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Saturday, January 24, 2009

#556 What Brings Joy and Emotion?

It is Saturday. It is cold outside. The sun is shining. We are warm inside. Today it was time to do our housecleaning chores. After all, the Jayhawks play basketball this afternoon, and we want to be ready to watch and cheer them on.

Back to cleaning. We do have a division of labor. One of my chores is the dusting. (Swiffer dusters do a very good job.) Dusting is a bit of a chore because of the stuff and things we have. It has taken a while to accumulate all of these treasures.

I was in the midst of dusting the shelves of the bookcase, when I took some time to look at the photos I was dusting.









[Left side of bookcase] The photo of famille Duez, taken in their home in Dijon, France, brought back many fond memories. It brought a smile to my face and joy into my heart. The amitie stitchery was a gift from Majo to Maryann. it is a sign of thier eternal friendship. There are photos here of friends, children, relatives and their children. There is even a photo of Maryann and me from a number of years ago. Do you see the photo of Hazel? It is near the Angel pillow. Both of these items are special. The pillow is a handmade gift from Shannon. Thanks. Oh, and there are books, too.




The center section holds some special photos too. You can probably guess that there are photos of Maryann and me as children. The small photo of the young men in uniform show my grandsons who decided to join the military after high school. The Marine will be returning from Iraq soon, the Sailor will be going there in April. My grand daughter is also among the gallery.
This where the music CD's are kept. Oh, and there are books, too.







[Right side of bookcase] Here we have the complete, up-to-date collection of Sue Grafton novels. We do like mysteries. This section is next to my computer work station. Among the many items there are two which I am quite proud to have earned. One is my certificate designating me a Second Degree Reiki practioner. The other is the only golfing trophy I have ever earned. It was given at the RMPO annual golf tourney in Augusta, GA, last September. It recognizes the MOST ATHLETICALLY CHALLENGED TEAM. I did post a photo of it back then.





Maryann did something she doesn't often do, she played an old Johnny Mathis record. (Yes, the vinyl kind, thank you very much.) The old console sounds very good. It is about 40+ years old. After listening to Johnny, and as I was dusting in the room with the music, Maryann asked if I wanted to play one of my old records. Well, I'm up for a challenge. June Christy's album, Something Cool was one of my favorites. I played and kept dusting. Then I started to pay attention to the lyrics. The tears and sobs soon came. It reminded me of my late mother as things might have happened in her life. You can listen to it here.



I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. The depth of my emotions surprised both Maryann and me. Jane led an interesting life, but then you have read some of her exploits right here. If not, just use the Jane label. There are 38 postings, including this one.

Now back to the question what brings joy and emotions. Your heart and soul. It is a human blessing to be able to be emotional.

And you all probably thought that dusting was a mundane task. Well you can never tell when the joy or sadness or love or tears or laughter will strike you. Be on the lookout, for as June says in the lyrics - "It can happen to you".

#556

8 comments:

Sandee said...

Seems we dust about the same. Perhaps not the same music, but music that is emotional to us. Very well done.

Go Jayhawks!

Have a terrific weekend. :)

Karen said...

I do hate dusting. In fact, I'm procrastinating that awful chore right now! :o)

The Real Mother Hen said...

Oh now you got me looking at the vinyl record player and thinking, "I'm going to play some music later"... yeah, maybe ABBA :)

There are only three human pictures in my house - I mean three pictures with humans in them, but it sounds funnier to say it the other way. Maybe I should add more to that too.

The Phosgene Kid said...

and looking at the pictures means you can put off doing the dusting that much longer.

I do know what you mean, however, we are in the process of sorting and hanging some photos given to us or taken in the past years. I find the best pictures and music are stored in the old noggin though and it is nice to drift back into the galleries to look and listen. Wonderful thing the mind, because not only is the picture and song stored, but all the feelings and related things that go with it.

Merle said...

Hello Jack ~~ I envy you that wonderful book case. I have several smaller ones with books everywhere
as well as photos of family and several paintings of trees and a stream running through them. You have some lovely things to look at and dust and the music was nice also. Sorry my jokes get a bit off color sometimes, but they are usually funny. Glad you got a good laugh. Take care, Regards, Merle.

Christina said...

I too lose myself in old photos sometimes. and music too.

Puss-in-Boots said...

Dusting will never be the same again. It's a chore that I'm not overfond of doing...but it has to be done. Living on acreage, things get very dusty very quickly.

Anyway, Jack, that was a lovely wander amongst the shelves on your bookcase. I love looking at other people's books and photos...it can give a bit of insight into the person concerned.

Happy Chinese New Year to you and Maryann.

shannon said...

music is a powerful trigger for me and my emotions. sometimes you're just sitting there, minding your own business, and BAM! a song comes on that brings you to your knees. embrace those times. you need them.