I don't have anything to report on the music/writing front, other than to inform you that I'm staying the course, keeping my eyeballs peeled for the thousand points of light, etc.
Last month Miss Pixie was good enough to give me some remedial instruction in drawing. Being of the "I can't draw a straight line" mindset, it appeared at first to be a harmless exercise in futility, but a baseball, an apple, two oranges and a pear later, I'm finding it to be kind of fun. And the pear isn't half-bad. Attempts at drawing bananas have thus far had comic results, but the Louvre wasn't built in a day.
I'm working with pastels at the moment with an eye towards watercolors and, eventually, oils. The idea is to get to the point where I can do my own record cover, thus saving a little money.
One of the great things about drawing is that it forces you to remove the filters from your vision and see things as they actually are in the moment (insert your own Suzuki/Merton quotes); you have to see what you're drawing in its totality rather than contextually. I'm learning some valuable lessons that seem to be paying modest dividends in other creative endeavors, so it's time well spent.
I'll let you know when I figure out how to draw a banana.