>>>>Jane Through The Seasons

Some of us truly love the rain. We therefore get carried away when spring approaches and the snow becomes water again. I am arrogantly ignorant of the notion of unpleasant rainy days, but I do understand how something so beautiful can be rather daunting. We do not all experience things the same and this is why certain people cannot stand the rain and others ran into it. It is really a blessing to get free drinkable (unless the place is polluted) water straight from the skies. As a child, water shortages were the norm for my little village and for this reason we sung hymns of glee when the rain came––this experience is probably the foundation for my partiality to the wet ceremony. Rain meant one did not have to walk miles to fetch water. We had these aluminum gullies attached to the roofs in the courtyard of our house and put barrels and pots under them to collect water. And as we went about the happy chore of collecting free delivered water, we would play and bathe in the rain. The b…

boots  |  scarf  | hat |  brooch
Have a fun a weekend. - j

The Soul's Friend
by Rumiº

Listen to your essential self, the Friend: When you feel
longing, be patient, and

also prudent, moderate with eating and drinking. Be like 
a mountain in the wind

Do you notice how little it moves? There are sweet 
illusions that arrive

to lure you away. Make some excuse to them, "I have
indigestion," or "I need

to meet my cousin." You fish, the baited hook may be fifty
or even sixty gold pieces, but

is it really worth your freedom in the ocean? When traveling,
stay close to your bag.

I am the bag that holds what you love. You can  be 
separated from me! Live

carefully in the joy of this friendship. Don't think,
But those others love me

so. Some invitations sound like the fowler's whistle
to the quail, friendly, but

not quite how you remember the call of your soul's Friend.

---
º(From The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems. Translations by Coleman Barks)
---
Listen to my reading of "The Soul's Friend Below."

a past

They are ugly aren't they? It's why I thought I would never meet a pair of cowgirl boots that could win me over. But I did, six years ago. We had loads of fun until the fall of 2014 when I broke a heel. It was painful. Not my legs, just the thought of having to feed my precious boots to the garbage.
Then I remembered a friend told me once about fixing the heels of her boots. And although it could probably be "cheaper" to buy a new pair, I couldn't possibly imagine another being as accepting, and as beautiful as my old pair. So I kept them, broken and all (my budget, after all,  keeps itself in a grave: frothing at the mouth). Well, I got them fixed last week and it feels sooo good! The shoemaker was brilliant and he did such an awesome job. I wanted to hug him but a shelf separated us and it didn't cross my mind to climb over. I am reminded now that for most of my life I had no more than four pairs of shoes at a time and had them repaired and shined when the…

The spring semester has always been a favorite of mine. The idea of sweating out finals then stepping into a long summer of fun induces motivation. This is partly the reason why I am elated about this term. But also because if everything goes as it might, I will graduate in the summer.  It is most interesting that I will be using a whole semester to write one paper. A new experience which feels rather cool! But it means also that my time management skills would be put to test. I am a procrastinator, after all, and a lot of time usually has a negative effect on my productivity. I have decided to work out a daily routine to research and write. Should I be successful, it would be wonderful, especially since all such past attempts have been unsuccessful. However, I just saw this Ted Talk on breaking bad habits which I think could be helpful in establishing new ones. What is awesome is that I am very lucky to have for an advisor an amazing professor through whom I have gained some of the …

La Belle Dame Sans Merci
by John Keats

                             I.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
  Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither’d from the lake,
  And no birds sing.

                            II.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
  So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
  And the harvest’s done.

                           III.

I see a lily on thy brow
  With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
  Fast withereth too.

                          IV.

I met a lady in the meads,
  Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
  And her eyes were wild.

                          V.

I made a garland for her head,
  And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
  And made sweet moan.

                         VI.

I set her on my pacing steed,
  And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
  A faery’s song.

                        VII.

S…