Loose Leaf Notes

1. I used to only like to collect perfect shells. Now I like the varied shaped broken ones best.

2. Washed up moon shell / Turn your ear towards its shine / Hear the poetry of galaxies / in its phosphorescence tide

3. Just Breathe:  A recent study has shown that deep breathing with longer exhalations are an easy way to hack your vagus nerve, to counteract fight-or-flight. Another study reports that just two minutes of deep breathing with longer exhalation engages the vagus nerve, increases heart rate variability and improves decision-making.

4. When I like the book Joe is reading better than the one I’m reading, it’s like when I like the meal he ordered better than the one I’m eating. He’s a good sport about sharing.

5. We topped off our Atlantic Beach vacation with a visit to “Willie’s Joint” and seeing Willie and the outlaws (Lucas Nelson, Alison Krauss and Bonnie Raitt) playing at the Walnut Creek Music Park in Raleigh. We got busted early on for changing our seats even though we stayed in the same section. At over $100 a seat, I think I should have been able to get a better shot of Bonnie, the main draw for me, but had to settle for taking pictures of the monitor. – Photos and video clips HERE.

6. Taking pictures without owning a back-up camera is like driving a car without a spare in the trunk.

8. THIS is my favorite Bonnie Raitt song to sing in the car while we’re driving.

9. Seen at the beach:  Pockteful of Rosie Moon / It comes up pink / rises gold / and sets like the ghost / of a white-haired crone

10. When we got home from the beach on Monday, we discovered a swarm of dragonflies in our yard. I looked it up and found it was reported on the news. It’s rare but not unprecedented. Some dragonflies migrate south but usually travel solo.  It’s possible that it could be a result of climate change.

11. Hank Williams was called the Hillbilly Shakespeare and Merle Haggard Poet of the Common Man. Many of the greats of Country Music had African American mentors and were influenced by African American music, blues, jazz, swing hymns and the banjo, which came from Africa.  Ken Burns’ documentary (which we’ve been watching and loving) “Country Music” describes Country Music as a lyric-driven art form and the documentary as the exploration of the poetic way the English language is paired with, as songwriter Harlan Howard described country music, “three chords and the truth.”

12. Ken Burns describes the show’s interview with Willie Nelson:  When we finally got him, it had to be in his bus with the AC and the engine running — which drives our soundman crazy — at rush hour next to the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. Even his people were saying, “You know, he’s not gonna talk. He’s gonna be monosyllabic.” I asked first about the early heroes, Ernest Tubb and others, so that he began to relax. We were able to get all three and a half pages of our questions answered and then some. As we left, we were high from the interview and perhaps high from a contact with his choice of smoking material.

13. “When an artist gets it right, it’s right for everybody.” – Marty Stuart

______Thirteen Thursday