New Sound System Completes Study

Praise God with trumpets and all kinds of harps. Praise him with tambourines and dancing, with stringed instruments and woodwinds. Praise God with cymbals, with clashing cymbals. Let every living creature praise the LORD. - PSALM 150

A few weeks ago I checked in with my credit card "rewards" program. We've had this card for a long time and tend to run all sorts of money through it, while doing our best not to keep too much of a balance (although there is still a little residual "Italy 2009" to deal with before we head out on any more epic adventures...).

Consequently, we've been piling up the points. So I took a look see at what they're offering and was pleased to discover a very nice digital music system from BOSE. I snapped it up and it arrived yesterday afternoon.

It may look small, parked innocuously on the top shelf above my guitar, but anyone who appreciates good quality sound will understand when I say that the audio fidelity of my writing study just took a quantum leap forward.

My iPod is sitting very happily in the dock; I am sitting very happily at my desk, and my favorite version of the Celtic tune "The Water is Wide" is literally filling every crevice of this space.

Most of you know me as a writer, but my appreciation for good music runs deep. I'm a decent acoustic guitarist, I play with the praise band at church and I have a good ear. But until I met Rebekah my listening was pretty much one-dimensional. Great relationships tend to open our eyes to so much more of the world than the narrow focus we're used to; Rebekah has done that for me in many ways - including classical music.

Consequently, the best concerts we've attended in the past few years have been: Rod Stewart at the Forum, Harry Connick Jr. at the Performing Arts Center, Mary Chapin Carpenter at Ruth Eckerd, and Van Cliburn with the Florida Orchestra; next week we have tickets to hear Renee Fleming and I can't wait.

I'm almost tempted to say that the new sound system now completes my construction of the perfect creative writing environment. But I'll hold off on that declaration till we've built that writing retreat in the mountains....

Meanwhile, I'll keep you posted - DEREK