Karen Elson performing "Cruel Summer" (Live Acoustic) from
Karen Elson on
Vimeo.
Karen Elson is so talented and beautiful, I wish I could put her in my pocket and pull her out every once in awhile to have her sing me a song! Her voice is sweet, girlish, and soft, with a tiny lisp. The way she plays the guitar, and sways timidly is delicate and charming. I find her style and artistic endeavors very inspiring, not to mention, her wardrobe. She wears a lot of feathers and nude tones, and has pretty, unearthly bright, red hair. Her clothes and shoes all look like they were made for dancing in the moonlight. She seems to glow from within and be part angel or forest nymph, mixed with clouds or cotton candy or something?
This little video of her performing
"The Ghost Who Walks", by a fire, in what looks like a castle or cozy cottage in Europe (?) is my favorite. The moody lyrics speak of loneliness and romance, and of the darkness that sometimes takes over our minds for a bit. Often, we feel this more during the final stages of winter, during these cold grey months as we wait for Spring.
The lyrics in this song, remind me a lot of how I felt as a child and a young girl, not always fitting in easily; "living" in my imagination of secret gardens, books and dolls and colored pencils. I remember rushing home from school to see what had grown bigger or peeped out of the ground while I was away, in my garden bed. I could hardly wait for the lilacs to bloom in the Spring, the pansies to pop up and the tulips to open! I loved to clip just enough flowers to make bouquets for the house and still leave my garden looking full and vivacious! I planted and tended my little menagerie of random plants so peacefully and happily at times. Some nights I would stay there digging, and playing with snails, until the sun started to go down. I think my parents began to think it was a bit strange when I decided to plant a single rose bush, strategically placed in the Southeast corner of the front yard, right in the middle of the lawn. "Why can't I dig a hole in the grass and plant my rose bush here, I asked my father?" I had it all planned out, in what I thought was a perfectly logical landscaping idea. I planned to dig the hole deep enough for the roots to fit, remove the rocks and grasses and place the rocks around the circle to keep weeds from creeping in. That way, the first thing people would see when they came up to our house, was this beautiful red and pink rosebush, something I felt was essential. There was no winning this argument with a determined twelve year old. Or, maybe my parents felt bad that I liked doing manual labor instead of normal child things? Anyhow, there I went, digging away and planting my roses, stretching the hose to it's limit to water it for the first time and feeling quite pleased with myself for my creativity and determination.
I've since learned to garden in a more traditional sense and I still find it so peaceful and relaxing to feel the soil on my hands. As I'm working on getting the
Spring collection out and into the boutiques, I will be starting some lettuce and tomato seeds in the basement. The sun is already out and Spring will be here before we know it. Maybe I'll plant a rose, next to the blackberries this year? I think that would be lovely if that was the first thing I saw each morning when I woke up.....aaahhh, day dreaming of Spring time! For now, back to work I go!
