LIFE'S MUSICAL SCORE

Every moment in life deserves a musical score. Really. It's not just movies and television shows that merit enrichment by composed beauty.

Walk down a country road at dawn when the mist is just rising from the fields. Do you not hear the music of nature awakening? In your mind, do you not hear lovely Chamber Music wafting upwards with the moist rising air?

Walk down that same road at night with stars shining in the heavens. Oh the air is alive with the song of insects frantically trying to find their way. Do you not hear soft mandolins and harps played by invisible fairies?

Ride your motorcycle across the Alps as cow bells jingle below and crisp mountain air chills your nostrils. Do you not hear sopranos lifting their voices to God?

Swim in a cold mountain stream, water rushing across smooth rounded stones. The riverbank sings its gurgle and swoosh. Do you not hear lovely jazz flowing from the trees just beyond your grasp?

Even urban zones have their musical essence. Ride through the working streets and hear the Hip Hop and Beat Music flowing from the doorways. See the people smiling as they walk and talk. Ride further to the business district and see the bankers and lawyers in their suits shuffling along the sidewalk. Do you hear their silent cry to dance? Do you hear them silently humming Steely Dan and Doctor John tunes? They might well be.

Years of personal, singular, non-empirical study have proven this: music is probably the most universally understood and loved artform of all. Life may not have sound effects like TV: I mean, really, when we make a good point in a conversation, do we hear a resounding "Da Doing," as one might hear on "Law & Order"? No we don't. We are left alone, soundtrackless, naked, bereft of even the slightest symphonic accompaniment.

So I simply believe that everything in our lives has music attached to it. I hear it in my own little world. It makes me happy. I may never have sound effects, but I can do without those. I'd rather have, and make, music in everything I do.

Got to go now, it's time to play guitar.

Great Autumn Scenes

Open!
Originally uploaded by ~Living the American Dream~.

Autumn can get quite crazy in New England. Tales of ghosts and The Headless Horseman abound. Witches are on the loose.

It's a great time to explore the region. But be careful. That pumpkin patch might just be haunted.

Smell those aging leaves. Oh, it is so good.

WELCOME HOME

Originally uploaded by BlueDjinn.

Travel brings the joy of seeing so many places, so many people. Inevitably one happens upon a tiny house, a little village, where each doorway and window seem to sing a soft song of Welcome.

Here is such an entryway in Switzerland. It looks well worn, well loved, and so ready to welcome its occupants home.

Wouldn't we all love to come home to this place after a long day's toil? I think so.

Swiss Alps Memories

Originally uploaded by BlueDjinn.

Here BlueDjinn captures a Forever Memory while hiking in Switzerland, stating that "the joyful sounds of [the cow bells] accompanied us all the way through. And that evening was pure magic."

She knows how to make memories. Thank you, BlueDjinn, for sharing them with us.

I adored riding my motorcycle through these Alps many years ago. I'd love to do it again. This time I'll be in less of a rush than I was as a 20-year old.

Man Made Stars on the Water

Stars_bridge
Originally uploaded by _Lofter_.

Water reflects all that it sees. Here, the photographer has captured man's little electric stars as they both light a bridge and create fire on the waterway beneath.

Lovely.

Good night Moon.

FOREVER MEMORIES

Memory is a precious thing. Ask those who suffer or live with dementia and they will tell you the sadness of lost memory.

It is said that the oddest of triggers can flip the switch to a long dormant memory. Smells are one of the strongest triggers. Think of the smell of fresh baking bread, and your mind might flash back to a childhood morning in the kitchen when bread was rising in the oven. You might even remember what your mother was wearing that day.

All the senses are attuned to memory channels in our brains. Taste, sight, smell, hearing, and touch. Any one of them can link to a past experience that might otherwise remain buried in that funny cranial orb we call our head.

Some memories are so dear they seem more in our hearts than our heads. You see a smile, or hear a certain sigh, and your heart skips a beat. Memories flood through your entire body.

Appreciating this amazing link between senses and the ability to recall is, I think, the key to making Forever Memories. When you smell a forest floor damp with dew and must, breath it in--hold your breath--keep your eyes open and gaze, and then close them and slowly exhale. You have made a forever memory of that moment in that forest.

If you're lucky enough to be with a significant other when you want to make a memory, do it together. Just say, "Let's make a memory of this [moment, mountain pass, sunset, sunrise, lovely country inn, forest morning] right here, right now."

Not only are you both then truly "living in the now," you are ensuring that you'll never forget.

Dreaming

oasis
Originally uploaded by Lamerie.

YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

"But if you try sometimes," wrote the Rolling Stones, "you get what you need."

Watching my children grow into men I witnessed their nurture from childhood's natural expectation that everything would be instantly granted to adulthood's realization that some things just can't materialize so swiftly.

As I watched their maturation I learned more about myself as well. I learned that I am not a particularly patient man myself. I keep trying to learn patience, but it doesn't come so easily as I would wish.

Many of us share this foible; this inner desire to make today's wishes tomorrow's reality.

Understand that this is not about the infamous "instant gratification" syndrome. This is wholly different. This burning desire to make today's wishes our reality is about far more than instant pleasure: it's far more complex than that. It's about having a say in our futures.

We who wish to make reality out of dreams do so because we envision what could be as what can be. We think of those who create beauty and seek their company. We think of roads to paradise and seek to ride them. We see all possibilities as probabilities just waiting for someone to sculpt them.

I feel sorrow for the cynics of the world, for the pessimists who fail to let themselves see beauty in the loving people around them. I hear Mambo music when I see a smile. I hear trumpets when I see circling roads twisting through mountain roads. I hear beautiful guitar when I ride my motorcycle in any direction that seemed enticing when I pulled out my driveway.

So even if the Stones were right, and we can't always get what we want, we will simply learn to wait a bit more. But we will not give up on our dreams. As long as we remain honest and true of heart we will get what we need. And if we remain steadfast and of good spirit we'll likely enjoy a great ride along the way.

And that is what a good life should be, a great ride along the way.

SUR LA PONT

by ancient hands wrought
Originally uploaded by hoolebronx.

Roads have seduced travelers for eons. The architecture of roadways, bridges and tunnels is truly a wonderment.

Romans may have perfected the Art of the Bridge, but Greeks perfected the notion of paved highways between centers of commerce and learning.

The Pont du Garde, in Nimes, France, shows the beauty of the Roman arch. Simply elegant --marvelously balanced.

Algonquin Park

DSC05327
Originally uploaded by Hot Meteor.

I haven't ridden in Algonquin Park in years. A friend told me they were heading that way today.

I remember riding through the Park with my brother, Mark. We rode through Madawaska, into the Park, and then on to Oxtongue Lake. How lovely that entire area was. Peaceful and Grand.

The Park's Fall colors must be magnificent today.

We have a long weekend coming up. Shadowfax has brand new tires that were broken in nicely this past weekend in Maine. New tires, new oil, heck, it's time to ride.

I can hear that whistle blowing.