Meditations from 100 Feet in the Air

One of the great joys in my life is living 100 feet in the air over a gorgeous green park with mature hardwood trees, a wildlife pond (yes, there are blue herons) and a major body of water. I like to call it Lake TV as a friend mentioned that I have a wide screen! There is always something to view and think upon. It brings together nature and commerce in the most interesting of intersections.

The nature part of the advantage is obvious. With such an active body of water (color change and conspicuous wave action), bird life and cloud formation, there are literally changes every minute. Clouds at this time of year bring special beauty and challenge with both color and shape, and especially the storms they contain. A couple of times every year there is the magic of a double rainbow, a rain display in a single, tiny location or a glasslike body of blue/grey water to soothe the most troubled spirit.

With the shipping lane, trolleys in the park and cars, scooters and packs of cyclists, the commercial element might be less obviously full of artistic display. Yet, the removal of 100 feet gives energy and structure to the display. This is a world that diminishes any personal or inward trauma. The magesty of size reduces my personal imprint. This is a wonderland that can really dish it out with downed trees, instant lagoons and the thrash of post natural stress-syndrome, not unlike the stuff we small mammal types experience.

Here is a sense of purpose out of time. The rhythm is macro-dimensional, I can react, but there is not instant need. As an artist best grounded in sound, the advantage of having immediate and constant access to such visual grandeur is astounding and forces me to grow, even if it comes with a bout of tears or stirs yearning I cannot stem or escape. Viewed from the safety of 100 feet, structural steel and cement and the knowledge the I am a speck, this is a new version of symphonic awakening that gives something new every hour, every day and certainly every season.