Instructions are:
This challenge is for those photos you take that don’t really fit into any common category. There is never a theme to this challenge, so what is an odd ball is all up for you to discover and photograph.
My entry:
https://ceenphotography.com/2018/01/21/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-january-21-2018/
Well, today’s theme sent me a few years into the past.
Back in the 1980’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s. I had a huge therapy practice, in a huge, supportive Therapy Community.
Music, in many styles and forms, was a huge part of the work I did. I would play music for my groups or hand-pick songs for individual clients. I would also give the homework assignment to go out and find a theme song (“I will Not Be Broken” by Bonnie Raitt) or a power song (“I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty). It was a great, right brain way for clients to continue their personal work outside the group therapy setting. We would use music in group to relax, let down, access emotions, get energized, fight back, you name it.
And I used the more quiet pieces for visualizations, hypnosis, etc.
A funny story…I heard an album once (on a homemade cassette, just to let you know how long ago) that I fell in love with. It was almost all instrumental and quite different from the rock music I usually assigned to clients. Maybe it stirred something in my cellular memory because it was so Irish. (My name was Kathleen Kelly!)
I thought the name of the album was Crystal River, so I searched everywhere for it…combed through record stores, called radio stations, etc. I really wanted this album. Every song was so different and effectively triggered or enhanced different moods.
I could never find it.
Then I had a dream one night, with this very music playing in the background. In the dream I said out loud to whomever,
“Oh, it’s not called ‘Crystal River’. It’s called ‘Jewel Lake‘!!”
Memory…a funny thing. And dreams, so helpful sometimes.
Anyway, here is the song I thought of for today’s theme of Comfort. It’s the only song on the album with Lyrics. It’s also a beautiful video.
The rest of this album is great also, not all quiet and comforting like this song, some very energizing and uplifting. I think you can sample it here.
https://heartsofspacerecords.bandcamp.com/album/jewel-lake
I really must have my grandson’s help me find a current way to play music like this.
Wonder if I can get it on Spotify…..
I love my son…more than anything else…in the way only the single mother of an only child can understand.
He and his sons live with me now. They are here to help me out.
I imagined his moving in with me would enhance our relationship…we are both old enough to be true friends now. He is 45. I am 69. I thought we would talk all the time, every day!
But his life as a single Dad is packed!
So it is loudly silent around here sometimes.
Music has always been a bond for us and one day, when I had almost become dissatisfied with his silence, he sat me down to share a music video with me. He told me the first time through I should be very patient, keep my eyes closed, and wait for it.
I did.
By the second run through, we were holding hands and crying, both so f-ing moved by this amazing performance.
You may well have heard it before. I have even posted about it before but if you haven’t, treat yourself to a listen, with an open mind and heart (and your volume cranked up!!!)
Ironic to be posting a song when the theme this week is silence, but how could I not share it?
Here is “Sound of Silence” by Disturbed.
Remember, don’t judge, just wait for it….It is everything BUT Silence!
Silence
Not much moves me more deeply into reverent silence than the sky.
One of my favorite moments of “Silence” is filled with the adrenaline of anticipation of NOISE…I mean BIG noise.
I have been a Blue Angels Fan my whole life! (You can read more abut that here:
I love the deafening roar they produce as they fly over during a performance. Even the most self-conscious among us can scream, yell, whoop, yeehaw or swear at the top of our lungs without drawing attention to ourselves. It is a rush, for sure! Better than the loudest Rock Concert ever!
But my favorite part of the show is when you can see the Angels before their sound arrives!
Those short moments of silence are the loudest thrill of my life!
This seems like a great picture post for the theme this week, “Weathered”.
But pretty shocking and uncomfortable to share so be kind. (Smiley, winky emoji here!)
This seems like a great picture post for the them this week, “Weathered”.
But pretty shocking and embarrassing so be kind. (Smiley, winky emoji here!)
WordPress will not let me re-blog or add photos right now but here are the posts I want to share again today. Maybe you saw them before but in case you didn’t…
Please do comment. I feel so alone with this these days….
First song that came to mind so I’m going with it…..
Dedicated to one of my very best friends in high school, a talented musician.
I wrote this last year for his obituary guest page.
“Jerry was my best friend in high school. We covered many deep subjects in many long conversations throughout our time at Natchez High. And we sang together, both of us tenors, in a choir, as well as in the “Duzin Cuzins”, a folk singing group. As happens, somehow time sped by but we were reunited at our 40th high school reunion. He was still Jerry…sweet, funny, talented and ethical to a degree few ever reach.
I weep for his much loved family, and wish I could be there to celebrate his life.”
Jerry would have passionately agreed with Helen’s childhood, end-of-the-world story.
This song always brought tears to my eyes during the long stretch Jerry and I were out of touch. Made me think of him right up to the end.
Wait, that was WAY to heavy and sad.
Here’s your comic relief. After all, the end may be near…….
And once again, WAIT. I just found THIS on YouTube. This is my dear friend Jerry’s son, Tyler Flowers. Worth a listen even though the lyrics don’t exactly fit today’s theme. But with a topic like this, I figure we need all the good music we can find!
https://helenswordsoflife.com/2018/01/13/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-1-14-18/
