Pat Blythe – The summer of 2020…..and music

“Heeeeere’s Fall”…..my favourite time of year! Yes, I’m an autumn baby (and so are my kids) so maybe a yearly “rebirth” is what I’m feeling. The season of autumn, to me, is the sensation of new beginnings. The air is lighter, fresher and crisper. We can sweat off a rather thick and muggy, “I can’t even think I’m so hot” summer. The lounge lizard days are behind us. We’re back to work. A new school year begins. The lush vegetation is offering us the fruit of its summer labours, ripe for the picking and ready for us to savour. The trees slowly paint a riot of colour against striking blue skies, something Tom Thompson captured so perfectly in so many paintings. Drives through the country are invigorating and somehow more liberating.

Pat Blythe – Pop Goes The Weasel, Bill Wood and The Woodies, Wanda’s, The BTBs……and Music!

I’ve actually finished a book!!! A real ” hold in your hands manually turn the pages” book.  Reading is deeply embedded in my DNA. I descend from a long line of voracious readers. It began at the age of four and never stopped. The comprehension/speed reading exercises they put us through in grades seven and eight have served me well. Chris and I used to read together in companionable silence, only coming up for air when there was something one of us just had to share…..or to make the tea.

Pat Blythe – Beautiful, Mariposa and ONES….

As I sit here ruminating on what should appear on my screen, I listen in silence to clacking on the keyboards and the chirping, binging, ringing and a kind of swishing/chiming sounds of messages coming in on various devices. Colleen and my sister Chrissie are busy standing, or perched on a chair, at my kitchen peninsula working away on their various gadgets and pieces of equipment. I am stretched out in my usual writing position on the couch with the fan keeping things comfortable.

The morning was spent running around the city dealing with the detritus that had accumulated in my backyard. Prepping for an my very first summer BBQ has started and is going to take the better part of the week (the prep that is, not the BBQ itself). Curtains closed against the bright heat of the sun, fans going, air conditioner in place, maybe I can get some writing done…….maybe…….

Pat Blythe: Synchronicity….

Life happens (or maybe it occurs), either way my plans for today’s column were short circuited by a few happenstance events that tumbled into each other this past weekend. A visit, a text, a ticket, a song and two remarkable performances by two gifted artists. One who is just beginning on his journey and another who’s journey began over 50 years ago. This is the blues.