This and That

After the constant 95 degree heat of sunny New Orleans, the 55 degree cool of foggy San Francisco should be a relief. But now in the fourth day without a glimpse of the sun, its charm is fading. Still it’s a pleasure to walk through my Golden Gate Park again, even if bundled up with a puffy jacket. Yesterday played some cornhole there with two music colleagues, came back to my lovely piano and spend some three hours wandering around its multiple 88-key landscapes. In between such spirit-lifting endeavors, my wife and I met with our financial advisor to get a reality check on what we have and what we should do with it. Which included getting out our Last Wills and Testaments to consider what to bequeath the children and how and also setting up a college fund for the grandchildren. Good to prepare for the future in that way, even as it's sobering to remind ourselves that that future does not include our presence there to witness and enjoy. We are caretakers of our own demise. Ah, mortality.

 

But here I still am to report on it, to keep working on all the bread crumbs I leave behind to mark the path, not to the witch’s house, but to our mutual possibility of living a joyful and authentic life. I’m diving back into the book I wrote months back, Zen, Jazz & Orff: A Life in Three Worlds with the intent to submit it to a publisher or two before choosing to publish it myself. It seems to hold up from my last reading and though it’s far from a world-changer, there are crumbs worthy of a reader’s consideration. 

 

And speaking of Orff, it’s Carl’s 129^th birthday and always a good practice to thank him for my life that he made possible. So thank you, Carl and I hope you’re pleased that I’m doing my part to keep your legacy alive, keep it glowing and growing. 

 

And so I begin the day just reporting a little bit of this and a little bit of that, my way of saying “Kilroy was here” and isn’t it marvelous? A happy Carl Orff’s birthday to you, dear reader.