“Big Yellow Taxi”

“Big Yellow Taxi” was written and originally performed by Joni Mitchell. More recently, Counting Crows included this classic and on their Hard Candy album, and it was certified Gold for the first time. While it has long been considered a call to promote environmental concerns, there are other messages, as well.

This is my third Six for Six blog post. Six songs. Six months.

Making plans for the future was the original intent of this priority. Taking care of details. Tidying up loose ends. Taking care of business, so to speak.

How’s that working out for you? Procrastination is such an easy and often comfortable road trip.

The bottom line is that if I don’t plan for my own future, someone else will make those decisions for me. I have a will. I have financial and health/personal powers of attorney. I have talked with the people to whom I have trusted the making of important decisions in my future should I be unable. But what other jobs could befall them because I have not planned well?

“Big Yellow Taxi” talks about the fact that we often don’t appreciate our environment until it’s too late. Another species becomes extinct. Another town has no clean drinking water. We shouldn’t take the earth for granted. We should be planning for it’s future and it’s survival.

We should also not take the people in our lives for granted, and we should plan for our future in a way that makes it easier for us and for them.

I think that it is important to live in the moment and to be conscious of the here and now, but it can’t be an excuse. It’s important to not be short-sighted.

Planning is important...for the environment and for ourselves.

“Don’t it always seem to go,
That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”


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“Memories”

“Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind...,” Elvis Presley.

This is my second Six for Six blog post. Six songs. Six months.  

Gather and make memories. The intent of this priority was to spend some time getting caught up on my scrapbooking. I’ve always considered the making of memories more important than the preservation of them, but I have to admit that I do love looking back through old photo albums and scrapbooks.

My daughter and I started scrapbooking long before it was popular, but it was my sister that got us both into it in a really big way. She managed an independent scrapbooking store and got us into teaching classes and working part time. It was a really fun job that provided the opportunity to meet some really great people. There were lots of good memories created and preserved in that little store. 

Now that the store has closed, I’m not as inclined to sit down and work on my scrapbooking. I have several projects almost finished and several not even started. I want those memories preserved for me and for my daughter. My goal is to finish two trip albums this winter. 

At the same time, I want to make memories. 

Making memories can happen in lots of ways in lots of places. Making memories is holding on to special people and special times in your heart and in your head.

Making memories is not just about trips and events. It’s about enjoying and appreciating the moment and the people who share that moment with you.

It’s about...
“Laughing eyes and simple ways,
Quiet nights and gentle days.”

Make memories.
“Memories, memories, sweet memories.”


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“You’ve Got a Friend”

Although the song was written by Carol King, James Taylor’s rendition is my favourite version. “Winter, spring, summer or fall, All you have to do is call.” I hope that I am that kind of friend.

This is my first Six for Six blog post. Six songs. Six months.

When I first started exploring ideas for what I refer to as my “Blogging Season”, I jotted down a list of thoughts that were more like personal priorities for the next six months as opposed to topics. One thing led to another, as often happens with brainstorming, and before long I had come up with six songs that reflected my six priorities.

At the top of my list was “Focus on Family and Friends.” It’s easy to get caught up in the daily whirlwind of existence. Reorienting towards the people in your life is always a good call.

Research, and experience, tell us that having friends is good for you both socially, emotionally and psychologically. Dunbar’s research at the University of Oxford suggests that we need between three to five good friends. This can include spouses and family. These friends are real people with whom you laugh and cry. They are people with whom you share a meal or a hug. They are a tangible part of your life.

According to data collected in the U.S. General Social Survey, the number of people who report having no close friends has increased dramatically over the past few decades. It seems that as we have become more “connected”, we are losing our connection with people. The people who can enrich our lives. The people who can make us better people. The people we can call friends.

If we make family and friends a high priority in our lives, we are better for it. We will be healthier and happier. We are reminded, however, by Ralph Waldo Emerson that “the only way to have a friend is to be one.” It’s not just about us. It’s not just about me. It’s about my three to five people.

“Close your eyes and think of me

And soon I will be there...

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

...I’ll be there.

You’ve got a friend.”


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Six for Six

Welcome to November...the beginning of another blog season for Cupola Corner. I hope that you will join me each week over the next six months as we explore a variety of Hearth, Home & Handmade topics.

This year, one of the ongoing themes here on the Cupola Corner blog will be Six for Six...six songs for six months. Each song represents a focus that will be examined in each of the upcoming months. The songs were chosen to be a springboard for both research and personal reflection, as opposed to songs that would tell the story. I think that you may be surprised where they will take us.



Here are my Six for Six:

1. “You’ve Got a Friend” - Carol King

2. “Memories” - Elvis Presley 

3. “Big Yellow Taxi” - Joni Mitchell

4. “Let it Be” - Paul McCartney

5. “In My Daughter’s Eyes” - James T. Slater

6. “I Hope You Dance” - Tia Sillers & Mark Sanders



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