shapeshifting

I know I'm like a broken record on this topic but this video of Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg singing solo is just beautiful. Dude...we totally talked to him!!!

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/13654360" frameborder="0" height="225" width="400"/>

Shearwater from Marcus Moonen on Vimeo.

you were tracing the lines
of a globe with your fingers:
cool rivers, white wastes
desert shores, and the forest green
and a limitless life
in the breath of each tide
and the bright mountain, rising

but now the boys are away,
and such kicks they are having;
slashing away at the forest walls,
with their bitter knives.
sparks bloom in their eyes,
and they never look tired.
will they never look tired?

on cliffs that tower from the rising seas
their bonfires glow
where a tiger lies
and, cleaning their weapons,
they laugh at his useless
claws, and all:
it is a beautiful night
to be born to this life
and grind his every bone to powder!

do you remember
do you remember

she carried you down to the edge
of the dark river and said:
though the water is wide,
you will never grow tired
you are bound to your life
like a mother and child.
you will cling to your life
like a suckering vine
and like the rest of your kind
you will increase
and increase
past all of our dreaming

horse without rider
lungs without breathing
day without light
song without singing
a song...

Listen to this and swoon.

I should be outside and I will be outside but before I go, some things I want to spill onto the page:

• The thing I demonstrated in the vlog is for scattered energies. When you're overwhelmed and can't get a straight thought out of your head. Do it 2-3 times a day and feel everything click back into order. Seriously. I have another for you too. Which means..uh oh...another vlog on the horizon. I might brush my hair this time.
• I fought a migraine for three days and won. Sleep, sleep and more sleep.
• I dug out an old sketch pad and drew. And didn't judge the results.
• I took my camera out at 10pm with my dogs and took some beautiful photographs.
• I picked up my hoop last night for the first time in a very long week. I needed to feel good and it never fails me. I side-stepped (or rather didn't, heh, hooping joke) the walking spin and tried something else. I span the hoop on my hand above my head (Wild West) and then I dropped it down over my shoulders onto my waist and kept it going (Float Down). I KNOW! I did the same from an overhead spin on both hands at once and it felt amazing. I also learned how to spin the hoop on my neck. This morning I ache like f*** and have bruises all over my hands and can't wait to get started again. Except this time I'll try not to bash myself on the nose with a 44" hoop.
• At some point yesterday I was thinking about wildness and how when I was younger my wild side was in her element when she was leaping about to very loud music. Namely the music that she felt in her bones. Namely the guitar sound of The Edge. And then overnight the Universe did something amazing and Tor tweeted about it and I cried happy tears and it was awesome.
• And Tracie mentioned she'd been listening to Black Prairie and I loved them too. Perfect summer night listening (apart from Edge and Muse, natch).
• Also, I read this:

Wolves never look more funny than when they have lost the scent and scrabble to find it again: they hop in the air; they run in circles; they plow up the ground with their noses; they scratch the ground, then run ahead, then back, then stand stock-still. They look as if they have lost their wits. But what they are really doing is picking up all the clues they can find. They're biting them down out of the air, they're filling up their lungs with the smells at ground level and at shoulder level, they are tasting the air to see who has passed through it recently, their ears rotating like satellite dishes, picking up transmissions from afar. Once they have all these clues in one place, they know what to do next.

- Clarissa Pinkola Estes

This has been my weekend. I hope yours is/was as fulfilling.

This was on repeat play for me last night as I lay in bed wide awake. Two of the greatest voices ever: Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser.  Love Thursday takes musical shape.

I want to marry Ingrid Chavez. I'm just saying.

Phew. I feel the need for a catch-up. Skip this post if you like, it may turn into One of My Lists. There will almost certainly be bullet points. In fact I can feel one coming on...

• Dog photography I have some lovely ones sitting in my files waiting to be edited. They're mostly of my dogs but I don't care. I love my dogs. There's definitely a dog pics post coming up soon. They make me smile.
• Notebooks I've been drawing up some ideas based on things I'd noticed in my work notebooks. Sounds vague and yes it is, for now. Then I just pulled out an old notebook from home that I'd grabbed on my way out this morning; in case I felt the urge to scrawl or doodle in my lunch break (in fact I'm blogging but anyway...). The last time I used it looks to have been about 18 months ago (I have many, many notebooks on the go). I was supposed to be writing notes for something else but as I flick through, I see the word symbol on virtually every page along with squirls and scribbles. Not just for that one project, but for about three separate things over a long period. Talk about ignoring the obvious.This is what happens when I leave my brain in future gear - I miss the present and its simplicity. Hmm.
• SAD So far so good. A little medicinal help, a lot of being outdoors and so far I'm doing okay although my brain does seem to have gone into,"Hey HERE's another great idea!" mode and I'm having trouble staying asleep at night. I actually quite enjoy these times. Some of these ideas are great.Our clocks change back to GMT in a week or so. Things could go a little bit Pete Tong at that point.
• And your point is..? My daughter officially has "an attitude". Yes? You try living in an under-resourced orphanage for the first 13 months of your life, with a load of equally needy babies and no sign of your birth mother or your twin sister. How do you come out of that strong, smart, healthy and...oh yes...alive? You either have an attitude or you develop one pretty quick. So we'll work with her on maybe not sounding quite so much "like a 13 year old" but we'll be leaving her attitude intact. Kthxbai.
• Yeah I have an attitude too. When it's needed.
• Gym I'm back this week after a few days off and it's kicking my butt. Thankfully it also restores the range of movement in most of my joints and makes me feel good about myself. 4.5 stars.
• Meeting I just heard about a new(ish) group in Bath for families who've adopted from overseas. They meet twice a month and there's lots of familiar faces that attend. E and I will be making the short drive over to see everyone next time.I think E will be The Big Girl.
• The Big Girl She had a haircut. A real 1920s-style short bob which makes her look so ridiculously cute and cheeky that all I can do is stare at her.But she's growing, oh my how she's growing (thank you melatonin for helping her sleep so that she can grow and be strong).
• Potential disaster My laptop is on the blink and refuses to acknowledge the presence of the images on my camera's card. Hence no photo of the aforementioned haircut.
• The Universe I must say the U is doing a fabulous job at the moment. I'm feeling the love all over the place. In fact I'd go so far as to say 'universally'. See what I did there?
• Unravelling Further: exploring the senses Week one and Susannah has 'nailed it', 'made it her own' (oh wait),'given an authentic performance' and clearly has given it '200%'. She is very definitely this year's winner of eX Factor. But seriously...best. ecourse. ever.
• Mondo Beyondo I'd love to go here. Amazing. And that's just Maggie Doyne.
• Fabeku He's not kidding. I love what he's doing and he loves cake. Perfect.
• Beauty Is a dog called Doula.

Happy Friday.

Got the germy blahs. Sleeping. Feeling ropey. And yet still...

Listening to this:

Rook by Shearwater, my latest musical love.

Reading this:

And now this:

And about to start this:

All the time surrounded by this:

It doesn't exactly suck to be me.

I've added a Blip widget up there on the right hand side. It's fun putting this stuff out on Twitter (I know, I know but I like it). While I was looking for this track I found a live version on YouTube from 2003.

Oh Amy. I hope she can find a way back. What a huge talent she has. Enjoy.