My husband and I are musicians. And we’re parents. Our “backstage” experiences with our son (our little frog) deeply affect us and our music. Recent insights:

When nearby Bellevue Pond dried up last fall–and remained dry for much of the winter–I wondered what all the frogs would do. Being displaced is tough; and it’s a frighteningly common event for our little amphibial brothers and sisters

The water has finally returned. And with it, I presume, a new crop of frogs. So goes the serious, ongoing business of habitat. Like frogs have done since prehistory, we humans do our best to optimize systems that nurture and protect us during different eras: adapt, settle in, relocate, evolve, leap!

Prehistoric frogs and modern day leapers at the American Museum of Natural History

I’ve spent the last year redesigning my habitat, including home adjustments (hello, rebuilt retaining wall; goodbye, box of old paints)… and including an expansion of my creative paradigm. In addition to traveling to play concerts with Matt and Shannon Heaton, I’ve been publishing sheet music and instructional books… and I’ve created a great deal of free content, including my 30 Original Tunes for April project and my monthly Tune of the Month video and podcast series.

Oh, and I’ve been honing the blog here. This season I am generating posts about how I:
* Stay creative (CROAK IT OUT!)
* Parent (RAISING LITTLE FROGS)
* Travel (LEAP FORTH)
* Design a home/community/outlook (BUILD A HABITAT)

Blogging and creating more recordings/books/videos to share has been a great to connect with creative people around the world. It has felt good to make stuff, just for the sake of making it. When my cellist pal Valerie Thompson sent a note of encouragement for my 30 Original Tunes Project, she reminded me that “life has to be not just the things we ‘have to do’ but the things we ‘don’t have to do’ as well.”

We are like frogs: we rely on community support. We thrive with a network of friends, allies, mentors and neighbors who can help keep the snakes away. That’s why I continue to chronicle my evolving concepts and experiences of staying creative, parenting, traveling and creating my habitat. And why I’ll be inviting friends to offer their perspectives, too!

Just as frogs adapt, I am impelled to rebuild and deeply inhabit a sustainable, social habitat.