Tag Archives: BruceCockburn

Remembering Carolyn

Today I planted out a Lavender bush in honor of my departed friend Carolyn. Today is her birthday.

Carolyn Winthers

Carolyn Winthers nov 2006

There you go
Swimming deeper into mystery
Here I remain
Only seeing where you used to be
Stared at the ceiling
‘Til my ears filled up with tears
Never got to know you
Suddenly you’re out of here

Gone from mystery into mystery
Gone from daylight into night
Another step deeper into darkness
Closer to the light

Walked outside
Summer moon was nearly down
Mist on the fields
Holy stillness all around
Death’s no stranger
No stranger than the life I’ve seen
Still I cry
Still I begged to get you back again

Gone from mystery into mystery
Gone from daylight into night
Another step deeper into darkness
Closer to the light
~Closer to the Light by Bruce Cockburn

Listen here:

Loved you.
March 31, 1953 – October 31, 2007

Facebooktwittermail

Spring Equinox 2011

Well where have I been you wonder?

Quick recap of the last 3 months:
Digestive disorders the beginning of the year, quit eating most everything to figure out what was going on.
Heartburn (I guess I never really had that before) that made me realize why people go to the hospital thinking they are having a heart attack. Apple cider vinegar // and or apples // and or tums works for me.

Any way,
I quit coffee with cream and sugar, replaced by green tea with honey.
I quit my 2400mg of Advils a day habit.
I cut way back on sweets & breads.
I added in tons more vegetables (and we eat a lot of them any way) – steamed yams (yummm)
I added in apples every day.
I started using digestive Essential Enzymes, and mostly can eat whatever I want again.
I have to be careful with chicken, overcooked or reheated is a trigger. And it seems garlic 🙂
Oh and I lost 10 pounds so far!

And then the other big change was I quit my hormone patch!
I had 5 weeks of brain power and energy before the hot flashes started again.

During that time I started the reconstruction of another old website of mine into the WordPress format. I am still working on that but almost have it ready to be filled with the content.
Brain power is so important, and sleep.

The hot flashes are effecting my sleep some, but if this is a bad as it gets I think I can tolerate them finally. I would love to get where they are not happening at all. Maybe by 60!???

Weather wise we had beautiful spring time weather most of January and some of February. Then the winds and rain started again almost daily, and snow and hail and some freezing temps.

The latest storm (March 18) brought big redwood trees down in Whittemore Grove which we have to pass through to get to town.

Redwoods down on Briceland Road

Briceland Road down to one lane

(Photos from Jac Hargrave’s Facebook page)
More Photos here at Kym Kemp’s blog
That area of Briceland road is now one lane, with a slide above, and an undermined road to the creek..not good. It is a main artery and busy, and if it goes all the way out will really cause a major disruption in our lives as well as others.

And then more snow:
Kym Kemp’s blog

And I have been busy on the CockburnProject, as the lead in to Bruce’s latest release Small Source of Comfort was happening. Lots of interviews and reviews, and lots of work getting the lyrics and liner notes uploaded.
I also bought tickets for his show June 2 in Napa and his solo show June 26 at Kate Wolf Music Festival in Laytonville. At least I have something to look forward to 🙂

Of course I like many others have been glued to the TV and internet for news surrounding Japans 9.0 quake, tsunami (we had little ones here and bigger ones just north and south of us) and resulting nuclear disaster.
What can I say about this?
We (many of my generation) tried to stop the proliferation of nuclear plants for energy in the 70’s. Some how we failed miserably at that.
Just now solar is gaining a bit in peoples minds, even Japan’s wind power energy plants survived the 3 punch disaster they have had. NO MORE NUCLEAR POWER.
And prayers for the Japanese people.

And this is another huge shout out to Kym Kemp for being the best news source and information hub concerning all here in SoHum, be it roads, radiation, crime, or whatever else is affecting us. She beats out all other blogs and radio stations to keep us informed. Thank you Kym!

So with that, I wish new beginnings for mother earth and peace and power to the people of the planet to make it so.

Happy Spring!

Facebooktwittermail

Postcard from Bruce

I was super surprised to get a postcard from Bruce! Handwritten and thoughtful, and thanking me.
Made my day, actually it still makes me smile.
I just love this man.

******************************************
Background:
In July Bruce’s mother passed away.
I sent a card with my condolences and some thoughts, having just lost my Dad and both our mothers endured a 7 year bout with cancer.

He was still working on his latest cd recording. He also had a tour lined up to start in the beginning of October, when he developed pneumonia and a partially collapsed lung that canceled that part of the tour.

You can read about all this at Cockburnproject.net.

Facebooktwittermail

Bruce Cockburn – Arcata Theater Lounge

Bruce Cockburn Arcata 2010
 

So any one who knows me realizes I have a deep love and respect for Bruce Cockburn.. this isn’t JUST a ‘favorite musician’ type of thing.
Over the 30 years I have listened and loved Bruce’s songs they have been the soundtrack to my life, whether it was falling in or out of love, in spiritual dispair or rapture, being mad as hell at the world and what was happening to the planet or other peoples, or just being, he was there for me.
Continue reading

Facebooktwittermail

Fun Weekend Ahead

Preparing for a fun weekend! Going to see Bruce Cockburn in Arcata. We have the reception tickets, so hope to have a minute to thank Bruce once again for being.

Booked dinner and motel for a Friday night stay. Saturday will have us doing some fun things..maybe Arcata Farmers Market or a movie or a coastal walk?

I am looking forward to Friday, as I gave away my tickets to see Bruce tonight in Petaluma. The Mystic is such a great venue and I really enjoy it there, but we just couldn’t pull it together to go. So Friday at the Arcata Theater is the only gig on this tour that I will get to.

Facebooktwittermail

Almost ready to go Live ..again

Well I have all but year 2009 posts transferred to this new blog. In doing that many emotions have crossed my mind, some not much fun.

Once 2009 is done, I will need to set up spam blocking for comments and turn them on, test a new gallery short code page and wait till WP 3.0 is done beta testing and ready for prime time before I change this theme, which I am not liking much.

Spring is upon us here, as well as a Bruce Cockburn tour, anad some health issues that I truly hope are resolved quickly and painlessly.

I use Facebook every day..but I am looking forward to longer postings here, and hopefully turn this into more than a personal journal.

Facebooktwittermail

WP and FB

(Ages since last post.)

I have been working on a new install of WordPress as a CMS.
I remember when I installed MT here for this blog, took some time, but was relatively easy.

The MT forums at the time (2003) were active with friendly people who wanted to help..not just point you to an outdated Codex file.
Word Press, for all its popularity, doesn’t do some very simple things well at all. I started the dev 2 months ago, at version 2.8 since then there have been 4 major upgrades of the software!

Because I hand code, I know how to do everything I am asking WP to do for me, but trying to get WP to do it, well is another thing.
The reason I chose WP, was the client wanted to be able to ‘write their own info’ (post) and upload photos and such, so i needed to give them a back end that was user friendly.

I don’t know how that will work out in the long run, but it’s been a summer of WP learning curve and frustration. And it doesn’t look like this site will ‘go live’ for at least another month!
[the site did go live HumCPR]
[I have continued working with WP and learning constantly..)

(life)
We did get away for our anniversary July 27, just a short trip to Ruth Lake, some swimming and a bit of fishing.
We also did Reggae on the River, the one day event now at Benbow State Park, very irie and fun.

Russel is really making some progress on some of the homesteading projects we have, so that is good. School starts soon and time will be short.

I talk with Dad’s widow, Sue a lot. I miss the Michigan family, after being there for so long, I got used to being able to see everyone.
Not to good about keeping in touch, but making an effort.

Facebook as become my hang out, lots of my cousins and nieces are on there so I can keep in touch that way. And many locals who I don’t see all that often, so now we can at least play a game of Lexulous (scrabble) every now and then. I have also ‘friended’ with lots of Bruce Cockburn Humans, some old friends, and even made some new ones.

I guess the neatest Facebook story I have so far is this one:

Background:

I went to high school and was friends with a group of brothers (4), D,G,J,R. Both D and R have passed. I have pictures of us from 1966 to 1971.

Well my cousin on FB, had a friend with the same last name as the 4 above, he ‘friended’ me and said, “hey won’t J & G be surprised by who I found on FB!”

So I connected with him, I vaguely remember him, as he is the youngest brother of the 4 I mentioned. Come to find out that J (who I was friends all through school) has some kids with girl I went to school with. (who also has passed on)

So they fb’d me..and they wanted the stories, because they had never met their uncles.. dying so young and all. And they didn’t have pictures.

So I spent a weekend digging though old photo albums and year books, scanned a bunch of photos into FB and told them some stories about their uncles, even the youngest brother didn’t know a lot of this stuff and had never seen most of these pictures.

The gratitude and thankfulness I felt from them for doing this little thing lifted me up, when I was very down and still grieving heavily for my Dad.

So when you wonder if you should pitch all those old photos, well, maybe not. Maybe find the persons who will treasure them and pass them on.

Anyway to me it was the neatest FB connection so far.

Facebooktwittermail

Bob Kensler R.I.P

Dad took his last breathe Sunday evening May 10 at 8:10pm.

My Dad - Bob Kensler
 

Wave on wave of life
Like the great wide ocean’s roll
Haunting hands of memory
Pluck silver strands of soul
The damage and the dying done
The clarity of light
Gentle bows and glasses raised
To the charity of night
~~~Bruce Cockburn

***************************************************

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.

Facebooktwittermail