Fun above Donner Lake!

Just off the Pacific Crest Trail, at the top of a ridge, is a swing that soars out near the edge of a cliff.  Here is my wife Alana having a fun time.

Family Life

Kids:  Jordan, Katie and Trent

My wife Alana

Tribute to Stevie Nicks - Once in a Lifetime

A short little tribute to Stevie Nicks.  Definitely one of the greatest female rockers of all time and a most memorable baby boomer...  Mysterious, hauntingly beautiful and a gifted song writer with a magical voice.  I really enjoyed her early years with Buckingham Nicks and Fleetwood Mac through her second solo album The Wild Heart...but everything she does is good.  The history of Buckingham Nicks, Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks is really an amazing story of resiliency…a bit too complicated for me, but I sure enjoy her music.  Here's to you Stevie Nicks!

Once in a Lifetime

By Bradley Meister

And in Stevie grew the call

What started in a painted desert

Became a beginning that sparked something new

Despite the travels too far and too soon

Her first song was sad but would not end as blue

Then a young girl made an inspirational friend
who would always be true
The early bird with the pretty song we know

Who would become the future nightbird

And touch Stevie’s life through

Then came Lindsey who she met after school
And it was California Dreamin that made her sound cool
They eventually joined forces and their passions were true
They loved as they struggled but always followed their dreams
And despite all the hardships they worked together as a team

A trip to Aspen while struggling with fear

What would life hold - would her loves always be there?

In a landslide moment, she wrote her father’s favorite song

Then a chance encounter with one of their songs
won the attention and impressed someone new
An offer by a Mick would be the bonding glue

And a new Fleetwood Mac was born with an eponymously album high

Rumours then flew and success was off the charts

Taken by the wind, a talented young woman blossomed into a star
and put the world in a trance
as she tugged at their heart-strings
with just a sound and her glance

Look into her dark eyes and feel the emotion and pulse of her wild heart

The sound of her voice transcends our imagination

Hauntingly beautiful for sure – rapture may not quite do justice

Magical and quintessential
Feminine, vulnerable and with a slight touch of raspy

In a world filled with talent
her voice simply stands alone near the very top
emanating that distinctive atmosphere that is pure Stevie Nicks

It calls within us like that thundering sky
Oh all the days within our lives it tries
It wakes you up with the morning sun
And reminds you again when your day is done
It will pound at your thoughts the whole night through
The inevitable destiny of the spell she's cast on you

So fame soared until days were too long

Life got crazy and sunsets reversed
Band members changed partners and money overflowed

Then drugs became vogue until silver spoons got old
and such was the new life of rock and roll on the road

Names emerged that provided a glimpse of her past

The great dark wing came along and may have been a bold 
Her sisters of the moon were kindred spirits who took form
in a somewhat dark and lonely piece of prose
Rhiannon was the mystical one who could almost possess and control

Sara was a cornerstone of creativity in her heart
And the simple gypsy who loved the floor was just Stevie returning
to a comfort that she knew from before

But perhaps all she really wanted was that real Silver Spring

What may have started as a younger woman’s cherished dream
will likely always be missed

As etched in the memory as a touch that goes unnoticed
or a love that is ignored

More precious and simple than a whole pot of gold

Just someone special to love as Stevie grew old

Perhaps that invitation would have been just fine
But don't tempt fate might be the spoken end of her line

Striking on her own there is first Bella Donna and then The Wild Heart

Others follow and everything she touches becomes a chapter of harmonized emotion
As she weaves words into feelings and spins magical sounds into uncharted bliss

A short visit from a Prince has her standing back at times
but never too far from the edge
as her kindness and love for her dying uncle
emerges in one of her favorite well-known and enduring songs

Stevie Nicks is enchanting – her presence abounds

Once in a Lifetime... we may experience such an aura in a person
the magic of words and a voice that radiates the essence of that in sound

Her songs filled with memories and tribulations and covered in dust

But to many of us, her music goes far beyond 

It's a simple timestep that reminds us of our own
From the chapters of our lives and the ups and downs we've known
Just a place we can come to  -  a place that feels like home

The authentic rock queen whose spell has been cast

The embodiment of near perfection in a league of just her own

She is the master of mentors, the sorceress of melody

the wings of many of our life’s storms and a real gift to us all
A genuine person who became a legend

by simply following her heart and using her talents
to create a unique style just her own

I’m just grateful for her music
and I’m really glad she heard the call 
Thanks for a lifetime of memories
and the dreams you've sent us all