I have no pearls of wisdom with which to begin this post tonight, so let us commence into day 4 of my blog & music challenges.

Blog challenge: Bullet your whole day

• Woke up at 7:37 a.m.  (I never set my alarm for even times)
• Got dressed in a black skirt, gray v-neck, red Dorthy-from-the-Wizard-of-Oz shoes and black and white, jail-uniform-striped cardigan.
• Sort of attempted to pull my hair back, brushed my teeth, grabbed my purse, keys and phone and headed to work.
• Drank half a cup of coffee and perused through my e-mails.
• Went to the local high school to cover and take photos at a program given to high school students against texting and driving.  The family who gave the program lost their 17-year-old daughter after she flipped her pick-up truck while texting and driving to high school.  I hope it resonated with those students as much as it did with me.
• Picked up the court and police documents and got back to the office to type up my police blotter.
• Worked on another story about our district court and sheriff’s office and turned it in to my editors.
• Felt the sweet release of heading home.
• Christopher and I got pumpkins and other essentials at Wal-mart.
• I’m now watching Chris labor over an intricate pumpkin pattern and watching The Next Iron Chef on my favorite channel, The Food Network…and eating candy that was bought for the trick-or-treaters we are not likely to have stop by on Monday (assuming the candy makes it that far).  It’s been a wonderful way to wrap up my day.

Music challenge: A song that makes you sad

I feel like I turn to music when I’m feeling sad more so than when I’m feeling any other emotion.  It’s an expressive outlet, even if I’m just listening to it.  My opinion about the songs that tug on my emotionally distraught heartstrings results in a tie:

“Quits” by Gary Stewart and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by The Possum, George Jones.

As I often choose to do, I won’t ruin these songs with words, but let their sadness resonate through your speakers.

Again, thank you all for being here.  Sweet dreams.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.

I hope you all are relaxing from a weekend of revelry and moving through the grind of another work (or school, or wherever you are in life) week.  I am excited for tonight’s challenge as it combines two things that share aspects where I find comfort.  And I am all about comfort – big sweatshirts, hot chocolate, naps with my goose-down comforter – the whole shebang.  So, I sincerely hope you enjoy tonight’s post, and another bonus recipe.

I love these revamped Penguin Classics.  My mom bought me Bronte’s Wuthering Heights for my birthday and it makes for a quirky decoration and great reading.

Blog challenge: A book you love.

This part of the challenge could not begin without mentioning where my love for books began: Dinotopia and Madeline.

I may have mentioned this already, but beginning when I was about 3 years old, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I would prattle about dinosaurs until I was blue in the face.  I could pronounce all of those mouths full of dinosaur names and used my dad’s horse shoeing tools to dig in the dirt for fossils on our ranch.

I don’t remember where I got Dinotopia, but I was transfixed by its elaborate, scientific drawings and was adamant about my parents reading it to me at night until I was old enough to read it on my own.  It is a rarity in that it blends human and dinosaurs and pits them in the same time period, imaginatively speculating on how the relation between the two might have existed.  It was, and still is, as a masterpiece that coaxed my love of reading and imagination.

And Madeline, the mischievous, adventurous Parisian girl who I loved and lived vicariously through.  I committed about 70 pages of the Madeline books to memory and would recite them to anyone, or any stuffed animal, willing to listen.  They were truly magic, and a cornerstone in my future as an avid reader.

I read a variety of books until I found the next series to make me jovial and intrigued; the Harry Potter series.

I share a passion for the characters, places, and spells in these book with a vast expanse of people.  The stories are imaginative and nostalgic.  I yearned to be more than just a muggle and to make my way to platform 9 3/4 to join some of the most beloved characters of our generation.  I did make it to the actual platform in London’s King Cross railway station, but to my dismay, was not admitted beyond its walls.

I will share these books with my children and great-grandchildren, and this series will always burn an inextinguishable flame in my heart.

Being a literature major, old soul, and hopeless romantic, I have always been drawn to the works of Jane Austen, specifically Pride and Prejudice.

Classic literature, albeit makes me sound like a lit snob, is my favorite.  Even after dissecting the juxtapositions and motifs of every sentence of classic novels and novellas in major college courses, I still can’t get enough of the classics.

They make me happy in that they challenge me intellectually and afford me the opportunity for a richer interpretation of a story that, usually, transcends decades and can still be applicable in situations I find myself in today.  It also provides a glimpse into a time and culture I will never intimately know.  Getting lost in the story is where I find incandescent happiness.

Paradise Lost by John Milton does not necessarily make me happy, but it makes me think, question, and ponder,  and makes me appreciative of the pain-staking process Milton went through to create a piece to stand that stands the test of time and takes on the super heavy notion of the fall of mankind.

However, recently I have stepped out of my pseudo literary snobbery and am currently reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin. It is the fourth book in his saga, A Song of Ice and Fire.

This is completely different from anything I have ever read.  I’ve read Geoffrey of Monmouth’s tales about King Arthur and knights and fair maidens, but Martin is untouchable as a literary mind in this specific genre.  The ability to morph and mold voice and thoughts around specific characters (a lot of characters) and his vivid descriptions of everything from food and clothing to physical characteristics of people and landscapes make this series a treat to read and delve into.  I’ve been drawn into such a beautiful, frightening, and sometimes foul and disheartening fantasy world through this saga and highly, highly recommend reading them, no matter your literary tastes.

For those of you with great reading ambition, here is a list I found on Listology, titled “1001 Books You Must Read Before you Die”.  You are sure to find all the greats.  Perhaps when I finish A Song of Ice and Fire, I will challenge myself to complete this list.  I would love to hear what books you’ve read, or want to read, in the comment section.  I am always up for reading and music recommendations.

Music challenge: A song that makes you happy.

The song that has been in my earbuds whilst writing this post is “My Favorite Things” by Julie Andrews, from “The Sound of Music”.

Julie Andrews is a heroin to be admired, and impossible to duplicate.  In this wonderful musical, she embodies grace, fineness, and displays this warm, captivating quality that I love and admire.

This song undoubtedly cheers me up, as is its purpose for the Von Trapp children in the film.

And, in closing, another delicious recipe.  I hope to try this one out soon. Image and recipe found at Willow Bird Baking, which is chalked full of delicious recipes.

Bar Ingredients:
2 cans crescent rolls
2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cup canned pumpkin
5/8 cup sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice*
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg*
1/2 teaspoon ginger*
*or substitute 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice for these spices.

Topping Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, melted (for topping)
1/2 cup sugar (for topping)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (for topping)

Optional Extras:
honey
toasted pecans (see directions below)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a glass 9×13 inch baking dish. Unroll one can of crescent roll dough (all in one piece) and lay it in the dish, pressing it out to cover the bottom and pinching any seams together.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, and beat to combine. Spread this mixture over the crescent roll dough in your pan. Unroll the other can of crescent roll dough and lay it over top of the pumpkin cheesecake mixture (I actually found it easier to lay it on some plastic wrap secured over a cutting board — this gave me a surface on which to pinch the seams closed and make it into one big rectangular sheet. I then used the plastic wrap to “flip” it carefully over onto the cheesecake mixture).

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Pour melted butter over top of crescent roll dough and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture evenly across the surface. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. While the bars bake, you can also toast the pecans on another rack — just spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast for about 6 minutes or until fragrant, stirring about halfway through the cook time. Transfer nuts to a plate to cool.

Let bars cool completely before covering them and placing them in the refrigerator to chill for at least a couple of hours (I left mine overnight). Cut into squares, heat for just about 20 seconds to take off the chill, and serve with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of toasted pecans.

Images in tonight’s post found on:

• Buzzfeed
• tumblr.
• Le love.

Thank you all for being here.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.

Tonight’s post empties the bowl of the alphabet soup you all have [hopefully] been enjoying for the past week.  I have another trick up my sleeve for future blog posts, but that will have to wait until the end of this entry.  For now, enjoy the amalgamation of tunes and homey photos and rich fabrics below:

Undone – Chris Knight Heartbreak in a song. “Undone” is a cover of the great Mr. Robert Earl Keen’s original, but Chris Knight does it justice, dark, heartbreaking justice.

Vagabond – Wolfmother A fun summer-y song that is sure to get stuck in your head all day.

Where do You go to My Lovely – Peter Sarstedt A beautiful oldie first heard in another one of my very favorite, heart-warming movies, The Darjeeling Limited.  It’s a waltzing tune wrapped in simplicity and loveliness.

Wild Horses – Rolling Stones A rough, unconventional love song with an original facet of love that I fully appreciate.

Wild horses, couldn’t drag me away. Wild, wild horses, we’ll ride them someday.

Yer So Bad – Tom Petty Just Tom Petty, being the Mad Hatter of the music world.  If you listen to this in the car, roll down your windows.  It’s a song that deserves some air time.

Yellow Ledbetter – Pearl Jam One of the amazing things about having a boyfriend, especially one with impeccable musical taste, is not only getting to wear his t-shirts to sleep, but to browse through his musical library.  He has always called me his “musical guru”, but he is mine as much as I am his.   He knows me infinitely well, and recommended this song and I have loved it ever since, of course.  It’s nice knowing that almost every time, what he recommends is something I know I’ll love.

You’ve Got the Love – Florence + The Machine I am obsessed with Florence and her voice is one of the best female voices I have ever heard.  This is another catchy song…I was actually belting it out while doing the dishes earlier.  If you need a pick-me-up song to start your week, here it is.

The Zephyr Song – Red Hot Chili Peppers No words required.  You all know the drill.  Fly away on my zephyr.

17 – Cross Canadian Ragweed I didn’t leave out the numbers in this post.  (I DID leave out the letter “x” because the two songs I have in my library that start with an “x” I didn’t like, and they were hence deleted.)  This song is the perfect anthem for growing up in a small town and your relationship with members of the community, your peers and even the local police.  This song will always pull me into fond high school memories.

Some of the beautiful rooms on this post came from the following amazing webpages:

• The Decorista on tumblr.
• Robot Heart on tumblr.

As this is the metaphorical emptying of the alphabet soup posts, I am moving on to something for which I am very excited. In my next post, I will be starting a 30-day blog challenge as well as the 30-day music challenge I mentioned in an earlier post.  The blog challenge was inspired by Lolita K., an adorably awesome blog I stumbled on recently.   The posts will be full disclosure in an effort to further push my blog into being even more personable.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.

The photos below are just ones where I’ve found beauty and where I find inspiration for what I want the materialistic things in my life to resemble.

The songs are a mixed bag for today’s helping of alphabet soup.  There are a few more songs than usual tonight because we are in the S’s and T’s, where there are a quite a few more songs to choose from.  So enjoy and extra long post, and thank you for being here.

Please, Please, Please Let me get what I Want – The Smiths I’m almost certain I’ve featured this song before on the lemon., but the Smiths are so uniquely awesome and I love the lyrics and delicious confection of an 80s/90s blended sound.

Psychotic Girl – The Black Keys Just another awesome twangy, bluesy, bearded Black Keys song about the beloved crazy girl.

Quelqu’un M’a Dit – Carla Bruni I love music from across the world – everything from Spanish and Australian rap to French ballads, which is what this beautiful, quiet, soothing song is.   I hope you enjoy Carla Bruni’s serene vocals, even if you don’t understand a lick of what she’s saying.

Restless – Allison Krauss & Union Station Another angelic voice I’ve always enjoyed.  I feel like Allison Krauss captures a lot of what life is like for a woman in and out of love.  And I’ve always found solace and comfort in her music.

Rose of My Heart – Johnny Cash The perfect love song.

Sacred Vision – Iron & Wine ”Weaving lyrical magic” to borrow a quote from “Megamind”.  This is a beautiful song, per usual with Iron & Wine.

Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding This, ladies and gentlemen, is what happiness sounds like.

Square One – Tom Petty Round two with this song as well, but it’s so heart-felt and just perfect.

Sweet Savannah – Shooter Jennings This song reminds me of the last summer I spent with one of the most wonderful men I’ve ever had the pleasure to know, Jerrod Fowler, who passed away at age 21 four years ago in August.  It was a soul-deep blow, but a few months before his passing, I went camping on my ranch with Jerrod and some of our friends.  It was one of many wonderful nights I got to spend with him that summer, and this song provided a lot of the background music to that camping trip.  I miss him everyday.

Tainted Love – Soft Cell My dad and I always dance to this song at weddings.  It’s my dad’s kryptonite.

Tennessee Pusher – Old Crow Medicine Show Blue grass twang that only Old Crow Medicine Show can capture and deliver like champs.

Think Twice – Eve 6 One of my all time favorites for working out to and for the awesome video and foxy red-headed lead singer.

Thistle and Weeds – Mumford & Sons Can’t stop listening to this whole album (“Sigh No More”).

Have a great week, darlings.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.

Kathleen – David Gray (feat. Jolie Holland)  I resented this song forever because my boyfriend has an ex-girlfriend by the same name – part of the petty girl stuff I sometimes slip into, I know.  Anyway, the beauty of this song cannot be denied, and though I still have to foolishly swallow a mildly jealous lump in my throat when I listen to this song, its combination of emotional and musical qualities really move me.

Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull Anther great adrenaline-inducing song and cult classic.  I love the soft piano intro that morphs into hard-hitting guitar screams.  And can we just talk about the coolness factor of the song title?!

Lola – The Kinks Oh man…this is such unorthodox song, but The Kinks’ smooth tones really make the controversial gender roles material of the song work.  I don’t know how they kept a straight face when singing things like “Well I’m not the world’s most masculine man, but I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man, and so is Lola.  Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola.”  It’s another great lyrical story.

Mykonos – Fleet Foxes This is a new-age song I actually really like.  I like the folksy sound of the lead singer’s voice.   The music video is also pretty neat.  Mykonos is on the top of my list of places I want to visit, and possible honeymoon to, in the far-off future.  The Fleet Foxes capture a new sound with more originality than most of their peers, and I dig it.

The Needle and the Damage Done – Neil Young This has always been one of my favorites.  I like the simple guitar and Neil Young’s unique ringing vocals about the disparity of a drug-induced lull and consequential yearning for the damaging habits of the drug culture of the song’s time.  Cross Canadian Ragweed does a pretty good cover of the “The Needle and the Damage Done”, too.

Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ – The Velvet Underground I love the bluesy story-telling sadness in this song, too.  I see a pattern developing.  It is good for listening to alone, especially if you’re in a contemplative mood.  It’s about perseverance, being ostracized, and, as the song denotes, the sweetness sometimes found in having ‘”nuthin’ at all.”  It is the background music to one of my favorite scenes from a movie. The movie is my favorite movie, “Away We Go”, and the scene depicts one of the characters doing a non-slutty pole dance routine to this song.  It’s a pole dance out of barren sadness, and it is a beautiful scene.

Thank you for bearing with me through another warm helping of alphabet soup.  I hope it wraps up (or starts off) your Saturday well.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love, m.

The pictures in  this post came from:

• Buzzfeed
• Tumblr.
• Honestly WTF (a b-e-a-utiful site)

Four Kicks – Kings of Leon At first I was disturbed by the violence in this music video – but the beat to the song sounds like how a street brawl would sound if it were music.  It makes me think of two thuggy soccer gangs going at it, à la Green Street Hooligans.  Anyway, if you are looking for a song to practice kick-boxing, field hockey, or sword fighting to; this would be the one.

Fair – Remy Zero A song polar opposite from “Four Kicks”. I have loved “Fair” since I first heard it in what is now one of my favorite movies, Garden State, a long time ago.  It’s soft and melodic and makes me want to tap dance in front of a fire-place.  Listen to if your feeling moody blue or contemplative.

Ghost Town – First Aid Kit  I stumbled on this song through my inter web meanderings and love the beautiful femininity of the vocals and crispness of the lead singer’s voice to the backdrop of simple string instrumentation.  Makes me feel just like this:

Going to California – Led Zeppelin I remember listening to this song in my headphones when I was walking to class on the Texas Tech campus.  It is a drifter’s song and something I don’t identify with from personal experience, but the song allows me some escape into that free mentality and I relish it, even if for a few moments.  It’s also featured in another one of my favorite movies, Almost Famous. It has an incredible soundtrack and a great band of characters.

“I always tell the girls, ‘never take it seriously.’ If you never take it seriously, you never get hurt, you always have fun and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.” – Penny Lane (played by charming Kate Hudson.)

Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley I will just let the chills this song runs down you arms and up your spine speak for themselves.

Hurricane – Bob Dylan I will leave my personal, politically inclined opinion out of the description.  I will say that Bob Dylan is one of the greatest story tellers, and this song is a protest tune inspired by a true story. The story of  Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and what the song is about can be found at the ever-reliable Wikipedia here.

I Am Not a Farmer – Bill Frisell One of my favorite instrumental songs.  It takes me back to the ranch.

Into the Mystic – Van Morrison I like this song because it unifies the human race in our set-backs, struggles and triumphs and again affords for a mental drifting journey through Van Morrison’s vocals.

“I want to rock your gypsy soul, just like way back in the days of old.  And magnificently we will fold into the mystic.”

Joe Bean – Johnny Cash This is one of my favorite songs from the man in black.  I don’t know why I’m so drawn to it, as it is throughly sad.  But again, a great story told from another amazing story-teller.

Just Breathe – Pearl Jam Another song about life and a true rendering of appreciating the people you love and surround yourself with.  I really urge you to listen to this one.

All photos featured in this post are courtesy of tumblr.

I hope you all have a sublime weekend.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.

I’m back…from outter space.  Well, back to resisting the drudgery of being grown up that seems to so often grow pressing weeds over my will to do anything I enjoy as of late. Fear not, I am taking my place as the gardener of my soul and ridding the weeds for the greater good of my happiness.

So, I will spare you my further tale of woe; let’s get right back into it.  In an effort to streamline your musical viewings, I am going to do a series of alphabet soup entires. I have listened to several songs pretty heavily lately and noticed that they go in semi-alphabetical order on my playlist.  I’m a sucker for a bit of organization, so here are 5 great songs, in alphabetical order, to appease my kindergarten self.  Also, a gratuitous diagram of the anatomy of a mermaid:

“A. Enlightenment B. Endarkment” – Ray Wylie Hubbard. I love Americana music.  I downloaded a free Americana sample CD from Amazon a while back and love every song on the sampler.  This song was on the mix and makes me want to sit on a front porch with the man, the myth, the legend Ray Wylie Hubbard, humming to this sultry, front porch pickin’ song with a bluegrass-y blend of gruff vocals, harmonica and a banjo ladened beat.

“Breakdown” – Tom Petty. If you’ve kept up with my blog at all, you know my favorite artist of all time is Tom Petty (and his band of Heartbreakers). “Breakdown” is a new age blues (as Chris described it) blend undertoning Tom Petty’s alley cat vocals. I need not say more.

“Carolina Drama” – The White Stripes Jack White, in his true wily fashion, sings us a mystery about a preacher, milkman and two brothers.  I’ve labored over the lyrics and listened this song more times than I can count on my fingers and toes and have yet to really figure the song out, apart from a few disjointed  theories.  I’m sure Jack White did not intend it to be figured out, but to remain nonsensical.  I would love to hear your theories in the comment section below.

“Do You Realize” – The Flaming Lips A classic by the bizarre-o Flaming Lips. I love the triumphant sound, featured so prevalent at the beginning and chorus of this song and it’s a good juxtaposition of the extremes of happiness and sadness experienced in our fragile, fleeting lives; but with a sunshine-y message about loving and living without self-instated boundaries.

“Dead Flowers” – The Rolling Stones I cheated and included two songs with that start with the letter D. This one is an extreme opposite to “Do You Realize?” in that it is sad, as denoted in the title.  The unrequited love in this lyrical tale is one I have experienced from the position of the person who couldn’t reciprocate the feelings of another.  It’s devastating on both ends, even if the one who can’t reciprocate is usually glamorized.  There is an understated suffering for both sides of love unrequited.  The music video I chose has a gratuitous slide show of the Rolling Stone band members – eat your heart out.

“Eleanor Rigby” – The Beatles The haunting violins and psychedelic trip tucked into the lyrics makes this one of my favorites Beatles songs. Mostly the violins though.  Mmmm. Violin instrumentals are the way to my heart, people.

Thank you for staying tuned.

I’ve attempted to wipe the metaphorical cobwebs from my lull into complacency that has kept me from the lemon.  I won’t make any promises to blog more regularly, but will say that it felt napping-on-a-summers-day good to get back to writing.  I really do have a strong attachment to this blog that I hope is conveyed in my musical choices and words.

The patchwork quilt of images and music is irregular and anti-thematic now, and probably always will be as that is a larger metaphor for my patchwork of a life – of which I love.  The images I collect whilst perusing the world-wide web are mostly filled with rooms, clothes and spaghetti western images that I love – I am drawn to color and texture.  That should offer a bit of foreshadowing for images to be featured on this blog.

P.S. WordPress, I like what you’ve done with the place.  Very feng shui.

P.S.S. The images in this post are not my own, but again, are found from some of my favorite blogs and are merely used to further infuse myself and my taste and style into this blog – the metaphorical blood, sweat, and tears.  The meat and potatoes.  Here are a few of the sites I use often for images and daily inspiration and life-enrichment:

• No Great Illusions (tumblr.)
• Denny&Son Salvage Co. (tumblr.)
• Tender Buttons (tumblr.)

Bonus Song: “Home” by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zones This is my current favorite songs.  It’s an unconventional love song and I love the lyrics and dialogue mid-song.  It appeases my hopeless romantic heart. 

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa
Not the way that I do love you

Holy roly, me, oh my, you’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Man, oh man, you’re my best friend, I scream it to the nothingness
There ain’t nothin’ that I need

Well, hot & heavy, pumpkin pie, chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
There ain’t nothin’ please me more than you

Chorus:
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
(2x)
La la la la, take me Home
Baby, I’m coming Home

I’ll follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Moats & boats & waterfalls, alley ways & pay phone calls
I’ve been everywhere with you

That’s true

We laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night
Nothin’ new is sweeter than with you

And in the sticks we’re running free like it’s only you and me
Geez, you’re something to see.

Chorus

“Jade?”
“Alexander?”
“Do you remember that day you fell out of my window?”
“I sure do, you came jumping out after me.”
“Well, you fell on the concrete and nearly broke your ass and you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you off to the hospital. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, there’s something I never told you about that night.”
“What didn’t you tell me?”
“While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was going to be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you and I never told you ‘til just now.”
“Now I know.”

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is whenever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you

Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you

Ahh, Home
Yes, I am Home
Home is when I’m alone with you.

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa
Moats & boats & waterfalls & pay phone calls

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.

I apologize for my musical and textual absence as I have been busy moving into a new, cutesy little home in the country, being a crime reporter, wrapping up my freelance project for Fodor’s and recently accepted another freelance project working for a quarterly journal-type-thing.  My plate is full of all healthy foods of  labor goodness, so I’m not complaining.  Chris is relaxing by the ocean in southern Texas as I type, so I’ve also been missing his warmth, even in this desert sun.

Since I began merely creating links to music videos as opposed to embedding the videos of my musical choice in the blog (which I believe was making the site slower than molasses in the winter), I have decided to include some photos to spice up my blog – some I’ve taken and others I’ve found in my inter-web-ramblings on my favorite sites.

While I was writing my articles at work this week, these are a few of the songs I had on repeat.  While semi-melancholy, I found these songs boast some of my favorite lyrics. “So there’s that.  I’ve got that.” (<— from the excellent movie Garden State. Great soundtrack, too.)  Now, the music and random photos where I find peace.  And, bear with me on the picture placement – it is going to be experimental until I find where they are cohesive and not whickity-whack within the posts.

*Disclaimer – the photos in this post are not my own, but are found on some of my favorite cites like: tumblr and buzzfeed.  Also, they hold no relevance to the songs they are listed next to, they are, as I said, photos that I’ve collected across the web and act as another means of expressing myself through mediums like music, writing and photography.

“Four Strong Winds” by the man in black, Johnny Cash  (cover of Neil Young, I think.)

If I get there before the snow flies
And if things are lookin’ good
You could meet me if I sent you down the fare

But by then it would be winter,
Not much for you to do.
And the winds can sure blow cold
A way out there.

“Yesterday” by the Beatles

Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
I’m not half the man I used to be,
There’s a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

“Hymn 101″ by Joe Pug

Oh, I’ve come to test the timber of my heart
And I’ve come to be untroubled in my seeking
And I’ve come to see that nothing is for naught
I’ve come to reach out blind,
To reach forward and behind,
For the more I seek the more I’m sought
Yeah, the more I seek the more I’m sought.

And I’ve come here to ignore your cries and heartaches.
I’ve come to closely listen to you sing.
I’ve come here to insist
That I leave here with a kiss,
I‘ve come to say exactly what I mean,
And I mean so many things.

And you’ve come to know me stubborn as a butcher
And you’ve come to know me thankless as a guest
Will you recognize my face when God’s awful grace
Strips me of my jacket and my vest
And reveals all the treasure in my chest

“I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bon Iver (cover of Bonnie Riatt – Adele also does a powerful cover of this song). Iver, in all of his beared, silky-voiced goodness

I can’t make you love me if you don’t,
You can’t make your heart feel
Somethin’ it won’t

Here in the dark, in these final hours,
I will lay down my heart
And feel the power if you won’t,
No you won’t.
Cause I can’t make you love me
If you don’t.

“Cloud Nine” by Ben Howard

All these faces, oh how they adore you
With every blessing, every strength of a storm
And it seems to me it all worked out so different,
Funny how distance and time, you don’t change at all.

So may your worries, may your worries never fall too loud.
May you stay here, may you stay here
Happy in your own skin, on the ninth cloud.

So hold your body, hold your body strong in these winds of life.
May I find you, may we sit together when we’re gray and old, on cloud nine.

This life’ll move you with every step outside.
It’s alright, it’s alright, my arms are open wide for you.
This life’ll move you as graceful as a tide.
Oh, it’s alright it’s alright, loosen the fears that bind you, loosen the fears that bind you

“Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman

You see my old man’s got a problem
He lives with the bottle that’s the way it is
He says his body’s too old for working
I say his body’s too young to look like his

My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody’s got to take care of him
So I quit school and that’s what I did

You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way

“Your Rocky Spine” by Great Lake Swimmers

I was lost in the lakes
And the shapes that your body makes
That your body makes, that your body makes
That your body makes

The mountains said I could find you here
They whispered the snow and the leaves in my ear

I traced my finger along your trails
Your body was the map, I was lost in it

Floating over your rocky spine
The glaciers made you, and now you’re mine
Floating over your rocky spine
The glaciers made you, and now you’re mine

I was moving across your frozen veneer
The sky was dark but you were clear
Could you feel my footsteps
And would you shatter, would you shatter, would you

And with your soft fingers between my claws
Like purity against resolve
I could tell, then and there, that we were formed from the clay

And came from the rocks for the earth to display

They told me to be careful up there
Where the wind blows a venomous rage through your hair
They told me to be careful up there
Where the wind rages through your hair

As you may have noticed, since the dawn of this blog’s time, I tend to use older music.

1.) I am an old soul and am drawn to all things old.  I believe everything was better quality and more genuine before my generation and its technology.

2.) To tie in to the point above, I feel like technology is taking over so much that every time I plug into any of today’s artists (in almost any genre), I am plugged into a monotonous robot.  I don’t know when music became so dubbed over by computer noises and electronics and choked the life out of raw talent.  It’s a shameful direction we’re going and I can’t find one artist that seems to differ from another in style.  So, when I do my musical delving, I get into my mental time machine and search back through the scores of the good stuff.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again.

love,
m.