Music and Life

     Something my friend Dan said a few years ago has continued to trouble me - he's a fellow music fan and says that because of his age and the amount of music he owns he won't be able to live long enough to listen to it all (and no he's not sick and dying, it's just that he has so much music). It really got me thinking (if that idea could actually be true for me as well). And that's one reason that I've been tracking my listening on this blog, so that I can get a better sense of how much and what I listen to. This week I decided to take it to another level - I created a list of the core of my music collection (not including much instrumental or worship music) and printed this list out in booklet form. It wasn't too difficult - copied folder names from my iTunes backup - but it still took a couple of hours. There ended up being just over 1000 albums I think (the booklet is 7 pages of fine print with 2 columns per page). Then I went back over my 2011 blog entries and wrote in the month and year beside each album I listened to. I've already checked off 137 for this year so far. So I figure at that rate it may take up to 5 years to complete the booklet. But it's nice to have a goal and it feels good to be able to check off each step along the way. And yes I'm sure there will need to be additions as I continue to purchase new music (I did leave a bit of space, but I'm really trying to just enjoy all the music I have instead of buying much more). I also continue to try to eliminate albums from my iTunes program by burning them onto CDs and adding them to my collection kept mainly in binders.
     We went to see Tree of Life this week and had some great (and extended - it's a film you can talk about for a long time) discussions about it. Also read a couple of helpful articles online that gave further insights. I found it to be quite moving, bringing back images from my own childhood/life as I watched. It's a beautiful, deep and meaningful movie, a piece of art actually, that I think is probably Terence Mallick's masterpiece. I feel I should really try to see it again.
     It was scorching hot this week but I was able to get a few minor jobs done around the house. The wheel for our clothesline became so imbedded in the back maple tree (the tree had grown right around it) that the wheel no longer could turn, so I had to chisel part of the tree away from it. One of the flagstone walls in the backyard has been in need of repair for a few years now so I finally got that fixed. And I cleaned up the barbecue, replacing the bricks and scrubbing the various parts (I'm thankful for SOS pads).
     I often retreated into the air conditioned kitchen/family room area and read a couple of captivating books over the course of the week. I whipped through Josh Ritter's "Bright's Passage" pretty quickly. He's a songwriter I'm appreciating lately and this is his first novel. It was very interesting and creative, including an angel who communicates with the main character through a horse (yes it sound pretty weird but it works). Stephen King's massive "Under the Dome" is a wild story but it's also very bleak and disturbing (and the vulgarity is not appreciated). I doubt that I'll read any more of his work.

     We had some invitations for several nice visits this week as well. We went to Mom and Dad's for supper on Wednesday and it ended up that none of the kids could make it so it was just the 4 of us, which was just fine but seemed a bit weird (feels like about 25 years since we've done that!). We played a game of Hand & Foot and the ladies were very proud of their win. On Friday we were at our friends' Carla & Dave and enjoyed a nice meal along with great conversation. Saturday we picked up Olu & Tracy and headed up to Walkerton to visit with our friend Krista and her family. It was wonderful to be able to connect with everyone there and especially to see how beautifully the children are growing up.

     I'm really appreciating our church, feeling like we know lots more people there and enjoying connecting briefly with folks on Sunday morning - it's beginning to feel more like our church as of late. We ended up helping lead some children's songs for their program at the last minute and it was lots of fun to do that again.
     Music listening: Yes - Relayer (awesome 70's prog rock), Beatles - Abbey Road (classic), Bob Bennett - First Things First (also classic in my opinion), U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind, Josh Ritter - So Runs the World Away, Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What (really appreciate this now that I've read along with the lyrics, plus the musicianship is fantastic), Burlap to Cashmere - new self-titled release (a bit disappointed on first listen, but it's growing on me as I give it more time/attention), Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago