AUTUMN BRINGS 14th BLOGAVERSARY

This is the anniversary of my fourteenth year blogging though on a couple occasions I took a hiatus for periods of time, once thinking I might permanently stop writing here.  Starting my blog, coincided with a major life change following my husband's death in his sleep months earlier in 2006.

Launching my blog was accidental when I was experimenting with setting up a site unsure if, or when, I would even want my own blog.   Exploring the blog idea I unintentionally clicked in error a trial piece I was composing,  thus publishing my words onto the world-wide web.  I left my blog there because I was so digitally uneducated then, also just learning to use a computer, I didn't know how to remove it.  

Once my blog was started I was erroneously under the impression I must write daily which I came to recognize altered my everyday activities in less than positive ways for me, especially upsetting my sleep patterns.  This proved in time to be problematic since my body did not readily adapt at my age then to such an erratic sleep schedule unlike my experience when I was younger.

Writing proved to be very time consuming, requiring considerable editing, was not the dashing off in twenty minutes I expected.  Implementing ideas for a blog site involved a learning curve and more time.  Too long later I eventually realized the obvious, that the frequency of writing and publishing was solely at my discretion, regardless of what I thought were others expectations.

Prior to my blog's internet entry my husband's ashes distribution delays followed by my later travel east for a period of time to join friends and family for his life's celebration seemed to keep my life more unsettled than I realized.  After I returned home I eventually began to resume part time work, started the blog.   Only years later in retrospective reflection of my first couple of years as a widow did I realize how I was coping during that time.  Interesting to me is how a loved one's death can have such a profound effect over time in unexpected ways not initially recognized.  

My life has continued to evolve with each passing year as I've aged, with all that entails in terms of my lifestyle and physical well-being.  One of the most challenging aspects of these years has been the loss through death of increasing numbers of family and friends until very few remain living.

Fall has arrived -- autumn long my favorite season but now emblematic of my life's stage.  Living many years in a Great Lakes State when I was younger, I was treated to fall's magnificent leaves changing colors from green to golden yellow, shades of flaming reds to rust and rich browns embracing the trees before gently fluttering to the ground in preparation for winter's snows.

I looked forward to those years when late in the season we'd experience a period of cold temperatures, often the first frost, then unexpectedly a brief episode of unseasonably warm, dry weather would suddenly emerge ..... Indian Summer had arrived ..... in which I reveled but miss here in So Cal.'s foothills though may be experienced in the mountains higher elevations.

Music resonates for me in relation to so many aspects of life including nature.  Here's legendary trumpeter  Chet Baker's instrumental jazz version of composer Victor Herbert's "Indian Summer", the original tune to which romantic lyrics were added years later.  The song became a popular tune sung by several vocalists becoming a favorite of mine several decades ago.

Contemporary "Indian Summer" has become the title of quite a different romantic tune referring to the nation.  Here's today's popular exceptionally talented trumpeter Chris Botti I had the pleasure of hearing in person in recent years capturing this new melody for his instrumental version.

  

Life for each of us is somewhat like these two songs.  Each have variations as interpreted by different relationships to the music, though as the years go by other changes also occur.  One song may fade into obscurity, remembered by fewer people with each passing year, eventually disappearing from the consciousness of others.

A new song given the same title yet quite different from the other song is introduced to then current generations.  The new melody begins its inevitable journey to the years ahead probable oblivion, too.  So it is with our lives and may even be so with our blogs, eventually.  

While I'm keenly aware of the dwindling years, in the meantime I intend to keep enjoying autumn, winter, as well as each spring and summer.   Music, blogging will enhance living my life to the fullest and hope your life is filled with joy, too.