This might be a common response from those of us living in Washington State…I hear the word “narrow” and this is what immediately comes to mind. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
I have taken so many photos of this bridge over the years, way better photos than I show here…the towers disappearing into or poking out of thick fog, sunsets, etc. But these are my most recent ones, taken from Amtrak, on the wonderful train trip we took down the West Coast of the U.S.
This bridge symbolizes the unfortunate history of “narrow escapes” our state has experienced in so many ways. We have had more than our share of failed bridges, dropping cranes, falling overpasses, collapsed piers, crumbling tunnels and crashing tall-building elevators! So “Galloping Gertie” seems to fit right in with our local lore and legacy!
OK so the instructions are down below. Will someone let me know if I did this correctly…not that a virgin likes to be corrected, but you know what I mean, right?
The theme I am responding to is Stairs, Steps and Ladders.
These steps are in the backyard of my best friend’s home outside of Sedona, Arizona. I use this photo often in my therapy practice (given as a greeting card or a framed picture) for a reminder to take baby steps or One Day at a Time in their healing and recovery process.
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I love this new weekly challenge from Helen Espinosa! It’s been so long since I’ve been able to do one of my favorite things in the whole world, and that is to find and share specific music with people. My poor clients for 35 years, especially the couples, had to put up with me making them sit through a song picked specifically for them as part of their therapy. But you know what, more often than not I would pick exactly right, and that couple would have a new song, at least for a while.
I had the privilege of meeting my all-time favorite performer once and got to tell her how I used her music in my work. I believe she was genuinely touched.
Music can be so powerful. It can cross amazing barriers and unite many people, like the whole “Playing for Change” movement.
But here are my picks for today!!
In my opinion, Jackson Browne is one of the greatest Musical Protesters of my generation. He is a master lyricist and though musically, I don’t like absolutely every song he wrote or sings, I almost always love his lyrics, and they often inform my political stance in the world.
Here are my two favorites! The first video is pretty hard to watch because of the images it contains, and the second one, well, just just a lousy video, but I hope you are moved.
“Lives In The Balance” (azlyrics.com) by Jackson Browne
I’ve been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you’ve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to warAnd there’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runsOn the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can’t take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
There’s a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can’t even say the names
They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they’re never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
SomedayI was walking with my brother
And he wondered what’s on my mind
I said what I believe in my soul
Ain’t what I see with my eyes
And we can’t turn our backs this time
I am a patriot
And I love my country
Because my country is all I know
I want to be with my family
The people who understand me
I’ve got nowhere else to go
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
Someday
And I was talking with my sister
She looked so fine
I said, “Baby, what’s on your mind?”
She said, “I want to run like the lion”
Released from the cages
Released from the rages
Burning in my heart tonightAnd I ain’t no communist
And I ain’t no capitalist
And I ain’t no socialist
And I ain’t no imperialist
And I ain’t no democrat
And I ain’t no republican
I only know one party
And it is freedomI am, I am, I am
I am a patriot
And I love my country
Because my county is all I knowAnd the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
And the river opens for the righteous
SomedayAnd the river opens for the righteous…
Another video of “I am a Patriot”…longer and bad sound but this looks like a great gathering!! (Glastonbury Festival, 2010)
When my son was about 20, he picked up an old Porsche to rebuild. He worked on it for years, including finally finishing major parts of the body work while it was parked in his grandmother’s driveway. She forgot it was there, drove into her driveway late one night and totalled the car. He is 43 now and has hauled it around with him to every place he has lived…Nebraska, Arizona, and several places in Washington state.
At one point, in support of his project, I told him that though I didn’t much want to work on the car with him, I had a supportive parallel project going that was just about as time consuming, so I challenged him….a race to the finish line.
I won and I gave him MY project a few years ago.
That car now lives HERE at my home, along with my son and his two sons. He plans on the three of them finishing it together. I really hope so as now it has become a symbolic “principle” of the whole thing.
But I am thinking maybe I start a new parallel project and re-challenge him. What do you think?
Made with beads and my son’s great-grandmother’s mostly glass buttons.
A very happy accident that I got while shooting hummingbirds. I almost threw this one away...Dang, all blurry, missed the Hummer…but with a closer look at the “details” I spotted the wing!
This might be my favorite all time picture and it was a complete mishap.
I Live with SIX MEN!! Among them they have NINE CARS, two motorcycles, and five bicycles. There are piles and rooms and sections of my house and property that are filled with house-painting equipment, construction and carpentry tools, classic cars “projects” and giant workout equipment. This is how they would spend every weekend…
I don’t consider myself a sexist (in favor of either gender) but I cannot think of a female equivalent to the HUGE Mustang (Ford) Car Show I attended this last weekend, at least nothing with comparable sound effects! (I mean really! I needed EARPLUGS!! Every open hood meant these competitive THUNDEROUS revs! Would you need earplugs for a Quilting Show??)
So recently, to do some hormone balancing in my home (this is different than feng shui) I went into the only room in the house that is still completely MINE, my Group Therapy room and office.
I’ve had to do a lot of downsizing to make room for the newest male arrivals to my home (my son and his two sons), and in my culling, have come across a lot of saved bits and pieces from my Mom, Aunt, Great Aunts, Grandmother and Great Grandmother. So I took old lace tablecloths and made a backdrop to which I attached (with tiny white painted safety pins) all that feminine energy!
I can now sit in my pink swivel chair and look at the history of the women in my family through their hats, their hankies, their doilies, aprons, and their fabric, lace and ribbons.
Something in your eyes, makes me want to lose myself, Makes me want to lose myself, in your arms. There’s something in your voice, makes my heart beat fast. Hope this feeling lasts, the rest of my life. If you knew how lonely my life has been, And how low I’ve felt so long. If you knew how I wanted someone to come along, And change my life the way you’ve done.Feels like home to me, feels like home to me, Feels like I’m on my way back where I come from. Feels like home to me, feels like home to me, Feels like I’m on my way back where I belong.A window breaks down a long dark street, And a siren wails over my head. But I’m all right, ’cause I have you here with me. And I can almost see through the dark there’s light. If you knew how much this moment means to me, And how long I’ve waited for your touch. If you knew how happy you are making me — I’ve never thought I’d love anyone so much.Feels like home to me, feels like home to me, Feels like I’m on my way back where I come from. Feels like home to me, feels like home to me, Feels like I’m on my way back where I belong. Feels like I’m on my way back where I belong.
I love this song so much that when a dear friend asked me to help with her wedding music, I had to pick this one. I knew it would capture how she felt about her man. Falling in love in your 50’s is quite a different thing…much more calm and sure. Mary Ruth, Jim and I had attended Bonnie Raitt concerts together and I knew they loved her.
At the wedding, I got the sound system all ready and had my hand on the GO button for the exact moment in the ceremony when Mary Ruth was to lean in and whisper something loving to Jim. Then, at her signal, I was to blast Jim with this song, right?
WRONG! At that exact moment, someone handed Jim his guitar so he could serenade his lovely bride of oh, maybe 30 seconds.
It was a total surprise to Mary Ruth, and ME, and guess what song he sang her!!! You got it!
Narrow
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