Today has been something special. Just really a good day. I slept well and the back ache that I did not write about yesterday has subsided somewhat. I must have slept funny because yesterday I felt bruised. But I wasn’t bruised, just achy. Today, not so much. And it’s been a gorgeous day overall. I just got back from a few hours of busking and it went really well. The toddlers were in good form and they love dancing around when I play, one kid has his eye on my guitar picks, another kid loves to see what is in the guitar case.

The minders are on top of it, especially when the kid started playing with a dollar bill in the guitar case. And of course, if you high five one of the kids, you have to high five all of them. And now the kids all want a turn strumming my guitar. Of course they’re not delicate, they hit- rather than stroke the strings but I usually take care of the situation and lift the guitar just out of reach. No crybabies, just fascinated kids. And there were a few toddlers besides the day care kids and they enjoyed themselves.

When I got to my spot by Pier A in Hoboken, a bloke walked up and admired my guitar, my Fender F-210. I had just gotten there and he sat a few feet away as I started to warm up. He asked if I could pick the strings when I play and I admitted that I rarely do that, except for my mutant version of Tracks of My Tears picking is difficult. I would love to play Dear Prudence or at least play Blackbird as well as Julio’s wife Stine does. The only song she claims to know and it’s difficult and intimidating to me.

The bloke, Randy- showed me a song to play finger picking, Edelweiss. Beautiful song from the Sound of Music, and I tried watching his fingers but couldn’t quite get it. He went back to work and I did my repertoire. After a few hours of that I packed up, but the thought of the song stayed with me, so I looked up the chords online via my smartphone and found myself strumming along, very easy to play. Not quite up to finger picking but still a very nice song to practice with.

So much so that a big guy sat down and listened to me play it for about twenty minutes. Then he walked away and I kept playing it, getting better I think, strum by strum. I was pretty hungry and decided to head home for dinner. And that is where I am now. I also just listened to Christopher Plummer singing Edelweiss which reminds me I should slow down the strumming and not make it a hard core version. Soft and sweet if the way to go if I’m going to do it right. It also helped that Bill & I watched a documentary about Oscar Hammerstein II on PBS a few weeks ago and it was repeated the other night.
That’s about it for today. I am hungry.

Old pics