Blog-azic

Susan and I are together again, back in the hills of Southeastern Ohio. Hills with deep, bedrock bones - bones of sandstone, ever wet. On top of them, a covering of thick flesh - unyielding clay, brown. The path darts in and out, a numbing undulation: back into the hollow, out and around the hillside, back again. Streams are trickling down. Soggy forest litter, squishes underfoot. We're in an old pine stand listening to the trees. They're absolutely speaking to us in creaks, moans and whispers; tall pines, dead with spongy, rotten wood; half fallen over - one of them - and leaning against a live neighbor - so precarious. Susan and I become dramatic. We overemphasize the danger and run down the path, underneath the leaning pine. First, Susan and then myself. As one goes the other watches, smiling for the thrill of our game, but hoping against the unthinkable. On goes the path, bending left and right, up and down. It takes us into deeper stands of pine, shady but warm and carpete...

I used GarageBand on the iPad2 to create this little number. I was glad to have the iPad, too. One of the great things about the iPad is its immediate power. It puts a bit of creative power at your finger tips right this second! On a lark, I plugged in my acoustic to a warm old tube amp, and put down a couple tracks on a song I wrote a couple summers back. It was easy, fast, and you can hear that the recording quality was fairly pleasing. Even after I recorded two acoustic guitar tracks, two harp track (thank Jebus I had my tuner app ), and two vocals, I could still hear that something was missing. Well, "when in doubt," I have learned, "look to nature." I stepped outside with my IPad to take a look around. Though it was a mild December afternoon, I saw nothing of immediate interest. No cats to sneak upon. No woodpeckers drumming. But, then what's more peaceful than a wind chime , I thought. Easy and quick, I had a short sample of chime bells. Inside, I added t...