Howdy Friends,
Wow, January is behind us! So fast this year already spins with newness and hope despite the volatile times we are in. Many of you are like minded friends who have had a rough 4 years watching our world get turned upside-down with politics and Covid 19! We feel you! It has been tough on human kind and the divide between us is a full blown reality, there is no denying after the mob hit the Capitol Hill on Jan .6th.
Such strange times indeed, yet here we are. I can’t help but think better days are on the horizon. Perhaps that is my “program”, pop in the cassette of positivity! On another note, speaking of “cassette”, we have so much exciting news to share in the midst of all the things going on in the world!
Last March/April when the world was “sheltering in place”, I tore apart the 2 storage sheds behind our house. It was a crazy task. Things that have been in there since we moved in 16 years ago! The space was packed and there was no true utilization happening. Boxes upon boxes came out of there, much I gave away or threw away. But many of those boxes were endless amounts of physical photographs. I whittled them down during the summer, but come the Fall, I STILL had an over abundance of pictures to sort out and go through and various other stuff, like journals and writing, old memorabilia, cards and letters from my mother. Things you just don’t know how to let go of, ya know?
A young Blaese family, Christmas of ‘67. I’m the tiny one in Mom’s arms.
Some people don’t even look in the box and just throw it away, or they say, “Oh, this is college B.S. let’s chuck it all”…but I am a sifter. I look for the “gold”. I do that when I write a song. I throw a bunch of stuff in the “colander” and shake it till a song is left in the bowl. It’s just how I roll and sometimes it can be self-torturous!
However, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process that I am on now. After months and months of moving these boxes and having them feel like chains, weighing me down…I cracked into them one by one. They are now in the SHOP and are whittled down further into pictures Categorized by; family, friends, landscapes, trips, animals, etc. Now I am going through them all again and deciding which ones to let go of. I already have thrown many of them away and now deciding, “which ones to keep”. If it sparks joy or tells a story of substance or worth for me, I keep it. If it frames in a part of my life for which I could never explain (a picture tells a thousand words) it stays. And…”How many pictures do I really want to scan?” Is the other question I ask when determining what to keep and what to toss.
A dapper little Nicc. I think this is my kindergarten picture…6 yrs. old?
So in all this nostalgia, my CD player took a dump. I was out there listening to music having a good ol’ time and poof, the CD player Dad got me years ago failed. Bummer! Well, my good friend Trudy (and awesome member) recently purchased a cool Victrola for her partner. So out there sifting through pictures and thinking of Dad I said, “why not pull the trigger on that” and off to Amazon I went! It was here 2 days later! I’ve been a 14 year old, in my bliss, ever since! The power of music! It’s so cool! And I’ve not been able to listen to these old Cassette tapes I’ve made in years! It was just so perfect. This little gadget has a record player/ CD/Cassette/ FM Radio & USB…and also has blue tooth so I can run my phone aps to it also if I want. Crazy cool contraption!
So much joy from one item! LOVE this thing!!!
Here I am, sitting in the shop, getting ready to make it into a real live studio! I need to get the old out and organized and bring in the new cameras and sequencer change the ambiance so it becomes a place of beauty and creativity. I have yearned to do this for a very long long time and finally have the time and gathering the resources to help.
The overwhelm…gulp!
At LAST! I am tackling the “corners of my life”! Clearing out the clutter, it feels like a cleanse. At Last! And speaking of “AT LAST”…it IS the month of LOVE and I thought, what better song to post for you than the Mighty Mo Kelly singing Etta Jame’s “At Last”! We hope you enjoy it!
Puppy Love, Chris Sphar and I! We matched! I wonder if our mothers planned that! He was so cute… still is!
What is your projects you have tackled this year? Is there still “cobwebs” in an area of your life you’ve been procrastinating cleaning? Just some thoughts, “How will it feel at the END of this? What one step can you do TODAY that will assist in the completion of this thing you want to get done?”
Baby Big Mouth! LOL! Yep, that’s a yo-yo and an interesting way of playing with it!
Happy month of February friends! We hope you enjoy!
There once was a time…my brother and I were close. A treasured photo!
There once was a time…I wore dresses, and believed in Fairy-tale Land! Ha! Dancing with my handsome Dad!
My parents enjoying their fairy-tale land.
