Hands are doing better, but not entirely. Still have some swelling, and discomfort, so will be seeing my family doctor tomorrow. Things are going the right way, though.

Lots going on, which, during the week generally includes music therapy related work in senior nursing/assisted living facilities. The last 3 days have been rather full in this regard. In one facility in DE, I enjoy seeing, each month, a friend/”fan” who is 101yrs old (!) Sharp as anything, and fun to talk with. This week, I met another centenarian in the same center (just turned 100 last month). After showing me her citations from the state government, and the White House, she recalled a question asked on her birthday: “To what do you attribute your longevity?” She replied, simply, “Hard work, and good food”. She then went on to define this in her own experience, centering around the farm on which she grew up. Hard work, and good food - sounds too simple, until you realize it makes more sense than anything. Makes me realize - not too simple, rather our lives have become much too ….

Have noticed a little sore spot on my right hand the last couple of days, but thought little of it. Late last night (after my gig) felt some increasing soreness. This morning, began noticeably swelling. Seems things like this happen on a Saturday, which allows us to keep in touch with our friends in the ER. Upon leaving the house, I was aware the two possibilities were stress fracture, and some kind of infection. The latter was the definite best option, for obvious reasons, which turned out to be the diagnosis, thankfully. Yes, kind of sore, but not enough to keep me from practicing after visiting the pharmacy :)

It's been so long, it's hard to know where to start. If I have to pick something, though, this (video post above) is probably it. It's been an intense time, personally and professionally. Not bad intense, though. Intense with emotion, uncertainty, possibility, promise, and, holding it all together, the certainty of trust in the hand of providence. Guess I really am a believer in "dynamic tension"(something I've been thinking about a lot lately, actually).

My feelings have been all over the map about my new CD: "Stories Without Words", but when my objective lens takes over, it remains a consistent view. This is my first (major) step (perhaps better, lunge) away from the security of imposed structure, to embrace a deeper part of myself that I have been learning to come to terms with. Over the years, I have been continually struck with a common "theme": that my improvisation often struggles to exactly fit in the "jazz box", especially when others are defining it. My ideas are seldom the intricate weavings of architecture, fitting the agenda of a finely tuned "jazz vocabulary", creating within a predetermined structure. As this, however, describes much of the "jazz view", I've often struggled, sometimes touching the deeper places, sometimes mired in "constipation". Known for "creative bursts", but not a consistent presence. What am I, then? What I've always known I am: a conceptualist. But what does it mean? I'm learning. Learning that I've often been tangled in "vocabulary", instead of drawing the "shapes" I instinctively feel. Learning that what I "know" often gets in the way. Learning to "know" differently. This new CD (illustrated by the video post of one of the twenty tracks) is but a baby step. Not a step away from anything, though, except my own roadblocks. Thanks for continuing to follow my journey. I believe in it now, perhaps more than ever. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life". "Trust...."