Jonesing for Fall

In the past week or two a lot of the fashion blogs I read have had a post about how they are starting to look forward to fall. It's that point in the summer where you begin to feel like you have worn everything in your closet a million times already and you just want something new. I always have a hard time investing in summer clothing. The summer is just so short here that it seems pointless to by a bunch of adorable summer dresses (no matter how much I want them) when I'm only going to be able to wear them for maybe a couple of months. So when you add that to my budgetary concerns this summer, I really have run out of interesting summer outfits. Plus, it is getting to the point where (at least for me) I am getting tired of the heat. What can I say, I'm a winter baby? Although, I don't really like the dead cold of winter either. Anyway, I too am starting to long for the cooler days of fall. Jackets, cardigans, scarves, boots, hats...there are just so many exciting things in fashion for cooler weather.

For me the dawning of fall also means the beginning of school. It's my senior year at college and I'm excited. I'm one of those weird people who actually love school. Seriously. I get excited pretty much every year. I am currently eagerly and impatiently anticipating the release of the fall textbook lists so that I can find out what I'm going to be reading this semester. I can't wait to spend a ridiculous amount of money on new books. The weight of a stack of textbooks, the way new books look and smell...ah, heaven! I could do without the hefty price tag though. And then there is the excitement of starting new classes. Those precious weeks at the beginning of the semester before the first round of papers is due when learning is still exciting and not stressful fill me with excitement. I'm also happy because this year I'm in senior level classes that are pretty small so I'm hoping we will be able to have some good discussions. And before any of that happens there is my favorite part of back-to-school...school supply shopping! Yes, that's right, I LOVE school supply shopping. Picking notebooks and pens and highlighters and date books is one of my favorite things about this time of year. You know that Staples ad that they run every year at this time where the dad is skipping through the aisles while pulling his grouchy kids on a couch and "It's the most wonderful time of the year" plays as the soundtrack? I think those ads are brilliant, and obviously they have proven effective since they've been running in one form or another since I was in elementary school, but I'm like the dad, not the kids. I get this love of stationary supplies from my father, like many of my other odd and charming qualities.

Fall is definitely my favorite season. Fashion, school, stationary...and the colors and weather! We Albertans kind of get the short end of the stick when it comes to fall. It's not very long and there really aren't that many trees around to change to pretty colors. One of the reasons I want to move east for grad school is because they get a genuine fall with the leaves changing color and the perfect weather that is sunny and yet crisp. Man I love everything about fall.

Now, to the picture. It may seem odd (because everything else in this post was perfectly normal...), but when I think of fall one of the first things that comes to mind is plaid. I love plaid. For some reason I associate it with warmth and comfort and cooler weather. So, to accompany my rhapsodizing about the many wonderful elements of fall, here is a photo of the McCurdy plaid. At least, both my father and I think it is the McCurdy plaid. We could be wrong. If anyone knows better, feel free to fill me in. Anyway. This is the fabric that was on the chairs at McCurdy's Restaurant at the Silver Dart Lodge in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. I loved Baddeck. I really just loved all of Cape Breton, but Baddeck is where we spent most of our time. There's family history there since my paternal grandmother's maiden name is McCurdy (yes, the ones that the restaurant is named after). One day I would like to own a kilt in the family plaid. Until then I will have to satisfy myself with several plaid items from the stores this fall.

By Any Other Name

[Romeo comes forward, Juliet entering above]

Romeo
He jests at scars that never felt a wound -
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady, O it is my love,
O that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold; 'tis not to me she spaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if here eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it wer not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
O that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might tough that cheek!

Juliet                                   Ay me.

Romeo (aside)                                 She speaks.
O speak again, bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a wingèd messenger of heaven
Unto the white upturnèd wond'ring eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Juliet
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo (aside)
Shall I hear more or shall I speak at this?

Juliet
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Romeo             I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized:
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Juliet
What man art thou that, thus bescreened in hight,
So stumblest on my counsel?

Romeo                               By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am.
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word. (2.1.44-100)

So, I am not really a fan of Romeo and Juliet. I know it is this well-known, tragic love story, but it mostly just annoys me. I can't stand the fact that there is no real villian. I think this is particularly unfortunate because Shakespeare writes some incredible villians. In the end it is really timing, or luck, or cosmic alignment that ruins everything, and that just isn't satisfying enough for me. Plus, Romeo and Juliet are really just incredibly whiny teenagers. And they make idiotic decisions. And they complain all the time. I don't think that my view of this play is helped by the Baz Lurhman film adaptation either. I know that I have friends who may disown me over this statement, but I actually really dislike that movie. This is due partly to the fact that I have a major bias against Leonardo DiCaprio, but is also because I find Romeo and Juliet even more annoying and whiny in the film than in the play. And the film totally changes the ending so that Juliet is waking up as Romeo is killing himself and so he knows that she wasn't actually dead. I mean, come on, that just makes everything that much worse. Now he knows how stupid he was. Really? Anyway. Moving on. Despite my dislike of this particular play I will admit that the iconic balcony scene is exceptionally romantic. I mean, they speak in spontaneous sonnets that are shared between them. And the imagery is incredible. So, as cheesy and overused as some of these lines are, they really are beautiful.

I really love this picture of one of my mom's roses in the garden. She bought this bush this summer and the roses are a gorgeous coral-pink. I'm not the biggest fan of roses in general, but I will admit that they make for great photographs. But would it really be as lovely if it was called something else?

Character

Not too much to say lately, thus the lack of posts in the past few days. Actually, I keep thinking of things to post, but can't seem to find any pictures to go with said ideas. I think this is a sign that I need to find somewhere new and exciting to wander around taking photos. Anyone have any ideas? Anyway, I thought I should put something up on here. I really like this image a lot actually. I've talked about the really old dictionary that I have before. Well it isn't exactly in mint condition, but since I love it for the very fact that it is a dictionary and not for any potential monetary value this doesn't bother me. In fact I kind of like that a bunch of the pages are all curled up. It gives the book character. This seems to be a recurring theme in my posts: the idea that imperfections and strange details are what make things interesting and beautiful. I certianly think life would be more boring if everything and everybody was perfect all the time (as lovely as that may sound some times).

Exuberance is beauty

William Blake once said that "exuberance is beauty". I think this is often true in nature, particularly flowers. As much as I love tiny, little, simple flowers, my favorite flowers are inevitably ones that have a bit of exuberance about them. I love peonies and mums, both flowers best known for their incredible number of petals. This peony is from the peony gardens at Fort Edmonton which is probably one of my favorite features of the park. Peonies are just amazing because as they bloom they slowly reveal more and more layers of petals. They look different every single day because of this. Yup, definitely a favorite of mine.

Inspiration in a Teacup

You must know that you can swim through every change of tide.

Okay, technically this inspirational quote comes courtesy of my teabag rather than my teacup, but "Inspiration in a Teabag" just sounds weird. One of my favorite teas is Egyptian Licorice by Yogi Tea. Seriously delicious. For some reason a lot of tea companies feel the need to put inspirational quotes somewhere on their packaging and Yogi is no exception. I guess it's part of that whole tea as part of a wholistic healthy living experience. Anyway, Yogi tea has quotes on the little paper part on the end of the teabag string. I've been drinking the stuff for long enough now that I was beginning to believe that I had read them all. Well, either I've missed some or they have started putting new ones on the packaging, but either way, I rather enjoyed the one that I got today. Even though life is pretty smooth sailing for me at the moment (at least in comparison to the past few months) I think it's an important thing to remind oneself that you can make it through anything. I think this is especially true in the good times. Now, don't get me wrong, I think that this is going to become a bit of a motto for my life when things get rough, but sometimes I find things like this end up sounding trite and empty when I'm in the midst of whatever it is life has thrown at me. It becomes more of a case of gritting my teeth and hanging on for dear life than really believing deep down that I'm going to make it through alive. I think that when things are good is the time to really ingrain these kinds of things into my brain. That way when the going gets tough hopefully it will be easier to keep believing it.

This picture is from the grounds of Blarney Castle in Ireland. It was a grey, rainy, windy day (hey, it was spring in Ireland, what did you expect?) and right as we were approaching the castle we passed this river/creek and it was so swollen from the rain and the water was just rushing by. I'm me so I took a picture. It seemed appropriate for this quote.

Black and White and Read All Over

Here's the big news of my week. On Monday I was offered a job! FINALLY! I am now officially working as a proofreader at an Edmonton paper. It's actually a really awesome arrangement because I can keep it when I am back in school. It is literally across the street from the campus, is part time, and pays well. Score. I worked at the same paper in a different position during my second year, so I know it means I'll probably lack a social life of any variety, but it is definitely doable. I was so excited when I got the phone call that after I hung up I started jumping up and down screaming "I got the job! I got the job!". This would have been a perfectly fine reaction and I barely even noticed until I realized that I was stading in the entryway of Chapters in West Edmonton Mall. People looked at me kind of funny. It was mildly embarrassing. Oh well.

A God-cursed scream, and strain of catastrophe

So the title today clearly has nothing to do with today's images. It was a stressful day. First solo day at my new job, and let me tell you, it is far easier when there are two people. I spent the entire shift feeling like I was just not moving fast enough. If you know me you have probably seen me at my jumpy-stressed-out stage. Seriously. It is like I'm hopped up on caffiene even if I'm not. I feel like my brain is firing a zillion times a second and I just can't move fast enough to keep up with it. Maybe it isn't as noticable to everyone else as I think it is, but to me it feels like I suddenly become super intense and over excited. Anyway. After 7 hours of that I am a bit spent. For some reason this line from Beowulf popped into my head as I was leaving the office tonight. Thus I bring you my blog title. It's a tad overdramatic, but captures the sentiment of my feeling so well. I think that willingly quoting Beowulf is a definite sign that I am an English nerd. I am okay with that. In fact I proudly own that title. I should get a shirt or something.

Since I'm feeling a bit fried today, I just went back to the shoot I was doing in my back yard a couple of days ago and picked out a couple of pretty flower pictures. I love these flowers that grow in the chainlink fence between our neighbours and us. I've shared a picture of one of them before, here. One of the great things about them is that their color changes quite a bit based on lighting conditions. I took the ones here while it was super shady in the particular part of the yard. I love the richness of the color that was produced.