InMotion

  Discussed :   seasonal rearrangements, cultural contrasts, a strange big island, mass musical culture, family ghosts, werewolves. Carol and I get in the car with our friend Kristin’s boyfriend’s son’s girlfriend Nadia on Tuesday Feb. 21, 2023.   We are shuttled  50 miles to Portland, and pay Nadia $100.   We h ave the folding bike loaded into the cargo bay. We sit in the plane, get off and soon get on another, try to sleep. We walk off the plane 15 hours later, gathering our stuff and greeting my niece Anna on a bright sunny humid Thursday afternoon in Melbourne. It’s 6 months into the past or the future, and 80 degrees not 40.   Not taking it for granted, I accept this as a journey on a magic carpet, woven from ancient fossils we have taken to calling fuel. Adventure ensues.   We encounter all manner of animals and birds and plants that confirm the alchemy of the carpet.   We notice that the land is enchanted but the people are strangely just like us.   What are they doing here?

Discussed : sloth and torpor, things we do, survival, Koalas  I always strive to make what I write tasty, at least aromatic, in that there is something about it that draws one in.  Curiosity is what I am counting on, in the sense that I actually hope this gets read and that it offers something.  How can I describe what happens to allow this blog space to be empty for over 4 months?  There are excuses that have something to do with everyday activities and responsibilities, but they turn out to be pretty lame excuses when you dig a bit deeper.  I've put "writing" on my identity resume as a thing I do, so to actually not do it creates anxiety.  Amazing to think that at a radical (real) level, this is simply a manifestation of my innate laziness.  Amazing, I AM Lazy!! Instead of writing, I worry about not having written. Instead of writing, I wonder about what to write.  That's uncomfortably accurate.  And yet...this awareness is an opportunity to realize that despite my

  Been way too long.   Often, I feel anxious and worried about whatever (no shortage of topics and fears), but lately I’ve been more at ease and curiosity seems to have taken the place of anxiety.   That’s a very good thing.   So, in this post I’ll ramble, and hopefully you’ll be curious and read on.   I’ll keep it short.   Previous posts from me have generally had a “theme”, this time it is what it becomes.   In honor of his passing, a friend posted on Facebook today a YouTube of Ahmad Jamal playing in 1959.   Inspired, I read that shortly after his 92 nd birthday, Mr. Jamal told a New York Times interviewer that “whenever I sit down at the piano, I always come up with fresh ideas”.   Twenty-one  years hence may I say the same!   Trying to stay fresh, here we go. My wife Carol and I have “downsized” to a 983 sq. ft. house, but it’s got a large garage (400 sq. ft.).   Recently we  had hanging shelves installed in the garage, and now the space is waiting to find out how it will be