Long Day’s Journey
I just got back from driving my daughter halfway across the state to attend a jazz camp. It's being held at a small college and she feels like quite a big shot to be there. But she's a good bass player and wants to get even better, so it's worth the effort to drag her and all her stuff all that distance.
The day started out very gray and overcast, looking very much like it would rain. It never did, though. They are predicting unpredictable storms today and tonight, however. But at least I did not have to cope with glare all the way there and back, either. It was a bad couple of days for the Animal Uprising™, too. There were more than 25 deer who had lost their arguments with vehicles along the way. I'm glad others cleared the way for us, my little car might not be a clear winner in that sort of spat.
But along with the deer carnage, hyper-aggressive minivan drivers, hurtling SUVs, monotonous scenery so common along interstates, dirty restrooms in dirty rest-stops and all the other fun of a long drive came an unexpected flash of beauty. A flash of beauty apparently done by someone for no other reason than to share it. On a slight rise overlooking the interstate, mounted on two fence posts were two metal sculptures of pheasants appearing to just be taking flight. Slightly abstract but fully recognizable as pheasants, the were posed as if something had just flushed them and they were lunging into the air. A momentary glimpse was all you had of this. A flash of beauty soon obscured by the contour of the land.
But then, just beyond that on the other side of the highway, yet another metal sculpture, this one of a hawk and this one looking like it was just swooping in to the attack. A glimpse, then it too was behind us. My daughter had seen these before when she'd traveled the same road a few weeks earlier for another activity.
And that was enough to make the trip bearable.
Personal Thoughts | Gaius Sunday, 10 June , 2007
By Uncle Pinky, Sunday, 10 June , 2007 @ 8:59 pm
You let your daughter play the bass?
Deep breath, deep breath…maybe it is a double bass…he did say jazz camp. Gaius is a sane and sensible father who is well armed and can…
This reaction is doubtless brought because the nephew seems to be quite happy with drums while the niece can not stop playing with my sax even though I built a cut-down fourteen string harp to try to get her to avoid suggestive instruments.
Well, I suppose that the essence of parenting (or uncling) is correcting bad behaviour and rewarding good, and any musical effort is worth rewarding.
But I just keep thinking about Charo, who is a fantastic flamenco guitarist who is best known for shimmying and saying githcee-gitchee-goo, and it makes me a little sad and over-protective.
By Gaius, Sunday, 10 June , 2007 @ 9:00 pm
Heh. She actually plays both the double bass and the bass guitar. And she is very good at both.