A hundred freedoms fell on her.

I think this book may be a little too fancy for me but I must admit she can turn a phrase.

In the past few years she had let go her ties to people she did not like, to ironing, to dining out in town, and to buying things not necessary and that themselves needed care. She ignored whatever did not interest her. With those blows she opened her days like a piñata. A hundred freedoms fell on her. She hitched free years to her lifespan like a kite tail. Everyone envied her the time she had, not noticing that they had equal time.

—The Maytrees, Annie Dillard

OK, not all . . .

I'm also finding I'm not built for Diet Coke and muffins before 10:00 a.m.

I need to work on my willpower.

That's all.

I am not built for summer. At all.

I know I'm not that colorful but a bird just the same

Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken cause my spirits not free
Lord take away these chains from me

Some birds feathers are too bright to be caged
I know I'm not that colorful but a bird just the same
Open up your gate now, let me put down my load
So I can feel at ease and go back to my home

Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken cause my spirits not free
Lord take away these chains from me

Sun beating down, my legs can't seem to stand
There's a boss man at a turn row with a rifle in his hand
I've got nine children, nothin' in the pan
My wife she died hungry while I was plowin' land

Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken cause my spirits not free
Lord take away these chains from me

Can't see when I go to work, can't see when I get off
How do you expect a man not to get lost
Every year I just keep getting deeper in debt
If there's a happy day, Lord, I haven't seen one yet

Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken cause my spirits not free
Lord take away these chains from me

Land that I love is the land that I'm workin'
But it's hard to love it all the time when your back is a-hurting
Getting too old now to push this here plow
Please let me lay down so I can look at the clouds

Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken cause my spirits not free
Lord take away these chains from me

Land that I know is where two rivers collide
The Brazos, The Navaso, and the big blue sky
Flood plains, freight trains, watermelon vines
Of any place on God's green earth, this is where I choose to die

Take 'em away, take 'em away Lord
Take away these chains from me
My heart is broken cause my spirits not free
Lord take away these chains from me

—Old Crow Medicine Show / Take 'Em Away

I see, people waitin' for answers to questions no one knows

Hey,
Hey, Yeah...
Oh..
We'll Be, We'll Be Yeah,
Ohhh....

I been seeking survival it seems like my whole life long
And I been working so hard and it feels like it's all gone wrong
Time lonely, need someone to push me to help me through
Make my way through the clouds to the sun like that'll make do

{We'll be fine again}
I say we'll be fine again
{We'll be fine again}
Fine again
{We'll be fine again}
Oh, we'll be fine again

I see, people waitin' for answers to questions no one knows
Drinking joe's, only thinkin' "Oh Lord, whole life blown!"
May we pass out hugs to the thugs to heal our souls
And blue collar suffering, Oh Lord, heal us all

{We'll be fine again}
Oh, we'll be fine
{We'll be fine again}
Oh, we're gonna make it through, yeah
{We'll be fine again}
We'll be fine

Ay, hey
{We'll be alright}
I can't wait to see the brighter picture
{We'll be okay}
Everybody
{Sunlight will shine, past the storm}

Say every, every, everybody

{We'll be fine again}
I know we will, I know it'll get better
{We'll be fine again}
You don't have to drink yourself to sleep at night
{We'll be fine again}
You don't have to stomp all over your problems, no
{We'll be fine again}
Everybody needs a hug
{We'll be fine again}
{We'll be alright}
The whole world, the whole world will be fine
{We'll be fine again}
{We'll be okay}
Oh, yeah
{We'll be fine again}
{Sunlight will shine}
{We'll be fine again}
{We'll be alright}
We'll be alright, we'll be so fine
I know it gets better with time
Go on and let your hair down
Don't worry no more, no more
Don't worry no more, no more
I say we'll be fine again . . .

—Anthony Hamilton / Fine Again

phew.

SCORPIO [October 23–November 21] As I was driving out in the country, I spied a homemade sign: "I have seen the truth and it doesn't make sense." I'm guessing you might feel that way yourself right now, Scorpio. You have summoned the courage to see the deeper reality beneath the official story, but that has made you more confused than you were. So you're smarter and better informed, but are nonetheless feeling less secure. My advice: Don't flee back into the fake comfort of comfy delusions. If you can maintain your poise in the face of the raging ambiguity, you will ultimately be rewarded with a big dose of cathartic clarity. —Rob Brezsny, Village Voice

Such a handsome little man, my nephew.

Speaking of Lisa Hannigan . . .

First heard of her when she sang with Damien Rice . . .
One of my favorites:



Don't hold yourself like that
You'll hurt your knees
I kissed your mouth and back
But that's all I need
Don't build your world around volcanoes melt you down

What I am to you is not real
What I am to you you do not need
What I am to you is not what you mean to me
You give me miles and miles of mountains
And I'll ask for the sea

Don't throw yourself like that
In front of me
I kissed your mouth your back
Is that all you need?
Don't drag my love around volcanoes melt me down

What I am to you is not real
What I am to you you do not need
What I am to you is not what you mean to me
You give me miles and miles of mountains
And I'll ask for what I give to you
Is just what i'm going through
This is nothing new
No no just another phase of finding what I really need
Is what makes me bleed
And like a new disease she's still too young to treat
Volcanoes melt me down
She's still too young
I kissed your mouth
You do not need me

—Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan / Volcano

I don't know if you write letters or panic on the phone.

I don't know what you smoke
or what countries you've been to
if you speak any other languages
other than your own
I'd like to meet you

I don't know if you drive
if you love the ground beneath you
I don't know if you write letters
or panic on the phone
I'd like to call you
all the same
I would want to
I am game

I don't know if you can swim
or if the sea has any draw for you
if you're better in the morning
or when the sun goes down
I'd like to call you

I don't know if you can dance
if the thought ever occurred to you
if you eat what you've been given
or push it round your plate
I'd like to cook for you
all the same
if you want to
I am game

If you walk my way
and I could keep my head
We could creep away through the dark
or maybe not
We could shoot it down anyway

I don't know if you read novels
or the magazines
if you love the hand that feeds you
I assume that your heart's been bruised
I'd like to know you
You don't know if I can draw at all
or what records I am into
if I sleep like a spoon
or rarely at all or maybe you would do?
Or maybe you would do

If I walk your way
I will keep my head
We will feel our way through the dark
though I don't know you
I think that I would do
I don't fall easy at all

At all
At all
At all
At all
At all

If I walk your way
I will keep my head
We will feel our way through the dark
though I don't know you
I think that I would do
I don't fall easy at all

—Lisa Hannigan / I Don't Know

But his mama says he'll walk on water

Mary, carry your babe
Bound up tight like lips around a whimper
Your fingers over my face
Blind eyed Samson driven to the temple
And night birds digging until dawn
Freedom hangs like heaven over everyone
Ain't nobody knows what the newborn holds
But his mama says he'll walk on water
And wander back home

Mary, carry your shame
Well past all those eyes across the avenue
Fish heads running from rain
You know I'll do anything you want me to
Lamp oil lovers may say
"freedom hangs like heaven over everyone"
Ain't nobody knows what the newborn holds
But his papa's going to hide shaking gristle
And shaking like bone

Mary, carry my name
Hoof marks hacked up all I had to offer you
Looked all over this place
Lost your portrait lately when the winter blew
In like Herod and them
Freedom hangs like heaven over everyone
Ain't nobody knows what the newborn holds
But a dollar says he'll lick that devil
And do it alone

—Iron & Wine / Freedom Hangs Like Heaven

Violin

I stopped to listen to a street performer playing a violin this morning and it made my very bad mood a little better. Of course, I shared this tidbit with the peeps on effbook and a friend sent me this amazing article . . . old but very worth the read:

Pearls Before Breakfast
Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.

Gave me goosebumpers.

"If you love something but choose not to do it professionally, it's not a waste. Because, you know, you still have it. You have it forever."

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

It's been awhile.



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, 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

—Great Lake Swimmers / Your Rocky Spine

I wonder what he'd say, if he knew people felt like him today.

Elvis in a ring of fire
Hips swinging, feet swimming in an old pair of blue suede shoes
Eyes white like no dose, hair black as coal
He's walking the streets of Memphis
Picking up pennies found on their heads

He's dancing like he's on t.v.
I never realized but he's dancing for me
He's got a lot of fans out there but nobody cares
I just want to hear him sing
Didn't he know he was the only king?

He's acting like it's his last chance
Smoke rising from his heels every time that he'd dance
Blue rhinestones on his legs, flowers on his grave
I wonder what he'd say
If he knew people felt like him today

Elvis in a ring of fire
Hips swinging, feet swimming in an old pair of blue suede shoes

—The Everybodyfields / The Only King

Just kissin' for hours underneath that sweet magnolia

The time has come, there is no second chance
We’ve been drifting on an empty aching sea
You were the girl I never knew I wanted
I was the boy you hoped you’d never see

And it’s a shame
That we ain’t lovers
We could’ve been something, so big and grand
Just kissin’ for hours
underneath that sweet magnolia
Beggin’ for answers, tryin’ to make a stand

Been burnin’ up the hours, talkin’ to the midnight
Just dreaming of ways I could hold you next to me
But maybe it just wasn’t meant, all things have a reason
Maybe our hearts were just too careless and free

And it’s a shame
That we ain’t lovers
We could’ve been something, so big and grand
Just kissin’ for hours
underneath that sweet magnolia
Beggin’ for answers, tryin’ to make a stand

There was a time, when you would have had me
There was a time, I could have had you
But it’s too late, another path has come and gone again
I’m at the back door with a broken window view thinkin’

And it’s a shame
That we ain’t lovers
We could’ve been something, so big and grand
Just kissin’ for hours
underneath that sweet magnolia
Beggin’ for answers, tryin’ to make a stand

I’m so tired of writin’, but I can’t put down my pen
It’s too late now to talk or turn back
So just hold on, ‘cause baby here we go again
Headin’ the wrong way down that one way track

And it’s a shame
That we ain’t lovers
We could’ve been something, so big and grand
Just kissin’ for hours
underneath that sweet magnolia
Beggin’ for answers, tryin’ to make a stand

—Hayes Carll, It's a Shame

Double HEADS!

Kings. Ford.

Kingsford Goes to the Beach - The funniest videos are a click away

Need new drives.

SCORPIO [October 23–November 21] I've got some questions for you. First, where will you go to satisfy that special need of yours—the need that demands ever-fresh varieties of fuel? Second, who will you enlist in your efforts to change your environment so that it's more compatible with your drives? And third, what helpful influences will you seek to attract into your sphere as you refine your ambitions? The coming weeks will be a good time to cultivate your web of alliances as you address these questions. —Rob Brezsny, Village Voice

My sister brings the funny.

Legocity

I LEGO N.Y.

I love this. So very much.

While you're busy mixing grape with grain

That's some lovely fiddle, sir.

click friggin' here

I wish I knew which button to push
Then I'd know how to please you
It's sad but true
So I'll just listen in down the line
While you're busy mixing grape with grain
To sedate your pain

Songbird, you got tales to tell
How many times can you describe your living hell?

The sweeping gesture creates a fuss
It's only useful when receiving praise
Relieving no-ones pain
If you'd let somebody love you just enough
You'd have everything you'd need to break
Free from all your pain

Songbird, you got tales to tell
How many times can you describe your living hell?

If you'd let somebody love you just enough
Let somebody love you just enough
Let somebody love you just enough
Let somebody love you just enough

—Bernard Fanning / Songbird