Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

MEDITATION ON BUDDY MILES, JIMI HENDRIX AND DAVID BOWIE

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
     The great Buddy Miles wrote it first "My mind is going through them changes..." Hendrix did his version.  David Bowie created his own anthem to change with the lingering chorus, 
         Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes-Turn and face the Stranger
           Ch-Ch Changes-Time may change me...
            Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes-Turn and face the Stranger"
       The lyrics of both have been the score as I've settled into a rumination. Still thinking and haven't achieved a great cosmic break through. This I know, some of us handle change better than others. 
       Chaotic change is rampant in the middle east. The climate is changing. The efficacy of American government has changed so drastically in the life time of boomers as to beget a desire for revolutionary change. The economic climate has changed so fundamentally the middle class is disappearing, the poor are growing and the richest become more exclusive and insulated. Change often seeds even greater upheaval. Bigger changes are coming.
       Not all change is bad. Nor is it cataclysmic. But doing it, changing, adapting, learning new ways, even accepting it seems a mission impossible for some. I was the architect of a massive change in a large media company.  It was needed and it paid off positively in all ways, but oh boy was it difficult to manage the change.  Time and time again I heard myself saying, "some people simply cannot abide change."
      Some changes we can temper, manage, even attempt to direct-cultural, ethical, political, even environmental. If we don't, then forces beyond our control will be in control.
      We need to be proactive, or we will be pounded. 
      You can't run from it, you can't hide from it, you can't ignore it.  As a significant chunk of the population, the boomers, reach the approach to our dotage, we must live open to change, in all ways. There is never a path back.
The force of life is forward. We are curious, experimental and searching. We should harness those drives for positive change. Humans are destined to seek and offer greater individual dignity and liberty even when forces conspire against it. Repression sparks liberation.
      We tend to think of things only on a human scale.  This blue sphere, and the star nations in which it rides have yet another scale of change. We need to embrace the reality of a planetary awareness.
        Ch-Ch-Changes-Turn and face the stranger. 
        We are constantly a work in progress. Stay tuned. Heaven only knows where this thought train is bound!?
Training the Trellis
     After about year, it is time to introduce our front gate, complete with vine.
   It has taken a while to get that Cambria look.  Here's the proof.












Now the mission will be an occasional trim.


 See you down the trail.  

5 comments:

  1. We have a new gardener here today. He's been working for hours, including climbing a tall palm tree to trim away the dead fronds. He's mowing now, his final task, I think. I can't imagine how these guys work as hard and fast as they do in the terrible heat but they do.

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  2. Bruce, I'll bet he's a 20 year college kid whose parents live in Paradise Valley, working to earn a little extra beer money, right?

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  3. I'm not sure what a "Cambria" look is but it looks pretty nice. Your essay is right on, but we can't even get Republicans and Democrats to put aside their differences for the sake of our country so it's hard to imagine any success thinking globally.

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  4. Stephen-
    It is a kind of cozy, green, cottage in the vines, tucked away, hidden kind of thing. Gates, green enclaves, etc.
    Ours is still growing, but no longer a "naked" gate.

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  5. Tom
    thanks for keeping us Forever Young with your insights
    FBP

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