The Bigger Picture
* "Almost Heaven, West Virginia,
Blue Ridge Mountains,
Shenandoah River...."
A song runs continuously through my head in a stream of vocals and music by John Denver.
Take Me Home Country Roads is so persistent, I get out my Cd and play it on repeat track. The music sticks overnight in my head and into the next day. The next day I played the song again. Continuously turning and returning to the chosen frequencies, catching the zone of needed energy and contemplation, I got out my paints and canvas.
* "Radio reminds me of my home far away...."
Paint, sacred blue, touched canvas with a well worn brush. I thought back over the momentum of music on car radios playing as we moved to a new locations, from mountains to cityscapes, to prairies and back again to lakes. I saw and felt visual images from long ago as the lyrics and melody rolled along.
Still playing Country Roads, I sat down later to write on the computer picking up a bands of color and light, letting captured words flow out ready to cut, paste, and edit later. Spontaneous flow gives a kick of accomplishment and achievement, sort of like passing an exam...sort of like meditation becoming one with the relaxing clicking of the keys.
* "Drivin' down the road I get a feelin' that I should have been home yesterday (repeat) yesterday...."
Several weeks later I had a phone conversation:
"To avoid the interstate, we drove through the mountains of West Virgina on our way south. What a trip that was! I was woozy with the high elevation, narrow roads, no guard rails, and twists and turns."
"My travel companion loved the mountain trails (trials) stating, 'I want to go back and drive this again!' "
"When were you there?"
The day and time I first heard Country Roads playing in my imagination was approximately when my friends drove through the Mountains of West Virginia! I wondered if I had consciously or subconsciously picked this up? In my mind's eye I viewed a panorama of the blue and green mountains and turning narrow roads. My memory shifted down to Virginia's Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway winding around to Mabry Mill. I tasted hearty buckwheat pancakes made from local seed, stone ground right there at the ancient mill. Pancakes so packed with nutrition, they satisfied for hours.
Many months later, late at night, I played the John Denver Cd again. The next morning, I went to retrieve the Cd to take with me for more writing inspiration. John Denver's Greatest Hits has vanished (for now). When will he return?
** "Comin' Home to a place he'd (we'd) never been before"
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| Top of the World |
Related Posts:
Phantoms (May 2011), and By an Unfaltering Trust (July 2011)
Resources:
John Denver singer-songwriter, * Take me Home Country Roads, ** Rocky Mountain High, and many more
http://www.totallyadd.com ADD/ADHD in Adults, ADD and Creativity, The ADD Blog. Rick Green and Patrick McKenna give comic insight into ADD and Managing It.
dahlis.roy@gmail.com
Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Photos:
Blue and Green Mountains and Top of the World, photos by Rob
