Resolved......

'Tis the season for those annual, utterly breakable resolutions we are prone to make as we cross from an old year to a new year. Lose ten pounds, save more, spend less, be happier, write more, play more, work less... you know. I've been thinking about this. A lot. That's why I'm getting around to New Year's resolutions on January 5th. Besides it's bloody freezing here in northeast Florida. Things slow down when they get cold. I know. No sympathy. He's been missing in inaction since December 19th... blog more? Nah, bad resolution for that guy... I am indeed a miserable failure when it comes to those hundreds of resolutions of muses past. Write more, write more songs, perform more, work harder, focus, focus, make more friends, take more pictures, learn to relax, focus...

I am a ridiculously impatient person by nature. I can't sit still long enough to keep a resolution... one of those who makes good starts, gets bored, rushes off to the next thing, poor finishes - or never finished. There is this constant sound track in my head: "hurry up, you'll miss something, move, stay, here comes the next big thing..." Remember the Billy Crystal character in City Slickers? He asks the old grizzled cowboy what the secret of life is, and gets the one finger response from Jack Pallance... "one thing". That one thing that's different for everybody, but is your own personal secret of life. So maybe I can handle one thing this year. One simple (?) thing: discover patience. PATIENCE!!!!!!! Okay, that's it. The Zen act of inaction. Being in the moment. Stilling the internal dialog. Living where -- and when -- you are. Life will unfold as it will no matter how quickly I try to push it along to the next level. You'll see more when you walk instead of fly -- more detail. Learn more. Slow down.....

My resolution for 2010: Be in the moment. PATIENTLY in the present. Attentively in the present. Consciously in the present. Hell, I'll be 57 in a couple of months -- what's the rush?

The Birds of December

While our friends to the north are getting clobbered with the season's first blizzard, we feel but a bit of a chill in the north Florida air. With a day to rest, I was able to enjoy these visitors to the backyard feeders today...

A Chipping Sparrow

Cardinal (male)

Florida Thanksgiving and Photoshop

Still working on that consolidation thing (see previous post)... but as I have a day off of work, and a tiny bit of time on my hands I thought I'd go ahead and post a little of what I've been playing with using Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home after spending the previous weekend in the Orlando area with visiting family from Ohio... So Mrs. Muse and I headed out to one of our favorite hiking trails at the Julington-Durbin Preserve at the southern end of Duval County.

It was late afternoon, so the sun was heading down in the western sky, casting beams at sharp angles on the golden fall foliage on the sand hill ecology at the trail head, and piercing through the dense, damp sub-tropical flora of the wetlands section that begins about a half-mile in.

The water in the swamp was high because of the previous days rain -- on this trail, moving from sand hill uplands to cypress swamp wetlands you can literally feel, see, and smell the abrupt change of eco-systems.

At one point over a swampy pool of black water, a shaft of late day light turned the fan leaves of a scrub palmetto into a glowing holiday decoration of neon green. I took several shots at a variety of exposure settings, settling ultimately in the half-frond original shot up at the top left of the page. Working in PSE, I lightened the green and yellows to the second version, and used a gaussian blur filter on much of the background, which added to the contrast of dark and light.

Next, (immediately left) I used the water color artistic filter to add a painterly effect, and a bit of additional mystery to the image. The, last, I used the black and white conversion "infra-red" option to take the color out, but maintain an extreme level of contrast.

Fun and games, but good practice, and a good way to learn to find your way around the more than adequate capabilities of PSE (the limited -- and WAY less expensive version of Photoshop)...

So happy holiday season to all - hope you survived Black Friday (we stayed away from the stores as two of my least favorite things in the world are shopping and crowds. Off to some leftovers for dinner...........

Consolidation

Yellow leaves on the North Delaware Greenway

So, this business of managing a 50 hour+ per week job, performing both solo and with the Ashley Gang, photo shoots, juggling a blog and two photography sites and two music sites... a home life... holy smoke, Batman! At my age something's gotta give! I'll be doing some consolidation of my cyber-life over the next few weeks (between performing in Barberville, Florida this weekend, business in Nashville next week, performing in Ormond Beach the next weekend, and in Jacksonville and Orlando the last weekend of the month)... YIKES! Will be making it easier on myself, and hopefully easier on you all to stay in touch with the music, photography and philosophical ramblings... news soon.

The photos above are from our trip to the Brandywine Valley last week. The weather was damp and dank, but we did get so see some fall color and some new work by Jamie Wyeth, Andrew's in-your-face artist son (great stuff at the Brandywine River Museum). From the tropical Saint Johns to the mid-Atlantic Brandywine and Delaware rivers in a week. Not bad for a tired old guy....

Saint Johns Riverkeeper Eco-Heritage Cruise

Sunrise at Astor, Florida

Mrs. Muse and I spent the last two days on our river... 115+ miles from Palatka, up river to Astor (day one), and Astor to Sanford (day two). We were impressed by both the natural beauty of our most important natural resource, and the fragility of it. It ain't what it used to be, and she faces threats from development and misguided water-use plans that could easily ruin her (and so much that we take for granted) very quickly... Here are a few starter photos. More coming.

Entrance to Lake George, From the north.

A Florida Alligator, sunning on the river bank

A manatee in the spring run at Blue Spring

Reflections of the coast in Murphy's Creek

Lake County Folk Festival.. briefly

Standing: Bob, Michelle, Me, Al

Seated: Kay (Mrs. Muse), norm

Yes -- I know I have been remiss in my blog posting. A few things have gotten in the way recently... performing (with the Ashley Gang, above), recording, writing, photo shoots, and that little "making a living" thing. So here's a start on the fantastic Lake County Folk Festival in Eustis, Florida, held this past weekend. A small selection of photos ( about 60, I think) from the event (unprocessed, strait out of the box) are available here on my photography site.

There are a few tales to tell when I can find the time... including a personal saga of nearly being run down by a speeding cop in an unmarked car while I was crossing the street in a pedestrian cross walk (complete with a "yield to pedestrians" sign in the middle of the intersection). The encounter that I had with this goober after flagging him down will be the subject of song in the near future... In the mean time, check out the photos, (including a bunch of me with The Ashley Gang, shot by Al's wife, Cindy), and check out the music (links on the right side of this blog page)...

Back soon!

In Concert...

First (almost) solo performance in many years... A few nerves at the outset, especially after having awakened on Thursday morning with laryngitis -- my speaking voice fading in and out for the next two days. Minor sore throat. Lot's of vitamin C and TLC. Took the time to plan instead of practice. Time well spent.

The European Street Cafe on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville, Florida is a great little room. We had an almost full house of friendly, familiar faces mixed with folks we'd never seen before -- and a few surprises.

"Hi, are you Paul?"

"Sure am."

"I'm Jane. We went to elementary and high school together. Remember?"

"Holy crap!"

I hadn't seen Jane in 38 years... and here she is, living in Jacksonville, and come to hear me sing... how cool is that?!

So with bassist / vocalist / Ashley Gang band-mate Michelle Lowe on my right and flautist / percussionist / band-mate and life-mate Kay on my left we made our way through the show -- and had a total blast doing the old favorites and a few of the new songs I've recently written for the new recording.

The nerves vanished as the energy from the audience -- always palpable -- pulled us into the music and the stories and the (occasionally political) commentary. It all ended with a standing ovation after the first ever public performance of the song "1,000 Doors"

After my set, I wandered the room, visiting with the audience -- people who talked about being touched by one song or another -- about how they cried through "Empty House" (about the foreclosure crisis), or lived in the rapidly vanishing rural south in a small town that reminded them of "Crackertown" (a real Florida community), or laughed through "Duval Nights" as the lyrics made fun of our city and Florida politics.

A nice way to make a local solo performance "comeback". Can't express how much I appreciate the effort of all of those who came to hear -- especially during a University of Florida football game!

So next Saturday, Michelle, Kay and I will be performing at a tribute for the amazing and heroic Gamble Rogers, at Gamble Rogers State Park in Flagler Beach -- if you're close by, stop in for a little Florida music... The the following weekend we're at the Lake County Folk Festival in Eustis, Florida with the full Ashley Gang. More schedule information and some sound bites here.

Michelle, me, Kay