Over a span of seventy years, Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 1,000 structures, including homes, offices, and schools. He believed in designing buildings in harmony with humanity, nature, and the environment. Wright called his design philosophy “organic architecture.” He was influential in the Prairie School movement of architecture and he later developed the Usonian house. I have toured two Frank Lloyd Wright houses — Fallingwater and the Rosenbaum House.
Oliver Sacks, it seems, had a great capacity for empathy and looking deep into another person’s psyche. Often, it was people who the rest of the world had tossed aside or given up on—people who seemingly had nothing left to offer. In the case of “Awakenings,” they still were themselves, but unable to communicate with the outside world.
One of my April joys is watching spring flowers blossom and bloom. I love all the varieties, sizes, and colors. In our current yard we do not have many colors. In past yards, I have planted lots of colorful shrubs...
Several weeks ago I accompanied my husband to Walgreens where he got his first Covid vaccine shot. It’s not a location where we normally go, but it wasn’t too far from where we live. He parked the car facing a busy four-lane highway. There the highway runs along the base of a modest sized mountain before it rises and crosses over going south and east.
The other day I pulled out a couple of CDs that I had not listened to in a long time—Lo Gai Saber: Troubadours et Jongleurs 1100-1300 and Forgotten Provence: Music-making in the South of France, 1150-1550. The CDs contain songs...
My memories of Good Friday are of my parents getting up as soon as it was light to plant the garden. It wasn’t just a small garden in the yard. They had purchased acreage around our house where they had a garden plot. Daddy would plow it earlier in the week and have it ready for them to plant on Good Friday. I am not sure where that tradition originated — whether it was from the Farmer’s Almanac or simply Southern Folklore, but my parents religiously planted on Good Friday.
Let me state from the beginning that any list of The Top 20 Greatest Singer-Songwriters is subjective. This is only my opinion, reflects my own musical preferences, and includes those whose music I know and listen to. And, on any given day I might argue that the order and/or content should be changed. This is how it seems to me today at this moment.
Often I get too caught up in work I have to do, work I want to do, and thinking about work I should be doing. Sometimes, to relax and get away from the grind, I simply turn on the TV and enjoy turning off the part of my brain that tells me to work.
Make something that did not exist before you created it. Make some art: compose music, write a poem, draw, or, live as only you can. You are the only one living right now, in this moment, with your experiences, with your dreams, with your abilities, and with your unique perspectives. The world needs your art. You need your art.
After my trip to Nashville, for the Song Camp 201 in May 2007, I began voice lessons with Ron Browning. He is a vocal coach who was, at the time, also a teacher at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. In June, he was going to be on the faculty at the Blue Ridge Song Camp. Although I had only had four lessons with Ron, I already deeply respected his opinions and advice. He urged me to attend.
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