Saturday, September 22, 2007

Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine.

So, in typical impulse, one afternoon before dinner, the kids and I put this together. I think it's ready for the internet.



We're making art here, people.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Bravery.

I've received permission to post this letter a friend shared on her blog. I found it inspiring, and in the recent passing of the responder, a message to extend through all our days on earth.
Example

dear anne,

thank you for your letter in january. i like the way you speak of "writing life alive". it's true that sometimes we must write our tears and hopes and fears on paper. mercy and reconciliation can come to us through story.

keep cultivating your work and remain brave in it.

blessings,
madeleine l'engle

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

My life in others' words...

"If you could do it, I suppose, it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line - starting, say, in the Dark Wood of Error, and proceeding by logical steps through Hell and Purgatory and into Heaven. Or you could take the King's Highway past appropriately named dangers, toils, and snares, and finally cross the River of Death and enter the Celestial City. But that is not the way I have done it, so far. I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circle or a doubling back. I have been in the Dark Wood of Error any number of times. I have known something of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven but not always in that order. The names of many snares and dangers have been made known to me, but I have seen them only in looking back. Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I have deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led - make of that what you will."

Wendell Berry from Jayber Crow

Thursday, September 13, 2007

More vibes...

I've run my course with this song, and somehow it comes back. Often. It's ringing on my phone, it's on myspace, it's in my sleep.



If I told you things I did before
Told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me?

If you knew my story word for word
Had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

...like water on a burning beach...

Last night I went to see Crowded House play the Ryman auditorium. It was a really important night for me. A great grace.

It was taking in some beauty with the closest of friends. A big communal embrace. And all of it 4th row balcony, dead center, as Neil Finn sang:

Can you imagine that
an itch too sensitive to scratch
the light that falls through the cracks
an insect too delicate to catch
I hear the endless murmur
every blade of grass that shivers in the breeze
and the sound that comes to carry me
across the land and over the sea
And I can't look up
fingers of love move down
Example
Truly, colour is it's own reward.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

End of the Day

I've seen the end of the day come too soon
Not a lot to say, not a lot to do
You played the game, you owe nothing to yourself
Rest a day, for tomorrow you can't tell
You can't tell

It's nothing that I haven't seen before
But it still kills me like it did before
No it's nothing that I haven't seen before
But it still kills me like it did before

Example

I've seen the end of the day come too soon
Like the prison dogs they set out after you
You owe nothing to the past but wasted time
To serve a sentence that was only in your mind
In your mind

It's nothing that I haven't seen before
But it still kills me like it did before
No it's nothing that I haven't seen before