That's . . .

. . . life. . .

(from https://offbeatenglish.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/life-quotes/)
". . . Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today. ~James Dean

As you grow older, you’ll find the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do. ~Zachary Scott

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. ~Abraham Lincoln

I’m less interested in why we’re here. I’m wholly devoted to while we’re here. ~Erika Harris

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.~Charles Buxton

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. ~Ruth E. Renkl

You may delay, but time will not. ~Benjamin Franklin

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older. ~Larry McMurtry, Some Can Whistle

Minutes are worth more than money. Spend them wisely. ~Thomas P. Murphy

Begin doing what you want to do now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake. ~Marie Ray

Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got. ~Art Buchwald

If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance. ~Andrea Boydston

Life is always walking up to us and saying, “Come on in, the living’s fine,” and what do we do? Back off and take its picture. ~Russell Baker

Every second is of infinite value. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We are always getting ready to live but never living. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

You only live once; but if you live it right, once is enough. ~Adam Marshall

Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons. ~Ruth Ann Schabacker

Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion. ~Author Unknown

When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets.~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human

Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960 . . ."

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Get your copy of OHO's  Where Words Do Not Reach now!

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My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
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Interpretation . . .

I never have put much stock in the interpretation of dreams. The vast and varied array of characters, places and circumstances always appeared to be too outrageous, too unbelievable, to be able to place any stock in or to glean any worthy or rational lesson, instruction or insight therefrom. It almost seemed as if the nature, detail or level of gruesomeness contained in my dreams was purely the result of the food that I consumed at the dinner table and nothing more.

But now in my increasing years (and hopefully accompanying wisdom) dreams, like so many other aspects of life that I (and we all) ponder from time to time, no longer seem to be such a cut-and-dried affair (black-and-white, if you will and NO pun intended). On a (for lack of a better word) 'higher' plane, and when one does not attempt to skew, elucidate or embellish the significance of any one aspect, interpreting dreams may not be so ridiculous a pursuit as I once thought.

In short, I now view dreams in a broad, very, very human way as first, reflecting many and varied thoughts that cross our minds during the course of a normal day.  But in addition to a reflection, maybe dreams are also a mechanism to reassure, comfort, or even dare I say - instruct us about situations or issues with which we are confronted being the mortal animals that we are. Much like the strength we glean from the support of friends, family and community in the instance of an abnormal human tragedy.  Or even not unlike the comfort we receive during bereavement which girds and grounds and sends us back into the fray of our everyday lives.

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html  or at
http://www.ohomusic.com 


OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak.  Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com 


My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Friends . . .

NO, not the television show. . .


Many have sung of the great value of friends. I now realize how differently I value friends from a more mature perspective than I did as a child but I'm not really sure I can say with accuracy that I valued them any less as a child.  I only valued them differently without the wisdom these many years have bestowed upon me.

Of course, as you well know, this has everything to do with music. Many websites list their 'top friendship songs' which vary but contain many common titles.  So here's a list, based upon several sites but compiled by me of some of them:

You've Got To Have Friends by Buzzy Linhart and Mark 'Moogy' Klingman
You've Got A Friend In Me by Randy Newman
You've Got A Friends by Carole King
A Little Help From My Friends by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Stand By Me by Ben E. King
Lean On Me by Bill Withers
You're My Best Friend by John Deacon (Queen)
Waiting On A Friend by Mick Jagger

Well.  I gotta' run.  Gonna meet some friends. . .

What do you think?
Tell me at
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OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

'2014' available April 8, 2014 at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak
Pre-order your copy of "2014" at the iTunes Store NOW

My latest solo release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
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Lakes. . .

(from wikipedia.com)
". . . Keuka Lake is an unusual member of the U.S. state of New York's Finger Lakes because it is Y-shaped, instead of long and narrow. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crooked Lake. Keuka means "canoe landing" in the Iroquois language and "lake with an elbow" in the Seneca language. Keuka Lake empties into another Finger Lake, Seneca Lake, from a stream, called Keuka Lake Outlet, at the lake's northeastern end in Penn Yan, New York. The stream empties into Seneca Lake at the village of Dresden. At one time the outlet was developed into a canal, the Crooked Lake Canal, connecting the lakes. This canal was later replaced by a railroad branch line which is now a hiking and cycling trail.

The lake is about 20 miles (32 km) long and varies in width from a half mile to two miles (1–3 km). The length of the shoreline is about 60 miles (96 km). It has a surface area of 11,730 acres (47 km²), and a maximum and mean depth of 186 feet (57 m) and 101 feet (31 m) respectively. This body of water possesses large and healthy populations of lake trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, landlocked salmon, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and yellow perch. The productive fishery is supported by huge numbers of baitfish, most notably alewives (sawbellies), and is a very popular lake with area fishermen. . ."


(from http://www.priweb.org/ed/finger_lakes/nystate_geo3.html)
". . . The Finger Lakes originated as a series of northward-flowing rivers that existed in what is now central New York State. Around two million years ago the first of numerous continental glaciers moved southward from the Hudson Bay area, initiating the Pleistocene glaciation, commonly known as the "Ice age."

The Athabasca Glacier in Alberta, Canada, is an example of a present-day glacier. The "Ice age" was really a series of many advances and retreats of glaciers. The Finger Lakes were probably carved by several of these episodes. Ice sheets more than two miles thick flowed southward, parallel but opposite to the flow of the rivers, gouging deep trenches into these river valleys. Traces of most of the earlier glacial events have vanished, but much evidence remains of the last one or two glaciers that covered New York. The latest glacial episode was most extensive around 21,000 years ago, when glaciers covered almost the entire state. Around 19,000 years ago, the climate warmed, and the glacier began to retreat, disappearing entirely from New York for the last time around 11,000 years ago.

The most obvious evidence left by the glaciers are the gravel deposits at the south ends of the Finger Lakes called moraines and streamlined elongated hills of glacial sediment called drumlins. Moraines are visible south of Ithaca at North Spencer, along Route 13 west of Newfield, and near Willseyville. Drumlins are visible northeast of Ithaca at the northern end of Cayuga and Seneca lakes in a broad band from Rochester to Syracuse. . ."


Keuka
©2013 Raymond M. Jozwiak




What do you think?
Tell me at
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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
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Keeping busy. . .

. . . with various and multiple challenges. . .

This piece was written well over twenty years ago.  My performance of it has evolved quite a bit.  This is my latest recording of it.  It may appear on an upcoming solo piano release, but alas there is a serious flaw in the execution and will have to be re-recorded.  Can you find it?  (let me know.)

HARBOR NOON
©1989 Raymond M. Jozwiak





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One perspective . . .

. . . on the meaning of life. . .

(maybe you've heard this one. . . )
On the first day, God created the dog and said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

And God saw it was good.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God, again saw it was good.

On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed it was good.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But the human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

What do YOU think?
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AMBIENCE & WINE

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