Truth – Alexander | website | Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes side project. Strangely eerie.
The Crane Wife 3 – The Decemberists | website | Last night’s shower song. I let the echoey tiles and water spray trick me into thinking I sounded all kinds of wonderful as I sang along. Apologies to my neighbours.
I received three red roses yesterday. They were waiting for me when I got home.
Due to a snafu at the florist’s they were delivered two days early but having just had a fairly blahhhh start to the day, the timing could not have been more perfect.
I am a ridiculously girly girl this week. I am smiling at strangers and helping people work out how the hell the bloody parking meters in our town operate and offering my newspapers to my neighbour to save her a trip to the newsagent. I am grinning at babies and patting passing dogs and not even caring that it’s been raining on and off for two days now. Today, I don’t hate the rain.
Have suddenly discovered art journals, via the magic (and serious time sucker) Pinterest. Check these out willya? Wow.
Inspired, today I thought I’d give it a go, and splurged on some new stationery. This is something I try not to do too often because I bloody love the stuff, but I was quite restrained today. I came away with new fine liners, some funky textas and some watercolour pencils. Nothing too fancy or out there, and more than capable of carrying out my fairly modest artistic ambitions!
I’ve started two different journals today, and one of them I think might be a lyrics based one. I know, what a surprise!
Here’s how the first page came out
I know it won’t win any awards, but it was fun and I think it’s cute, and I reckon that’s all that matters!
Spent an hour today studying. That was enough. Had forgotten just how blahhhhhh study can be. I’ve been procrastinating long enough though – I was awarded a grant to complete this course almost a year ago and I’ve only just started the damn thing today. Sigh. Self motivation has never been my strong point.
Ran 4 k’s this morning. Want food but am not actually hungry. Have to work in an hour. Listening to Grouplove’s 2010 self titled EP. Really like ‘Colours’ and ‘Naked Kids’, but ‘Cruel and Beautiful’ has stolen my heart this afternoon. Big love.
Fuck, it’s cold this winter. I use the expletive because it really is bloody fucking cold here this year.
I know this because I bought a new coat last year that I reckon I only wore three times. This year that beautiful gorgeous smoky-grey fitted lifeline has never left my side. Or my back.
I need sunshine and warmth and blue sky and usually in this neck of the woods the days may start frosty but burst into full sun by 10am. This winter though the heavens remain stubbornly grey and gloomy. And the wind! It’s the kind that rips right through you and lets you know without a doubt that somewhere out there it’s snowing like nobody’s business. Whatever that means.
So the antidote to all this wintry woe? Lots of couch time with a hot water bottle and one of the quilts that Mum made me. And tons of books – I read seven books last week! I had a couple of days off which explains a little of the excess reading time, but I tell you what, it was just what I needed.
This summery mix from I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has also gone a long way towards taking my mind off the yucky weather lurking outside my window. The whole thing is available for download here, and I especially love the two tracks you see available for download below.
I absolutely adore ‘Rio’ by Hey Marseilles. There’s a kinda hypnotic rhythm to the lyrics that I love and there are horns and strings and tempo changes and it’s all wonderful stuff. Listen!
Silhouette seasons and far-away reasons are all I have now Borders can keep me if Rio will have me to dance and to drown Take to the harbor like sails to set Sleep for the evening in failed regret Hold on to skylines of pale and coal Clouds on horizons and love to grow old
On the way I will go Where the days left to breathe Are not gone, are still long I am traveling on
Love is a hazard in lower Manhattan You cannot escape, and musn’t be saddened By men who abandon your eyes for another’s There are always Brazilian boys to discover….
‘Vocal Chords’ by Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (yes… it’s a strange name) is another favourite. It’s the chorus I think, the way the vocals rise at the end of each line. I don’t know why but that just totally works for me and I find myself singing it over and over again, for days sometimes. And this bit – –
I am your love There is no other voice I want to hear but yours Whispering vocal chords
Is a tad soppy I guess, but I don’t care. Love it.
Just before our love got lost you said
“I am as constant as a northern star”
and I said “constantly in the darkness
where’s that at?
if you want me I’ll be in the bar…”
On the back of a cartoon coaster, in the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada, O Canada
with your face sketched on it twice
oh you’re in my blood like holy wine
you taste so bitter and so sweet
oh I could drink a case of you, darling
and I would still be on my feet
oh I would still be on my feet
And then — there’s the James Blake cover version. Wow. Just… wow. Adore it. I love the slightly fuzzy piano and that voice. Can’t get enough. What a gorgeous rendition.
After a decade of begging and pleading, my family finally got me to sit down and watch The West Wing.
I’ve only just started Season 3… so shhhh… but it’s amazing that a decade on, all the battles and challenges and events and story lines are just as poignant and touching and relevant today.
Haven’t we learnt anything yet?
I spent last night crying over the death of Mrs Landingham and playing and replaying that final scene where Jed strides in from the rain, faces the barrage of reporters and hands in pockets, jaw set and eyes clear, states that he is in fact going to run for a second term.
And the soundtrack to this wonderful piece of television?
These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you’ll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you’ll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
There’s so many different words
So many different songs
We have just one world
But we live in different ones
Now the sun’s gone to hell
And the moon’s riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it’s written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
It All Started With Carbon Monoxide 