Saturday, December 31, 2011

On the Last Day

On the last day of the year...

"When the horns wear thin
And the noise, like a garment outworn,
Falls from the night,
The tattered and shivering night,
That thinks she is gay;
When the patient silence comes back,
And retires,
And returns,
Rebuffed by a ribald song,
Wounded by vehement cries,
Fleeing again to the stars--
Ashamed of her sister the night;
Oh, then they steal home,
The blinded, the pitiful ones
With their gew-gaws still in their hands,
Reeling with odorous breath
And thick, coarse words on their tongues.
They get them to bed, somehow,
And sleep the forgiving,
Comes thru the scattering tumult
And closes their eyes.
The stars sink down ashamed
And the dawn awakes,
Like a youth who steals from a brothel,
Dizzy and sick.

-- New Year's Dawn - Broadway
Sara Teasdale (1884 -1933)"


Or would one in sober humility and contrition, really hear and heed the Lord's call to unconditional grace and mercy...

37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

-- John 7:37-38
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Waits


The Waits
Margret Deland (1857 -1945)

At the break of Christmas Day,
Through the frosty starlight ringing,
Faint and sweet and far away,
Comes the sound of children, singing,
Chanting, singing,
“Cease to mourn,
For Christ is born,
Peace and joy to all men bringing!”

Careless that the chill winds blow,
Growing stronger, sweeter, clearer,
Noiseless footfalls in the snow
Bring the happy voices nearer;
Hear them singing,
“Winter’s drear,
But Christ is here,
Mirth and gladness with Him bringing!”

“Merry Christmas!” hear them say,
As the East is growing lighter;
“May the joy of Christmas Day
Make your whole year gladder, brighter!”
Join their singing,
“To each home
Our Christ has come,
All love’s treasures with Him bringing!”

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Fowl Weather

Guinea Fowls on the Prowl

These two Guinea Fowls have been in the neighborhood for the last few months. They are not easy to spot (pun). While running some errands yesterday, I saw these birds strutting about. Last minute holiday pecking, no doubt. An oppotunity for a photo shoot presented itself, even in this fowl weather. I stopped the car and zapped this picture with my iPhone 4S.

If I don't see these fine feathered friends after Christmas, it could be someone had them over for a holiday feast or two. Foul play then, it would seem.

Hard Freeze

It began on Midwinter, thee longest night of the year. Hard freeze, an imposing first day of winter notice. The outdoor night temperature on 22 December dipped precipitously below freezing (32°F) and remained in the twenties until mid-morning.

It's rare in our neck of the woods to experience winter hard freeze. Yet, here we are into its third day.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Winter Solstice, 2011


Date Sunrise Sunset LoD
Dec 22, 2011 7:15 AM 4:49 PM 9h 33m 34s


Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.

Psalm 74:16
English Standard Version Bible (ESV)




Midwinter
John Townsend Trowbridge (1827 - 1916)

The speckled sky is dim with snow,
The light flakes falter and fall slow;
Athwart the hill-top, rapt and pale,
Silently drops a silvery veil;
And all the valley is shut in
By flickering curtains grey and thin.

But cheerily the chickadee
Singeth to me on fence and tree;
The snow sails round him as he sings,
White as the down of angels’ wings.

I watch the snowflakes as they fall
On bank and briar and broken wall;
Over the orchard, waste and brown,
All noiselessly they settle down,
Tipping the apple-boughs, and each
Light quivering twig of plum and peach.

On turf and curb and bower-roof
The snowstorm spreads its ivory woof;
It paves with pearl the garden walk;
And lovingly round tattered stalk
And shivering stem, its magic weaves
A mantle fair as lily-leaves.

The hooded beehive small and low,
Stands like a maiden in the snow;
And the old door-slab is half hid
Under an alabaster lid.

All day it snows; the sheeted post
Gleams in the dimness like a ghost;
All day the blasted oak has stood
A muffled wizard of the wood;
Garland and airy cap adorn
The sumach and the wayside thorn,
And clustering spangles lodge and shine
In the dark tresses of the pine.

The ragged bramble dwarfed and old,
Shrinks like a beggar in the cold;
In surplice white the cedar stands,
And blesses him with priestly hands.

Still cheerily the chickadee
Singeth to me on fence and tree:
But in my inmost ear is heard
The music of a holier bird;
And heavenly thoughts as soft and white
As snowflakes on my soul alight,
Clothing with love my lonely heart,
Healing with peace each bruiséd part,
Till all my being seems to be
Transfigured by their purity.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Beethoven at 241

"It is good to strive against wind and rain
In the keen, sweet weather that autumn brings."
-- Princess Amélie Rives Troubetzkoy (1863-1945)

Ludwig van Beethoven
An Immortal of the Classical Music Realm
(15 or 16 December 1770 - 26 March 1827)

The MP3 below expired on 01-06-2012.
Click here to play the current selection.

NorthSound, piano
with rain sound background (1994)
- Für Elise (Beethoven)

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Jean Sibelius Birthday Anniversary

Jean Sibelius
Late Romantic period Finnish composer
(8 December 1865 - 20 September 1957)

The MP3 below expired on 12-15-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Havard Gimse, piano (2005)
Op. 76, Number 6 "Romanzetta" (Sibelius)

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Navel Meditation

A Navel Orange Cluster, Home Citrus Tree Row


An iPhone 4S photo taken on 2011-12-04 at 1322 hours.
Weather: 59.0°F/15°C, Clear.

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Kelly Knows Best

Kelly services - Efficient, Non-union,
Will work for scraps on and off the table


This Kelly résumé picture was taken on 2011-12-03 at 2030 hours.

Friday, December 02, 2011

A Clarion Curtin Call

Phyllis Curtin
Operatic Soprano
Born 3 December 1921

The MP3 below expired on 12-08-2011.
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Phyllis Curtin, soprano (1965)
- O Holy Night (A. Adam)

An Engaging London Advent Calendar

Jacquie Lawson's 2011 London Advent Calendar

Day 2 (bottom left) of this London Advent Calendar is to virtually trim the family Christmas tree. Adding to this festive activity, the transported family room is enlivened further with the orchestral suite of J.S. Bach's Cantata, "Sleepers Awake" (BWV 140).

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Door Number One Please

A gift of a London Advent calendar app came recently. A timely and not an unwelcome greeting, surely.

Tomorrow begins the first of twenty-four days of Advent, leading up to the Christmas day. Virtually speaking, I can hardly wait to open and step inside the first of the twenty-four advent calendar doors.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Great Is the Lord

Great Is the Lord
-- A Psalm of Praise, of David

Psalm 145:8-13, ESV

8 The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The LORD is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
and all your saints shall bless you!
11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your power,
12 to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Talk Not of Sad November

Talk not of sad November, when a day
Of warm, glad sunshine fills the sky of noon,
And a wind, borrowed from some morn of June,
Stirs the brown grasses and the leafless spray.
    -- John Greenleaf Whittier

Yesterday was sunny with a moderate breeze. The fallen sere and crimson leaves swirled, rustled, and cart-wheeled on the roadways with gay abandon. A picture postcard moment on this autumnal day.

The first holiday greeting card hailed from Oklahoma has arrived. The Allens looked well. Certainly, Elisabeth has grown. Sorely missed are pictures of the usual suspects. The ones who chewed, gnawed, snorted, strutted, or pecked about at the ranch.

This time last year I was re-landscaping the yards and gardens. Then in December I hopped over the pond to Austria and Germany for the Christmas season; there was hardly any time spent with friends and relations here in the states.

Given I have just completed a scheduled exterior upkeep of the abode, there are no plans gallivanting to other places this year-end. I'd better get started to organize some photos, and to dash off the first seasonal letter (neither email nor ecards) to the Allens.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Francisco Tárrega Birthday Anniversary

Francisco Tárrega
Romantic Period Spanish composer and guitarist
(21 November 1852 - 15 December 1909)

The MP3 below expired on 11-22-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Jaren Coler, classical guitar (2006)
- Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Tárrega)

Friday, November 18, 2011

Ignaz Jan Paderewski Birthday Anniversary

Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Polish-born composer, pianist, and politician
(18 November 1860 - 29 June 1941)

The MP3 below expired on 11-20-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Ignacy Jan Paderewski, piano (remastered)
- Minuet, Op. 14. No.1 (Paderewski)

The Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire and the iPhone 4S Size Comparison

The September pre-ordered Kindle Fire touch tablet arrived this evening. Its 7-inch screen is very nice; the device display is crisp and sharp. The navigational controls are easy to find and configured.

The Kindle Fire is primarily a self-contained Amazon store device. Its pricing and apps are circumscribed about Amazon's business strategy. For this reason, this tablet lacks in suavity, design depth, versatility, and aesthetics when compared to the top tier Apple counterpart, the iPad.

This newest Amazon tablet does come with some pre-installed apps, however. On my unit, it has already a free no-ad version of the 'Words with Friend' installed. A welcome app for someone as I who likes playing this game.

For $200.00, the Wi-Fi accessible Kindle Fire is a solid Android variant tablet. Size wise, it does asserts itself as the missing middle link in the swanky Apple i-device family, albeit the ugly duckling. It will stay as such given its Amazon-centric attributes.

The Kindle Fire now graces the coffee table, along side of some exotic toasters. By next spring its celebrity rank at home will be supplanted by the iPad 3.

My new iPad 3rd Generation

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Anlässe schaffen


"Gute Souvenirs helfen, dem entgegenzuwirken, und wir sollten Anlässe schaffen, um uns zu erinnern. Meistens tragen wir das Gefühl einer Reise noch in uns, strengen uns aber nicht an, es wieder hervorzurufen, Ein Andenken macht es leicht möglich, Gefühle, Erinnerungen und Momente wieder einzufangen. Je persönlicher ein Souvenir ist, desto besser. Ich mache gern Fotos oder schreibe über Orte. Ich bin ein wortbasierter Souvenirjäger"   -- Alain de Botton

It was a year ago this month the garden crew from Roger's nursery re-landscaped the yards and garden at my house. For some 60-plus years, Roger's has planted and nurtured many a garden in our town. Along the way, it also nurtured many an amateur gardener. Sadly, however, today is Roger's nursery last business day. A lamentable occasion, indeed.

In the words of de Botton, I needed a good souvenir by which to remember the Roger nursery Even though it was not a tourist spot by any stretch of the imagination, the nusery was definitely a landmark. It has imprinted its color on the fabric this community. I have a citrus tree row in my garden which include navel orange, Satsuma mandarin, Clementine mandarin, and Meyer lemon. To complement the said fruit tree theme, I bought one of two remaining Chinese Grapefruit trees at the nursery. Now, that's a memento and a conversation piece for an occasion that is hard to forget.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Ring-tones

I have created a few custom ring-tones ready for download and installation on your iTunes and i-devices. Each ring-tone is about 30 seconds in playtime. That is the maximum time an iPhone ring-tone is allowed to be played for an incoming call.

These ring-tones are created from my collection of "old school" or "good music" . i.e. classical, standards, traditional jazz, orchestral and musicals from the 20th century.

There are no instructions given on my site for installing custom ring-tones (including the Contacts and Alarms apps). That said, below is the link - it is also found at the sidebar - to the ring-tones posted for download:


iPhone Ringtones by L'Envoi

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

W.C. Handy Birthday

Preservation Hall, New Orleans, LA (April 2011)

William Christopher Handy
Father of the Blues
(16 November 1873 - 28 March 1958)

The MP3 below expired on 11-18-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Starlite Orchestra (2006)
- St. Louis Blues (Handy)

Monday, November 14, 2011

Fanny Mendelssohn's Birthday Anniversary

Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn Hensel
Classical composer and sister of Felix Mendelssohn
(14 November 1805 - 14 May 1847)

The MP3 below expired on 11-15-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Jennifer Eley, piano (1997)
- Das Jahr "Mai" (F. Mendelssohn Hensel)


Note: Today is also Aaron Copland's Birthday (14 November 1900).

Sunday, November 13, 2011

An Old Phone Ringtone Is a Bad Idea

I was playing with the iPhone 4S ring-tones this evening. The thought of my hi-tech phone should ring like those in the old movies sounded inviting. It appealed to me that Harry Lime or Rick Blaine talked on the old rotary phones. Phones which had the "drrring, drrding" is a summons of the caller's despair and distress. So I selected the Old Phone sound as my new ring-tone. Surely, a femme fatale or a damsel in distress should be calling me anytime soon. With the Fedora in hand, so to speak, I was ready.

In any case, I left the phone on the desk and went about doing something else at the far end of the house. When callers tried to contact me earlier in the evening, I blissfully ignored them. I thought, the "drrring drrring" sound was emanating from a recorded film noir playing on the DVR. How ironic.

Alas, Walter Mitty I was not or could never be. Some real corrective action was needed. So I decided to make my own ring-tone.

The iPhone 4S ring-tone is now set to the custom-made "Theme from A Summer Place" as rendered by maestro Norrie Paramor and Patrica Clark (vocal). Henceforth, there can be no mistaken of incoming calls with Clark's distinct vocalise.

I will make some more new ring-tones. Surely, one likely candidate is Anton Karas' "The Third Man Theme".

iPhone Ringtone Download
(For posted iPhone ringtones, download the interested cvs file and submit an email request.)


Saturday, November 12, 2011

And This Is My Beloved

Alexander Borodin
classical composer, chemistry professor
founder of St. Petersburg Medical School for Women
winner of posthumous Tony Award in 1954
(12 November 1833 – 27 February 1887)

The MP3 below expired on 11-14-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Operatic Quartet* (1968)
- And This Is My Beloved (after A. Borodin)


*Kenneth McKellar, tenor
Robert Merrill, baritone
Adele Leigh, soprano
Ian Wallace, bass-baritone
with Mantovani and His Orchestra

Friday, November 11, 2011

Veterans Day 2011


A Veterans Day Remembrance
Click here to view this L'Envoi YouTube.


Veterans Day Prayer and Meditation
Susan Kramer

"You gave for peace with courage
That families may be free
So children could grow strong
And safe they'd ever be.
In giving for the sake of peace
You may have suffered loss
Your body may still show its wounds
From taking up the cause.

May remembrance of your time away
Your sacrifice for peace
Spur us on to strive more strongly
For freedom, that there'll be release.

From causes that sent some away
To fight that we may freely live
With gratefulness we thank you, veterans
For all you gave and give!"

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Until the Stars Sighed Out

10 November 2011, 1943 Hours PST; Eastern Sky
Full moon (lower left); Jupiter (upper right)
Canon PowerShot SD780 IS


"And leave the moon-path free for all my thoughts
To wander peacefully
Away and still away
Until the stars sighed out in dawn's great pallor,
Just as the lands of my desire appeared.
What memories ... have I of it!"
    - Cale Young Rice (1921)

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Monday, November 07, 2011

Bali Ha'i


Le choeur non crédités de femmes
"South Pacific" - Bali Ha'i (reprise)
(Rodgers et Hammerstein)

Cliquez ici pour voir le YouTube des L'envoi


Paroles de la chanson - Bali Ha'i (reprise)

Bali Ha'i t’appelle
dans le jour
dans la nuit
dans ton cœur toujours résonne
par ici
me voici

Nos plus chers espoirs
nos plus joyeux rêves
scintillent sur l’eau et sur les monts surgissaient

Si tu veux tu m'trouveras
où le ciel trouve la mer
me voici laisse-moi te prendre
par ici
me voici

Bali Ha'i
Bali Ha'i
Bali Ha'i


Sunday, November 06, 2011

The Belgic Confession at 450

November 2011 marks the 450 anniversary of the publication of The Belgic Confession. Of the thirty-seven articles of the confession, Article 26, "Christ Intercession", being the longest and pivotally gospel-centric:

"...For there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loves us more than Jesus Christ;" - Article 26, The Belgic Confession

"What more can be required? since Christ Himself says: I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. To what purpose should we, then, seek another advocate, since it has pleased God to give us His own Son as our Advocate? Let us not forsake Him to take another, or rather to seek after another, without ever being able to find Him; for God well knew, when He gave Him to us, that we were sinners." - ibid

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

So May One Word Dispel a Cloud of Tears


November
John Presland
(1911)

There is a gleam of sunshine on the earth
After so many weary days of rain,
A break of yellowing clouds, which offers plain
The sun's veiled disc (a very shadow-birth,
But still the sun, with sun's November worth);
The sky is of a Turner lived again,
Such colours through the misty greyness gain
They almost seem to touch with spring the earth.

How should we not be glad, when this one day
Out of the saddest of all months, appears
Suddenly beautiful? A single ray
Of sunlight strikes through cloud, and clears
The whole drear countryside of grey;
So may one word dispel a cloud of tears.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

La chanson que tu me chantais


The MP3 below expired on 11-09-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Interprète de Chantal Chamberland (2004)
- Les feuilles mortes (Prevert et Kosma)


chante-moi tes baisers et chante-moi à tout les vents de automne.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A First Smartphone, Finally


Johann Strauss II and Georges Bizet, two 19th century composers, shared the same birthday today, 25 October. I was planning on posting a composition written by either noted (pun) luminary. Then my pre-ordered iPhone 4S arrived today. It's time to play with this technologic marvel and, of course, the renown Ms. Siri, the AI female personal assistant. A music tribute to either composer will have to wait.

Photo: An iPod 3G with a home-made capacitative stylus. On the right of the iPod is the new 16 Gb white iPhone 4S. It has a Moshi iVisor screen protector. The black bumper on the phone is the Hazard; one of the newest iPhone 4 family cases made by Oakley.

Sear Are the Leaves

I am pleased the house exterior upkeep is almost complete and disposed for the tyrannical winter ahead.

The trees are changing into their autumn attire. Shedding their summer leaves in eddies, the woods are ready for another spectacular fall color finale. This October morning's brisk air is redolent with the smell of garlic stocks being planted in some field.


Autumn (1913)
James E. Pickering

A light mist creeps across the downs:
A gleam through clouds is faintly seen:
The grass is wet with heavy dew:
Sear are the leaves that once were green.
I walk at midday when the sun
Throws still some welcome warmth and light:
A chill comes with the afternoon,
And icy is the air at night.
Summer is dead. Its shrouded form
Lies on the logs that make its pyre,
And fancy sees its ghost ascend,
A shadowy wraith above the fire.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Franz Liszt 200th Birthday

Franz Liszt
Hugarian pianist and romantic period composer
200th Birthday Anniversary
(22 October 1811 - 31 July 1886)

The MP3 below expired on 11-30-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Paul Crossley, piano (1998)
- Un sospiro in D Flat Major (Grande études de concert No. 3, Liszt)

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Mind Has Mountains

The Hopkins poem for a 25 September 2011 television broadcast of the "Inspector Lewis" series titled - The Mind Has Mountains.

No Worst, There Is None (1918)
Gerard Manley Hopkins

No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing—
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked ‘No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief’.

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne’er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

Friday, September 23, 2011

First Autumn Day 2011

September 23, 2011
0031 Hours
Current Temperture and Condition:
73° F | 23° C
Clear

Astronomy:

September 23, 2011 Rise: Set:
Actual Time 6:52 AM PDT 6:59 PM PDT
Civil Twilight 6:26 AM PDT 7:25 PM PDT
Nautical Twilight 5:55 AM PDT 7:56 PM PDT
Astronomical Twilight 5:24 AM PDT 8:27 PM PDT
Moon 2:29 AM PDT 4:29 PM PDT

Length of Visible Light 12h 59m
Length of Day 12h 07m
Tomorrow will be 2m 25s shorter.

Waning Crescent, 23% of the Moon is Illuminated

Thursday, September 22, 2011

In Anticipation of Autumn

In Anticipation of Autumn
W. M. MacKeracher
1891

But now the Summer hastens to its close,
And soon will Song a different aspect wear,
Sweeping terrific, clad in ghostly snows,
And lit by the flash of the Boreal glare,
Or, but a poet in his easy chair;
And her most pleasing aspect now beguiles
What time is hers with deft, endearing air:
With gorgeous gold she decks her garments, whiles
Her melancholy face with Indian Summer smiles.

Thy very smile sends sadness to my heart.
Farewell! sweet love, the happy hour is o'er:
Too well I knew that we again must part.
Her garments trail the fond, reluctant floor.
But I shall ne'er forget the dress she wore,
Her looks, her words, the pleasing song she sung—
'Tis melody will charm me more and more,
'Tis music that will keep my spirit young,
'Tis joyance in my soul, though jarring on my tongue.

I've hummed the music after thee as well
As changing tones of youth allowed, and fear,
And vexing sprites that choke the upward swell.
But yet, perchance, some bosom it may cheer,
By recollection making thee more dear
To those who've drunk thy music at its spring,
To some, mayhap, who never learned to hear,—
Alas! poor, wretched souls!—its sound may bring
Some semblance of thy strain, some wish to hear thee sing.

What though I have expounded nothing new,
And traced, I trow, unworthily the old?
Song is no mystic science.—Men may do
Strange things in other spheres, and may unfold
Secrets unthought, tell tales before untold;
But what thou wilt, the bard; nor less, nor more.
And to the mind informed in Nature's mould
Thou has revealed thyself—the same of yore,
The same to-day thou art, and shalt be evermore.

Let them who will, content themselves to sing
In trifling pageantry and gilt array,
To pluck the song-beads from the shimmering string
That skirts thy robe. But such my soul doth sway
As makes me hang upon thy breast and say
"I love thee!"—as a mistress?—then mine own;
Blindly and recklessly?—some future day,
Mine eye, from thine clearer and stronger grown,
May thrid the straggling stars and search the deepening dawn.

O, make my soul an argosy of song,
Tranquilly floating on a sea of peace,
As with her rowers beautiful and strong
Some trireme bears among the Isles of Greece
With music-muffled oars! Give safe release
From murky moorings, storms, and rocks that jar,
And let its pearls in purity increase,
Until with singing sails it cross the bar
To melt in golden waves with gems of many a star!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Clara Schumann's Birthday

Clara Schumann
(Mrs. Robert Schumann)
Renown romantic era composer and pianist
(13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896)

The MP3 below expired on 09-20-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Jennifer Eley, piano (1997)
- Piano Sonata in G Minor - Adagio (C. Schumann)

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Monday, September 05, 2011

The Solitary Reaper

The Wordsworth poem for a 4 September 2011 television broadcast of the "Inspector Lewis" series titled - Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things

Memorials of a Tour in Scotland, 1803
VIII. The Solitary Reaper

William Wordsworth

Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Million Tomorrows Shall All Pass Away


The MP3 below expired on 09-04-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


The Johnny Mann Singers (1964)
- Today (Sparkes)

TODAY
Film: Advance to the Rear (1964)
Composer: Randy Sparkes (1964)
Singers: The New Christie Minstrels

The Johnny Mann Singers rendition:

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries
I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
Ere I forget all the joy that is mine today

I'll be a dandy and I'll be a rover
You'll know who I am by the song that I sing
I'll feast at your table
I'll sleep in your clover
Who cares what the morrow shall bring

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries
I'll drink your sweet wine

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment and now is my story
I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries
I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
Ere I forget all the joy that is mine today


Saturday, August 27, 2011

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Sweet Nightbloomers Jazz Concert

These ain't the Cestrum nocturnum (Night Blooming Jasmine)

They are The Night Blooming Jazzmen Dixieland Band
Performining at Central Park
Huntington Beach, CA
21 August, 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Spring and Summer Reading 2011



Initial Post: 2011-07-15 1757
Status To Date: 2011-08-09 1436

Books read:

1. Brenner Assignment, The - Patrick K. O'Donnell
2. Gold Age Trilogy, The - John C. Wright
3. Dreadnought - Cherie Priest
4. Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy, The - Mary Simonsen
5. Guns of Navarone, The - Alistair MacLean
6. Black Wolf - Dale Brown
7. Queen's Play (Book 2 of the Lymond Chronicles) - Dorothy Dunnett
8. Key to Rebecca, The - Ken Follett

Two of these read books with written reviewes posted at Amazon.com

1. Brenner Assignment, The - Patrick K. O'Donnell
2. Golden Age, Book 1 - John C. Wright

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Robert Farnon Birthday Anniversary

Robert Farnon
Canadian-born conductor, composer
and strings arranger par excellence
(24 July 1917 - 23 April 2005)

The MP3 below expired on 08-13-2011.
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Robert Farnon and His Orchestra (1989)
- How Beautiful Is Night (Farnon)

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Friday, July 15, 2011

Keep That Breathless Charm

Dorothy Fields
American-born lyricist
First woman elected to the Songwriters' Hall of Fame
(15 July, 1905 - 10 July, 1974)

The MP3 below expired on 07-23-2011.
Click here to play the current selection.


Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano (1993)
- The Way You Look Tonight (Fields & Kern)


The Way You Look Tonight
Movie: Swing Time (1936)
Music: Jerome Kern
Words: Dorothy Fields

Some day
When I'm awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight

Oh, but you're lovely
With your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft
There is nothing for me but to love you
And the way you look tonight

With each word your tenderness grows
Tearing my fear apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose
Touches my foolish heart

Lovely
Never, never change
Keep that breathless charm
Won't you please arrange it 'cause I love you
Just the way you look tonight

With each word your tenderness grows
Tearing my fears apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose
Touches my foolish heart

Lovely
Never, never change
Keep that breathless charm
Won't you please arrange it 'cause I love you
Just the way you look tonight

Just the way you look tonight

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Comes Blue-eyed Summer Like a Girl Along


Summer

Hang out your loveliest star, O Night! O Night!
Your richest rose, O Dawn!
To greet sweet Summer, her, who, clothed in light,
Leads Earth's best hours on.
Hark! how the wild birds of the woods
Throat it within the dewy solitudes!
The brook sings low and soft,
The trees make song,
As, from her heaven aloft
Comes blue-eyed Summer like a girl along.

-- Madison Cawein, Summer I

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Dorothy Kirsten's Birthday Anniversary

Dorothy Kirsten
American-born operatic soprano
(6 July 1910 - 18 November 1992)

The MP3 below expired on 07-15-2011.
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Dorothy Kirsten (1951)
- Long Ago and Far Away (Gershwin& Kern)


Long Ago (and Far Away)
Movie: Cover Girl (1944)
Music: Jerome Kern
Words: Ira Gershwin

Long ago and far away, I dreamed a dream one day
And now that dream is here beside me
Long the skies were overcast but now the clouds have passed
You're here at last

Chills run up and down my spine, Aladdin's lamp is mine
The dream I dreamed was not denied me
Just one look and then I knew
That all I longed for long ago was you

[Orchestral Interlude and Chorus]
Long the skies were overcast but now the clouds have passed
You're here at last

Chills run up and down my spine, Aladdin's lamp is mine
The dream I dreamed was not denied me
Just one look and then I knew
That all I longed for long ago was you

Friday, July 01, 2011

America, Why I Love Her

On celebrating the 235th Independence Day on 4 July 2011...

The MP3 below expired on 07-21-2011.
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John Wayne (1973)
- America, Why I Love Her


You ask me why I love her? Well, give me time, and I'll explain.
Have you seen a Kansas sunset or an Arizona rain?
Have you drifted on a bayou down Louisiana way?
Have you watched the cold fog drifting over San Francisco Bay?
Have you heard a Bobwhite calling in the Carolina pines?
Or heard the bellow of a diesel in the Appalachia mines?
Does the call of Niagara thrill you when you hear her waters roar?
Do you look with awe and wonder at a Massachusetts shore
Where men who braved a hard new world, first stepped on Plymouth Rock?
And do you think of them when you stroll along a New York City dock?
Have you seen a snowflake drifting in the Rockies way up high?
Have you seen the sun come blazing down from a bright Nevada sky?
Do you hail to the Columbia as she rushes to the sea?
Or bow your head at Gettysburg in our struggle to be free?
Have you seen the mighty Tetons?
Have you watched an eagle soar?
Have you seen the Mississippi roll along Missouri's shore?
Have you felt a chill at Michigan when on a winters day
Her waters rage along the shore in a thunderous display?
Does the word "Aloha" make you warm?
Do you stare in disbelief when you see the surf come roaring in at Waimea reef?
From Alaska's gold to the Everglades
From the Rio Grande to Maine
My heart cries out.
My pulse runs fast at the might of her domain.
You ask me why I love her?
I've a million reasons why.
My beautiful America beneath God's wide, wide sky.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

First Summer Day 2011

Temperture and Condition:

103° F | 63° F
Clear
Astronomy:
June 21, 2011             Rise:        Set:
Actual Time 5:42 AM PDT 8:28 PM PDT
Civil Twilight 5:11 AM PDT 9:00 PM PDT
Nautical Twilight 4:32 AM PDT 9:39 PM PDT
Astronomical Twilight 3:47 AM PDT 10:23 PM PDT
Moon No Moon Rise 11:39 AM PDT (6/21)
Length Of Visible Light 15h 48m
Length of Day 14h 46m
Tomorrow will be 0m 2s shorter.

Waning Gibbous, 62% of the moon is illuminated

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Remembrance, 2011

National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, VA


National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, VA


National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, VA

Sunday, May 08, 2011

All Jazzed About Brahms

Besides Peter Tchaikovsky, yesterday, 7 May, was also Johannes Brahms' birthday anniversary (7 May, 1833 - 3 April, 1897). He was the very last of the Romantic era classical music composers.

There are many pop recordings of PT's music, but few renditions are found on Brahms' works. With my recent trip to N'awlins and had the opportunity to listen to some great music, I thought it apropos to post the ubiquitous 'Brahms Lullaby' played as Dixieland Jazz.


The MP3 below expired on 06-05-2011.
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The Climax Jazz Band (1981)
- Brahms Lullaby (after J. Brahms)

Friday, May 06, 2011

Angry Birds Rio Level 4-15

Last evening while waiting at my favorite eats, I played Angry Birds Rio a bit. I launched only the first red bird, and voila!


Monday, May 02, 2011

Front Door to D.L. Menard

More touring photos taken at the Big Easy and Cajun Country.

29 April 2011, D.L. Menard at the La Maison de Begnaud, Scott, LA

D.L. Menard et al.
"The Back Door"
Click here to view this 29 April 2011 L'Envoi YouTube.


A Tara Replica House, St. Charles Ave., LA


Rip Van Winkle Gardens, Jefferson Island, LA


Shadow-at-the-Teche, New Iberia, LA

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

A Place in the Sun

More pictures taken today in N'awlins.

St. Peter Street, French Quarter


Her Place in the Sun - On the Middle of Royal Street


A View of the MS River


Street Jazz Tonight

Monday, April 25, 2011

Here in the Big Easy

I am in N'awlins. My second day. Balmy weather here in the Big Easy. It looks like the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival will not be dampen by the stormy weather being felt in other states farther up. I am staying in the area for a fortnight, and am looking forward to the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival starting on 29 April.

Various Katrina Flood Level Damage Display (Blue), Lower 9th Ward


Conti Street, French Quarter


Hotel Monteleone, French Quarter


Archie Manning's House, Garden District


The French Market