Just some thoughts

It's funny. I can't even feel free to express my feelings on my blog. Well, this picture is cool.

New Project!

Hey guys! The reunion was great! I'm so happy that I got to see all ya'll. Anyway. Here is my new musical project I'm working on. Steve got me a guitar a few years back and I used it occasionally. But he got it out again at the reunion and I realized I want to play the guitar! so I remembered about this website where you can get the chords for songs. So I printed off a few and I have been working on them! It feels great.

Anyway. I love you guys. I hope you travelled safely and are recovering from the aftershocks of the reunion. :) Say hi to your kids for me. And thank you a million times for letting me perform for you. It was really a treat for me to share my music with you.

Elisabeth

Children's Corner

Hey guys I just wanted to write about my lasted accomplishment. This is Claude Debussy--one of my favorite composers. He wrote a collection of 6 pieces called "Coin des enfants." That is French for Children's Corner.

I learned the first one, "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" a long time ago; when I was still taking lessons from Sally. Later on I learned number 6 "Golliwogg's Cake-Walk." That one was so fun.

Anyway a while after that Mom bought me a two CD set of Debussy pieces and these happened to be on there. I noticed that there was one pianist who performed all of them. I thought to myself "gee, I'd like to be good enough to learn all of these."

A while after this, when I was in college, I brought my book to my piano lessons, not thinking about it and I got to learn number 4 "The Snow is Dancing." It was great.

Much time went by. One evening I was just reviewing some pieces that I learned and I fell upon Snow is Dancing. "I think I learned this once." I thought. So with a little reviewing I got it back to performing level.

Then... I looked at number five, "The Little Shepherd." "I think I can sight-read this." I thought. And I did. I was so pleased with my progress I decided then and there to learn the other two. Number 3 "Serenade for the Doll" looked really difficult. But I had listened to it and I loved the sound of it, so I worked really hard and got it! It was a lot easier than first anticipated. It's one of my favorites now. (of course that's not saying much because I love them all SO much.)

My Last hurdle: "Jimbo's Lullaby." I was hesitant to start learning this one because it just sounded SO boring. And When I sight-read through it the first time I still thought it was boring. I told Dad this and he said something like, "Sometimes the things we think we like least turn out to be the best thing for us." I took this in mind and I kept at it. "Find the Music in it," Dad would say.

One day I played it and when I stopped I couldn't get this one part out of my head. I finally found the music! Bueno! I felt so good! I learned the entire set! I loved knowing that I did one of the things I had tried to do for so long. I feel like I haven't accomplished a big musical goal in a while so this was a big thing for me! And the Best moment was playing the entire set all the way through. It felt so great. It feels great. I love music. And if we get the time and you would like to, while you are up here, I wouldn't mind performing them for you. Let me know. Love ya'll.

Space! The Final Frontier

You will notice that I changed the name and layout of my blog. "Book of Days" is a title of an Enya song. I thought it was fitting and of course the Celtic book represents that title. I found this awesome site with tons of blog backgrounds. It's really cool. Let me know if you are interested.

Perelandra

OKay, C.S. Lewis is my favorite author. Hands down. Perelandra is book two in his space trilogy. We were assigned to read it for Dad's Christian Authors class last semester. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. These pictures aren't Perelandra of course but they remind me of it. The final project for that class was a creative project. I wrote a song. I'd like to share the lyrics with you. (The language that you do not recognize is a language I created for a novel I wrote. If you wish to know what that says, you may ask me.)

Finding My Way

Here am I
On this world they call Thulcandra
Who will save me?
There is no Ransom
Come down from the sky
To fight the Unman within

Perelandra
If only I were there
Perelandra
If only is a fool's phrase

Walking in the Land of Shadows
Don't let the Beasts take me
A Key is all I need
To find my way to Faery

Perelandra
Wishing for a higher sphere
Perelandra
Wishing is a fool's dream

Feeling my way through the darkest abyss
No light to guide me
If I fall and stop the trek
No one will come and find me

Perelandra
Saved from a horrible fate
Perelandra
May we enter heaven's gate?

Dar hin de a san
A mey-rey xur ti lanos
Tay hin tur sal-te
Ti mey-rey mur Perelandra

Perelandra
Somewhere I will find it
Perelandra
Is it within reach?

Within reach
Darto hin?

Okay so I had the WEIRDEST dream last night. This is Steven Colbert. Hi Steven! Anyway. as you all know I have been having very very vivid dreams. usually they are horrible and tiring but this one is pretty doggone hilarious. This has no political aspect so calm down.

Steven Colbert, Mom, Dad, and I were playing scrabble in the kitchen. I wasn't really in the mood to play but mom and dad were forcing me to. Steven knew I didn't want to so he ended up stopping the game.

After that he grabbed me and started waltzing with me around in the kitchen. I gave him a very "I'm attracted to you look" that wasn't meant to be seen. But he caught it and asked me about it... I tried to deny it. He dropped it after a while.

Later in the dream he kissed me! I was so surprised that I pulled back and he apologized. But a few seconds later he kissed me again... Don't ask me. Anyway. Maybe I'll keep a record of my dreams on here. I hope this brought a smile to your face. Love you guys.

Hey guys in lieu of mom's email asking us to be more open with each other I thought I would start with this.

This is my favorite picture of Ben and me. We were just barely engaged. and though it looks kinda staged it wasn't. We were genuinely happy. That period was probably the most idyllic time in the past I would say decade. That sounds very depressing. But it's true.

I was so excited to be getting married. And I knew it was the right thing. When Joshua (the boyfriend before Ben) asked me to marry him I had such a dark heavy feeling. But when Ben asked me... everything got so clear. it was such a wonderful feeling. So I was so happy. WE were happy together. perfect fit. in every way. ( maybe I'm only remembering the good and ignoring the bad. I do that sometimes. selective memory.)

Anyway... I've been through hell since then. or the closest to it that I can tell. and I've come off the worse for the wear. (how many cliche's have I used in this thing?) Life is hard. And nothing is ever set in stone. I've been able to find pieces of joy here and there. Through art, music, and of course, my favorite thing, my family. I love you all more than I can express. Thank you for being with me through this whole thing. thank you for your prayers and your love. I am blessed.