Today I’m writing while listening to the Met game; let’s see how that works out. I can tell this is one of those days I’m going to have to force myself to go out and take my walk. I also have to do laundry. Will I find the motivation? You’ll find out the day after tomorrow as I’m guessing that I will not blog tomorrow as I have to be in Brooklyn by 1 PM.
Yesterday was a busy day, I had therapy by phone, saw my psychiatrist by Zoom, and went to the final Sunset Singing Circle of the year. Had a first in my therapy, the therapist had to take a bathroom break. The power of suggestion led me to taking one too. She gave me back the lost time. The Zoom session was my first time seeing my psychiatrist; he looked very much the way I imagined. That so rarely happens. No matter how many times we see that our mental images based on voices are wrong, we still keep doing it.
I left late for the singing circle. I like to leave early enough that I can take the subway to Houston Street and walk the rest of the way. That way I get my daily three miles in. As a compromise I got off the 4 train at the Brooklyn Bridge and walked from there. I arrived 20 minutes before our dinner reservation I walked around the lower tip of Manhattan with the extra time I walked 3.83 miles for the day which is fine. As we did every Friday but one this season Fred and I met for dinner at the View at Battery Park. I highly recommend it. As the name implies you can’t beat the view. You want to eat outside if the weather permits. Our mealtime entertainment was keeping track of the Staten Island Ferry which docks right next door. We observed that on rush hour Fridays they run four ferries, two identical triple-deckers, one different and perhaps slightly smaller triple-decker, and one clearly smaller double-decker. The incoming and outgoing meet at about the same point except for one trip where the outgoing ferry took a detour. We couldn’t figure out why. I know it’s not exciting to read about but I found it entertaining.
We arrived at Wagner Park just before the singing started. We are usually among the early arrivals. It was nice to see David and Terrie (not Terre) back after missing a few for a health problem. For the first time this year the guy that hands out Hershey’s miniatures was there. Most years he’s at most shows. As usual we made sure to say hi to Frances who runs the event for the Battery Park City Authority. This is a community. I’m a sucker for community. I wonder how that informs my atheism. Many people find community through their house of worship, do I look for it in other places as I don’t have that? Does finding community in other places reduce my need for religion? As is usual in chicken and egg questions the answer is both.
I’ll be missing my usual community events, Clearwater, New Bedford, and Falcon Ridge this year. There will be a one-day Falcon Ridge but it’s not the same thing. Tomorrow’s Make Music Ditmas Park will be a The Budgiedome reunion of sorts with three of the musicians and many in the audience are Budgiedome Alumni. I’m looking forward to that so much. You should come.
I have an idiot story. Every week I archive Gord’s Gold on Mixcloud. If you click on the Gord’s Gold link that’s where it takes you. It’s originally aired on Folk Music Notebook Tuesday nights. I upload it before Tuesday but set it to not go live until Wednesday at noon. This week I neglected to post a link to the Mixcloud on Wednesday and didn’t get around to it until yesterday. When I went to do that I realized that I had never uploaded the show. I hadn’t even zipped it all into one mp3 for uploading. I did that all yesterday. You can listen right from here. I was told that it was the best show I’ve done.
I recorded next week’s show late last night. I had to go to Studio B, my bedroom, to get enough quiet. I had a problem with tenses. I posted songs from the Make Music Ditmas Park show and spoke if it in the past tense, because it will be in the past when the show is streamed. If I get hit by a meteor before then I’ll be talking about things that I didn’t see. Hey Ron, if that happens still air the show! The show must go on even if the star is dead.
I have learned how to time the show purely by eyeballing. I have one hour to fill. I play between 54 and 56 minutes of music. I don’t time my segments, but I can make it fit. Usually I wrote it, take a look and say, “I can take out these sentences, and when I’m done I add them to the playlist and see how long the show runs. I never have to rerecord my part. Yesterday it timed to 60 minutes on the dot. If it is 59-61 I’m fine with it. Folk Music Notebook is even more forgiving.
Now to take a walk or do laundry. I think walking comes first it might rain later. It’s been days since I got a donut. I will make this an official Donut Walk™.
Wise Madness 