My island home Australia, has a good public health system, and part of my returning was to use it. Living in America all these years without insurance kept me healthy, lol. So here i am with the hood up on this body of mine that has seen neither garage nor mechanic for a long long time. How long overdue? plenty. Not fun, and actually pretty bloody frightening.
In the past months i’ve had surgery and am happy to report that i am feeling mostly better now. And there is still some healing to happen, daily i’m learning to cope with discomfort. There’s been a lot of my practice of “dear one i am here for you” A lot of “mercy on you Washuntara.” The upshot, my compassion grows as i learn and relearn to craft a life that actually works.
Yes (accept) and (move forward) Love (regardless). Yes and Love, my favorite philosophy.
On the business front, let me firstly say that i have no bloody idea about business. Secondly, my heart goes out to the many creatives who are attempting to work and pay taxes in several countries at the same time. Each country has its own finicky financial laws and you better know them. With the passing of my accountant in Australia some years back i somehow now found myself way in over my head. Thank God this tale of woe ends here. Some good news please Wash? Since returning to Australia, i found great help and those scary monsters have proven themselves to be just that. Isn’t it great to be able to say that? And really, it’s just money, pretty minor, considering.
The video of Lightning Ridge at the top was filmed when i first got Down Under. i look a bit wobbly. Looking at it now, i’m looking forward to being that well and better than that again soon.
Hope you like the song. i do. It’s a lovely touch of Australiana. i love the masculine metaphors that run thru it. The ones about mentoring and courage and turningupness. Kinda fits comfortably into what i’m coping with at present.
My closest friend, mentor and brother, Michael Tarlo, made his transition at the age of 82, last week. For a week before that, i got to have the privilege of sharing this time with him. Given that i wasn’t feeling very well myself, it was a tough call. Brother Michael is now a cloud. And we’ve been getting a lot of rain here in Queensland. And that’s felt good for me. ‘Cause it’s been raining in my heart. It feels like grief is the price you pay for intimacy. Buy it anyhow.
The Nashville writer John Jarvis penned a song in the 80s for the Judds that sang, Love can build a bridge between your heart and mine. Don’t you think it’s time, don’t you think it’s time.
Sometimes the bridge is about rest and acceptance. i find that a tricky place to sit. With what’s gone behind, what’s next ahead, i feel like i’m suspended, patiently slung in the arms of angels, with the river flowing beneath me. Waiting. And that’s ok.
The picture of me playing my Grandfather Harjo flute is on Mount Tambourine. It’s a sacred Aboriginal mountain where they tend to secret women’s business. i finagled my way to the top, flute in hand, ready and willing to allow myself to heal. i have no control and that’s ok. It’s time… Cry Like a Man.
The picture of Mike is the last living shot i have, alive and well just last month. We were in the Brisbane river on board the Diamantina with our brother Ross Wiseman, in the mess room talking old soldiers. The Diamantina is a beautiful old second world war river battleship, now in drydock. Ross first went to sea on her as a youngster. An iron place for men, and as good a backdrop as any to wrap up a friendship that has kept me afloat for the last decade, this side of the bar.
Black Opals and Lightning Ridge
As a young man, i was enamored with shiny things. For about 7 minutes at age 14 i tried to be a jeweler apprenticing with my brother John, and got to play with those shiny things.
The shiniest of them all, and the ones that drew me the most were the opals. In particular, the black opals. As beautiful as anything i’d ever held in my hand.
i remember asking my brother, “Where do these come from?” The one in my hand was burning like a river, “blacker than oil coal, brighter than the sea.” He pulled out a map of New South Wales and showed me out back of the outback, a place called Lightning Ridge. My God, it looked like the moon… with kangaroos.
Getting on 30 years ago Lightning Ridge came into the world. i wrote it in L.A. when i was just a baby writer. Sitting on the porch last month, it presented itself. As i croaked along with my authentic accent, guitar in hand, i said to myself, “this songs still stands up”. With a bit of a nip and a tuck, a new tune, and presto, we have a song!
Tell me what you think. For me it runs down the corridors of my deeper heart. As i wander its mazes, i see so many of the great men and mentors of my life woven in. i love my craft.
Re: Mud
“At the crosswalk, what will the traffic bear?” Sometimes, you just have to step off the curb and see what happens. i hope you’re doing plenty of stepping off feeling good about your life. Thanks for letting me bare my soul to you in the sentiments above.
i’ll close with two quotes from two of my favorite sages:
“No mud no Lotus” — Thich Nhat Hahn
“I am what I am and that’s all that I am” — Popeye
i hope you are well and happy. Yes and Love.
… Washuntara
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