“Hey, buddy!” They hear it all the time in here. The tiny jumping spiders on the workbenches, the mud daubers flying in & out looking for a quiet corner to build their little adobe storage units, birds nesting in nearby junipers, squirrels peeking in, deer slowly moving through the tree line, harvestmen (“Daddy longlegs”) climbing in the heat of the day to nest in the eaves in bunches like some kind of architectural merkin. Any of the smaller crawlies in harm’s way I move and hope I’m doing the right thing for them… my act of mercy vs. their own fate or destiny. If I’m brought in front of it, I usually feel it’s because the energies of the moment consider me a method for action, the tool for the job, so I use my best judgment and do my best. I mention this and move them aside. I’ve felt it done to me and I’m just passing the favor along as one would share a gift.
Yeah yeah – you might think I’m a different tool altogether. You might be saying “Did this guy ride the short bus?” But I’ll take that – I think any short bus is full of untapped, unrecognized potential - while the kids on the big bus are trying to front more than they actually have. I see life as an extension of the little bit of it I get to use for a while, and that’s how I behave toward it. I walk around webs and give ant mounds warning shots. It’s just the way it is.
Now if something is trying to take a bite out of me, literally or metaphorically… I still have empathy for how difficult their position in life must be to where this is their best option, but with apologies – they’re gone. That’s extreme juice for extreme moments, though. It’s there but I don’t need to lead with that. At all other times I so prefer the harmony that makes for sweeter life and smoother doings.
It’s been quite rainy here, which is a blessing considering how dry it can be – but everything has its price, and there are tons of bugs around this spring. I like my space, so I let them be; I don’t need to conquer anyone but me. It’s muggy and looking to be a hot one too, but I’ll take it. I’ll take it with a smile; I’m at peace out here in the woods, doing my thing just as they’re out here doing theirs. For their own reasons they do their things, and for reasons I’ve dressed up to believe are mine I do this. Or I’ve BEEN dressed to believe are mine. I only know that I don’t know.
I do know I’ve known kill-smush-rage-punch-hate first guys, but – to whatever degree – haven’t known them to be very successful at gardening or anything in life of a process similar. And much of life is a process similar. Their strengths are in other positions, for other tasks. Situations may require a little fang here and there, but I’ve learned you can plant seeds or throw rocks; it’s very difficult to do both and be all that effective at either.
But… what do I know. I’m just a little fuzzy man in a workshop, making basses, talking to the critters. Thanks for sharing this moment. Wish another of any kind well today, and have a great weekend! And as always, fill it full of music wherever possible. I’ll be listening to Dr. John – he has passed. Though any life can be difficult in chapters, the gardens he leaves in his footsteps will continue to bloom forever and seed others. One album of his that has been in steady rotation in the workshop for years is The Sun The Moon & Herbs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l9OqFw6Ops) - I hope it brings something to you. And if it does, please consider offering a gesture of good or safe passage to another, maybe in Dr. John’s honor or as a kind ripple in carrying on the best of those who’ve helped your garden and gone.
Listening to: Skip James Devil Got My Woman (some of the deepest of the delta blues); Joe Henderson So Near So Far (Musings for Miles) (just beautiful jazz with one of my favorites, John Scofield, on guitar); Dr. John The Sun The Moon & Herbs and Dr. John & The Nite Trippers - Landmark Music Festival 2015 from YouTube.