Online Friends & Comfort Zones

This week I've received two invitations to join "Facebook" as a friend. It was good of the two people who invited me...to do so...but before the first one of them mentioned "Facebook"...I'd never heard of it. Apparently...it's an online system through which friends can swop photos...and more. It's the "more" that I don't know anything about...but am hoping to find out shortly. Right now...I still need to do some information gathering...to see if I'll be comfortable...in the "Facebook" scheme of things. If I find that I would be...then...a joining up...is likely. So far...I've been functioning with ease...in the Blogger and YouTube systems...perhaps this new one will also turn out to be...a good extension of my horizons...we'll see. I think one horizon that's being extended with these new online systems...is the notion of "friends". Through the years I've felt that "friendship" is something that evolves...organically...and therefore...slowly. Perhaps...this new custom of inviting people to be friends online...or being invited...is an overdue mechanism...for fostering what will turn out to be real friendships. That too...we'll see. I guess part of what's at play here for me...is about extending my comfort zones. We'll see how that unfolds too.......
..............Quester.

The Beauty Is Never Far Away

Returned not too long ago...from singing at a World Poetry night at the Central Library in Vancouver. I sang three of my songs..."Old Fashioned Immigrant"..."River Child"...and "Splinters of the Tree". The songs were well received and I left for home especially early tonight. Lugging my guitar and another case on my way to the library earlier...I had fallen as I stepped off a bus...and had one or two small bruises to attend to at home. I was fortunate that it wasn't at all serious...like falling on your face or breaking something when you fell. I was very lucky. The toughest moment was when I first fell...springing open the lid of the case I was carrying and splattering poems and cd's all over the sidewalk. I felt people looking at me...and I wondered what they were thinking was the cause of the fall...perhaps a glass or two too many?. It was nothing of the sort...but still I experienced a moment of embarassment...at suddenly being in a vulnerable position. The beauty that came out of this moment...was two young people stopping to help me to pick up my stuff from the sidewalk. Like I often say..."the beauty is never far away"............Quester.

This Exotic Part Of The World

Today by the Inukshuk...[Inuit stone structure on the shores of English Bay]...I saw
this quite large cluster of people...standing around. When I got closer...I saw that
they were listening to three Haida People...with hand drums...and in traditional dress...singing some of their traditional songs. It turned out that most of the listeners present...were visiting Vancouver...from Germany...and were paying rapt attention to what was going on. Years ago I heard that there were clubs in Germany...
whose members study Native ways and making traditional Native clothes and adornments...and sometimes meet in the hills...to practise what they've learnt about the Indigenous People of the Americas. There seems to be a love affair with "things Native"...in certain pockets in Germany. I'm not sure if the people I saw today...down by English Bay...were from one such club...but they were certainly very attentive to what was going on. I wish them well in their travels in this "exotic" part of the world..............Quester.

West Coast Patterns

It's a grey West Coast morning...but the clouds might move away as the day unfolds...a West Coast pattern that happens at certain times of the year...I'm not sure that this time in June is such a time. One pattern that I know from my time singing outdoors...is that the first half of June or so out here...is not a good time to schedule outdoor events...the evenings can be cold...and there's always the chance of rain. My favourite recurring pattern out here...is cherry trees blooming by January first. I've seen them flowering as early as November...once in a while. Perhaps the West Coast natural thing that impressed me as much as anything...coming to live here from Ontario...where the crocus is a flower of spring...period...was seeing crocuses...which also bloom here in spring...return fiercely in October...for a second blooming. On seeing this...I immediately got the metaphor that was being offered...and wrote a poem called..."October Crocuses"...which is...of course...how we human beings can have second and more...bloomings. Yes...I think I'm getting to know this part of the world I love...and some of its patterns...as time rolls on.............Quester.

We Needed That

Just returned from a party with friends...poets...writers...musicians. It was someone's birthday...and there was a great turn out of well wishers...with much
animated conversation...and feasting. The part I enjoyed most...was meeting up again
with people I hadn't seen for a while. We human beings need to meet up like this...and
in our meeting even if we just hang out together and talk and laugh...we all end up
being recharged by the experience. I think that on occasions like this...at the end of it ...there is an "I needed that"...felt if not said by those who take part in it. May
there be many more of these meetings up ahead...........Quester.

Only Waiting For The Real Roses

At the end of last April I wrote a post called..."April Roses"...followed by one a few weeks later called..."April Roses...Not"...when I discovered that I had been looking at artificial roses in someone's yard...at the end of April. Today...I walked by that same yard and there were "real roses" in that yard...fits with it being close to mid-June. I looked closely at those roses...then around them...and then it hit me...why things looked so different to me...today...from when I'd first looked at the flowers in that yard. The artificial roses that had made an April fool of me...were nowhere to be seen!. It seems they had served their purpose...for someone...who just couln't wait for the real roses to bloom!. Now that the living roses were here...it seems...they had been stored away...until early next spring. If I'm around then...I'll go checking for them...come April...but there'll be no more rhapsodies from me...about roses blooming in April...on the magical West Coast............Quester.

One Foot Before The Other One

[Words from song: "One Foot Before The Other One".
Copyright-SOCAn].
"When lonely is a season...
that won't change...
And freedom is a dance...
that's cold and strange...
And love is just a word...
to fill a line in a midnight song...
Then it's one foot before the other one...
You'll walk on 'til the night is done...
And hope you live to see the morning sun..."
.............Quester.

A Flub Free Improvisation

I just finished recording a guitar improvisation that lasted four minutes and ten seconds...and so far as I can tell right now...there were no flubs along the way, I
never cease to be surprised when something like that happens...and what is more...gets
recorded. It is like for its duration...you're under some special protection from the
"flub meister"...who could so easily make your fingers go to the wrong places. Anyway...looks like I was protected tonight...and I am thankful for it. May there be
more improvisations up ahead.............Quester.

Through The Eyes Of A Child

Was going to write about something completely different tonight...but a video I finished today is too fresh in my mind...with the beautiful face of my daughter as a
child...a core part of it. A couple nights ago...I did a guitar improvisation that came
out surprisingly well...with a lot of "child" in it...which just suited this project
I'd had in mind. I found the way...technically how to join it seamlessly...with my
blessing song..."Through the Eyes of a Child"...which was the first song on a children's album I did...inspired by my daughter...who was a young child then. So today...with the finishing of this video...a kind of circle was completed...with my daughter's delightful child presence returning...to lift the video...all these years later. This is a video I'm extremely pleased I was able to make...and soon I should be uploading it for others to see. I think I'll sleep well tonight. Peace. Quester.

Moving On

Yesterday...I removed one of my
videos from YouTube...that had
garnered over eighteen hundred
views...while it was up. I replaced it with a voice and guitar version of the same song.
I had my private reasons for doing it...but it was one of the
toughest things I've done in quite a while. My last post was
about holding on and letting go. This video was very hard
to let go of. It was a great lesson in learning not to be attached
to things. Tonight I've just uploaded a new video..."Long Gone
John"...to YouTube. I guess in life one of the things you have to
learn to do...is to move on........
......................................Quester.

Wishing All Wisdom

Sometimes...what causes us most difficulty in life...is trying to hang on to someone...or something...when reaching the
point when we relinquish it all...
is what would bring us peace...
out of a lot of turmoil. Someone
...I think it was Gerald Jampolsky...the writer...once said...the way to stop a tug of war...is to relinquish your end of
the rope. I think that statement makes a lot of sense. Some of us
human beings...put ourselves through a lot of agonies...because
we're simply not ready to let go of...that which needs to be let
go of. Of course...there are times in life...when it is holding on...
that is required...in the face of a difficult situation. Like so much
else in life...the trick is to have the wisdom to know the difference...between those two approaches. Wishing all wisdom..................Quester.

On A Roll

After a string of days when I've
been working on one video after
the other...I was settling into
tonight to listen to some music videos...when it suddenly
occurred to me...whoah...you
haven't posted anything on your
blog for days. This must be the
the longest stretch without an entry...however...I have been
very fruitfully occupied. One thing that hasn't been interfered
with...is my picture taking...on most days there are more to be
added to my already large library of images. As for the videos...
all I can say...is I'm on a roll...and very thankful for it. Hope it
keeps going for a while.............
.......................................Quester.