Day 2605: Feet First

Yesterday, when I was walking down the street with my feet first, I heard “Feet First” from the album Street Dreams by the late, great keyboardist Lyle Mays.

My first thought was “Tomorrow’s blog is going to include ‘Feet First’ and photos with feet!”

The first photo I took was of my own feet on the street.

And as I walked through the day with my feet first, I realized, again, how much it helps to take life one step at a time.

Here are the other feet I captured yesterday:

Now it’s time for me to step through another day, feet first.

Thanks to Lyle Mays, artists,  cats, and all who help me step through life feet first, including YOU!

Day 2600: Therapeutic

For the past week, I’ve been doing a version of my Coping and Healing groups for staff where I work.  My group supervisor shared this very helpful thought with me:  “For your co-workers, these groups are not therapy, but they still may be therapeutic.”

A Coping and Healing group, no matter who it is for,  includes a mindfulness exercise, a check-in where each person gets to say whatever they choose without interruption, a focus on the shared common experiences in the room, and the chance to get a good enough sense of closure at the end of the meeting.  Members of the groups say they find this  format therapeutic, and so do I.

Are any of my recent photos therapeutic?

That Chilean sea bass with ginger and garlic was SO therapeutic last night.

This week, it’s been very therapeutic for me to listen to  music by the late, great keyboardist Lyle Mays, including “September Fifteenth”— Lyle and Pat Metheny‘s wonderful tribute to the late, great Bill Evans.

It was also therapeutic for me to read  these comments about that YouTube video:

Tamara Munk
1 day ago
So sad he’s left us, but he’s left an indelible legacy, and made his mark on me. His music has lifted my soul. Thank you Lyle.

JSkalman
1 day ago
This. So fittingly honoring on this day to remember decades of enjoying one of the greatest collaborations in the history of music. The last note belongs to Lyle.

.
Sherif Shaalan
1 day ago
It was 1978 when as a young music student, I first heard Lyle Mays play piano and keyboards with the Pat Metheny Group in concert on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit. I was astonished! He immediately became my favorite pianist of all time, and has remained so to this day.

His composing, arranging and piano/keyboard playing combined melodic sensitivity, harmonic richness, rhythmic diversity, and a remarkably fluid technique, all firmly rooted in both classical and jazz musical traditions . . . are entirely innovative.

While I never met him, I read many of his interviews and watched hundreds of his videos and remain awestruck by the modesty and humility of someone with the genius to evoke such thought, emotion and tranquility through his own music . . . music so complete in its usage of nearly the entire spectrum of compositional and improvisational elements available to musicians.

I loved and admired both Lyle’s solo work and his best known collaborative work with the great jazz guitarist, Pat Metheny, beginning in 1974. Their final collaboration as the Pat Metheny Group was in 2005.

Since then, I, along with millions of other fans all over the world have longed for a PMG reunion, but unfortunately with today’s news, we have already enjoyed our final “Pat Metheny Group” recording, which makes me quite sad.

But what a profoundly beautiful and soulful musical legacy he left.

.
Pamela G.
2 days ago
Goodbye Lyle! See you on the other side – I know you’re adding to heaven’s light with your beautiful music.

What is therapeutic for you, here and now?

I hope you know that gratitude is also therapeutic, so thanks to all who help me create these daily posts, including YOU.

Day 2594: People you’re stuck with

Yesterday I stuck this up on my white board at work:

We then made a list of people we were stuck with, including  family members, co-workers, neighbors, and the current President of the United States.

Who are the people you’re stuck with?  How do you deal with them?

Does it help to know that

• you’re not alone being stuck with people?
• you can try to limit your contact with the challenging people you’re stuck with?
• those people are stuck with difficult people too?
• you can focus on self-love and self-care even when you’re stuck with people?

Now you’re stuck with my other photos from yesterday.

I don’t mind being stuck with my husband Michael, who sticks healthy and delicious meals on our plates.

I also don’t mind being stuck in traffic listening to Bernadette Peters singing “Some People” from Gypsy:

Now I’m hoping some people stick some comments, below, about this “People You’re Stuck With” post.

Thanks for sticking with me, people, through so much!

Day 2590: Questions for the ride home

Yesterday, on my birthday (which was the first international palindrome day in 909 years)  …

… I saw this at a local performance of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical:

That reminded me of seeing plays and movies with my parents when I was a kid, when we always had questions and discussions on the ride (or  walk) home.

Here’s how I would answer that second question for the ride home:

I’m already angry or concerned enough to speak up, protest, march, or become an activist for change. MY question is, “Why aren’t YOU?”

Do you have any questions for the ride or walk home about my new cover photo on Facebook?

Do you have any questions about my other photos from yesterday?

Do you have any sitting-on-the-sofa questions for Harley?

Some people on Facebook had questions about what I posted there the day before my birthday:

On my last day of being 66, it occurs to me that I am now entering the time of life that when I die, nobody will say, “Oh no! She was so young!”

I answered those questions by writing these lyrics for a new song:

NOT TOO YOUNG TO DIE

I’m not too young to die,
’cause I’m over 65,
Yet I plan to stay around for lots more years.

Young is not a word
That is regularly heard
By my aging but still operating ears.

You might call me old,
But I’ll just be staying bold
And enjoying every moment left to me.

No one knows how long
I’ll be here to sing my song,
So I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.

© Ann Koplow, 2020

There are questions in this song from Hair.

How can people be so heartless?  How can people be so cold?  How can people have no feelings?

I don’t have the answers to those questions but I am unquestionably grateful for every day I’m alive and for YOU.

 

Day 2585: I don’t want to bore you

I don’t want to bore you, but yesterday morning I heard  Stevie Wonder singing about not wanting to bore you either:

Personally, I’m not bored, at all, and I wonder why so many people worry about being boring. People are SO interesting, as I hope you can see in these photos from yesterday:

I don’t want to bore you with it, but Michael cooked a new fish last night.

I don’t want to bore you with this story, but when I was in my first year at college, one of my professors told us on the first day of class that he would not remember any of our names and quoted a biology professor saying, “Whenever I remember the name of a student, I forget the name of a fish.”

I don’t want to you bore you with this, but I can’t remember the name of that new fish Michael cooked last night.

I don’t want to bore you with this, but

• I get my teeth cleaned every three months because  I got endocarditis three times in my life,
• I’m getting my teeth cleaned today,
• I haven’t gotten endocarditis for ten years,
• I’m seeing my cardiologist Dr. Deeb Salem next week about my very unusual heart, and
• I’m doing fine, even if I worry at times.

I don’t want to bore you with it, but I’m in the photo at the beginning of this post:

I don’t want to bore you by quoting more lyrics of the Stevie Wonder song but “I don’t want to bore you with it, but I love you, I love you, I love you.”