Month: October 2016

Song Lyric Sunday 10-9-16

https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2016/10/08/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-10916/

 

Landslide by the Dixie Chicks

The theme for today, Nature, instantly made me think of the song Landslide by Fleetwood Mac, but when I looked it up, I found this version by the Dixie Chicks. I chose this video because of all the strange and beautiful images…the house with deep roots (for Helen), all the water (given our WordPress Photo Challenge for H2O this week) and what can more clearly represent Nature than a lovely pregnant woman!?

Nobody sings it quite like Stevie but this is a terrific cover.

Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
I took my love and I took it down
I climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide brought me down
Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life
Uh uh, uh uh, uh uh, oh
Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
And I’m getting older too
Well
Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
And I’m getting older too
Well, I’m getting older too
So take this love and take it down
Yeah, and if you climb a mountain and you turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well, the landslide brought it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well maybe, well maybe, well maybe
A landslide will bring you down
Songwriters: Stevie Nicks
Landslide lyrics © Domino Publishing Company

ChosenPerspectives on Nostalgia for WPC

Nostalgia

The day this theme came out, I had been sitting, blank-minded, struggling to finish a chapter in a series of posts I’ve been working on called My House as a Life. It’s about having lived in an amazing old house for well over 40 years, along with more than 40 various people, and 20 some animals. I needed some pictures for this chapter but simply didn’t have any.

Then I got an email from my son. A friend of his had come across some old public records, really old ones and found these photos!

(Imagination required here as the photos will not download! I will figure out how and fill this big empty spot later.) (OK, I am officially removing this statement now…because I finally got the photos to work!)

Fantastic shots that show how the rumored stories of my house are true…that it was picked up off its 1908 foundation (it kept sinking-underground springs) and somehow hauled up the hill to its current, dryer location.

And THEN I read the theme for this week!!! PERFECT timing!!

Can you be Nostalgic for a time BEFORE your time??

(I am so frustrated because as of this posting, I STILL cannot get my media library to load these dang photos of my house!) (Figured it out. They were bmp’s or something like that. I didn’t know there was a difference. I am learning SO MUCH here!)

Tree-Daily Prompt from ChosenPerspectives 10-5-16

Here she is, on the far left. She was one of only two big trees the builder saved when he tore down the oldest cottage in our area to build a mini-mansion.

27-memories-of-better-daysHe stripped her body of all her lower limbs, I suppose to enhance the house value by giving the new owners more of a view.

 

1-moonrise-ottingers-treeHere’s what I could see on Full Moon nights….through her branches.

 

2-sunrise-ottingerstree

This was my sunrise view each morning. She towered into those pink skies.

 

2-21-11-042Then one morning, I heard an awful sound, terrifyingly familiar….There was no warning. Just that terrible roar at 7 AM, on the morning of her murder.

 

I ran across our adjoining yards to say Good-bye. I had known her for over 40 years. My son had grown up in her shade. They wouldn’t let me near her.

 

2-21-11a-017It took hours to kill her. I couldn’t watch very much of it but I would return to my window and take a picture now and then…and tell her she was not alone.

 

11a-final-cutThe final Cut………

 

14-piled-on-the-hearseHauling off her parts, in a tree Hearse….

 

16-the-funeralHer decimated stump….

 

17-still-bleedingStill oozing her life’s blood……….

 

18-she-was-an-ancient-beautyHer perfume still powerful, all the way across the two yards and into my house….

 

21-her-perfume-still-potentHer ancient skin…cast aside, in broken chunks……….

 

20-beautiful-skin

But her breath-taking beauty…undeniable!

 

24-all-thats-left-of-herAll that’s left of her. We grieved for months.

 

img_7483Now, at sunrise, I can stilllook over at her Sister, spared the tragic fate imposed by the hungry builder.

 

img_7168

And the new owners have made the yard around her grave, a lovely spot for all to enjoy.

Tree

Song Lyric Sunday-Singer/Songwriters 10-2-16

https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-10216/

Have to thank Helen for this week’s theme. I LOVE it but I was awash with options and it wasn’t until Daily Musings post that I realized who I had to choose, and why.

During my high school years, I was introduced to Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, and the rest. I became a dedicated fan. While all my peers were listening to the Beatles, I immersed myself in folk music. I tried out for my school’s folk singing group, The Dozen Cuzins (I know, I know) and we travelled the South singing in competitions.

I’m telling you right now, Joan Baez may well have saved my life. I could pull myself out of any level of depression (and there were some deep, dark phases) by putting on a Baez album and cranking up the volume!

I followed her for years and have used her music in my therapy practice, assigning different songs to clients, as anthems to learn for their stage of healing. Seriously, if you’ve got a nasty boss or an abusive spouse, try singing along, loudly, with Joan to the song  “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around!”   Add your own words and you will FEEL the power!

My son is exactly the same age as Joan’s, so when I first heard the song she wrote to her son Gabriel, I was deeply moved. I can’t hear it now without tears and a quick phone call to my son.

So here’s my choice.

Lyrics

Honest Lullaby
Joan Baez
Early early in the game
I taught myself to sing and play
And use a little trickery
On kids who never favored me
Those were years of crinoline slips
And cotton skirts and swinging hips
And dangerously painted lips
And stars of stage and screen
Pedal pushers, ankle socks
Padded bras and campus jocks
Who hid their vernal equinox
In pairs of faded jeans
And slept at home resentfully
Coveting their dreams
And often have I wondered
How the years and I survived
I had a mother who sang to me
An honest lullaby
Yellow, brown, and black and white
Our Father bless us all tonight
I bowed my head at the football games
And closed the prayer in Jesus’ name
Lusting after football heroes
Tough Pachuco, little Neroes
Forfeiting my A’s for zeroes
Futures unforeseen
Spending all my energy
In keeping my virginity
And living in a fantasy
In love with Jimmy Dean
If you will be my king, Jimmy, Jimmy,
I will be your queen
And often have I wondered
How the years and I survived
I had a mother who sang to me
An honest lullaby
I travelled all around the world
And knew more than the other girls
Of foreign languages and schools
Paris, Rome and Istanbul
But those things never worked for me
The town was much too small you see
And people have a way of being
Even smaller yet
But all the same though life is hard
And no one promised me a garden
Of roses, so I did okay
I took what I could get
And did the things that I might do
For those less fortunate
And often have I wondered
How the years and I survived
I had a mother who sang to me
An honest lullaby
Now look at you, you must be growing
A quarter of an inch a day
You’ve already lived near half the years
You’ll be when you go away
With your teddy bears and alligators
Enterprise communicators
All the tiny aviators head into the sky
And while the others play with you
I hope to find a way with you
And sometimes spend a day with you
I’ll catch you as you fly
Or if I’m worth a mother’s salt
I’ll wave as you go by
And if you should ever wonder
How the years and you’ll survive
Honey, you’ve got a mother who sings to you
Dances on the strings for you
Opens her heart and brings to you
An honest lullaby
Songwriters: Joan C. Baez
Honest Lullaby lyrics © Gabriel Earl Music

Lyrics from Google Music

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