Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Walking and Music

With a snowstorm forecast for tonight and tomorrow, I decided I had better spend the day using the fine weather today to get some exercise. Tomorrow, snowed in, I can spend the day working on the novel.

In all, I walked five miles from the library on the north side to highway 54 in the south, the Methodist church to the east and over to Rock Ledge Park on the west. The day was gray but not too cold. To keep my spirits up, I listened to music on the MP3 player that Gary gave me a couple of years ago.  He put some of my favorite songs on it. Songs with a strong beat are good to walk to.  Humorous and inspirational songs are good to combat SAD.  I mostly skipped any sad songs.

Here's part of my play list:

In Spite of Ourselves, John Prine and Iris DeMent, which decribes Gary and me.
        "In Spite of ourselves, we're sitting on a rainbow,
        against all odds, honey, we're the big door prize."

Roll Me Away, Bob  Segar and the Silver Bullets, makes me want to head out on another road trip, though not on a motorcycle.

Across the Great Divide  by Kate Wolf, sung by Nanci Griffith, is a little sad, but I love it anyhow.
        "It's gone away, yesterday, and I find myself on the mountainside
        Where the rivers change direction, across the Great Divide".
It makes me think of a summer day last summer sitting beside the road looking down the mountain toward my next destination.

Why Walk When You Can Fly , by Mary Chapin Carpenter, is simply my philosophy.
          "Why take when you could be giving, why watch as the world goes by
          It's a hard enough life to be living, why walk when you can fly."

Another by Mary Chapin Carpenter, is Between Here and Gone.  What should we do from now to the end of our lives?

A good environmental song is Gentle Arms of Eden, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
          "This is my home, this is my only home
          This is the only sacred ground that I have ever known
          And should I stray in the dark night alone
          Rock me goddess in the gentle arms of Eden"

And finally, a song that makes me want to survive anything and keep on fighting, The Mary Ellen Carter, by Stan Rodgers, about a sunken ship, it makes me think of the bankers and politicians of the day.
          "And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
          With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
          Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
          And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
          Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken
          And life about to end
          No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.
          Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."

Only one more day in February.  I think I will survive.



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