About the Ghost Turtles
150 years after Robert Duncanson painted this luminist scene on the Little Miami River, I stood in the same spot and saw a soft-shelled turtle sunning on a snag. It slipped silently into the water when it heard me. That’s when I knew past is present and destiny, too. That’s when my vision of the Ghost Turtles began. Read more
Ecology of the Senses
Returning to Lake Superior year after year like a migrating loon, I’ve learned the other side of a slow, uncertain process that could be called “going blind.” With the lake as my teacher, I know what lies on the other side. I call it letting go of sight. Read more.Prayer at Big Creek
![Sandhill cranes land on Platte River sandbar roosts west of Rowe Sanctuary’s Iain Nicolson Audubon Center southwest of Gibbon, Nebraska. [Photo by Lori Porter| Kearney Hub]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/sandhill_cranes_kearneyhub_032015-300x225.jpg)
At the threshold of consciousness, as I slipped back and forth between two worlds, I put my mind in the best place I could imagine, a marsh on Lake Erie called Big Creek. I knew I’d find cranes waiting for me. I cannot say whether I prayed for them, or to them, or with them. The cant of words doesn’t matter. I believe in the still, small voice. I believe what the poet Yehuda Amichai said. Gods come and go. Prayer is eternal. Read moreFreedom to Read
![An endangered Whooping crane takes flight. Yhe large bird has a 7-foot wingspan. It is all white except for black wing tips and face markings. In this photo its long neck stretches forward; its wings sweep upward; and its black legs trail straight behind it. [Source: International Crane Foundation]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Whooping-crane-eastern-ICF-080622-300x157.jpg)
Whenever I hear sanctimonious pronouncements about woke, parental rights, and banning books, I think of Whooping cranes. In my family, the gawky, audacious, elusive and endangered birds are synonymous with our values about the First Amendment and the freedom to read. Read more.Sister, Teacher, Pathfinder
A guidance counselor in high school told my sister Diana, “With your eye problems you will never make it in college. Just forget about it. Get married. Raise a family.” That advice only deepened her determination. She did it all in due time, in her own way –college, marriage, family. She became a guidance counselor herself. She certainly was the most important guide and pathfinder in my life. Read more.Flaneur & Bouquiniste
![Mark Willis peruses a 1745 volume by Voltaire at a bouquiniste book stall on the banks of the Seine in Paris. He wears a brown leather jacket and checkered flat cap. He holds the open book in his hands. Rows of old books are seen on shelves behind him. [2005 photo by Ms. Modigliani]](https://www.ghostturtles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mw_bouquiniste_05-300x225.jpg)
I remember the book I held in my hands that day. I remember the feel of its time-warped, water-stained pages. I remember its murky, moldy river smell, call it the book’s bouquet, suggesting years of storage on the banks of the Seine. Had I bought it then, I could feel and smell it now and know it from a hundred other books in my library. Read more.R & K: A Rant
Marjorie Taylor Green auditioned for R&K’s Authoritarian It Girl at the 2023 State of the Union address. She and her Republican colleagues yelled like Tarzan swinging through the trees as they jeered and booed the President’s speech. Read Rants & Kisses.R & K: A Kiss
Songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Singers like Dione Warwick and Dusty Springfield. What Do You Get When You Fall in Love? The Look of Love. I Say a Little Prayer. I sit in the car’s back seat and listen. I’m glad it’s dark. I’d be embarrassed if anyone could see the dreamy look on my face. Read Rants & Kisses.
Category Archives: Playing by Ear
Sara Bareilles: Saint Honesty
Sara Bareilles – Saint Honesty (Official Audio) | Saint Honesty – Sara Bareilles – Live from Here Sara Bareilles – Brave (Official Video) | Brave – Sara Bareilles with the National Symphony Orchestra | Sara Bareilles What’s Inside album release … Continue reading →
Posted in Café Mouffe, Playing by Ear
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Tagged 2020s, Café Mouffe
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Safe Passage, Gordon Lightfoot
Even when I couldn’t raise a radio station out of Thunder Bay or Sault Ste. Marie, his songs played in my mind on long Lake Superior canoe trips. Cold, wet, pockets full of sand. I’d stand on the beach and wonder whether to launch or stay. If the fog lifted, the wind would rise. Flat water wouldn’t last. So I’d best be on my way in the early morning rain. Continue reading →
Posted in Café Mouffe, Playing by Ear
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Tagged 1960s, 1970s, Café Mouffe, Canada, Lake Superior, obits, Toronto
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Ann-Margret Is Finally Living Her Rock ’n’ Roll Dream
“It’s only now, at the improbable age of 81, that Ann-Margret is getting the chance to assert herself as a full-on rock ’n’ roll goddess — if a winking one. On Friday she will release “Born to Be Wild,” the first album in the star’s career of 60-plus years to focus squarely on rock standards, all of which she handpicked, including Steppenwolf’s biker anthem referenced in the title and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which Elvis famously gyrated through in his own version.” Continue reading →
Posted in Café Mouffe, Memoir, Playing by Ear
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Tagged 1960s, 1970s, Ann-Margret, Café Mouffe, Diana, Elvis, films
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Journey in Peace, Wayne Shorter
The jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter died this morning at age 89. His compositions and virtuosity propelled the evolution of jazz for six decades. He performed with other jazz giants like Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock, and Weather Report. One of my favorite Shorter compositions is ““Ponta de Areia” from his 1974 “Native Dancer” album. Continue reading →
Posted in Café Mouffe, Memoir, Playing by Ear
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Tagged 1970s, jazz
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Dark Side of a Half-Century
I remember sitting in a strobe-lit dorm room where someone passed a joint and said, “You have to hear this.” I remember time-warped kinesthesia, but I can’t tell you how many times the ritual was reenacted. So, for Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary, here’s the Dark Side track that moved me most. Still does. “Another Brick in the Wall”. Kids singing in a chorus nail it every time. Continue reading →
Posted in Café Mouffe, Memoir, Playing by Ear
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Tagged 1970s, music, videos
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Feats Don’t Fail Me Now
Happy Presidents Day! The holiday reminded me of a favorite album cover from the 1970s, Little Feat’s Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. Marilyn Monroe snuggles up to George Washington for a drive through the stormy mountains. How can America take a wrong turn with this First Couple? There’s room for everyone on this ride. Listen on YouTube. Continue reading →
Posted in Café Mouffe, Playing by Ear
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Tagged 1970s, Café Mouffe
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What Do You Get When You Fall in Love?
I’m glad it’s dark. I’d be embarrassed if anyone could see the dreamy look on my face. This is when I begin to notice that quickening of the heart called love. It happens as soon as you wake up. It happens while you run to the bus stop. It happens on your coffee break when you should be back at work. Kiss someone and you get enough germs to catch pneumonia. Continue reading →
Posted in Memoir, Playing by Ear, Rants and Kisses
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Tagged 1960s, Bob, Mary Lou, Ms. Modigliani, The Farm
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