Ava - Dear Stuart

I'm going to miss you today my friend and fellow Sesame.

I still can't believe you aren't going to be behind me on this day of all days.

But, I know you will be with me -and with Garrick - in spirit and that you wish The Open Sesames every success at this, their first (very) public performance.

And, I do firmly believe you will be joining us again when the planets align and the wheel doth turn in the right way to bring this about - exactly as things happened for the 3 of us in the beginning.

Ava - Some Days ....

And, it has definitely been one of those days.

In other words ... what the hey?

On the bright side I find I am not prepared to quit my work and that's good to know (about myself).

Speaking only for myself I have found "the principle that is above personalities".

We are all flawed (some of us perhaps tragically and fatally) therefore if even two people are going to work together successfully, it has to be about THE WORK and about nothing less.

So, it turns out that I am still prepared (in spite of my frayed nerves and my broken heart) to give my performance on the 28th my very best and, hopefully, to knock it right out of the park.

Ava - A Perfect Fool

What kind of fool
Leaves all behind
To scale the highest peaks
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who, once poised, doth leap.

What kind of fool
Travels light
With a trusted friend
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who this way ascends.

What kind of fool
Bares his soul
For all the world to see
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who is both wide and free.

What kind of fool
Accepts the gift
The gods delight to give
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who gladly dies to live.

What kind of fool
Lifts his face
And drinks in crystal air
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who outwits every snare.

What kind of fool
Wears a plume
Reaching for the sun
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who shines for everyone.

What kind of fool
Leaves all behind
To scale the highest peaks
Oh, let me be
That perfect fool
Who, once poised, doth leap.

I have long thought 0-The Fool is the most inspirational - and inspiration filled - card in the Major Arcana of the tarot deck. And would that I be so.

I have recently learned that the shadow side of being 0-The Fool is being a fool in the way the world understands a fool to be.

Definition as per on-line Oxford Dictionary: A person who acts unwisely or imprudently.

And then there is the old saying: "A fool and his money are soon parted".

So, I ask myself: Is being a fool a good thing or actually a bad thing?

Interesting...

Ava - Planting and Harvesting

I recently made the second biggest decision of my life (the first was to bear and raise a son in spite of "adverse" conditions).

I decided to take a precious seed I had been storing up for a future planting (the harvest of which was intended to provide me with food and shelter) and to plant it in such as way it could potentially provide ample food and shelter for myself and for 4 other people I deemed worthy for reasons I deeply believe in.

So, now there are 5 trustees of my precious seed instead of just myself.

5 people who need to understand that a seed needs the right conditions to bring it to fruition and harvest.

5 people who need to know you can't yank up a seed and check it every other day to see if it is "doing anything".

5 people who need to be patient and to trust and to tend this seed with the necessary care and due diligence.

5 people who need to understand that a seed such as this requires "love and light" in which to grow and produce.

5 people who need to be committed to the successful growth of this seed - no matter what.

5 people who need to work together to make sure this seed is being looked after first and foremost.

5 people who care enough about this seed, and about each other, to do whatever it takes to create the conditions of love, respect and trust required to tend this seed together and to harvest it together. And, then, to eat and to celebrate together.

It's almost biblical - a single seed, a single coin, a single drop of oil in a lamp. There is a way for this seed to produce a bountiful harvest intended for all and there is only one way. I knew it at the time. I know it now. And, yes, the road is narrow and the eye of the needle is small but, hey, isn't it thrilling to be making the attempt?

If this isn't real life - and the best of real life - then I truly don't belong in this world.

Ava - So ....

"romantica the album" - or as I am learning to call it in e-store-ese "romantica the product" or "romantica the parent" - is now fully stocked and ready to go in the music section of The Fiddleguy's Place website ... taking its place beside the fully stocked "The Tarot Immersions" product/parent

i am getting quicker at creating an "item" or, if you wish, a "child" (which is further e-store-ese for each cut on an album) and, like anything that is done over and over, the repetition helps a lot ... each one comes along a little more smoothly than the last

this makes two music products fully loaded ... one more, QUIETLY LOUD by "the frenetic", to go ... so I could say at this point I am "on top of it ... sorta"

and before we know it, The Open Sesames will complete their new "Truth or Dare" collection of spoken word set to music pieces and I'll begin stocking the e-store on The Fiddleguy's Place website all over again

busy, busy, busy ..........

Ava - Ava's Lament

Gone are the places where once I did roam
Gone is the laneway beside my old home.
Gone are the night times of silence and dark
Gone are our picnics in Wellington Park.

Gone are my neighbours, my family, my friends
Gone are the summers that seemed without end.
Gone are the whispers that swept through the trees
Gone are the children who went were they pleased.

Gone are the shorelines stretching for miles
Gone is the harvest heaped up in great piles.
Gone are the days when dogs were not tied
Gone is the horse upon which I did ride.

Gone is the schoolhouse with rooms one and two
Gone are the boots that fit over our shoes.
Gone is the farmer who slaughtered his pigs
Gone is the barn dance and gone are the jigs.

Gone is the girl with the penny bright eyes
Gone are the sayings that once were deemed wise.
Gone are the men folk who stood over me
Gone is the time when admission was free.

Gone are the fields in which nothing was built
Gone are the gatherings for stitching a quilt.
Gone are the cellars full of bottles and jars
Gone is the age for wishing on stars.

- Ava Darling

Lament: Passionate expression of grief; elegy; dirge; express or feel grief for or about; mourned for