Freedom

Three experiences of freedom.

I am playing saxophone with professional guitarist Dean Granros. He retired from his day job and moved about five miles away from here. I met him at a pig roast. His wife has Icelandic horses, and they wanted to live somewhere where they could have their horses in their backyard. Sound familiar?

Dean is into freedom inside the music. In the same vein as Thelonious Monk, the concern for chords is not as important as the form of the song. Therefore some of his songs do not have chord changes. I just play the melody and then play with the melody. At a recent gig we played one of my tunes: Stealing Thomas. I know this song backwards and forwards. We played the melody, and I began soloing. Dean did not play changes and started playing lines behind me. I encourage this playing from him. It turned into a true conversation between the two of us, and we all got lost - lost in the changes, lost in the moment. Beads of sweat cascaded off my forehead during this interchange. After the gig I apologized for getting lost and not knowing where the top of the tune was. He looked at me, perplexed, and said, "that was the best music we made all night." He didn't care. Freedom. I loved it, but I could not fully enjoy it because I felt responsible to get us back to the top of the tune. I hope I can enjoy more freedom in the future. We did make it out the tune just fine.


During farm meetings we have been talking about our Meyers-Briggs personality types. We are extremely different, and I am the only extrovert! Understanding who we each are in terms of personality types has produced a freedom for me of understanding. I know who I am and know my needs. I now better know who everyone else is and their needs. I have freedom to accept that. It is a great freedom that has helped me feel more comfortable, relaxed and at peace here.


The wood cook stove is hooked up. I made pizza including the sauce, toppings and cheese on the stove top. The stove top is all about freedom. There are different temperatures all over the different areas of this 2 X 3 metal top. The sauce starts to bubble, and I can slide it to a different area for a calmer simmer. It makes cooking even more fun - almost a game. I have freedom to have my pots and pans in all degrees and places.



The best part of this picture and a fourth freedom; it was below zero outside, and I am wearing a t-shirt and no socks. This is the first time I have not had long johns and socks on in the house for three months! Freedom!