The sun is shining. The driveway has been snow-blown as we say here in Hope Ness. And all’s right with the world.

Yesterday wasn’t great. My cold was getting me down. But today it’s getting better; so I’m going to pick up where I left the day before with the residual effect of an unexpected moment in music.

Here’s the thing: never underestimate the power of music to lift your spirits when the day seems to be getting off to a discouraging start.

So it was a couple of days ago. At a certain point in mid-morning – for various reasons I’d just as soon not get into – a certain level of turmoil was starting to make me feel overwhelmed. As usual I had the radio on, tuned, also as usual, to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) local “Radio 2” FM frequency. Familiar music was playing. I recognized it as Beethoven’s 5^th Piano Concerto, “The Emperor.” Continue reading →