It's a day for music. Maybe it's because it's Sunday or just that I'm actually getting a chance to do this in the day time, but I'm opting for an easy entry. Right now the sunlight still streams into my window, all slanted and glowing as it comes through the Venetian blinds. My daughter clips her nails in her bedroom. I hear the snip and snap of them from here. My big son is out walking the dog. He's been so busy lately the poor thing hasn't had her regular exercise. The baby is sleeping, thankfully.

Right now there is no music playing, but perhaps I'll check to see what hubby has in the player; The Paul Simon Anthology, disc one. I've let it play. I haven't heard it in a while. Actually, my CD collection is abysmal. Once I had records, remember them? It was a vast collection of new and second hand vinyl albums and singles. Now we have CDs. There was a long space of time when I hardly listened to music or purchased any. I can't fully account for that time or even why I avoided buying music, but the sad fact was I did. Most of the music I listened to was either on the radio or Christian music, and most of that from bands in my own church.

But none of this is ultimately very inspiring to write to. I can't seem to find any really good Christian music in the Christian book shops. It all sounds so airy, ethereal, indistinct, especially after the kind of stuff the rock bands in our church play. I like all kinds of music, but insipid is something I rarely go for. Or Christian music has that bubblegum pop sound to it that kind of irks me. I just don't go for that sound. It's too plastic, or something. But then I feel that way about a lot of stuff they play on the radio. For someone my age, I'm turning 40 in two weeks, I cannot stand all that eighties nostalgia like so many other people in my age demographic. It just wasn't that great in my opinion.

So, what do I like? I enjoy a little Mozart, Beethoven, or a mixed classic CD I play quite often. I enjoy that there are no lyrics. Sometimes lyrics are distracting. I can play Ravel's Bolero over and over when I have a fiction project going. But I don't know much about classic music, to be honest, in case you thought I was some kind of a music snob. I also enjoy some hard and heavy Led Zeppelin and other bands whose names escape me at this point. I don't own any, but like to grab CDs from the library when I see them. U2 is also pretty good for writing or listening to in the car and zoning out. But the tape player in the car is broken. I enjoy Crowded House, those two New Zealand Finn boys who used to be Split Enz so long ago. Those guys really know how to play music and their lyrics are pure poetry.

Lyrics is one reason I love Joni Mitchell. We only have her Hits CD, but there are other really great tunes of hers I'd love to own. In particular I enjoy Chelsea Morning. Songs like that make me want to write my own lyrics. I get into a bit of Van Morrison, Carole King, Coldplay, classic guitar, and an odd assortment of music we've collected here and there.

But most of the time I prefer the sound of the street in the day, or night. If it's raining, well that's even better. There’s the slush and splash of car tyres on the wet road, the spatter of the drops on the window, the lulling rhythm of the water hitting the roof. I can get into that. But I love to wake early and watch the morning appear in the view from my window as I write. I listen for the black cockatoos fly over squawking and screeching to the rising sun. Anyway, the baby has woken and my time is up.