Any artist knows in following the passionate drive there is also the learning too. No one gets good at anything without some practice. And how can we learn, ifnotby listening? When we find ourselves outside the clamoring city noise, we hear the quiet. We adjust our ears to silence and we are almost overcome by our discomfort of it.

But then we breathe. In the silence, for once, we can think. The reclining patio furniture invites us to stretch under a light so bright we have to close our eyes on the back porch with miles and miles of nowhere around us. We take our wearied soul and watch a Blue Jay bully the Finches in this bird society of pecking orders. Then we hear a melody of the wind chiming through trees and we find ourselves listening to our lives.

Yet, there is nothing simple about getting outside the city gates. For many, it was a…