MiTunes 16

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
I'm weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
This fruit does make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

Scruple the Fifth

The Window

What a gift it would be to be a window.

  To allow both the letting in and the keeping out.

The two-way looking glass by which the world sees in and one sees out.

The panes through which sunlight pours in and candlelight peeks out.

 

 The glass upon which flakes and fingers make prints that mingle in the silent exchange: what it is to be a thing and to make a mark in the first place.

The window stands sentry for these moments: seeing things as they are and what they might be.

What a gift it would be to be a window.

Pre-Weekend Pampering

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey

Combine oil, extract, and honey.  Add brown sugar.  Rinse with hot water in the shower.  Turn off the water and rub in scrub.  Rinse off.

Don’t mind if I do!

Cinemoment - LOTR

Apparently I’m a woman of many Blog post strings:  Scruples, MiTunes, and introducing - the Cinemoment.  It’s probably evident by the name that these posts are snapshots from my favorite films.  And that said, I suppose it’s only proper to inaugurate the Cinemoment string with a scene from the most captivating epic (book) and movie trilogy ever made: The Lord of the Rings.

Enjoy.

And, because it’s Friday, here’s an added bonus.  Fast-forward to 4:40.

Gabriel's Hymn: A postcard's narrative (12/4/11)

I prophesy

From the dusty wilderness of
The corkboard square she pinned me to:
Next to and off the map
Which tracks
In white string and orange tacks
The route
A yellow star paperclip
Settling above
Each port
Announcing his arrival.

I: the harbinger from Cape Town.

It was like Advent,
Sitting in her tiny campus mailbox,
Waiting for the seraphic chorus
Of key's teeth chattering into keyhole.

I could’ve glowed
In her smooth hands:
Nail-bitten more than usual
For reasons obvious and unknown.

How blessed to be a herald of the
Good News!,
Gabriel’s hymn:

“Everything is beautiful here:
You’d fit right in.”

MiTunes 15

MiTunes 14

Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man died, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves em’ both
We’re all cast-aways in need of ropes
Hangin’ on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I’ve seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
But some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin’ that line back home

So much more to life than we’ve been told
It’s full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
Go down into the river and let it run
And wash away all the things you’ve done
Forgiveness alright

A Sojourner's Song

.....For the Traveler.....

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.

When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.

.....John O'Donohue.....

Renaissance Summer

This summer, I surrender to the last longings of my youth.  No “real job” for me: but I’ll be happy to babysit to my heart’s content.  Return to the days when my earnings were stuffed into a mason jar. No eight-hour shifts at the sandwich shop spent watching the sun shift absently across the sky. No shifts dutifully covered.  No carefully planned weekends requested off of work.

I give up the stable and quotidian existence just for one more summer to call my own.  A month on the mythical continent, at a captivating loss as to what I will find, or what will find me.  New adventures in aged books.  Sunrises on the road, sunsets pitched amongst the aspen trees.  Afternoons in the blustery balm on the reservoir.  Quiet nights watching old shows, indies, and lightning storms. 

These fragments, and many more: like the fin of a pinwheel, or a set of painted toes; the sound of a pigeon cooing in the morning, the still-cool breeze whisking through my open window.  I gift myself one summer to bask amongst the scruples; immeasurable, intense, and  invisible.

  And I call it a renaissance because I endeavor to immerge renewed. 

The Essence of the Thing (4/16/12)

Cut loose is the

Curtain of faux-confidence

Which conceals the face Authentic.

Root-rent is the

Creeping ivy, lank and dangling;

The limp standard of Society.

Shorn and shed is the

Fluff of vanity

The stuff inconsequential

The sublime scruff: beautiful

And Banal.

She; crowned in crop of flaxen Light

Appoints herself a Neophyte:

She claims magnificent Rebirth:

Self-Worth.

MiTunes 13

 

From the Poetic Archives

 

Wise Words

I don’t know about you, but when Zooey Deschanel speaks, I listen.  Especially when it concerns matters of rockin’ bangs, eclectic style, and exposing the heart.

Fact: I love Questionnaires!

Thank you to my sister Kimber Dixon for giving me a blog post that is finally worth writing!
11 Quite Random Things: 1) I only eat movie theater goodies during the previews, never during the actual movie.  2) I can fall asleep anywhere, and under 2 minutes.  3) I never sleep better than when I am napping on the couch with my boyfriend.  4) Mason jars, Scrabble tiles, wildflowers, old books: all items I hope to incorporate into my wedding.  5)  I love alternative folk music: The Avett Brothers, John Butler Trio, Josh Garrels, My Morning Jacket.  6)  My dream car: ‘96 forest green Jeep Grand Cherokee.  7)  I feel most myself when I am hiking in the Colorado Rockies.  8)  I love sitting in airports.  Absolutely the best people-watching around.  9) Possible names for my future children (can you tell I think of my future rather often?): Martha, Naomi, Joanna, Tabitha; Joshua, Micah, Benjamin, Levi.  10) After finding an apartment and buying a car after graduating from college, I am going to the animal shelter and rescuing my first dog.  11) Favorite books: The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix, Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Questions for Me:
1). If time/money were not an issue, where in the world would you spend 6 months?
I would live six months in the Irish countryside.  Otherwise, I would buy a ticket to Europe and backpack wherever the road would lead me.
2) What are you doing right now to change the world, even in the smallest way?
I am currently earning my Teaching Certification.
3) What is the book that you snuggle down with on a rainy day?
One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I am about halfway through the Fellowship of the Ring, so that would definitely be my choice on a rainy day.  It is such a descriptive, beautiful, mythical, (and coincidentally cloudy) book, it is the perfect fit.
4) If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?
I would love to be the proverbial “movie star for a day.”  I would love to be an Ellen Page or an Emma Watson for a little while. It would also be really fascinating to be my boyfriend for a day. I would love to know everything he was thinking.
5) Who taught you how to ride a bike?
My dad taught me back at our old house on Fort Collins, Colorado.  It was one of those beautiful summer nights that seem to only exist in your childhood memories.  Magical :)
6) What is the most important thing you learned from your mother/father?
Definitely my faith. They didn’t just teach me the rules and regulations, though; they taught me how to love my faith.  Whenever I think about being a mom, I am equally terrified and excited for this responsibility.  I have no idea how my parents did it: maybe it was the coffee and doughnuts after mass every Sunday!
7)  When was the last time you cried?
I cried on Thursday night.  I fell down a big, stupid, slippery hill on my way to my friends’ dorm.  No one saw, but that almost made it worse, because then I just had to half-laugh, half-curse to myself as I limped down the rest of the hill. Lame.
8) What are some of your everyday pleasures?
When the sun comes out and warms my face (only people who go to school in rainy climes will understand what a pick-me-up this can be).  Peppermint tea.  Seeing dogs or babies on campus.  Getting a voicemail from John.  Finding a letter in my mailbox.  A hot shower.  When classes get cancelled.  10-minute snoozes.  Wearing cute underwear (even though no one else is going to see it, it still makes me feel so pretty!).  Waking up before my alarm.  Watching the sunset on the deck.
9) Do you have a bucket list? If so, name 3 things on it. If not, make one. I dare you.
1) Learn how to: speak German, play the banjo, paddleboard.  2)  GLOBE-TROT (backpack across South America, Europe…or both, and live in New Zealand for a couple of years).  3) Climb all 52 14ers in Colorado.
10) What is something you've always been good at?
I’ve always had a knack for writing poetic analyses.  Kind of specific, but in general, I love taking a piece of writing and thinking about the reasons the author wrote what he/she wrote. 
11) What talent would you like to develop?
I mean, I’m really serious about learning how to play the banjo.  This summer.

11 Questions from Me to You:
1)   If you could pick any historical era to live in, what would it be? 2) Why is your greatest fear your greatest fear? 3) What would you do with $100 if you had to spend it in the next 24 hours?  4) What is your favorite character trait of the last person that made you laugh? 5) What movie, without a doubt, will always make you cry?  6) If you could meet any literary character, who would it be? 7) Who challenges you to be a better person? 8) What is something about yourself that many people don’t know, and would help them understand you better if they did?  9) How do you define love?  10) What is one of your idiosyncrasies?  11) What is the first memory that comes to mind what you see childhood?
Write 11 random things.  Answer my 11 questions.  Write 11 new questions.  Tag someone else.  ENJOY.

MiTunes 12

Scruple the Fourth

IS FULLNESS OF THE JOURNEY.

“Not All Who Wander are Lost”

I am drawn to books of great breadth, depth, and consequence.  I am drawn to films of epic angles, sweeping panoramas, and transcendence.  I am drawn to songs of the sojourn, the good beyond being, ansia. 
A wise man told me to reflect upon these things…to ask myself: Why these things? What is it inside myself that identifies with them?  What does this tell me about how I want to live my life?
I watched this video and felt it.  That straining of my heart against my ribcage; striving to free itself and participate in the reality emanating from a story: "A Story for Tomorrow."
Perhaps it means little to you, and that is the heart’s way. But what a suspended moment to realize that it means everything to me.

“A STORY FOR TOMORROW”

Inspirations

She tells her love while half asleep,
       In the dark hours,
               With half-words whispered low:
As Earth stirs in her winter sleep
       And puts out grass and flowers
                Despite the snow,
                Despite the falling snow.

…Robert Graves

MiTunes 11 – My Soul Song

This song is my cure-all.  No matter how I am feeling – stressed, worried, lonely, embarrassed, elated, proud, loved – it speaks to me where few songs can reach.  I hear God speak when this song plays. It’s my soul song.

Scruple the Third

THE PROFESSOR

The professor’s skin was as black as his felt jacket: his hair like the dusting of snow crowning his felt cap. His thin gold rims glinted, as did the aging whites of his eyes and the onyx irises.  His blue vest bulged a little, but his fingers were nimble and pale on the under-sides.  The fingers reached for the unengaged pencil on his pupil’s notepad. 

The professor’s accent was Kenyan: his plosives the product of full lips, and the rolled “r”s pronounced by a reclusive and raspberry pink tongue.  The full lips began,

“You and I, are like this pencil.”  He said.  Perhaps his priesthood preordained his many timely pauses during college lectures. “And the pencil,” he said, “has four points.”

“Point one, pencil:” he regarded the little machine with gravitas, “is that your goodness, is within you.”  The professor looked up.  “Your goodness is, within you.”  The thinking silences rivaled the mute snow. The professor critically regarded the pencil.

“Point two, pencil, is that you can do nothing,” this word he whispered, “unless you are in the hands of someone else.” A pause.

“Point three, pencil, is that you must be sharpened and re-sharpened many many times in your life.” The professor revealed straight rows of teeth, “Are you ready to be sharpened?” He questioned.

A pause. Again to the pencil, and with satisfaction, he said, “Point four, pencil. Is that you must always leave a mark.”

A Practice in Perseverance

Upon completing my first day of second-semester classes (which consisted of just short of two hours of class time), I find myself yearning for my boyfriend, a family dinner, a game of euchre with my parents, some comfy clothes, and a movie snuggled up on the couch.  Not a campus couch. A home couch. 

It is all-too convenient as a college student to lose hope (melt down and completely despair) when faced with another 16 weeks of…well, college. But I refuse to give in.  Thus, I honor my plucky British compatriots by this poster, to remind myself (in all seriousness) that: life goes on.  It is beautiful and worthwhile.  It is meant to be seized and experienced and respected.  And it is never as bad as it seems.  Even during finals. And the Spokane snow.

MiTunes 10

 

I Am Resolved

Here follows an account of my New Year’s Resolutions.  The priest at mass today told us to choose ONE resolution (it’s a pity I can’t do his Spanish accent justice via keyboard).  Well, I will now (respectfully) ignore his advice.  I’m 20 years old: I officially have less than a year until I traverse the dateline into adulthood.  This year, I want to attempt to set up some habits that will serve me well as I enter the world of the Big Folk.  So here I go:

 

  Mind:

• Read four books (namely, the Lord of the Rings, and a spiritual book)
• Make (and STICK to) a budget

Body:

• Gym twice a week
• Starbucks: tall drinks only, twice a week.  If I must camp out studying, then tea only.

Spirit (Ambitious, but if one category should be, it is this one):

• Daily mass once a week
• Rosary once a week
• Write in journal once a week
• Confession once every two months
• Read the aforementioned spiritual book (top candidates are a biography of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati or The Screwtape Letters)
• Regis Examen before bed each night

Habits:

• Dress up once a week
• Wait two seconds before answering questions (especially the dreaded, “Hey! How are you?”), and two seconds after someone has finished talking

Live every day as if it was your first, last, and only.  Happy New Year.