Saturday, January 10, 2009
Surviving the Winter......
Ah, it's that time of year again! Here we go! It's the start of a week of celebrating and connecting and laughing and singing and playing and eating and sleeping late....... it's how I survive the winter. I'll explain:
Twelve or thirteen years ago, I decided that what my winter needed was some kind of event to mark that I was half way through the winter, to celebrate winter's passing, to ease the weariness and the post-holiday let-down, to give me a little boost before wading into the muck and deep and dark of the longest month of the year - February. I struggle through winter most years. And by the time February comes around I am so weary of the winter. I am tired of hibernating, I am tired of cold, I am tired of dark evenings and I am especially tired of that winter blue, which is the heaviest blue of all.
So I started having this annual "event" back in about 1996. The first couple of years it was very small. Mostly a small group of women friends, we got together for an evening party and danced and ate and sang and talked and laughed and drank a bit too much! In essence, we had a blast! Then I bought my house in Morganton. It is a great house and it has a lot of room. So sometime around 1998 or 1999, the party started its metamorphosis into a weekend long event.
I go to a music school every summer called the Swannanoa Gathering. This past summer was my 12th or 13th year!! There's a whole group of us, all singer-songwriters, who attend the Gathering every summer. It's like a cross between a family reunion, a summer camp, and a huge week-long jam session, with a couple of classes with some of our heroes thrown in for good measure. The Swannanoa Gathering changed my entire life. Really it did. (But that is a whole 'nother story!!) After my first year or two at the Gathering, I decided I didn't want to go a whole year without seeing my friends there, my partners in crime again. So I started inviting all of them to the winter get-together. The music soon took over the event and became its focus!
So next weekend is THE weekend. The Annual Surviving the Winter Party. Tim's coming from Minnesota (I haven't heard from Karl yet), Jon from Rhode Island and Phyllis from South Carolina. JC from Charlotte and Mary Gordon from Charlottesville. Mike from Roanoke, Greg from Salem, Allen from Asheville. And of course Daniel and Jacob will both be there. Bobbi and Steve are coming. So it's a celebration with everything I love right there with me! Only thing missing is my folks!! My sons, my best friends, good food, good fun and music music music!
Celebrations, however, start tonight. Jacob is 21 tomorrow. Tonight he's having a huge triple keg party! I've been invited! (Hell yes I'm going!! Think I'd miss this!) I haven't been to a college keg party in........... let's just say it's been a long time. Tomorrow all my brothers and sisters and a bunch of the nieces and nephews are getting together to celebrate January birthdays (Jacob's, mine, Tim's). I'm off on Monday and will head back to the Eastern Shore then. I only work two days and then I'm off again! (I sure do love vacation days!). Tim from Minnesota and Phyllis from South Carolina will be here Thursday, the rest of the crowd Friday.
For all you folks on the Eastern Shore, we're doing a concert at the Blarney Stone on Friday night, the 16th. Come on out! If you like original music, you'll love this group of friends! It's a way to celebrate! It's a way to Survive the Winter. And you can come and celebrate anything you want. I'm celebrating the reunion of a group of folks I love deeply! And we all need something to celebrate before we head into February! It'll make you smile!
Hope to see you there!
Peace.
Twelve or thirteen years ago, I decided that what my winter needed was some kind of event to mark that I was half way through the winter, to celebrate winter's passing, to ease the weariness and the post-holiday let-down, to give me a little boost before wading into the muck and deep and dark of the longest month of the year - February. I struggle through winter most years. And by the time February comes around I am so weary of the winter. I am tired of hibernating, I am tired of cold, I am tired of dark evenings and I am especially tired of that winter blue, which is the heaviest blue of all.
So I started having this annual "event" back in about 1996. The first couple of years it was very small. Mostly a small group of women friends, we got together for an evening party and danced and ate and sang and talked and laughed and drank a bit too much! In essence, we had a blast! Then I bought my house in Morganton. It is a great house and it has a lot of room. So sometime around 1998 or 1999, the party started its metamorphosis into a weekend long event.
I go to a music school every summer called the Swannanoa Gathering. This past summer was my 12th or 13th year!! There's a whole group of us, all singer-songwriters, who attend the Gathering every summer. It's like a cross between a family reunion, a summer camp, and a huge week-long jam session, with a couple of classes with some of our heroes thrown in for good measure. The Swannanoa Gathering changed my entire life. Really it did. (But that is a whole 'nother story!!) After my first year or two at the Gathering, I decided I didn't want to go a whole year without seeing my friends there, my partners in crime again. So I started inviting all of them to the winter get-together. The music soon took over the event and became its focus!
So next weekend is THE weekend. The Annual Surviving the Winter Party. Tim's coming from Minnesota (I haven't heard from Karl yet), Jon from Rhode Island and Phyllis from South Carolina. JC from Charlotte and Mary Gordon from Charlottesville. Mike from Roanoke, Greg from Salem, Allen from Asheville. And of course Daniel and Jacob will both be there. Bobbi and Steve are coming. So it's a celebration with everything I love right there with me! Only thing missing is my folks!! My sons, my best friends, good food, good fun and music music music!
Celebrations, however, start tonight. Jacob is 21 tomorrow. Tonight he's having a huge triple keg party! I've been invited! (Hell yes I'm going!! Think I'd miss this!) I haven't been to a college keg party in........... let's just say it's been a long time. Tomorrow all my brothers and sisters and a bunch of the nieces and nephews are getting together to celebrate January birthdays (Jacob's, mine, Tim's). I'm off on Monday and will head back to the Eastern Shore then. I only work two days and then I'm off again! (I sure do love vacation days!). Tim from Minnesota and Phyllis from South Carolina will be here Thursday, the rest of the crowd Friday.
For all you folks on the Eastern Shore, we're doing a concert at the Blarney Stone on Friday night, the 16th. Come on out! If you like original music, you'll love this group of friends! It's a way to celebrate! It's a way to Survive the Winter. And you can come and celebrate anything you want. I'm celebrating the reunion of a group of folks I love deeply! And we all need something to celebrate before we head into February! It'll make you smile!
Hope to see you there!
Peace.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
New Years Resolutions - again!!
I made the obligatory list of New Year's Resolutions again this year. But with much more good intention than in years past. I mean, I really want to do these things! Really I do! It's just that.......
So eight days into the New Year I'll give you a current scoring on how I'm doing:
1. Drink more water. Score - fair. I've had water every day so far this new year. Just not a lot of it on most days as is my intent. But better than no water at all.
2. Drink only one Diet Dr. Pepper a day. Score - ah well, not so good. I'll admit it. I'm addicted to 'em. They are my main source of caffeine. And I just love the fizz and the taste and the little Diet Dr. Pepper buzz. So I had one day so far I had none, two days I had only one and the other days I had the two I'd cut back to last year........ I'll just keep trying.
3. Walk. Score - zippo. But it's been raining and stuff. (I know I know!! Excuses excuses!)
4. Talk to my kids every day. Score - good but I want it to be great. I waiver between wanting to talk to them every day and not wanting to intrude on their lives. It's funny - they never ever seem to mind when I call. And if they're busy, they either talk quickly or they let me speak to their voice mail. So I'm not sure why I worry about it. I like talking to them every day. They like talking to me every day. So as the old/new saying goes - just do it!
5. Play out (do more gigs). Score - good. Scott and I played at First Wednesday last night. I had such anxiety beforehand. Driving the short distance from Willis Wharf to the Great Machipongo Clam Shack - I just felt like I was going to puke! It was terrible. Scott's presence and smiling face helped so much. I just stepped into a small circle of light with him in it and asked for a bubble of protection from any bad feelings that might be sent our way. And you know - like my friend Cindy always told me - if you need it, you got to ask the universe for it and the universe will provide! And it did! (I asked God. Thanks, Sir.) So we played and it felt good once I got started and got past the nerves. I knew at some point in time I would have to confront those feelings and those demons and, in the end, the worst of the demons left before I ever sang and the biggest of the demons got very small and quiet then left. So I will try to keep this resolution and just get out there and play. Sing. Play with Scott. Play with Hungar's Creek Bluegrass band sometimes. Play solo. Stop being afraid.
6. Do the Upper Room daily devotional thing. Score - less than fair but not a complete failure! I didn't get the book until Sunday. So I did five days worth in one day. Now I'm a couple of days behind again. I'll get there. Or at least I think I will.
7. Fast from sunrise till sundown on Thursdays. Score - we've only had two Thursdays so far in 2009; the first was the 1st and a holiday you know so no fasting that day, and then today, I literally just forgot and ate a big breakfast which is another New Year's resolution!! Crap!! I can be such a ditz sometimes! New Year's resolutions are tough on those of us with perimenopausal brains. Guess I'll need to put a note on my front door or on the kitchen counter to remind myself that I'm planning on fasting on Thursdays. It's a spiritual exercise and one to remind me of what I have and others have not - just in case you were wondering.
8. Write - more songs, more poetry, journal, blog!! Score - well, that depends. I'm not sure if it counts if I write only in my own head. I've got at least six songs going on in there right now and a couple of poems. I think probably I need to count it when it makes it to the outside world! This whole part of a song came to me last night when I was trying to go to sleep. Just started forming its little self inside my brain and taking shape right there before my tired eyes. And I still remember it this morning. So I'd best get to work on it with a guitar in hand!! This is the first time I've written anything on the blog this year - not so swift on that score. And my journal (s) are out and waiting patiently. Just need to........ you know the drill - laundry, supper, dishes, play some tunes, practice the banjo, practice the mandolin, knit........... I forget. Or I just run out of time!
My other New Year's resolutions either have components not applicable yet (like planting lots of flowers in my yard this spring and summer) or are too soon to tell (like go visit my parents at least once a month and call them at least once, if not twice, a week - the calling I've got a superior rating on so far and I'm headed to Raleigh this weekend so..... so far, so good!).
And the resolutions about my diet - learn how to eat breakfast, eat more grains and fruits and vegetables, yada yada - I'll just have to take that a little at a time. (Yes, yada yada is actually one of my many New Year's Resolutions!)
9. I think the softest New Year's Resolution I made and probably the easiest and then maybe the hardest is to love Scott with a love that just flows......... Score so far - 100%. He makes it easy. He is a source of great joy to me. And when I am in the center of my peace, he is there, too. It's my greatest hope for 2009 that we continue to just flow - strong, steady, easy.
Peace.
So eight days into the New Year I'll give you a current scoring on how I'm doing:
1. Drink more water. Score - fair. I've had water every day so far this new year. Just not a lot of it on most days as is my intent. But better than no water at all.
2. Drink only one Diet Dr. Pepper a day. Score - ah well, not so good. I'll admit it. I'm addicted to 'em. They are my main source of caffeine. And I just love the fizz and the taste and the little Diet Dr. Pepper buzz. So I had one day so far I had none, two days I had only one and the other days I had the two I'd cut back to last year........ I'll just keep trying.
3. Walk. Score - zippo. But it's been raining and stuff. (I know I know!! Excuses excuses!)
4. Talk to my kids every day. Score - good but I want it to be great. I waiver between wanting to talk to them every day and not wanting to intrude on their lives. It's funny - they never ever seem to mind when I call. And if they're busy, they either talk quickly or they let me speak to their voice mail. So I'm not sure why I worry about it. I like talking to them every day. They like talking to me every day. So as the old/new saying goes - just do it!
5. Play out (do more gigs). Score - good. Scott and I played at First Wednesday last night. I had such anxiety beforehand. Driving the short distance from Willis Wharf to the Great Machipongo Clam Shack - I just felt like I was going to puke! It was terrible. Scott's presence and smiling face helped so much. I just stepped into a small circle of light with him in it and asked for a bubble of protection from any bad feelings that might be sent our way. And you know - like my friend Cindy always told me - if you need it, you got to ask the universe for it and the universe will provide! And it did! (I asked God. Thanks, Sir.) So we played and it felt good once I got started and got past the nerves. I knew at some point in time I would have to confront those feelings and those demons and, in the end, the worst of the demons left before I ever sang and the biggest of the demons got very small and quiet then left. So I will try to keep this resolution and just get out there and play. Sing. Play with Scott. Play with Hungar's Creek Bluegrass band sometimes. Play solo. Stop being afraid.
6. Do the Upper Room daily devotional thing. Score - less than fair but not a complete failure! I didn't get the book until Sunday. So I did five days worth in one day. Now I'm a couple of days behind again. I'll get there. Or at least I think I will.
7. Fast from sunrise till sundown on Thursdays. Score - we've only had two Thursdays so far in 2009; the first was the 1st and a holiday you know so no fasting that day, and then today, I literally just forgot and ate a big breakfast which is another New Year's resolution!! Crap!! I can be such a ditz sometimes! New Year's resolutions are tough on those of us with perimenopausal brains. Guess I'll need to put a note on my front door or on the kitchen counter to remind myself that I'm planning on fasting on Thursdays. It's a spiritual exercise and one to remind me of what I have and others have not - just in case you were wondering.
8. Write - more songs, more poetry, journal, blog!! Score - well, that depends. I'm not sure if it counts if I write only in my own head. I've got at least six songs going on in there right now and a couple of poems. I think probably I need to count it when it makes it to the outside world! This whole part of a song came to me last night when I was trying to go to sleep. Just started forming its little self inside my brain and taking shape right there before my tired eyes. And I still remember it this morning. So I'd best get to work on it with a guitar in hand!! This is the first time I've written anything on the blog this year - not so swift on that score. And my journal (s) are out and waiting patiently. Just need to........ you know the drill - laundry, supper, dishes, play some tunes, practice the banjo, practice the mandolin, knit........... I forget. Or I just run out of time!
My other New Year's resolutions either have components not applicable yet (like planting lots of flowers in my yard this spring and summer) or are too soon to tell (like go visit my parents at least once a month and call them at least once, if not twice, a week - the calling I've got a superior rating on so far and I'm headed to Raleigh this weekend so..... so far, so good!).
And the resolutions about my diet - learn how to eat breakfast, eat more grains and fruits and vegetables, yada yada - I'll just have to take that a little at a time. (Yes, yada yada is actually one of my many New Year's Resolutions!)
9. I think the softest New Year's Resolution I made and probably the easiest and then maybe the hardest is to love Scott with a love that just flows......... Score so far - 100%. He makes it easy. He is a source of great joy to me. And when I am in the center of my peace, he is there, too. It's my greatest hope for 2009 that we continue to just flow - strong, steady, easy.
Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)