Creation

The world needs to be wrapped up in a snuggley blanket, given a mug of something warm and comforting and made to chill out 'til it's over this whatever it is that's going on.
 Seriously folks! It's got everybody on edge!

I was watching t.v. when the whole thing in Egypt erupted and all of a sudden I heard explosions in our neighborhood.  Woah!  For a few seconds there I wasn't sure what to do...grab the cat, grab the computer, grab Jack...run...run where?  A million thoughts raced through my head....we'd be safe in the house so long as nobody got cute with fire; we had provisions for a little while but gee whiz! This wasn't the kind of earthquake we had in mind when making our preparations!

In The Studio...long live music!

I was about to figure out a make-shift panic room when I remembered it was time for New Year's celebration in Chinatown....so after peeling myself off the ceiling it was time for a good laugh.

A body can take only so much tension and bad news before something snaps; either for the bad or good.  In this case, it was for the good so I'm grateful.

After wishing each other Gung Hay Fat Choy, we decided the best thing to do was be creative so we turned the t.v. off and went down the hall to the studio and recorded "Dusty Old Bar Stool," one of our most country-influenced songs to date. This one's been kicking around since about 04 or 05, but only recently have we been able to do any really good recordings.

It sure felt good to be doing something creative!

Well anyway, for today Fifty Five Is the New Creation....be it music or government, the beat goes on!

Coming Season

Golden Gate Park Bridge  by rcw

As a young girl, I  used to love making wishes with dandelions....and seeing if buttercups showed the world my love for their namesake....and picking daisies to see if someone loves me or loves me not....those were all sure signs of spring.  That and the birds returning to their roosts.

The robins were the first to re-appear, their red breasts blazing against the back drop of trees coming to life.

Where they went for the winter remains a mystery, but they always seemed to return around Easter...and the nuns told us stories of how the birds' breasts got red.  Rumor had it that one little bird tried to pull one of the nails out of Jesus' hand and was injured, and since then every bird of that genus (male at any rate) has a red chest.  Go figure.

I know spring will be coming, and I hope it's soon!  This winter has been brutal, and there's till some bluster left to it according to the weather reports.  Brrrrrrr!  Prayers for everybody going through a hard time this season.

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New Coming Season,  I know it's right around the corner!

Rule of Lawlessness

This blog is fast taking on the flavor of the day...my heart is heavy with the events of the world.

St. Therese  by rcw

The Koran is a sacred book. I read it years ago, and am in the process of re-reading it to try and understand something about what's going on.   Islam is truly a wonderful religion, one of the so-called "great religions" of the world.  But it is not the only one.

Same thing can be said of Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and all the other "isms." So why are we always trying to shove each others' philosophies down each others' throats? This has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with egotism.

Wouldn't it be great if the Maker...whatever it, she, or he is conceived to be...decided to show up one day and just say "Hold on there a moment you guys. Now, let's get this straight. I'm the boss, you guys are crazy...and everybody gets to pray how they want."  Include Twittering, IMs and so on as part of this communication, of course.  Don't want to leave anybody out!

Do you think anybody would listen?  I wonder.

For today, Fifty Five Is The New Rule of Lawlessness and the hope that we soon find a new path.

Call To Action

Vesuvio Wall from North Beach  sketch by rcw

One would think that becoming a senior means it's time to kick back, do a little fishing, let the youngsters take over.  Sure sounds nice.  We've paid our dues; raised our kids, paid our taxes and so on....sure sounds like it should be our turn for some of the gravy in life!

Sure would be nice if after retirement our bodies did an age-reversal thing...oh, maybe not too far back; just about ten years or so...so that we still had enough stamina to do all the things we planned on doing. But unfortunately it doesn't happen like that-no matter how many artificial body parts and face lifts one gets!

Aging isn't pretty.  It isn't even fair.  But then again, what in life is really fair?  Pretty, I'll grant you; life can be downright beautiful! But fair?  Nope.

Funny thing though, I don't think it's supposed to be fair.  It's a playing field, to be sure-but not a level one!

All through our lives we are challenged; forced to flex our muscles, be they physical, mental, emotional or spiritual-or any combination thereof.  It's what keeps us going, whether or not any of us cares to agree with the notion that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Truth is truth.

We weren't born with an owner's manual strapped to our leg, nor is there a warranty somewhere to help with the repairs...regardless of your views on health care reform, there isn't that kind of coverage anywhere. Put cold and blunt, we do have a shelf-life. And until the perfect replacement is built,  what we got is what we got. The human body, our vehicle on this road of life.

As we age, different things happen.  Some people age gracefully, some...not so much. Personally, I don't want to age so graceful that there is no zest, no spice to the experience. Keep those challenges coming...perhaps a little modified in keeping with my senior status, but please don't let my life turn dull!

Fat chance that's going to happen!  Have you seen our world lately?

I think the unrest is a call to action, but not of the kind which lends itself to tyranny and inhumane governance.
I think we older folks need to pitch in, not sit back on our laurels.  Those laurels are the experience needed to prevent our country from falling into the wrong hands.

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New Call To Action-as my dear friend, the late Bro Jud once quipped, "Seniors to the rescue!"

Prayer Power

May the Holy Spirit of Peace and the Healing Power of Love abide and grow in the Hearts and the Minds of All...Amen.

People do a lot of different things when trouble strikes...one of the main things is pray. Oh, during easy times they won't admit to it; many folks totally deny belief in anything stronger than the corner bartender...but when push needs a shove, and of course after a careful look about to see that no body's looking, these same people will drop to their knees like repentant sinners praying for mercy.

They might not call out the same name, but all prayers lead to the same place.

We are in trying times right now; the world seems to be going mad with anger. We need to turn this around somehow...and I don't think we can do it on our own.

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New Prayer Power, because it's time to do a little knee-time to help save our poor, confused planet.

May the Holy Spirit of Peace and the Healing Power of Love abide and grow in the Hearts and Minds of All...Amen.

Hard Rain

Desert Rain  by rcw

Right now the world is on fire....Tunisia, Egypt, Greece.... so many people rising up because their governments aren't serving them.  Our nation is in a precarious situation as well...anger, frustration, fear as our economy falters.

It's a Hard Rain gonna fall, as Dylan once said.

I believe in revolution, but not revolution for the sake of doing it....and I believe that violence is NOT the answer.

When I was a youngster and involved in the protest movements of the '60s, there was a very hard-core group that called for violent revolution. Some people bought into that.....many did not. Hence the difference between the SDS/Weathermen and the peace, hippie, civil rights movement in general.

 We deplored hypocrisy, regardless of origin...that included fellow "long haired freaks" who wanted to take things to the next level. While they were going around expounding on the wonders of Molotov cocktails through the windows of congress, we were attempting to communicate our ideas through education, example, grassroots activism and national mobilization, all calling for peace-even amongst ourselves.

History shows repeated examples of true, good revolutions going terribly wrong when hijacked by groups with bad intentions....the Nazis come to mind.   The Iranian revolution in the '70s comes to mind as well.
Shining examples of honest revolutions being twisted into tools for tyrants.

We have to be very careful here....not just on the home front.  We have to change our ways, too...lest we find ourselves on the receiving end of cities burning and wrongly-intentioned revolutionaries.

The United States must put an end to hypocrisy, stop aligning ourselves with despots and dictators, stop doing business with nations who are guilty of human rights violations. Put our house to rights so we can honestly deal with this world, because otherwise we are doomed to fates similar to Egypt and Tunisia.

For today, Fifty Five Is the New Hard Rain...the storm of revolution is raging all over the world.