Earth at Twilight
Credit: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA
For some reason, I have had Kate Bush on my mind today.
Category: Music
YouTube Gems
Before going to bed last night, I took out the dog and called the weather line. The temperature was 46F. Anyone want to guess whose air conditioner was running?
This has been floating around for awhile now, but just in case there is anyone out there who missed the darling otters, check it out. Right now.
And if you need a chaser for all that cuteness, there ya’ go. Never before have I been faced with the realities of simultaneously peeing my pants with laughter whilst vomiting. And, on second thought, perhaps that explains the laughing gnome? Hmmm.
Foughten wi’ rief and roguery
Don’t you just hate it when you get a faux Jacobite Rebellion song stuck in your head?
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea
Doodle
gel pen on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches
I usually doodle in front of the television. This evening, as I was getting out my pens, that stupid Cheerios commercial with the Donovan song came on. I adore the song in the commercial, but I’m kind of disgusted that it’s being used to pimp a breakfast food. O ick.
Anyway, if you aren’t familiar with the song, give it a listen. It’s very nearly perfect in every way, I think, and you can probably see why it appeals to me. Little boats and circles and all… There really is a method to my madness.
Little pebble upon the sand
Now you’re lying here in my hand
How many years
Have you been here?
Little human upon the sand
From where I’m lying
Here in your hand
You to me are but a passing breeze
The sun will always, shine where you stand
Depending in which land
You may find yourself
Now you have my blessing, go your way
Happiness runs in a circular motion
Thought is like a little boat upon the sea
Everybody is a part of everything anyway
You can have everything if you let yourself be
The news of the day
Staff Meeting Doodle
We had another meeting-slash-training-session today. This one was, thankfully, only an hour long, but that’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back. Damn! So, I did a little more doodling at the bottom of the previous doodle’s page, which explains the swirlies along the top border.
This may be as close to arting as I get today. I just don’t think I’m in the mood to mess with it. We found out this morning that one of our coworkers was in a coma, and was not going to come out of it. She died at 1:00 this afternoon. I didn’t know her well, but it’s still kind of weird and sobering to think that someone I saw on Friday is gone today. Poof! Just like that.
And that, such as it is, is the news of the day.
A man in my shoes runs a light and
All the papers lied tonight
But falling over you
Is the news of the day
Angels fall like rain
And love (love, love)
Is all of heaven away
(I always did love that Psychedelic Furs song, so it seems sort of fitting that it’s stuck in my head tonight.)
Everything never happened
I spent Saturday afternoon helping Ms. Lea with post-move cleaning. When I got there, it was warm and the sun was shining, so I took a few photos. The large granite rocks flank one side of the path to the pond, which is just visible at the base of the left-most tree.
As I was driving out to Owen County, I listened to Lloyd Cole’s Easy Pieces. Music is closely linked to many of my memories; I can place when things happened in my life by the music I was listening to at the time. So, as I was driving, I was reminded of listening to Lloyd Cole on my Walkman while detailing the interior of a neighbor’s ancient VW Microbus. As Why I Love Country Music played, the memory of scrubbing the seats with Lysol Tub & Tile cleaner and a toothbrush was so clear and immediate that I could smell the cleaner and see the stitches and the rolled bit of red piping along the edges of the white vinyl seats. Scrub, scrub, scrub as years of dirt and grime were lifted and washed away. Jane is always fine… Brand New Friend played as I washed the interior of the windshield with vinegar and a crumpled piece of newspaper. Polish, polish, polish away the streaks, while Lloyd sings about walking in the pouring rain with Jesus and Jane. She tells lies most of the time…
Of course, I also thought of Jayne, who introduced me to Lloyd Cole (and to Nick Cave, actually) when we were in high school, and I wondered where she is and what she’s up to. Jayne was not always an easy person for me deal with–we’re very different personalities–but she had a huge and positive impact on my life. I find that I have occasion to think about her frequently, and to hope that she’s doing well. I worry about her, though.
So I guess this post is a reminder to be glad of those little moments that don’t seem meaningful, because you cannot predict which ones you’ll look back on and identify as small events and which you will recognize as important ones, or when or how you’ll remember those moments.
Remember Me
I finished the second season of Little House over the weekend, and started on the third. One episode contained a funeral scene in which a sweet little poem was read. It reminded me of a song, but even though the lyrics and melody were on the tip of my tongue, I couldn’t identify which one. It nearly drove me to distraction.
Then, this morning as I was packing my lunch, it came to me. Class, please compare and contrast:
Remember me with smiles and laughter,
for that is how I will remember you all.
If you can only remember me with tears,
then don’t remember me at all.
— Julia Sanderson, Remember Me
Little House on the Prairie season 2
And now, Mr. Cuddlygoth:
Treasure, by The Cure
She whispers
Please remember me
When I am gone from here
She whispers
Please remember me
but not with tears
Remember I was always true
Remember that I always tried
Remember I loved only you
Remember me and smile
For it’s better to forget
Than to remember me
And cryRemember I was always true
Remember that I always tried
Remember I loved only you
Remember me and smile
For it’s better to forget
Than to remember me
And cry
Now, as much as I’d love to think of CuddlyGoth Robert Smith as a closet Little House fan (and I dearly would, just for the absurdity factor), I’m having a small amount of trouble picturing it. More likely, both Robert Smith and the writer of that Little House episode were both inspired by the Christina Rosetti poem, Remember.
Remember, by Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Shivers down my spi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ine
Shivers, The Boys Next Door
Lordy, but Mr. Cave was a wee, baby pup back then!
I Will Survive
Speaking of I Will Survive… I absolutely adore REM’s version.
Stealing Fire
This has turned into a beautiful day–warm and sunny with blazing blue sky.
On my way home, I listened to Stealing Fire. It occurred to me that the reason I love that album and Humans, in particular, is that they both speak to human potential, good and bad. Humans have an enormous capacity to cause harm; we’re our own worst enemies. We also have the capacity for greatness. In the end, it is the choices we make–the choices that make us human–that are at the core of his songs. Cockburn castigates us for our failures, but he also shines a light on our best potential.
red paper boat 