Inspiration and Coming Back

I've missed posting to this blog, but life has just been roiling with other things — singing, a new piano gig, work, and the vandalism problem (which appears to have abated - knock wood!).

Blog post topics are starting to percolate in my brain, and I attribute that partly to having joined the gym around the corner and making myself regularly attend a cardio class. I hate every minute of it, and have to remind myself that it's supposed to be fun. I know it's good for me—required for my aging body. But I really.really.really don't enjoy it.

All that aside, I'll be back here in a day or two.

In the interim, please read the inspirational writing of my cyber/fiber friend, Lynne Farrow. She writes at LynneFarrow.com.

I so respect the work Lynne is doing and am in awe of her energy. I believe you will enjoy her thought-provoking writing as much as I do.

See you soon.

2011 - in Words

There's a Facebook gadget called "Year in Status". The program will (allegedly) look at your status updates over the past year and pull out the most frequently used words, making them into a "cloud map" sort of image.

The past year held challenges galore for me, so I thought it would be interesting to see how my status updates mapped out into the image.

Alas, it appears all the program did was to look at my five most recent status updates and throw some of those words into the mix. And that really had nothing.at.all to do with what my year was like.

So I just went into Photoshop and pondered the past year.

Here's how the year mapped out, in my mind.

At the center of my world is this wonderful relationship I have with the Jazzman. He lights up every corner of my world. Second to him are my grandchildren, who hold my heart in their sweet little hands. My singing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus rounds out the center of my world. (And I mustn't forget my kitties, who keep me company every day.)

Continuing to explore this cloud:

• Travel - a fabulous trip to Ireland and our yearly 4th of July at Lake Erie.


• Work - many enjoyable hours keeping the Covelli Panera website up-to-date.


• Activities - hours spent knitting, sewing, beading, and other works-with-hands.


• Social Life - we have an astounding group of friends; some combination of these wonderful people have dinner together almost every Saturday night.

Hanging over and dimming the beauty of the year (these words are shown in a deep gray, upside down and backwards, to diminish their power over my life:

• Mother's Broken Hip - many hours and many miles behind the wheel; every second or third week driving to Asheville all summer long


• Vandals - Rocks - Broken Windows - three times during December, my living room windows were broken by vandal(s) throwing rocks. My sense of peace and security has been shattered. It's once of the worst incidents of my life.


• Loss of Income - my client base decreased and my income seriously dropped, leaving me worried about how I was going to pay my bills for several months out of the year. At age 61, I felt this was not a place I should have landed, and it caused much despair. I was able to toss some balls in the air and catch them adroitly, so things actually came out better than they were before. But there were many, many days when my financial stress level was through the roof.

And over it all, a heart. Next week will be two years since the Jazzman and I met. I have never known 365 continuous days—much less 730 continuous days— of comfort and contentment and love and acceptance and support. He is a miracle in my life, and my heart overflows with joy for our life together.

That's my year.

Letting Your Mind Wander

Last night CityMusic Cleveland, under the baton of James Gaffigan, presented an all-Beethoven concert at the stately and beautiful Stambaugh Auditorium. A free concert!

(Many thanks to PNC, Internet Data Management, Dana School of Music, Monday Musical and Stambaugh Auditorium for making this free concert possible.)

As I sat there listening to this beautiful music, my mind began to wander. I attend concerts, as I read books and watch movies, to enjoy and escape, not to critique. And invariably my mind wanders.

This is the thing—the only thing—that I miss about my 60-mile daily commute. I had so much time to think with all that driving. Think and listen to books and catch up with friends.

I find that, without so much time to think, my blog posts are scarcer and thinner of content. So it was fun to sit there and just watch my mind go where it wanted.

The summer I spent studying with Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau, France, I attended more concerts in a shorter span of time than at any other time in my life. I can't tell you the number of dresses I designed and rooms I decorated in my mind that summer. It was a wonderfully creative time.

Isn't the mind a wonderful thing? I've had a favorite saying for years—I heard it back when my sons were watching Sesame Street every day: "walking backwards through the cobwebs of my mind." I just love that saying. The mental image of trying to dig back to facts I once knew but now have faded is so apt, and a bit uncomfortable as I age!

This morning I have a new favorite saying, from the mouth of a very bright young lady and totally girly girl: Last night I sat on the floor, knitting, next to the bathtub as Ridley was taking her bath. She was telling me about her favorite book she reads at school. When she asked if I knew the book and I said no, she said, "Let me read it to you from my mind."

Doesn't that just make you want to leap for joy?!

Here's to having time to listen and hear and think and create. And read from your mind.

What's your best thinking time?

An Inspiring Young Man

You probably won't be surprised if I confess to you that I don't follow sports. Except, that is, for the Florida State University Seminoles. I love my 'Noles. I may have attended seven (count 'em, seven) institutions of higher learning, and I may have only spent three quarters at FSU, but I love FSU.

Saturday morning, after listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," I left the radio on while cutting up berries for the afternoon's picnic with friends. I was fascinated to hear the story on "It's Only a Game" of Myron Rolle, FSU graduate, new draft choice by the Tennessee Titan, and Rhodes scholar!

It seems that every football player I hear being interviewed, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, regardless of whether he grew up in the Deep South, the midwest, or the northeast—each with its own distinctive speech patterns—cannot speak well. Some can't seem to put sentences together. Some can't elucidate a thought clearly. Some can't tell the difference between "I" and "me".

Any person who is a role model to young people should strive to live a good life. I'll admit that's far more important than knowing the difference between "lie" and "lay". However, I also wish more emphasis was put on grammar and speech. Myron Rolle has it in spades!

This young man already has a foundation set up to help needy children and families. His goal, after playing in the NFL, is to become a neurosurgeon. He speaks beautiful, is brilliantly intelligent, and seems to have his head on straight and his life together.

May the fame that's coming his way slide smoothly over his head and not affect his resolve. And may that beautiful brain not get pounded into smithereens on the football field!

Keep up the good work, Mr. Rolle!