This is a
Springtime mix of songs
that I have been listening to
almost without pause
for the past month or so.

I thought I'd share it here,
because to me
it seems
to perfectly suit
the season.

Blush, Cerulean, & Pearl - April 2013
+ Been So Long - Vetiver
+Starving Robins - Horse Feathers
+Springtime Can Kill You - Jolie Holland
+Here Comes The Sun - The Beatles
+Spring Song - Laura Veirs
+April Comes She Will - Simon & Garfunkle
+Sunny Road - Emilíana Torrini
+Milk-Heavy, Pollen-Eyed - Laura Gibson
+A Heart Divided - Holly Throsby
+Towards The Sun - Alexi Murdoch
+Haze - Essie Jain
+Pretty Fair Damsel - Samamidon
+Love Is Not Like Roses- Cocos Lovers
+Snow Is Gone - Josh Ritter


.

I've started running again,
like last year at this time,
up and down the quiet side-streets
near my home.

I've run beneath arched tunnelways of
cherry blossoms,
their flowers drifting around me,
not like snow,
but like the petals that they are,
quiet,
breath-hushing,
luminous in their pale pink.

I've heard a bird sing
and I noticed it as if
I had never heard a bird sing before,
awake and excited,
the both of us.

I've watched the daffodils
announce themselves and the season,
gleaming gold,
then fading over the weeks
to ochre,
umber.

I've seen the tulips begin to appear,
their rainbow shades
as bright on days when
the shadowy sky hovers,
rich with rain,
as on days of sun.

I am getting married
in,
about,
a month.

!

(I've felt no desire to share
my wedding planning here,
and that planning
has fairly consumed me
these past several months.
It has been an enjoyable
and inspiring
experience,
much more so
than I ever imagined it would be,
to be honest.)

And as I run my paths,
and watch and listen,
and note the changes,
and marvel at the Spring,
unfurling each day,
I think about how
we will be marrying
at the height of this season
of blooms,
and growth,
and life.

This has been the longest break between posts
since I began Folkloric
4.5 (!) years ago.

Some recent health issues have kept me from
doing much photography lately,
deeply personal wedding schemes
have taken my extra energy and inspiration,
and a general re-assessment of
what I do here
and why I do it
has kept me from this space.

I want Folkloric to be
a potent blend of words and images,
not just a stream of photographs
or something churned out quickly.
I want it to be a thing
with weight,
heft.

I've tended this spot on the internet
for quite a while now,
but I don't think I'm yet ready
to give it up.

Hopefully it can grow some fresh things
in the New Year.

Until then,
I wish the happiest of Holidays to all,
and thank you, as always, for following,
near and far.

I wanted to finish sharing these,
the last of the Summertime photos.

This Summer
was a busy one,
an emotional one,
an up-and-down one,
(a very down and then very up one!),
a sunny one,
a questioning one,
a joyous one,
a difficult one,
and in the end,
a good one.

Here in Seattle,
the seasons have made
the emphatic switch
to Autumn.

Enjoying lately:
This book
This album (this song in particular)
These notebooks (picked up at my favorite store) &
The drinks & desserts here.

Neil Young - Dreamin' Man

Looking up.

Trees like bones
in a forest of vines and ferns.

Beyond compare.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - Home

I truly believe
in the power and beauty of the seasons
and in living completely within in each one
as it takes its place
at center stage.

Because of this attitude,
my blog here
becomes
quite cyclical.

I like that, myself--
as a way to reflect on what has changed
and what has stayed the same,
since last Summer's ending,
for example,
or the Autumn beginning of a few years past,
and I hope that you do not mind
the revisiting.


I have quite a few photos to share
in the coming days
from our annual trip
out to the ocean.

Finally got around
to making and posting
the labels I made for
lovely Vanilla Peach.

Amazingly,
this jam was made
on the exact same date this year
(8/14)
that I made this exact same flavor
last year!

August 14th must be a good date.

I think this might be
one of my favorite photos
from the whole summer.