. . .). In the time that I have, I plan to work hard to stay well and happy so I can check off all the other things on my bucket list. Now, if you're still looking for some wild and crazy things to put on your bucket list, go over to tiggerlane to check out other Fun Monday participants.

(Image Credit: all from google--I really do need to figure out those pesky copyright restrictions to be totally aboveboard.)

Heath

Last week I, like many others, was saddened to learn about the untimely death at 28 years of Heath Ledger, the brilliant and versatile Australian actor. Heath's death in his Manhattan apartment was a shock to all because he, unlike many other young celebrities, lived quietly under the publicity radar, concentrating on his acting and being a good father for his young daughter.

His death also got me thinking about the influence that a big film can have on movie goers. When I call a film "big" I'm not neccesarily talking about box office appeal and distribution. I'm remembering more precisely those films that stick with me. I care about the film's characters and their relationships with each other. I remember the script, the soundtrack, the setting. And, if I'm lucky, I change my mind about an issue or step out in a new direction as a result of seeing the film. Heath's portrayal of Ennis Del Mar, the introverted, maybe even numb, young cowboy in Brokeback Mountain was big for me--and many other people around the world.

It was in the winter of 2005 that I saw Brokeback Mountain for the first time. It was deeply affecting, a love story of two young cowboys--Ennis, the reserved and conflicted one who believed that in life whatever you were dealt you just had to "stand it" and Jack (played by Jake Gyllenhaal)the optimist who refused to be beaten down by reality. I could sense that others in the theater audience were moved, as I was, by the love story of two gay cowboys who came together at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

My long time friend, another middle-aged straight woman, saw the movie also. We then saw it three or four more times together. As the movie attracted more and more critical acclaim and fans, my friend became interested in a blog site that she found where people began by discussing the movie. That blog quickly evolved into a vehicle for the sharing of personal experiences--either by gay men and women or family members/friends who were dealing with the complexities of living with people they loved--or sometimes hated--who were gay.

The Brokeback Forum was created to serve as the sounding board for countless people who needed to tell their stories after seeing this movie. My friend, who has a background in educational technology, suggested to the forum founder, Dave Cullen, that these stories deserved to be published and she agreed to serve as the managing editor of the book project team. BEYOND BROKEBACK, The Impact of Film by Members of The Ultimate Brokeback Forum was published in spring 2007.

The moving thing about this book is the many ways that a film gave people the courage to make changes that would help them escape a marginalized existence and participate in all the normal pleasures of life--loving relationships with the right partner, friends, family , and work associates. Each chapter is a personal story of, as the title says, the impact of the film on that person's life. In some stories there is resolution, in others not. All are honest and true. I am glad to hear their stories. If you are interested in reading the book, it can be ordered on Amazon.com.

"Danic" is a 58 year old painter who lives with her husband in New York City. She writes about the scene in the movie where Ennis and Jack are goofing off with a lasso: "The metaphor of the lasso moves me because not only does it signify how Ennis became tangled up in Jack and that Jack roped him for life, but also because it means that, as a human beings and souls, we are all tangled up in each other, and The Maker will one day question why we did not love more." Heath as Ennis helped us to do just that.

Bedside Table Tales

(Aoj, host of this week's Fun Monday, over at Aoj and the Lurchers maintains that she, like her friend's mother, is not nosy, just interested in people. Huhm-m-m. . .very interested I'd say because she wants to see our bedside table--what's on it, under it, and even what's in the drawers!)


This tale is not a satisfying one because what I have is not what I want. My bedside table is a throwback to 30 years ago when the home decorating style was to purchase a "set" (that's mountain lingo for "suite" for the uninitiated) of matchy-matchy furniture for each room--bedroom, living, kitchen. What you ended up with was a boring, unwelcoming space. That's what I have.

I leave this room in the morning and rarely return until bedtime. Therefore, my bedside table inventory for Aoj is not very inspiring, nor very revealing of who I am. On the table top there's a not very good reading lamp, a box to set the lamp on to give some reading height, an ugly clock radio. But wait, when I opened the drawers I did find a journal in case I woke up in the night wanting to write; a sketchbook for a quick little line drawing; glasses that, judging from the lens size, must be at least 15 years old; and a booklight since you never know when the electricity might go. And, that V-shaped pillow on my bed is perfect for reading.

What I Want--if it were practical to start all over with creating a home, I'd love to go back to my youthful free-living days when home was a one room living space. When I graduated from college, life was very simple and straightforward. My goal was to always be able to pack up my possessions and move wherever my dreams and interests took me. So, I loaded up my anti-establishmint Ford Maverick ( no joking, that was the actual green color name for my car, it was the late 60s after all!) and headed to Florida to teach. I lived in a couple of one-room efficiency apartments there. With each subsequent move in post-college days, I wanted that cozy, pared down living space that you see in this photo. In a couple of places I almost succeeded. What a pleasure to have everything that you love in sight and accessible. Simple living at its best.

By now I suspect you're growing bored with my bedside table tale. So, head on over to Aoj and the Lurchers to see what the other Fun Monday participants are willing to show you.

All About Me

Linda over at Straight Up and Slightly Dirty tagged me for the "Six Random Things " meme. It's not often that I get an invitation to natter on about myself, so thanks Linda! First the rules:

1. link to the person that tagged you,


2. post the rules on your blog,


3. share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself,


4. tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to this blog, and


5. let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Now here's six random things about me that some out in the blogosphere may find mildly interesting:

1. I shared a shower stall with Steve Hamilton, relief pitcher for the New York Yankees for many years--well not literally. Throughout my college years I lived with the Hamiltons as a nanny/mother's helper/starving student who wouldn't leave a good thing once she found it. Steve was athletic director and baseball coach at my college in the off season. At the end of the school year Steve's wife Shirl and I loaded the kids in the station wagon and joined him in the New York City 'burbs close to Yankee Stadium for the summer. About the shower stall: we lived in a very small house with six people and one bathroom so Steve and I had to use the basement shower by the sump drain.


2. I've watched every Republican and Democratic presidential debate this year. I even rate the candidates' performances. For example: at last night's Republican debate in Boca Raton, FL I gave Romney a "competent", McCain "stiff/angry", Giuliani "shallow", Paul "frustrated", and Huckabee "not serious". I also keep a U.S. map of winners for state primaries and caucuses. In case there's a question about my obsession, I also have a running list of the number of delegates each candidate has won.


3. I once slept out on the street all night in a ticket line to buy tickets for a Neil Diamond concert--are you figuring out just how old I am?


4. I once dated a socially awkward accountant who won a Publisher's Clearinghouse promptness (he was an accountant!) prize of $2,700. Accepted his invitation to travel with him to New York for the Publisher's Clearinghouse publicity tour and prize ceremony. Somehow I never felt the same about SAA after he came down in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel with tie in hand and asked one of the other men to help him with his tie. PC is the real deal though, so don't throw away those entrance forms. But don't count on them for your retirement funds either.


5. I never met a reality show that I didn't love--Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Project Runway, Top Chef to name a few. I keep weekly stats on who's winning and losing. Okay, I'll even admit to watching The Bachelor. Yes, I should get help.


6. I read most magazines from back to front because I love the "last words" in most of them. I also read the editor's column in every magazine. Like to see what they promise to deliver that month.

With apologies to Linda, I won't be able to complete the last two tasks in the meme. I've only been blogging since last May and haven't built enough readership to feel comfortable with tagging six other bloggers. Hey, I'm from the south, but still don't hit on strangers! However, if this little exercise in self-revelation appeals, we'd love to have you share your "Six Randoms." Just link to this post and we'll come looking for you.

Meet My Reading List

Laurie over at three dog blog started something with the January 23rd post on her family's '07 book reading competition. How interesting. First of all, that there's enough reading interest in one family to even have a competition is unusual. Secondly, to get a chance to see a monthly list of what a non-famous person is reading (I can always look in Oprah to see what Ben Affleck enjoys reading. . .) is very revealing.

What we read says a lot about who we are. If I don't know a person very well, I'll always ask what they're reading. If I haven't seen a friend in awhile, I'd much rather they ask "What are you reading now?" than "What have you been up to?" The first question gets to my soul and opens up a meaningful conversation. The second just passes the time.

So, here's my reading list for 2007. I thought it was longer, but I guess reality TV, magazines, and politics got in the way. What do you think? Would this list make you want to hang out with me?

January
None (what happened?)
February
At 70-Journal of May Sarton by May Sarton
Fireflies in Winter by Jack McCall
March
Dog Years-A Memoir by Mark Doty
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
April
Lying Together-My Russian Affair by Jennifer Beth Cohen
Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
A School Teacher in Old Alaska by Jane Jacobs
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

May
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
June
A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
July
The Loved Dog by Tamar Gellar
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin
August
Beyond Brokeback-Impact of a Film by Brokeback Forum
September
Dog Days-Dispatches from Bedlam Farm by Jon Katz
Merle's Door-Lessons of a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote

October
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Be the Pack Leader by Cesar Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier
The Inner Voice-Making of a Singer by Renee Fleming
November
Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky
Her Way-The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Jeff Gerth and Don van Natta
Life's a Campaign by Chris Matthews
December
Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell
Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
The Lemon Tree-An Arab, A Jew, and Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan

Well, if I didn't know this person except by this reading list, here's what I might think. One, she's absolutely crazy about dogs and wants to know more and more about human/dog relationships and how to live well with them. Second, she's deeply worried about the Middle East and tries to understand the people living there, their culture and conflicts. Third, she is a wanna be artist, interested in living creatively. Fourth, she respects and admires people who show what they're made of by helping others in times of great national and international conflict such as WW II and its aftermath. Finally, she enjoys getting into a good Irish tale, a bit of murder and mayhem, and presidential politics occasionally.

What does your '07 reading list have to say about you?