Four Strings

When most people think of banjo and they think BLUEGRASS - well there's much more to it. Until the electric guitar became such a big part of ensemble music, the four-string tenor banjo's rich tones were integral to jazz music.

My thrill of the week (maybe the month, the year???) was having my friend un-case her banjo (yes, four-string tenor) yesterday and play a few licks. Ain't She Sweet and Bye Bye Blues - sweet indeed and blue no longer - OMG!

The kicker... I got to add a little paint to her 70s banjo case - complete with Hang Ten style feet and daisies, I kept her young girl art intact and touched up a bit of the colour, adding in a few more flowers. Love when music, art and summer all meld together - heaven piercing thru the mundane day to let us know what really matters xo! BTW... Photos are details of a visual journal portrait I did for The Bird - play on, Girl, your talent is a spectacular gift.

A Day of Daisies

Have you ever walked waist high in a field of pure white daisies? It is surreal and lovely - like the hand of God has touched the land in an unsolicited gesture of benevolence.

Today I went to help a dear friend clear out her summer cottage of personal items - after much thought, she has opted to sell the property.

The lovely, lake-front lot is large - about 200 feet in length and 150 feet wide, and from the road way to the shore line it was full of the joyful white blooms, blazing bright in the midday sun - absolutely unexpected and spectacular. We were not alone in our wonder - while we were working there, a neighbor stopped by with her elderly mother, wondering if they could pick a few of the blooms! Like us, they were drawn to the vision of thousands of flowers filling the property lines from edge to edge.

Coming home this evening, I was curious to learn more about the daisy - I knew that white daisies symbolize innocence and friendship but knew little more than that. Reading up on the flowers, I discovered some interesting folklore attached to their sunny faces - apparently daisies have long been considered to be comfort sent from the heavens for all of the children lost as infants, explaining the root of their connection to purity and sweetness.

Curious how those daisies chose to dress my friend's property in particular - you do see daisies here and there along the road side, but this was a complete floral white-out!

As I type this, I am thinking of that empty cottage resting quietly in the summer moonlight, surrounded by a living sea of pure, white blooms - heavens' comfort for the loss of happy times and child-like joy? It feels good to know that those little flowers are there, gentle guardians; sturdy and abundant reminders of the enduring power of goodness through adversity.

I am sure the daisies are are equally wonderful under the starry skies, and I feel fortunate to have witnessed such a unique and beautiful natural event.

"The has but a summer reign, the daisy never dies." - James Montgomery, The Daisy

Doing My Best

Brownie Handbook

I had a trip back in time this week when my girlfriend and I decided to look in a used book store over lunch hour. We had been in this particular shop before, and had purchased a Julia Child cook book, but we hadn't really spent much time in the place.

Until this week, we hadn't realized how big the shop is - a strange collection of irregular little rooms, awkwardly connected like odd beads on a string; each crammed floor to ceiling with different book categories and sections; and interspersed with jewelery, china, old photos and other collectibles - some treasure and a lot of trash. Squeezing into the fifth and final room in this maze, I found some kids books from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

I first noticed Nancy Drew - the distinctive turquoise blue binding jumped out at me and I asked my girlfriend if she had read Nancy Drew - my sisters loved them but they were a bit before my time. "No", she replied, "I hated Nancy Drew - she was too perfect and I couldn't relate to her. I liked Trixie Belden - she was kind of a tom boy like me." Well we found some Trixie Belden books - originals from the 50s and some reprints from the 70s, and I wanted to buy her one, but she wasn't interested.

Then I saw it... the Brownie Handbook! It was in pristine condition and only $4.75 -- my eyes teared up as I thumbed through the illustrations. I was eight again, in my brown leotards, beret and tunic - Brownies were uber cool and a pretty big deal for me back in the day!

But I am trying to cut back on frivolous spending, and declutter my life, so I put the book back and stepped out of the past, into my adult shoes, leaving the child inside me dancing around a mushroom while Tawny Owl and my fellow Imps and Pixies looked on.

As we left the store, my girlfriend stopped at the front counter - I thought, just to talk to the shop keeper. Then I saw she had the Brownie Handbook in hand. She just knows what my

heart needs - better than I do sometimes; what can I say?

I am keeping the Handbook on my office desk - a reminder of the little girl who just wanted to do her best every day and have a little fun in the process - a little girl for who the world was full of positivity and promise.