bird by bird

listened to jazz took my jeep to a carwash finally threw away the birthday flowers I dried to preserve checked my bank account laid on my couch staring upward for an undetermined amount of time dusted off the blades of my ceiling fan listen to HRC's new book while washing dishes and cried cleaned out my kitchen cupboards returned all the dog stuff I'd hastily bought at Target last week listened to HRC's new book while scrubbing my shower and cried watered my barely-surviving plants felt blue realized, while showering at 4pm, that I hadn't spoken to another person all day sent some emails dusted off my mandolin, tried to remember any of the three chords I once knew, returned it to its case felt inspired wrote this blog entry

This video has 17,999,407 views, and I'm pretty sure at least a couple hundred are from me. It makes me want to travel and move and explore and LIVE. It also makes me want to buy a GoPro so I guess it's a pretty effective ad.. Dare you to watch and not be addicted to this song and prompted to contemplate quitting your day job.

I've been striking out hard on the boyfriend lottery, but with girlfriends I've hit the freakin' MOTHER LODE! I think that maybe I lucked out so much with the women in my life that the universe was like, "oh, we better stick her with some asshole dudes to even things out." And honestly, if that is the case I think I'll take it. Men can break me, as long as I have women to put me back together. These last few weeks my lady pit crew has been doing just that. CH and TR brewed me heartbreak healing potion (essential oils) and LJK and CH sent me snail mail with pep talks and self-care recommendations. HR suggested books to read and music to listen to. LS checked in throughout the day and the week, letting me cry and analyze about the same 10 things over and over again. LJK suggested a trip, listing ideas of foreign cities and other future adventures. PD brought me pho and red wine and sat on my couch listening while I recanted every blissful then painful memory I

When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,    and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with    much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

Shifting the Sun by Diana Der-Hovanessian When your father dies, say the Irish, you lose your umbrella against bad weather. May his sun be your light, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the Welsh, you sink a foot deeper into the earth. May you inherit his light, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the Canadians, you run out of excuses. May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the French, you become your own father. May you stand up in his light, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the Indians, he comes back as the thunder. May you inherit his light, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the Russians, he takes your childhood with him. May you inherit his light, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the English, you join his club you vowed you wouldn't. May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians. When your father dies, say the Armenians, your sun shifts forever. And you walk in his light.

By: Robert Frost He would declare and could himself believe That the birds there in all the garden round From having heard the daylong voice of Eve Had added to their own an oversound, Her tone of meaning but without the words. Admittedly an eloquence so soft Could only have had an influence on birds When call or laughter carried it aloft. Be that as may be, she was in their song. Moreover her voice upon their voices crossed Had now persisted in the woods so long That probably it never would be lost. Never again would birds' song be the same. And to do that to birds was why she came.

I've been on quite a writing hiatus in the past year. There have been so many big and little things to write about that when I sit down to put fingers-to-keyboard, I usually just end up checking my bank account instead. I don't know why I do that; it is not fun. Anyway, here's what's been happening lately:  I've been getting into fender benders and ignoring my gym membership almost entirely. It's been 9 months since I've had a soda, 4 months since I started my job, and 1 week since I've seen snow. I watch way too much CNN and I don't read enough books. I feel really badly about that second thing. I have a new sheet set that is out of this world, I mean it. The A/C in my Jeep is out. I need a haircut. I've been eating a lot of animal crackers. I'm going to New York in a few weeks to visit some of my favorites. I'm excited to eat bagels and wear lipstick without worrying about breaking the "Colorado casual" dress code. I po

A year ago I wouldn't have used words like "political," "activist," or "protester" to describe myself. A year ago I was an optimistic and complacent American citizen who thought that as long as I was kind to people, the rest would work itself out. I thought I'd let Washington deal with the big stuff, like laws and policies, and I'd focus on the small stuff, like donating to non-profits and holding the door open for people. But in the past 12 months I've realized that it's not enough to hold doors open for people, and it's not enough to be kind. The truth is, I wasn't really participating in democracy. I was avoiding uncomfortable conversations about conflicting candidate choices, and I was assuming that the election would reflect my values and the values of most of the people I know. But I wasn't doing anything. But now all that has changed. If I have to think hard (really hard!) about one good thing to come from this ele