Bird on the Wire

Here is a new video that I made of me singing an old, lovely Leonard Cohen song. This is video #15 on my youtube channel, and the 3rd that I have recorded in English.

I am most proud of the fact that Cook and Ama know all the words to this song, and lots of other songs like it. I hope I am doing enough to grow a love of music in their hearts, although ultimately I'm not sure it has anything to do with me. They both seem to have been born with music in their souls, and I can already see that little Rowan was too. 

Dia Luna Dia Pena

Here is a new song I recorded for my youtube channel. It's a Manu Chao cover that I like very much. 

I am enjoying having a youtube channel for a couple of reasons. The first and most important reason is that it gives music a place in my life. It gives me a reason to practice and learn new songs, and make time for making music much more often than I have in the past. The second reason is because I have gotten a lot of positive, supportive feedback from people watching my videos. At this point they are mostly almost all strangers from faraway places, because I am not yet brave enough to invite my actual real-life friends, family, and acquaintances into the fold, but I feel much more confident than before, so maybe someday I will be able to slough off the anonymity and own the project a little more completely! Til then, it is still a fun little hobby.

New Poem: Into the Present (7-13)

     Into the Present

     What is time? Does it lie behind you like a road, cemented and pulling,

     taut, unchanging, as easy to trace with one single determined finger

     as a line on a map?

     Or does it flow through you like a river, sweet or cold, muddy or roiling?

     If you fought up the stream could you find your past living in deep eddies,

     or stuck under logs?

     Maybe time is like a scar, the mark that is left after a thing has been done,

     its story only existing as long as the scarbearer is there to tell it.

     Or maybe it’s more like being at the top of a waterfall,

     and we row and try not to look as everything falls away just beyond our backs.

     I think that time is a broom.

     It is a precious, ancient, cosmic tool

     that we can hold in our hands,

     holding hands with grandmothers.

     It makes us useful, sweeping away cobwebs,

     keeping the world clean. It makes the old new,

     clears room for the next, magic for our daughters.

     And we can use our brooms and our own strength

     to forever sweep ourselves

     into the present.                          

Jenny Again

I finally recorded two new songs after taking a short 2-year break! It reminded me how actually not that hard it is, and how I should try to do creative projects more often...

I was introduced to this band and this song by Chris. The kids really like it.

Who Will Sing Me Lullabies?

Well, I recorded this song even though I don't feel like I have a whole lot to contribute in the way of differences or improvements (couldn't ever possibly improve on Kate Rusby's voice, that's for sure) because it is a sleepy song that I sing to the kids at bedtime, and I feel like I should document some of that for them for when I'm dead and gone, in case they need their mommy. That sounds darker than I meant it to.

Watercolor Cards

Here are 16 watercolor and ink cards that I made in 2005. I just found them tucked away in my computer. They were originally on the front of notecards, which I then must have scanned. I don't know where any of the originals are.

Cyclopsy v.2

Ama has done it again! This is the new and improved Cyclopsy she designed and asked me to make. It took a long time to get around to putting it together, but I finally did and it turned out great! The two major improvements to the original Cyclopsy design are 1) this one has hair! and 2) this one is filled with rice instead of stuffing, so that you can warm it up in the microwave on a cold winter night and it makes a hot snuggly sleeping buddy! Great ideas both, Ama! She has aptly named this baby "Future."