XCVI: Leaps and Clouds

Today I dedicate Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now to my dearest travelling sisters and blogmates, Nicky and RaeRae, as well as my anxiously waiting Pleuvy on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. This verse in particular:

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way. But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way. I've looked at clouds from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow it's cloud illusions I recall. I really don't know clouds at all.

This is a serious song with tons of emotion, mostly stemming from hard life and love lessons, and I've totally torn it from its soul and related it to a milly volcano and its ash cloud. WHY COULDN'T YOU WAIT A COUPLE OF DAYS? Then at least my friends would be in Paris together and they could be sightseeing and having a good time. But alas, it's too late for finger-pointing, even at Mother Nature, and it's not like getting angry at an unpronounceable glacier (Eyjafjallajokul, wha?) in Iceland will help at all. Whatever happens, know that I am wishing, with every fibre of my being, for the ash to clear quickly so that your travels can go as scheduled. I am still floored, I didn't foresee anything like this happening at all!

As for the titled "Leaps", I made one giant leap towards self-discovery (and growing a pair) today by booking my flight to New York. I'll be travelling alone for the first time and am excited, scared, nervous, and full of anticipation. I also booked a ticket to see Renée Fleming perform in Armida at the Met, which in my mind already means that this will be a successful trip. Now I have a long list of things to buy before I leave, like accommodations, a guidebook, tickets to other shows (I found tickets to Wicked yesterday but didn't buy them...and today they're all gone from the Ticketmaster site!), etc., and tons of research to do.

By the way, some further interpretation of the first two lines of the song: Nicky and RaeRae love bowtie and angel hair pasta (all pasta in general), Pleuve loves ice cream and castles, Numz loves feathers. Those two lines were made for you guys. Let's turn those Both Sides of the Atlantic Now into one side: Europe!