The road ends, but the journey continues...

Tag: the invisible ones (Page 1 of 3)

Outstanding Blogger Award

Thank you Mariss for nominating me for this award. Along with the honor it bestows, it also gives me a chance to break out of blogger’s rut!

In keeping with Mariss’ attention to word definitions (she ferreted out what exactly a blog award nomination really means) I thought I’d first focus on what the name of the blogging award she nominated me for really means.

outstanding: adj (1611) 1. standing out – projecting 2a. unpaid 2b. continuing; unresolved 2c. publicly issued and sold securities 3a. standing out from a group – conspicuous 3b. marked by eminence and distinction syn: noticeable  

Webster’s 9th new Collegiate Dictionary, 1988

Personally, the part of that definition I can relate with is 2b. continuing; unresolved.

Which segues easily into question number one of five to be answered with regards to accepting this blogger award!

  1. For how long have you been writing a blog?
    This website/blog went live on August 30, 2013 (and the journey continues…)
  2. What made you start?
    from my first post: The obvious answer to this is of course, ‘Why not?’  I, however, could think of many reasons ‘why not’ whenever it was suggested to me to begin blogging. The biggest one being: anybody and their uncle can write anything and put it up into the nether-land of cyberspace for all to see regardless of quality. And then I remembered that was one of the main reasons I’d balked at recording my first cd. As a working musician, I’d done demos and was busy with gigging, teaching and performing. After all, anybody and their uncle can record anything for all to hear regardless of quality; it is all so easy to do these days…I needed someplace to showcase my (he)art, give voice to our between-homes journey and perhaps even enlighten others of the parallel communities filled with invisible ones living among us in 21st Century America. And blogging is yet one more tool to get what needs to be said out there.
  3. Why do you continue to blog?
    Unresolved stuff mixed with Pandemic stuff.
    Pandemic stuff is probably understood by most.
    Unresolved stuff – beyond the scope of this blog post!
  4. Have you ever met any of your fellow bloggers face to face? If so, how did it feel?
    Nope. Never. But plenty of Almosts.
    I imagine it will feel like a crazy-fun disconnect-reveal simultaneously turning into an old friend/new friend reunion type thing – Let’s do it!
  5. Do you write regularly? If so, why?
    Yep. Different reasons – daily entries in my Morning Pages since 1997 help in sorting through issues/plans/ideas/clearing out/etc. Other writing is for pure pleasure of creative expression.

Now it’s my turn to nominate and ask a few questions. To those nominated, there is no obligation to take up the challenge of answering and asking the questions. If you do accept, then please answer the questions, nominate 5 other bloggers and then compile a set of 5 of your own questions.

Have Fun!

The Questions:
  1. What’s the first thing (or two) you’ll do once you ‘get your shot’ and/or the world otherwise opens back up after the Pandemic?
  2. What makes you break into your ‘happy dance’?
  3. What was your favorite subject when you were in school?
  4. Which of your blog posts is your favorite and why? Please provide a link.
  5. Coffee, tea or ????
Two of my favorite things: goats and dark roast coffee

Giving Voice: Shelter

Quote symbol
Shelter. That’s maybe all man has ever wanted. Shelter; warmth; food.
from: Andrew James Murray
 

Lately the term, “desperately displaced” has been bandied about. As if living ‘between homes – displaced’ is not desperate in and of itself…

Giving Voice to those seeking safe places to live and hunker down; where surviving IS thriving. God Bless and have Mercy on us all.


from: Playing for Change

Keeping you in my heart for awhile…

Note: Something triggered this nostalgic moment and while more on the rough draft side, I thought I’d use it for day three of my “6 years on WP.org” posts.

Denver Mandolin Orchestra Laura Bruno Lilly, Paul Drury, others

Detail of Denver Mandolin Orchestra group photo (circa 1999?) Laura Bruno Lilly (me) – kneeling in front, Paul Drury – tall one in the back


One of the joys of being a performing member of the Denver Mandolin Orchestra was the sense of generational genesis. The turn of the 20th to the 21st century marked my introduction and induction into this motley crew of musicians. A group ranging from violin virtuoso Thereza Stephan doubling on mando; mando greats Eli Karasek, Charlie Provenza, Drew Horton; to mother-daughter and father-son mandolinists sharing music stands during rehearsals and consequent performances. And then there were us guitarists headed by Ron Grosswiler whose collection of historical American classical guitar scores along with Mandolin Orchestra Repertoire from then till now was legendary and not fully revealed until after his death in 2010.
Peppered throughout the DMO’s 23+ musicians, amateurs and professionals alike, we all contributed to the awareness of this largely unknown type of accessible American music. Plus, those like myself who just wanted to play in an ‘orchestra’ with instruments not normally associated with conventional orchestras.
But what I remember most vividly is the memorial service Swallow Hill hosted for one of its own volunteers, and for one of our very own DMO members, Paul Drury, sometime in 2004 (?).
Living within modest means, and one who knew hardship as well as gritty challenges, Paul cared for others. He made sure everyday people got to enjoy simple pleasures – like music. Often, he’d pass on Swallow Hill concert tickets he purchased himself to people he knew marginally (often a little lost in life) – just so they could bask in the healing that is music.
One evening, he died suddenly due to an unperceived advancement in symptoms of diabetic shock…
I hadn’t been a part of the DMO for several years, but was contacted about the jam-session memorial to be held in his honor…an invite to bring my instrument and pluck some of the corny rep we played as a group. And yes, he had a proper musical tribute played by a smaller version of the DMO.
However, it wasn’t until the first strums of Warren Zevon’s Keep Me In Your Heart drifted through the auditorium sound system that the crowd got silent…Paul’s wish for all, sung for the one we had all come to honor that night.

Giving Voice: The Eagle Cried

The Eagle Cried, written and recorded by US Army Major J Billington (Iraqi & Afghanistan vet)

This song was written in honor of the sacrifices of Vietnam veterans, who did not receive the hero’s welcome that they deserved when they came home from the fight. This song was written for and performed at the 13th Combat Aviation Battalion Reunion at Fort Rucker, Alabama, held on May 15, 2010. To the Vietnam veterans that may find and watch this video, please accept my humble:
“Thank you for your service, and welcome home!” J Billington May 19, 2010

Giving Voice: Homelessness due to housing crisis

Fact: In Ireland, the number of families made newly homeless rose from 39 in January 2017 to 113 in August. A total of 1,698 families are now estimated to be living in emergency accommodation across the country, the vast majority of which were either evicted by private landlords or were unable to afford a rent rise.

Released in October of 2018, the film Rosie “tells the story of a young couple and their four children forced out of their home when their landlord decides to sell the property. Over 36 hours, we see Rosie glued to her phone, juggling normal family life while trying to find a room to sleep in.”
Based upon real life accounts, Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter Roddy Doyle put pen to paper giving voice to the increasing number of everyday lower/middle class families being squeezed out of their rental homes into homelessness.

“The potency of the film lies in showing us that the “homeless” are not a caste or tribe whose condition has been ordained at birth, and their situation is not a cosmic punishment for laziness – they are people like everyone else whose situation has been created by economic forces.” From review by Peter Bradshaw

Virtual Brownie Sharing Circle #3

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him
Psalms 34:8

Inside view of my 'loaded brownies minus one ingredient'

Inside view of my ‘loaded brownies minus one ingredient’


This edition of the Virtual Brownie Sharing Circle answers the question presented in the first VBSC post: What exactly is the missing ingredient in my ‘loaded brownies minus one ingredient’?
In a word: Lavender. In a story?

—Ooo-La-La Lavender Brownies—

was the number one fav vignette of my little list* for 2012. Since then, I figured out the proportions to be 1/8 cup crushed dried lavender buds added to the Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie mix, using a large egg in the prep. (see recipe here)
Personally, if I eat more than two, I’ve found that they don’t settle so well on my tummy…kind of reminiscent of their alluded to ‘cousin’ edible. Continue reading

Giving Voice: "Das eigene Haus"

Sarah from Art Expedition

Sarah from Art Expedition

Sarah of Art Expedition graciously gave me permission to post her photo and essay on my Giving Voice series.  We both stand united against the indifference towards those displaced populations within our respective countries (in addition to the wider world scenario) – and do what we can within our (he)art to Give Voice…

Sarah is a German artist and art historian whose creations delight my senses. As a guest artist for The Strix collective, the following is her interpretation of the given theme: ‘authentic’.

“Das eigene Haus” – “Your own Home”
by Sarah

~ Das eigene Haus – Your Own Home; photo by Sarah, street photography Berlin, 2016 ~

~ Das eigene Haus – Your Own Home; photo by Sarah, street photography Berlin, 2016 ~


The meaning of art is slightly different in art than for instance what it means in philosophy. Everything I do is authentic, because it was me who did it. Therefore, all I create is authentic. The photograph I choose for this topic reflects what is, to me, authentic in society nowadays.
I took this photo last summer and it has disturbed me ever since. Continue reading

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