MUSINGS...by Beverly Rieger

We had rain last week and now the frogs are back! As usual, I am in my office writing with my hot and delicious cup of coffee at hand, and the windows wide open to the night. It is only 3:30AM here, so the night life is in full swing. Loud is the song of peepers, and larger frogs, and crickets and all sorts of other life forms that I can't identify. Their concert is absolutely gorgeous. It is the beginning of a new work week. Much of my time today will be spent outside in the midst of the concert of the night, and the concert of the day, as I prepare for the week to unfold. FREE LINK for EDGEWALKER music: 8:33 minutes. On Wednesday, the music of EDGEWALKER will be found on the homepage of this website. It will be free for your download. From silence....the electronic OM builds.....the Mayan flute is played by the ancients through my own lips...intensity grows with the realization of support from the unseen world. Flat drum echoes the sounds of nature's nigh...

This month I am featuring The Journey of Joy CD and so have had the fun of going back through all of the stories that people have sent me about this music. Listening to The Journey of Joy is a delight this morning. It is inspiring my writing, and also the marketing flyer that will go out this week for the "snail mail" announcements of the July special. The photo with this Musings is pure joy (copyright (c) Leah Welty-Rieger. All rights reserved). When I composed the music for A Journey of Joy in 2003, I remember wondering how the music of JOY could be so gentle....it seemed that it should be much more exuberant and outwardly lively....and yet, it was soft, and meditative, and very Mayan in its sounds. As I look at this photo of innocence expressing absolute joy, and her love of the nature that surrounds her, I begin to understand the deeper aspects of joy. Joy…..a manifestation of love. Joy…..a radiance from the soul. Joy….an expression of connection with “all ...

The dawning is just barely arriving and the light is outlining the leaves outside my office window in a white light. The birds are beginning to awaken....little chirps....contented birds! This photograph is from the pine forest near Muskegon, Michigan. It is alive with the light of sun beaming onto trunks and branches. Here in Fort Wayne it is already 80 degrees at 6AM and we are headed to 103 degrees today. The air is thick with carbon from the fires in Colorado, and very still. We were on vacation with family last week, just arriving home on Saturday after a Derecho devastated Fort Wayne on Friday afternoon. What is a derecho? Hurricane force winds that extend for a period of time and over a long distance. Our winds were 91 miles per hour, and this particular derecho went all the way to the East Coast. This weather keeps reminding me of the interconnectedness of all things. We are affected by the fires in the West, and we are joined all the way to the East Coast i...