For Cissy, I am putting together a sampling of all Joni’s CDs that I possess.

We have had the 200-disc player for many months, but it was only Thursday evening that I finally chose 100 of my favourites and slid them into the slots that will be their new home for a while.

The next day I woke up with the neck thing and after a couple hours realized it was not going to go away and took a pill. Then I laid down on the couch under a blanket with Joni’s CDs playing through from earliest to latest, from start to finish, and listed my three favourites from each CD. I laid there till 1:30 when my neck had stopped aching and it was time to go to town to pick my son up from school and run a few errands.

Of course, I was not even through half the stack of 17 CDs piled in square columns on the coffee table, so the next morning I listened to another one or two before coming upstairs to make banana pancakes for my sweeties.

It has been a very pleasant journey, this listening, for Joni Mitchell’s songs and particularly her singing of them are the most beautiful blend of lyrical imagery and musical heart. My soul moves when I listen to that woman.

It is a joy to introduce Joni’s music, to imagine someone else discovering Joni’s genius for putting subtleties into words and touching the spirit.

I am missing the CD versions of some of the albums I used to have on vinyl or on tape, so sorry Cis, you will hear no samplings from Clouds, Miles of Aisles or Mingus. But you will have a collection of over 50 of Joni’s songs, and when you purchase one of her CDs you will find yourself diving into a treasure trove.