{"id":4051,"date":"2014-05-31T14:32:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T22:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/?p=4051"},"modified":"2014-06-01T07:05:48","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T15:05:48","slug":"welcome-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/?p=4051","title":{"rendered":"Welcome home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/floating-balloons400.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"260\" alt=\"[IMAGE] balloons afloat\" \/><\/p>\n<p><font color=#4F4E81>&#8230;click to listen:<\/font><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"\/RealAudio\/UnabashedlyMore_middle-clip.mp3\" style=\"text-decoration:none\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/UnabashedlyMorepg1.html\" style=\"text-decoration:none\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/moregn.jpg\"\/><font color=#4F4E81>&#8230;about the music<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><font color=#346513>Unabashedly thrilled.<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"none\" data-via=\"alex_shapiro\">Tweet<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Someone unwittingly sent me balloons. Or perhaps they knew that I&#8217;m celebrating: after many months of travel&#8211; all very wonderful&#8211; this coming week is my final business trip of the season. Very soon I will be home, sweet and salty home, for three solid months. <\/p>\n<p>Oh no, I&#8217;m not complaining about the insanely fortunate life that I have created which regularly places me <em>virtually<\/em> via Skype, and <em>physically<\/em> via claustrophobic metal tubes hurtling through the air, in front of countless fellow artists and arts lovers (and others who have no idea why I&#8217;m talking so passionately, yet politely tolerate me nonetheless). But after two and sometimes three body-vaulting trips each month since last autumn, boy, do I appreciate the joy of staying in one place to compose, run my business, and commune with the humans and animals I adore who also call this rock, &#8220;home&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p>Like this juvenile Bald Eagle, <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/soar2.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"206\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Juvenile Bald\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>headed back to the mound where his brother (and, um, the entrails of some unfortunate but tasty creature) awaits.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/soar4.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"144\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Juvenile Bald\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like this raccoon,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/raccoon-field.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Raccoon\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>who knows that home is where you put your paw prints. And where the birds are, happily, really messy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/raccoonpaws.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"321\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Raccoon\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like the Orca, returning each May to the San Juans,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/May31orca.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Orca and Olympics\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>checking to see how her summer digs fared over the winter.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/spyhopper.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"274\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Orca\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like this giant male Tenegaria house spider on the prowl for some hot love,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/tegenaria-sink.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"485\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Tegenaria\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>happy to be scooped up and released back to a waiting mate. Well, he hopes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/tegenaria2.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"415\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Tegenaria\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like the foxes,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/seaside-foxes.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"303\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Foxes\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>who know that someone&#8217;s bound to open the door if they knock.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/redfox-at-door.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"501\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Fox calling\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like Bella, excited to see her house at the bottom of the road,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/bella-copilot.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"295\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Bella driving\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>so she can settle in and do what she does best: procrastinate on her work (you don&#8217;t think *I* write all this music, do you?).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/bella-music-desk.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Bella procrastinating\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>And like me,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/flyinghome.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"281\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Flying home\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>so damn happy to be home all summer long, as I admire the sun and the moon and the sea and the stars alongside my flippered, feathered, finned, <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/mid-may-moonrise.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"190\" alt=\"[IMAGE] May moonrise\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>and multi-legged companions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/blogpix\/dan-alex.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"395\" alt=\"[IMAGE] Dan and Alex at home.\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"clear: both;\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>I am celebrating being home! Thanks, whoever you are up the coast, for those pretty balloons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;click to listen: &#8230;about the music Unabashedly thrilled. Tweet Someone unwittingly sent me balloons. Or perhaps they knew that I&#8217;m celebrating: after many months of travel&#8211; all very wonderful&#8211; this coming week is my final business trip of the season. Very soon I will be home, sweet and salty home, for three solid months. Oh [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4051"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4076,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alexshapiro.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}