Kevin's Watch

Okay, turn off the CD's radio, pull the Apple outta your ear, this isn't about any of that. Its about the opposite. Yesterday evening as the sun set I heard a sound over/thru the din of the city. It was a honking tho. What the hell are they doing here in Phoenix in the middle of the monsoon season?; was the thought that occurred to me. Of course the abundance of water in the city's catchments is why the geese came flying low and across the neighborhood. East and west of me are city parks that act to hold excess water when it pours. But what a neat sound, a flock of geese honking. I wondered what they say? Like,," Cmon, milk it or move it!! or Get the hell off the cell phone and fly arse wipe! or Excuse me, I know it isn't Sunday and the rest of us are trying get somewhere, so do you mind?...Anyway,, I enjoyed the same phenomena this morning at sunrise with the geese flying in opposite direction. Much honking.





When I came back in the house, there was the coffee percolator going thru the last of its dry heaves. There was a rhythm to it and the accompanying aroma just hit a spot, like the geese did. What a neat sound!

Over in the east valley, where I work, I've caught a fascinating audio phenomena also. A new highway was laid across the base of a stretch of hills. When everything is rite,,the traffic noise is echoed off the hills and reverberated back out over the part of Mesa. Like no other sound I've ever heard except maybe something close to a early Pink Floyd track. Neat!!

So, okay maybe I pay too much attention to the minutia. yet I ask, assuming I am not the only one..the little sounds, close by, far distant, any examples you care to share?

lurch wrote:So, okay maybe I pay too much attention to the minutia. yet I ask, assuming I am not the only one..the little sounds, close by, far distant, any examples you care to share?

The sound of Beorn's breathing while asleep.
Even though he is now 14 years old, and no longer an infant,
nothing penetrates my consciousness that all is right in the world like that.

lurch wrote:So, okay maybe I pay too much attention to the minutia.

No such thing, IMHO. Some people say the devil is in the details. I say the beauty is in the minutia.

Menolly wrote:The sound of Beorn's breathing while asleep.
Even though he is now 14 years old, and no longer an infant,
nothing penetrates my consciousness that all is right in the world like that.

Despite the fact that I had always been an exceptionally sound sleeper, when she was an infant my daughter's crying in the night would send me bounding out of bed in a flash. She is also now 14 but I still don't sleep soundly.

lurch wrote:...the little sounds, close by, far distant, any examples you care to share?

When I was a young lad growing up I would always be fascinated by the sound of a far-off train whistle. It seemed to represent freedom somehow.

lurch wrote:...the little sounds, close by, far distant, any examples you care to share?

When I was a young lad growing up I would always be fascinated by the sound of a far-off train whistle. It seemed to represent freedom somehow.[/quote]

I suspected alot of parents would bring their childs' sounds to the forefront,neat! There is something about an infant just laying there gurgling burgling..

But the distant train whistle..yea...that one has haunted me since childhood too.

freedom yes, loneliness too...

danlo wrote:freedom yes, loneliness too...

Yes, exactly! [Note to self: Give Boxcar Willie a hug.]

Ah, but! There's a specific quality to the sound of a train whistle when the air is cool but getting warmer, as in spring, after a long winter. It just sounds...fresher, somehow. I grew up several blocks from a train track, and I could always tell when a warming trend was coming by that sound.

Other cool sounds: I had never heard wind sighing through pine trees until a couple of years ago. It's a neat sound.

The main air intake of the central a/c in this apartment makes a bunch of weird noises when it's winding down. Last night it was so odd that I thought people were singing in the apartment downstairs. (It's not just me! The a/c just cycled off and one of our cats went over to investigate the noise!)

We lived in a townhouse development when the girls were small. Everybody seemed to fix dinner at about the same time; when I was in the kitchen with the windows open, I could hear microwaves beeping all up and down the row, like a mating call.

when i move the inmates out at night and shut the lights off - all you can hear is the fans running in the kitchen. you then remember how loud the prison is all day.

Trains, geese, microwaves and A/Cs are all sounds I can appreciate. Never experienced the sound of a quiet jail, but I can sort of relate when the traffic on my road dies down at night--I appreciate the silence!

Two of my favorite sounds that I tend to take for granted are the spring peepers that remind me of hot, lazy beer drinking nights on my back porch; and waves breaking on the beach. Usually at night or in the fall when the shore is not crowded, I love to sit on the beach, listening to the waves slap the sand. One crashing wave after another dominating the quiet night. Nothing like it. Can't fathom the power of the sea. Makes me realize how small I am.

Good point, Tulizar! Especially the larger ocean waves.

I love the sound of the water trickling over the rocks in my backyard pond's waterfall. It is so tranquil, and helps my imagination roam free.

Ima sittin here thinking about the sounds of summer,,especially when the monsoon season hits the Valley,,all the locust chatter from a distance is kinda neat but up close in a heavily infested area on a humid day..they will hurt your ears. Lke'em ata distance tho..Haven't heard 'em out here hardly at all but the frogs breepin in the swamps of south east Virginia when I was kid,,stills echoes with fun in my memories. Every now and then the Big Frog would let loose with a call,,and all would be silent for a bit. Then the chorus would be enjoined one at a time peeking with all sorts of briiikkkkas and braaaakkas and brbrbrbrbrbrbrbbs. how cool!

Grew up less than a block from a train track, so not only the whistle moves me, but the lazy "clack clack ... thud tub.. clack clack" as cars move across track seems...

And the sounds of woodsy critters
.... woodpeckers peck peck pecking
.... locusts buzzing in Autumn (then finding their "shells" after they molt)
.... Never knew what the bird was, but heard it every summer "kooooOOOO....... kooo...kooo...koo"

Is that a coffee grinder I hear down the hall? 'scuse me.

stutt

Commuting on a bicycle is almost always loud. Cars, motorcycles, semis; all roaring past your head. Not counting the blaring horns and squeals of brakes. Along with the other random noises that engines makes.

But every so often, it'll all go quiet. And I usually stop my bike and listen to the silence. It's great.

lurch wrote:the swamps of south east Virginia when I was kid,,

You from Tidewater, lurch? Batty and Magickmaker were born in Norfolk.

Balon wrote:Commuting on a bicycle is almost always loud. Cars, motorcycles, semis; all roaring past your head. Not counting the blaring horns and squeals of brakes. Along with the other random noises that engines makes.

But every so often, it'll all go quiet. And I usually stop my bike and listen to the silence. It's great.

That sounds absolutely lovely.

You from Tidewater, lurch? Batty and Magickmaker were born in Norfolk.[/quote]

Cool..spent 5 yrs as a kid at Ft Useless, i mean Eustis..which was a swamp in its own right.

lurch wrote:Cool..spent 5 yrs as a kid at Ft Useless, i mean Eustis..which was a swamp in its own right.

Ah, an Army brat! They still call it Ft. Useless, btw...