Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind

"Lovers Running" by Brian Kershisnik

Law School has started up again for Aaron. We are scrambling to order our lives around his class and study schedule. There's an expectation that every year of law school gets a little less intense, a little more sane. So I expected that this third and final year I could look forward to seeing Aaron around a bit more. A friend of ours, another third year, managed to schedule all his classes to fit on just three days a week, so I was starting to feel hopeful.

That was a mistake. After some final class hunting, Aaron came back with a schedule with class Monday through SATURDAY. Saturday? Saturday isn't supposed to be a school day! And he has class Monday and Friday night. Friday night, which was our date night. If I didn't know better, I might think he was trying to avoid me. He promisies he isn't and keeps quoting this poem to me, changing out the words war and sword with things like law school and study. It makes me laugh even though I'm still annoyed. So here's the poem of the week:

To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars

TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
As thou too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.

-Richard Lovelace

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Here's the poem of the week. Aaron thinks it is a "beautiful, lyrical poem." It makes me terribly sad. But it was Aaron's week to pick and he seems intent on depressing me. This really was the most up-beat option from him. I admit, it does remind me of one of my favorite poems:

Spring and Fall:

to a Young Child

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Spectrum

I listen to a variety of music that I believe ranges something like this:

Traditional Spiritual Folk, Folk, Southern Rock, Indie, Pop, Rock

Hmm, I think that's an appropriate arrangement, but I'm open to adjustments. Anyway, I'm equally happy listening to almost any of the above but my preferences vary on on my mood. Lately I've been farther to the left side of my scale which means listening to music that I don't often tell people about.

I've noticed it's a hard sell. It seems like many of my friends hear a twang and immediately say "oh, I don't like country" And while many may not recognize a difference, for me country and folk are DISTANT cousins, maybe sometimes there's a marriage, but most of that died out long ago. They're no longer inbred. The country I hear on the radio is so slick and smooth, it seems a lot closer to pop, pop for truck owning NRA members (and if you like that sort of thing, fine by me).

So I guess this has become my give folk a chance plea. And if this helps you, Folk is like indie, real artist relying on their musical ability as much as marketing to make their way in the world. Here's a band I've recently been enjoying, Crooked Still. Aoife O'Donovan has one of the most gorgeous voices, it's transcendent. If you like Alison Krauss like Aaron, you'll probably like Aoife. You can listen to their myspace page here. Sadly, it doesn't have one of my favorite songs they do, which was written by Gillian Welch another amazing folkists, Orphan Girl. I'll put the lyrics below. I think it's a beautiful prayer.

I am an orphan on God's highway
But I'll share my troubles if you go my way
I have no mother no father
No sister no brother
I am an orphan girl

I have had friendships pure and golden
But the ties of kinship I have not known them
I know no mother no father
No sister no brother
I am an orphan girl

But when He calls me I will be able
To meet my family at God's table
I'll meet my mother my father
My sister my brother
No more orphan girl

Blessed Savior make me willing
And walk beside me until I'm with them
Be my mother my father
My sister my brother
I am an orphan girl

School Shopping

Since school is starting up for a large portion of people that read my blog, I thought I would do my part to try to ease that perilous time I always dreaded. When considering what new clothes to purchase for the new school year, you might like to check out one of my favorite places, www.threadless.com. Independent illustrators and designers make these shirts. Through a democratic process the "best" get printed. You can purchase, peruse or vote on your favorites at the website. Here are a couple designs I've enjoyed lately:

Canoe for Two

So this weekend Aaron and I went to Walnut Creek which is about ten to fifteen minutes South of Charlottesville. We rented a canoe (5 bucks for a very liberal hour) from a couple dazed teenage lifegaurds. It was a good time. We found two beaver dams on the edge of the lake. And we were able to paddle up along side a grazing mother dear and her spotted fawn. We tried to go up a little creek but after a few CLOSE encounts with a couple dozen sticky spider webs and their large fanged occupants, we decided to stick to open water. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want it to get wet but I believe this picture is close enough to any we would have taken, minus the dog.

After reading The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Miller (AWESOME READ) and having such a good time Saturday, Aaron and I think it would be fun to take a canoe trip in Maine next summer. Anybody else interested?

Favorite Artist

A lot of times when people find out I studied art in school they like to ask me who my favorite artists is. I find it to be an agonizingly difficult question. There are simply too many artist that are for me worthwhile in their own way. But that's a lame answer, especially for someone who was simply expecting to hear, Monet or Michelangelo. So my answer is that I love the Northern Renaissance. Hans Memling, Hans Holbein, Jan Van Eyck, Albretch Durer... the list goes on.

I love their neurotic attention to nature, their utter devotion to the appearance of reality. The depiction of which they breed with the most abstract concepts. It's fascinating and lovely and bizarre at once. They are the short stories of painting, often small, compact and with every element absolutely purposeful and pregnant with meaning. But the pictures are worth a thousand words and long blogs are boring, so here for your viewing pleasure is a tiny tip of the iceburg

3 Years

Can you believe it? It's our 3 year anniversary! I can't believe we've only been married for three years because I can't imagine my life now without Aaron. We're still married and still in love! Even after law school.