Eleanor Rigby

Until I was 20 years old, I thought that the lyrics to The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby were, “Look at all the lovely people.” In August 2005, I had just spent the summer in Connecticut working as a camp counselor with about 15 British people and had become accustomed to the accents. When I got back to the South and was driving around in my car, sweltering in the late summer heat, I remember realizing, “Oh!, lonely people,” when I heard the song on the radio.

Yes, I realize that “lonely” is more understandable in context. But since when did Beatles’ lyrics make sense? Eleanor Rigby falls between Yellow Submarine and Penny Lane on the number one hits CD; these songs were clearly devised under the influence of opiates. And I am the Walrus, really? And even sensible songs don’t make that much sense – 8 days a week, Love me do? What does “love me do” mean? Come on.

“All the lovely people.” I thought The Beatles were making some sort of statement about people who seem to go about their lives without other people noticing – they are actually lovely, maybe we should take notice.

But no, I was wrong. The Beatles were just pointing out the fact of these people’s loneliness. Poor Eleanor and Father McKenzie.

Speaking of The Beatles, I’ve had this song stuck in my head for weeks now.

Laughing at yourself

"If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you'd like." - Garden State

Do you ever find yourself identifying with sitcom characters? Does this terrify you and make you laugh at the same time? Surely this is the point of comedy - to literally make you laugh at yourself.

Case in point:

I was watching a rerun of 30 Rock last week and completely, 100% identified with Elizabeth Lemon. Nerts!

Maybe I’m also as adorable as Tina Fey………… Doubts.

Here’s to laughing at yourself.

Flowers and snakes and weeds, oh my!

Taking advantage of the sunshine, brisk as the day may be, I managed to find some spring on this, my last ever day of Spring Break. A quick nature walk:



This little guy is the culprit that began my picture taking this afternoon. I took 13 pictures of this little black snake sunning himself on the sidewalk. This moment made me realize how much I'd been missing nature and, like the snake, the sun!



The dogwoods are blooming, the dogwoods are blooming!



This yellow fellow may or may not be a weed, but I think it's awfully pretty. (Spending time with nature makes me talk like an 85-year-old. I apologize.)



I have a fondness for this raggedy little flower. It's a survivor, you can tell.



But they were all quite pretty.



This week has been lovely - spending time with babies (and their parents), sleeping until 8:00, cooking, chillin' in NOLA and the A. Ok, ok. Enough de-stressing. Time to re-stress. Back to reading and writing and being responsible.

See you in May, Nature.

Best of...

3-year anniversary finale (Leap Day doesn't count):

Overall, the posts from Tanzania have been the most viewed posts of all time. In particular, the Zanzibar post is the most popular - and this is due to some strange Google searches, I might add.



My favorite Tanzania post, though, is Wrapping up mainly because it is such a sweet memory to me.




Here's to more travels, more experiences to share, more life to live...

Bust a move

Rerun Day 8: 4/28/09 Not so dirty dancing

I need to get back in a routine that includes some sort of exercise.. maybe at the end of this week.. maybe next week.

I should at least go dancing soon. Anybody down??

These feet need to get to moving.

Sweet southern comfort

Rerun Day 7: 2/4/09 Southern "Pride"

When I began this blog, I was living in Newark, NJ. And it was often that people were stunned that I was from the South.

I appreciate being Southern. I like that it is totally legit to appreciate Ludacris and Kenny Chesney - and to know that it is wrong for any country singer to rap in the middle of an otherwise fine song. I like that it's understood that strangers can call you "honey," "sweetheart," and "baby" and not be offensive. I love the word "y'all" - it is so useful!

I like that I can appreciate different points of view and can understand adversity. I like that I can appreciate sending "thank you" cards and other sorts of politeness often overlooked.

But mostly, I like that Southern cuisine is so delicious, y'all. It doesn't have to be fried, but you know it tastes better that way.

Life progress = no longer living in New Jersey. (I have no pictures of Newark.) But, the proximity to NYC and DC was nice.

Defining adjustment

Rerun Day 6: 10/12/2009 Transition

Transitions, I think, are an ever present part of life. I am pretty sure that everyone I know, even peripherally, is in some sort of transition in their lives. It's important to recognize how hard it can be, but also to understand how beautiful it is. This is a challenge - balancing the newness, the struggles, the goodness, and the loss all at once.

Plus, fall is my favorite..