Deb Montgomery

My sister is here from Vancouver with Liam, my 8 month old nephew.
We sleep, eat, walk, burp, laugh, laugh, burp, eat, sleep, play, play...
grab a nap, steal a nap, burp.....baby land. When they leave, I will cry.
What a joy. What a remarkable exhausting beautiful joy he is.
Peace,
Deb

"I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and I asked them if my drawing scared them.........The grown-ups advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why I abandoned , at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist. I had been discouraged by the failure of my drawing Number One and of my drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again." From 'The Little Prince". by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Tonight I am thrilled to play with 3 amazing musicians. (Konrad Meissner, Drew Glackin and John Abbey).. And tickled to play live with John Abbey as well because it is our first time on stage together despite producing Ask for Angels together! At the same time, day of a gig, I have been curled up with the Little Prince and Thomas Merton...in my usual rolled up mess of nerves and wondering about the state of the world..and Africa lately. If you can find the movie "Yesterday" on Channel 13's archives...it is an incredible film about a young mother trying to cope with caring for her daughter and coping with being HIV positive in a climate and country that can only provide minimal care...it tore a hole in my heart. A good thing I think. I want to play some little part...in helping. Perhaps we'll figure out a way to do so specifically on the site..for instance my friend Kevin Perkins in Toronto heads up CapAids....you can read about it at www.capaids.org AND World Vision is also doing some amazing work in Africa....between the two, perhaps we could get bicycles to some small communities and sponsor a kid or two as well. We'll be looking into it. In the mean time, I have to go sing and rock and roll and perhaps flutter a butterfly wing here or there...a little love at a time. Peace, Deb

Brooklyn is not the best place for Mosquitoes or should I say it is the best place for them? Are they still surviving anywhere else up here right now. I woke at 3am to put some anti-itch cream on a bite. damn them. on the other hand you have to have a little respect for an insect that survives last week's cold...or eggs that did...and then hatched last night on my arm. I'm very busy with a green project right now. Sang for some 10 year olds last week. The boys really dug it.they were waving their arms like teenagers at a REAL rock concert..I thought I'd be answering questions but they kept just wanting another song..one of them (after shaking my hand and saying he wasn't going to wash it) suggested I learn a Greenday tune. I said I'd think about it. I am knee deep in paperwork. These are my deep deep thoughts. Looks like Mikael Rickfors of Sweden and I will record a song we wrote in Ireland..with Hector Castillo at Looking Glass Studios in December. That's what it looks like today as I gather 15 years of stuff and make it as big and shiny as a Macy Day's Parade Balloon. Peace, Deb

perhaps I should go back to school and get a Masters, open up a family therapy/education center, and adopt a kid or two...after I make some money. In the mean time, the shadow of the bird outside on my fire escape is walking across my curtain...very pretty. It is interesting as I volunteer some time teaching 8 year olds...that I find their 8 year old worlds to be everything that matters in that moment...and many hours later...and apparently even now. Peace, Deb

If you havn't read Annie Dillard, I highly recommend doing so. "Pilgrim at TInker Creek" which Melvin Maddocks from Time
called "...a remarkable psalm of terror and celebration." I read her for a lot of reasons, but often because it is the next best thing to being by a body of water or building a fire by which you may sit.

"The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff."

"I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck."

I am babysitting tonight for friends. They have a 4 month old.....a little love of a boy. Tonight, his parents first outing, he cried for about an hour...as I moved from one thing to another to soothe him..finally the bottle, then some rockin (the quiet kind), and then some singing..the quiet kind and then some whispering while he sucked away on a finger for a bit...hands gripping my thumb and baby finger...and I watched as he fought sleep..and slowly drifted off...to the sound of cooing...(I did my best coo sounds)...and then the grip fell loose and mouth fell open..and his little body settled and he was out. For some reason it made me think about surrender and prayer and God..and weeping...and fussing and kicking and fretting...I had a week like that last week. A lot of Grief about something I could not change...and it seemed like it just kept coming...until it didn't anymore. Our own grief is sometimes the whisper, the cooing, the act of surrendering...and then our grip loosens and our mouths fall open and something new comes..life is strange. Babies are amazing. There is so much grace.
Peace,
Deb