I have been a musician all of my life, singing in trios and choirs and ensembles of all varieties. My sister and I sang our first gig when I was 11 and she was 13. Then later on I was part of a professional folk duo in Calgary for 20 years. I love to sing, especially harmony by ear. It's exhilarating and ethereal!

Here’s "There Is a Field", the first song I ever posted online back in 2008. I created it, based on the poem, “Out Beyond Ideas”, by the beloved Sufi poet, Rumi. The story behind the creation of the song is posted just after the video. If you have a moment, check it out.!

🍃🌻There Is a Field 🌻🍃

                   (The story behind the song.)

Back in the mid-90s, my oldest daughter and I were browsing through shops in Calgary's Inglewood district when I spotted a card with this poem on it:

                            "Out beyond ideas
                Of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
                               There is a field.
                            I'll meet you there."

It was written by Rumi, the well-known Sufi poet, and I loved it!

I didn't buy the card, but grabbed a pen and scribbled the poem on a receipt in my wallet.

Many years later I found that same wallet stashed in drawer with the receipt tucked inside. The ink had faded, but I was still able to read the lines I'd written from Rumi's inspiring poem. And those lines became the lyrics to "There Is a Field", the song on this YouTube video.

But there's more.

Skip ahead, to the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign. It's mid March and I'm close to overdosing on CNN election coverage. The airways are rife with hateful accusations and political haggling. Time to turn off the TV.

But then, on March 18, Barack Obama is televised in Philadelphia delivering a remarkable speech. It's about race; how so many in the US have suffered the agony of discrimination for so long. He's talking about equality and respect and stepping outside paralyzing partisan politics. It is powerful. 

And as I listen I'm noticing something: Obama is paraphrasing Rumi's poem. Moving beyond hatred, discrimination and divisive politics is just another way of saying out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing. 

I feel exhilarated, and want to run around the block 10x; the possibility of peace in our time for me is intoxicating.  And I have to do something.

So I scramble and gather up pictures stored on my computer of the Palouse in SE Washington, where I was born. Then I go digging through unpacked boxes in the basement (I'd just moved to a small Alberta town late that Fall) hoping to spot my Tascam with "There Is a Field" on its hard drive. 

For more then a week I fumble around with my music and pics, trying to get them into a format YouTube will accept. My computer skills are minimal and I'm continually on the phone asking my "Mac-savvy" son-in-law for help.

At the end of March the project finally is done, and I hit "send".....launching my video into the cyber ether. And I feel terrified; I've just posted my music online for the first time, ever. But, strangely enough, inside there's this satisfaction, maybe even pride; I've just "had my say", something I've struggled to do my entire life.  And it feels incredibly good.