"September"

East and west the color sweeps,
   Gold in air and everywhere;
Mists that veil the o'erarching deeps
   To the heavens their gold declare:
Starry blossoms, color-brimmed,
   Drink the wine of days divine,
And the sunflowers, gorgeous-rimmed,
   Sentinels—as Autumn's sign—
               Nod and shine.

Climbing o'er the sunlit bowers,
   Birds surprise the butterflies
Sleeping in the trumpet-flowers
   Hushed by south winds' lullabies;
Purple-proud, the asters show
   Hearts o'errun with rays of sun,
And the meadow lilies blow,
   "Fairer 'rayed than Solomon,"
               One by one.

East and west the color sweeps,
   Color here and color there:
Sapphire in the o'erarching deeps,
   Gold in mists and gold in air;
And when moons set crescent-sail
   O'er heaven's breast in color quest
And its uttermost glories scale
   All the world stands gold-confessed,
               East and west.

C.E.Whiton-Stone

The Calendar Says It's the Fall Equinox...

...but the thermometer sure doesn't. I believe it hit 90°F today. Not a sign of 50s in the evening until the end of the week, and then it will be high 50s with 80s in the daytime.

Nevertheless, I put up most of the fall decorations: the bouquet and other things on the table (not to forget the fall napkins), others on the satellite box, and the arrangement on the table in the foyer. I put up the fall banner and wreath on the porch and set the scarecrow and pumpkin down in their chairs—but goodness, the sun is so strong they may fade in a week!

The trees are telling the sun it's time for a rest. The dogwoods always start to turn first. Sometimes it may only be three or four leaves in one far edge of the tree that turn the peculiar red of the fall dogwood leaves. There are some maples in the yard that have three or four yellowing leaves, and more scatter the ground if the wind raises or when it rains.

The maples behind the Smyrna Community Center are beginning to turn as well.

As we walked around at the Atlanta History Museum on Sunday, we strolled past beautiful photographs of the Peachtree Creek watershed and the old purification plants. All the photos were taking in the autumn. I notice so many scenic photographs, even if they are not autumn-themed photos, are taken during the autumn. The colors of the trees lend the broken bridges, spavined mills, crumbling cabins and other artifacts a special, enchanted glow as if they are caught in crystal.

"Who Love the Autumn"

They who love the autumn
Scuff with wayward feet
Where the yellowed windrows
By ash and elm are laid,
Savoring the incense
From fires along the street,
Pausing in the darkness
To watch the embers fade.

Windows dressed in scarlet, russet,
Gold, and brown;
Bough and sheaf and pumpkin,
Set for Halloween.
Bring the season's color
To invest the town,
Poor in Autumn's substance
With something of her sheen.

Place has no distinction,
Leaves against the curb,
Rain on bleaching stubble,
Avenues grown bare—
All possess enchantment to charm
And yet disturb.
They who love the autumn
Find it everywhere!

Dana Kneeland Akers

It's Always Snowing Somewhere

Make your own snowflake and add a message!

Popular Front: SnowDays

How Did They Know I'm Wishing for Snow?

Your Christmas Song Is

White Christmas I'm dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the ones I used to know Where the treetops glisten, and children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow You like everything to be perfect at Christmas And it's just not Christmas if it doesn't snow

What Christmas Carol Are You?

Fall Creeps in On Little Cat Feet

Kitten feet, I think, 'cause it's coming very slowly. :-)

I've usually written in here several times by now detailing the approach of fall, but I've been a maniac this summer. Work has worn me to a slender thread—I'm having difficulty concentrating and the smallest things drive me mad. The few weeks of 90-100°F temps did nothing to help. This summer I had another palpitation episode that sent me to the emergency room and my acid reflux seems to be getting worse instead of better. I'm hoping fall may temper this nonsense.

I can't wait for it to get cooler again so I can take Willow out for walks on the days I telework. She's missed our lunch jaunts but I simply cannot take being out in the sun. The mildest reaction I get is a rash. I dream of cool breezes.

The signs of fall came early this year: Michael's had things up starting in June. I expect that in ten years the fall things will start coming out in April (which means, depressingly, that the spring material will show up in October!). Among the summer bushes were the oranges and reds of fall. Then one day I walked into Hobby Lobby and fall wreaths were lining the edges of the floral aisles and three rows were cleared for Christmas ribbon and picks. Back-to-school items and then scarecrows appeared at JoAnn. Then every week it was more.

A few weeks ago the fall issues of travel magazines appeared: Vermont Life, Midwest Living, Blue Ridge Country. The September Yankee appeared a week later and fall baking appeared on the cover of Southern Living—not to mention a fall entertaining issue of Cooks Illustrated. I'm an uninspired and bored cook, but I love CI for Christopher Kimball's delightful editorials about life in Vermont. This latest opened with

"There is a time in late October when, in the half-light before dawn, you expect that a few dim-witted bees will be lazing about the frost-stroked goldenrod, the upper pond will be glazed with a skim-coat of ice, and the October skies will look more like November, a northwest wind pushing a heavy gray sky."

If they ever publish a collection of Kimball's essays, I'll be in line to buy it.

And that sounds like a delightful day, too!

With a View Toward Fall

Beautiful autumn photographs by Charles Kozierok!

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you? Comet Like Comet you are always happy. Nothing seems to get you down and you can always put a smile on people's faces Find out which of Santa's Reindeer you are at Quizopolis.com

"Tradition..."

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

(Speaking of Christmas, I saw a big arch made of fall leaves and flowers at Michael's today. Hurrah!)

Some Folks Like It :-)

Here Comes the Sun: Revelers Celebrate Summer Solstice at Ancient Monument of Stonehenge

Of course they're wearing coats. It wasn't already 70°F at sunrise; no wonder they don't mind.

It's 45°F in Sydney right now...let's go!

English Heritage's Stonehenge Site.

Science World explains the Solstice.

Various summer solstice religious celebrations.

Christmas in July June

I went back to Book Nook this morning to get the Eric Sloane book and just happened to turned around where they kept the VHS Christmas material. I was quite happy to find a copy of The Night Before Christmas, which is a late 1960s cartoon that features the voice of Olan Soule (veteran radio performer and also the voice of the father in Disney's The Small One) as Clement C. Moore in this fictionalized account of how the good doctor wrote "A Visit from St. Nicholas." The poem is sung by the Norman Luboff Choir, but it's the arrangement done by Ken Darby for Fibber McGee and Molly on radio in the 1940s.

I also found a Readers Digest produced tape called Christmas Around the World with Perry Como, a 112 minute compilation of six of his classic Christmas specials: Colonial Williamsburg, France, Quebec, Mexico, Austria, and the Holy Land.

So I spent a lovely afternoon watching both tapes and then listening to Christmas music. Schuyler seemed to like it and has been cheeping, chirping, and even giving little scolds all afternoon and evening.

What to My Wondering Eyes Did Appear...

In Hobby Lobby the other day and there are fall wreaths scattered about, and fall leaves under some of the displays. At the opposite end of the store they had already stocked an aisle with Christmas "picks" and half an aisle with Christmas ribbon. very heartening, considering they're predicting 90°F plus coming up.

It has been a rather Christmas-y day today, as we had cloudy skies and a breeze. We stopped at Book Nook, a local used bookstore, and I found these:

• Mary Englebreit's Believe
• The Merry Christmas Book (Ideals compilation book
• Christmas Treasury from Guideposts
also America Celebrates, also from Ideals, with selections from each holiday, Christmas at the end, and of course also New Year's and Thanksgiving

Happy St. George's Day!

From the Woodlands Junior School site:

"St George is the patron saint of England. His emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England, and part of the British flag. St George's emblem was adopted by Richard The Lion Heart and brought to England in the 12th century. The king's soldiers wore it on their tunics to avoid confusion in battle... [o]ne of the best-known stories about St George is his fight with a dragon. But it is highly unlikely that he ever fought a dragon, and even more unlikely that he ever actually visited England. Despite this, St George is known throughout the world as the dragon-slaying patron saint of England."

St. George's Day: A Site for England

Woodlands Junior School's St. George's Day Entry

Celebrating St. George's Day

The BBC's Brief St. George's Day Entry

Wikipedia Entry on St. George's Day

Answers.com St. George's Day Entry

Today is also celebrated as Shakespeare's birthday.

232nd Anniversary

Written April 19, 1860.

Paul Revere's Ride
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,—
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,—
A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

The Paul Revere House Website has a true account of the ride (he actually didn't make the entire route) along with a history of Revere.

A fictitious but entertaining account of Paul Revere, his ride, and the beginnings of the Revolutionary War is told in Robert Lawson's delightful Mr. Revere and I.

Today is the 232nd anniversary of "the shot heard 'round the world" at the bridge at Concord, Massachusetts:

Concord Hymn
Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
     Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
     And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
     Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
     Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
     We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
     When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
     To die, and leave their children free, --
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
     The shaft we raised to them and Thee.

A firsthand account of the battle.

The National Park Site.

My Favorite Easter Cartoon

I forgot to post this on Sunday.

Ham, Lamb and Chocolate Bunnies

Easter Foods: History & Symbolism

I haven't had hot cross buns in years. I wouldn't even know where to get them.

We learned this in school:

Hot cross buns,
Hot cross buns,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns.
Buy them for your daughters,
Buy them for your sons,
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns.

We'd get them from the bakery, fresh and sometimes warm. Mom used to glare at me because I scraped the icing that formed the cross off the top. I'm sorry: I hate icing.

"The Day of the Last Supper"

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday)

Holy Thursday at Catholic Online

Holy Thursday at Fisheaters.com

Holy Thursday at Women for Faith & Family

Maundy Thursday Traditions at Woodlands Junior School site—what's this about "Maundy money"?

Holy Thursday at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Holy Week at Ken Collins' site

Easter Rebirth

I've had an Easter tree (photo here) for some years, purchased when Michael's originally started selling them over a half-dozen years ago. As you can see, it's a very basic Easter tree, with spare white, straight branches. The support block, which is also white, I've always buried under Easter grass as shown.

This year Michael's has a "hipped-up" Easter tree which I've been looking at with some envy. The ends of its white branches are curled and it has leaves and tiny flowers wound around its stem. I considered buying it, but it's so overly decorated that I thought it would take away from the cute little Easter tree ornaments that I've bought over time. I wanted a bit of an update, not a major overhaul.

So that's what I've been doing this afternoon.

First I found Mom's old looping pliers that she used for her jewelry work. She always bought her own tools because the pliers and things they provided at Tesoro didn't always fit her hands. I curled the end of each branch in a C-shape and then, on the longer branches, I also put little coils in them, one on the shorter of the long branches, a double coil on the very longest branches.

Then I dug out my embroidery threads and pulled about eighteen inches off each of these colors: lavender, pale blue, spring green, a bright pink, and yellow. I separated them out to two threads each and then took turns winding the colored threads around the trunk as you would do with ribbons on a maypole. I tied them at the top and then used a bit of tape to secure them at the bottom.

I'm presently waiting for the pale blue that I painted the base to dry. When it is dry, I will put on another coat, and then sprinkle on the pink, yellow, purple, and green glitter that I got in a $1 glitter kit at JoAnn.

The Zeppoles Have It

A Miraculous Confection

I supposed it's not right of a good Italian to confess it :-), but I never much cared for zeppoles, at least for the filling, as I've never been a yellow cream fan. Used to drive my mom crazy by eating the pastry shell and the whipped cream on top, and surreptitiously consigning most of the yellow cream to the garbage pail on the counter. She eventually quit buying me my own zeppole on St. Joseph's Day and just bought one for her and one for Dad, and I had a chocolate doughnut (chocolate-frosted, not all chocolate) or an apple turnover.

(I used to do this with apple pie, too, since apple pie filling is always wayyyyyy too sweet. I'd eat the crust and a few of the apples and give the rest to my mom or dad. Apple turnovers were okay because they had a small quantity of apples compared to the crust. I remember how happy I was to find "no sugar added" apple pies...until Splenda arrived. Now most of the "no sugar added" apple pies we find have sorbitol or malitol in them. Guys, the apples are already sweet; why is God's name do you have to add so much sweetener? I might as well spoon sugar out of the bowl and eat it directly, some of these pies are so sweet.)

Anyway, the author in the article linked above is writing about Wright's Dairy Farm in North Smithfield, which I first wrote about in this entry.

The Italian Saint

A week from Monday is St. Joseph's Day, and I thought I would get up a small St. Joseph's Day table or altar. These are usually large, elaborate affairs, mostly in churches, but sometimes in people's homes. Here's one in New Orleans.

Mine's a tad bit smaller. LOL. I bought the little statue at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA. I didn't want a white statue, but I liked the way this St. Joseph looked, strong, like a carpenter should. The brother working at the counter even blessed him for me. I found something to place him upon and covered it with a tatted piece my mother did many years ago. Around him are traditional fruits, including figs and olives on the right. I wanted to get an artificial roll, too, since breads are a big part of the display, but the only "fake bread" I could find was a too-huge loaf at Michael's.

The nuts in front, on the other hand, are real filberts and almonds.



James' friend Rusty, at the hobby store, paints figures quite beautifully; he did a St. Jude statue for me many years ago. I am thinking of letting him paint this, too. Maybe I can find some artificial breads and nuts some other time.

George Washington and All That

George Washington still remains a mythic figure in our history, despite at least a century of debunking books after the idyllic Victorian chroniclers. But even through the fifties this charming little fable about George Washington bravely owning up to a childhood misdeed was taught either in history classes or featured in readers:

George Washington's Story about the Cherry Tree

Of course only a moral fable concocted by a minister, but cherry trees are still associated with Washington (and the capitol city named for him, hence the flowering cherry trees in the District of Columbia today) and cherry pie and tart recipes flourish on Washington's birthday.

Alistair Cooke says in America that many historians have had a hard time finding warmth in the man. As many aristocrats of his time, Washington was strictly brought up to observe propriety at all time. He disliked being touched and asked that official visitors remain standing in his presence. (Cooke adds that someone, observing this, commented, "I fear we have exchanged George III for George I.")

Still, we have bits of things, like a list of toys he ordered for his stepchildren (supposedly as Christmas gifts), that makes him seem a little more than a legend from on high.

On the other hand, I remember George being "humanized" from my childhood. I hear stories from friends about cute little songs they learned in their childhood, like "Wheels on the Bus." Most of what I listened to as a kid, besides the odd record like my old 78 RPM of "Happy Trails" and "Red River Valley" by Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers, were either Italian songs or songs by Italian singers (Perry Como, Dean Martin, Jerry Vale, Al Martino; Enzio Pinza—all except Frank Sinatra; Dad liked him but Mom hated him). (I did have the 45 of "PT-109," but remember, I was Catholic; John F. Kennedy was big at our house, too.)

My favorite Italian singer was a man who sang "novelty songs," Lou Monte. I had several Lou Monte 45s (still do, in fact), including his big comic hit "Pepino the Italian Mouse." This was one of my favorite records, about a man who has a persistent, gourmet mouse in his house, who steals his cheese, drinks his wine, and scares his girlfriend.

But I also loved the song on the flip side, which is the bouncy "What Did Washington Say (When He Crossed the Delaware)?" I still adore this song; it's funny!

(I looked up Lou Monte on Google today and found a Wikipedia entry, which left me absolutely gobsmacked: apparently Monte has been labeled as "controversial" in some circles. The quote in Wiki: "Monte's works have been considered by some to be degrading to both Italian-Americans and to Italians generally, as they portray Italy and Italians as backward, simple, and servile. We Got Teeth magazine writer Dom Passantino assembled a staff pick of 'The Top Ten Worst Ambassadors of Italian Culture Via Song,' in which Monte was labeled, 'the Italian Stepin Fetchit.'"

Wow. This must be recent. Monte was beloved in my old neighborhood, which was 90 percent Italian (mostly folks who had come from "the old country"), and in my 100 percent Italian family (all my grandparents had come from "the old country" as adults). My parents wouldn't have bought the records had they thought Monte was insulting.

Anyway, I found the lyrics for "What Did Washington Say" on mudcat.org; thanks to Jim Dixon and "Ferrara" who did the transcription:

"Give me liberty or give me death"--these words will never die,
"We have just begun to fight" is a famous battle cry;
But what I really want to know ain't written anywhere:
Hey, what did Washington say when he crossed the Delaware?

"Mme faccia 'nu fridd', e tengo 'na famm',
Mme faccia 'nu fridd', no tengo mo dann'.

(Mom told me this translated roughly as

"I'm cold, I'm hungry,
I'm cold and I've got no clean underwear.")

"Oh, Martha, Martha, wish you were here tonight.
Oh, Martha, Martha, no pasta fazool-a tonight.

"Martha baked these pizza pies and now they're cold as ice;
We'll sell them to the Indians at only half the price.
Please row a little faster, boys. I got no time to kill--
Tonight I'm posing for my picture on the dollar bill.

"Mme faccia 'nu fridd', e tengo 'na famm',
Mme faccia 'nu fridd', no tengo mo dann'.

"Oh, Martha, Martha, don't wait up for me tonight.
Oh, Martha, Martha, no tarantella tonight.

"George stood up and told his men, "Keep rowing, please don't stop.
These boats are only rented and we've got till six o'clock.
It's against the rules; we can't go rowing after dark.
We've got to get these rowboats back to good old Central Park.

"Mme faccia 'nu fridd', e tengo 'na famm',
Mme faccia 'nu fridd', no tengo mo dann'.

"Oh, Martha, Martha, I'm not coming home tonight.
Oh, Martha, Martha, there'll be no twisting tonight.

"On the day of glory, that's what Georgie told his crew.
Some may doubt the story, but to those of you who do,
Just ask Giusepp' the barber while he trims and cuts your hair--
He'll tell you just what Georgie said when he crossed the Delaware:

"Mme faccia 'nu fridd', e tengo 'na famm',
Mme faccia 'nu fridd', no tengo mo dann'.

"Oh, Martha, Martha, no pasta fazool tonight,
Oh, Martha, Martha, I'm not-t-t coming home tonight."

SPOKEN: "Hey Georgie, you wanna buy a bridge?" "Right!"

Hmmm, think I'll go play my 45 and laugh along with Lou.

Lent Begins

After the furor of mardi gras, this is a quiet day. It's appropriate weather here, too, as grey as the ashes and raining steadily. Every once in a while there is a rumble of thunder. Willow, her eyes big, retreats into her crate: "The sky is growling at me!" Pidge chirps back or coos to Girlfriend: "I'm not afraid of that ol' sky."

Ash Wednesday

"Ash Wednesday: Our Shifting Understanding of Lent"

Ken Collins on Ash Wednesday

Catholic Online on Ash Wednesday

The BBC's Page on Ash Wednesday

I remember going to St. Mary's every Ash Wednesday.The old walls of the church smelled strongly of incense. People bundled in winter coats trailed to the altar and then back. Mostly women but some men said rosaries after receiving their ashes. Some children were taken to Mass before school and came in with the mark of ashes on their foreheads. We went after work because Daddy left for work too early to go to church, but was home by 4 p.m. By then the sun was low in the sky and the old church was dim, with the banks of votive candles a flickeringly bright oasis around the altar.

The Day the Birds Choose Their Mates

And James plots something...I'm not sure what. I've just been told to keep my plate clear tomorrow night. :-)

More Than One St. Valentine

Wikipedia Entry

Who Keeps the Good Saint's Remains?

Valentine's Day History and Customs

Valentine's Day Around the World

Among the more gruesome things having to do with Valentine's Day is the infamous "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" so celebrated in gangster history. Here's a page at Weird and Haunted Chicago that talks about the events and the places.

When Shadows Mean Something

February 2 lies halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Pagan societies celebrated this day as Imbolc, a time when the days were getting longer and winter was beginning to release its hold. Many hibernating animals emerged from shelter during this time of year. Christian societies call the day "Candlemas." It celebrates the purification of Mary, mother of Jesus, 40 days after his birth, as was tradition at that time. On that day all the church candles are blessed for the year. (Candlemas is also the day for you to remove any Christmas greens you have left, since it is considered bad luck to keep them displayed any longer—perhaps because they were so dried up by that time!)

The "seeing of shadows" custom comes from beliefs expressed in various rhymes:

"If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year."

"If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again."

Basically, if the sun shines on February 2, it's only a brief respite before winter closes back in. But if it's a grey or rainy day, winter is still working its way through, but spring should follow soon after.

In Germany badgers and hedgehogs traditionally "saw their shadows"; in the New World the ubiquitious groundhog, a.k.a. the woodchuck, a member of the marmot family, gained the honor.

The "official" groundhog of the United States is Punxsatawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog who found even more fame with the release of the Bill Murray film, Groundhog Day. Phil's official website:

The Official Site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club

There are other regional groundhogs; Phil's Southern counterpart, General Beau Lee, lives at the Yellow River Game Ranch.

There's even a Canadian groundhog, who is unusual because he's an albino: here's Wiarton Willie's Website.

This CBC article reveals a little secret about Willie!

Lore, poetry, recipes and more for Imbolc.

Little Blue Mittens

At Michael's yesterday they had the tail-end of Christmas decorations including some little stuffed blue mittens with white embroidery snowflakes and white snowflakes with blue embroidery that were keychains for ten cents each. I bought four. The two mittens are hanging with snowflakes in the foyer.

A few snapshots of the winter decorations in Autumn Hollow.

Winter Remnants

We were headed to the new Costco at Cumberland Mall and stopped by the mall to see the new changes that were made (the mall has been undergoing a several million-dollar restoration). So we took a nice walk around the entire area. Kaybee Toys was going out of business and was pretty much stripped. Abercrombie and Fitch and Kirklands are gone. Lots more boring women's clothing stores. Some fronts still empty.

Anyway, unlike the Hallmark shop at the Avenue at West Cobb, the mall Hallmark store still had some leftover Christmas things at 75 percent off. I bought a white bottle brush tree with small red balls. When I got home I wrapped it with what was left of the silver snowflake garland and topped it with a snowflake ornament. It's now a winter tree in the foyer.

They also had some Marjolein Bastin's "Nature's Sketchbook" ornaments left. This year Bastin had done four winter garden ornaments, frosted with white: a sled, an Adirondak chair, a garden cart, and a mailbox. They didn't have any of the mailbox ornaments and the garden cart had a Christmas tree in it. Both the Adirondak chair and the sled, however, are just winter themed, the chair with skates and the sled with mittens. So I bought them for the table.

I also bought a goofy-looking white cartoony-looking bear who has a blue scarf rather than a Christmasy one.

Tree in Hibernation

Aieeee! It took two and a half hours to take the tree down, get it downstairs (where it's taking up a lot more space than I'd hoped) under plastic, and put the glider rocker back in place. I'm pooped. I don't know how the folks at Christmas to the Max (Melody has 52 trees!) do it. All the ornaments that had string ties on them now have hooks (thank God; I hate string ties on ornaments), the glass stuff is either in its own box (the regular Woolworth-type glass ornaments) or in an old Hallmark box, and the plastic stuff is in Ziplock bags laid flat in the storage container.

I feel decadent. I actually ripped the tinsel off and threw it away. They have made mylar tinsel since I was a kid, because of the lead hazard in the original icicles, but they are making it even thinner today; it's almost as fine as hair. I went crazy picking it off a 4 1/2 foot tree and hanging it back on the cardboard piece they provide in the icicle box; I wasn't going to try to do it with tinsel from a six-foot tree!

I bought three boxes of icicles at Walgreen's on half price after Christmas, so I have tinsel. I just feel my frugal mom is looking down on me and shaking an index finger at me and clucking! :-)

The autumn-theme things are back on the mantel, but I have some snow-themed things on the divider and scattered around the room, in the dining room, and in the foyer. It seems incongruous since it's 69° degrees outside, the windows are all thrown open with the fans going full blast, and it smells like bloody spring outside!

The carpet is still scattered with artificial needles, bits of tinsel and other Christmas flotsam, but it can wait until Monday if it has to, since it's Martin Luther King Day. Right now I'm ready for a good lunch. Hey, James, wanna go to Longhorn?

"Down With the Rosemary and So..."

Down with the baies and mistletoe,
Down with the holly, ivie all
Wherewith ye deck the Christmas Hall."

. . . . . Robert Herrick

I am slowly divesting the house of its Christmas finery.

It's taking a while because (a) it was put up during successive weeks of Advent, so it can't be taken down in mere hours and (b) I'm attempting to put it up in an orderly manner rather than just tossing it into the clear storage boxes as previously done. So the porch and the foyer now have their winter decorations and the dining room, kitchen, and what small things were in the various bedroom and the wreaths on the doors are cleared away. I have various winter decorations (gathered from Christmas clearance, since apparently in the decorating world winter only happens at Christmas [snark]) dotted about the main floor: a basket of greens, snowmen, etc. All the larger trees (the big tree in the living room, the small tree with the miniature ornaments, and the feather tree) are still up, plus the little adornments in the library and the ornament jars and snowglobes in the living room, and the village. I can probably take down the two small trees tonight and the den decorations, but will need to empty one of the big Xerox paper boxes for the village.

The big tree will need to wait until Friday, when I'm off. There simply isn't enough time after work. In the meantime, the timer continues to turn it on and off at night, so it's a glowing, welcome companion to dinnertime and post-prandial reading, pet encounters, and the odd television program or two.

Once the decorations are down I hope to start a couple of new projects: finishing the nook in the yard before it gets warm (that's like four weeks from now, if not sooner! <wry g>) and painting the "wish" stake for the yard in a fall motif. We'll need to get chairs for the nook; I'm simply going to get the PVC (or whatever it is) Adirondak chairs like we have on the porch, except in a different color. There's no use buying expensive wooden lawn furniture in Georgia; the strong sun will sap all the good out of it in two years and it will end up looking wizened and grey (like the rockers on our front porch) and need replacing.

St. Distaff's Day

St. Distaff's Day; Or, the Morrow after Twelfth-day
Robert Herrick

Partly work and partly play
You must on St. Distaffs Day:
From the plough soon free your team;
Then cane home and fother them:
If the maids a-spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.
Bring in pails of water then,
Let the maids bewash the men.
Give St. Distaff' all the right:
Then bid Christmas sport good night,
And next morrow every one
To his own vocation.'

In other words, "Merrymaking is over, time to get back to work." :-)

More details about St. Distaff's Day and other events of January 7th.

"Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot..."

We finished out the Christmas season with our Twelfth Night party tonight. We had a great time with the folks who came, but it was a small crowd. Several people had told us they had prior obligations, and at least one person had to be with an ailing parent, but we missed the regulars, and the two girls who came were bored without the rest of the kids of their own age who usually show up. I hope everyone's okay.

So we're sitting here ticking down the last few minutes of Christmas season 2006. It was a happy time, even with little annoyances like the traffic on the way to Warner Robins and back and the warm weather that invaded every few days like unwelcome insects. The Marietta tour of homes was terrific; I'd like to do it again next year. The new ARTC venue was enjoyable, and the show, of course, was excellent. Shari's party is always fun, as is getting together with James' family.

And then of course the glitter: checking out Christmas displays, the beautiful decorations, the drive through Life University, tinsel and glitter and glass ornaments, and lights, lights, lights.

The best part: good friends, good family, good food, good feeling. A feeling of home and of love.

I give you a toast, ladies and gentlemen, to Christmas! May it endure forever!

See you next year...

Old Christmas

EBK: St. Joseph of Arimathea

Photos, Including of the Glastonbury Thorn

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Thorn

BBC's Glastonbury Tour: The Thorn

Happy Befana Day!

Traditionally, La Befana ("Befana" comes from the word "Epiphany") has delivered little toys and candies to Italian children on January 6. Now many Italian children believe in Santa Claus ("Babbo Natale," "Father Christmas") instead or in addition to.

Befana is usually described as an elderly woman with a wart upon her nose, but many believers will get upset if you envision her so. Some modern drawings make her a perky elderly lady with her ever-present broom.

The tale goes that when the Three Wise Men stopped at her home, she fed them but decided not to accompany them on their journey to the manger because she had too much housework to do. (That sounds like an Italian woman, all right!) Afterwards she felt badly about refusing and hurried after them, but has never caught up with them. She leaves gifts to children in the hope that one of them may be the Christ Child.

About La Befana at Italiansrus.com.

(They also have a great section about Italian Christmas traditions, including an account by a man who spent his 11th Christmas on Ischia, which is where my mother's parents came from.)

A scholarly look at La Befana.

Just a general page about Christmas in Italy.

And a very good page on Epiphany with over a dozen links.

"We Three Kings"

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain

O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.

Refrain

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain

A Puppy's 12 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
The Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the second day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the third day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
My wreath in nine pieces
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed
My wreath in nine pieces
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Eleven unwrapped presents
Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed
My wreath in nine pieces
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
A dozen puppy kisses
And I forgot all about the other eleven days.

. . . Elise Lewis, 1997

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...

...I seem to be coming down with a cold. Have intermittent cough and sinus stuffiness. Not surprising since a lot of folks at the party had colds and so did my mother-in-law. Just hope I don't get an infection; since I developed the penicillin allergy it's a bid hard for them to find something that works on me.

In the meantime, it's a bit late, but here's a recipe for Twelfth Cake...of course.

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

...as we previously watched the decorations go up, now we watch them come down. As I drove through downtown Smyrna yesterday morning, all their decorations, including the big tree, were still up, but the lights were no longer lit. By the time I got home, everything had disappeared by the strings of lights on the big trees. If this had been just a few wreaths on lampposts and a couple of standing figures, you'd say "so what," but this was an entire "forest" of lighted decorations (Santa, team of reindeer, elves, fireplace, candy canes at the entrance, skaters, snowflakes, strings of blue lights dripping from the trees around the pond, etc.). Those folks were really busy yesterday!

So the square is all dark and somber again.

Meanwhile, here's a different site with a page about the Twelve Days of Christmas. The site includes the entire liturgical calendar.

Today is the saint's day of one of the few American saints, Elizabeth Ann Seton.

A nice page of Christmas Images by Thomas Nast, some on the page, most linked.

And just because it's pretty, a recent photo of Chateau Frontenac in Quebec in the snow. I've been here several times, but never in the winter. Lovely.

A Doctor Who Christmas Story...

...by Paul Cornell

"Deep and Dreamless Sleep"

Tip of the hat to Kim.

On the Tenth Day of Christmas...

...it's back to the $#!$#$!#$! fluorescent lights.

Meanwhile the holiday period has brought back more than Christmas memories:

Every year there's a Christmas episode I get "attached" to and watch several times. In 2005 it was The House Without a Christmas Tree because Mom and I had watched that a lot together.

This year it was the original Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small, "Merry Gentlemen." I watched it about a half-dozen times, including once late New Year's night. I think it was because I was feeling a bit homesick after hearing about my godmother, and the halls of Skeldale House and especially the old den and the dining room with its old-fashioned wallpaper put me in mind of all the triple-deckers and old homes of my relatives. There is a scene where Tristan goes into the kitchen with a candle and you can hear the wind "wuthering" outside and the draft guttering the candle and almost feel how cold that stone-floored kitchen was with the stove out in a home that was not centrally heated.

Reminds me of the days when houses weren't as draft-resistant as they are now. You almost never hear the wind blowing around our new home; it has to be gusting hard and then more what we hear is the snap and rattle of the banner outside on the metal flagpole. We had radiators when I was small and I remember the windows turning white with feathery frost patterns on cold mornings in the window that did not have the radiator in front of it; the one near the radiator would be thick with condensation (which dripped into the wooden frames and necessitated the replacement of the windows in 1971).

So does anyone else remember plugging up the front door for the winter? We didn't use our front door in the winter at all; Daddy shoveled the front walk so the mailman could reach the box, but we didn't use the door. It was opened twice all winter, once to put the Christmas wreath up and then to take it down again. A couple of winters we just left it up until spring. You used to be able to tell old New England houses, in fact, by the old Christmas wreaths on their doors into March because their front doors were blocked up. Our front door faced north, so the blocking of the door added extra warmth to the living room. The cracks would be stuffed with strips of old flannel pajamas. Some folks took the precaution of covering the front door, storm door and all, with clear plastic sheeting that was scuffed and transcluscent by spring, but my parents thought that looked ugly.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas

Busy, busy, busy.

Since the Big Boss was nice enough to give us the day off, I played catchup on all the things I didn't accomplish last week, including the exciting deep cleaning of the master bathroom shower. :-) I decorated two winter sweatshirts, made two signs for the porch (including the one that says "No Solicitors at any time," which I hope will hold off the guy with the loud muffler who keeps bothering me about having our gutters cleaned), painted another sign, fixed up two snowmen as winter decorations (the sled and sign used to say "Merry Christmas"), put up the "library shelf" wall border in the library (this is cool: we found it at School Box; it's 16 feet of "shelves" with books on it—usually the books are fake on these things, but these are real titles, including ones of Hemingway and Richard Wright, Little Women, even Alistair Cooke's America), did another thrilling job of organizing our iron-on patches, sorted laundry, and other exciting housework things! :-)

While I was crafting watched the service for President Ford, then later put the Dish Network holiday music channel on to enjoy it while it lasts.

Also did the tedious job of updating all my website copyright dates; I'm trying to fix up some mistakes made in previous years that happened because I just did simple search-and-replace, so this is taking a bit longer and I still need to finish.

Meanwhile the long, long vacation is over and I'm off to work tomorrow. Need to get my desk set up so I can start the telework process. Tomorrow I'll probably spend several hours just deleting spam e-mails.

Oh, and I uploaded my newest web page, one dedicated to Margaret Sidney's Five Little Peppers series.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas...

...it was New Year.

We didn't get home until after two a.m. It was a great party: much laughter and munchings, stories and wandering from room to room chatting with friends. The big announcement of the evening: Matt and Kelley are engaged to be married!

We also saw a friend we had not seen for years, Chris Cook, who has always been a talented comic artist. I still have my "Dalek-toon" T-shirt that he did many, many years ago. Well, it turns out Chris has been working professionally in comic art for the last four years; he has drawn the Powerpuff Girls comic book and is also working on a comic involving a robot (don't remember the title, unfortunately). Super!

Got home just in time to miss Rodney on chat, but did get to wish Mike a Happy New Year before collapsing in bed sometime after three. And then back up at ten to watch the "making of" special about the Tournament of Roses parade.

Great parade, and much better weather than last year! There was a wonderful dragon float, but unfortunately the fire that was supposed to spout from the dragons' mouths did not work. However, there was a successful flight by a gentleman with a jet pack on his back. Some lady from American Idol performed. Mike had told me that Oklahoma would be "leading the pack," so to speak, and they did; it's their centennial year.

After the parade we took a ride to Fry's. They had a sale on all the M*A*S*H seasons; I needed the last two. We also stopped at Michael's to spend the 50 percent off coupon; I bought a Valentine's Day wreath for the front door. James got some more blue LEDs for next year.

It is astonishing, the difference in the weather yesterday and today! Yesterday was high 60s, cloudy, sticky, desperately dismal. We drove to Bill and Caran's and back in a hard rain most of the time, warily watching traffic that gets rather skittish when it's wet. Today the sky was a broad, bright blue bowl overhead with cirrus clouds painted lightly on; the air was crisp and 50s, with a stiff breeze blowing from the northwest (the welcome cold front came through during the night). Clouds came in as we were driving home from Gwinnett County.

Then we came home to relax. I can't believe how quickly the past two months zipped by. We had vacation, then it was Thanksgiving, then we did something every weekend before Christmas. Time just flew by, which is both good and bad: it means we were having a good time, but it also made that time so ephermal.

So while James is downstairs having some downtime (probably working on his rocket model for next month's IPMS meeting), I'm here savoring Christmastide: it's cool enough for a fire, I have the "Christmas Wreath" Yankee candle burning, and I'm watching Ask the Manager Christmas shows.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2007 be good for everyone.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

Fast away the old year passes,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la la.
Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la la.

Fast away the old day passes, too! We did sleep late, then went to Ikea (goodness, it was crowded, especially with parents and small children; maybe they're having a children's furniture sale?) for a desk for my telecommuting equipment, Costco for gas and milk (woohoo, Costco has the Walt Disney Legacy sets, with the True-Life Adventures, much cheaper than Amazon.com!; James accepts hints, so I hinted at one for Valentine's Day), Kroger for trash bags and other assorted groceries. James spent the late afternoon in the kitchen making the pork/peanut triangles for the party tonight, and also a batch with turkey in them for our friends who can't eat pork. Listening to the last gasp of Sirius' Christmas music channel.

Auld Lang Syne Time is Here Again

So it's time for the festivities again:

New Year's Eve at Answers.com

New York is all set:

Times Square Alliance

And you can even watch it live on the web:

Earthcam Covers Times Square

The folks in Sydney will be putting on another "rilly big shew" again this year:

New Year's Eve in Sydney, Australia

Some cities have a non-alcoholic celebration featuring artists and performers, music and drama; it's called "First Night" and was started in Boston in 1976. Heaps of fun:

First Night International

New Year's Eve celebrations are held on St. Sylvester's Day:

Round About New Year's Eve: St. Sylvester's Day

The most famous ethnic celebration on this day is the feast of Hogmanay, in Scotland. The customs include "First Footing," in which a carefully-chosen person enters your house at midnight to bring luck to the New Year. More about Hogmanay (and which person needs to cross your doorstep when the clock strikes twelve):

What is Hogmanay?

Hogmanay Customs

Hogmanay Traditions

Hogmanay.net

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

...a trip to see the family, with a quick trip to the library first to do our last donation of the year.

Traffic was absolutely loathsome, bumper-to-bumper between around Southlake Mall to south of the Tanger Outlet Mall. On the way down it looked like there had been a bad accident, but the clog on the way back seemed to have no earthly excuse. It vanished after we passed the exit for I-675, but it appeared that only a dozen cars actually exited there. Too bizarre.

So we relaxed with the folks, had presents—got a lovely white sweatshirt with a snowflake done in blue and silver metallic trimming on it and two cross-stitch kits—and spaghetti for lunch and watched some of the coverage for President Ford and also the movie The Fifth Element, which was almost as bizarre as the traffic on the freeway. :-)

Returned home to a foggy Atlanta. James is watching his Christmas gift, One Six Right.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me, six Christmas movies (I can't seem to match these numbers <g>):

• A Christmas Memory, the Truman Capote story starring Geraldine Page as "Miss Sook" and Donnie Melvin as "Buddy" (young Truman). Recorded this off Channel 24 in Macon many years ago; it's plastered with a big, invasive "bug" and the time every so often, but it can't dim the charm of this lovely story. Apparently there's a VHS release, but only in black and white. Huh? DVD, please!
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, starring Loretta Swit as Grace Bradley and Fairuza Balk (back when she was cute) as Beth, was written for the screen by its author, Barbara Robinson. A pretty good translation but I still prefer the book, especially for Robinson's descriptions of characters, especially prissy little Alice Wendleken (who's played in this hour-long special by Ocean Hellman of Danger Bay).
• The Gathering, one of the best television Christmas movies ever made, with Ed Asner as Adam Thornton, a man estranged from his family who finds out he is dying. With his wife's help, he is able to gather the family around him one last time. Could have been mawkish, but is instead adult and splendid, with a wonderful supporting cast (Maureen Stapleton, Lawrence Pressman, Veronica Hamel [whatever happened to Veronica Hamel?], Bruce Davison, Gail Strickland, Gregory Harrison, Stephanie Zimbalist, and John Doucette) and a wonderful score by John Barry.
• The Little Match Girl with Keshia Knight-Pulliam in the title role, ably supported by William Daniels, Rue McClanahan, and John Rhys Davies, among others, and a great "roaring '20s" setting (the set dressings alone make me want to leap into the first time machine that happens by). This movie has particular memories for me because (a) I didn't really like it at first and (b) because I remember seeing my Aunty Alice for the last time on the night it was on. My mom and I were visiting her apartment and she and my mom were in the den watching this story while I talked with my cousin Jimmy out in the kitchen.
• The Voyagers! episode "Merry Christmas, Bogg," one of my favorites. Jeff and Phineas meet and help George Washington and also Jeffrey's great-grandfather, who is Samuel Gompers' attorney. Always loved the voiceover at the end, telling you that if you wanted to read more about the historical characters featured, "take a voyage to your local library. It's all in books!" Yes, indeed!
• And, of course for the season, Rudolph's Shiny New Year. While much inferior to the original, heads, shoulders and all the other body parts above that dreadful Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (shudder). I love the introspective "The Moving Finger Writes" song; very melancholy.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me three Christmas games:

See how far you can get the Yeti to bop the penguin.

A cutie with music: the higher the bunny hops onto the bells, the more points you get.

This one's neat: you draw a slope from left to right, click "play," and a little man slides down the slope you have made. The smoother the line the better; if you draw the curves just right you can get him to loop-the-loop without falling off the sled.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Not sure why they have Epiphany on January 7, though.

Catholic Culture: 12 Days of Christmas

On the Third Day of Christmas...

The feast of St. John.

"There's That Moose Again..."

My favorite Christmas commercial for 2006: Garmin TV Commercial.

Boxing Day Specials

In Britain and Canada, they have Boxing Day. In the U.S., we have Shopping After Christmas Day. <wry g>

It was a profitable day since everything was at least half off. :-)

At Walgreen's, for instance, I got two snowmen for the front porch. Right now they say "Merry Christmas" on them, but with a deft application of some blue and brown paint, we'll have "Let It Snow" and "Welcome Winter!" for the remainder of the season.

After a brief stop at Barnes & Noble for a "Cross Stitcher" magazine, it was off to Michael's. They had a 15-inch artificial tree in a Santa boot "pot," just perfect for the Rudolph ornaments, plus a few inexpensive "snowy" things. Next at JoAnn, a few more inexpensive winter things and two small Santa Clauses (also a wreath which was perfect for the door to the deck where we have the bird feeder; it says "Every Birdie is Welcome"). Linens'n'Things provided a birthday gift with a coupon.

Got another over-the-drawer towel rack for the kitchen in Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as something for James for Valentine's Day with another coupon. Borders provided a gift for next year; yay! 30 percent off coupon after the first of the year. Costco for gas, then a stop at Eckerd on the way home. They had small bead garlands; I got a gold one for the feather tree and a red one for the Rudolph tree (which I put up when I got home; it's not complete because six Rudolph ornaments are on the main tree). Looks cute, though.

The Christmas things at CVS didn't seem to be on sale, so I left.

I tried to get a DVD called One Six Right, a history of Van Nuys Airport that has garnered critical acclaim, for James for Christmas, but had to give him an IOU. I checked e-mail today and Amazon says it's getting ready to ship.

He's going to love it. I know because I saw it this afternoon: it was on Discovery HD! There's only one problem; it's going to make him "homesick."

At least I think it will. I got teary-eyed through the last ten minutes and I'm not even airplane crazy.

On the Second Day of Christmas...

The Snopes folks clear up a few misconceptions about Boxing Day.

Elaine's Boxing Day Page

So who was St. Stephen?

The Irish Holiday of St. Stephen's Day

"Hunting the Wren" on the Isle of Man

Who was "Good King Wenceslas" and what about that song about him?

Tick...Tock...Another Christmas Counts Down

It was a wonderful evening of friends and (quiet) frolic—dinner, gifts, and warm chat. The Lucyshyn twins put together their "spy gear" toys, Mel showed us their collection of Hanukkiah via computer, and on the way home we wound through a few more streets to see Christmas lights.

We came home to cuddle with the critters and watch Scott Bakula and Robert Loggia in James' favorite Christmas movie, Mercy Mission.

The one fly in the ointment: we went to five places (two QT gas stations, a Shell station, a CVS, and a Walgreens) and never did find an Atlanta newspaper. I wasn't really looking for the sales flyers, but I like reading the newspaper on Christmas because of the special stories they usually include. Well...phfttttt.

Eggnog and Sleighbells, Biscuits and Bows (and Angels!)

We've had a lovely holiday so far, very relaxing compared to the past few weeks (but that was fun all on its own).

Last evening we had dinner at the Boulers with the Spiveys and the Elders and Keith Tarpley. We exchanged presents before the fire, and then came home to watch The Homecoming and then A Pops Holiday, which I had recorded earlier. This was a compilation of clips from various concerts, so we saw Arthur Fiedler and John Williams as well as Keith Lockhart.

Then it was off to bed. James was awakened by thunder during the night but I slept through it.

We did gifts upon rising; I gave James a DVD collection of jet documentaries, some stick-on lights for under the kitchen counter (he always says the prep area is too dark), a protective cover for using on cooking magazines while cooking, and a book of 101 tortilla recipes, the book version of Mail Call with R. Lee Ermey, plus an IOU for a DVD of a flying film called One Six Right, which I tried to get on e-Bay, but eventually had to order on Amazon. Pidgie gave him Gordon Cooper's biography and Willow gave him a book of turkey recipes.

He bought me a Pocket Dragon (it's jumping on a panic button!), a calendar of cutouts for use in scrapbooks/cards, a pair of new wire cutters (I've been hunting for one), the book Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (I can take it off reserve at the library now; I was 64th in the queue! <g>) and a set of the series Voyagers! on DVD. Pidgie got me a book about imitating birdcalls, because I always whistle for the birds when I fill the feeder, and Willow's gift was the book Dog is My Co-Pilot.

Then James made biscuits and I made a proper eggnog, with real eggs. I got the Davidson pastuerized eggs that they sell at Publix (and thanks to whomever it was on alt.ri who suggested them). Mom used to make me an eggnog every morning for breakfast when I was in school—we'd get 'em straight from Stamps Farm out on Scituate Avenue, which is all homes now—because it was the only way I would eat eggs. Missed it since this salmonella scare started.

We had the biscuits with a tiny container of clotted cream we bought at Cost Plus World Market, which is just enough for four biscuits (and that's about enough clotted cream, too). Pidgie pecked biscuit crumbs off the table in between mugging his new "Girlfriend," and Willow cadged her little biscuit James always makes her. She loved her new "monkey" (a hedgehog toy that squeaks). She barfed so badly on the old one during vacation we couldn't save it. We didn't realize she missed it so much.

After breakfast we watched The Bishop's Wife and listened to carols on the Sirius Classical channel.

Meanwhile the birdies are running riot at the feeder again. It being chilly and drizzly didn't stop them from mobbing the bird feeder. It was like rush hour out there! They'd consumed so much since yesterday I had to interrupt the gobbling to refill the seed. One brown-headed nuthatch got so excited he flew over while I was refilling, then saw me, cheeped and retired until I went back inside.

And now it's time for us to go to dinner...Happy Christmas, everyone!

On the First Day of Christmas

A Christmas Mystery—12 Days' Worth

Did Coca-Cola Create Our Image of Santa Claus?

Many histories claim that, although St. Nicholas/Santa Claus was an American character fixture from the early 1800s, the way we see him today, red-and-white suit, jolly life-sized man, was actually created by a soft drink company. Here's the scoop in Cokelore (The Claus That Refreshes).

Waiting for Santa

This morning started a bit iffy.

Yesterday after buying the feather tree and James baking some pumpkin bread for Christmas dinner, we visited the DeKalb Farmer's Market to pick up ground turkey and ground pork to prepare next week for Bill and Caran's party. I love going to DeKalb before Christmas; they have all sorts of ethnic Christmas food like stollen and panettone and it's fun to see what each group likes for Christmas. Then we had supper at Boston Market and, because we were early for the Atlanta Radio Theatre performance of An Atlanta Christmas, dropped at Borders for a few minutes to pick up a gift.

When we returned to the Stage Door Players site, I was getting a slight stomachache and retired to the ladies' room. Nothing. But the pain continued to increase througout the show.

The show was so good I could ignore the pain. They had lost their prerecorded music and most of the cast sang a capella, which was fabulous. They did most of the usual presentations, including my favorite, "Are You Lonely Tonight?" and a new World War II story called "The Gold Star." I had my heart in my mouth when the car carrying the Navy man pulled up to Grandma's door.

We stopped to chat with everyone afterwards, but the pain was making me increasingly uncomfortable. If it had been a plain old "stomachache," it would have been okay, but I was concerned because it hurt when I moved, whether I just shifted position in my seat or stood up or walked around, hurt not just down there but my back and upper legs.

To keep it short, I wasn't feeling well most of the night, despite a few bathroom sorties. I was cold, and I even wore flannel pajamas to bed, which I haven't done for nearly three years due to the hot flashes. The movement pain, however, went away this morning, which was quite welcome because I had tons of things to do. Mom always said the house should be spic and span for Christmas Eve, so I vacuumed, did another load of clothes, mopped the kitchen floor, washed some dishes, swept the hall and the foyer, and vacuumed the stairs.

This afternoon we did something special: watched a DVD our friend Mike Waters sent us. I sat and laughed and cried throughout the entire thing. It was the broadcast of The Hollywood Palace from December 25, 1965, and the DVD came complete with commercials for Clairol "Loving Care," Sylvania Blue-Dot flashcubes (I remember when flashcubes came out; I suppose today the kids would say "what's a flashcube?" LOL), Schiltz beer and Sunoco gas. The host was Bing Crosby, the singing guest Dorothy Collins, and the special guests included a guy and his spaniel, Louie, who basically just stood there, limp, while his trainer worked him through a series of "tricks." The headliner special guests were the entire cast of Hogan's Heroes, who "escaped" from Stalag 13 with Sergeant Schultz and Commandant Klink in hot pursuit. Later Werner Klemperer and John Banner sang "Silent Night" in the original German and Robert Clary sang a verse of "Il Est Né." Too wonderful for words.

James has been making mashed sweet potatoes for tomorrow and now we are watching "O Christmas Tree" on WPBA, the Atlanta PBS station. Later they're going to have a Boston Pops concert with excerpts with Arthur Fiedler and John Williams. We both miss the annual Holiday at Pops! concert that used to be on A&E.

In the meantime, the birds have been running riot at the bird feeder almost all day. They are so much fun to watch: woodpeckers, goldfinches, chickadees, sparrows, titmice, nuthatches, and even a young bluebird, flying in and out, chittering at each other, chasing each other away and coming back, and munching and pecking seeds. Any seed that goes "overboard" is cleaned up by the mourning doves who peck industriously under the deck.

Old Times

I bought a feather tree today!

I brought some of my mom's old ornaments home last year; not many, because I incorporated most of them into gift display bottles, one for me and the others for my cousins who always helped my mom with her Christmas decorations. I had three of the old 1950s glass ornaments left, plus a red plastic boot, two plastic Santas, and four snowmen. Then I had a couple of ornaments I had made when I was younger, which my mom always included on her tree. I wanted some way to display them, and they really didn't fit on our tree (physically, not theme-wise or anything).

I remembered that about a year ago I had parked in downtown Marietta one day and walked around to the various stores. "Way back when" the stores had been for shoes and clothing, or hardware, and had included banks and other businesses. Now they are selling antiques or food or are little boutiques and specialty stores. I had visited one antiques store where the woman sold various size feather trees in a back room.

Anyway, after paying a holiday visit to the hobby shop, we came home by downtown and just providentially found someone pulling out of a parking space. Downtown was mobbed, because in the square they had a Santa Claus and there were several dozen children in line to see him. Later we did walk around the park and absorb a nice draft of Christmas spirit, but first we walked down to the store I remembered.

Apparently she has quit having a feather tree area (it's taken over by rugs), but she had one feather tree left! I brought it home and decorated it with Mom's old ornaments, two homemade ornaments someone had given me, and the gilded walnuts I had made back when we were first married and our tree wasn't as full of ornaments.

It doesn't quite look antique, but it looks like a feather tree should, decorated simply with treasured ornaments. At some point I'll probably make or buy a bead garland for it, maybe an antique-y-type star for the top.

CHRISTMAS BOOK REVIEW: The Homecoming

A few posts ago I mentioned a play version of the classic television movie, The Homecoming, which was the pilot for the series The Waltons. Author Earl Hamner Jr. adapted the television movie from his novel, which, although it holds the same basic story, has more of an "edge" than the television movie. As the characters in The Waltons were softened for series TV from The Homecoming telemovie, so the movie version was softened from the novel. There is, for instance, no bus accident in the book. Olivia's parents are involved in the story rather than her husband's parents, and her mother keeps making cutting remarks about him possibly being out drinking. Clay-Boy (his name in the novel; Hamner was not able to use the original name of his family from this novel in the same "universe" as Spencer's Mountain for use in the television movie/series for legal reasons) smokes in one chapter. some vocabulary, while mild by today's schoolyard standard, is rougher than what was allowed on television in 1971.

There are several more adventures in the book than in the movie, such as Clay-Boy's encounter with an albino deer, and situations are a bit different: the giving away of gifts at the store, for instance, and the search for Clay Senior. While dealing with the hard life of these mountain people, Hamner also captures the beauty of the winter and the mountains in vivid vocabulary and gives us a real insight into the life of an Appalachian family. Worth finding for an annual read.

CHRISTMAS BOOK REVIEW: American Christmases

These are short excerpts from diaries and letters (and even some poetry), compiled by Joanne Martell, from a short account of Christmas at Jamestown to a letter from an American soldier serving in Iraq. There are several accounts of the "new" Christmas customs of decorating trees and waiting for Santa Claus, and very many journal entries and letters home (and some bits from memoirs) of Christmas during various wars, going back to the Revolutionary War.

Nice for bedside reading before Christmas. Illustrated with Thomas Nast magazine illustrations.

The final entry says quite a lot in a few verses:

Touch Hands
William H. H. Murray

Ah friends, dear friends, as years go on
     and heads get gray, how fast the guests do go!
Touch hands, touch hands, with those that stay.
Strong hands to weak, old hands to young,
     around the Christmas board, touch hands.
The false forget, the foe forgive,
     for every guest will go and every fire burn low
     and cabin empty stand.
Forget, forgive, for who may say that Christmas day
     may ever come to host or guest again.
Touch hands!

"The Shortest Day"

Ancient Origins: Solstice

A 2003 Kids' News Entry about the Winter Solstice

The BBC Talks About the Winter Solstice

And, of course, Susan Cooper's poem which is read annually at the Revels Christmas performance:

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

(Meanwhile, our friends in South Africa, the southern tip of South America, Australia and New Zealand are celebrating exactly the opposite. Happy summer to you all!)

Christmas Relic

This would be interesting to see!

Copy of Poem Sold; 'Twas Worth $280K

It's Almost That Time!

Norad Tracks Santa 2006

John-Boy...No, Rather Clay-Boy...is Back

NPR interview: A Revised, Edgier Homecoming

Basically what they have done is base the play on the book, which was rougher (smoking and drinking and card playing are all mentioned, and there is some mild swearing); Hamner had to "pretty up" the story for television or I'm sure it would have garnered criticism. He's also using the actual names of the characters from the book, rather than having to change them like he did in 1971 because Warner Brothers still owned the rights to the Spencer family names after doing Spencer's Mountain in 1963.

(Ironically, the original Homecoming was a lot grittier story than the Waltons series it spawned.)

Earl Hamner sounds like Grandpa Walton these days, but then he is 83.

CHRISTMAS BOOK REVIEW: Christmas: Its Origins and Associations

"The origin and associations of Christmas, together with its historical events and festive celebrations during 19 centuries: depicting, by pen and pencil, memorable celebrations, stately meetings of early kings, remarkable events, romantic episodes, brave deeds, picturesque customs, time honored sports, royal Christmases, coronations and royal marriages, chivalric feats, court banquetings and revelings, Christmas at the colleges and the inns of court, popular festivities, and Christmas keeping in different parts of the world, derived from the most authentic sources and arranged chronologically. Illustrated."

Let's say if you were expecting a light, colorfully illustrated volume on the history of Christmas over the years—this ain't it. :-)

Like Clement Miles' 1912 Christmas, this 1902 volume by W.F. Dawson is a scholarly approach to Christmas, beginning with the retelling of the Christmas story and the orthography of the word "Christmas." After briefly touching on some early celebrations, the book returns to its main concentration: the history of the Christmas celebration in England, beginning with the early tribal kings and of course King Arthur, and then describing the Christmas feast for each English king all the way back to King Alfred. While the London "Inns" and some Yuletide experiences at Oxford and the other colleges are chronicled, this largest portion of the book (at least a half dozen chapters) is about Christmas as celebrated in the royal courts (peasants and the middle class are only briefly mentioned in a few sentences), ending in "Modern Christmases at Home," which begins with King George III! There is also "Modern Christmases Abroad," describing the customs of expatriates in any area the British Empire covered, and also a chapter about the mixed celebrations in the United States, which includes two pages devoted to the unfortunate Victorian predeliction for stories about the "quaint celebrations" of "amusing" and "childish" "darkies" in the American South.

Recommended only if you are a student of Christmas history or are interested in the kings and queens of England.

CHRISTMAS BOOK REVIEW: The Country Diary Christmas Book

In the 1970s PBS's Masterpiece Theatre began broadcasting the British production of Upstairs, Downstairs, a story of life in the wealthy Bellamy household, both abovestairs with the Bellamys and belowstairs with the various servants. The series was phenominally popular and started a trend for any Victorian/Edwardian stories. Masterpiece Theatre obliged with other productions like The Duchess of Duke Street, and other stories such as Flambards and Edward the King were sold for sale in the states.

In the midst of the fad, a collection of seasonal observations, poetry, and pictures of birds, plants, and insects originally called "Nature Notes for 1906" was rediscovered. The author of the journal, Edith Holden, a British illustrator, was an instructor at the Solihull School for Girls and wrote "Nature Notes for 1906" as a model for the nature diaries she wanted her students to compile. Edith's "Nature Notes" were published in 1977 as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

The book was immediately popular—another volume called Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady was released—and began a craze for reproduction books. Many spinoff books were created from Edith's original, including a "cookery" book, diaries, journals, calendars, and other volumes.

One of these was The Country Diary Christmas Book. Editor Sarah Hollis took the Christmas and winter entries from Edith Holden's books, included Holden's beautiful watercolors of plants and animals, then mixed other artwork of the English countryside and poetry, essays, and humor of the era or theme, added craft projects, vintage recipes, and notes on period entertaining and housekeeping, and produced this beautiful, crammed little book. Every page has some lovely artwork, text talking about Edwardian Christmas and customs or something about life in rural England during the winter. You can dip into it at your leisure or curl up with a cup of your favorite hot drink and enjoy the whole.

Well worth finding and keeping.

The Holiday Whirl

Busy weekend: we had to supply the lunch centerpiece at Hair Day—the chicken wings worked out so well at the mover's party we served them again. Also delivered a Hanukkah gift and received a Christmas dinner invitation.

Later in the evening we hit Border's (good book coupons this weekend) and then drove out to Birmingham for a friend's annual Christmas party. It's a long ride (about 140 minutes), but we usually only see her once a year. She just got a super new job, so there's little chance we'll see her back in Atlanta any time soon.

She delivered the sad news that she can't attend our Twelfth Night party because she's flying out the next morning to attend job training for a week.

In San Francisco.

And they're putting her up at the Fairmont!

Woohoo! What a deal!

We got back about three a.m..

On Sunday had lunch at Ikea, then hit Richard's in Buckhead just for the heck of it. Richard's is probably the last "variety store" left in Atlanta, and looks a lot like a Woolworth's used to except it sells no clothing at all, but does have houseware, hardware, stationery, gadgets, cards, and, at this time of years, lots of toys. They had the most incredible selection of retro toys, and books that I thought were long out of print, like Lois Lenski's "Small" and "Little" books, The Biggest Bear, etc.

They also have things like "action figures" of Einstein, librarians (she says "shhhh!"), and also GI Joe size dolls of various Presidents (they play different presidential quotations if you press the suit jacket lapel). The Theodore Roosevelt one uses actual recordings of his voice. Too cool.

Also stopped at the Buckhead Borders. The place was packed; turned out Rachael Ray was autographing her new book. I found a keen book called The Essential "It's a Wonderful Life". Those who know me know I'm not much of an It's a Wonderful Life fan (Uncle Billy would have been relegated to doorman long ago if it were my Building and Loan). However, this points out little things to note about the film (such as in the first scene where everyone is praying for George, in the scene you see of Bedford Falls, there's a man running up the street waving: George Bailey) and there are historical notes about the time the film is set in and other film trivia about the actors.

Came home to discover we also have a dinner invitation for Christmas Eve. Super!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Traditions