The Witch of November

(Photo from Wikki)

Ahh, November10. My birthday, Neil Gaiman's birthday same day same year, he born just a few hours ahead of me, my astro bro. Then, fifteen years later the same day came "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" when "the witch of November" comes, as it says in Gordon Lightfoot's song, as is said by the lake locals here--it is part of our folklore. I am a Great Lakes Girl (I mean 'Girl' with all due respect-- I was born on the Great Lakes and grew up on here and stayed my whole life here). The ship was on its way along the Great Lakes to Cleveland, where I was born, that fateful day, which was on my 15th birthday. And not the same year of course but my and the Marine Corps birthday are on the same day, Nov. 10. Very good day to be born, at18 degrees Scorpio if you know deep-dive (an overused phrase I can barely stand by now!) astrology and not just popular astrology. Here's that witchy song, link below.  

https://youtu.be/hgI8bta-7aw?si=-hZv6WATLlDUBQZs

My heart goes out to all those on the ship that went down. There is a sea captain who lives on the lake, who some of my friends know. who was on the Edmund Fitgerald many tmes before it ever sank  I hear he tells Great lake and sea stories. I hope to hear some someday. When I do I will see if he will give me permission to tell some to my readers.

.I was also aboard the HMS Bounty (of the Pirates of the Caribbean) one day, I forget hiw long it was then  before it sank in the hurricane in the Atlantic  and still have pics of me on it. 

I have posted and written about both these shipwrecks before on Facebook and other places. I tend to post or write something about it every year on my birthday. I can't seem to find on YouTube anymore the original video I used to post with the actual news footage in it that was not blurry in spots like this video is. Also I liked how at the end of the other one it showed the faces and brief writeups about each person on the ship that went down with it. 

Not everything about my birthday is gloomy, of course, but this does always give me a somber note to think about befoe my birthday festivities renew my celebration of life. 

And again,, Happy Birthday to one of my astrological Water Sign Scorpio soul mates Neil Gaiman. I admire his writings, his books, his storytelling. 

For images of the Edmund Fitgerald, go to https://www.freep.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2014/11/07/rare-
photos-edmund-fitzgerald/18642865/

Indian Summer: Hearing a Song by That Name at That Time of Year (Or This Time of Year, September 2-7, 2022)

September 2, 2022, with editing September 7, 2022

https://youtube.com/watch?v=oE38psKkcNM

When summer is passing and seems but a dream, there is that memorable afterglow of warmth and yet the light still much remains. At the end of August the night air got chillier and the daytime sun felt a bit more distant, as if not as direct somehow. This leads us into the dream of autumn that we fall into before deep winter sleep. The song "Indian Summer" by Michael Jones and David Darling from their album Amber aptly captures that feel of Autumn's Indian Summer in the woods or along a country road, one in which it is so easy to feel, even if a tad bit chilly, cozily ensconced. We feel yet the warmth of the color amber as if a teardrop of the sun like a piece of liquid sunshine falls upon the ground as the leaves turn yellow to orange.

Here is what strikes me as I hear the fingers striking the keys and the strings of the piano and the oboe, about this music being successful in describing this time of year:

At the very beginning of the song, the music fades in, like a fade-in of a movie; this can sound to the listener like a past continuous action (action verb!), the way a recurring scene within the mind's memory, going over and over a place in time. It is like then the afterglow of the warmth of the summer. 

Some patterns emerge like more and more leaves dropping upon the scene--I love this. Then, both the instruments themselves--the piano and the oboe--and those patterns of notes begin to layer themselves upon one another like bunches or clusters of leaves falling into layers or piles upon the ground. I love how music can depict nature, can mirror it. 

So much of music is inspired by nature. Go to YouTube and search for the titles of the songs on the album Amber by Michael Jones and David Darling. Also recall Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and Claude Debussy's "Claire de Lune" mirror the moon, and how "The Blue Danube" waltz was inspired by the river of that name.