All I wanted to do was watch the birds and listen to music with the volume pumped up but not unbearably so.  My wife would be gone several hours.  I had just come back from shopping.

I had a dinner planned–a new recipe-macaroni and broccoli but I would not have to start it for several hours.  I was tickled pink to see a house sparrow briefly.  I had not seen one in awhile.

The snow birds (slate-covered juncos) were feeding on the ground around our large white pine tree in flocks.  I glanced out the back window:  the bare patches were getting bigger.  It was in the forties.

It felt great to be alive.  I just wanted to be, sit back, stand it does not matter.  It was my time.  I was listening to a fine anthology I put together by the Hollies.  It was much played over the years which is a good sign I did my job of mixing the tunes well.

Another anthology by Steeleye Span (an old British folk-rock band) was next.  I do not play that tape too often but I still like it.  And an old (all my music is old) Thin Lizzy album “Jailbreak” was next.

I had no concerns and will rest a little better when my wife get back from her appointments.  Meanwhile I will occasionally glance out my large living room window and see what birds come along.  Maybe even smoke a stogy while life passes me by.

I love mixing with people but I have to linger alone at times to recharge.

fullmoonreflection

I love the quiet of night–the darkness that conceals me and then I withdraw. It is true I often listen to music then but that also enables me to withdraw.

There is so much I want to explore, so much I love but my solitude is essential.

When I come out of my reverie, I am ready to meet the world that is so quick to envelope me.

I love the dawn, the birds that reawaken, who greet me in song in full crescendo.

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It is so easy to miss what is under your feet every day and there is so much you take for granted, so much you are unaware of.

There are so many universes you miss because your mind was elsewhere.

Solitude brings me back to the true pulse of the universe.  Then your perception of the magnificent returns even if it is only a shadow of the infinite.

It was there all along.  My universe expands and contracts.  I want to see, experience everything although that is really impossible.  My solitude always enables me to reconnect with the world surrounding me.  My time here is so short.  The world is so vast and I am only one grain of sand on the many beaches that inhabit this earth.  And the earth is only one drop of water in the cavernous oceans of the rest of the universe.  I keep trying to fathom the mystery I truly am.

Why I Listen To Music

Author: siggy

I can not tell you exactly why music is so important to me but it is.  On some level, the music I pick every day to listen to is done intuitively.  As a rule, most of it is uptempo and I actually absorb energy from it.  In fact, if I am tired I can no longer (???) can listen to such music:  I have to switch to something laid back and mellow.

I started listening to music seriously over forty years ago.  I knew back then I was not that articulate.  Music expresses the inexpressible so I was able to relate to it.  My favorite group then was Jefferson Airplane.  I came to the conclusion one reason I loved this group so much (I still do today) because their music had, at times, an angry tone and growing up I was not permitted to express anger at all, in any degree, so listening to them was cathartic.

As I grew older, my tastes kept expanding and were very eclectic.  I listened to a broad range of music:  blues, rock and roll, jazz, just about everything.

Although I spent hours everyday listening to music, it was not wasted time:  my mind would roam.  I started keeping journals and writing poetry.  I was gradually becoming more and more creative and that process started with music.

At the same time, I was also becoming more and more articulate.  Music still was important and I continued to listen all those years every day for hours.  I never stopped.  In fact, I am very fortunate my wife shares my love of music.  I am always acting as her personal DJ.

I do not know if any of theses explanations explain my love of music or why I listen but maybe you can identify with some of these reasons or my drive to keep listening.

I am the only one in my family who is obsessed with music.  I can explain it quite plainly:  I want to listen to music almost more than I want to breathe.  I do not think you can be driven more than that.