Swimming in the water here at my home on Manido-Mnising (Manitoulin Island) on Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada, is sacred to me.

Every year, there is only one priority in my life that comes above all else in Summer: Swimming the rivers and water surrounding the Island.

I grew up in water, on it, and around it. Most of my life has been spent seeking to learn how to swim in harmony and balance with nature. 

Music is one of the ways we tell each other stories. Through music, we can share ideas across time, make connections across geography, reach across languages, open doors to learning and teaching. A friendship can begin or increase through love of music. And how many times has a song or tune brought you back to a time or place or person you once knew?

Music, with or without words, is a powerful way to share stories.

From our very youngest age, books are windows to the world. Perhaps it started for us in a small room with a fireplace, staring out at the beautiful moon...or hopping fences to explore a garden (and enjoy a meal). Then came funky Suessian lands, perhaps a wardrobe, flying to a pirate-infested island, or leaving the coziest home ever to go on an adventure. In our family, the entire Odyssey was narrated to our daughter while swimming every day in our lake (started when she was 4, this lasted years, seemingly as long as his journey. But I digress). 

It’s September. While it may be the 9th month of the year, for many, this time of year holds significant meaning. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the closing weeks of summer and the month of the autumnal equinox, the last days of regular baseball season and the opening ones of American football games. It’s a time when pumpkin spice and apple picking show up on social media timelines, yet we hold fast our flip flop days, and we’re full steam ahead into school’s first term of a new year. 

All across the world, politics and social life continue to shift and to change.

At certain times and in certain places, those shifts and changes seem to lead toward peace, toward connection, toward progress. At other times and in other places, chaos and fear haunt present and future.

In the midst of these things, hope can be a constant. Hope offers the idea of connection and the possibility of brighter future.

Springy, buttery pancake batter envelops creamy dulce de leche in a bite-sized ball that’s gently crisped all around. Pair the pillowy pancakes balls with a few strips of bacon glistening with a combination of brown sugar and a kick of spice, and you’re having breakfast at a quaint, eclectic spot in Columbus called Katalina’s.

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.” ~ L.R. Knost

Palm-sized, circular dumplings that are pulled together in a swirling flourish at the top – Nepalese momos are an edible work of art. Tucked inside each delectable one is a mixture of fresh ingredients that are cooked before being stuffed inside the thin dumpling dough, to ensure the filling stays moist once they're steamed.

Times are shifting indeed, all across the world.

There are many ways music can come into such changing circumstances. That is an idea we’ve continued to explore through the years in this ongoing series.

Perhaps you feel the need of songs to rally around, to sing together?

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! - Ralph Waldo Emerson