We learned about songwriting, different approaches to composition, and then split up around the house to write our songs. I'd had this line sitting in my notebook for a while

"It was a dark and stormy day and she was glad because it matched down to each blowing leaf the mood she had"

 

 

I put on my headphones and figured out the tune, wrote the rest of the words, and made a rough recording to remind myself the next day what I'd worked out.

On Sunday we sang them to each other and I went last (Bill & Brenda called me a ringer). My song was a reimagining of the Italian witch, La Befana, associated with Epiphany (today).

I thought, why can't you stay and sweep your own threshold? Why do you have to run after what everyone else is doing? As a witch (and musician) it's sometimes hard to walk a solitary path.

One new star in the sky is a wonder. But no more wonderful than all the rest that have come and gone over millennia. Recognize that what is shiniest to you is shiny for you and not necessarily for others.

Sweep out the old, welcome in the new. But be who you are. Aspire, be challenged, hope. But live in the moment. Question everything, always. But own what you've learned.

"out with the old (in with the new)" is on my patron album, 12 Months a Year, a song for the month of January.

I love having a polished memory of that weekend 5 years ago. Thanks to Bill & Brenda for inviting me.