Slow DOWN!

This pandemic time is supposed to be an opportunity

for all of us to slow down a bit, take time to breathe

and enjoy what's around us.

I just got off the phone with Sondra and instead of

going to her office for 90 minutes of intense yoga,

she's "strolling" around her neighborhood and

taking in the sights and sounds.

I, on the other hand, am going FULL TILT.

(At least it feels like it...)

I taught another class last night.

I had 11 students, 4 of them were really engaged

and using the chat feature to ask questions

and answer my questions, etc.

The rest were just names in the o-zone.

My boss stopped in for about 15 minutes

and complimented me before me left.

That's always nice.

(But STILL after 20 years, freaks me out!)

Hahahaha

I'm still learning more and more about Zoom.

Mostly I'm just late to the party.

But hey, I'm learning!

I was training a new instructor, but she is

having insurmountable difficulties, so we

"benched" her until the next round and I

took over again.

I guess I was still wound up, because

I just could NOT get to sleep.

I tossed and turned and tossed and turned

and changed the channel and tossed...

so I got up.

And ate half a bag of salt & vinegar crackers.

And woke up at 3:30.

(And headed to bed...)

This morning I got up, visited with Kyle for

a minute or two and then headed out to care

for the animals.

I found some zip ties and zip tied the cow

manger to the fence. I'm tired of them dragging

it all over the pasture and then I have to chase

it down when I want to feed them.

I tied it to the fence with baling twine,

but it wasn't strong enough.

So this time I used plastic zip ties.

Been meaning to do it for weeks.

And now its done.

Whew!

Then Kyle came out and we hooked up the

new bottle of natural bug killer to the hose

and sprayed the entire garden.

It has rosemary, garlic, clove, and cinnamon

(among other things)

so my whole garden smells like an Italian

dinner that went off the rails somewhere...

That cinnamon really doesn't fit!

Hopefully it works!

Then I went inside and found Rod's staple gun

and tightened up a little gap in the chicken wire

so the rabbits don't have a window to sneak in through.

Ta Da!

Then we cut 3 more roses off his bushes

(we got the first yellow rose!)

And then went out on the driveway and pruned the

hibiscus plants that are there.

They are all leggy and terrible looking.

Now they are all short and terrible looking.

But it can't be WORSE... 

One more thing off my list...

Anyhow.

Now I'm in the house, eating my late breakfast 

and found this on Steven Sharp Nelson (Piano Guy) facebook.

He has taken to writing a blog.

It's good and something to think about...

The fermata.

One of my favorite music symbols.

When I was a teenager I was in a string quartet 

called the "four matas".

No one got it.

We were always asked, "What's a mata?" 

To which I couldn't stop myself from responding,

 "Nothin' what's the mata with you?"

Ya. That's didn't go over that great either.

In Italian, fermata meas "stop". 

But its so much more than that.

A fermata is a moment. A held moment when a musician, 

without the dictates and confines of time signatures, 

tempo, or imposed rhythms, is free to be fearlessly authentic.

Free to let go and experience the music 

rather than just play the notes.

Free to hold back what comes next

 just long enough to breathe in meaning, 

and breathe out all that keeps us 

from enjoying the music.

I feel like right now we're living in a fermata. 

A protracted moment. 

An opportunity to "hold the music" 

long enough to better enjoy it, 

to breathe in who is around us, 

what we have, what we've been given,

 and to breathe out what's keeping us from giving back.

It's been said that music is the space between the notes.

Maybe life is the space between our expectations.

The music of authentic experience and fearless joy.