9 posts tagged “north carolina”

Jay and Danielle have a parrot in their kitchen named Vidal, bright green and very alert... I spend time each day answering his chirps and whistles throughout the house and I try to teach him little lines and melodies from songs I know... but for now it seems I am the one learning his language, following his leads... or maybe during the day when everyone is gone I'm just giving him a little echo of his own voice so he doesn't feel so alone... I'm a weak whistler too, so my answers usually stumble after the bright, quick questions he poses for me... still, there's a part of me that hopes one day he will surprise me and answer back with one of the little song bits I whistle over and over to him, showing me that he really does listen and considers my music of value...

... this has been one of the rainiest weeks I've seen in my time in North Carolina... day-long showers gusseted with cold winds made me break out my cold-weather clothes and keep my bedroom windows closed... the trees are changing strongly now and shaking in tall columns across from the house... and there is a kind of white, lacy wildflower I see blooming all over in the lots and fields around this little development... I have to look them up sometime...

... I also have to get back to writing... I miss it so much... reading too, tho the past day or two I have finally picked up the Stephen King book I got last month ("Just After Sunset", a collection of short stories) and gotten through a story or two now... I have an army of notebooks around me too, on my bed and on the floor, so I'm well prepared for when a new poem might hit... now I just have to sit in my blind and wait for it to happen... should I rub pages of old poems on my clothes in the hope of attracting new ones?... they used to flock to me and I need to feel their feathers on my face again soon... there's nothing like the gentle beating of a word trying to get your attention...

... here at Jay and Danielle's house, in my bedroom there's a window that faces out on part of the field out back and between the next house... it's mostly neglected by the owners of the area, and since no one owns the lots it just goes wild... tall grasses, scattered wildflowers... home to snakes and locusts and who knows what else, tho I often wonder... in the morning I like to sit on my bed and look out over the grass, especially when there's a strong wind and it moves like waves... the past few weeks there's been some stray cats coming around while the sun is rising, looking for an easy feast of mice... they are such patient hunters, I love watching them, trying to guess when they'll pounce, since I can usually see the mice as well from where I'm sitting... later this morning there have been several goldfinches flying around the field... I love how they fly, I remember first noticing it back in New Jersey, when they would come to the apartment balcony to feed on the sunflowers... you almost think they're going to drop to the ground in mid-flight before they catch themselves again with a few beats of their wings and carry on...

... I need to get back to writing poetry... I miss it tremendously... I've let my mind get carried away with other things, mostly music these days... I find myself often with my guitar in my hands going over scales and exercises like I once did when I was in my teens... but it's a good thing, I'm feeling the old strength and skill I used to have... my speed has come back, tho' my days of shredding for crowds are probably long gone, it still feels good to know it again... even working thru the exercises slowly still brings a benefit in precision and cleanliness in picking... and here a few years ago I thought I was done playing for good...

... we have a nice set of songs for the church service this Sunday, and I'm happy to say I have 2 excellent solos in two of the songs that I'm excited about... but I need to find time again for writing... and reading, since reading poetry always inspired me best to write poetry... and I miss my books back in NJ terribly... I keep remembering different ones I kept, and then I get depressed that they're so far away and I wonder if I'll ever see them again... I know they're just material things, but they mean a lot to me... I attach memories and times to certain books, when I bought them and read them... I tried to keep hold of the ones that matter the most to me since they hold a timeline of much of my life and where I've been...

... I'm looking forward to autumn here in North Carolina as well... wondering how the trees turn down here, and does the air and sky still get that frosty, hazy look it had back in NJ on fall mornings... I saw Orion creeping up in the east the other morning too, when I was up before dawn and took the dog outside... always good to see him striding up into the sky, a companion of mine for decades now... and I'll end my rambling here, with a dark sky full of stars, a small dog snuffling in the grass, and my neck craned upward in the hopes of catching one small shooting star before the Sun takes over the new day...

... I know it's been a long time since I've written or posted anything here but I've just kind of been caught up in the day to day routine and have let my blog go... things are still great here in North Carolina, I'm still living with Jay and Dani and Connor, and playing at the church every other weekend... we've got a full band again for this Sunday and a good list of songs, so I'm really looking forward to it...

... this week they've had some houseguests from NJ, Mike and Colleen and their son, Hunter, spending their vacation here... Mike and Jay are good friends and I know Mike also from the old hometown... so there've been daytrips and pool trips and fires in the firepit at night when the rain hasn't ended them early... we had a nice fire going last night, and the half-Moon was in the sky and a scattering of summer stars, but by 10:30 a storm rolled in quick and began raining heavily on us... so we beat a quick retreat inside and let the weather finish off the fire...

... I do have some poems to post and I will get them up there starting today... I had the place to myself for a while yesterday and sat outside for a bit and got some new ones too, which felt good after such a long spell of not writing much...

... I miss my books... tho' I'm glad for the ones I packed with me when I left NJ, but I've so many other ones I miss... reading other poetry is what usually kick-starts my own writing by getting my brain in that special frame of mind, so I miss having the whole variety of my library around me... hopefully someday I'm reunited with them all, I hate to think I'll never see them again, or any of the other things my friends are holding for me back in NJ...

... here in North Carolina there's a spot in Jay's backyard to the side of the house where little grass grows and it's mostly dusty and rocky... it's usually where I like to stand when I'm out with the dogs, especially in the afternoon and evening, because that area is all sunlit and warm... I crouch down as I watch the dogs run, but the whole area actually takes me back to New Jersey and when I was a little boy and I'd go to church with my mother and grandmother on Wednesday nights for Prayer Meeting... now, the word "meeting" is a boring word to any child - you can almost hear the droning of voices in the background when you say the word - so my mother would often let me stay outside the church in the warmer months and play on the grounds... this was a small church, could barely have held 100 people, it was a little one-story white building with the pastor's house beside it, and it all sat on the end of a street next to the parking lot of our local strip mall... and usually I settled on playing in the parking lot, maybe with a few army men or other small toys, pretending the dust and stones were a desert or alien planet... I'd also watch and listen to the cars passing by on the main road, and I always noticed how deep and green the grass around the church looked in the setting sun... then I'd hunker down again to make piles of stones or grooves in the dirt for my soldiers to battle through... so I keep remembering those days when I'm out there now, watching the dogs stir up the dust as they run past me and listening to the tall grass at the back of the yard whisper in the wind... no soldiers in my hands now tho', just the one in my heart who keeps walking forward while also looking back...

... I'll have to write more about that church since it influence me in so many ways and I have so many great memories about that place from when I was in single digits... our pastor back then was a Mr. Glen Fisher and he was/is one of the men I've admired most in my life... I don't even know if he's still alive, since he left that old church while I was still young, but he did leave a strong mark on me about how a man should live and act... so I'll bookmark today's thoughts for a reminder to come back to them and share more...

... for now, the dogs' are calling me, and it's a cool summer morning...

Equally Open Mic Night

What they really want
here is just a little
passion

like
strumming the D-major
chord in "Margaritaville"
with a little flourish

or adding a touch
of vibrato to your
already shaky voice
on the chorus of
"Coconut Grove";

under soft lights,
beside round tables,
children eating
ice cream cones
and cake,

the scent of
coffee fills the air
as loud as
the applause

and it is so
wonderful
that anyone
here
can be
beautiful
with just a song

Ok, I have to write something about Guitar Hero as it's becoming my subtle new addiction, lol... I have wanted to play this game for years since being a guitarist I figured I would be good at it - I'm notoriously lousy at video games... so in theory this one seemed right up my alley, and I have to say, the more I play it the more it really is similary to playing real guitar... the hand coordination, little tricks like holding fretted notes lower down the neck that you might return to during a passage... they all transfer from the real thing to the game... the creators did a great job of setting this game up, and if you can find the rhythm of each song you can do really well... from the start I was getting 90% on Easy, and Jay thought I was busting him when I said I had never played it before... now I'm working on the 80's Edition, and working thru Medium level, and I have to say that Judas Priest's "Electric Eye" and Ratt's "Round and Round" are kicking my butt, lol... but I'm going back to them, getting them right, getting my hands back in shape... my goal, and I'll repeat it, to master at least one song on the Extreme level... so we'll see... I've been playing some after lunch and at night when everyone else is in bed...

... I applied for a job at a small sandwich shop yesterday not too far from the house, a place that almost reminds me of Bread & Bagels... I'm hoping they'll call me, it's only parttime but it would still be something... and I've been told they make amazing hush puppies, which I love and have yet to have all the time I've been in the South so far... and I need to get back to reading and doing some writing, I've got a few unfinished poems in my notebook, but nothing new for a few weeks now... it's quiet here at night, and with no TV in my room that should lead me back to my books and notebooks to shake something new from my thoughts...

... it's a hot and sunny Monday in North Carolina, and I think I had one of the busiest weekends I've had in a long time... Saturday night they had a small BBQ here with Jay and his family and Tara and her husband... then it was more Guitar Hero, lol, I'm trying not to become hooked on that... Sunday morning I went with Jay and his son to hear his wife sing in the church band... it was a neat little church, an outreach branch of a bigger organization, they hold their services in an old grocery store that's been cleaned out and renovated... but it looked great, and the minister was a young man who spoke very well... the band and Danielle did a great job, and then at the end there were some baptisms...

... after we got lunch and then began to get ready for a bigger BBQ for Tara's birthday... I got to meet a lot of their friends and they were all very nice and welcoming too, promising to keep eyes out for any possible jobs they might see out there... I think last night was the best night of sleep I've had here so far as I was really wiped out from the day... and I know I ate way too much, lol...

... today I've been doing laundry and catching up on emails and blogs and such... and the news, I've let the news slip away from me the past few months in GA... and I've been watching the swifts and hawks floating around looking for their lunch... and I think I just might do the same... go look for my lunch downstairs...

And greetings from North Carolina... it's my first morning here and an amazing one... waking up to the sun on the fields and woods outside my window and the sound of birdsong... last night before going to bed I opened the windows to get some air, and they're low, so I knelt down to look out and see the sky... the bedroom I'm in faces south, so Scorpius and Corvus and Virgo were all there, and just as I looked out I saw a big blue-white meteor flash across... my friend Susan calls things like that "God winks", and that is definitely what it felt like to me...

... the trip here was easy, and Jay grabbed us McDonalds for the drive and then we spent the whole time listening to music and catching up and reminiscing... it felt so good to have loud music again, and he and I are metalheads that go way back... we got to his house by 4 and I got the tour and it's a beautiful place, very light and airy and sooooo quiet... his wife, Danielle, and son Connor got home soon and hung out a bit before going out for Chinese buffet... then back here to talk more and play some video games (first time I ever got to play Guitar Hero so I was happy, lol)... then when Jay went to bed Danielle snuck me out with her to a little coffee shop nearby where she likes to sing karaoke... just one song was all she asked, and she and her friend blew the place away... but I sat there thinking how surreal it all felt, to so suddenly be in a whole other state sitting in this crowded place, and just thinking how much change a few days can bring...

... I unpacked most of my stuff, my books and notebooks... got the computer working last night and sent off some "I'm Ok!" emails to some friends, then went to bed... it's been so good to see Jay again after so long, and Danielle who I only met a few times with Jay just before they were married... and now this son they have, who cracks me up... North Carolina is quite a place and I'll be looking forward to seeing what comes next and what this area inspires me to write...

Well the big news of the day is I am moving to North Carolina today... earlier this week I got two surprise emails from friends of mine from New Jersey... one, Jay, I grew up with as his grandmother and my mother were best friends, so we met very young and spent a lot of time together... he was the first person I ever taught guitar too, and we played a lot together and I hung out at his house a lot... the other is Mike, who lived a few houses away from me and my mom in Audubon Park, and he's a drummer and we played in bands for 10 years or more... we had a bit of a falling out at the end, but apparently we both never forgot each other... anyway, Mikey tried to find me but when no one knew where I was, he got in touch with Jay, and together they both tracked me down and found my blog... then came the emails and we shared stories and lives... yesterday Jay offered me a place with him and his family in North Carolina... there are also a few places near him that are hiring, so this might mean I'll finally get back to work again after almost a year... I am sad about leaving Georgia, and unfortunately I'm not going on the best note it seems... but I just couldn't find work here to help out and support myself, and I can't let this opportunity go to earn money and get back on my feet... I've found out I'm not much cutout for using computers all day long as I don't have a lot of skill or knowledge in that area, so I guess in the end I'll wind up in another kitchen somewhere, but at least I'll be working and getting back on my feet... so I'm packed, and sad to go, but anxious about what awaits me now... when everything happened last year I felt like I was throwing myself out into the world not knowing where it would take me... so I guess this is the next gust sweeping me along... I'll write again when I'm settled in and online... take care, everyone, and be safe...