Loose Leaf Notes

1. I often have no idea what I’m going to write for my 13 Thursday weekly round-up, but for me, every blog post starts with a good picture, like a meal starts with olive oil and an onion, and I go from there.

2. New Year’s Resolutions – I don’t want to announce them, hold myself to them. If it hasn’t happened yet I won’t hold my breath. I’m not one to make resolutions, although when the New Year arrives I do find myself reviewing the past year. I weigh what was meaningful and what was not. I stay curious and open about what will happen next and trust that I’ll rise to the moment.

3. It takes time in the dark room to bring lived-experience into focus and to develop the meaning we’ve made of our lives. -More on Poems From the Dark Room HERE.

4. I bought my first camera in Jackson Square, Weymouth, Massachusetts, when I was 18 years old.  Before that it was Polaroids and those black and white strips from the photo booth at Paragon, our town’s amusement park.   I don’t remember the camera brand or how much it cost.  It wasn’t very good, but I loved it from the moment I started snapping and was only sorry that I hadn’t gotten one sooner instead of spending all my babysitting money on clothes.

5. Speaking of cameras, this is one of my favorite self-portraits. I call it straight shooter.

6. “Winter is a Time of Deep, Hidden Work. Like bulbs beneath the frozen ground or bears in hibernation, profound internal change happens in the quiet dark. This is a time for composting the past, for dreaming, for the invisible mending of the psyche. The growth is underground, but it is vital. When grand purpose falters, small, repetitive rituals provide anchor points: the making of tea, the daily walk, the lighting of a candle. These acts are not mundane; they are sacred practices that build a small, warm shelter of meaning in the cold.” – Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May

7. Led Zeppelin runs in our family.

8. And is passed down like an inheritance.

9. I saw Led Zeppelin before they were famous in 1969 at The Boston Tea Party. A friend and I only went because we called the venue to see who was playing and they said that one of the members used to be in the Yardbirds. We were blown away. I later learned that Steven Tyler, well before Aerosmith, was in the audience too. This picture shows me holding their 1970 album after two albums in 1969. It’s a Christmas present and that’s my dad sitting behind me.

10. Floyd native Morgan Wade was welcomed like a rock star to her Saturday night Home for the Holidays concert at Dogtown, the local venue where she had her first show in 2015. Tickets for the show sold out within five hours… At one point, Wade called young Dayson Crawford, daughter of Blue Ridge Diner owners Travis and Kristin Crawford, and presented her with a surprise, a custom guitar with a Morgan Wade design on the front.Wade frequents the diner when in Floyd and the Crawfords have been following Wade’s rise to fame, which includes performing on CBS Saturday Morning, the 21st Annual Americana Honors & Awards (where she was nominated for an award) and the 2023 CMT Music Awards. She has toured with Alanis Morissette and Joan Jett, Eric Church and Chris Stapleton and others. Since her first live show at Dogtown, Wade has released five albums, Puppets with My Heart, Reckless, Psychopath, Obsessed and The Party is Over (Recovered).” – More from Morgan Wade Returns to Dogtown for Sold-out Holiday Show HERE.

11. Seeing a blockbuster movie at Christmastime is a tradition started by Josh, Star Wars, Avatar etc. This year’s blockbuster was a meet-up with Josh and Dylan’s brother Skye (who most of us hadn’t seen in more than 5 years) and his family, which included his wife Jessica (who we hadn’t met yet), her sweet daughter and their new baby! “I got a new nephew for Christmas. I got a new niece too!,” I heard my son Josh say to someone on the phone driving home from The Hotel Roanoke after we just had an epic lunch and a heartfilled family reunion. More from The Christmas Blockbuser HERE.

12. Solstice Shakedown: The light trickles back / through the skinny-waisted squeeze / of winter’s hourglass grip.

13. Review of The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd by Reading is my Therapy: “Identity Must Be Rebuilt After Achievement Falls Silent – When external markers of success are removed, identity trembles. Millerd captures this disorientation with honesty—the strange grief of no longer being able to explain oneself in a single sentence. This lesson unfolds as a slow reconstruction. Without titles, roles, or scripts, the self must be rediscovered through values rather than validation. The book reveals how fragile identity can be when it rests solely on productivity—and how resilient it becomes when rooted in curiosity and alignment…

__________Thirteen Thursday