I will get back to savoring and sharing our Epic Roots Trip this summer soon…
But THIS just came across my desk and I have to share it with you!
It’s a newsletter from Karen Drucker, a long-time acquaintance (talented musician, presenter and comedienne) containing a link to her new album, but also a new music video.
I included the whole thing so you can read about Karen but it is the music video (down toward the bottom under “News Flash”) that really got to me. I hope you are also moved to share it. Here’s the link, and yes, I got her permission to post this YouTube.
Thanks.
A NEW BIRTH!!
Dear World,
I am officially here! I am Karen Drucker’s new “baby,” a romping little CD named“One Heart At A Time,” and I was brought forth fully birthed today, November 1, 2017 at 8:00 am. Even though Karen has created many other CD’s, she is very excited about me because I am a little different than the others. Like my siblings, I still have the 12 songs/chants that she normally does on all her CDs, but I am unique because I have what Karen is calling “musical meditations.” This is a chant where you think of something you want to let go of, or forgive, or be grateful for, and you sing along with Karen and her amazing back-up singers over and over until you feel a shift in your heart. I overheard her saying that she hopes people will get into the trance-y state she got into while singing these songs, and that it might help people heal some of the pain that is going on in the world. The process of my creation was very organic with some songs being written right there in the studio, while others were created with some of her amazing songwriter friends. She is so grateful to work with some of the best musicians in the Bay Area, and she was moved to tears a few times watching them put their creativity into this project resulting in me being born today.
So world – here I am! I hope that you will take a listen and share with your friends if you enjoy me. I am very happy to be born, and happy to share myself with all of you!
Here is a sample of one of my new musical meditation songs,
(Sheet music and “tracks” available January, 2018)
November Events
November 2-5 ~ Circle of Love Atlanta, Georgia
Keynote talk, concert, and workshop along with other inspiring presenters.
November 12 ~ Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa, California
Talk and music at the 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 am services & afternoon workshop.
November 15 ~ Unity in Marin Novato, California
Debuting my new CD at the 7:15 pm service.
November 19 ~ Unity of Walnut Creek, California
Talk and music at the 9:00 and 11:30 am services & afternoon concert.
November 25 ~ Concert with Kate Munger Berkeley, California
“Going to the Dogs” fundraising concert for Humane Society.
Newsflash!
The song I wrote with JD Martin and David Roth, “Home of the Brave,” has been nominated for a “Posi Award” in the video category. This is a very special song about the current immigration situation and a beautifully done video by Sherry Hursey and Rick Cowling of ToTL Entertainment. This is the one category that is based solely on fan voting. As much as it feels awkward to ask for you to vote for this video, I would love to honor the work of Sherry and Rick and get this video seen by more people to do good in the world.
* If you are not already a member of empower music you will need to enter your email address and create a password in order to vote. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out my website for more details and other events that are coming up!
OK, hit another writing snag and am using this great challenge to loosen up the writing muscles. Thank you Cee.
The questions (and my answers) this week on Cee’s “Share Your World” challenge are as follows.
Was school easy or difficult for you? How so?
Really difficult, for so many reasons…mostly an undiagnosed learning disability, I suppose, but a lot of mixed messages. In the 4th grade, I wrote the story of my pet duck (Fluffy). My teacher told me I was failing the 4th grade (how can that even happen?) and that my writing was stupid. (She should have failed the 4th grade.) But the principal, who read my story, gave me a “Writing Award” and posted my story in the class case outside his office for the rest of the year.
See question number One. Of course, I love ducks. It has grown to all birds now. But I really can’t think of an animal I don’t like. Maybe not all of them up close and personal, but I love learning about animals. Do you know much about Lemurs in Madagascar? Fascinating!
What is your favorite large city you have been to? What is the one thing you remember most?
Well, I’m torn between San Diego and Seattle, both cities I have lived in. I guess what strikes me the most is the similarity between the surrounding areas of each. Though there is a major discrepancy in weather, as well as flora and fauna, the topography is so much alike. Desert nearby, as well Visible mountains. And water. It’s everywhere in both cities. Bays, inlets, streams and rivers, islands that require boats or ferries to access, and yacht harbors!! So many yacht harbors.
I can’t actually remember if the seabird above is from San Diego or Seattle…
What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.
Sreejit Poole’s Dungeon Prompt. The topic is so fascinating and his description, very compelling. He calls it Rage against the Machine. I sat down immediately to write out my response. I’m not done yet (see above comment re:hitting writing snag) but have enjoyed being so immersed in the way I am answering his challenge. Very inspirational, and a great balancing exercise, for me, about Dark vs Light. How to write about the dark without going dark myself….
I cannot add a single song to the theme for this week for Helen Vahdati’s weekly challenge. The one she chose would have been mine also. Please treat yourself to a visit to her site (and check out my comment at the bottom).
Our friends down in Natchez, Mississippi are enjoying Balloon Festival this weekend. It’s a big deal every year! The whole town shows up. Every hotel, B and B and guest room at friends is booked for months in advance. There is great food, really cool, fun music, people of all ages from everywhere, and a spectacular site when those hot air balloons take off over the Big Muddy!
Friday night’s main event is called Balloon Glow.
The Balloon Glow is an exciting and colorful event where many of the pilots inflate their balloons at sunset, keeping them tethered to the ground, and use a special burner that creates a bright, warm light within the envelope, giving the balloons a light bulb like appearance.
photo credit to new “cousin-in-law” Tiffanie!!!
Wish we could have stayed for this event! Maybe next year….
To those people who do not believe that we have lovely Fall colors in the Pacific Northwest, I say pooey!!
I’ve put just a few, both in a slide show (wish I knew how to add music) and as larger shots. I hope you enjoy. I bet if you try you could even smell this crisp, clear air!!
In the small town of Natchez, Mississippi, combining a group of local friends, some Latter Day Saints and a cadre of gorgeous Houstonites, for a wedding at a tiny Mormon church, was no small feat.
Uh oh, let me clarify. They are Houstonians, not Houstonites! I was skillfully corrected. Here’s the article to prove it!
But clearly they were from Houston and recognizable as such to many Southern folks. They are gorgeous! (Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty gorgeous people from Natchez and they have their own social hierarchy!)
I have to say the Bishop who performed the ceremony was great and quite a good sport. In the pre-wedding interview with my cousin and his intended, the Officiant did his job well. Knowing these two were not practicing Mormons, he had to tactfully discover the nature of what the bride would be wearing. There are pretty specific standards in the Mormon church about what the bride can wear in her wedding…legs, arms, neck and shoulders are to be tastefully covered. I wish I could have seen his face when my new cousin-in-law described her lovely, Houstonian, strapless, designer gown. Bless his heart, somehow he worked it all out, maybe even in honor of my Aunt, long gone now, but a well-known member of this church…who knows.
The Dress!I kinda wonder if the Bishop thought that veil would cover her risque` bare shoulders!
The wedding task, assigned me by my cousin, as his only relative present for the ceremony, was to choose a short reading.
My self-imposed task was to say something leading up to the reading that might bring these three groups together. YIKES…but, I love a good challenge. I really wanted to do this right! My cousin is much more like a brother to me. I lived with him, his brother, and my aunt and uncle for many years when I was young. They became my immediate family.
I have officiated at several weddings myself and I know that nothing brings a group together faster than shared laughter, but I had to do some research because I did not want to be disrespectful to the LDS wedding guests who came primarily because they loved my cousin’s mother. My Aunt had a big hand in starting the Mormon Church there in Natchez years ago and these people still remember her! I wanted to make sure it was proper to laugh out loud, to applaud, and to rebel yell in a Mormon “Meeting House”…not that I could have stopped my cousin’s longtime Natchez friends from cheering at the end…He is 68 years old and this is his first marriage so this was a Big Deal!
I guess my research paid off because apparently the short comments I made before the reading were a hit. At the reception, at least one member of each of the three distinct groups gave me positive feedback on what I said during the ceremony.
Anyway, the whole thing went off without a hitch…Well, except there was that mix-up about who got to use the limo from Dunleith to the Mormon Meetinghouse, the Houstonians or the Bridal Party. The out of town guests were all staying in one of Natchez most famous Antebellum Mansions, and the Hummer Limo was the transportation to the church.
lighting in the Mansion’s rooms
That was a slightly stressful 15 minute wait for the Bride’s arrival, but she and her beautiful maids showed up and the ceremony was short, sweet, and as predicted, raucous at the end!!
The reception was lovely also. Again, in memory of my Aunt and Uncle, it was held in our childhood home. Beautiful string quartet, fantastic food and the successful blending of those three fairly distinct groups for an evening to remember! My aunt, uncle and other cousin would have been thrilled to see the transformation in their home, especially given the reason for it.
All in all, an amazing ending to the Natchez part of our trip. We piled in the car the next morning, bright and early, heading for home!
I’m responding to a Challenge from a blogger I admire. Another great way to get the writing juices flowing. She posts 4 questions that we are to answer, with or without photos. Here are this week’s questions (with my answers). If you already know me, you will be able to guess which of the questions got me thinking the most!
(I’m experimenting with changing text color so hopefully my answers will be in BLUE!)
What do you consider is the most perfect food for you? (It can be your favorite food to something extremely healthy.) The POTATO! I can’t think of a single way a potato can be prepared that I don’t absolutely LOVE. Maybe because my mother was born in IDAHO and most of my ancestors are IRISH! I’ve loved potatoes since I was a kid when my Dad would fry up a bacon-onion-egg-cheese-potato mix. He’d hand us a salted, raw slice for crunching on while we waited for our favorite breakfast!
Are you focused on today or tomorrow? Lately, neither. I am apparently focused on yesterday for a while. Reminiscing, revisiting, reclaiming, reuniting, remembering…all things I’ve spent this year doing, and enjoying every minute of it!
I’m slowly writing up stories from the Epic Roots Road Trip we took this summer.
If you could interview one of your great-great-great grandparents, who would it be (if you know their name) and what would you ask?
I would ask John RayYoung:
“What beliefs did you get from your father Joseph Young, that you passed on to your son, my great great grandfather, Brigham?”
“What did you teach him about religion?”
“What did you model for him about the treatment of women?”
What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.
I was inspired this week by my friendship with Karuna.
If you have not seen her blog, she shares an amazing spiritual journey and is becoming quite adept at photography!
Our history is so long, with its ebbs and flows, and yes, bumps. I love knowing someone for a really long time. Karuna is the reason I started blogging and I am so grateful. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process, even when writing about difficult subjects.
OK my brain must still be in “traveling” mode from our recent Epic Trip, because I keep thinking of more and more songs for this theme. I’ll try to make this one my last post for the week.
I picked the song for obvious reasons but my personal one is that James and I got to take an amazing Road Trip a while back on his Harley Ultra Classic, complete with a trailer so we could haul camping equipment. We rode down the West Coast from Seattle to Pacific Grove, California, stopping to camp in the Redwoods! This was our trip song!!
Enjoythe video! (If you are of a certain age, you won’t be able to stop yourself!)
Lyrics
Get your motor runnin’
Head out on the highway
Lookin’ for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space
I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racin’ with the wind
And the feelin’ that I’m under
Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space
Like a true nature’s child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild
Get your motor runnin’
Head out on the highway
Lookin’ for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space
Like a true nature’s child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die
Bright and early on the day before we were to leave Natchez, Mississippi for home, we took the Toyota van in for an oil change and return-road-trip check up. We expected this to be a quick, hour long process as we were booked solid with last minute wedding preparations for my cousin’s nuptials and reception that evening.
After some time waiting they came and told us we needed a new radiator, that this one was shot and that it was leaking coolant everywhere. News to us as we had seen no leaks and had had no problems. They showed us the huge puddle of coolant under the car and the supposed damage to the radiator.
There’s a saying that applies to men, about certain body parts being held in such a way as to trap said man.
I don’t know what the comparable saying is for women…”they had me by the ovaries“???
But anyway, clearly the radiator was NOW hemorrhaging fluid so we had to agree to a new one…which they of course, had in stock, right? So they said anyway. After waiting a few more hours of crucial wedding errand time, they finally informed us that the new radiator had to come from Vicksburg, a mere hour and 25 minutes away. So they gave us a loaner car.
Right up until their closing time, which coincided exactly with the wedding start time, they still had not received the new radiator. This was no small deal. We had to make the trip from Mississippi back home to Washington to arrive on a very specific date. This delay could mean the difference between safe driving each day of our 4 day trip, with a nice sleep over in a motel…or driving straight through, pretending we were in our 20’s when we could actually pull off that sort of thing!
It all worked out but was definitely touch and go, and very stressful.
Even though it felt like we were in a hidden camera episode of 20/20 or 60 minutes, busting unethical mechanics who break your stuff and then make you pay, it was hard to be mad at the place since during the waiting time, the service manager approached me in a panic having just found a tiny feathered intruder that had knocked itself out flying against the huge windows in the waiting room. She asked if I could help her by holding it for a minute. (Did I have a SIGN on my forehead or something? The number one thing on my Bucket list?? “Hold a Hummingbird!”)
She mixed up sugar water in her hand.
When we finally had to go, I put the little guy in a box and set it outside in the sunshine. Sure enough, fortified by rest and homemade nectar, the tiny intruder flew up, up and away! I can still feel those tiny feet in my hand.
