Jean--Here is a little aside prompted by your good post.

All the time I sang on the Mississippi, the philosophical river aspects of our doings got clearer and clearer to me. Going through the locks behind a double tow (15 barges that had to be broken in two chunks to pass through -- and might add two extra hours to my day) taught me what patience means and how I might as well look even closer at the gift it was to be able to spend ten years singing on those steamboats. Even now when stuff hits the fan, and my life is disrupted for any length of time, ideally, I look at the situation and say to myself, "Art, just another LOCK DELAY!!" -- and I find all kinds of new ways to see that flow of time around me.

And at night when thoughts are racing, I use the old ballads and adventurous long songs to stop those thoughts and get to sleep. Often I find sleep before I finish the song, but that's o.k.

Love,

Art