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.

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.