Category Archives: Music and Musings

Sometimes I like to fantasize that people could be reconfigured to have little meters in their foreheads, not to download information, but to register how many words in a day each one says. If I could put a bet on something that would make me big money, I would bet than women’s daily word countsContinue reading “You Gotta Talk to Me”

Some things are so surprising that you can’t make them up. True story: my daughter and her husband had two birth children, adopted five Haitian kids, moved to rural South Dakota while she went to online law school, she continued to work full time for an international adoption agency, she gradually became an expert inContinue reading “Pugs Thrive on the South Dakota Plains!”

Do you like ice cream? For many of us, this is like asking, “Do you like to breathe?” Anyone with a dairy allergy is, of course, exempt, and I am sorry for your loss. For the past five years or so, I’ve been in a small class offered by Rebecca Folsom, a highly gifted BoulderContinue reading “How Sweet Is This?”

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Joni Mitchell had one of the sweetest, purest, most flexible voice I had ever heard. Joni wrote music that was completely original and surprising. As years went by, I paid less attention because her music became so… well, confusing and complex, that she left me behind. My tastes are moreContinue reading “Joni Mitchell and “River””

 In 2015, I was lucky enough to sing in an acapella (I NEVER can spell that right!) trio for a pre-Christmas church service, and the blend was so lovely that I am posting our rehearsal, which thrilled all of us, as you can see by the excited outburst at the end of the MP3. TheContinue reading “Oh Come Emmanuel Christmas, 2015”

I sometimes do things before I am truly ready to do them. I get enthused, I can be impulsive, I like to try. Sometimes I try too hard and too soon. Several years ago, I wrote a song called, “Cradle of Love.” I liked the song, but I always felt that someone else would beContinue reading “Ripe Is Better”

My daughter, an introvert, has chosen to live her life on the plains of South Dakota with her husband, children and many pugs. Their home is on a ranch that is twenty miles from the nearest town, with no public transportation, a five mile dirt road that leads into the ranch, and no school bus.Continue reading “Glory of the Plains”

I’ve always loved the feel of the French language in my mouth. It’s sweet, smooth, round, rolling. It’s like melted chocolate, with maybe a few crunchy highlights in it: rice krispies, nuts, dried fruits. In high school I studied French for a few years. Unfortunately, in the U.S., the opportunities to speak French are fewContinue reading “The Flavor of French: La Vie En Rose”

Yep. Most people think the rhythm method is a contraception endeavor that often leads to having children. But I’m changing gears and talking about MY rhythm method: an attempt to find reliable rhythm solely by tapping my foot or by gently smacking my hand against my leg while saying, “One, two three four.” I wasContinue reading “The Rhythm Method”

Have you had the experience of meeting someone and of having the feeling that you have known that person before? One of my favorite quirky authors, Kurt Vonnegut, invented a term to describe that kind of felt connection. He said that such people moved through the world in the same “karass”, though they had notContinue reading “Vocal and Emotional Synergy”