Food Groups and Musical Variety

June Raspberries

YUM! Mixed variety of raspberries

I've been listening to a big variety of music lately.
It started me thinking about how important a variety of music might be to make sure to get a balanced diet of the arts.

Seriously, I can only listen to a few songs of certain kinds of music (Bluegrass, Hard Rock, serious Jazz) before I NEED to hear something else.  Then I go back to my standard courses of salad, favorite cheese, chicken, garden veggies kind of music.


But it is really good for me to try a little kimchee, chili rellenos, Thai tea and others that I don't have much of in my diet.  Pizza is a nice change, but I wouldn't want to eat it every day.  Same with music.

I got a package in the mail recently of a new children's CD called Gratitude Attitude    They included one my songs "Only Take What You Need" which I wrote and recorded a few (quite a few) years back on Around the World with Earth Mama.  It is a Dixieland Jazz song that is another version of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle concept.  I still love to sing it in concert and get folks, young and old to sing along.  And I was tickled pink that several reviews of Gratitude Attitude mentioned my song as one of their family favorites.

But I may never write or record another DixieLand tune.  It's not really at the core of what I do, so I really enjoyed the variety of doing it once.

There is a world of tasty music out there!! What do you listen to when you want to hear something different?    

The Man Who Precycles Christmas Trees

We ran into our friend, Joe, Christmas week and he pointed out the beautiful big decorated (no lights, just outdoor ornaments, garlands and a big star) in the field in front of his house.
We asked him if he had cut down a real, live tree for this display and he told us a wonderful story of how he PRE-cycles and reuses trees every year:

Joe has lots of friends and family here, most of whom have houses and yards. He keeps track of folks he knows who have evergreen trees that have outgrown their backyards, or need to be removed for a building project, or must sacrifice their space for some other use. Then come December he performs careful tree removal for them and has a beautiful fresh Christmas tree in his front yard/field. It is a tradition that has gone on 8 or 9 years now. He has trees lined up for the next 2 years and is certain that there will be more after that. Of course, as with most conservation efforts, it takes forethought and some advanced planning. But it gives the tree that must be removed one last flash of attention and glory. And is a joyful reminder of this season to all who pass by, as well as a model and example of careful use of resources for those who know the story.

What things might I precycle or reuse in the coming year? There are new examples showing up every day!