Ummagumma

The six 2003 remastered classic Yes CDs from my music collection.  From The Yes Album (1970, upper left) to Going for the One (1977, lower right). I mentioned the progressive-rock band Yes in passing on this blog ten years ago.  I listened to a favored song by them , as I was inspired by a distant thunderstorm.  There was a time when Yes captivated me with their mysterious new age acid rock music.  I used to listen to them far more regularly.  Recent happenstance motivated me to pull a set of Yes CDs from my collection and spend many hours revisiting this wonderful, unique music. Fragile by Yes (1971) was one of the first albums I ever bought.  I was maybe 13 and I liked their hit song “ Roundabout ” (hearing it on Top 40 radio stations for a couple of years) so I bought the album.  Of course, the LP version of  "Roundabout" was a good bit longer than the single I had been hearing.  I was literally amazed that this was the same song yet with all these really cool extra pa

Dozens of Black-eyed Susans blossomed in the lower field over the weekend.  Just in time for the summer solstice. They are not as robust as I was hoping for but still better than in past years down there. Our Black-eyed Susan experiment in the lower field was less than spectacular but better than in past years.  (See previous post .) The soil in the field is not as rich in nutrients as our mulched garden areas mostly because it was used as a cotton field for so many years before we bought the property.  Nevertheless, we had better success this year than before and it was pretty cool that most of the blooms came out on the summer solstice!   I will mow these when they turn to seed and hope that the modest improvement of this year is a harbinger of more beautiful things to come in future years.  We will probably do some hand seeding in the late fall to kind of give them a nudge for next year.     Compare the meager ones in the lower field with the more s

Image credit. If the greatest problem facing humanity today is that hardwired brains resist rewiring despite the exploding pace of change, then, conversely, the greatest opportunity for humanity lies within our brain's inherent neuroplasticity , our ability to accept new understandings of human experience.  Brains can and do rewire themselves all the time.  Everyone learns, especially when we are younger.  We come to new understandings and experiences based upon what I will call the use of a psychological toolbox. One of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century was that, for the first time, we understood that human beings operate within a “psychology.”  Psychology is vital to understanding human behavior and to developing a well-balanced brain through childhood into adulthood – or not.  Human psychological development not only works at the individual level but also applies to entire societies across time.  This is a radical transformation of our understanding of both histor

Walking down my driveway toward the lower field yesterday. As you approach the field from the driveway you pass our Savannah Holly surrounded by the white blooms of Oakleaf Hydrangeas .  Two cherry trees are in the foreground and to the right you can just make out the large circular patch of Goldenrod , which will bloom in the fall. The spring red clover and most of the daisies had gone to seed. So I mowed the lower field yesterday, mulching all the seeds into the ground.  After several years of unsuccessful attempts, this year we have a lot of Black-eyed Susans sprouting down there.  So many, in fact, that I had to mow the overgrown clover and daisies cautiously so as to not cut the young, sprouting flowers that will come in mid summer.  Unfortunately, most of them are popping up in an area where we didn't plant them or sow them.  Such is the nomadic nature of wildflowers in any meadow.  A lot of them have a mind of their own. The lower field facing north.  This w