Six Word Saturday

We drove six hundred miles yesterday

Carpe Diem's "Little Creatures" #2, "I dreamed I was a butterfly" (Soshi)

In the following haiku Wafu was inspired by a piece of poetry by Soshi (Chuangtse) who says the following:

 [...] "Long ago I, Chuangtse, dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting about lightly on if I were really one, happily following my fancies. Suddenly awakening, again I was in the form of Chuangtse. Was it a case of Chuangtse dreaming he was a butterfly, or is it now that a butterfly is dreaming that it is Chuangtse? I do not know". [...]

cho kiete tamashii ware ni kaeri keri

 the butterfly having disappeared, 

my spirit 

came back to me 

© Wafu 

Not my finger

This is true, though:

on my fingertip
the soft touch of a monarch ~
many years ago

~~::~~

~ I see the butterfly as a symbol of finding once again that which was lost ~
~ And I see the echoes of this in my own life ~

 in the wilderness
wandering for many years ~
now a butterfly

~~:~~

in butterfly dreams
i soar through space and time ~
spirit regained

~~:~~

[Moondust inspiration]

i in butterfly
or butterfly in me ~
metamorphosis 

Carpe Diem's "Little Creatures" #2, "I dreamed I was a butterfly" (Soshi)

Carpe Diem #542, Tapestry

The warp and woof of my life has been a product of random events - some of them highly improbable.

Here's one example.  Many years ago, things took a very bad turn at my job.  A new management team had come in and for some reason they needed a scapegoat.  My head was on the chopping block.  I was in despair.  After many years of working in the glass industry, I had developed a narrow skill set, centered around automotive glass applications.  Where could I find another job?

That very Sunday in the paper was a job add from one of the major car companies, and the qualifications read like my resume.  I couldn't believe what I was reading.  Well - after some further adventure - I got the job and went on to a career that was far more successful and rewarding than I would have ever had at the glass company.  No planning - it was just exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.

a snag in the plan
when tapestry unravels
find a new thread

I see now that with my preamble I have written another haibun.

That wasn't planned either.

And I'm struck that a random accident lead to this prompt.

Carpe Diem #542, Tapestry

L. A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

 Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Jeff Stillman

Theme: OUT OF THIS WORLD.   The unifier says it all.  55 A. What 20-, 33- and 40-Across begin with : NASA PROGRAMS.  Since 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been responsible for the civilian space program, as well as for aeronautics and aerospace research.

20. Car that replaced the Marquis : MERCURY SABLE.  The Mercury Marquis was produced from 1967 to 1986.  The SABLE ran from 1986 to 2005, then reappeared in the '08 and '09 model years as the rebranded Montego.  NASA's MERCURY program ran from 1959 - 63, playing catch up after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, and went on to put Yuri Gagarin in orbit in April, 1961, 9 months ahead of John Glenn, thus beating NASA in this leg of the space race.

33. 1981 Moody Blues hit : GEMINI DREAM.





Project GEMINI included 10 manned flights in 1965 and '66, with the goal of developing space travel techniques to be used in the APOLLO program.

40. Rocky Balboa foe who became his friend : APOLLO CREED.  This character is loosely based on Muhammad Ali, fought Rockey in the first two movies, and didn't become his friend until the third.

The APOLLO project ran from 1961 through '72, and included 6 moon landings.  The first of these was APOLLO 11.  On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquility and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in orbit.  They returned with 47.7 pounds of samples.

This theme demands a theme song -- so, obviously:





Hi gang.  JzB here, flying rather high at the moment.  Let's launch into today's puzzle and see if we can soar.

Carpe Diem Special #100, Jim Kacian's "chopping wood "

the model:

 chopping wood-
someone does the same
a moment later

© Jim Kacian

Here is my first ever performance of this old Tommy Dorsey classic.

Not perfect - I warbled a few notes.  But overall, I'm pleased with it.

[I did spend a lot of time wood-shedding it.]

that song tommy played

so many decades later

i played it too

 Carpe Diem Special #100, Jim Kacian's "chopping wood "

Carpe Diem's Little Ones - Shadorma

Shadorma is a syllable-counted six-line stanza.  The form is (3/5/3/3/7/5) You can read about it at the link below.

On Sunday, I'll be performing this famous Tommy Dorsey song for the first time.

It's a touchstone for trombonists.  I have the right horn and even the right glasses

If all goes well, I'll post a video.

liquid gold
from a golden bell
perfect sound
from the heart
and what i strive to achieve
when i play trombone

Carpe Diem's Little Ones #12, Shadorma

Hangin' With Kirk

 Me with John Stoddard (left) and Kirk Whalum

It sounds like a cliche, but it was a privilege, an honor, and a real delight to spend some time with grammy winning musician and recording artist Kirk Whalum yesterday.  Kirk and his accompanist John Stoddard were in town to perform with the Schoolcraft College Jazz program on Monday evening, and they gave a clinic on Monday afternoon.

There were only about 20 people in the audience, which is shame because this was a great opportunity.  But with such a small crowd, it became an intimate and personal experience - almost like just hangin' out with some friends.

Kirk and John spoke about music as communication than can operate on a different level from human language, and that being able to express yourself in that way is a sacred trust.  This operates horizontally when we transmit or absorb ideas from, or impress or are impressed by other people.  Besides just the notes, consonance, dissonance, the musical context and attitude of the player all come into play.

The language of music can communicate, entertain, and uplift with emotions and feelings that are outside of spoken language or even comprehension.

The horizontal aspect comes to and from each other, from experiences and cultural richness.  In the process we can impress each other, but impressions wear off.   However, it is possible to go beyond that and make an impact that moves someone in a permanent way.

The vertical aspect is more elusive, and has a spiritual component.  Kirk is also an ordained minister, and in his view the kind of inspiration that produces great improvisation comes directly from God.  But to get there, you have to be prepared.  His analogy was that when you put God in the driver's seat, you don't want to provide a broken down 1983 Chevvy.  You want to have a shiny, new Chrysler 300.

The strategy for better inspiration comes from a grounding in fundamentals, preparation and practice.  The fundamentals are your musical vocabulary.  Preparation and practice develop first what Kirk called "head room" -  what an engineer would call a margin of safety: a grounding in fundamentals such that when the moment for vertical inspiration arrives, you don't run out of tools and horse power; and second "working it out."

He emphasized the importance of practicing slow - walk before you run.  The other element is repetition.  This can be the drudgery part of practice, but use your creativity to find a way to make it fun.

In the Q and A, I asked Kirk how an improvisor should approach taking on a new song with a difficult set of chord changes.  He said, first get to know the song - really KNOW that song.  Memorize the melody, feel the chord moments, sing the words.  Then play the roots, in time with a metronome.  A hundred times.  Then play the thirds another hundred.  Then fit in the scales associated with the chords.  Ill throw in that it's also worth while to know the arpeggios.  There is a certain nerdiness to approaching music this way.

Kirk's advice:  Embrace the nerdiness.

Afterward, I shook his hand and told him that I had never heard him before, but within two minutes of when he started talking, I felt like I'd known him forever.  He is a very genuine, well grounded guy, and seemed to be touched by that.

Tornado

We were visiting relatives in Florida last week, and drove home over the week end.  Sunday was a bad weather day, and we stayed ahead of the worst of it for most of our trip. In the afternoon, we stopped in Toledo to see my mom.  That's when the bad weather hit, and we decided to wait it out, rather then drive through it.

Then this happened, as we found out yesterday.

Picture Source

The picture, from yesterday's [Tuesday, 11/19/13] Toledo Blade, shows the path of a tornado that swept across the area on Sunday. I've added a red bull's eye, showing the approximate location of my mother's MOBILE HOME, where mom, my sister, my lovely wife and I were when the tornado came through.

The tornado literally leap-frogged two adjacent mobile home parks at approx. 5:45 p.m. and passed right over our heads. We didn't even know it had happened.

We had already driven about 450 miles that day, only to come to rest in the path of a destructive twister.

On a more positive note, Sis made us a nice chicken paprikas.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month #XVII, Jazzbumpa''s " my little green lawn''

I'm delighted to see one of my haiku in the tan renga challenge.

This one actually pleases me quite a bit.

my little green lawn
dreams about the pampas grass
i dream of the stars                                       (c) Jazzbumpa

in their pale shimmering light
the universe stands open                              (c) Jazzbumpa

I'll be around to check all your completions in a day or so. 

Thanks for playing along.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month #XVII

LA Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, October 23, 2013  C. C. Burnikel

Theme: VERMILION INTERSECTIONS,  or WHERE REPUBLICANS AND COMMUNISTS MEET AND GREET. [I refuse to call this THE RED WEDDING!]  The starred clues refer to themed answers indicating various shades of red that cross in the grid, [I dare to report with no trace of embarrassment.] 

21 A. *Small fruit first cultivated in Oregon : BING  CHERRY.  Wikipedia tells us, "The cultivar was created as a crossbred graft from the Black Republican cherry in 1875 by Oregon horticulturist Seth Lewelling and his Manchurian Chinese foreman Ah Bing, for whom the cultivar is named." 

58 A. *Vin Scully will be its 2014 Grand Marshal : ROSE PARADE. This New Year's Day festival of equestrians, marching bands and flower-covered floats antedates the Rose Bowl football game by 12 years.  The latter was added in 1902 to help fund the former, which is now the province of the Honda motor car company. 


12 D. *Chain named for a Stones hit : RUBY TUESDAY, song and restaurant.

 

24 D. *"Clue" suspect : MISS SCARLET

Photo Source

Leslie Ann Warren, shown here close to the other suspects - and tantalizingly close to a wardrobe malfunction - stepped in to play Miss Scarlet in the movie version of CLUE when director Johnathon Lynn's first choice, Carrie Fisher, went onto rehab four days before filming started.  Whether she had the DT's is unreported.

And the centrally located unifier:  41 A. Humanitarian symbol, and a hint to what happens where the answers to starred clues intersect : RED CROSS.

You can make a difference

Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here.  Our fearless leader has blended a colorful cocktail for us today, with an unusual 15 x 16 grid design, and intersecting horizontal and vertical entries long with a creative theme.   Other possibilities include beets, apples, catchup, Bob the Tomato, Rover, Erik the Viking, Lucille Ball and the Rouge River.  Let's see what else she has in store for us.

Carpe Diem #328, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

my garden this year
the marigolds did so well
but not tomatoes

~~~~

come along my friend
let us go to the garden
where we'll just hang out

~~~~

sometimes when i speak

about the low hanging fruit

i just babble on

~~~~

 

Carpe Diem #328

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #16, Jazzbumpa's "cold raindrops falling".

I'm honored and delighted that Krisjaan has selected one of my haiku for this Tan Renga challenge.  It's great to be a part of the globe-spanning Carpe Diem community.

I added a second verse when I first posted it, making it a tanka.  Doing so here will make it a tanka again, but I'm not going to let that stop me.

green leaves turn orange
amid the colors we see
cold raindrops falling

from silhouettes in the clouds
the mournful call of a goose

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #16 

 

Haiku Heights - Silver

 

This is the King 2B Silversonic my father bought for me in 1963.  The bell section is Sterling Silver, with a 24 karat gold wash inside.  For a small horn, it's quite heavy.

MMT reminded me of the first haiku I wrote in this post.  Today's entry is inspired by him and me.

crickets cicadas
play end of summer duet
i add silver notes

Haiku Heights #276

Carpe Diem Special #55, O. Mabson Southard's "chanting, the pond's frogs ..."

Inspirational haiku

Chanting, the pond's frogs ...
among the lilies' dark pads -
the twinkle of stars

brown spotted toad  - denizen of my yard

~ 1 ~

Here is a 5-7-5 I wrote for this little guy three years ago

this Amphibian
moved from grass to patio
saved from lawn-mower's bite

~ 2 ~

after the rain storm
thunder fades and croaking starts
the music of frogs

~ 3 ~

dead amphibian
padded under starry skies
tell me why he croaked

~~::~~

Carpe Diem Special #55 

 

Carpe Diem #285, The Peace Within

~ 1 ~

how the poet writes
to purge those soul-bound daemons
finds the peace within

~ 2 ~

for MMT

 how anguished poets
emit those long plaintive wails
and then rest in peace

 ~~~~~

Carpe Diem #285

Carpe Diem #284, Endless Skies

deep down in texas

blue skies reach eternity

but not michigan

~~~

through endless blue

goose soars toward the setting sun

moose grazes on greens

 ~~~

through serene blue

fly buzzes unaware - finds

its end in a web

~~~

and with a hat tip to MMT

how the old haijin
though an imperfect human
keeps reaching skyward

 ~~~

Carpe Diem #284

Carpe Diem #283, Hidden Places

deep recesses

of my mind -- secret home to

moose goose orb-weaver

Carpe Diem #283 

For another look into my fevered brain click here