Starting In

It's raining...my mountains have disappeared in low clouds...and I'm facing a
blank page...reaching for something to say. Every time I come upon a journal of
mine...or an old note book...and take a peek at what's written in it...I'm
reminded of the large body of experiences...ideas...knowings...and places I've
visited in my imagination...that are available to me. Yet...when...without
consulting any of that...I sit in front of a blank page...it often feels like a
mirror of the blankness I feel in me. The reminder this morning...is that there
is always something to be said...by any human being...as he or she lives life.
You just have to be patient...and remind yourself it's available...and "start
in". I'm a believer in..."starting in". Once you do...whether it's with a melody
...a poem...a song...or even a blog entry...you never know...where it will get
you to. Amen........................Quester.

Pacific Dream

This song has a bit of a prophecy in it. Wrote it in sweltering Toronto...in
July one year. By October of that year I had arrived in Vancouver...to
start living my Pacific Dream...with no livelihood guarantees...but simply
following my bliss. Living on the West Coast of Canada...continues to
inspire and nourish me. Rain...notwithstanding...I feel coming to live here...
was one of the best life decisions I ever made....................Quester.

A Pleasant Problem

As I looked through some cd's just now...trying to find a song I want to turn
into a video...and couldn't find it...I had what I call..."the dark forset"
feeling...the forest being the work you wish to do...still ahead of you...and
that...looming large. I had to immediately tell myself...wait a minute...don't
forget all the videos of your work you've made since the start of 2007...you
are making progress...just keep at it...making one video at a time...and one day
you'll have all the songs or pieces of your work you want to turn to videos...
done. I then reminded myself...how fortunate I am...to have ongoingly made videos
for over two and a half years...and still have many more...songs ones especially
...to be done. I then told myself...to just be thankful I'm in this position...
and not for a moment...ger "dark" about it. Yes...it may be wet and gloomy
outside today...but I do have much to be thankful for...with the "dark forest"
being actually...no more than evidence of some of the work I've alreay done.....
....................Quester.

The Sun Will Be Sweeter

It's 8.30 in the morning...and the gloom is thick outside my rain pocked window
...small wonder my video today is what it is. Let's face it...if you let it...
rain can be very depressing. For me...it's not so much the wetness...but the
absence of sunlight that's so hard to bear. But like so much else in life...you
can take what appears to be a negative and turn it around. There are places on
Earth right now...where rain hasn't fallen for months...and crops have been
accordingly ruined. One of the things I love about this West Coast I live on...
is how lush the vegetation is...and the great abundance of flowers in their season.
Rain...of course...plays a big part in that. I find that wet and gloom outside...
if I harness it...can help me to dig deep...inside...into working on some long
delayed project. So...let it rain...the sun will be sweeter...when it finally
comes again........................Quester.

E-Mail Time

Unusually...there was only one e-mail this morning. It was from someone who has
been sending me an e-mail every day...telling me about his latest blog entry...
for over three years now. With a sigh...I instantly deleted it...and sent him a
good luck wish. I guess the thing about e-mail...although you should know
better...after years of checking for it...is that it keeps holding out a promise
of a message...that will lift you in some way. When instead...you get a piece of
spam...a notice about someone's video of a cover song...or someone giving you
another daily notice about their blog entry...it's no wonder you experience a
feeling of disappointment. Every time I see the red dot go on above my e-mail
logo...I tell myself..."don't start jumping for joy...it'll be whatever it will
be...not necessarly what you wish for". Despite this emotional preparation...
there is still some disappointment when it turns out to be the..."same old...
same old". I'll keep on working on my preparation for receiving e-mail. Maybe
in time to come...the daily blog notice...and its irritating companions...will
instead...nudge me towards feeling..."well...all this means...that the world is
still going round the way it always has...so...just be glad it is.....Quester.

Tribute To A Violin Maestro

Listening to some of my song videos on YouTube this morning...I couldn't help but
marvel...at the gifts of brilliant technology we have been given in recent times
...that are now available to bring us closer together...and share so many different kinds of human expression...sometimes even the gifts of those who have long departed
this Earth. In this video...Ojibway Star..I hear once again the mesmerizing wail of
Al Czerny's...[hope I'm spelling his name correctly]...time bridging violin...
sending out it's haunting notes...over the gulf of thirty years passing. I remember
giving to him...a hummed melody...of the part I wished to be played...in between
the parts of this song I would sing...shortly before we recorded it...never dreaming
he would transmute it into such a heart felt wail. I hope the word of mouth news I heard some years ago that Al had passed on...was only a rumour...and he is still
with us...but wherever he may be...his music lives on...not only in this song...but
in many other places............Quester.

My First Ukulele Improvisation

As I mentioned in a previous post..."Two For Ones"...I had just acquired a
ukulele...for the first time ever,..and it had joined the instruments...near
where I sit to watch television...so I could reach out for one of them to play
...as a second thing to do...during my tv time. My little brown ukulele...
perhaps because it is tiny...not to mention the "plucked sound" I've been getting
from it...has since that entry become the one instrument I reach for. I've been
enjoying playing it...sometimes even absent mindedly. You do a lot of that...
and your fingers begin to know where to go to get certain sounds. Night before
the last...I got a strong nudge...to do an improvisation on it...and record it.
I somehow managed to sustain this improvisation...for 4 minutes and 28 seconds.
I was pleasantly surprised when I played it back by the pleasing sound I was
getting from a recording of this instrument. It is such a small instrument...
that before you record it...you might not even fully appreciate the sound you
can get from it. Inspired by this...I set out to make a video...twinning it with
a clip of a little waterfall I had taken during the summer. The upshot...was
yesterday...I uploaded it to YouTube. It gave me a chuckle...to think that I had
done an improvisation...on an instrument I hadn't dreamt of playing...up to a
month ago...turned it to a video...which was now available to the world!. It
might be a bit of unbridled grandiosity I'm into here...but something tells me
this little instrument...is a magic maker...somehow drawing out from me,,,music
I might not have even known I had in me.

Journey Towards Perfect Illumination

In my self taught...trial and error journey...into making videos...I've found
the most elusive thing to get right...is the lighting. Given most of my videos
are of songs of mine...perhaps impeccable lighting...may not be as important
in these videos...as having a good sound track working for you. So far...I feel
pretty good about the sound tracks I've been able to deliver...i.e. "given all
the givens"...as I often say...I feel that part of my song videos have been as
well taken care of...as I can muster. Don't get me wrong...I've been ongoingly
working...on the lighting for my videos...trying out all kinds of lights and
light positions...short of acquiring a Hollywood studio. Anyway...one of the
little victories in my life...was I was able to make a small breakthrough
yesterday...for certain videos...with the addition of a strategically placed
light. My search continues for one day finding...the missing pieces of the
lighting puzzle...but I'm happy to report...yesterday's advance...did give me a
lift on my journey towards..."perfect illumination"..................Quester.

My Thanksgiving...Not About Turkeys

My Thanksgiving Song on YouTube...is surging for the third year in a row...at
this time of the year...in the number of people who are viewing it. As I wrote
in my online description...this song was written in the spirit of All The Time Thankfulness...rather than thankfulness being brought to the fore...on only one
day of the year. My idea of thanksgiving...has nothing to do with turkeys. Of
course...growing up in Guyana...I can't remember...then...there ever being a Thanksgiving Day...or ever having eaten turkey...confining myself to just
talking it...from time to time. So...given that beginning...gathering around a
a generous bird...when I was being shaped...was never in my picture...small wonder then...the turkey thing...has never been mandatory in my life. So...my song on
YouTube...accordingly...never has a whiff of turkeydom about it...but is about many
simple gifts we have been given in our lives...that we tend to take for granted
...like...rain...rainbow...wind...fire...water...Earth...Sun...Moon...my legs...
hands...eyes...singing mouth...and searching mind...only some of the many things
to be thankful for...anytime. I give thanks for them...and more.......Quester.

Making The Circle Grow

This song was written many years ago. The "circle" it refers to...is that of
people of good will...those who are not trapped in a "them and us" mentality...
and the suspicion and paranoia that tends to come...when you are bunkered down
in that prison. "The old way of taking an eye for an eye...has left us near
blinded...but still we can fly...If only we see we must change for all time...
the way that we look upon all humankind"...one of the verses says. I am thankful
that there is a new leader on the world scene...who seeks a new way of relating
to other countries...first by engaging in peaceful discussions...and not by
uttering threats based on millitary might. I think this heralds a profound shift
in "the way that we look upon all humankind". I am thankful that the Nobel Peace Prize
comittee were liberated enough to see this...and to give this year's award...to
the world leader...who has started this shift in global outlook. Regardless of
the many nay sayers...who so far have not seen what an achievement this already
is...I see it...and am thankful for it....................Quester.

Survival Of The Best Adjusters

My preoccupation yesterday...was getting used to the new format for my main
YouTube channel...which is different now in several ways...from the previous
version. My first feeling as I saw it for the first time...was...where has
everything I was used to gone?. It was a bit like having the carpet pulled from
under you. Very quickly...however...I decided...that rather than spend the day...
the week...the month...sulking...the I should get into some serious "working
with what you've got" action. I made several adjustments on my main channel page
by the time the day was over. I'm sure that more are likely to occur to me...in
the days to come. I remember once writing...that change was the only constant
there is...although I suspect others have said that too. Yesterday...I was given
ample opportunity...to keep that notion in mind. Maybe what we're looking at here
...is about...survival of the best adjusters.................Quester.

A Benefit From A Blockage

Using a computer and the internet...gives you a combination of empowerment and
magic...on one hand...and frustration...on the other. Right now I'm experiencing
the latter...as I try to access the accounts page of my main YouTube channel...
the way I usually do...and find...I cannot. If you let it...something like that
...can push you into a Kafkaesque zone...where you feel you cannot count on
much of anything...and you may be locked out of where you want to enter...for all
time. At times like this...I have to remind myself...that I've been in situations
like this before to do with my computer and the internet...and somehow...the
solution to the blockage...or problem...has come...and this time...it will too.
I suppose...it requires...backing off a bit...from that "locked out" feeling
you get in situations like this...and the darkness that can come with that. It's
another life occasion for reminding yourself that..."this too will pass". At
any rate...the solutions to such difficulties...seem to come more readily...when
you deintensify. So...we'll see how this one unfolds. Already I see a benefit
from being locked out from my channel...I was wondering what I would post today
to my blog...and now...I no longer need wonder..............Quester.

Dawn On My Mountains Revisited

This video was an unexpected gift. It came out of one of those times...
when Creation smiles on you...and you're lucky to have a camera...to help you to
share it with others. I've become a mountain and sky watcher from my front
windows. There are days when low cloud cover hides my mountains...but on the many
days when they are visible...they provide me with a postcard picture...which a
video could be made out of. But there are special days...when mountains and sky...
become even more magical. The morning this video was made was one such...and
barely awake...I reached for my camcorder and started recording. I was fortunate
to get a few clips while the sky was painted with dawn pink. I remember at one
point...doing some adjustments on my camera...having found a fine angle from which
to catch the pink...and just as I was about to record some more...noticed that the
beautiful colour in the sky was gone!. This was one more reminder of fleeting
beauty...and about being quick off the mark when you're taking pictures of any
kind. I am glad that morning...I was able to catch some...before a special
unfolding in the skies...was gone...................Quester.

Two For Ones

About a week ago...at a thrift store...I bought a ukelele. It was at a very
low price...for a good looking little instrument. I have a motley collection of
musical instruments I've collected over the years. For me...they are not
usually acquired...to be hung on my walls...but...with a little luck...to be
played...if I can ever figure out how to do so. Since I've been making videos
of my music...there is also a chance...that at some point...I might be able to
bring a member of the collection...into a video. So far...rattle...hand drum...
djembe...a little key board...which has recently gone a.w.o.l...and at least
two of my guitars have been video validated. There are a few others that lie in
waiting for a promotion up ahead. Who knows...the "new kid on the block"...might
at some point...be one of them. But there is another contribution...a few of
these instruments might make to my life. I call it...getting..."two for ones".
Let me explain. Perhaps it may be vestiges of Victorian influences...still at
work in my life...but I've felt for some time...some times at least...I shouldn't
just sit transfixed by images and sounds from my television set...but find
something else to do...while I'm doing that. So far...knitting eludes me...as
the second thing I do during my television time...but I'm happy to report...that
within easy reach of where I sit in front of the television...there are two
guitars...one amplified...a ceramic djembe [drum]...with the possibility of
bringing tambourine and rattle into the folds of my tv watching companions...
and over the last week...my little "brown buddy"...my thrift store ukelele!.
I look forward to experiencing future "two for ones"...with them all........
..................Quester.