A Musician’s Creative Journey
If you missed it, you can read Week Eighteen of my Musician’s Creative Journey, where I explore symbols, memory, and what endures.
This post is the latest installment of my ongoing series, A Musician’s Creative Journey — a weekly practice of reflection through music, writing, and daily life.
In Week 19 of my creative journey, I find myself reflecting on two creative worlds — one filled with instruments and the other filled with nature. Oh yes, there was a detour to a castle.
I peep out at the world each day, attempting to avoid the news until after it’s run its first cycle and I’ve had three cups of coffee. It’s easy to get sucked into all the chaos. Some people say don’t worry about things you can’t change, but that never set right with me. With each act of kindness or the void of compassion. We have an impact on the world around us. I’m finding that taking a picture requires something we choose to focus on. Without enough light, the image becomes distorted, or even invisible.
Think of a room that’s pitch black. Light a candle. See what happens.
Whatever light we hold is what we have to carry.
As always, these reflections feed my soul, keep me present, and provide a roadmap for the journey ahead. My camera captures what is real, reveals the naked truth, and becomes the storyteller without words.
Nineteen weeks of building trust with my Muse. And…my goal of a weekly blog has twice stretched the span of two weeks. There is a heavy load I’m carrying with my mother — some heavy loads become our greatest treasures.
Thank you for being part of this creative journey Series.
— k
Day One
May 6th, 2026
Good night…
I can’t lie — I have to force myself to get out of my studio. I’ve always been a recluse at heart. But I’m enjoying this creative journey. It’s helping me break patterns that don’t always serve me well. I’m learning to strike a balance, and my guitar is beginning to find its way back into my daily routine.
I was more than burned out when I came off the road, so it’s a big deal — to me — that I’m finding my way back. I played a half dozen solo busking gigs for Cincinnati Open Streets the last two years in a row. This past year I put together a battery-powered pedalboard. It was fun and it sounded great, but this year I want to update my setup so I’m ready to travel when the time comes.
My dream is to travel beautiful places throughout the country, while I can, and while they’re still there. I want to write, reflect on my life, take photos, and shoot video soundscapes playing handpan and acoustic guitar (if you’re just starting your own guitar journey, I wrote this for you). I look forward to that journey when it arrives. It won’t be long.
Day Two
May 7th, 2026
The historic Loveland Castle.
A night in shining armor.
A ball with spikes on a chain– also called a MorningStar.
Why do we need armor?
Why do we need spikes?
When will we choose love?
There is a castle in the middle of a neighborhood. It’s listed as one of the “must see” things to do in Cincinnati. I was curious. I went. I’m still curious.
I snapped photos. No time to scratch my head after each one — this one in particular. This was a ball with spikes hanging from a suit of armor standing against the wall, next to a doorway that led to a room full of standing suits of armor, lining all four walls.
I’m not sure how you’d fight with one of those things on — hence the ball with spikes on a chain attached to the plate of armor. I guess that’s in case you drop your sword.
It all looked pretty violent to me. I’m not sure our methods of war have evolved all that much. But that’s a different story.
There’s an old man after the war, he came home and decided to build a castle. Every stone used to build that thing was taken from the Great Miami River. It took years.
It reminded me of my journey building pedalboards for my guitar rig. No less laborious. Trust me — for those who know me, for those who have weathered the trips to Guitar Center, now stacks of boxes on the front porch from Amazon — this topic deserves its own blog post.
It’s amazing the lengths we go to when we feel inspired. It really doesn’t matter what people think. If you worry about what people think, you’ll be hard-pressed to be creative.
Note: What I learned about this castle — and can remember to tell — came from a video loop of its history playing on a TV set in the background. I could hear it as I walked the halls and entered each room. Hence, don’t quote me on these facts. But I know he built this thing out of rocks from the Miami River. That one came through loud and clear.
Creativity as a journey. It’s messy. It can be rewarding. It can be embarrassing. But it’s through both success and failure that one finds their way through life.
I think I’ve completed my newest — and hopefully final — version of my acoustic guitar rig, one that I believe will serve me well for many years to come.
My goal is to build a pedalboard that is battery powered, interactive for live performance without being a distraction driven by technology, and with the switch of one piece of gear, becomes a recording studio.
It must be light enough to travel with even backpack. I’ll admit, I’m not sure how I’ll get a handpan, a pedalboard, and an acoustic guitar plus a water bottle, fresh coffee, and something soft to sit on all on my back. I’m hoping a friend with a good sense of humor shows up, feels like hiking with someone who doesn’t hike often, is capable of deep conversation, and has a strong back. That’s my next endeavor. We’ll see what miracles appear.
Stay tuned.
By the way, we create the need for miracles as part of the journey. Miracles are not magic, though they may seem to be and some may claim they are. They’re not at least that’s not how I’ve found the world to operate.
Oh yes, I’ve booked some shows for the summer. I’m excited to play again. Details coming soon…
Day Three
May 8th, 2026
Archways made of stone, graced by light,
the journey doesn’t begin at the door.
It begins the moment you see it.
Yet another section of the castle. One archway leading to yet another archway, down a cobblestone path that bridged two sections of the building together and created a courtyard, eventually leading to outside gardens.
It was a nice touch. It broke up all of the knights and armor, hanging swords, and pictures of Masonic memorabilia. My grand dad was a Mason. I don’t know exactly what that means I’m pretty sure it wasn’t an organization that allowed women.
Day Four
May 9th, 2026
A fairy resting in the woods.
Even magic needs a place to dream.
My trip to the Cincinnati Nature Center presented quite a surprise. Along the path, my friend Tami noticed a small section carved out among the trees, figurines of fairies, a tiny fairy cottage, all of it strange and wonderful to me.
Being dyslexic, I never read Tolkien growing up. Much like The Wizard of Oz — being Southern Baptist, we had church at 7pm on Sunday nights — I don’t remember seeing it all the way through until I was 27 years old. But like hobbits and fairies, I heard references made throughout my life. I was left to fill in the blanks.
I can’t say this small scene staged in the forest fills in all the gaps, but it was fun taking pictures.
I like the picture of the fairy sleeping. Peaceful — safely tucked out of the way.
I wonder what she was dreaming. That resonates for me. It’s when I find moments of peace, safely tucked away in my studio, that I dream. Driving a million miles, feeling trapped within the four walls of a tin can on wheels rolling down the highway, I would put on my headphones, look through the windshield, and dream. Standing on a stage, eyes on my pedalboard as I played, I would close my eyes and dream.
Maybe that’s what Tolkien and The Wizard of Oz have to teach us. There is no dream too crazy or task too big. It’s those crazy dreams and those big tasks that create magical moments.
Dream big. Take risks. Buy insurance. (Just kidding.)
Day Five
May 10th, 2026
You don’t plant wild things
they simply appear, radiant and unapologetic.
I’m experimenting with vintage lenses for my Sony camera. I found this funky lens on Etsy after reading a review and watching many YouTube videos. It’s so much fun. Anything you bring into focus stands out while creating a swirly background of bokeh. (HELIOS-44-2 f2/58mm KMZ lens with adapter for Sony E-mount)
I captured this picture while the flowers were still in bloom — just in time.
I’m fascinated by Robert Mapplethorpe’s work. I’ve said this before and will surely reference it again. He was one of those wild things I reference in the caption I included with the image.
He has a series on flowers. Ever since seeing his work, I can’t walk past a flower without stopping to look. Unless, of course, I’m plowing through my day, muttering under my breath, I’ve got five minutes to be ten minutes late.
But in the midst of my hurry — and whenever possible, during a peaceful walk — I notice the flowers. I can’t say that I always did. My dad would tell me, “Kelly Joe, don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers.” He was right — about a lot of things.
Day Six
May 11th, 2026
Never underestimate your ability to shine.
Just a little ray of sunshine can light somebody’s day…
So I ran into a guy while walking here in Miami Woods. He and his wife had just gotten a new RV and he had just come back from their first trip. I asked their names and where they’d been. His name is Dan Hayes. He’s a photographer.
I had recently gotten my Sony camera and asked if he ever went out for a shoot, could I tag along. He smiled and said, of course. He’s been a big help. We haven’t gone out to shoot together yet, but he’s come over to see my gear and show me how to use Lightroom.
He, like me, had no real advice to give on organizing photos — I believe he was in the process of going through 23,000 at the time. I feel this pain. I experience it most days. I have a 32TB RAID storage system, two 5TB LaCie drives, four 2TB Samsung drives, and 25 Western Digital hard drives. They’re all full. They all have copies of copies — just in case.
Each time I visited my parents, I pulled out my iPhone and shot video clips of our visits. Eventually, I got a GoPro 360, which I set in the middle of the kitchen table and later moved to the living room capturing entire conversations. Priceless.
We talked about God, politics, and the meaning of life. I asked them to tell me stories from when they were kids and their memories from Quest Farm. My parents founded Quest Farm in 1984. They both took early retirement my dad was a manager at Sears Roebuck in Lexington, Kentucky, and my mother had been a schoolteacher all her life. She placed her career on pause when they picked me up at four months old. I was an adopted only child.
One of my favorite clips was Christmas Eve of 2017, the anniversary of getting my first guitar. I was 15. I asked them who I was at that stage in life and how things changed once I got that guitar. Looking back at that video, it’s priceless. I’ll make 50 copies if I have to, to ensure it’s never lost. I’ve uploaded a copy to YouTube and marked it private. I have one in my firebox kept hidden with other treasures four copies on various hard drives, and I’ve considered getting a Faraday case to protect it in case of an EMP. Not that I’d have anything left to play it on.
Back to my friend Dan. At least I think I can call him a friend. I’m not sure how long you have to know someone before that title is official, but it never mattered to me. If I like someone, feel a connection, and we talk more than once — that’s a friend. But then there are your forever friends — you know, the short list that older people always told you about, saying you can count your real friends, your forever friends, on one hand. That’s proven to be true.
I follow Dan’s newsletter, which he sends out with pictures from his trips. He’s retired and takes long journeys with his wife Kris and their new RV — fancier than anything I ever traveled in, although I did have two RVs for the band. I never had time to stop and take pictures back then, but I do now. And I don’t have to worry about rolling down the road in a tin can loaded with gear and musicians — some of them dearest friends, some that felt like strangers.
My point for bringing up Dan — his last newsletter featured a photo of the sun shining through trees, forming a starburst. When I was at the Nature Center, the sun shining through the trees, forming a starburst, caught my eye.
It reminded me of a dear friend I made in my Spiritual Direction training. Her husband had recently passed, and she cherished a photo he had taken shortly before he died, during a walk together. It was of a sunburst appearing through the trees. She said it reminded her that her husband was in heaven, shining down like a sunburst through the trees.
We all experience things in our own way and language them through our own narrative. I like this picture. It made me think. It made me feel. It made me sigh.
Day Seven
May 12th, 2026
Even magic needs a place to come home to.
I’m getting tired of writing, so I’ll keep this one short. I’m going to get on with my day, pretending to be a fairy, and see what magic shows up.
Wrap Up
Week 19 is a wrap. I remain fully committed to this creative journey — taking it one day at a time, one image at a time, one honest reflection at a time.
Every image I share provides a thumbnail view of the world around me. This journey creates a deliberate pause and continues to serve as a reminder to slow down, look closer, and stay the course. Steady on.
Bye for now — see you in Week 20.
— k
An Invitation to Write
Set a timer for ten minutes. Write without stopping. Stay ahead of your editor — just let whatever flows onto the page unfold.
Writing Prompt: Take a few minutes and write about something that speaks to you this week. Something that might go unnoticed or forgotten — had you not picked up a pen, found a piece of paper, and taken ten minutes to write. Just like capturing video of my parents, capturing moments that stand out and moments that matter are profound treasures. They remind us who we are, what we’ve seen, and more than anything, what has made us feel.
Resources: I’d like to reshare this link in case you missed it. This is one of my favorite YouTube channels — Samaneri Jayasāra – Wisdom of the Masters. Check it out and see what you think — it always calms my mind and helps me center my thoughts.
Here is a featured track — Leaving It All Behind — from my catalogue:
Seek out something new this week — and let it surprise you.
— k
P.S. My Substack is growing. It’s a space to go deeper — beyond the weekly posts — into the thoughts and questions that don’t fit neatly into a caption. I’d love for you to join me there.
