Curiosity

Like the song playing here says, in 6 words:

It takes courage to enjoy it.

Driving in October Sun

I was stunned by such beauty today. I try to look at things with fresh eyes which is essentially the thing (I think) that keeps me feeling young and alive. The bottom photo is something I see every day on my drive to work -- some days in rain (very romantic), sometimes in sun and it always looks inviting to me. It makes me want to walk the path and then discover a secret garden way beyond the trees...

Friends with nice surprises

Thanks to a friend who pinged me about it (thanks Brian), I watched a live broadcast of U2 at the Rose Bowl tonight. And it was sa-weeeeet!

opening with Breathe...

Every day I,
have to find the courage
to walk down
into the street,
with arms out
gotta’ love you can’t defeat
neither down or out
there's nothing you have
that I need,
I can breathe
Breathe now

I couldn't have said it any better

Messages of peace

I've recently checked out the sound of Fox Elipsus. In a similar vein as John Lennon, Elipsus claims to bring songs of peace. He is currently visiting my city.
http://www.elipsus.net/

Them Crooked Vultures Announce Debut Album at Long Last

Them Crooked Vultures Announce Debut Album at Long Last

Read more by clicking on the link above!

What's in a name?

"That which we call a rose,
by any other name would smell as sweet"

Since more than one person has commented recently on my name (on this blog and elsewhere) I thought I would clarify. My birth name is Julia. My first family (parents, sisters) call me Julie which is not my preference at all but hey what ya gonna do? My co-workers call me Julia. My close friends call me Jules, Jule, Julia, J, J-ness, tini, tiny, foodie, word nerd and dork.

Oh and I also go by mama, mommy, mom and "God Mom" -- as in, "God Mom! Why can't I go? It's not fair!" : )

waiting for the light

The tea bag sticks to the side of my cup
and a kitty caresses my kneecap, happy
I am home
again.
The weather of the day - it can't decide
whether to be sunny or gray
still I feel a lightness of being
even without the warm promise of May
and the way in which a wet
tangerine colored leaf clings to my window
thinking it may get tossed to the wind
or if not
linger awhile there, waiting
for the sunlight to return

A poet is the shaman of the heart

I went to a poetry reading on Friday night and heard some very amazing work. Poets who put themselves out there with bravery thrill me...they are such gifts to the world. I enjoyed every second and felt that preciously fleeting but sweet inspiration. I'm going back soon and will read my own stuff too.

an excerpt from one (untitled) I heard Friday night:

...Winter melts, she shys away,
quiet like the silence a dying star makes.
I'm a jailbird to your music,
a criminal in your prayers,
I watch you when you're sleeping
even when you're not there...

-- C. Reiss

The heart can think of no devotion
Greater than being shore to ocean -
holding the curve of one position
counting an endless repetition

Robert Frost

Crumbs

And you speak of signs and wonders
But I need something other
I would believe if I was able
I'm waiting on the crumbs from your table

On the menu this week

This week I will make Cashew Chicken and Pork Tenderloin with Morel-Calvados sauce. I have never cooked with Morels before - should be fun and interesting. And Calvados... mmm I can't promise I won't drink some :)

I have made some discoveries recently -- I am preferring French cooking lately and I think it's because of the buttah...it's my weakness.

I'm craving long rides on my bike like never before but the weather isn't cooperating so much. And man, that sun goes down fast now.

For some odd reason, I've lost weight without doing anything different in my normal workouts. I like it when that happens.

I've added a couple of tunes by Til Tuesday - an old band from the 80s. I'm really digging Aimee Mann's voice. She's doing some good stuff on her own these days.

There is Another Sky

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

-- Emily Dickinson

Honing in

As the days shorten, and the nights grow long, I consider goals to accomplish before the snow falls. One of those few important goals is to maintain my focus on finishing the book editing. Focus focus. Get er done!

I must finish it because I have something new and very fun that I really want to write! No, I'm not telling...

Bedazzled

The boys were brilliant and magnificent in their glory last night.

They brought us a spectacular show of rock, funk, and even some hippy hoppy groove under a gorgeous Chicago sky and a four-pronged, 90-foot-tall canopy they called “our spaceship.” In fact the high-tech mega stage was flippin' unique and a monstrosity that couldn't be denied. They brought us the newly loved songs, the beloved old songs, and songs they have never played before. I was taken by the rare acoustical version of Ultraviolet, elated with Elevation, touched by Where the Streets Have No Name, in awe with No Line on the Horizon, moved by Magnificent and Surrender. For an encore, they played ONE and the crowd, for a short while...seemingly was. There wasn't one of the many others I didn't like.

The weather was perfect! I stood the entire time to honor the occasion, dancing and singing to the sounds of four men who brought me inspiration and joy for over two decades of my life.

One thing that never escaped my mind as I enjoyed the moments last night was that I will drink this all in, every last moment and every song with passionate love, for it is unknown if this is the last time. I don't, nor shall I EVER, take ANY of it for granted.

U2 360 Tour

Only 4 more days!
Only 4 more days!


So excited to see the dudes on stage and in CHICAGO! I'm so flippin' excited I'm flippin.

So of course, U2 tunage takes precedence lately.

Raspberry Bavarian Cream

This girl is in a cooking and baking mood! Besides my thoughts of home baked bread, home made soups, ratatouille, shrimp scampi, crab cakes and what not - I have my sights set on making a gorgeous and velvety Raspberry Bavarian Cream - which incidentally was featured in the recent foodie movie, Julie and Julia.

I'm part Bavarian so it only makes perfect sense, right?

only kindness makes sense

As I say adieu to a kind friend, I thought of this poem. The poet, Naomi Shihab Nye, actually read it once in front of me. I never forgot it.


Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the
Indian in a white poncho lies dead
by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night
with plans and the simple breath
that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness
as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow
as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness
that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day
to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

Musicians of late summer

There really is nothing like late August. I speak of the orchestra of cicadas, crickets and katydids.


The stillness of that summer buzzing: it has the power to transfix one sitting on a porch in the hot dandelion sun or silver spoon light of a new moon.

Gymnastics for the tongue

Of course I am a word nerd. I love words nearly as much as some other fun past time that doesn't involve words at all.

OK, I enjoy words nearly as much as I enjoy...

nibbling, munching, devouring


...fine...







...FOOD! hee hee


Speaking of words, this is a cool one:

Sibylline
adjective

1.	of, resembling, or characteristic of a sibyl; prophetic; oracular.

2.	mysterious; cryptic.

Surprises

So I had lunch with an old friend from college today. Well, to be clear, he actually stopped over at my table and asked if he could join me. :)

He used to be kinda geeky and he had his own computer service company back then. Now he's married, and not surprisingly - even more successful. It's interesting how people change and sometimes, for the better.

Word to those young single women who read this blog (and YES you know who you are) -- don't discount those smart, geeky ones. They might surprise you.

Diverse music, all the time

There are many reasons why I really dig the radio station 88.9 Radio Milwaukee.

One reason is because this station makes it all about the music (and some cool local community/artist stuff) -- but mostly music.

When I turn to some other stations (in the morning especially) they are usually talking and it isn't music talk. No, those other radio stations are often babbling about TV shows, Hollywood, celebrities, and what worse - more drama queen stuff pulled by some arrogant drama queen football player, who shall remain nameless and uncelebrated on this blog. No thank you - I've heard and seen enough of all that jive.

Thanks 88.9 for making it all about what I turn the radio on for in the first place.

Karzai's deal with the devil

Thought for today: I'm grateful to be a woman in America, and sad for Afghan women.


The August 20 election looks dim for Shia women with the impending law to strip away their rights.

The law essentially gives a husband the right to withdraw basic maintenance from his wife, including food, if she refuses to obey his sexual demands. It grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers. It requires women to get permission from their husbands to work. It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying “blood money” instead of going to prison.

It seems unthinkable for this to happen in the year 2009, but it's happening!!

Thankfulness

Once in awhile, I find a need to remind myself of the things I have. Today is a day to write a gratitude list:

I am grateful for my children - their undying love, their cheerleading, their hearts and their smiles
I am grateful for my children's health
I am grateful for my health
I am grateful for my job
I am grateful for the warmth in the air today
I am grateful for the many musical instruments and the inspiration behind the songs
I am grateful for my clean car
I am grateful for this yummy cookie :)
I am grateful for my awareness of things

I heart Chicago

Thank you ee cummings

a poet, a man, who felt it all fully and embraced his love, his angst, his passion

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

The love of Vivaldi

I have a strange ability to remember pieces of useless information. One thing that I seem to remember frequently is the music I hear in films. I can remember the sound for years, even decades, without even knowing the song title but I never forget it.

Case in point: Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in C Major. I heard this piece of music in a movie for the first time when I was a young girl. I was maybe 7 or 8. I watched a movie on television with my parents that involved a man who was beached on an island and he fell in love with a beautiful woman of the sea - no she wasn't a mermaid and no it wasn't Splash or The Blue Lagoon.

I didn't hear the music again until I was in my 30s but I never forgot it. In fact, just a few years ago I played it for my piano teacher on the piano from memory and she identified the composer and piece for me. Lucky for me the piece was written by one of my favorite composers. Before that, I could only name other works by him such as the Four Seasons.

Listening to the thunder roll

I took a mega long nap with my baby love this afternoon and it was heaven on earth. Only problem now is, I'm all awake!

Luckily there's a fantastic thunder storm to enjoy right now. It's pouring outside and the loud thunderclap crashes above me are gorgeous and make me feel absolutely alive.

Willow wishes that could come true

Making some serious progress with the edits to my novel. It just may be ready for letters to agents, publishers and/or editors by September.

And as I said before, if it doesn't happen this time, I will self publish! Because seriously folks - this girl has so many more projects in her.

Sushi lovin'

I enjoyed a roll of spicy salmon and a roll of avocado today and it was fan-tab-u-lous. The avocado roll is just supreme by itself and I know that is that bit of purist in me shining through.

I think I could probably devour the delicious textures of sushi several times a week if my budget allowed. What's even better: I had very nice company for lunch. Thank heavens for beautifully sweet co-workers.

Thoughts

I had a thought today: what if I had never met those in my life? Those who are reading this - what if I would have never met you? With regards to some people in my life, my soul is touched and I have a feeling my world would be vastly different had our paths never crossed.

With regards to some others, my world would be not as full, rich or passionate.

I owe a lot to the people I love.

Sometimes the world is just so beautiful

Today I felt the sun on my back and shining on my hair. I watched quietly as my extended family talked, played, drank, ate, hugged, kissed. These summer days and dreaming those little dreams and smiling about it all - it's like living in the middle of the ocean.

On the day you read this - find a person you love and TELL them. Don't forget to tell them.

Make a run for it!

It's a new day and it's gorgeous outside. I think I'll make a plan to get some vitamin D from that beautiful sun during lunch hour today.

Now...I just have to escape the fluorescent bulbs of this cubicle hell! Escape plan is being drafted.

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Reading and feeling the sonnets of life

This is the year that I am enjoying -- and actually noticing what I used to and perhaps lost track of: all the colors of the world that I haven't perhaps really seen in a while. I feel blessed to be reminded of such beauty that exists.

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Sweet Summer Loving

The summer is finally in full swing and I'm going to Summerfest a couple of times. It should be great. I love outdoor music festivals. Now, I just got to get some work off my plate so I can really enjoy.

Thought for today: Enjoy a sunset with someone no matter how far away they may seem

Living as a yes person

I typically like to live as a "yes" person. A friend sent me an e-mail and in it, this message was at the bottom and I thought "Yes! That's cool" so here it is:

Life is short:
Break the rules
Forgive quickly
Kiss slowly
Love truly
Laugh uncontrollably
And never regret anything that made you smile.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here, we should dance

And I so agree

Saturday morning

Coffee and oatmeal with my baby love and her big cheeks and tiny feet. Sometimes, the love is so big I feel I may burst.

One Hundred Love Sonnets

Is this sonnet not completely awesome? I am grateful for having my eyes opened.

Neruda's poetry is the stuff that makes one feel truly alive and realize the human condition. It is the stuff of life and how the lines between lust and love get blurred. I really appreciate some new found knowledge too. It is so crystal clear now.


Pablo Neruda's Sonnet 11

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
Like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.