i'll give you a treasure

Amazing season!

2005-12-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

I heart Christmas. My family is amazing. We managed to do almost everything we wanted this season [except watch a few notable movies together... The Santa Clause... Muppets Christmas Carol... you know, the classics. ;o)] and still had time to fix a wonderful dinner and go to church last night *and* this morning.

Last night was our candlelight service; it's one of my favorite traditions. This morning we went to a friend's church and had another beautiful service.

And I got a gilded aspen leaf from Colorado from my Grandparents. Do they know me, or what? ;o)

Music

2005-11-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the only way one can express oneself is through music. After all, it is, I believe, another form of poetry.

Sometimes when you dream,
Your dream is just a guess,
Sometimes, when you work really hard
You don’t know if you’ll ever find success...

I will not quit, I won’t be forgotten
I will shine, I’ll dazzle and more...
I’m ready to take a bow, I’ve taken a solemn vow,
My destiny here, and now, I’ll astonish the world...

Sometimes when you dream,
Your dreams com true
In extraordinary ways,
Suddenly a day can be so amazing...
And sometimes when you yearn, you burn the air
And someone else feels the flame
You always knew was there...

Only reading this does nothing; one needs to hear the harmonies and lilting chorus to feel the music.

This particular song is from the musical "Little Women." I can't tell you how much that book shaped me, growing up.

Art and Magic

2005-10-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

To go off of Timo's post:

All the arts are a form of Magic. There is nothing quite like the enchantment woven by a well-written story, the thrill that stirs the heart by a moving piece of music, or the breathtaking skill used in creating a beautiful work of art. This Magic, however, truly comes to life when the art is to the Glory of God our Father.

The creator puts a bit of his soul into his creation, much like the Original Creator did so long ago, therefore recorded music can be glorifying to Him even though it isn't "live." It all comes back to that trite saying: "it's the thought that counts."

Memories

2005-09-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

For some reason, or perhaps it's just delayed reaction to the time of the year, I have been really homesick for Colorado and the farm and my grandparents. So I'm going to share why I love it so.

Moments of stillness are necessary for the soul. You don't know rural peace until you've heard wind whispering through the corn rows. [Yes, all of that is my grandfather's.]

Little sis' and I, turning the chore of weeding into a contest to see who could get the biggest ones... Picking corn that we'd eat that evening at dinner... Grampa teaching me how to irrigate ditches... Going out at night to check for raccoons... Driving the tractor that planted and harvested these rows, year after year... Running along the lane with Lee... Hide and seek in the rows...

This is Colorado; the 'purple mountains' majesty' and the 'amber waves of corn/grain' ['course, that's behind me in the picture, so you can't see it...], the cow quietly grazing at sunset, the farm equipment in the field, the path leading into the mountains, ending with the snow-capped peaks in the distance. This is my other home. I love that place.

Edit: I grew up in the city; I'm not a "farm girl." We just visited my grandparents a lot. Yes, I got the best of both worlds.

Good music

2005-09-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here is my song for the asking
Ask me and I will play
So sweetly, I'll make you smile

This is my tune for the taking
Take it, don't turn away
I've been waiting all my life

Thinking it over, I've been sad
Thinking it over, I'd be more than glad
To change my ways for the asking

Ask me and I will play
All the love that I hold inside

-S&G

They just don't make it like they used to.

Day

2005-09-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

:o)

Good day. Not hectic, drive-me-crazy, run-around-and-do-a-bajillion-things day, but a slower, actually relaxed, being with Fun People day. It makes up for driving 370 miles on Thursday.

Pictures!

Babies make life happy.

Happiness

2005-09-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

God painted the sky tonight.

He's quite the Artist.

Then it rained. I think He was having a wonderful day. It surely made mine much better.

Happiness is slipping and nearly falling on your face in the first puddles of the "rainy season."

e.e. cummings

2005-09-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

The spacing is off on this, and unfortunately, spacing is a main factor in the beauty of E.E. Cummings' poetry. Look it up yourself to get the rhythm.

these from my mother’s grandmother’s rosebush white

roses are probably the least probably roses
of her improbable world and without any doubt
of impossible ours
—God’s heaven perhaps comprises
poems(my mother’s greatgrandmother surely would know)
of purest poem and glories of sheerest glory
a little more always less believably so
than(how should even omnipotent He feel sorry
while these were blossoming)roses which really are dreams
of roses—
“and who” i asked my love “could begin
to imagine quite such eagerly innocent whoms
of merciful sweetness except Himself?”
--noone
unless it’s a smiling” she told me “someone”(and smiled)

“who holds Himself as the little white rose of a child”

for Today

2005-08-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

if the Lovestar grows most big

a voice comes out of some dreaming tree
(and how i’ll stand more still than still)
and what he’ll sing and sing to me

and while this dream is climbing sky
(until his voice is more than bird)
and when no arm was ever as i

than that Star goes under the earth

e.e.cummings

Another

2005-08-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,
grant us in our misery [the grace]
to do for You alone
what we know You want us to do,
and always
to desire what pleases You.
Thus,
inwardly cleansed,
interiorly enlightened,
and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow
in the footprints of Your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
And,
by Your grace alone,
may we make our way to You,
Most High,
Who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified
God all-powerful
forever and ever.
Amen.

St. Francis' Prayer Before the Crucifix

2005-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

-

Most high,
glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart
and give me, Lord,
a correct faith,
a certain hope,
a perfect charity,
sense and knowledge,
so that I may carry out Your holy and true command.

-

For Good

2005-07-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

"Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun,
Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood,
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

It well may be that we will never meet again,
In this lifetime. So let me say before we part,
So much of me is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end,
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend.

Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

Thus goes every one to the world but I...

2005-06-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

...and I am sunburned.

I truly am, however. Sunburned on top of my sunburn, which looks as if life shall be quite interesting in two or so days. But kids are fun to herd around the harbor, like so many wooly brain-less mammals who follow the person in front. Of course. Next time my conscience speaks up, I'm tossing it into the bay with the two little ADHD kids who won't stop chattering for three straight hours. Whatever genius gave them sugar on top of it deserves a Darwin award, whether they're living or not.

On a lighter note, I love reading Shakespeare. Beatrice is my hero and role-model. [Not Dante's Beatrice, although she doesn't hurt the soul, either.] She's brilliant, witty, and beautiful. [i.e. the oppposite of me]

Everyone should have at least one speech of Shakespeare memorized... unless they're me, being my father's daughter, in which case I have at least ten, ready to pull out at any time.

My favorite?

Beatrice:
Good Lord, for alliance!—Thus goes every one to the world but I, and I am sunburned; I may sit in a corner, and cry, heigh-ho for a husband!

Don Pedro:
Lady Beatrice, I will get you one.

Beatrice:
I would rather have one of your father's getting: Hath your grace ne'er a brother like you? Your father got excellent husbands, if a maid could come by them.

Don Pedro:
Will you have me, lady?

Beatrice:
No, my lord, unless I might have another for working-days; your grace is too costly to wear every day: But, I beseech your grace pardon me. I was born to speak all mirth, and no matter.

Don Pedro:
Your silence most offends me, and to be merry best becomes you; for, out of question, you were born in a merry hour.

Beatrice:
No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born.

And I shall end with a memorable quotation from Captain Phoebus... "What a woman!"

I saw Dante's tomb

2005-06-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

and danced in the rain.

It's actually quite fun, and possibly one of the Most Beautiful Experiences I've yet had.

Another close one was on the way to and from Delphi... God sent us the most amazing weather.

I love traveling.

Excitement

2005-05-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

This time tomorrow I'm going to be on a flight to London, which will then go straight to Athens. We'll be visiting Athens, Delphi, Patras, Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Pisa and Venice. There's a cruise included, too.

We'll get to see Dante's tomb, and visit Patmos, and Venice, and... wow. I can't express how excited I am.

See you on the other side.

Rain

2005-05-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

What is it about this natural occurance that is so magical? It completely transforms the world.

"I hear it falling in the night and filling up my mind;
All the heaven's rivers come to light; I see it all unwind.
I hear it talking through the trees and on the window pane."

This is how I feel about this ordinary miracle. It brings new life and healing wherever it goes, and leaves the air fresh and clean, and the earth looking bright and new. And dancing in it brings a whole new experience to your soul.

"I never liked the rain, until I walked through it with you..."

Funny how little statements like this can mean so much. It especially tugs at your heartstrings if it's been said to you.

[Song quoted: "Like the Rain" by Clint Black]

Why?

2005-04-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

open your heart:
i’ll give you a treasure
of tiniest world
a piece of forever with

summitless younger than
angels are mountains
rivery forests
towerful towns(queen

poet king float
sprout heroes of moonstar
flutter to and
swim blossoms of person)through

musical shadows while hunted
be daemons
seethe luminous
leopards(on wingfeet of thingfear)

come ships go
snowily sailing
perfect silence.
Absolute ocean

e.e.cummings