“To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe,

To bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go”

…etc etc…(“The Impossible Dream” composed by Mitch Leigh, written by Joe Darion, and sung by 72 well known musicians, groups and orchestras since its inception in 1965.)

For some unknown reason, this song came into my head yesterday and, rather than admire its powerful inspirational message, my first thought was to deride its exhortation to impossibility. It showed up on my internal playlist of long-forgotten tunes (the Andy Williams version I think), when I was stuck on ways to begin this Blog, and my first peurile thought was to mock it. But then I looked into the full lyrics, origins (writers & composers) and musicians that have covered it (thanks Wikipedia) and realized that it may have touched a lot of hearts (mine included) and that it would be disrespectful to ridicule a song that was sung by Aretha Franklin at Rosa Parks funeral.

My knee-jerk reaction to “Impossible Dream” lyrics as an object of derision, came from the initial thought that its unrealistic call to strength and overcoming all odds just hasn’t worked out and here we are again – seemingly fighting unbeatable foes with our impossible dreams and resultant unbearable sorrow. But who am I to say, perhaps it just needs to be reworked into a Taylor Swift repertoire for a younger audience.

Glumjoy…I seem to go through this after every major project or marathon of energy/focus – I’ve just finished self-publishing my second book, “Somewhere Nearby Soon” and now I’ve been left devoid of inspiration or direction. Inert. Throw in a few ill-timed and stressful life-complexities and I find that I’ve landed at the feet of my new hybrid word “Glumjoy”. But, now that I’ve got Glum nailed down, I know that it is my task to find joy. Sometimes it arrives freely and independently of my efforts (thank God…literally🙏), but most often it needs a little encouragement, or effort. For me, at least, a creative project helps, so doing this little bit of Journal/Blog writing and preparing for a long-overdue podcast fill the void and provide a little creative direction after the book marathon.

Going through the last 6 months of photos helps too. Invariably, the photos we take are usually of happy moments – people smiling, enjoyable events, gatherings, and other notable life moments that can lift our spirits. Here are a few such events that reminded me just how blessed I am, and provided some of the joy that resides in our dual nature Glumjoy world.

A few photos from Shavasana Gallery & Café…friends & patrons hanging out for coffee and conversation; Anita McCamley working at Shavasana & providing her delicious “La Maison Rouge” baked goods; Good friends hanging out and playing tunes at our weekly jams; a collection of masks that were kindly donated to the Gallery

Grandpa George & Andréas; Cameron & Andréas at Havana; Sister Chris at The Sylvia; Cathy and George on Feb 14 with “The Xmas Tree” that we liked too much to take down; the Canine Coffee Klatch at my local Starbucks in Kits; Mateo’s 3rd B’Day and again with his brother in the pumpkin patch.❤️

And, one of my favourite pics of Cathy holding newborn Andréas, with a very happy little Mateo joining us on the couch

So, what is it? Half-full or half-empty? In fairness to all the “cup half-empty” people…it truly is both – this metaphor has traditionally picked on the half-empty crowd as being overly pessimistic…but to be fair, it should be distributed a bit more evenly, and ideally would allow all sides of the issue to arrive at a balanced perspective…Glumjoy👍

Oh.. And before I forget!… here’s the little beast which has occupied so much of my time of late, my second book of short stories, “Somewhere Nearby Soon.” This copy you see here is proof #3 (the first 2 had flaws which I and Stephen Cropper (cover design)

corrected)…I just ordered 30 copies this morning so hope to have some available at Shavasana Gallery by late April/Early May…or, if you’re interested, and are just too darn excited to wait that long🤣 you can order it through Amazon, here:

Cheers!…but, realistically so🤣

George