Let the Rest of the World Go By

Today, 21 June 2014, is the official first day of summer in the northern hemisphere.
Relax and enjoy the summer - let the rest of the world go by.

Emile Pandolfi, piano (2003)
- Let the Rest of the World Go By
(Ball & Brennen)

Click here to view this L'Envoi YouTube.

Comes Blue-eyed Summer Like a Girl Along

SUMMER

MADISON CAWEIN
(1903)

I

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.

II

And as the Day, her lover, leads her in,
How bright his beauty glows!
How red his lips, that ever try to win
Her mouth's delicious rose!
And from the beating of his heart
Warm winds arise and sighing thence depart;
And from his eyes and hair
The light and dew
Fall round her everywhere,
And Heaven above her is an arch of blue.

III

Come to the forest, or the treeless meadows
Deep with their hay or grain;
Come where the hills lift high their thrones of shadows,
Where tawny orchards reign.
Come where the reapers whet the scythe;
Where golden sheaves are heaped; where berriers blythe,
With willow-basket and with pail,
Swarm knoll and plain;
Where flowers freckle every vale,
And beauty goes with hands of berry-stain.

IV

Come where the dragon-flies, a brassy blue,
Flit round the wildwood streams,
And, sucking at some horn of honey-dew,
The wild-bee hums and dreams.
Come where the butterfly waves wings of sleep,
Gold-disked and mottled over blossoms deep;
Come where beneath the rustic bridge
The green frog cries;
Or in the shade the rainbowed midge,
Above the emerald pools, with murmurings flies.

V

Come where the cattle browse within the brake,
As red as oak and strong;
Where far-off bells the echoes faintly wake,
And milkmaids sing their song.
Come where the vine-trailed rocks, with waters hoary,
Tell to the sun some legend or some story;
Or, where the sunset to the land
Speaks words of gold;
Where ripeness walks, a wheaten band
Around her hair and blossoms manifold.

VI

Come where the woods lift up their stalwart arms
Unto the star-sown skies;
Knotted and gnarled, that to the winds and storms
Fling mighty rhapsodies:
Or to the moon repeat what they have seen,
When Night upon their shoulders vast doth lean.
Come where the dew's clear syllable
Drips from the rose;
And where the fire-flies fill
The night with golden music of their glows.

VII

Now while the dingles and the vine-roofed glens
Whisper their flowery tale
Unto the silence; and the lakes and fens
Unto the moonlight pale
Murmur their rapture, let us seek her out,
Her of the honey throat, and peachy pout,
Summer! and at her feet,
The love of old
Lay like a sheaf of wheat,
And of our hearts the purest gold of gold.

First Day of Summer, 2014

21 June 2014
0000 Hours PDT Log
Current Temperature and Condition:
74° F | 23° C
Clear

Astronomy:

21 June 2014              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                   1:53 AM PDT  3:17 PM PDT

Length of Visible Light 15h 48m
Length of Day 14h 46m
Tomorrow will be 0m 3s shorter.

Waning Crescent, 34% of the Moon is Illuminated.

Adele Leigh Birthday Anniversary Today

Adele Leigh
English lyric soprano
(15 June 1928 - 23 May 2004)


The MP3 below expired on 10-11-2014.
Click here to play the current selection.

The Mantovani Orchestra and Four Voices (1964)
- And This Is My Beloved Quartet(after Borodin)

And This Is My Beloved
Four Voices
(1964 Studio Recording)


Setting: In the Wazir's palace
(The Caliph orders the Wazir to search for the girl he will marry. While he describes her, Marsinah, in the next room, tells her father of the wonders of the man she has met.)


In the Wazir's Palace, Room #1
Father & Daughter:
The Poet: Robert Merrill (Baritone)
Marsinah: Adele Leigh (Soprano)

In the Wazir's Palace, Room #2
Wazir & Caliph:
Wazir: Ian Wallace (Bass)
Caliph: Kenneth McKellar (Tenor) (His birthday: 23 June)


THE POET:
You'd say his eyes were...?

MARSHINAH
Some time bright.

THE POET
But only sometime?

MARSHINAH
Often dark.

THE POET
Well, that is plain!

MARSHINAH
Plain words can't tell the thrill!

THE POET
Then tell it how you will!

MARSHINAH
Dawn's promising skies
Petals on a pool drifting
Imagine these in one pair of eyes
And this is my beloved!

WAZIR
You'd say her eyes were...?

CALIPH
Sometime bright.

WAZIR
But only sometime?

CALIPH
Often dark.

WAZIR
Not very clear!

CALIPH
Mere words cannot convey!

WAZIR
Then try another way.

CALIPH
Strange spice from the south,
Honey through the comb sifting,
Imagine these on one eager mouth,
And this is my beloved!

THE POET
You'd say his smile was...?

MARSHINAH
Sometime gay.

THE POET
But only sometime?

MARSHINAH
Often sad.

THE POET
Sad smiles are strange!

MARSHINAH
He can be very strange...

WAZIR:
This takes imagining!

THE POET
So?

MARSHINAH
I hope he'll never change!

WAZIR:
And when she speaks?

CALIPH
Ah...

THE POET
And when he talks to you?

CALIPH
Music!

MARSHINAH
Ah...

WAZIR
Music?

MARSHINAH
Mystery!

THE POET
Mystery?

WAZIR
And when she moves?

The POET
And when he walks with you?

CALIPH, then MARSHINAH
Paradise, comes suddenly near!
All that can stir,
All that can stun,
All that's for the heart's lifting;
Imagine these in one perfect one.

THE POET
It's clear, it's love!
I'll find your love!
I promise you I will!
Those eyese should never cry!
With all my heart I'll try!

WAZIR
I fear this love!
All Highest One
I offer so much more!
Hopeless!
For ev'ry man there's more than one!
We'll wait!

CALIPH, then MARSHINAH
And this is my beloved!

Interlude: The Mantovani trademark strings
(The Poet leaves, and the Caliph and Wazir also leave their room.)

MARSHINAH
Strange spice from the south,
Honey through the comb sifting,
Imagine these on one eager mouth,
And this is my beloved!
And when he speaks
And when he talks to me...
Music! Mystery!
And whe he moves
And when he walks with me
Paradise comes suddenly near!
All that can stir,
All that can stun,
All that for the heart's lifting;
Imagine these in one perfect one.
And this is my beloved!
And this is my beloved!

Brazen Area Code (202) Scam Calls for Money

Just this month, I received two cold calls threatened me with arrest if I did not make a settlement on some IRS matters. Both calls were left on my voice mail. The first call was made by a male East Indian "IRS officer" with a heavy accent who barely spoke understandable English. I deleted that message. The second call was made a week later by a computerized female who articulated well in spoken English. It warned me not to ignore the call. Then it left a number for me to call back. The call-back number was 202 506 9529.

Scammers pretending to be IRS or DEA agents are making cold calls to commit fraud against law abiding US citizens or immigrants. The scam is the threat of immenent arrest if alleged "unreported income" are not paid. The prospective victims are warned not to ignore the call, and he is given an area code 202 number to call back, or press "1" to connect to an agent to resolve the question at hand by negotiating a settlement.

All such calls and call-back numbers are purportedly made from the Washington DC with area code 202. The scammers are trying to create the impression the calls are authentic and serious because they are originated from Washington DC, the federal government hub. If an intended victim calls back to a referred 202 area code number, he already has one foot in the snare by starting with paying for the long distance call to DC.

What the prospective victim did not know is all these area code 202 numbers are connected through phone cards' access numbers. That is, these are pre-paid mobile phone booths where the scammers' own phone numbers are not traceable by ordinary means.

Here is a fact you can take to the bank (pun): No bureaucracy can function without paperwork including a referenced case number. Further, bona fide federal agencies such as IRS or DEA do not make cold calls by hashing out a negotiated amount of money to "make things right."

Here is the link where the all federal government agency contact information including area code 202 phone numbers, if applicable, are listed

http://www.usa.gov/Site-Index/index.shtml

The thing to do is ask the calling "officer" to confirm his or her name, position, and the represented agency. Don't forget to ask for your case case number AND to have that caller send you an official letter stating he or she has talked with you on the phone about the referenced case number. And toward the end of the conversation (which you should be in control through out), tell that crook, "this conversation is being recorded for obvious legal reasons." Tell that person, you will call the agency to follow-up on "your case". Then disconnect the call.

By the way, the scammers had used the same call-back phone number (202 506 9529) on other people before me.


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