Early August, 2026

I’ve been busy, though quiet. Turns out that overcoming cancer is a busy thing. But I don’t mind the healing journey and am grateful I’m on it. Many gifts are birthing out of this journey and I capitalize on each and every nugget that shows up on the road. One such gift was that when I shared this video with a nurse at the radiation clinic, she in turned shared the prayer with a friend, who was in the process of overcoming a stage 4 metastasis. So, I’m seeing a mission here: Connection, not Perfection.

With that said, I do rest a lot. Indoor activities like songwriting and music making is a nice respite after attempting to conquer and slaughter backyard invasive plants. Yep, writing songs and practicing them is much easier than digging up invasives like Bamboo Roots! But I so need the mental workout that gardening is as both a catharsis and exercise while absorbing the gift of sunshine creating vitamin D and nitric oxide in my body…. lol.

I have been working on Soul-Soaking Songs: lullabies from Evening Prayers. I am creating both a song book and a recording of them. It’s a big project, so I’ll have to chip away at it, much like uprooting invasive Bamboo.

I’m sharing here an example of a Compline Song I created. I recorded it while sitting in my guest bedroom, using my budget friendly Tascam DR -05X, and it’s found in the New Zealand Prayerbook. It’s titled Lord, It Is Night, written by Rev John Williamson, from the NZ Prayerbook.

In creating this AI enhanced video, failures taught me lessons. The end result was a total shift in the original composition of this song baby. I used my birthday present to myself a few years back and the wind chime is just perfect for the relaxing sound that I am imagine will also relax you. See attached video. I may just make more like this.

Thursday, October 8 at 7 p.m. in the Choir Room at Christ Episcopal Church in Ponte Vedra, Florida is the place to be. It turned out to be a lovely concert space and Rachel and Friends will be back…sharing Soothing Soul-Soaking Songs, Lullabies from Evening Prayers.

Also back in the queue, I’m re-working my long-neglected children’s musical Beautiful Day for a Wonderful Day. It’s fun blowing the dust off its happy story and songs, reshaping it some and breathing life back into them. Its stories and songs are a blast and I debuted it in my last “birthday” house concert. Like I said, I’m after connection, not perfection. There is a lot of happy energy and meaningfulness in the story and songs from this show. The content is rich with ideas, so much that perhaps I will adapt the show into a children’s book or audio book?

Ok, more later.

Bye for now.