@janagain Jan, I had purchased Pete's CD that was a musical story and a short story that he wrote about fictional place out west called McGuire's Landing. It is mostly instrumental with a few vocal ballads. The music reflects the chapters of the story about an Irishman named McGuire. For some reason, I had not listened to it, it was on my "To Do" list, but when I was looking for ways to relax and calm my nerves about my surgery, I listened. I was able to get lost in the music and this album is what I used to start my music therapy and deep breathing and learning to lower my blood pressure. I did this so much, I could call it up inside my head and hear every note, and that helped me through a very painful spine injection. It is my method to lower blood pressure when I feel stressed. You would love this. If you go to his website and YouTube sites, you can listen to this and there are videos of Pete talking about this project. It was a masterwork that he spent years creating with some known session players from Nashville. Pete and his wife also wrote a book about their medical journey called "Joined at the Heart". Reading that helped me as I was on my spine journey.

Playing Mountain Dulcimer in a harmony group is pretty amazing! Are there any videos of your group playing together? I would love to be able to do that. I haven't done any sewing for a long time, but I have done a lot of that too. I seem to have more creative projects than time to do them, and now that the weather is nice, I like to be outside. Staying busy will help you pass the time as you wait and give you something positive to focus on.

You might like this discussion "Art for Healing."
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/art-for-healing/
Jennifer