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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.
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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

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.