#Frail Autumn,, #Frankie the Fella,, #GarageBand,, #music, #Retirement Projects, #songwriting

Toon. Muzak. A few hours of therapy.

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the winds wail
clouds hover restless
the skies feel
winds caress
cradled by clouds
the skies feel.

Poetry by Destiny.

Photograph by Gray Summers.

Poem written for the photograph itself. Thank you Destiny. Much appreciated.

Destiny’s WordPress Site.

https://destinysdesignz.wordpress.com/

I find that the proper songwriting presently is being put in a little box of ‘awaiting’ and can be picked up and opened again when the time feels right. Not out of ideas at all. Just want to get a vibe of ‘Yup! Ready to go now’.

So I find myself going through a few over and over daily motions. After Angie goes to work really early at 07.00, I get up and sort out Frankie the Kitten/Cat. Coffee, breakfast and then Gardening. Frankie the Fella cat yowls to get out there, so I may as well do something productive. It has been a positive garden intervention over the last few weeks and salad/vegetable seeds have gone into the, now tidied, raised bed and herbs into the herb raised bed. Tidying up a fair bit of leaves, stray brambles, etc. And untangling Frankie the Fella from where his 50 feet lead goes in, under and around trees, shrubs, chairs, water fountain, etc. He climbs trees and gets a huge yowl output because he can’t get back down. The ladder is now an ever present in the garden.

Anyways. Therapeutic music has become an 8 o’clock in the evening and onwards quick vibe play. Make it up, tune wise, on the hoof. Hence the clippety-cloppety beat. Joke…. Drums/percussion choice first. Acoustic strum to suit the drum vibe. Usually basic stuff. Add a bunch of keyboard tunes over and over. My guitar and keyboard playing is basic to say the least. Sometimes a bass guitar plugged in. But often not. Then after a few hours I feel calmer. Housework, cooking, gardening and an ever present Frankie are draining to be honest. No stress as familiar to when I was a nurse. But stressful nonetheless. Stressful because it is repetitive. Not experimental. Weird, but that’s simply how it feels.

An MRI of my head is looming next week. I suppose it’s playing on my mind. Excuse the pun. Just a precautionary by the doctor to see why I had that vertigo for a month in December. It takes that long to get an appointment apparently. Hence my surprise when the appointment letter dropped last week. I didn’t know he booked it. When you realise it will be a deep brain, nerve, blood vessel, ears, etc. analysis….Your mind races at such interventions due to the ‘what if’ nature of what could be found and comes and bites you on the a**e. Changes your life. But positivity rocks. I am of sound mind!

This tune here, from being put together tonight, can be called ‘Clouds’. Could be called anything really. Maybe ‘Groovin’ with Mr. Cloud 9 Nine’. Who cares. It’s therapy and that’s what’s important.

GROOVIN’ WITH MR. CLOUD 9’.

Currently? Basically it’s a case of going through the motions of quiet, but fun, times. Just picking up my guitar and strumming some ideas is fantastic enough therapy. But this build on build for fun exercise in the early evening puts you in an unfamiliar zone, but with no pressure involved. These little Muzak pieces do not matter at all. You just sit there and hit the piano keys and make up a tune or four that you have to instinctively feel can create a synergy. Once they shake hands nicely with each other…..They then exist to serve their purpose. And they then ask to be shared. Who am I to argue with such serene entities.

15 thoughts on “Toon. Muzak. A few hours of therapy.”

  1. the winds wail
    clouds hover restless
    the skies feel

    winds caress
    cradled by clouds
    the skies feel

    (some this some that …came to mind looking at your image🙃)
    Gray, you usually name your pictures if I remember correctly. What would be the name of this image?

    Gardening is good, I often hear … need to give it a try lol…
    hope all goes well with your MRI …🙏🤍

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      1. I’m hoping you’ll allow me to share your photo on my blog at some point lol…

        thank you, Gray … not posting for a while and seeing my words on your post made me feel good…🤍🙏🤗

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    1. Cheers for the well wishes Shep. For two pennies I wouldn’t go. But Angie insists. Once a nurse? You have too many ‘maybe this or that’s’. Music? I heard one song on YouTube today from a band who bravely called themselves Cigarettes after Sex. Haunting stuff. Thought it was a female singing at first. Lovely smoky tone. I then listened to a few more of their stuff and immediately ordered three of their albums off Amazon. This is what music does I suppose. You simply know what gives you that certain something.

      When we toured with The Specials on their promotional tour for the More Specials album release, the vibe was glorious. Jerry Dammers was inspired by Muzak for that second album. So I love the fact that shopping malls, etc. use it to create a certain ambience for therapeutic consumer response and to enhance relaxation and then subsequent buying. Very formulaic. But certainly that second Specials album left a massive impact on me. That wasn’t formulaic at all. So it has been a nice interlude to just relax and muck about with this Muzak tinkling stuff. I love a lot of 1970s UK TV series opening theme music. The Shillingbury Tales is a great example of that sound.

      Like yourself Shep. Decades of listening eclectically gives so many choices to dip into. Spot on about your ‘music’ quote. It is definitely a saviour. Cheers and thank you. On my third large JD as I type…….. and so all is well with the World. 🙏🏽 S.

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    1. Destiny made a comment on the blog cookie. She wrote a poem in the comment. When she also asked why I hadn’t named the cloud photo, I used her poem to give it the title. It would have been a crime not take such an opportunity to include her fine words. So I edited in the poem and a link to her site. I don’t think she realises though. I do like collaborative exercises in artistry though. Lifts original ideas onto another level. Synergy is a great booster for the soul. Cheers cookie. Once again, it is good to hear from you. Your a star 💫

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  4. Great collaboration with you and Destiny, even though it was unplanned.

    Sounds like Frankie is growing up well – and quickly. I wonder if you didn’t rescue him, would he find his way back down? We used to have a cat who’d climb up on the roof of our 2 story house, and jump down off the second floor open window

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    1. It was a nice thought from Destiny to make up a poem. I do like collaboration explorations in art. I read on Flickr often of a photographer taking images on a roll of film and then, after rewind and back in the film cassette, post sending it to another photographer (somewhere across the World) who would then take images over the ones that now existed. Two cultures, two completely different ideas and resulting double layered imagery. My daughter did a similar exercise with pictures of a female friend in striking portrait takes and then rewound the film and took New York skylines and buildings. Some great results.

      Frankie is huge for seven months. We took him to a cattery last weekend as we were looking after the grandchildren in Worcester. They fell in love with him. Trees? I did try him off lead one afternoon, but he was getting up the different trees trying to get at birds. Hence getting him down regularly now because he wants to still climb to hunt. The 50 feet lead gets tangled around the branches too. Also, we have a busy road and he has no fear of cars. So the lead is a must Brenda. We have been looking at really large cat runs. But I feel he’d yowl consistently to get out of it. Too expensive a cost for it to be a non starter. Hey Ho!

      Good to hear from you. Hope you are well and loving the sunny but cold weather now. Makes a huge difference. Cheers Brenda.

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      2. Same here with life disrupted by a cat. 😊 Not joking actually. Full on and never stops. Too needy. Well, he sleeps for a few hours in the afternoon. No music is being produced really and no sitting to write either. Just a half hearted attempt at gardening. Actually I am near to the ending of ‘The Ghost Theatre’. Such a great recommendation from you. Time spent in the garden simply reading and untangling Frankie every five minutes.

        So can empathise with your own lack of blog quality time. A Yorkshire break beckons soon for a week in April. So will be able to write something for a blog subject.

        Maybe your own break/holiday will give you, yourself, a chance too. Cheers Brenda.

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