Blogging

I was trying to articulate the rewards of blogging. This is what I came up with:

It’s kind of like doing your best on a school project and getting an A for it and putting it up on the wall.  It makes you feel good. (Or even if you only got a B, somebody will still probably like it.)

I realize some blogs are meant to express deep thoughts about politics and culture. My preference is for blogs that deal with daily life in a particular place.

Here’s a random picture. It’s Eliza Gilkyson tuning up at this year’s Ottawa Folk Festival.

I met Eliza Gilkyson. Finding myself standing next to her in a crowd, I asked her if she was herself. She said she was, so I told her what a huge fan I am. “Thank you,” she said. She was very pleasant and friendly in this brief fan encounter, and attractive as well: sort of tall and rangy.

Here’s Ferron at the same workshop.

I also met Ferron once, at a concert in Peterborough. As I was buying one of her CDs I told her it seemed like her music had always been there in my life, marking the passing of the years. She signed my CD, “For the sweet passing of time.”

If you don’t know Ferron, I think you should get one of her CDs at once. I recommend “Testimony” or “Shadows On a Dime.”

Update: Oh-oh, those are out of print. I have them but nowadays all my music is MP3s. I don’t have the CDs. The later albums are good too, but I like the early ones better. I understand there is a greatest hits album called “Impressionistic,” but I haven’t heard it. I bet it’s good!

If you don’t know Eliza Gilkyson, I recommend “Paradise Hotel,” “Land of Milk and Honey,” or “Hard Times in Babylon.” Those you can get.