The Journal is a page for thoughts on life, music, family and friends: days in a life, thanks for the visits

January 29. 2008   I have been busy with correspondence and study and it has been a challenge to sit and write. Kayden is sleeping in this morning so I am going to grab this opportunity to jot down a few lines. The kitty is staking her territory and looking for mischief. I am claiming health in spite of the messages I am getting from my nose, throat and lungs. They are not the boss of me. I have to smile when I look at the picture of our pool and recall our Renton vacation. Who would have thought? Since we are now members of the Seattle Aquarium, Andie and I was talking this morning of our next outing there. I have been absorbing so much information in the last month that my brain is getting in shape and fit. It feels good. I am looking forward to taking some yoga classes with Andie. We may have to take them at separate times because of Kayden but we can practice together here at home.
   The family is doing good. Josh is working at an up scale food store and stocking and getting plenty of exercise. He has figured out Cubase and his recording gear and is sending me tunes regularly. I love his feel for guitar. It is a little like mine only different and more intricate and precise. Sariah is singing up a storm and gives us lots of love every time we talk on the phone. That is usually a few times a week or more. Christina has finished her massage therapy school and is beginning her practice. I look forward to our next visit. Chani is rocking out at Hidden Hand Tattoo and is on her longest run of good fortune and contentment with the flow of her life and her relationship with Knuck. He is a winner. She is off to Hawaii for a week some time in March. She is going to be famous with her skills, perseverance and dedication. Sarah is plowing through the editing of her feature length film that she wrote and directed. She is going to be famous with her skills, perseverance and dedication. She already has the satisfaction of doing what she loves. Liz is working away at her same job and is very versatile. She is consistent. She is getting ready to go back to school and gain some more skills probably in finance and accounting. Freedom and Natalie I believe are in Maui enjoying the sun. Anjali is gorgeous and growing more so each day. Kayden is ruling the house and has been sick for about 4 days now. I hope he wakes up in a good mood. He doesn't like me right now. He swings back and forth between Andie and I and it is just about all or nothing. I am on the nothing end at the moment. I think it is harder on Andie when he favors me although it is tough on me too.
  I just did a recording session with Anna Moya at Mike Daily's Studio 04. It was great. She created and sang harmony parts on a Doug Hamilton and Greg Murat tune called Where Can I Find Love. She is a pro and a lot of fun in the studio. I hope we can work it out so she can add some more harmony to the CD so we get wrap it up release Life Songs and Essence. I am ready to write some new music that is in line with what I am learning about life and living. I am going to seriously move some things around in the little fort of Silent T Studio and make it a writing space that is ready on a second's notice to kick in and capture new ideas. So there it is in a nutshell. Andie's birthday is on the 4th. That was a good day for us all when she was born. Be well, live long and prosper. G

January 12, 2007 Draw even with the evening stars. JT
We are back from Holiday. We spent six days and nights swimming in a private heated pool and staying in the adjoining studio apartment, just Kayden, Andie and I. We had one adventurous day when we went for an Argosy cruise around the sound and went to the Seattle Aquarium twice. We had a lovely dinner with Sarah Maria on Capitol Hill and spent the rest of the time resting and swimming up to six hours a day. It was wonderful. The picture to the right is of Andie and Kayden at the far end of the very warm pool. To the left and right of where I stood taking the picture there were two neon palm trees. I joked that I had visualized privacy, warm water and palm trees for our vacation. I got my wish and we didn't even have to get on a plane.

   Kayden is a total water baby and the last day we went swimming on his initiative a total of four times. He had a routine that was just the opposite of ours. He would get into the hot tub and soak for twenty minutes playing with toys on the edge and then he would walk over to the steps to the left of the Jacuzzi (which are just outside the view in the photo) and jump into the pool. He would swim the entire length of the pool with his little floaties on his arms. He was fast. Then he would swim for up to two hours. One wall of the studio apartment was a series of windows and a sliding glass door that looked out on the pool, and he would stare out of them and say "Kayden is looking at the beach. Go Swim?" I had been telling him we were going to the beach as I thought we were going to Hawaii. This was beach enough for us. It was peaceful, simple and so very much fun. It poured rain, and I mean poured, every single day but we were in our own oasis. The weather did not matter, we were cocooned in our own little tropical space pod.
   On the way home we stopped by to see Kathy and Dale and Dale gave me One Man Band JT DVD and CD set. What a wonderful birthday present. I spent a few hours this afternoon watching it. It brought tears to my eyes to listen to him play his guitar and perform in what began as solo and simple presentation. I still would love to see and hear him play a whole show with just his guitar. He did two songs that way and the rest of the time he was accompanied by a wonderful pianist, and on a few tunes by a prerecorded choir. He also utilized an amazing wood shop crafted monster of a drum machine on a few tunes. That was a kick. It was interesting to hear him talk about the origin of some of the songs. It reminded me of how I meander some times when I am talking on stage. Our dear friend, Don Perry, shine in peace, used to tease me about how my stories would change when I described how and why I wrote songs. What is the truth, he would ask. It is all true, I said, at one time or another. It is all true.
  Now Andie is reading to Kayden and it may be time for Papa to go rock him for awhile.
There is no place like home. There is no place like home. There is no place like home.

January 8, 2007 Let the sunshine in
Take the time to see the possibilities and the horizon is wide open. Everything I am reading, everything I am listening to starts with the same initial step. Define what you want. Make it clear and detailed. As Jack Canfield says, vague goals lead to vague outcomes. So the books and CD's are stacking up as I struggle to define that initial step. We are making progress though. Andie has bought vision boards for herself, Kayden and me. Now we need pictures of all the things we want to have and do. There will be many. Once you change your focus from lack, to gratitude all kinds of ideas start to arrive: rich land with room to grow and build, a thriving recording studio, a flourishing cultural center, a healthy haven for children, an inspired publishing company, a holistic Center for natural healing, a peaceful spiritual retreat, a profound yoga studio, a joyful oasis for art and dance, a highly sought after retreat for life skills workshops. All those ideas just flowed into my mind and out onto the keyboards and from there they make their way to vision boards, to action plans and well defined goals. It will be great in 2008.
We heard from Mish and she told us about her visit to Ojai. She said our grand daughter Sariah is quite the show person now. She sings into the microphone and then takes it off the stand and holds it, sings and then places it back on the mic stand, all as part of her performance. She is so cute. Click here for a YouTube shot of her playing guitar. That is it for me. I am watching the weather and it is dumping snow on the passes.

Happy New Year! 2008 is going to be great!
The evening of the first of the year took an interesting turn. We called Dale and Kathy and found they weren't doing anything so we decided we would drop by to see them. We had invitations to a Jamie and Becky party and a Jason and Blu party but Blu wasn't feeling well and that was canceled. I received a very gracious phone call from Jamie just before we left and invited us to please come see every one. We dropped by to see Dale and Kathy, had some snacks and Chile and then we all drove over to see Jamie and Becky and the gang. The Delivery Boys were the band with Ronnie, Dave, Jamie and Jimmy. We didn't get there until 11. We weren't even sure we were ever going to leave our house but Faith came over so we could have a break and get out. It was good to see the guys and Jamie, Jimmy, Ronnie and I played a few tunes together and spent time visiting. It was a cold and icy evening but very warm in the house. We all chatted for a while and then we played some more. The funny thing is that in all the years I played music on New Year's Eve, the changing of the year was a count down and big deal. We were all playing Heaven In Your Eyes when someone walked in from outside and said Happy New Year's. I thought this is a good omen for the coming year. Playing and sing as the 2007 became 2008. I also received a text Happy New Year from Freedom right at midnight. It was a great night. We actually stayed up and visited until about 1:30 and as we were leaving we heard that Kelly was coming. We were already on our way though and it was about a week past the normal time I go to bed these days. We dropped Kathy and Dale off at home and cruised back to find Faith still awake and waiting for us. Kayden had a mellow sleep while we were gone so we were happy about that. We both had a Blueberry Tea at Kathy and Dale's and that was it for the drinking. Still were both were tuckered out when we got home and I blinked and it was New Year's Day.

With the changing of the year came the Kayden shift. He favors either Andie and I at different times and it has been me for a few weeks now. I wake up and hear a long drawn out "Papa" coming from his room. Now he wakes up with a favorite and he doesn't much care to see the other parental type figure. I said Hi Kayden and he answered Mama. And he sent me to get Andie and he was happy. It is a great feeling to have that special favor but it is hard to get much done when you are called to run around the Jump-O-Lene or head into the vocal booth and hang out. I spent the last two days reformatting my laptop and reinstalling all the software. It didn't nothing to fix the display. Still everything is squeaky clean and this machine is still outdated but functional, just a little hard to see as it continues to fade.

So a happy new year to all. May it be a time of spiritual growth and healing. It has started out with study and reading the works of Wayne Dryer. I watched a tremendously enlightening show on PBS that was full of inspirational insights. He asked the audience who wakes up at the same time every night at about the same time. Nearly everyone raised there hand. Here I thought it was only me who wakes up. He said get up. That is the time for Spirit, for creativity. It is when God will guide you and when your creativity is greatest. It is the middle of the night. Don't worry about the sleep he said. Twenty minutes of meditation is equivalent to eight hours of sleep. On that note I am going to get some. I have a story to tell about a dream but that is for another day. Happy New Year.