Something New

My old Guild six-string was a Christmas present from my parents in 1975. I bought my Muramatsu flute in 1978, when I was a music major at Mars Hill College. Somewhere along the line, I became as good a guitar player as I'm ever going to be. And when I left MHC in December 1979, I was a far better flute player than I am now. In the 30 years since, these have been my two instruments. I generally play them as well as I can, and that's generally been good enough for what I needed to do.

But a couple of months ago, I decided I wanted to try something new, and that turned out to be harmonica. My mom had one around the house as long as I can remember, but I never developed an interest in playing it. So I don't know what possessed me recently to pick one up at my local music store. I bought a cheap one ($8.50) in the key of G and then another in E, and as I sat at my desk and played along with my songs in those keys, I found out that I kind of liked it. So the band at church was doing this particular song in D, and I had an idea that a harmonica might sound good on it. I bought a nicer one in D (in the $20 range). Now I have a handful of decent harmonicas in these keys: E (a new one), A, D, G (a new one) and C. For the most part, that covers the keys I play in.

I also bought one of those around-the-neck harmonica holders that I can use to play harmonica and guitar at the same time. That's fun, but not as easy as I figured it would be: breathing in and out, moving my mouth back and forth across the harmonica and working the guitar hands--chords and rhythms--at the same time. So far, my best achievement is playing Neil Young's "Heart of Gold."

I don't expect to master the harmonica any more than I have mastered guitar or flute or my own voice. But I can fully expect this new addition to increase and enrich the joy that I've experienced over 30 years of making music.

Walmart World?

By 10:03 a.m., 26 December 2009, Walmart had pulled all Christmas cards and was beginning to stock its Valentine's Day cards. I suppose this is to be expected from such a crassly commercial establishment--in such a crassly commercial nation. Although I can't say that I was surprized, I couldn't help being a little shocked and saddened.

How quickly do we put away Christmas and move on?

Happy Christmas Eve!

Follow the link below for some beautiful pictures taken this past Friday night (12/18/2009) in one of my favorite western North Carolina towns: Waynesville.

http://www.theridgerunner.com/snowville/index.html

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From today's Writer's Almanac:

It was on this day in 1914 that the last known Christmas truce occurred, during World War I. German troops fighting in Belgium began decorating their trenches and singing Christmas carols. Their enemy, the British, soon joined in the caroling. The war was put on hold, and these soldiers greeted each other in "No Man's Land," exchanging gifts of whiskey and cigars. In many areas, the truce held until Christmas night, while in other places the truce did not end until New Year's Day.

Wednesdays Without

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to fast every Wednesday. Today is my third time, and I guess it's gone well so far. Without doing any research on this, I decided to go with the style of fasting my Muslim friends use during Ramadan—a small meal before sunrise, no food or water throughout the day and then a light meal after sunset. This was, of course, a good time to begin such a fasting regimen, given that yesterday was the winter solstice so these recent Wednesdays are among the shortest days of the year. Sort of like cheating, I guess, but maybe I'll be able to work up to those long Wednesdays that will come my way when summer arrives.

What am I getting out of doing this? So far, I'm only scratching the surface of the possibilities. For one thing, this practice is helping me get my weight somewhat under control. In a little over two weeks, including the two previous fast days, I've lost six pounds. That's good, I think.

Although I haven't yet dug deeply into what fasting has to offer spiritually, I've sensed its being able to help me feel what so many people in this world feel minute by minute, day after day: hunger and thirst. I can get at least an inkling of what this condition must be like for them. And this evening when I eat and drink and tomorrow and the next day, maybe I'll carry a little bit of that inkling into the world with me to curb my selfish behaviors somewhat.

This practice also helps me see how I can have a little backbone in the face of temptation. (To be honest, I'm generally putty in the hands of temptation.) My first fasting day, 9 December, passed more or less in secrecy. Nobody knew what I was doing. But last Wednesday and today, a friend has contacted me about going to lunch at our favorite restaurant—on the 16th he didn't know about my fasting; today he just forgot. On both days, I've been able to say no. And I didn't say no by saying I had something else to do, that I was busy or whatever. I let him know I couldn't go because I was fasting. What that means, I don't know, but it somehow feels important.

So, it's just a little before noon. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. My lips feel a bit dry—I'm even trying not to use lip balm to remedy this. Already I'm looking forward to that first drink of cold water and wondering what I might eat to break the fast. But the trick is, I think, not to be looking forward to these but rather to focus on what I'm experiencing now, to feel what this is like, to let it clear my head a bit so that I can live more fully in the moment. But I could be wrong.

Serious Snow . . . for the South