Searching For Mellow

It's often been noted that Charlie has a strong visual memory. I have been installing quite a few more albums onto his iPad (with attention to his need for symmetry, of course). Soon as I do, Charlie spots them right out and tries them. On Saturday, in view of his seeming liking for music with a bit more of an edge, I put a Pixies album and some M.I.A. on the iPad. He turned these right on, listened for a minute, then asked me to take the iPad, and I swapped those two albums for Alex Chilton's Big Star and (yes, quite a contrast), some monks chanting and singing in Latin.

Charlie has been trying out both just a bit, in a reminder to me that he does like things quieter, mellow, a bit more on the soothing side. No wonder he was a happy boy to be back on the bike trail on Sunday in Jersey horse country, with the river and the fishermen, lots of leafy green trees and, well, nature.

For a time, we used to take Charlie in to New York city many weekends, for a Friday night dinner in Columbus Circle or lower Manhattan and then a walk, followed by a ride on the PATH train and New Jersey Transit. It's been over two years since we've done such trips and Charlie has not asked. At some point, the noise of everything, from the creaky trains to people, people, and more people, to sirens and cars, just became too much. Looking back, I'm kind of amazed we were able to go on so many jaunts in the city and that Charlie did as well as he did.

I'm even more glad that we've found that he has a liking for nature, the countryside, and quieter zones, and mellower sounds on his iPad, as if he's getting a better sense of what kinds of things keep the peaceful-easy going.