Thank you to everyone who has continued to visit my blog even though I have written no fresh posts in the past three months.
After this fallow period of non-blogging, today I am happy to be writing a new post.
As faithful readers may remember, for the past year and a half I’ve been focused on recording, fixing, mixing, and releasing decent versions of songs with significant amounts of input, collaboration and expertise from pianist/engineer Doug Hammer.
“My Sweet Honeydew” — featured in the player at the top of this post — is part of a new crop of original songs I’ll be sharing in 2022.
Some of these songs attempt to make sense out of the tipping point which human civilization — along with the rest of the extraordinary web of life here on planet earth — is now experiencing due to our overconsumption of fossil fuels during the past 150 years or so.
“My Sweet Honeydew” highlights the gratitude I attempt to practice every day despite horrible news such as the accelerating extinction of plant and animal species; the increasing frequency and severity of fires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes; and the political unrest/discord which these events stir up!
I am very grateful to live in the United States of America and specifically in Massachusetts, which is currently led by a rare Republican governor who believes in science and who continues to respect the ever-evolving recommendations of public health experts during our ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
Because of these two geographical blessings, I have so far been spared most of the anguish and shortages and panic and destruction that so many other beings on planet earth are already experiencing.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
But I am aware that this could change — and possibly much faster than most of us who currently have access to food and clean water and shelter and electricity and computers and the internet would like to think is possible…
That’s because I’ve been reading a book called DEEP ADAPTATION with a small group of friends.
So far it’s been a very sobering experience — as you may know if you have already read it.
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I’ll probably write more about DEEP ADAPTATION in future blog posts.
Please let me know in the comments section if you have already read it — and what YOU make of it…
Yet another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I have a few resolutions for 2022.
One is to continue to decrease the impact of my life on all of the ecosystems which support our lives here on planet earth.
Another is to write shorter blog posts.
And a third is to remain curious (if that is possible) rather than terrified or furious or disheartened or disgusted about everything that continues to unfold here in these not-very-United-States.
One more deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
You are always welcome to visit my website — where you can find many songs (and learn more about my musical life here on planet earth if you are curious).
You can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music and other digital music platforms.
And if you are hungry for more music, you are welcome to click here and listen to a sweet version of the jazz standard “Skylark” by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael which I recorded with Doug Hammer on a bunch of different digital music platforms.
I earn only a fraction of a cent any time someone plays one of my recordings on a digital music service — but they all add up.
Thank you to the wonderful photographers and graphic artists at Pixabay.
And thank YOU for reading yet another one of my blog posts!
I welcome your comments below if you are moved to leave one.
Perhaps 2022 will be better than 2021.
We shall see…
One final deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
amusicalifeonplanetearth 
We are all counting on a better 2022. Music helps.
Yes, indeed!!! I don’t know how I would get through a week without music in my life…
Music is indeed the very panacea of our lives. What would we do without it? The world would be a very lonely place indeed. 🎼😊
THANK YOU for visiting my blog, Bob! And for leaving a comment! I was listening to someone speak recently who worked in the music industry. He said something like, “Music is one of the few things that human beings have created which doesn’t eventually lead to conflict/war.” And I agree. What would we do without it?!
Morning to you, Will. Delightful listening 😊
Like you, we have been spared the ravages of COVID through good sensible management and adhering to the science. However, our sister states have let Omicron run free now, and we are faced with being overrun as a result.
Thank you for reading and listening and commenting! You remind me that “we are all in this together” whether we like it or not — and that it will be very difficult if not impossible (and unwise) to attempt to live in a metaphorical silo/gated community/walled compound/isolated nation-state. We all have to cooperate in some basic/profound ways or we are all going down together…
Good to hear from you again, Will. Sensible goals for the new year!
Thank you, Becky Ross Michael! Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Good Morning to you, Will…I am happy your garden is growing…I love this post …DEEP ADAPTATION I have not read but am looking it up..I think its lovely that you can discuss a book with others…I will share the link to this on my Monday Musings …Well written and sympathetic to what is happening in the world today …
Lovely to hear from you, CarolCooks2! As soon as I read your name I start tasting some delicious green curry or coconut-milk-based recipe in my mouth like Pavlov’s dog. There are also videos on YouTube introducing folks to the concepts/challenges of Deep Adaptation. Thank you for your interest and for any sharing of ideas/blog posts you are inspired to do!
You are welcome, Will…Happy New Year 🙂
What a hopeful, calming post to read on a cold Sunday morning. Thank you so much Will! Like CarolCooks2, I’m also very curious about Deep Adaptation, and asked my local library to purchase it. We shall see. Thank you for all the ways you share your spirit, your talent, your generosity. Here’s to soldiering on in 2022, with less driving, less packaging, more volunteering, more walking, less buying, more contentment with what one has instead of need/want, more breathing, less gasping, less grasping.
Ooooh. Less gasping, less grasping. Let’s remember that when we start writing a song in the future! Thank you for checking out my musical blog life, Molly. Maybe we can share some CMW (or MCW?) recordings here in future months… I WOULD like to assemble a group of 5-6 of us who would be willing to read Deep Adaptation one chapter at a time and then meet once or twice a month via Zoom to reflect upon it. We shall see! Thank you for reading and listening and commenting today!!!
So glad this endless pandemic has not kept your creativity down. Lovely! Good work, Will!
How sweet to hear from you!!! My creativity is still on a low simmer — with lots of time/attention also being devoted to the business aspects of a musical life here on planet earth (pitching gigs, booking gigs, confirming gigs, and then, very frustratingly cancelling gigs due to rising Covid levels) as well as an online class about the business of sync licensing music for TV shows, movies, commercials, video games, etc. As you may have seen on FB, I led my first sing-along last week in response to several gigs all being cancelled at once. I hope to do many more “pop-up sing-alongs” in the upcoming weeks on an irregular basis. Please keep those optimistic gems coming via YOUR blog! I loved the photo of children/teenagers kayaking in SA in the blog post I read last night. Such great expressions on their faces! Onward into 2022…
Good morning, Will! It was lovely to listen to your song and read this post on cold, dark Sunday morning. Happy New Year to you. I hope 2022 will be a better year, but so far, it’s not looking so great. Still, as you say, I have food and shelter, and right now a cat on my lap, so I am fortunate. My older child and their wife live in western Massachusetts, and they love it there.
A cat on one’s lap can be sublime! And certainly something to be grateful for. Yes…it seems unlikely to me, having read the Deep Adaptation book I mention in my blog post, that future years are going to be any better, but I certainly remain open to that lovely possibility. We were able — well-tested and mostly well-masked — to go to Western, MA, for Thanksgiving with family near Northampton. But we cancelled our Christmas visit, which was quite disappointing (but prudent). I love walking around Florence at night, practising songs for upcoming gigs while viewing a much-less-light-polluted sky full of stars… Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Let us head into 2022 with poetry and music as two great coping strategies for and responses to the challenges ahead!
Your family lives in Florence? That’s where my child lives!
Yes to poetry and music, now and always.
Yes. They live on Pine Street in Florence. My brother-in-law was a doctor at Cooley Dickinson Hospital for many, many years. I love Florence and the Northampton area!!! No wonder your child enjoys living there…
💙
Good morning and Happy New Year Will. Listening to that song was a cheeful way to start my day!
All in all, we’re coping as well as can be expected with COVID here in Ontario at the moment. Our high vaccination rates have helped keep things somewhat under control, although there are concerns about hospital capacity if things get any worse. I am disappointed, though, that a couple of things I was really looking forward to in the next few weeks likely won’t be happening. To adopt your phrase—deep breath in, deep breath out.
Lovely to hear from you, Michelle! I am glad you heard the song in the morning as you were starting your day! And hurrah for high vaccination rates in Ontario which — among other things — help to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed so that staff is less likely to burn out AND so that folks can get needed non-Covid-related care in a timely manner! The ongoing disappointments of events/gatherings being cancelled are really tough to bear. Was one of the upcoming (now cancelled/postponed) events a musical reunion of your band-mates? Making music (alone with my uke and together with well-masked friends) has been a lifeline for my spirits during the past many months. We ended up seeing NO family over the winter holidays, which was quite disappointing, but so far remain un-infected by Covid.. We shall see what 2022 brings. I have been told that the steep infection curve for Omicron (due to its being more infectious) may be followed by a similarly steep reduction in cases after it has (if I am understanding correctly) infected all of the folks who were vulnerable to being infected in a given area. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Keep writing your great blog and I’ll keep reading — and being inspired by what you learn and write!
I had actually started a weekly jam session with some former bandmates in December. We’re on pause right now but hoping to resume later this month with physical distancing and masking in place. I agree that making music is a huge boost to the spirits. It felt so good to get back at it! I’ll just keep practicing in my basement until we can resume again.
I was supposed to be making a work-related trip to Chicago at the end of January, and extending it to visit with a good friend of mine who lives there. And, in February, my daughter and I have tickets to see Elton John—postponed from March 2020.
I was lucky to at least be able to have my Mum and sister here on Christmas Day. We cancelled our Christmas celebration with my in-laws.
Let’s home the worst of Omicron will be over soon!
Yes. Let’s hope the worst of Omicron will be over sooner rather than later.. and that we will have some breathing room before another variant (or a completely new virus) enters our lives! ps: How exciting (and disappointing) to have twice-postponed tickets to see/hear Sir Elton!!!
The funny thing is we never planned to get tickets to this concert. My daughter and I saw Elton on his first Farewell Tour visit to Toronto in 2018. When he decided to come back for another stop, we got the tickets on a whim. In the event he doesn’t make it back here for some reason, we at least have memories from the awesome concert in 2018.
Sir Elton seems to be extraordinarily resilient and a hard worker when in concert — so maybe you and your daughter will have one more opportunity to see him in action once Covid pandemic slows down again…
Good morning to you dear Will. I’m grateful for you, your voice, your compassion, and friendship. I haven’t read that book, but know we need to wake up, change, or eventually become extinct. Deep breath… Meanwhile, we can spread love, help fellow travelers, and live simpler lives. Hugs
Yes, Brad. I would love to see our helping-each-other impulses blossom and flourish in the weeks/months/years ahead! Please keep noticing and sharing the beauty and wonder of the natural world with the rest of us — along with your poetry and vulnerability and philosophical insights.
Nice good morning song, Will! 🙂 I’ve bookmarked your YouTube link. Good to see you back! Let’s hope 2022 is a better year. It will be different, that much we can be sure of! Keep looking on the bright side.
Yes, 2022 is likely to be different with new surprises and challenges. THANK YOU for reading and listening to another one of my (now shorter) blog posts!
I’m going to try curiosity as an alternative to being terrified by the news. Thank you!
Curiosity is an idea from the Deep Adaptation book I mentioned in my blog post. And how lovely to read a comment from you, Alex! I feel like I am walking in your footprints much of the time…
Happy New Year Will and good to see your interesting post. Loved the cheery song and bird pic in particular.
Take care
Thank you, Margaret! The birds never fail to inspire and amaze me! I am always looking for excuses to include them in my songs…and in my blog posts!
You’re welcome Will and just love 🦅 birds.
It’s good to hear from you, Will 🙂 Thanks for mentioning the book Deep Adaptation. I’ve added it to the top of my To Read List. We’re truly living in calamitous times that demands continual adaptation for survival. After reading The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells, I’m now reading The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change. There’s no stopping the runaway train that we humans have put into motion. Our only hope lies in slowing it down.
Yes. The truth is terrifying and heart-breaking. No wonder most humans still prefer to remain in denial. Once I am done with Deep Adaptation, I have been told that Jane Goodall has an important new-ish book that I might want to read. Your suggestions will go on MY reading list! Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Yes, denial can be an effective form of escapism…until reality strikes us in the face.
Yes, indeed! And being struck in the face by reality is (sadly) what many of us need to finally take action. This psychological phenomenon always reminds me of an article I once read about a farmer who finally switched to organic/sustainable practices after he (or maybe a member of his family…) was diagnosed with cancer which he — with hindsight — decided was related to his former use of pesticides and herbicides. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
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Loving wishes for 2022, Will. I have ordered Deep Adaptation and look forward to your future posts discussing it. Thank you. ❤
Wow. You are a woman of action! Some of the folks catalyzing this Deep Adaptation movement are based in England, I think. I wouldn’t be surprised if you already know them — or know of them… THANK YOU for your loving wishes. They will be a very important part of how we humans respond/behave in the coming weeks/months/years…
Ahh, that’s interesting that the movement is based in England. I feel you and I are like minded souls, Will and Tim and I were talking about this very topic yesterday. As soon as I read your words and heard you and your friends were reading this book, that was a pointer for me. More loving wishes… ❤
Yes, yes and yes. I return your loving wishes from across the Atlantic with a smile on my face.
Those seem like good resolutions Will. I always think curiosity is one of the essential traits for a well lived life.
Thank you for reading and leaving a comment, Andrea! I am hoping gradually to train my mind to be more curious and less judgemental…
Yes we have to be positive but one of my annoyances is we seem to have forgotten how sweet the air was during that very first world wide Covid lockdown when life really did come to a standstill. City dwellers saw their nearest mountain for the first time and wild life ventured onto city streets. People still want to fly on holidays and drive their cars. I do not drive, but I am well aware that people give me lifts to the hospital and fetch me shopping in their cars! There is no easy answer to untangling modern life.
Yes, there were quite a few positive things that unfolded during the “new normal” of our first period of Covid lockdown. It IS somewhat odd to me that so many of us are eager to return to our “old normal.” And then there are the folks who want to return to an airbrushed (removing colonialism, slavery, massive environmental degradation, etc) version of the past that never actually existed… You articulate our current challenge very well: “There is no easy answer to untangling modern life.” THANK YOU for reading and listening and commenting!!!
Hi, Will. You have been missed! I listened to “Good morning” this evening, but it still worked beautifully. “No tanks in the street” gave me pause, but I’m doing as you are—following curiosity, meditating, and trying to be less judgmental. I also practice gratitude daily.
My most recent post evolved from following my curiosity about a millipede discovery—which wound up evoking climate change. We’re sure all in this together! We must keep working for positive actions!
Stay well!
Hurrah to hear from you! Thank you for reading and listening and commenting. The line about “no tanks in the street” is a nod to how different life is for many people on this planet (I just read about the total collapse being experienced by the citizens of Lebanon these days, for example…) Now I will go and savor your millipede post!
Hi Will! It was wonderful to read your blog post, as always. Your outlook is an inspiration to all. We can always do something to make the world a better place, can’t we? And, there is goodness everywhere. Frankly, it’s music that fills me up, makes me see the bright side, and makes me want to do for others. Thank you for all you do. Keep writing music (and blog posts), as you really do make a difference.
Thank you for this lovely, affirmative, comment, Jennie! I’m about to lead my first Music Together class of 2022 via Zoom — more music rippling out into the world… And I’ve recently resumed sharing random pop-up sing-alongs via Facebook Live. We are definitely going to need to keep making music together in the days/weeks/months/years ahead!
My pleasure, Will! Keep singing and keep writing. I’ll be there. 🙂
I loved the Sweet Honeydew song. Thank you!
You are very welcome! Thank YOU for listening to it, Paula! I had a dream recently in which someone was using a pillow (or sheets?) with your artwork on them, and I said to myself “I have to tell Paula about this…” I was missing our CCAE crew a lot last month. There was one day where the weather kept reminding me of Holly Fair and how everyone would pitch in to make it happen… Maybe we’ll be blessed/graced this summer with less Covid — and maybe a CCAE picnic reunion in a park somewhere — or on the Cambridge Common? As my dream probably indicates, you are never far from my conscious and unconscious mind!!!
I’m just seeing this now, Will (I don’t come on WordPress much). What a funny dream. Yes, I’d love to get together…still not ready for inviting groups over to the house, but could imagine in the park. Paula
I know that Becca would enjoy a reunion and Kadri might drive up from the Cape if we gave her enough notice. I wonder if Jim. and Liz still spend summers in his house in Somerville… Food for thought!
I am delighted to have come here.
I did enjoy the music too
Thanks
Thank you for visiting!!!