is that alright, yeah

Give my gun away when it's loaded

This is not what I do...

lover, you should have come over

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,

While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue...

~Keats, "To Autumn"~

Proust, please

Adapted from here

• Your most marked characteristic? passion.
• The quality you most like in a man? artistic sensitivity.
• The quality you most like in a woman? quirkiness.
• What do you most value in your friends? their complete dedication to being good people and supportive friends.
• What is your principle defect? anxiety that can cause a life-blockade.
• What is your favorite occupation? teaching.
• What is your dream of happiness? Happiness is when I won't have to dream of happiness, because I will finally be content with my surroundings.
• What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes? not finding true love (again), not having children.
• What would you like to be? myself.
• In what country would you like to live? England, without doubt. I long for the moors.
• What is your favorite color? forest green, bordeaux.
• What is your favorite flower? black magic roses, lavender roses, sweet williams.
• What is your favorite bird? peacock.
• Who are your favorite prose writers? Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Bronte, A. S. Byatt, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• Who are your favorite poets? Keats, Tennyson, Neruda, Cummings.
• Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Sebastian Flyte.
• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction? Tess Durbeyfield, Jane Eyre, Anne Shirley.
• Who are your favorite composers? Debussey.
• Who are your favorite painters? Klimt, Waterhouse, Kandinsky, Chagall.
• Who are your heroes in real life? Audrey Hepburn, Charlotte Bronte, Decca Mitford.
• Who are your favorite heroines of history? Queen Victoria, Evelyn Nesbit, the Garman sisters
• What are your favorite names? Tessa, Sophie, Audrey, Holly, Jacob.
• What is it you most dislike? apathy.
• What historical figures do you most despise? Hitler.
• What gift do you most admire? patience, altruism
• What natural gift would you most like to possess? the ability to clearly speak my mind.
• How would you like to die? after meeting my great-grandchildren, but when I still have grasp of my memories.
• What is your present state of mind? stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted, hopeful.
• To what faults do you feel most indulgent? emotional over-involvement.
• What is your motto? 'There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." ~Leonard Cohen

burn, cinnamon candle, burn. permeate my soul.

Do you remember that sunny day?

Somewhere in London

In the middle of nowhere

Didn't have nothing to do that day

Didn't want to do nothing anyway

You got a way of walking

You got a way of talking

And there's something about you

And now I know I never ever

Want to be without you

I want to be haunted by the ghost

I want to be haunted by the ghost

I want to be haunted by the ghost

I want to be haunted by the ghost

Of your precious love

Of your precious love

The first time I saw you

Standing in the street

You were so cool,

You could have put out Vietnam

My girlfriends ask me, "What's he like?:

I say, "He's kind of shy,

But that's the kind of girl I am,

He's my kind of guy."

I'll build my world around you

I'll bless the day that I found you

I'll stand beside you, I'll never leave

Or tell you all those lies

That you'd never believe.

I dream of warm baths and sea glass / peacock portraits and tender poets

pictures from here, here, here

just a little green

Load the car and write the note

Grab your bag and grab your coat

Tell the ones that need to know

We are headed north

One foot in and one foot back

But it don't pay, to live like that

So I cut the ties and I jumped the tracks

For never to return

Ah Brooklyn Brooklyn take me in

Are you aware the shape I'm in

My hands they shake my head it spins

Ah Brooklyn Brooklyn take me in

When at first I learned to speak

I used all my words to fight

With him and her and you and me

Oh but it's just a waste of time

Yeah it's such a waste of time

That woman she's got eyes that shine

Like a pair of stolen polished dimes

She asked to dance, I said it's fine

I'll see you in the morning time

Three words that became hard to say

I and love and you

What you were then, I am today

Look at the things I do

Dumbed down and numbed by time and age

Your dreams to catch the world, the cage

The highway sets the travelers' stage

All exits look the same

Three words that became hard to say

I and love and you

I and love and you

I and love and you

6 observations

1. I think Natalie Merchant's voice is magical-- it has the same effervescent (or, in Natalie's case, phosphorescent) quality as champagne.

2. Last night I ate Ben and Jerry's Half Baked ice cream for dinner. Sometimes you need to have an "ice cream for dinner" night.

3. I cried for 2 minutes today due to some parents who needlessly attacked me during parent-teacher conferences. Then I cried for another 2 minutes due to another parent who told me I'm changing her child's life.

4. Lately I feel guilty when I do pleasure reading...but I think it might be necessary for my survival right now.

5. Nothing says comfort like an apple-cinnamon candle lending its scent to my living room, while I enjoy a cup of Hot Apple Cider or Mexican Hot Chocolate.

6. I greatly under-appreciated the 90s for their contributions to fashion and to music. I'm having a bit of a 90s alt-rock-emo revival: bring on 10,000 Maniacs! Bring on REM! Bring on ditsy floral slip-dresses, colored tights, and flannel blazers!

a loveless fascination

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty

Sounds of their breath fades with the light

I think about the loveless fascination

Under the milky way tonight

Lower the curtain down on Memphis

Lower the curtain down all right

I got no time for private consultation

Under the milky way tonight

Wish I knew what you were looking for

Might have known what you would find

Wish I knew what you were looking for

Might have known what you would find

And it's something quite peculiar

Something that's shimmering and white

Leads you here despite your destination

Under the milky way tonight

(photos from here and here)

Daisy hopes her daughter is a beautiful little fool

New love:

From Jane Eyre's News Feed:

Jane has a new servitude.

Jane took the Quiz: How Would You Snag a Byronic Hero? with her top method being "Wander listlessly down a lane, distracting him so he falls off a horse."

Rochester was blind but now he sees.

Jane commented on Rochester's status: Reader, I married him.

Keep holding on, cause you know we'll make it through, make it through

I don't think my brain is big enough to contain all of the different strands of thought I have right now. I'm feeling a bit lost, like a bad teacher. Where is the balance? How do I remain planned out and organized while not sacrificing my evenings and my sanity? How do I display knowledge when I frequently feel more clueless than my students? It's all so hazy-- I have no idea where I'm headed for the most part, so no wonder I feel confused.

I feel lost. I miss people who know me. I don't want to constantly feel like I'm a step behind.

New apartment pictures!

View from the door-- still a bit empty, and my coat is strewn across my desk chair. Any suggestions for rugs or wall art?

Closer, my lovely couch and exposed brick. I made the pillows from Anthropologie cloth napkins. On the table is my beloved Audrey Hepburn book, the best gift I've ever received.

Isn't she lovely? She hangs over my vintage secretary desk.

I made the Victorian-style silhouettes. They hang on the wall adjacent to the TV.

New armchair, lovely bird table, antique key to add some Victorian charm.

The TV rests on my grandmother's vintage dresser. The photograph is of Portabello Market flowers in London-- I took it a few years ago and enlarged it. I love the colors@!

Exposed brick and wire shelving.

My lovely kitchen-- note the vintage handkerchiefs that "patchwork" the countertop.

Lovely paintings in the kitchen.

Ceramic birds, crystal hearts, and lovely crystal "flowers" that never go bad.

The lone bedroom picture-- it's a bit unruly right now!

Far from finished, but I think it's loverly.

"my parts, my title, and my perfect soul"

Insomnia strikes. I wear a mermaid-green satin eye mask and try to shut out glinting light and whirling thoughts. Tomorrow will be another long day if I don't get some ZZZZZZs. It's too lovely taking one spare moment for myself, though, and checking out the newly-revamped Lula website. I must get my hands on the fall copy...

Baaaaaack

I'm so sorry for my blog-cation. I have been way overwhelmed with the move and the new job. I just moved into my new apartment on Friday, and I'm still living surrounded by boxes and chaos, but overall I'd say I'm happy. I've been struggling a lot with feeling inadequate and being-- oddly-- the only woman in the English department. English was always a touchy-feely subject for me, whereas the other members of the department are rather no-nonsense, but I'm given the freedom to do what I like, for the most part. My kids are sweethearts. And now it's momentary rest time, before I begin planning like crazy again. PS, during my next unit for the 9th graders, I intend to show clips from both Amelie and Stranger than Fiction in the same day! Better than Bavarian sugar cookies, indeed...