Spring time colors and music.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon I was called by Franklin Keel, the prospective Cello Teacher for Grandson Zeppelin, who had two weeks before indicated that he wanted his own cello and that he wanted to continue learning more about the instrument.

OK, Franklin indicated that he could meet with me the next day, and we decided to meet at the Green Sage, a downtown Asheville pleasant place with pleasant food. Around noon time would suit us all. His wife and brand new baby would join too.

I was excited, but now came the biggest "hurdle". How would I get mother Jennifer Murray, alias "Yellow" to agree, because her reputation is not one of going along readily with surprises. First I mailed a text message to Zeppelin - always the best method to reach him (and Jaap, my son), telling him that I wanted to meet him at the Green Sage, that next day, and "by all means bring your Mom!" ...... No answer.

So, I went to bed after setting my cell phone alarm for 6:30 am.

On my way to Asheville, I decided to call "Yellow" directly from the road at around ten. ...... I had to leave a message.

While driving, I noticed the delicate colors of spring time. Soft pink and white of the blossoms along the foot of the highway 74-hills with above it the early, new green barely visible on the trees. I took pictures while driving - yeah, not smart, but the moment was not to be missed. It was flat-out gorgeous.

At 11 am, I text-ed (?) Z. again: "Are you ready for pick-up? I am in Asheville."

Zeppelin: "NO! I can’t go! Call my dad, he'll explain!"

This was promising to become a most difficult visit to Asheville, and I decided to be bold, and I drove up to his mother's address and walked up the steps. A broad smiling Jennifer came out of the front door: "I just received your message. We (she, the other two children and her fiance) can't come, but why don't you take Zeppelin. I think the lessons are a good idea, and the week long camp in June is probably going to work too! See you later. Bye!" Zeppelin was a huge grump and not yet awake: "I don't want to get up. I need my sleep. Go away!"

Well, he said something like that, but after a minute or two hoisted himself off the couch, took a quick shower, and while he slipped on his sneakers he apologized, and said that the plan was actually a "pretty cool" idea.

While we drove through Asheville to our meeting place, we noticed a young man with long, dark hair carrying a huge, aluminum colored cello case trying to cross the street right in front of us. "Ah, that must be him!", and we both waved. The pedestrian smiled back. Minutes later all three of us entered the Sage restaurant. We introduced ourselves, and after ordering lunch (I recommend the place), The musical duo picked a table, while I went back to the car to fill the parking meter with quarters.

While walking down the street I called grandma Clarissa and cheerfully announced: "The essential eagles have landed! Call you later with the details."

Franklin is a cheerful musician, who graduated from the Eastman School of Music. He seemed a good man for Zeppelin, and Z. was willing to commit to a long term Cello learning schedule. We inquired into overnight music camps, and the only one available in the area and easy to connect with is The Asheville Music Camp. The details of this visit are to be conveyed later to Clarissa, and overall the visit was in my book, a great success - an unexpected success. The essential folks for this ambitious plan seem to be "IN". Zeppelin will start lessons on April 19, 2010. Jaap and Zeppelin will pick-up a loan cello from music store "Tempo" in Hendersonville, NC, including all accessories and Suzuki's book #one.

My trip back to Charlotte was also eventful. Heavy rain, thunder and reported, though unseen, tornadoes. On my way up it was all gentle feeling, rolling hills and soft colors. This time, it was thunder, slashing rain storms limiting my average road speed. I experienced many extremes, this eventful day.

In conclusion: Who knows what the musical future holds for Zeppelin and us, spectators. And by the way, on this excursion, Zeppelin was most pleasant and he made plenty of good sense.

End of story, for now!

It is in our Nature!

To- day, a friend of mine said: “ The world is angry with us. Look at all the earth quakes, floods, hunger, wars and other earth shaking events!”

Is that the way “our” world works? “I am angry with you, and here is your punishment?”

Since when are we NOT a product of this world. In many ways it seems that we think that we are separate. This person said that we are responsible for all the pollution, and that is why the earth reacts this way.

Oh really?

I profoundly disagree. Here is the way I see it:

Yes, we pollute and yes, we are a part of this world, this universe. Everything is inseparable. We do these despicable things, and until the world, our universe changes we will do what we do. NOT because we choose to. We cannot do any differently.

The pollution will stop, when nature makes us stop. NOT the other way around. Believe me, we are a product of nature and therefore, we are an integral part of the process.

We’ll keep killing elephants, whales, deplete the oceans and eliminate species of birds and tigers, and we bemoan it when we watch a TV-program on the Discovery Channel. BUT we don’t stop until nature within us makes us halt. In a worst case scenario, we’ll stop when there is little or nothing left to pollute or eliminate, and nature has nothing in “her” arsenal to replace the necessary resources for us to continue.

Believe me, or at least I believe this, mankind too will vanish from the landscape, just as the dinosaurs did. It is preposterous for me to believe that we are somehow different from all the others that have one time enjoyed this space we call earth. So, while it lasts, be prudent, appreciate what has been given to us by nature, be nice to your environment and those you share this earth with, but remember, there are plenty who will NOT be able to resist and they’ll keep the depletion process going for whatever reason. It is in our Nature!

Institutions and the people in them.

This morning, I listened to the Diane Rehm show and the topic was the miserable state of affair in the Roman Catholic Church, and the following came to me:

It is not the church that can be blamed for the rapes and violations committed, it is not the bank per se that is fraudulent, it is not the government as an institution that is responsible for the corruption. No, ...
it is the people in them that need to be prosecuted, and that is the reason that we need to start to leave the names of the institutions off and out of the news media for a while. If the people in these places were pure, regulations would be unnecessary.

After all, default swaps are going on as we speak, as if nothing is wrong with that method of financial dealings. Let's take the Wall Street Journal and list all the folks alphabetically who have committed the financial fraud and mis-guided actions out of pure greed, and these people would be more reluctant to continue.
This action can be duplicated in church periodicals, regular newspapers, government watch dogs, educational magazines, etc.

During this interview, a person called in, and stated that what happened in the church happened in her household. Her father, brothers, uncles and aunts conspired in the personal violations she experienced. The human being is profoundly flawed, and blaming institutions for the calamities that we are currently experiencing all around us is a waste of my time.

Let's take their places of hiding away from them! Expose them!

Institutions and the people responsible!

This morning, I listened to the Diane Rehm show and the topic was the
miserable state of affair in the Roman Catholic Church, and the following came to me:

It is not the church that can be blamed for the rapes and violations committed from within,
it is not the bank per se that is fraudulent, it is not the government as an institution that is responsible for the corruption. No, ...
it is the people in them that need to be prosecuted, and that is the reason that we need to start to leave the names of the institutions off and out of the news media for a while. If the people in these places were pure, regulations would be unnecessary.

After all, default swaps are going on as we speak, as if nothing is wrong with that method of financial dealings. Let's take the Wall Street Journal and list all the folks alphabetically who have committed the financial fraud and mis-guided actions out of pure greed. Then these people just might be more reluctant to continue. This action can be duplicated in church periodicals, regular newspapers, government watch dogs, educational magazines, etc.

During this interview, a person called in, and stated that what happened in the church happened in her household. Her father, brothers, uncles and aunts conspired in the personal violations she experienced. The human being is profoundly flawed, and blaming institutions for the calamities that we are currently experiencing is a waste of my time.

Let's take their places of hiding away from them! Expose them!

BE!

I am looking for “style”, and I found a sample, a simple sample of it this morning at my favorite coffee place. A woman in a long dress, an unpretentious demeanor and a genuine smile. She stood out and not because she necessarily wanted or needed to.

She carried herself well and un-assumingly. Relaxed!

On this Sunday, many come in this place in church attire, their best, and carry underneath the forever present insecurity. This is manifested by the way these coffee- and tea drinkers stand and walk. Slightly bent, hands folded in a tight grip, a constantly wiggling foot, droopy expression with quickly shifting eyes, re-arranging dress and shirt.

And then, this person in simple elegance. Nice!

A reaction to FrontLine's program: "The Warning!"

Dear Mrs. Rehm,
I feel inspired to write to you. My representatives don't listen to what I have to say.
They rarely respond. I am utterly frustrated. Everyone knows that we have a financial
crisis on our hands. Washington is totally incapable of dealing with the mess. The
President has great intentions but his fist is too small. He is facing virtually all alone
an army of lobbyists (names unknown), a Congress being manipulated by all the
major financial institutions (large dollar contributions) and members of his administration
who are way too closely aligned with these banking establishments (Geittner, Summers).
Other contributors to the current crisis: Greenspan (by his own admission) & Rueben.
Regulations are being proposed (and are stalled) to close the loopholes and regulate
OTC-Derivatives. A recent FrontLine program ('The Warning!') pertaining to this problem
has indicated with certainty that we can expect - soon, another & probably worse financial crisis.
In the mean time, ALL those responsible for the current hopeless mess remain largely
unknown. So they can hide behind a nondescript corporate name. The public needs to know
who these unscrupulous people are, and behind each person's name should be listed
the money obtained through manipulation - whatever kind- effecting the public. After all,
Mrs. Rehm, the everyday folks have lost millions of dollars (house and savings) and most
of their names can be found on the internet or in registers of deed.
Every newspaper in the country should be obligated to make these names and $-amounts
public and list the major violators on the front page - a nation wide day of reckoning.
That would be a good first step to start reigning in the abuse and manipulation. If we
don't do something radical, this country will go rapidly down the drain, and the rich, the ones
"listed" on these front pages won't care.
Sure, I know that "no action" is the likely action, and the next crisis is coming down the pike.
This is a country in sharp decline purely because of greed and the pervasive "Me"-attitude!

Enough of this! you must be tired reading this, but remember no one else wants to hear
or read this.

The Right to Die!

In Britain, Dr. Sikora tells the world that in his many (30+) years of practice no patient has ever asked to practice the "Right to Die" approach. The doctor is against this practice. He is referring to our desire to continue until the bitter end and to the hundreds of rest homes for the elderly, where people "prefer" clinging to life. He thinks that is what most, if not all elderly people want.

Really? I bet Dr. Sikora is a skilled oncologist - he is famous for his intervention in that field, but may I question what he truly knows and understands of what it feels like to sit in a wheelchair and being pushed around incapable of brushing one's own teeth, let alone eat.

Not that I know, but I refuse to believe that anyone can judge for another. We all have strong or not so strong feelings about our "Right to Die".

Does Dr. Sikora have pets? We don't know, but if he has, and the pet gets hopelessly sick, does he continue to let the animal suffer? Farmers put their cattle to sleep, when life is slipping away and so do most of us with our dogs and cats. I go to the vet and request euthanasia for my beloved pet out of respect and love for the animal. Is their life less sacred than ours?

When Dr. Sikora, now strong and vibrant, is getting feeble, let's check in with him again, and ask him whether the disgraceful pain and suffering then is to his liking. I wouldn't be surprised if he has changed his mind. "And doctor, don't speak for me!"