A-MAZING

On Tuesday I went to see Ani Difranco in what felt like somebody’s living room. Okay, it was a little bigger than that, but still astonishingly small for such a huge presence. It was just Ani and her guitar, and that’s really all you need. She is a one-woman powerhouse of musical and lyrical prowess. I’ve been getting more into her more recent stuff and she played a bunch of new songs. She writes songs the way most people breathe - effortlessly - although she did say she’s been putting more effort into writing her more political tunes. She’s still very much a feminist and an activist, but somehow not quite as aggressive as she was in her early days. I was thinking how strange it must be to have on record, literally, the things you went through when you were a teenager and in your 20s. How much we change. It’s amazing some people can stay together through all of it. That was another interesting point she made, in a joking way of course, but I think she made a good point, that monogamy should be illegal until about age 35 or so. Because you probably don’t really know anything until then… and maybe not even then in some cases! Anyway, I adore Ani, as do many, many other women. I think for so many of her fans she voices so eloquently the things we cannot or do not say.

So in addition to this amazing gift of a show, I also got to spend time with my dog and a great friend at my sister’s in-laws’ camp. It was this freakishly beautiful day the day after the show so we went for a nice hike in the morning, which Paris thoroughly enjoyed (see picture below), and then took our time getting back home. Lucky days.

Slip slidin' away

Yet another kiddo birthday party has come and gone. Unbelievable. How is it that time seems to go by slowly at times and faster at other times? It's all in the perception, I guess. Like everything!

This guy is a mini version of me. Here he is playing party photographer.

I'm a sea without a shore

Last night was the last concert of the L.L. Bean outdoor concert series. Joshua Radin played and it was awesome!! As I said to my friend, I cannot believe that I've spent seven out of the last eight summers in Maine and never gone to one of these free shows. Great music for free... what was I thinking?? His lyrics and melodies are simple, clean, and beautiful. He has such a sweet voice. The weather yesterday was perfect as well, hot during the day and cool at night. Fall is definitely on the way.

Fake Plastic Trees

I've been listening to a lot of Radiohead lately. I have a lot of their music, but have only delved into a little bit of it, but that is changing. One thing I'm not delving more into these days is Facebook. Not at all, in fact. I should have quit it a long time ago, and in fact almost did once, but couldn't quite pull the trigger at the time. When you do finally make the move, they pull out all the cheesy stops and show you pictures of your Facebook "friends" with the message "So-and-so is going to miss you!" Oh really? Well, maybe we can communicate in another way, like e-mail, phone, or - imagine! - in person. And if we can't, honestly, are we really even friends? I'm sorry, but I don't have over 200 friends, even though my Facebook page says I do. Before I logged off I made sure I had the contact info of the people I really wanted to stay in touch with. A lot of them were people I met on my travels. Why? Because it's that whole kindred spirit thing, people who, like me, have wanderlust in their DNA.

So what to do now that I don't have Facebook to waste my time on? Well, two things: play more guitar and work on my Hindi. I really don't know if or when I will get back to India, but I think the language is really cool. And if I do make it back, it would probably help out a lot. I kind of feel like India defeated me the first time. The tough parts overwhelmed the beauty. But there's still so much to see and learn.

Random cloud photo from the other day.