November 26, 2003

12:36 a.m.

So we met Bonnie Raitt's bass player at the conference last weekend, and he's recorded this new CD that's all about the dogs he's had or known. Of course I glommed onto that right away and ordered one for my sister, who has 3 dogs, and one for myself. I'm thinking about this because I spent the evening at their house tonight, made dinner for them & cleaned up because they're going to Texas tomorrow morning for the holiday and they were crazy with packing. They've fed me only about two million times, so I thought I could make them a little something. We had a really excellent meal with fabulous wine, and I played with the dogs, including the new one who is very undisciplined and is going to take a LOT of work, but who is so cute you can't not like her. And I'm thinking about this dog CD, and the way dogs seem to have crept into my songwriting lately as well. Because, even though they're not human and you can't really ascribe exactly human emotions to them, they DO embody a sort of Buddhist approach to life that's very useful to study. They're uncomplicated, transparent, and wholly in the now. I so like that about them.

That's all I wanted to say; it's way too late and I have to get up early for rehearsal, and I'll bitch about not having slept enough. But I'm kind of excited in general right now, I don't know why, maybe because it's the holidays and I always love this time of year. Maybe because my mother's modest inheritance ensured that I wouldn't go broke this year, so that's one less thing I had to worry about. Maybe because I think that in 2004 I'll fall in love again. Later I'll tell you about the bass player. (Not Bonnie Raitt's bass player. Someone else's.)