Truffles, Turtles & Tunes

The three nouns I’ve chosen for my blog title symbolize the major preoccupations of my life at the moment. The arrangement of these nouns is purely rhythmic and isn’t meant to indicate the amount of time spent pondering any one of them. No, priority shifts among them as life’s events unfold. Set down in this particular order, I thought the nouns had a pleasing lilt. After all, a blog that will include occasional posts on music ought to bear a title that swings a little, don’t you think?

“Truffles” (as in mushrooms, not chocolates) stands for my interest in becoming a vegetarian. Although the vegetarian idea has appealed to me for some time now, I’m finding that making such a radical change in my eating habits is not only challenging but complicated on many levels. I’ve started to see becoming a vegetarian as a process, a journey.

“Turtles” stands for my interest in keeping two red-eared sliders healthy and happy. Since I acquired them as hatchlings two years ago, I’ve learned a great deal about what sorts of creatures they are and what they require. I love watching them bask and swim, and I marvel at the fact that their anatomy remains basically unchanged since the days of the dinosaurs. With a bit of luck and proper care they could actually outlive me, so I see my involvement with these turtles as a journey of another sort.

“Tunes” stands for my interest in music, currently focused on learning to play traditional Irish music on the flute and tin whistle. Since an Ireland vacation three years ago, I’ve been deeply moved by the joyous beauty of Irish dance tunes and intend to play them really well someday. I’m constantly intrigued by the differences between traditional and classical music. It seems that traditional Irish music takes most of the concepts I learned in classical music and turns them on their head. This perspective, though confusing and frustrating at times, has given new life to my musical journey.

My blog posts will deal with these three areas of my life and will focus on whichever preoccupation has grabbed my attention most recently. But why publish this stuff online, you may ask? I’m not really sure. As a form of communication? As a form of reflection, since the act of writing helps clarify one’s thinking? As a way to participate in the current blog craze and thereby understand it better? Who knows… While the whole blogging phenomenon still seems a little weird to me, I knew I was hooked when I realized that I’m a regular reader of at least six blogs and look forward to new posts on each of them. On occasion I’ve even been known to browse the blogs of total strangers! So what the heck… In the spirit of sharing the journey, here goes…

© 2006, Linda Mason Hood
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