Palm-sized, circular dumplings that are pulled together in a swirling flourish at the top – Nepalese momos are an edible work of art. Tucked inside each delectable one is a mixture of fresh ingredients that are cooked before being stuffed inside the thin dumpling dough, to ensure the filling stays moist once they're steamed.

Times are shifting indeed, all across the world.

There are many ways music can come into such changing circumstances. That is an idea we’ve continued to explore through the years in this ongoing series.

Perhaps you feel the need of songs to rally around, to sing together?

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have such gorgeous art to share with you today! I recently discovered an extraordinary artist, Jessica Laughlin. She wrote and illustrated a beautiful journal (published by Quarto) that we reviewed, entitled The 50 States Bucket List: The Ultimate Journal for a Journey Across America. 

As circumstances of all sorts continue to shift, and information of all sorts arrives from all directions, making time for centering and focus can be useful.

It can also be challenging.

Music can help with that. Giving the time needed to focus on one song, to center on repeated listenings of a favorite—or a whole orchestra piece or a whole album—can be refreshing. It can also offer space for new ideas to appear, new perspectives to evolve. Both of those may well be needed in these shifting times.

The traveler to Michigan's coastlines will be rewarded with the opportunity to visit many iconic lighthouses. As I traveled, writing and compiling information for my three-volume travel series, Exploring Michigan's Sunset Coasts, Sunrise Coasts, and Upper Peninsula Coasts, they added a bit of delight and historic perspective to the trip. Below are some of my favorites.

I was so excited to have this new and diverse children’s book to review: The Light She Feels Inside by Gwendolyn Wallace.  

I hadn’t grown up seeing myself in books—and I always felt that absence so deeply, it hurt sometimes. I have never found something that resonated with my inner child so much as this book. 

June. In the northern hemisphere, the sixth month of the year holds far more than its thirty days. 

Nuggets of goodness like the summer solstice, the half-way point of the year, and the end of the typical school year juxtapose the anxiety of what comes from that aforementioned half-way point and ending of the typical school year. 

Connection.

That’s an idea and a theme that has been part of this series from the first days of Music for Shifting Times. Connection to ideas, to places, to friends, to strangers, to memories: all are good ways to find and renew stability as times continue to shift.

Consider the creative ways these musicians find connection in shifting times.

Plump and misshapen, with a soft, chewy texture that’s reminiscent of pasta or gnocchi, Spätzle belongs in its own culinary category altogether.

Pervasive in Germany, Austria, and Hungary, and stretching into Switzerland and other neighboring European countries, the popular pasta comes in several varieties. But the miniature dumplings usually share a few common threads – a simple dough, heavy with egg and flour, and a cooking method that involves dangling the dough over simmering water so that it cooks on contact.