Bother new year's

Today is New Year's Eve. Normally I would be gearing up for the annual party with nears and dears, but the problem is, that party is in Florida. And we were not able to get to Florida this year. We didn't go last year either. It's breaking my heart that I am not down there, singing carols, laughing with loving friends, eating too much chocolate, counting down with the ball on TV, drinking champagne, and losing at checkers. Normally I would be happy and excited and making resolutions now, but instead I am depressed, feeling alone, and ignoring the date. Resolutions never work out anyhow. I was supposed to celebrate at a friend's house here (we did last year), but they developed other plans. So I am spending the time at home. I'm going to bed early, and will ring in the new year in dreams. Bah humbug. Ok, it's not that bad, but I'm still lonely. Maybe I'll watch the new Star Trek again (I've watched it 3 times since I got it for Christmas). I'll try and have some fun. Food might help. I'm simply ravenous.


2010, eh? Hopefully this new year will bring some wonderful times.

 Happy New Year, and may God bless you, keep you, and bring you joy!

Tweaking

I'm working on my blog... but it will probably be a while until I get it to my liking and all the kinks fixed.

I have loads to blog about! Hopefully I can get to it soon.

Daily Advent poem 25

Christmas Day

Thou cam'st from Heaven to Earth, that we
Might go from Earth to Heaven with Thee;
And though Thou found'st no welcome here,
Thou didst provide us mansions there.


H. Vaughan

Immanuel! God with us in His meekness,
Immanuel! God with us in His might,
To bind our wounds, to gift with strength our weakness,
To bring us, angels, to the home of light!
Shiloh is come; His fet our earth have trod;
Now thanks and glory to the Child our God!


Morgan

Daily Advent poem 24

Thursday- Christmas Eve

Let not the hearts, whose sorrow cannot call
This Christmas merry, slight the festival;
Let us be merry that may merry be,
But let us not forget that many mourn;
The smiling Baby came to give us glee
But for the weepers was the Saviour born.

H. Coleridge

Christmas shopping and random thoughts

I made 90% of my gifts this year. But there are always a few more things needed... So my friend Tim and I braved the slush of people and snow to do some last-minute shopping. Michaels, Target, mall stores, etc. The traffic was insane! But time didn't pass slowly. We had a good bit of fun. And I got most the things I needed.

We tried to go to Starbucks for some much needed caffeine, but it was jam- packed with fellow humans all after the same thing. So we tried a locally run coffee store in our mall... the prices were the same, but the drinks nowhere near as good. My cocoa was WAY too sweet (plus it wasn't hot!! MAJOR pet peeve), and Tim's iced (brrr) something-or-another didn't have any sugar at all. Phooey.

Tim introduced me to the "As seen on TV store" which was fun albeit overwhelming. Too many things in too tight of a space. He got a dryer lint getter-outer thing-a-ma-bob for his parents, and I got a cooking gadget for mine. Most of the stuff in there looked pointless. Or funny. Or really, really odd. Like the fat-getter-offer thing. You stand on it, and it jiggles the fat off you. I'm sure it works great, but I would never, ever try it out in the store. There... I've said too much. :D

Well I had better go to bed... I'm soooo very tired.


I don't like creepy dudes who wink creepily. Do you know the difference between nice winks and creepy winks? Mostly it depends on the winker. I got a creepy wink today in the mall, but a cute wink in a store in my town. Heh. The cute wink eclipsed the creepy wink, thankfully.


My blog needs surgery. I'll probably get to it after Christmas. Which is in........................ TWO DAYS!!!!!


I hope I get all the stuff done i need doing!


I found a beautiful little black sweater with faux- fur trim and crystal buttons for a steal in a thrift store today. For all of two dollars... whoo hoo! I'll wear it Christmas day, and again on Sunday.


Time for ibuprofen for holiday headache...


Do not eat an entire enormous blackout chocolate cupcake in one sitting. Ask my dad. Half is quite enough.


I love holly at Christmas!! Hey, I can put my ivy wreath around my Santa Claus hat and then I can pretend I'm the ghost of Christmas present!


I'm getting waaay to loopy and rambly so I'm going to go to BED.








You know, it is REALLY hard to try and lose weight during Christmas!

Daily Advent poem 23

Wednesday

Renounce joy for my fellows' sake? That's joy
Beyond joy; but renounced for mine, not theirs!
Why, the physician called to help the sick,
Cries 'Let me, first of all, discard my health!'
No, Son! the richness hearted in such joy
Is in the knowing what are gifts we give,
Not in a vain endeavour not to know!
Therefore, desire Joy, and thank God for it.


Browning

Daily Advent poem 22

Tuesday

Divinity hath surely touched my heart;
I havae possessed more Joy than earth can lend.

Bridges

Daily Advent poem 21

Tuesday

Take Joy home,
And make a place in thy great heart for her,
And give her time to grow, and cherish her!
Then will She come and often sing to thee
When thou art working in the furrows; ay,
Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn.
It is a comely fashion to be glad-
Joy is the grace we say to God.

J. Ingelow

Daily Advent poem 20

Sunday

In every gladness, Lord, Thou art
The deeper Joy behind.

MacDonald

Daily Advent poem 19

The fourth week in Advent: "The way of Joy".

 A Prayer for the week:

Lord! ev'n as Thou all-present art,
Oh! may we still with heedful heart
Thy presence know and find!
Then come what will of weal or woe,
Joy's bosom-spring shall steady flow:
For though 'tis heaven Thyself to see,
Where but Thy shadow falls, grief cannot be!


Saturday

Am I wrong to be always so happy? This world is full of grief;
Yet there is laughter of sunshine, to see the crisp green in the leaf.
Daylight is ringing with song-birds, and brooklets are crooning by night,
And why should I make a shadow where God makes all so bright?
Earth may be wicked and weary, yet cannot I help being glad;
There is sunshine without and within me, and how should I mope or be sad?
God would not flood me with blessings, meaning me only to pine
Amid all the bounties and beauties He pours upon me and mine;
Therefore will I be grateful, and therefore will I rejoice;
My heart is singing within me! sing on, O heart and voice!


Walter Smith

Snow days

I went for a walk in the snow late last night. There must have been 6 inches of it all over everything (there is more now). I stepped into the backyard, and was transfixed. I had stumbled into faerie-land. Somehow, I was on the other side of the wardrobe. As I walked through the soft glowing wood, I kept expecting a faun with a large umbrella to come trotting out from under the sleeping, woolly trees. I readied myself to help pick up the packages he would, of course, drop. I really don't think I would have been much surprised if some creature had come out to greet me. Anything can happen when the snow covers the world and the imagination wonders.

The houses twinkled their lights merrily all along the way, and the snow turned innocent front-garden plants into fearsome sea-creatures and terrible beasts. They had long, thin necks and terrifying large heads; they seemed to be popping up from the ground, their frosty horns preceding them out of the deep. One of the horrid, long, prickly arms reached out and plopped a freezing fist-full of snow into my startled face.

I came out of my happy imaginings every time I slipped spectacularly. I fancied myself a dainty, elfish maiden, tripping through the frozen forest. Actually I looked more like an abominable snowman while I trudged through the slippery slush, plunged through the drifts, and fell on the hidden ice in my red cap and nylon snow-suit, and fake uggs. But it was glorious anyhow.


This morning I took Little Brother on a quest for a good sledding hill. He was wearing his matching black snow-suit. We found a good hill, but after a half an hour of trying to pack it down hard enough for my ancient, round, red sled to glide down (without help), we gave up the idea and rolled around and threw snowballs instead. I ended up hauling him (in the sled) up and down all the rolling hills in our neighborhood. We came back flushed, happy, and very tired. I am spending the rest of my day crocheting and beading Christmas presents, eating cookies, and singing carols.  Isn't that a thoroughly satisfactory way to spend a weekend?

Snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW!

We are expecting to be snowed in this weekend! It started snowing at 3 today (I came home from work early because of it), and there are already 4+ inches. !! It is so amazingly beautiful, I could stand in it for ages (but it's way to cold, unfortunately). Here are a couple bad and inadequate pictures that don't even begin to show the utter majesty and spectacular-ness of this snow.

                              Doesn't our house look cozy?

Someone is excited!

Daily Advent poem 18

Friday

Fair Judgement,
Without the which we are pictures or mere beasts.

Shakespeare

Daily Advent poem 17

Thursday

Time was when I believed that wrong
In others to detect,
Was part of genius, and a gift
To cherish, not reject.
Now better taught by Thee, O Lord!
This truth dawns on my mind-
The best effect of heavenly light
In earth's false eyes to blind.

Faber

First snow

                                       Our first snow was last week!

Sorry for the bad pictures, I shot them quickly through our windows, screens, frost, and all!

The crab-apple tree was frosted whitely.

The ugly, drooping and dully lingering leaves looked mournful and alien.

The nadina berries always look beautiful in the winter-time.

  
 A few days later, the pitiful remains of the Snowman stood alone, a sad sentinel in the front yard.

I do hope we have a white Christmas! We haven't had one in many years.

Putting up the Christmas tree part 1

I searched for the prettiest tree.

 

My brother scampered around and looked cute.

The tree! It's huge... It was all I could do to cut it, haul it up off the ground (so as to not mess it up), and then to hoist it into the back of the van. I got a rash from the prickles!

So we took our beautiful tree home from the junk yard. Decorations to come!

A lovely evening

Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
  ~Arnold Lobel

That is the best quote I've heard in ages. That expresses my feelings on the subject completely (including the beard).


I had a wonderful evening yesterday, and will be happy for a while now. I bought a perfect gift for a friend's birthday at Barnes and Noble (I get great pleasure out of giving good gifts!), then went out to dinner with two dear friends (one old, one new). We went to a great Asian food resteraunt called Stir Fry, and I split a huge dish of chicken and shrimp pud thai with one friend. It was seriously yummy. I was introduced to steamed (?) soy beans with salt (also good), and of course we had fried noodles ("the Asian french fry"). Brandishing chopsticks, we ate and conversed all evening. It was glorious.

 I simply must get a camera. SOON.

Daily Advent poem 16

Wednesday

Thou has done well, perhaps,
To lift the bright disguise
And lay the bitter truth
Before our shrinking eyes.
When evil crawls below
What seems so bright and fair,
Thine eyes are keen and true
To find the serpent there:
And yet- I turn away-
Thy task is not divine,-
The evil angels look
On earth with eyes like thine.

Thou hast done well, perhaps,
To show how closely wound
Dark threads of Sin and Self
With our best deeds are found;-
How great and noble hearts
Striving for lofty aims
Have still some earthly chord
A meaner spirit claims;-
And yet- although thy task
Is well and fairly done,-
Methinks for such as thou
There is a holier one.


A. Procter

Daily Advent poem 12 (13, 14, and 15 too)

I have been bad. I promised to post a poem every day and I didn't this weekend. I am sorry. I do I have two excuses however. One, I had computer problems. That is actually a good excuse. But my second excuse isn't. You see, I've been very frustrated and depressed lately, and so I have not felt at all like blogging. But I will be good again and post. So, on with the poetry... I have catching up to do.

The Third Week in Advent

A prayer for the week

Grant us Thy Holy Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort.

Saturday

Is this your Christian counsel? Out upon ye!
Heaven is above all yet. There sits a Judge
That no king can corrupt.

Shakespeare


Sunday

Thou art not the more holy for being praised,
nor the more worthless for being dispraised.
What thou art, that thou art; neither by words canst
thou be made greater than what thou art in the sight
of God.

Thomas A Kempis




 Monday


The night
Wanes into morning, and the dawning light
Broadens, and all the shadows fade and shift!
I follow, follow,-sure to meet the sun
And confident that what the future yields
Will be the Right,-unless myself be wrong.


Longfellow



Tuesday

Deliver not the tasks of might
To weakness, neither hide the ray
From those, not blind, who wait for day,
Tho' sitting girt with doubtful light.


Make Knowledge circle with the winds;
But let her herald, Reverence, fly
Before her to whatever sky
Bear seed of men and growth of minds!

Watch what main-currents draw the years;
Cut Prejudice against the grain;
But (gentle words are always gain)
Regard the weakness of thy peers!

Tennyson

Daily Advent poem 11

Friday

Leaving the final issue in His hands
Whose goodness knows no change, Whose love is sure,
Who sees, foresees, Who cannot judge amiss.


Wordsworth

Daily Advent poem 10

Thursday

But Thou art true, Incarnate Lord,
Who didst vouchsafe for man to die;
Thy smile is sure, Thy plighted word
No Change can falsify.

Wordsworth

Posting and patience problems

I have so many things I want to post about, but they all involve pictures. I have to download pictures from the camera onto my parents' computer, and then I usually save them and transfer them to my computer using one of those little transfer thingys (I'm such a computer person!). But the program has not been working! Frustrating. But I will post a lot when I get those pictures. Until then, here is the gorgeous picture that I found online that is my current wallpaper.

I finally got my flu shots today (yay! ow!), and I'm going on my third round of antibiotics since I initially got sick 8+ weeks ago. I'm feeling pretty good, though I still have a sinus infection which is why I have to take more antibiotics. And a couple other medicines for it too. Then on top of all that, my right big toe is getting painful... I did something to it before I got sick and now it's acting up again. It's either sprung or slightly fractured, I think. It hurts, even after taping it and taking ibuprofen. So I've been frustrated lately... its seems I'm never going to be able to get in shape for auditions!!

         Dear Lord, give me patience to deal with all the daily obstacles and frustrations of life. And if it be your will, please help me get well and fit so that I can get a job doing what I love.            

                                                                  Amen.

Daily Advent poem 9

Wednesday

It fortifies my soul to know
That, though I perish, Truth is so;
That, howsoe'er I stray and range,
Whate'er I do, Thou dost not change.
I steadier step, when I recall
That, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.


Clough

Daily Advent poem 8

Tuesday

Oh, the outward hath gone!- but in glory and power,
The Spirit surviveth the things of an hour;
Unchanged, undecaying, its Pentecost flame
On the heart's secret alter is burning the same.

Whittier

Daily Advent poem 8

Monday

They drift away- Ah God! they drift for ever!
I watch the stream sweep onward to the sea
Like some old battered buoy upon a roaring river,
Round whom the tide-waifs hang- then drift to sea.
I watch them drift-the old familiar faces
Who fished and rode with me by stream and wold,
Till ghosts, not men, fill old beloved places,
And, ah! the land is rank with churchyard mould.
I watch them drift- the youthful aspirations
Shores, landmarks, beacons, drift alike!...
Yet overhead the boundless arch of heaven
Still fades to night, still blazes into day...
Ah God! My God! Thou wilt not drift away.

Kingsley

Daily Advent poem 7

Sunday

All things passeth!
God never changeth.

Santa Teresa

Daily Advent poem 6

The Second Week in Advent, " In change unchanged".
 

A prayer for the week

Be present, O Merciful God, and protect us... so that we who are fatigued by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, may repose upon Thy eternal changlessness.

Saturday

O Lord, my heart is sick,

Sick of this everlasting Change;

And life runs tediously quick

Through its unresting race and varied range:

Change finds no likeness to itself in Thee,

And makes no echo in Thy mute eternity.

Faber

Daily Advent poem 5

Friday

Unto you  is given
to watch for the coming of His feet
Who is the Glory of our blessed Heaven;
The work and watching will be very sweet
Even in an earthly home,
And in such an hour as you think not
He will come.

B. M.

Christmas tree

We got our Christmas tree the day before yesterday. We set it up, and finally got it into place last night. It is one of the biggest we have ever had, and that is saying a lot.


We used to cut our tree in the woods behind my grandparent's cabin in the mountains (about an hour and a half away). When there weren't any left, we bought some for $10 if we cut them ourselves from a little old man with beautiful trees 45 minutes away from the cabin. Then we bought it from a roadside seller, but we still went aways into the mountains so it was cheaper. But last year we couldn't afford to do that (it gets more expensive every year), so we tried something completely different. There is a metal and parts yard about 4 minutes away from our house. They have all kinds of interesting machinery and every kind of gadget you can think of lying in an enormous lot. People from all over the world to buy those things (so I've heard). But that plot is plum full of cedar trees! So mom and I went to the lot last year to see if we could get ourselves a tree. They said "Sure! Go ahead!". I choose it and cut it down, and that is how we got our tree. We did the same thing this year. We drove all around the acres and picked out the one, and mom went to cut it down. But it split! We put it in the trunk anyway. Then we found a perfectly shaped (albeit huge) one, and I cut it down this time (Mom's arms where tired and starting to rash from the prickles) and hauled it to the van. So we got three trees! We put it up and I will post pictures of the process of decorating. I still like spruces better, but cedars do smell absolutely wonderful.

Daily Advent poem 4

Thursday


Earth brakes up, time drops away,

In flows heaven with its new day

Of endless life, when He who trod,

Very Man and very God,

This earth in weakness, shame and pain,

Dying the death whose signs remain

Up yonder on the accursed tree,-

Shall come again, no more to be

Of captivity the thrall,

But the one God, All in All,

King of kings and Lord of lords:

As His servant John received the words,

"I died, and live for evermore."




Browning

Daily Advent poem 3

Wednesday

Not heralded by fire and storm,
In shadowy outline dimly seen,
Comes through the gloom a glorious form,
The once-despised Nazarene.
"Fear not, Beloved, thou art Mine,
For I have given My life for thee,
By name I call thee, rise and shine,
Be praise and glory unto Me!
Thy life is hid in God with Me,
I stoop to dwell within thy breast."
"My joy for ever Thou shalt be,
And in my love for Thee I rest!"

F. R. Havergal

A discovery

I was updating my planner last night, and made a cool discovery. I have known for a while that every year my birthday and Christmas fall on the same weekday. But what I had never realized is that New Years does too! My birthday was on a Friday this year, and Christmas and New Years will be on Fridays too! And next year, they are all on Saturdays! I don't know if the knowledge of that is useful, but it's rather fun knowing about it all the same.

Daily Advent poem- December 1

Tuesday

Great God! what do I see and hear,
The end of things created,
The Judge of all men doth appear,
On clouds of glory seated.
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore
The dead which they contained before:-
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him!

Great Judge! to Thee our prayers we pour,
In deep abasement bending;
O shield us through that last dread hour,
Thy wondrous love extending!
May we, in this our trial day,
With faithful hearts Thy word obey,
And thus prepare to meet Thee!

Translated from Luther

Restless ramblings

An incredibly cliche-sounding title, I know. But that is what this post is. Exactly what this post is. I didn't really sleep last night, and I'm not worth anything when I don't sleep. I can't concentrate on anything, I'm antsy and sluggish at the same time, and I usually have a magnificent headache to go along with it. Today has been exactly like that. I didn't go and take class (my daily ballet class), because the headache was all pervading and I knew I wouldn't be able to work well. I'm feeling better now, thanks to lounging, a shower, cocoa, and lots of ibuprofen. I'm also listening to Pandora, and that always makes me happy (I ADORE Pandora. Today I've been alternating between Bing Crosby radio and Classic Christmas).

This month is going to be insanely busy. Company auditions start in January, and I have to get my resume and photos and DVDs of performance work off by the first of the year. I'm still researching companies and putting together the resume, and figuring out which pictures to include. I'm a little freaked about the getting-into-shape bit; I have been sick for the last 6 weeks and I'm going to have to really build my strength back up. I want to scream and throw up and jump up and down whenever I think of auditions.

I'm trying to make most of my Christmas gifts this year, either knitting or crocheting or jewelry or baking. I have a lot to do in only a few short weeks! I might post pictures of some of my projects, but only if I'm sure the recipients won't see them.

It's getting cold, and the flies are coming inside to escape the frost. I do not like it when there are 8 flies flying around my room. I am getting quite good at getting them with a rolled up Pointe magazine (which is an excellent fly-swatter. The Smithsonian is good too, as well as Lands End and LL Bean). I do admit to feeling slight pangs of remorse when they drop, though. I was watching one on the empty pew in front of me yesterday in church. It was rubbing it's front legs together as they all do, when suddenly it turned it's head and rubbed it like a cat does! I have to admit, it was cute. It was. It reminded me of a little old woman with big spectacles wringing her hands together. But when it started to scoot around and buzz again, I couldn't stand it, so I touched the pew with my foot. It felt the tremor and flew off to annoy someone else.

I have lots of other things I'd like to blog about, but they can wait. I'm getting stiff, and my hands are freezing. So tootle pip for now.

The beginning of Advent

I have discovered that I have less time to blog than I thought I would. You see, I didn't factor in the thinking time (I never do). But I am resolved to be better. And to prove it, I'm going to share a poem for each day of advent. My reasons are plenty, but the greatest are these: That I really want to share them, and that in the sharing I might have greater pleasure and better understanding.
I have a beautiful little book that is called "The Cloud of Witness". It was written and assembled by the Hon. Mrs. Edith Gell. My edition is green with gold inlay, and it was published in Great Britain in 1935 (I mentioned that 'specially because I have a passion for old books but I will not go into all that now). The title page is printed in black and red ink. Across from the title is a picture of Jesus with a lantern, and the script around it says "That was the True Light. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness.". There is a page for each day 0f the year (following the Christian seasons), and each day you read scripture and poems. So if I can possibly manage it, I will write down here my favorite poem of the day, every day until Christmas. I will post pictures of my book when I can. Today I must start with three poems because I missed yesterday and the day before.

The first week in Advent, God with us.

A Prayer for the Week

Thy Kingdom come, O Lord;
Thy reign, O Christ, begin!

Advent Eve

It may be in the evening,
When the work of the day is done,
And you have time to sit in the twilight,
And watch the sinking sun,
While the long day dies slowly
Over the sea,
And the hour grows quiet and holy
With thoughts of Me;
While you hear the village children
Passing along the street-
Among those thronging footsteps
May come the sound of My feet.
Therefore I tell you, Watch!
By the light of the evening star
When the room is growing dusky,
As the clouds afar,
Let the door be on the latch
In your home,
For it may be through the gloaming
I will come. B. M.

Advent Sunday

Thou art coming, Oh my Saviour!
Thou art coming, Oh my King!
In Thy beauty all resplendent,
In Thy glory all transcendent;
Well may we rejoice and sing!
Coming! in the opening east
Herald brightness slowly swells,
Coming! O my glorious Priest,
Hear we not Thy golden bells? F. R. Havergal

Monday

Faithful soul, prepare thy heart for this Bridegroom, that He may vouchsafe to come unto thee, and to dwell within thee.
Thomas A Kempis




P. S.

"The Cloud of Witness" is not to be confused with "Clouds of Witness", one of the fabulous Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorthy Sayers . I also recommend it highly.



Peace and love for the coming season!!

Thanksgiving preparations

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm in the midst of baking pies and potatoes, and mom has set out the cornucopia o'er flowing with fruits and vegetables and nuts. Something I didn't know about the cornucopia, or horn of plenty: it is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC! It came from Greek mythology. I looked it up because I knew it has become a symbol of our ancestor's thanksgiving for God's blessings, but I didn't know if that was the origin of it or not. Now I do! Very interesting. I love Thanksgiving. I'm rather glad that it hasn't really become a huge commercial holiday, even though it deserves to be one. I hate that it is sometimes called "Turkey day", but what can you do. Everything has to be PC nowadays. It's a shame, but at least we have the choice not to fall into the same rut. A friend said "Have a happy turkey day" to me, and I corrected them. What makes me laugh is that last week there where 5 houses with Christmas lights up on my street. The week before Thanksgiving! Talk about premature. I have been starting to look into Christmas carols, myself. But I have an excuse: I'm practicing for a friends and family performance. I've been singing Thanksgiving hymns too, though. We have two we always sing, and they are dear to me.

Come, ye thankful people, come

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.


We gather together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Dusk in the dell

Last night my mother asked me if I wanted to go out painting with her, as it would be good for me to get some fresh air. I expressed an inclination to do so, so she packed her paints and I my trusty book. We set off, stopping by the store for ammunition (cashews for her, pistachios for me, dark chocolate kisses for both of us), and drove 10 minutes to our destination: a magnificent cow pasture. There are rolling hills with blankets of trees and soft grasses draped over them, and a small river roiling its way over rocks and waterfalls and around little islands with hardy little sycamores wetting their feet in the foam. I was intending to stay in the car and read, but when I saw the beauty of the descending dusk, nothing could have made me stay in the car.

I grabbed a big coat and my mother's camera and fortified my pockets with chocolate for warmth. I ran down the hill into the meadow, disregarding both the cow pies and my aching lungs. I looked around rapturously at the landscape, and I greedily breathed the spicy cold air colored with a hint of frost. I wandered around taking pictures till darkness came, happily ignoring my freezing face and hands. The woods were dark except for the pale shining limbs of the sycamores and the glowing red of the last-turning oaks. Everything was tinged a slight reddish gold; the sun had just set. I couldn't portray that on film, and it took me about 10 takes to get a decent picture of anything on account of the fading light.

It was actually a lot lighter out than this picture portrays, but you know how fussy cameras are. The cows were grazing quietly on the hillside, slowly wending their way back home for the night.

A beautiful little trail... you can't see the depth and faery-like quality of it here.

Branch lace in the sky.

The trees were reaching their arms towards the last glimmers of sunlight.


A little old man-tree caught my hair in his gnarled fingers, and when I turned around in fright, he smiled benignly at me as if to say, "I mean you no harm, my dear!".
The leaves curled themselves up to protect themselves from the cold wind.

I wish you could see the warmth of the colors, but I just couldn't capture it.


The last nightshade berries glowed in the dull grass, and reminded me of the time I used to pick them and pretend they were little tomatoes (though I never ate them of course; they are quite poisonous).
I simply could not get the water into focus. I took about 30 pictures of the stream, but this is the clearest of the lot.



I'm including this for fun. The cows who live on these acres do not know how lucky they are to have such a wonderful place to roam.


My mother painting. She wears an old blue coverall for warmth; I can't remember her ever painting in the winter without it. At her feet is our beloved watch dog (I should say one of our beloved dogs, for we have two). She has a good intimidating bark, but nothing in the world will make her bite someone. She has never growled in her life.


Don't you wish you had gone with me?

They seek him here, they seek him there...

I must confess that I have had a bit of a Scarlet Pimpernel obsession lately. I reread it, and so reminded myself how much I love it. My Mother went to the library and checked out the 1982 tv version of the tale with Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour, and Ian Mckellen as Sir Percy Blakeney, Lady Marguerite Blakeney, and Chauvelin, respectively.

Anthony Andrews was good, but a little over the top as Sir Percy. But he was funny, and did well with the material he was given. Jane Seymour was pretty, but too made up and the wigs were dreadful (it was the 80s after all). She couldn't act either. Ian Mckellen was good and creepy. So overall it was a nice movie, but it definitely wasn't the Scarlet Pimpernel. Definitely not.
So then Father insists that we watch the 1934 version with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. Five minutes into it I am in love.
Leslie Howard is THE Scarlet Pimpernel. He is Sir Percy Blakeney. The movie overall is wonderful, and while it doesn't follow the book completely (though it does a good bit), it gets the spirit and soul of it, which is most important. Film adaptations, in my mind, rarely do this. Though I do wish they had put a little bit more danger into the movie, because the end of the book is so exciting. Merle Oberon as Lady Blakeney was good, but didn't quite capture the role. I don't think she displayed enough emotion and love at the end, and she didn't seem nearly tortured enough when Chauvelin made her choose between her brother and the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvelin, played by Raymond Massey, was excellent. Quite creepy. The whole movie was superb, and there wasn't that element of ridiculousness and the playtime feel in it, as in the other version. Movies aren't good in that way anymore. And there aren't actors like that anymore. There just simply aren't. Unless they are older, and from a different generation.

Since I was so enamored of Leslie Howard, I went and watched Pygmalion (1938). Ah the acting. So very, very good. He is delightful as Henry Higgins. I am now officially in love with him. It's too bad he's dead. If he wasn't I'd marry him. I would marry Sir Laurence Olivier too if he were alive. I've been in love with him for simply years.

Both of them were amazing actors, incredibly handsome men, and, dare I say it? Absolutely adorable.

And I do love it when Sir Percy says, "odds fish" or "sink me".



For fellow fans: www.blakeneymanor.com/

A beautiful day continued

I am sure that someone lives in this wonderful stump... I wish I was small enough to live there too!
Both the poison ivy (above) and the English ivy (below) looked quite pretty in their fall colors.

Little Brother was thoroughly enjoying the day!


We stopped to take a look at what I thought was just an abandoned and dewy spiderweb. I didn't find out until I had actually seen the picture that it was, in fact, still occupied!

A beautiful day

It was such a beautiful day today! The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and the colors were dazzling, though unfortunately the ground was damp owing to all the rain we've had. I haven't really been outside since I've been sick; I feel better, though I still have a magnificent bass cough, and get tired and out of breath after physical exertion (like fetching the mail). But I ventured out, accompanied by mom's camera and Little Brother, to breathe the fresh air and to try and capture on film some of the beauty I had seen while looking out the windows.

There were still some leftover berries on the crab apple tree; I tried to capture how pretty they looked against the sky. I didn't really, but you can sort of see it.

Halloween

Halloween was last Saturday, and since I am long past the age of trick-or-treating, I sewed the costumes for Little Brother, and got to watch him enjoy the heck out of the holiday (as I used to). He wanted to be a bat. I've never seen a bat that's black, but using his black shirt and pants and my beanie was sure easier than having to go buy brown ones. Mom and I made the wings out of wire coat hangers and the lining of an old coat. There were going to be ears, but I ran out of time.


This year was a bit different, since usually I and some of my dearest friends celebrate All Hallows Eve with a medieval or renaissance feast. Because I was sick we had to postpone it, but hopefully we will be able to do it soon.

Autumn

It is Autumn now, and I go into raptures every day as I see all the brilliant gold and red leaves on all the trees, and the mists on the fields in the mornings. Fall is my favorite season (besides Spring), and in honor of it I am going to share some of my favorite fall pictures. I have to get a new camera; my old one died, and I need one since I love taking pictures of all I see. But I'll have to be content with other people's pictures until I can post my own (they are much better than mine anyhow).




This last picture could have been taken in the woods here where I live. It looks very like where my mother paints a good deal: a place called Henderson Swamp.