Summer Souvenirs

Another summer is coming to a close and soon many of the lifeguard stands will be empty and the beaches in most places will be deserted until next year. Summer is and always has been my favorite season and the memories and a few snapshots are what make up most of my souvenirs of summers past... I can recall the sounds of ice clinking in glasses and the feel of my sun kissed skin and the smell of salt air; but what is the most clear to me is the memory of the sounds of summer music... I think music is the best time machine we have to take us back to a place in the past.

One of the happiest places for me in life has been driving in the quiet of the night with the lights of the dashboard illuminating the car and the music playing on the radio for company and the occasional conversation of a D.J.--- it was a more simple time before the technology of downloading songs and satellite radio... don't get me wrong  because I marvel and am thankful for technology and how far the world has come especially in terms of acceptance and laws protecting equal rights... I think the world could use a refresher course in ethics and professionalism but that's for another day... But I have always been able to think through almost any problem or come up with a solution in the solitude of my car with the music in the still of the night and the road ahead of me... it's always been very calming and  clarifying for me... in a pinch I can achieve the same playing my guitar in the still of the night accompanied by a dwindling crackling fire.

If you have been reading since I started this project I have written in great detail my memories and impressions from many places around the world but a few other memory souvenirs popped into my head recently and they include...

Fire Island

One Hundred Fountians

Rue de Rivoli

So many different things came back to me when I decided to set some of my memories free again including a birth in Denver Colorado, a death in Aruba, a funeral in Ensenada Mexico and a wedding in Quogue New York.

Someone a long time ago predicted that I would move to New York and have a career  that was associated with music... I only just remembered that yesterday at a voice lesson where I am currently working on vocal color toning (tone color is the element of sound that allows you to identify the unique qualities of music not related to pitch, volume or rhythm or more simply put it's how you can identify the differences in the sounds made by a violin vs. a guitar.) by incorporating this into vocal technique you can produce deeper, richer and wider vocal tones.... if you consider that there are seven colors in the rainbow and seven notes in  a  musical scale...

C         D             E            F          G       A          B

Red    Orange   Yellow  Green  Blue  Indigo  Violet

When doing this vocally you mix a primary color to get a secondary color and subsequently creating sound variations with tertiary colors... why am I bringing all this up? Because a long time ago when I got involved in other things and stopped concentrating on vocal lessons and music this I how far I got with vocal training... only yesterday have I finally caught up with where I left off years ago.

A couple of the things I regret most in life were wasting money  and wasting time... I really had a ball wasting money so I can't be as sorry as I am about the time I've wasted... you can always get back money or earn new money but you can never get back lost time. I suppose as another summer is coming to an end I'm reflecting on where I am in my life and hoping  to continue the journey this year into another Indian Summer. I just don't ever want to fall into the midlife malaise of regrets and fear... So every now and then I reread Lillian Hellman's  play "The Autumn Garden" to remind myself to stay young and young at heart. I have few fears in  life with the exception of in the future when... I sit beside the fire and  think of how the world will be when a winter comes without a spring that I shall ever see. 

So with time comes knowledge and a greater depth and I am grateful for the rewards  that I know how to appreciate today and how to live in the moment and knowing when to take my time and when to go full speed ahead... I've finally learned how to express my emotions and am relearning on how to express myself more elegantly and eloquently... I know how to look at myself and the world more honestly but I know when it's sometimes important to close my eyes again and dream...It's been a short summer again but a long journey in becoming someone who knows how to be a friend and how to trust myself to be in love. One of the magical aspects of life is knowing how to take some of the No's that life hands us and turn them into a yes now and then--- another is knowing what's best for you and letting it show... these are just some of the treasures I have from my souvenirs of summer.

All of the memories have brought deeper insight into what I need to do today and tomorrow... Would I want to go back? No... I can work on righting some wrongs with what I have learned along the way  and besides that blazing a new trail into the future will be easier with what I know now and who I have become because of the past....

There is just no gong back to this!

So enjoy today and celebrate where you want to be tomorrow!

Did you know that less expensive sparkling wines are made the same way as soft drinks in that carbon dioxide is pumped in at the end of the manufacturing process.... but more expensive sparkling wines or Champagne will be made to sparkle with a second bottle fermentation by adding a precise amount of sugar and yeast at the bottling stage to restart the fermentation process to  produce carbon dioxide when the bottle is opened and the pressure of the bottle is released... also the smaller the bubbles the better the Champagne...a votre sante.

See you next week!