If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come

-- Chinese proverb

This time of year in our woods the honeysuckle and the wild roses are in bloom together. The trails are bordered by them, arching over at our feet and in the earliest light, the air is perfumed.

I'm not sleeping well. There is some night bird, not the whipporwill who has yet to begin his summer concert, but a songbird who stays awake with me. It sounds something like this nightingale or this wood thrush

Yes, I am worrying. Again. And it is screwing with my creative juices.

I am at a minor impasse in my little project which I still cannot name out loud. I have to put two "somethings" in "a box". I have one all figured out and I know what is to happen in the end. But for the life of me I cannot choose "the other something" and I must in order to proceed. Sounds like some kind of Mario video game, but it is not.

mid-post, ps.

(Okay, I'll spill a little because I've confused Paul (see comments) and he hates that.  This is a short story I've been working on in my head for years.  Finally it has a possible - highlight tenuous and slightly possible - publishing place.  Tweaks must be made to increase the "tension" and I'm stuck between the two parts where the extra tension needs to go. The main character has discovered two tell-tale mementos left behind by a parent.  Yes, they are "things" in a "box".  One apparently is not enough, sayeth the editor.  I have to devise a bunch more story line for the second thing, which I can't come up with.  Stuck.  It is JTV's fault.)

Saturday night we had the opportunity to see Smoltzy pitch in rehab in Sevierville, but by the time I learned of it, the park was all but sold out. Drat. He only made 12 pitches in the 6th inning but it would have been worth it to go - it is a beautiful park no matter who is playing. This Friday, we leave for Cincinnati to take in two Braves games there. I am so ready to get away for a couple of days. It had better not rain or I'll be shattering deaf heaven with my bootless cries.

So, it surely has been a couple of days since I posted TE love, right? Well I found a beautiful song, one he did the last time I saw him when Richard Smith opened for him and they played a few together... It is a Chet Atkins song, and incredibly beautiful, almost painfully so... I'm wearing thin with TE posts, but this one.... It is my mood.

YouTube - Tommy Emmanuel & Richard Smith - Serenade To Summertime

Fun is Good

--Dr. Seuss


While this is NOT the project I hinted at, several posts back, (that one is still a work-in-progress) it is one of the little entertaining things I've found to do. The volunteering at Recording for the Blind is so much fun that it translates to wanting to give Librivox a go. Maybe I'll get the call from Nickolodeon or some animated film maker for voice work! I could use a career, finally.

I thank Paul, the other Hermit, for pointing out Librivox to me, months of listening-fun ago.

Here's the link to the specific short story collection which houses my First Librivox Recording. It is short, less than 5 minutes.

Librivox Short Story Collection #28

Mine is #2, A Fable by Mark Twain. Oh, and that is a pseudo-pseudonym 'cause it is close to my real name, in case, you know, Hollywood comes calling.