Monday Morning Musings

Readers and writers alike can relate to this meme. There is a great deal of happiness in the creative process and a lot in reading the results of another author’s creative process.

Saturday night I was able to go to my first live concert in months. This Ramsay Hunt Syndrome causes visual and auditory problems. For months now, I’ve had to spend too many days sitting in a dark quiet room, which basically stinks.

Anyway, it was a thrill to go to the concert at the Winnsboro Center For The Arts. Neptune’s Car, a folk duo from New England, entertained us with lovely, original songs. Their songs and albums have been on the top of several folk music charts, and I fell in love with another singing duo, Holly Hanson and Steve Hayes. And Steve on guitar was magical. Made me itch to get my guitar out, although I could never play as well as he does, unless I gave up writing to practice hours each day, and that is never going to happen.

You can sample some of their music HERE  It is well worth a visit to their site, and be sure to listen to “Lighthouse Keeper.” It is one of their top songs, and one of my favorites they sang Saturday night.

Of course, we were all curious about their name, and Holly satisfied that curiosity by telling us that the name comes from the name of a clipper ship. She recounted a true story of a woman, Mary Patten, who captained the ship in 1857, after her husband fell ill. She had to fight off mutiny from the first mate, while assuming the captains duties, and  successfully navigated the ship, Neptune’s Car, around Cape Horn to San Francisco with cargo intact.

Now that is one strong woman, and I salute her.

Last Friday, Bernie Sanders was on the Morning Joe talk show on MSNBC where he was asked if he would vote for Hillary Clinton, even though he has not officially ended his campaign. He answered in the affirmative and followed with this:

“I think the issue right here is I’m going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump,” he said. I think in so many ways would be a disaster for this country if he were elected president.”

There’s been quite a furor over England withdrawing from the EU, and what that means globally. Of course all the anti-government folks are shouting the loudest, and some people are even saying it is all Obama’s fault. What?

I’m not going to comment, as one of my writer friends, Tim Hallinan, said all that needs to be said. At least that is my opinion. Tim is a terrific writer who has won many accolades for his books, so do check out his website if you’d like to find some good summer reads. This is a recent post from Tim’s  Facebook page that he gave me permission to post:

I just want to suggest that the wave of anti-government sentiment that carried the voters of England to reject the EU is very similar to the wave in this country that’s taken Donald Trump from being an orally flatulent reality TV star on a fading show to his position at the top of the Republican Party’s national ticket. People all over the place are sick and tired of their government, and often for good reason. This should lead all non-Trumpeters to double down on their commitment. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long, bumpy night.

That’s all for me folks. I hope you had a great weekend. Did you do anything fun and interesting? Do share in the comments. And let me know if you check out the music by Neptune’s Car.