Morning Folks 12 17 05

I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow




I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.





I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom

Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.



And in despair I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."




Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."


'Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!


first published in 1863

Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 12 16 05

Christmas Trees
Robert Frost 1920
(A Christmas Circular Letter)

The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
Yet did in country fashion in that there
He sat and waited till he drew us out
A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
He proved to be the city come again
To look for something it had left behind
And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods—the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.
I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
To sell them off their feet to go in cars
And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except
As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
Beyond the time of profitable growth,
The trial by market everything must come to.
I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
Then whether from mistaken courtesy
And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
From hope of hearing good of what was mine,
I said, “There aren’t enough to be worth while.”
“I could soon tell how many they would cut,
You let me look them over.”

“You could look.
But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”
Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
Quite solitary and having equal boughs
All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,
Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,

With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”
I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.
We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
And came down on the north.
He said, “A thousand.”

“A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”

He felt some need of softening that to me:
“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”

Then I was certain I had never meant
To let him have them. Never show surprise!
But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
(For that was all they figured out apiece),
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
I should be writing to within the hour
Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
As may be shown by a simple calculation.
Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.
I can’t help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.


Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 12 15 05

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me"."-- Erma Bombeck


Erma Bombeck had a way of saying something, didn't she? Seldom serious, this quote
is unusual for her.
But, I know what she means. Everyone has been given a talent to give back to the world and it would be such a waste if we didn't share it. The old adage "use it or lose it" certainly comes to mind here.

Today, go out and use up some of your talent. Share it with each other and some part of us will continue on well beyond the day we meet our maker. It's Christmas and a time for giving. So often we complain about Christmas becoming so commercial, and I suppose that's true. So to bring back the real spirit of Christmas what better way than to do a little re-gifting and give some of that talent away.

So, if you have a talent for painting or making something beautiful, share that this season.








But even better, if you have a talent for making someone laugh, share that!









If your talent is music, use some of that up this season.





And if you have a talent for making someone know they are loved, by all means, share that.










And when we face God, let's hope we are no longer tap dancing.







Make it a Merry Christmas and share your talents.


Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 12 14 05

"Once you begin to believe there is help 'out there,' you will know it to be true."-- Saint Bartholomew

I know this quote from Saint Bartholomew is supposed to be spiritual and on another night when I don't have so much to do and I feel a little better, maybe I would be able to think on a higher plane. But for now, I just need help getting things done in time for Christmas.

When I was a kid I used to lie on my bed when I was sent to my room to clean it, and I would close my eyes tight and wish with all my might that elves would come and clean it for me. I sometimes would fall asleep and before I opened my eyes I readied myself for the surprise that I knew would come, but it never did. My room was still a mess. This was a fairly regular occurance as my room was often in need of cleaning. As the years went by I was continually disappointed but I never completely gave up believing that they would come. In fact here I am several years older and still going to bed wishing elves would come during the night and do my laundry, at least.

I guess I took the Elves and the Shoemaker a little too seriously. But, I have figured it out and I know elves are not going to come in the night. And it really kind of sucks. But honestly, wouldn't it be just outstanding if it was true? I guess all we can realistically wish for is a surge of energy or a reprieve in the workload and continue to believe in oursELVES! Hey, did you notice that? Do you see what I see in that word???

Hey, Auntie Em! All this time I was waiting for help from the elves "out there" when all along all I had to do was look inside mysELF. In this case maybe it would be an advantage to have multiple personalities.

Ignore me, I am on medication! Have a great day and try to enjoy yoursELVES.

Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 12 07 05

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."-- Louis D. Brandeis, American Judge
















Believe in the impossible!

L-
Suz

Morning Folks 12 06 05

This coming Sunday we will have our 32nd annual Messiah Sing at our church. For those of you who have never been to a Messiah Sing, we have an orchestra and 4 soloists and the 'audience' is seated in sections: Alto, Soprano, Tenor and Bass. There is also a section for those who just want to listen.


The Christmas part of Handel's Messiah is presented, and the Hallelujah Chorus, of course. Between solos, the audience serves as the chorus and sings those selected parts of the score. We usually sing the Hallelujah Chorus next to last. And then as a sort of 'cool down' after a good workout, we sing Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain. Although this is at the end of the piece, and in the Easter part rather than the nativity part, it has a really fabulous Amen. And it is a wonderful way to end the afternoon. Almost no one knows the whole piece so well that they don't stumble now and then. And if we are lucky no new pieces are added. It is beautifully moving and giggling good fun all at the same time. When we sing His Yoke is Easy, we find it particularly ironic because it is so hard to sing that we usually end up giggling and getting the odd note out every 10 bars or so, yet landing together on the last note. Here is a link about the piece itself, including the story of why we all stand for the Hallelujah Chorus. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A698268



Messiah Sing Sudbury MA 12/204


Yup, I will be going on Sunday afternoon, bringing my own personal score, a gift from Mom 25 years ago. For years it was a tradition for Cindy (and one or both daughters) and I to go to the Messiah Sing and end the day with Hot Chocolate at Friendly's. But, it is a long way from Connecticut so Cindy doesn't make it every year. However, Becky is going to come this year, as she has the last couple of years since she returned from California and that is a treat.

I hope you get the chance to attend a performance or a Sing this Christmas or even just have the chance to listen to the CD. People all around the country and the rest of the world are doing the same thing. Here is a poem I found and have shared with some of you already. The poet, from Provincetown, explains his take on their local annual Messiah.





"Messiah (Christmas Portions)"
By Mark Doty


A little heat caught
in gleaming rags,
in shrouds of veil,
torn and sun-shot swaddlings:

over the Methodist roof,
two clouds propose a Zion
of their own, blazing
(colors of tarnish on copper)

against the steely close
of a coastal afternoon, December,
while under the steeple
the Choral Society

prepares to perform
Messiah, pouring, in their best
blacks and whites, onto the raked stage.
Not steep, really,

but from here,
the first pew, they're a looming
cloudbank of familiar angels:
that neighbor who

fights operatically
with her girlfriend, for one,
and the friendly bearded clerk
from the post office

--tenor trapped
in the body of a baritone? Altos
from the A&P, soprano
from the T-shirt shop:

today they're all poise,
costume and purpose
conveying the right note
of distance and formality.

Silence in the hall,
anticipatory, as if we're all
about to open a gift we're not sure
we'll like;

how could they
compete with sunset's burnished
oratorio? Thoughts which vanish,
when the violins begin.

Who'd have thought
they'd be so good? Every valley,
proclaims the solo tenor,
(a sleek blonde

I've seen somewhere before
-- the liquor store?) shall be exalted,
and in his handsome mouth the word
is lifted and opened

into more syllables
than we could count, central ah
dilated in a baroque melisma,
liquefied; the pour

of voice seems
to make the unplaned landscape
the text predicts the Lord
will heighten and tame.

This music
demonstrates what it claims:
glory shall be revealed. If art's
acceptable evidence,

mustn't what lies
behind the world be at least
as beautiful as the human voice?
The tenors lack confidence,

and the soloists,
half of them anyway, don't
have the strength to found
the mighty kingdoms

these passages propose
-- but the chorus, all together,
equals my burning clouds,
and seems itself to burn,

commingled powers
deeded to a larger, centering claim.
These aren't anyone we know;
choiring dissolves

familiarity in an up-
pouring rush which will not
rest, will not, for a moment,
be still.

Aren't we enlarged
by the scale of what we're able
to desire? Everything,
the choir insists,

might flame;
inside these wrappings
burns another, brighter life,
quickened, now,

by song: hear how
it cascades, in overlapping,
lapidary waves of praise? Still time.
Still time to change.
__________________________________________________________________________________


HALLELUJAH!

Love,
Suz

Amazing Christmas Light Display

Today's blog was going to be about Christmas music, but I took a little side trip when I started to work on it. Doug sent me a link to this amazing video of a house decorated with Christmas lights that are synchronized to music. It is really something to see if you haven't seen it yet. I think it is widely circulated, but it is fun. And at this link is another link that shows the lights synched to a second song. Some people are just so creative! Just click on the words "Amazing Christmas Light Display" or copy and paste the link below:
http://www.mypartypost.com/watchvideo/1033/Best_Christmas_Lights_Display_Ever

Enjoy!

And here is another link that will get you to a really funny video that I sent to some of you last week. It has nothing to do at all with Christmas, but it is very funny.

http://www.ritilan.com/archives/2004/11/14/17.20.26/


Love,
Suz

Planet Christmas (The Home for Christmas Displays)-Click Here

I have done a little more research on these amazing Christmas Lights. If you go to this website: http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp This is a website that determines if things are real, like urban legends and things on the Internet. They have determined that this is a real light display in spite of many skeptics on various websites. You can listen to radio interview with Carson Williams, the man who actually set this up in Mason Ohio. He originally posted it to http://www.planetchristmas.com/

Now if you go to that link, you will see some fascinating things, too!

HAve a great one.
Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 12 03 05 Snow is in the Forecast

Dust of Snow
a poem by Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.






This is one of Frost's simpler poems, yet a picture it surely paints. Isn't it a nice one?

Yup, snow is in the forecast for us Sunday and again early next week. I do love the way snow looks on hemlock trees. The house we lived in on Massasoit Ave had a lush row of hemlocks between our yard and Chief McGovern's. He was our Police Chief when Sudbury was so small that he WAS the police force. Although retired by the time we moved next door to him, he was a dear man who bragged openly and often of the day in 1952 when he saved the life of a baby, burned in a fire, by rushing her to a hospital miles away in record time. Funny how life brings people full circle sometimes. But I digress...

These hemlocks were 30 or 40 feet tall. They were surreal after a snow fall, especially at night by the light of a full moon. There was a break in these hemlocks where a path was worn from visits back and forth between the Chief's house and ours. And in winter, when he was in Florida and his house was empty, that break would disappear under weighted, snowy branches. Frost's poem reminded me of those hemlocks...and of the Chief, now long dead. I wonder if that break is still there in those hemlocks.

There are some amazing sights here in winter. I think I will bring my camera with me these next few days and see if I can find some hemlocks.

Have a great Saturday, everyone.

Love,
Suz

Morning Folks 12 02 05 All about Books

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot
on Treasure Island...and best of all, you can enjoy these
riches every day of your life."

-- Walt Disney

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning







I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen








The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.
Abraham Lincoln








My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter. ~Thomas Helm










A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy.
~Edward P. Morgan


Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. ~Mark Twain







Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot











Books are wonderful things, not just because of the enjoyment in reading them, but for all sorts of other reasons. This time of year they are particularly wonderful. Most people love them, they are easy to wrap and easy to find, and easy to regift if you already have that one. Of course gift certificates to bookstores are wildly popular. A trip to the bookstore is one of Ed's and my favorite pasttimes.

I know it is very popular these days to go to used bookstores, but I like the feel and smell of a brand new book. My books are very personal things, even the sort of trashy novels I read now and then. They are mine and I don't even want to think that someone else has already read them first. And before I read them, I like to see them on my shelf for a while. All neatly lined up and ordered by author and size. Colorful and straight clean bindings with titles that invite me to choose one. I place an index finger at the top of the one I choose and tip it toward me at an angle, grasping it firmly with thumb and fingers, I slide it out of the spot in which it so perfectly fit, feeling its heft and placing it in one palm I run the other over the smooth, cool cover all the while eagerly wondering what it has inside just for me. The anticipation is almost too much to bear and I start to perspire...

Oops. I forgot there were minors reading my blog. I got a little bit carried away. Sorry.

I really like some of these pictures I found. Click on them to get a closer look.
And what are you all reading these days? I am reading A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It is VERY heavy. The Secret Lives of Bees is on Deck. Tell me what you all have on your nightstands these days. I am really curious! Add a comment or reply to all on the blog email you got this morning and let us know.

Have a great Friday.
Love,
Suz