Another year for me today. German friends have pointed out that this is actually the fifty-third year, and I am only looking back on fifty-two. Too technical for me.
I wrote a long letter to my former bass professor, Josef Niederhammer in Stockerau, Austria, offering some kind of retrospective on my music career years later and the role he played in it. It was fun to look back at those details of a very intense time of life, from 1991-2004 in Vienna. I would summarize by saying I have profound gratitude for the opportunities I had to be in a new place for those formative years. Andreas Haidu once said, “In Vienna I feel I live in every century but the present one!” I think that feeling has changed since I left, with the burgeoning population growth (mostly immigrants), hyper-modern buildings and infrastructure. In any case, the town leaped from the 19th to the 21st Century within the time I was there, it felt like. I have yet to send the letter.
Pictured is the geodesic dome Beth and I purchased along with five acres in West Virginia in Fall. I spent from September to December stripping the inside and outside, making repairs to the structure, and (mostly) enjoying many days of quiet and solitude, camping in a 2018 Apex Nano in the driveway. Life on the mountain suits me, though I wish now I could have spent more time at home then. It’s buttoned up for the winter and I am looking forward to getting back to work with the windows, roofing and interior as soon as we get our rhythm again, and the weather cooperates.
