Contemplations
from the Marianas Trench

Biography & Stuff

My name is Lesley. My family consists of a philosopher (that's me), my new husband (YES!), three inspirations (aka children), six cats (yes, six - see the explanation below) and a big black lab. Several years ago, when I started these pages - many years ago, I was married to someone else (hence occasional references in the contemplations to the "King" - those references do not mean I had an active fantasy life with Elvis, or refer to my current husband!) After our divorce the children and I moved to a small hamlet close to where we used to live and then moved to Frederick County, Maryland. My life has changed so much I wrote about it in Fairy Tales.

I was born and raised a Navy Junior - so no where was home. I was fortunate enough to live in Vietnam and Japan as a child and traveled a good bit as a tourist - when Mom and Dad were paying the bills instead of me.

I was a stay-at-home mom for as long as I could possibly be. During that time I earned my M.A. (in History from Shippensburg University), worked occasionally as a part-time computer trainer and volunteered for a local women's shelter, giving speeches and teaching programs in middle and high schools. I was also a tae kwon do student and took pa kua for several years. Financial necessity drove me to full-time work. I worked at a couple of sales jobs in the computer industry just long enough to decide that wasn't what I wanted to do.

Years ago I had looked into what it would take to get my teacher certification. With the experience of teaching computer courses, programs in schools, and martial arts, I felt teaching was the career for me. I decided to go back to complete the requirements for my teaching certificate at Wilson College (Secondary Social Studies). I had a terrific time taking classes with some great professors. I also had a fantastic student teaching experience (thank you, Ellen) and had a couple of long term substitute position for the school district I student taught at.

However, I didn't find a full-time position. So as much as I love teaching, I was unemployed for too long to be able to continue to substitute. In the fall of 1999 I accepted a position with a company working as a document reviewer for a government agency. I am fortunate enough to have found a job I love even more than I did teaching.

This page started when I was a stay-at-home mom - and on a whim because I wanted to learn HTML. For the first few weeks it was Contemplations. Then I discovered background music - and midis. Then I discovered Barry Taylor's music...

I've always enjoyed folk music. Mom used to play the piano and Dad used to sing songs like Abdul Abulbul Amir and Maid of Amsterdam when I was a child. Although I took guitar lessons in the early 70s and learned some folk tunes then, I'd never developed much talent or learned anything of music theory. So I wrote Barry for permission to use his files and for a couple of months (with permission) just copied music from his and Brian Hick's ReelMusic site.

Barry persuaded me that I could enter single line melodies on a computer - and amazingly, I could. I sent him melody lines and he'd magically make it into something incredible. I became bold and began to do full arrangements. They didn't turn out very well at first, but they improved. I have purchased a lot of public domain sources over the years and base many (though not all) of my arrangements on them. They may not be completely original, but they are unique.

But the unique music wasn't enough. I wanted my entire site to be unique. I was curious about the songs and the history behind them. I thought other people might be curious too - and if they weren't it didn't much matter - *I* would at least learn something! So I started researching the origin of the songs and the historical background. I couldn't always find the history I was looking for on the Web, so I started my History Pages. The history of a couple of ballads led me to Child Ballads (which aren't ballads for children)... The result has been that I've been able to make the site into something unique and special (at least to me)!

My pages are now less about contemplating than about music and history. I've enjoyed the transition and love the music and history. I keep the title and I keep the Contemplations (though I don't update them a lot any more) because those were my roots and evidently a lot of people enjoy them.

All that's left to say is Welcome to Contemplations of the Marianas Trench - my sojourn into the web, music, history and myself!



For those who are REALLY curious ......
Here's a picture of the Contemplator and the Inspirations:

Inspiration One

• Kate
  
  
• Who was Teenager Number One and who is now an adult at college
• Beautiful, Intelligent, Witty, Strong...
• I say that even though she's not looking over my shoulder
• If you see her tell her I love her and am very proud of her.

Inspiration Two

• David
  
  
• Teenager Number Two - now also an adult and to go to college in the fall.
• A unique man who is a 40 year old in a teenagers body. His maturity often amazes me - but I wish he'd clean his room.
• Despite some hard knocks he is sensitive and compassionate - which I wouldn't say around other teenaged men!

Inspiration Three

• George
  
  
• Yes, Teenager Number Three (which guarantees me a place in heaven if the asylum is full!)
• The Playstation is rarely off
• When that's off the computer is on - he's created an rpg and pages for it
• When he's not at either of those places he's watching Japanese animee
• Despite all that he is, in mind and body more like a college freshman than a high school student. Which means he'd rather sleep in than go to class.

Inspiration and Main Squeeze

• Don
  
  
• Curious about everything and with sense of wonder at the world (which must explain his interest in me!)
• With a love of nature he has gifted to me.
• Gifted at his trade (carpentry)
• Irish to his core, despite three generations away!
  
  
• I couldn't possibly give him an inspiration number, because he's too important..
  I couldn't put him first because the kids have always been there...
  But I HAD to put him before the animals..
  And the best thing about him is that he'll laugh about all of that! (Which also explains his interest in me!)

The Animal Inspirations

• Lots of Cats
  • The cats who (one at a time, of course) sit on my lap while I contemplate, until I loose the feeling in my legs. I bet they know more about the computer than most cats and a great many humans.
  • We started with four. The kids adopted three more at their father's house. The kids then decided they wanted to stay with me full time, but didn't want to leave the cats - so I got custody of MORE cats. We have lost two - and though I never wanted so many cats, each loss was heartbreaking.
• The Dogs
  • Paco
    • A yellow lab
    • Paco got out of the electric fence and was killed on the road in March 2003. I miss her terribly and will always mourn her loss. A more loving, intelligent dog does not exist. She is replaced by another unique loving dog, but is irreplaceable.
  • Keeper
    • At year old puppy who is now probably 100 pounds (and feels like 150 whenhe thinks he is a lap dog). He is a bit less trouble than a puppy - so the shoes are not all being eaten. A handsome, pure-bred lab from a line of great champions. A true natural retriever who DIVES underwater for sticks (though he doesn't always bring back the one we threw!)
    • Who eases the heartache of Paco's loss - but I sure wish she were here to know him.