Tracks In The Dust

A Father's Advice About Learning the Mission of Life

09 Apr 2013

The Pending Storms of Spring

You know that feeling you get when you hear about pending storms. Watchful on the horizon. Brewing for a change. Some see it as a fearful thing (rightfully so) and yet perhaps more.

The summer storms often bring colder fronts and fresh air. They bring that smell of green things growing. Before it arrives you can taste it in the air. The bugs sing a song in the trees. There is a sense of it in the pressure of the atmosphere.

But the spring storms however seem to queue up to help clean away the winter. Take away the dust and dreariness that can encapsulate the winter months. They come as the light of the day starts to expand and the plants and trees around are working on a new set of leaves and seeds. The birds arrive back ( maybe they weren’t gone, but the seem so much more vocal). The storms come in on windy days that seem to be designed to blow the seeds along for a summer plan.

Here in Texas the spring storms have begun, they often come with predictions of hail, and sometimes the size of quarters or golf balls. Most storms whisk by with strong winds that line up and rearrange things… fences, lawn furniture, trees and roofing land in the most unexpected places. But still the storms come. They will always come.

When they do you have a chance to see them as renewal of the new pending season. You can work toward acceptance in the anticipation. Perhaps see it as a way to change and change with it.

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged Acceptance, Change, choices, Emotion, moments, Postive Thinking, Storm, Texas, Weather

08 Apr 2013

Roll Call

We do this thing from time to time in our family and with our closest friends.

It’s “roll call” time for blogger buddies. Checking in to see that everything is okay today and where your head is at.

So ROLL CALL!

Let’s have some fun.

3 Questions

Who is ” now playing” on your digital music player (iPod) ?

Mine: Little Black Dress (Group from Dallas, TX) and Air Review (also from Dallas, TX) and The Album Leaf

What is the last movie you watched that you enjoyed and thought was worth the time it took to watch it?

Mine: Just finished watching Charade with Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn (still holds up great for a movie from 1963)

Who wrote the last book you read, and what was it?

Mine: Under the Dome by Stephen King – long book but finally put aside the time to read it (1000+ pages).

YOUR TURN! Roll Call?

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged choices, Dallas Music Scene, Definitions, entertainment, Favorite Music, Movies, Music, Opinion, Rock music, Stephen King, Under the Dome

05 Apr 2013

My Rock Music Legacy

In my early days I joined a rock and roll band in high school. I had interest in football, but it turned out that wasn’t my calling. Later I tried to make a living out of it. Although it was fun (in all the ways you can imagine). Think “almost famous” fun. It could/didn’t last.

Music became a part of my life early, growing up in the days of exploding growth of the modern rock and roll generation. It was like a renaissance of music during my younger years. The evolution of sound and the variety of the definition of what music was and would be and the roots of it all was respected as well.

I am thrilled to say that my children have come to appreciate music like I had. Perhaps I just passed it along in their youth. But they love to listen to music and thrive to find new things (not just the formula that makes up today’s pop-songs). There is still a lot of great new music to be heard. And to be inspired by.

Yup. That’s me in the pic. Kind of rockstar huh?

So I guess I have a rock n roll legacy after-all.

In the mean time I will always recall those younger days…guitars and wailing solos and amps to 11.

If you have the patience, here’s a LINK to a 3 minute original from the old band: The Squam Overture [Remastered]

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged 70's music, Almost Famous, Arts and Entertainment, entertainment, Guitar Music, Music, Rock & Roll, Rock music

02 Apr 2013

The Yearning for Home

I realized over the weekend that in some ways we are all yearning for a place called “home”.

It feels like for many of us, we continue the journey each day trying to embrace the concept of “home” in our lives. The place that we can feel comfort and safety, surrounded by familiar things. Familiar (root word family) in such a way that it creates an ideal combination of the emotional and spiritual things we desire in our lives.

Some say home is where the heart is. Indeed that is an element. Others get a taste and smell of it with “comfort foods” that can allow them a type of time travel back to a time of feeling safe- perhaps with their parents or a wonderful time with their friends or just alone time. The smells of the food, the texture, the way it tastes triggers the senses and the memories that go with it.

Some of it may be the colors that surround you, the home and hearth of another time and place that can make you change a bad mood to a good one. A comfortable chair perhaps. A warm blanket, a sunny afternoon in the yard, the fireplace, the smell of the ocean. Add the things together like a recipe for home in your head.

And home is not defined by one persons idea of it. It could be the home in the woods, or on top a skyscraper over looking metropolitan landscapes. It could be near water or on top of a mountain. In the end as we travel the journey of our lives, many of us will continue to reach out for that “home-base” in our lives. Just that reality check that we need in some way to make the rest of reality tolerant. It’s wrapped in the senses of our spiritual place and needs our attention.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged choices, Comfort food, Happiness, Home, lifestyle, Reality Check, Search for home, Self-Awareness, Slow Down, Sprituality

25 Mar 2013

4 Comments

The Dark Side of the Moon: 40 Years Later

40 years ago I spent my $8.99 and purchased an LP record called “Dark Side of the Moon“. It was by Pink Floyd. I was an owner of Pink Floyd albums prior to that, but nothing had prepared me for this.

This was before CD”s, but the deep rich sound of the LP was beyond just about anything I had heard until then. It was like the day I had bought Sgt. Peppers by the Beatles; there was anticipation for every sound and every song. There was so much in the tapestry of the music that it deserved many listening’s just to be sure there wasn’t any thing I was missing in the multi-layers of music and sound.

In those days even holding the “album” was an experience. And the cover was a unique, the words were there to consume and examine. There was the experience of putting the needle down on the platter, knowing that there was a 2nd side. Scanning through things was next to impossible…so you listened. But this album was too short. The entire album is under 43 minutes long. Once you heard it you wanted to find your headphones and listen again.

It’s one of the best-selling albums of all times. It is complete. At that time an albums-worth of music was appreciated for the span of the music provided. Today’s idea of downloading a single song when you like was very far down the road. Even the singles of the time (45 rpm discs with 2 songs) were delegated to sugary pop songs at that time. This is something to appreciate. If you own it, go ahead and put it on and listen for 43 minutes – maybe even with headphones. Just get into it like it was a work of art. It is.

Perhaps others feel that way about their album experiences (not the song-but the album itself). You tell me. What was the album that changed your idea of music as you knew it?