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A little guilty now this morning talking about quarantine when in many ways I’ve never felt so free and untouched by the outside world. All this has been a kind of blessing for me as there’s never been so much time to live daily life on my own terms. Sure, there are work responsibilities to be taken very seriously. So many people are still out of work and struggling that if you are one of the lucky ones to be collecting a paycheck, just shush about your personal woes.

The sand out here, where nobody is supposed to be yet, is still warm in places above the tideline. Today is set to be another hot one with no real change in the weather in sight except for some rain here and there and maybe some thunder showers. Talk about blessings, I do so love thunderstorms. They are about as close as any of us will every get to the moment of creation. Take that in any sense you want, religious, or like me, purely the beautiful chaos of the natural world. Let go and be in it. We are not the ones in control. We are not in control and if you ever think you are, stand on the shore and will the tide back.

First up again and again. Coffee maker sputtering, the machine and not me, is the first voice of the day. There will be plenty of chatter later. “Only monkeys chatter,” is how BUSTER KEATON put it. Imagine a world where more people respected silence, or even revered silence. We’d be forced to build a new vocabulary of visual expression. Would it be more difficult to lie, or easier? There’s a thought. Would it be more difficult or easier to say things like I love you?

That’s been my morning meditation.

Now though it’s time to put the day together. There is work to be done. The beaches and the cafes will be there when I’m ready for them again, and for now this stranger online has soundtracked the next part of my day. Nothing against silence at all (insert wry smile here) but some texture is in order now to set the mood. I can’t meditate to music, by the way, and most times guided meditation makes my brain spin. It snags and hangs up on minutiae like tone or accent. The music is more of a path back from “the place” and into the daily world.