Author: Laurie Early

Always something new to learn

Published by

The new year has begun and I am aiming to rededicate myself to writing more in 2025. I will start with the rambling post below that I began drafting last month. I thought the theme would be KNOTS, as I sometimes visualize problems as knots to be untied, mental knots instead of roadblocks, so my post focuses on that a little. But, I changed the title as I now choose to focus on staying positive in a stressful world, opening my mind to new information and ideas, and simplifying my life as much as I can. Wishing you all a successful year ahead, however, you define that for yourself. My hands are a mess! My cat has mistaken them for a play thing and left a few scars then I accidently scraped my left knuckles on a wall. They are healed now but, ouch, not fun. And, I still have ink residue that will just not wash away easily. Recently, I had to deal with a river of black ink that was leaking from what …

Repetition

Published by

One of the tunes I loved to hear Barry Harris play live was Neal Hefti’s “Repetition”. As soon as I would hear Barry play the intro, a feeling of happiness would envelope me. There was something about that piece that brought me a sense of hopefulness and optimism. Perhaps I could hear the concept of repetition, doing something again and again—but skewed with a belief that repeating something just might be even more satisfying than the first or second or fortieth time. I’m not trying to be too deep about it, but that piece really resonated with me. Of course there are recordings, but nothing is the same as hearing him play in the moment. A feeling of joy emanated from him, always the same yet always different, and that is the nature of jazz. This was true no matter what country or venue he performed in. I miss that so much. My life right now does not include much live jazz, not much travel outside of my neighborhood, and not much of my musical …

Trust and Synchronicity

Published by

As I face the upcoming anniversary of the sudden passing of my husband, Derrick, I realize that I have not been writing as much as I used to, and writing is a healing process for me. Therefore, instead of simply adding this anecdote into my daily notebook, I decided to instead share it here on my blog. I haven’t written here in a very long time and I would like to get back into that practice. My story for today, Sunday, 17th of March 2024, began last Wednesday when I chose to watch a film that randomly popped up in my YouTube feed. The black and white film from 1950 was called “Trio”, a set of three short stories by William Somerset Maugham. In the background of the opening credits was an extremely intriguing symbol. I paused the film and sketched the bold lines into my daily notebook. Then I didn’t watch the film right away because the symbol was so magnetic to me that I had to find out what it meant. I had …

Random Acts of Correspondence (Part 1)

Published by

I have a new typewriter. I say “new”, but it’s really over 40 years old. I won it on eBay for 30 bucks plus shipping. It’s a Royal Mercury portable typewriter from the 1960s or 70s; not the same as the typewriter I had as a teenager, but it’s bringing back all those same feels. It’s only had one owner before me who had it since his childhood and in his listing he said it was time for him to let it go. I told him I would take very good care of it for him. I cleaned it last night, and today it took me over four attempts to install a new black ribbon. It seems like this machine had been sitting around in its case for dozens of years, so naturally the old ribbon was dried out. I wonder now if it would have been easier for me if I had chosen to install the black and red ribbon. I think the orientation on those spools would have been more obvious (deep sigh) …

Mumble Jumble (April Fluff Post)

Published by

I have been doing a bunch of random things lately and every day seems to slip away very quickly. I never feel like I have accomplished anything or completed everything I wanted to complete. So, since I was not able to decide on one activity or experience to write about, I decided to share a list of things–in no particular order–to briefly describe some of what’s going on in my life. The funny thing is, after I wrote the list, I can see I actually have gotten some things done and I am generally moving forward. This is very satisfying (insert smile emoji here, lol) CURRENTLY. . . WORKING – a full time job with a multinational company. EATING – a new omelette combo, eggs with diced red onion and chopped dill. I learned about it from Kathryn Grody, wife of Mandy Patinkin, in one of the entertaining YouTube videos her son Gideon posts about his parents. DRINKING – lots of water and Prince of Peace brand organic white tea. WEARING – my comfy pjs …

February + Collage = Februllage

Published by

It may seem strange to post about collages when so many horrible things are going on in Ukraine. Besides making a small donation to an organization assisting there*, and offering up thoughts and prayers for peace, I have not really felt empowered to make any real difference in the resolution of the conflict. So, in order to keep my focus on the idea of “creation”, I committed my time and energy to a group art project entitled “Februllage”. In my free-time I worked continuously through the month of February to fulfill a promise (to myself) to create 28 collages based on daily prompts. This creative distraction reminded of other times in my life when outside forces were out of my control and I would sit and meditatively do needlework or other crafts in order to push through it all, to keep my spirit up, to emotionally survive. I don’t remember if I have posted this here before but I like to say: “I’m lucky that many of my defense mechanisms are considered talents.” FEBRULLAGE 2022 …

A Gradual Loss and a Gradual Recovery

Published by

The pandemic knocked me for a loop—that’s a given. Since June of 2020, I have not be able to summon up enough energy to write a single blog post. In addition to being house-bound, I was coming to grips with multiple losses—friends dying (not just from the virus), family health crises, and particularly the loss of my mentor and friend, Barry Harris. It was a gradual loss at first; I was last in his presence at his NYC class on March 10, 2020, just as Covid was about to lock us all inside. Terribly afraid of accidentally being a carrier (because at that time nobody knew if you could be asymptomatic and still spread the virus) I did not attempt to visit him at his home. Instead I sent cards and letters, and we had phone calls back and forth, but it was a very sad time as I missed hanging out with him, playing word games, making him my chicken soup and other things we enjoyed. I struggled with anticipatory grief of more losses …

songwriting tools on a chair

Lyrics to Ponder (1)*

Published by

Summer is here but we are all still inside, waiting for the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine with those we love. While I am waiting, I am so grateful for friends that are contacting me and asking me about musical things. I might not know all the answers, but it is lovely to be asked. Yesterday I got two thought-provoking requests; one was about writing lyrics, and the other was a question about an unusual love song. I will touch on these topics a bit this month, but if you have any thoughts to continue the discussions, please add them in the comments. And, at the bottom of this page you will also see a couple of interesting reference links related to standards in general. *Yeah, I added the number one to this blog post title because I expect to have a follow-up post in the same format for July. Stay tuned. LYRIC WRITING TIP (June 2020): Even though there are plenty of songwriting resources, online and offline, to get your writing started in a …

No Words

Published by

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” –Aldous Huxley There is so much going on now that I am at a loss for words for this month’s post here. I am turning to music to help me keep my center. I hope all of you also have music in your life. My dearest wish is that my friends and family are all safe and surrounding themselves with things that make them feel comforted as imbalances around them are corrected. Please know that even if I have not spoken to you, I DO care for you, I DO think of you, and I am sending you the energy from deep within my heart. Stay well, stay strong. -Laurie