Willow's Weekly Word

Auld Lang Syne (ôld' lăng zīn', sīn') is a Scottish poem written by

Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song,

Roud # 6294. It is well known in many English speaking countries

and is often sung to celebrate the start of the new year at the stroke

of midnight on New Year's Day. The song's title may be translated

into English literally as old long since, or more idiomatically, long

long ago or days gone by. For old time's sake or to the good old

days may be modern day expressions, in common use as a toast,

that capture the spirit of "for auld lang syne".

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old times since ?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!

And surely I’ll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give us a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

I raise a cup of kindness to you,

my trusty bloggy friends!

.

Love, joy and peace

for the coming New Year

to you and yours.

.

Cheers!

x

Cabbage Soup for the Soul

After the holidays, and all the chocolate and cookies, I am really ready
to eat some healthy, low fat meals. This cabbage soup is fast, easy to
make and tasty, too. I would like to take all the credit, but I will have
to say the recipe came from Rachel Ray. It's perfect for a chilly winter
evening. Add some crusty bread and you've got a great little meal.
And if you've had one too many cookies last week like I did, skip the
bread and eat this soup with no guilt. It's good for the soul.


Cabbage Soup


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound ham steak, chopped
1 savoy cabbage, quartered, cored and shredded
1 onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
Salt and pepper
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
2 cups cider
1/4 cup honey
1 (14 ounce) can white beans, drained
1 pound bag sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped dill
1 cup sour cream, to pass at table (optional)

Heat a soup pot over medium high heat with extra-virgin olive oil.
Add ham and lightly brown 2 to 3 minutes. Add shredded cabbage
and stir in the onions and carrots as you finish chopping and grating
them. Stir in the frozen hash browns and season the vegetables
liberally with salt and pepper. Add in a bay leaf, cider, honey, beans,
sauerkraut and chicken stock. Place a lid on the pot and bring soup to
a boil. Uncover and simmer 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.
Stir in dill and adjust seasoning of soup. Serve the soup in shallow
bowls and top with sour cream.

photo by willow

Man With a Cigar

.
Tango Baby posted an artsy beach photo which she referred to as one
of those happy accidents. You know the ones, where the subject is
accidentally out of focus, but the effect is quite magical? I was given a
nice tripod as a Christmas gift and everyone enjoyed dressing up with
props and posing for portraits. While downloading and sorting through
my holiday pics today, I came across this shot which is one of those
lovely accidents. It has a wonderfully dark "film noir" look about it,
don't you think?

Valkyrie

Things are quiet now at the Manor, since most of the family have

gone. We had a lovely holiday week, including all of us going to see

the film Valkyrie, a historical thriller set in WWII Nazi Germany.

Directed by the talented Bryan Singer, the film stars Tom Cruise,

not exactly one of my favorite actors, who is not convincing in the

role, but is surrounded by a stellar cast. It depicts the July 20, 1944

plot of German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Cruise,

looking fabulous in uniform, portrays the leader of the plot, Colonel

Claus von Stauffenberg and looks amazingly like him. Even though

I knew the outcome of the plot, I was still on the edge of my seat

throughout the film. The costumes, and the hairstyles, two things

I am especially critical of, were spot on. And we were all very

amused that a glass eye, just like the one I have, was featured

throughout the film. Despite Cruise's acting being the weak spot in

this movie, the Manor Clan still gave it two thumbs up.

The cast of Valkyri, from left to right:
Kevin McNally, Christian Berkel, Bill Nighy, Tom Cruise,
Terrence Stamp, David Schofield and Kenneth Branagh.

von Stauffenberg/Cruise

Merry Christmas from Willow Manor

Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth (detail)

Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958)

~

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,

The mighty God, The everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace.

.

Isaiah 9:6

~

Best Christmas Wishes to all my dear bloggy friends!

.

Lots of cheery holiday love,

.

Willow

xx

Christmas Life

Bring in a tree, a young Norwegian spruce,

Bring hyacinths that rooted in the cold.

Bring winter jasmine as its buds unfold

Bring the Christmas life into this house.

Bring red and green and gold, bring things that shine,

Bring candlesticks and music, food and wine.

Bring in your memories of Christmas past.

Bring in your tears for all that you have lost.

Bring in the shepherd boy, the ox, the ass,

Bring in the stillness of an icy night,

Bring in a birth, of hope and love and light.

Bring the Christmas life into this house.

The Christmas Life by Wendy Cope

photo by willow

Got Eggnog?

We love this eggnog recipe at Willow Manor. It's delicious made with Drambuie, but is also good with Southern Comfort or Myers Rum. I always use freshly grated whole nutmeg and plunk a dollop of whipped
cream on top. It is absolutely heavenly.

Willow's Eggnog

~

2 Eggbeaters

1 heavy cream

½ Drambuie

handful of ice cubes

sugar or Splenda to taste

vanilla extract

nutmeg to taste

~

Blend the dickens out of it!

(no pun intended)

Angela, The Baby Jesus and Me

When my mother, Angela, was six years old, she felt sorry for the

baby Jesus in the Christmas crib at St. Joseph's Church near School

House Lane where she lived. She thought the Baby Jesus was cold

and wondered why no one had put a blanket over his plump little

body. He looked happy enough, smiling up at his mother, the Virgin

Mary, and St. Joseph and the three shepherds carrying little lambs

all cozy in their fur. Even if he was cold he'd never complain because

the Baby Jesus would never want to make his mammy the slightest

bit unhappy.

.

from Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt

illustration from the book by Raul Colon

.

My grandmother had a big cardboard box type pop-up nativity set

with a doll sized plastic baby Jesus, complete with permanent plastic

swaddling clothes and a sweet heavenly expression on his wee face.

The smell of the new plastic was intoxicating. I enjoyed seeing how

far I could toss Baby Jesus into the air and catch him, which usually,

I didn't. Grandma caught me once and scolded me for being

disrespectful. I remember gingerly putting him back into his crib of

straw, encased in a plastic bag, hoping God wasn't upset. I bought

myself a copy of Frank McCourt's lovely children's book last

Christmas because the story of his mother, Angela, and the baby

Jesus reminded me so much of my little four year old self.

Pal's Syrup

This is my Great-Great-Grandfather, Palestine Hanna. I have

always been intrigued by his unique given name. Census records

show only a hand full had the name Palestine, both male and female,

at the turn of the century, so it was not a trendy name at the time.

Was it biblical or maybe geographical? I guess I'll never know. I do

know, however, that his nickname was "Pal", which I think is so

endearing. This photo shows him tapping into a maple tree on his

"Stockwell Farm" in Howard County, Indiana in about 1920. The

sap was cooked in a vat in the woods in a spot the family called

“sugar camp”. It took 30 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

A friend of my daughter introduced me to the joys of pure maple

syrup. After you have tasted the real thing, you can never again eat

the bottled pancake stuff we Americans all know as "syrup". The

genuine article is especially delicious on a nice bowl of steel-cut oats

with walnuts and dried cranberries!

Those Lovely Intangibles

Fred Gailey: Look Doris, someday you're going to find that your

way of facing this realistic world just doesn't work. And when you do,

don't overlook those lovely intangibles. You'll discover those are the

only things that are worthwhile.

Later on in the film...

Doris: Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't

you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for.

It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.

.

from Miracle on 34th Street, 1947

Melanie

I love, love this quirky piece, Melanie, the School Teacher, 1922, by
Chaim Soutine, part of the collection at my local Columbus Museum

of Art. A postcard of the painting is on my kitchen blackboard. She's

perfect for the holidays, with cheery colors and a sweet "Whovillian"

little smile. The artist Soutine was born in Russia and grew up in a

Lithuanian Jewish ghetto where he encountered community

opposition for his propensity for drawing images which violated

Talmudic law. He arrived in Paris in 1913, where he initially lived in

desperate poverty. In 1915 he met Modigliani, with whom he

developed a close friendship. His work was loosely connected with the
Parisian mainstream, but owes much of his work to Fauvism and
Expressionism. His financial condition improved suddenly after 1923,
through growing patronage, and he became well known for his works
of distorted images and intense colors.

Soutine by Modigliani, 1916

Seeing the snowman standing all alone

In dusk and cold is more than he can bear.

The small boy weeps to hear the wind prepare

A night of gnashings and enormous moan.

His tearful sigh can hardly reach to where

the pale-faced figure with bitumen eyes

Returns him such a god-forsaken stare

As outcast Adam gave to Paradise.

The man of snow is, nonetheless, content,

Having no wish to go inside and die.

Still, he is moved to see the youngster cry.

Though frozen water is his element,

He melts enough to drop from one soft eye

A trickle of the purest rain, a tear

For the child at the bright pane surrounded by

Such warmth, such light, such love, and so much fear.

Boy at the Window by Richard Wilbur

photo by willow, 1989

An Old Standby

I don't usually make chocolate chip cookies for Christmas, but this
year my daughter requested them. With her busy schedule, she
doesn't get home very often, and of my cookies, these are her very
favorite. This recipe makes about seven dozen three inch cookies
and can be easily halved and the dough freezes well. They are
decadent.

Willow's Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 sticks of butter softened
1 cup Crisco shortening
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla
7 cups flour
1 1/4 tbsp baking soda
3/4 tbsp salt
24 oz. chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, shortening, sugars. Add eggs and vanilla.
Sift together the flour, soda and salt. Add chocolate chips.
Drop by golf ball sized scoops onto ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet, remove and
let stand on wire wrack for 30 minutes before storing.

photos by willow

A Little Monday Movie Meme

I was challenged by Phil and Aurel to list my favorite films, one for

each letter of the alphabet. So, without further ado, here's my list. And

it was a lot harder than you think! This was loads of fun, so please feel

free to play along, if you're so inclined.

Annie Hall
Brief Encounter
Cinema Paradiso
The Duelists
The End of the Affair
Frida
Gone With the Wind
Howard's End
I Know Where I'm Going
The Joy Luck Club
Kundun
Lawrence of Arabia
Man on a Train
North by Northwest
Onegin
The Pumpkin Eater
Quiz Show
Rope
Sunset Boulevard
Titus
Under the Tuscan Sun
Vertigo
The Widow of Saint-Pierre
Excalibur (is this a cheat?)
You've Got Mail
Zulu

Fruitcake Weather

A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window.

She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a

summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen;

but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched.

Her face is remarkable--not unlike Lincoln's, craggy like that, and

tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate, too, finely boned, and her

eyes are sherry-colored and timid. "Oh my", she exclaims, her

breath smoking the windowpane, "it's fruitcake weather!"

from A Christmas Memory, 1956, Truman Capote

I've seen quite a few posts on fruitcake this season. And it's almost

making me hungry for it. Almost. Most of us have them in our

holiday memories as vile dry Styrofoam slices, full of more bitter

candied fruit than cake, wrapped in foil, hardening in the back of the

fridge. I think I'll try one out and create my own new millennium

fruitcake tradition. This recipe of Alton Brown's looks good. I've

never made one of his recipes that didn't become an instant Manor

favorite. Click [here] for the recipe. Blog Princess G's fruitcake looks

amazing, though, and I am leaning towards her recipe. Click [here]

for a look. And Bee Drunken has several delectable recipes posted

on her blog. They all sound good; click [here]. I don't know. Libras

can never decide.

Vile Stickies

The ubiquitous sticky tag. Am I the only one who finds them so
annoying? They're bad enough on glass, but at least you can run them
under hot water or throw the item in the dishwasher to remove the
pesky things. But, heavens to murgatroyd, why do stores persist in
plastering them on leather, wood and worst of all on the dust jackets
of books? I bought two beautiful small acacia wood trays with huge
sticky labels slapped right in the center of both. It took me 14 minutes
to dig them off, and that's with using my favorite handy dandy Goo
Gone and the former nail on my left thumb, now worn down from
excessive holiday gift label removal. Yes, I am known to use my left
hand for label removal, flipping through magazines, holding the phone
and clicking the TV remote, among other odd assorted tasks. I guess
you could say I am just partially ambidextrous. Sorry, I digress.
Anyway, when the manufacturers or retailers actually use those great
easy to remove labels, you know them, the ones that come off with
one nice clean peel, I am in label heaven and I hear lovely strains of
Handel.

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah.

Halleeeeluuuuu---jah!!!

Happy gift wrapping, dear bloggies.
And may all your labels be smooth and easy.

The Power of Music

I saw this on Jean's, one of my brand new visitors, blog yesterday
and it was a very fitting that she posted it just after the election.
Music is so universally unifying. Listen to this guy's wonderful
montage and just see if you can do it without smiling. Have a great
weekend, dear bloggy friends!

Cabbage Alert!

This is a wonderful recipe from Susan over at Blackstreet. It is
perfect for this busy time of year, especially since the leftovers are
just as delicious, if not better than, first times. It's quick, easy and
best of all, as healthy as it is scrumptious! Perfect way to balance all
those holiday goodies you will be partaking of. If you are as fond of
cabbage as we are, you will love, love, love this dish. I served it with
some crusty bread and a tall glass of beer. I am not big on casseroles,
but do give this one a try! It is yummy!

Blackstreet's Cabbage Roll Casserole

3 cups chopped cabbage (I used coarsely shredded with carrots)
1/2 cup brown rice (I used 2 cups cooked rice)
2 onions chopped
1 lb ground meat (I used ground turkey)
1 large leek chopped (optional)
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of chicken broth
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. Italian blend seasoning
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
a good pinch freshly ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Saute onions (and leek) in a bit of oil until translucent, remove
from pan and put aside. Brown meat in the same pan, add brown
sugar and spices. Stir until sugar melts, add tomatoes, raw cabbage
and raw rice, onions and leeks. Stir until everything is mixed well
and pile into a large casserole.* Pour chicken broth into all the
nooks and crannies. Cover tightly and bake in a 350 oven for 30 to
40 minutes until bubbly and cabbage is tender, but not mushy.

*(I layered the ingredients in the pan in this order: meat, onions
and leeks, rice, tomatoes and cabbage. A doubled recipe fills a
13 x 9 inch pan.)
*photo by Willow

ISSBFMFTC

While over visiting the Middenshire Chronicles, Chris referred me
to a link to Ann of Ann's Rants and then I ended up at Anna Lefler's
Life Just Keeps Getting Weirder. I was completely lost out there on
some new streets in the bloggyhood and had the most enjoyable
time! Ann had posted some of Anna's hilarious bloggy acronyms,
BTW, and I was LMAO. Need to spice up your comments with
some fresh ones?

These are too funny not to share...

TBBGIIMC - This Better Be Good - I'm Ignoring My Children
ISSBFMFTC - I Smell Smoke But First Must Finish This Comment
BE - Banner Envy
PWCEBB - Proceed With Caution: Extremely Bitter Blogger
JHTMF - Just Here To Mooch Followers
SICS - Seizure-Inducing Color Scheme
ECIZ - Extreme Crafts Intimidation Zone
UMO - Unwarranted Music Onslaught
CPA - Comment Performance Anxiety
INTGTTBFFH - I've Needed To Go To The Bathroom For Four Hours

(And don't you love the segue from Lucy to Lucy? Quite by accident,
I assure you.)

St. Lucy

Being raised in a Protestant family in the Midwest, I was until recently,
unaware of the history and background of many saints, which I now
find fascinating. As I was putting a St. Lucy ornament on tree, a gift
from The Netherlands, I realized I knew nothing about her and thought
it might be an interesting post. Saint Lucy was born to a noble family
in late third century Sicily. When she refused to marry a pagan, he
denounced her to the governor, who condemned her to death. It is said
that her eyes were plucked out and presented to her suitor before her
death, since he had always admired them. (Ick!!) Because her name
means "light" she soon became the great patron saint of the "light of
the body", the eyes. Under the Gregorian calender, her feast day fell
on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. Now it is observed
on December 13, where in Sweden, the eldest daughters of a
household, kick off the Christmas season by dressing in white gowns
and wear wreaths of candles on their heads as they awaken the family
with coffee, pastries and song. It sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Here is Swedish artist, Carl Larsson's depiction of St. Lucy's day,
Lucia, 1908. Funny, it reminds me of Goya's candle hat. Below is
a Swedish girls choir singing the charming Santka Lucia.

A. Brunning, Schoolboy

The human face is always incredibly interesting to me. There was something very pleasant about this boy's face, and I liked the colors, and style. It was up for auction on eBay last year in Amsterdam and for some reason, hardly anyone bid against me and I actually won it!


It is signed A. Hodgkinson, 1943. There is a label on the back that reads, "A. Brunning, A Schoolboy" and another label, "James Bourlet & Sons, Ltd., Fine Art Packers & Frame Makers, 17 & 18 Nassau St."
After a little online research, I found that Alexander Hodgkinson was a British artist and Bourlet Co. was, and still is, in Manhattan. The rest is a mystery. 


I would absolutely love to know more about this A. Brunning, who, if he is still around, would be about 75 to 80 years old now. If you are out there, Mr. Brunning, I have your portrait and would very much like to meet you. I've been thinking about you all afternoon, while your portrait watched over me, decorating the tree.

Willow Manor 2008

The true portrait of a man

is a fusion of what he thinks he is,

what others think he is,

what he really is and what he tries to be.

Dore Schary

Oblogation

Typewriter, Jeremy Mayer

oblogation: an incessant need to maintain one's blog

Well, if I didn't feel oblogation before, I certainly do now. Just the

thought of hundreds of new readers popping in to check me out

gives me the willies. Since I usually don't know what I'm going to

post from one day to the next, I am feeling the pressure now, more

than ever! Okay. Stop. Take a deep breath. Think of all that fresh

air and deep breathing that Edna St. Vee was inspiring me to do

Friday. Why am I blogging? What do I enjoy about the blogging

community? My reasons for blogging haven't changed just because

I have more readers. Right. Obviously, my little manor is

appreciated for the simple fact of what it is, so I don't need to

change a thing. (Sigh.) Okay, I feel better. I just needed to talk this

out. Any tips on dealing with these pesky oblogatory pressures

from all you kind and experienced bloggies? Just leave your

thoughts here and don't mind me. I'm placing my blog willies aside,

while having fun decorating the Christmas tree!

.

Your only obligation in any lifetime

is to be true to yourself.

~

Richard Bach

.

For more fun blog inspired words, check out Chris Hale's post.

[click here]

Thank You Blogger Team!

Outing, Marc Chagall, 1917

Well, I am back down to earth this morning from floating around on

cloud nine yesterday. It all started when I checked my blog, after

being out and about all afternoon. Something was wrong. My followers

had unbelievably doubled and my first thought was that someone was

messing with my followers widget. Well, to make a long story short, I

checked my dashboard and to my absolute amazement, Life at

Willow Manor was listed for December 5th as the Blog of Note!!!

Many, many heartfelt thanks to the wonderful people on the Blogger

Team for choosing my humble little Manor! I am thrilled for the honor

and also for all the lovely visits from thousands of bloggies from all

over the world. 3,247 of you stopped by yesterday. I was totally

overwhelmed. Thank you!

Edna St. Vee and Me

Black Swans, Wallis Lake, 1923, Margaret Preston

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.

And what did I see I had not seen before?

Only a question less or a question more;

Nothing to match the light of wild birds flying.

Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,

House without air, I leave you and lock your door.

Wild swans, come over the town, come over

The town again, trailing your legs and crying!

Wild Swans

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Do you ever struggle with the beauty, purity and sense of purpose

of idealism and the complexes of reality? Edna and I are simpatico.

I'm getting out for some fresh air today, but not locking my door.

Not just yet.

Willow's Weekly Word

While cleaning up the Manor from the aftermath of Thanksgiving,

I found this dried wishbone hanging on the wine rack above the oven.

One particular person I know loves to save them every time he carves

the turkey! I often find them, days later, hanging to dry in odd places.

I can actually remember seeing them tied up with ribbons to adorn gift

packages in the 1950's. (Ick!) I thought you might enjoy a little

background on the quirky tradition of the luck of the wishbone this

week instead of our usual etymology.

The wishbone is the third member of the great Euro-American lucky

charm triumvirate, the other two being the horseshoe and the four

leaf clover. Sometimes called the "merrythought" in the British Isles,

the wishbone is a bone overlying the breastbone of fowl, but most

especially the chicken and the turkey. It is the custom to save this

bone intact when carving the bird at dinner and to dry it over the

stove or by the fire or, sometimes, to dry it for three days in the air,

three being a fortuitous magical number until it is brittle. Once the

merrythought is dry, it is given to two people, who pull it apart until

it cracks and breaks, each one making a wish while doing so. The

person who gets the long half of the wishbone will have his or her

wish come true. If the wishbone breaks evenly, both parties get their

wishes. In some families it is said that the wish will only come true

if it is not revealed to anyone. Because of its association with

conviviality and festive dinners, the wishbone has a long history of

use in holiday cards. The wishbone is found on numerous Good Luck

postcards of the era. In the 1930s, the wishbone was a common

image on North American good luck coins and one could even buy

little gold or silver wishbone charms; but by the 1990s it, like that

other dead animal part, the rabbit foot, had fallen out of favour with

the makers of lucky amulets.

Thanks to Falling apart Trisha on Answerbag for this info.

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

It's the season to bring out your favorite holiday music. Do certain

songs conjure a special memory from your childhood? One moment

forever frozen in my mind is, as an eight year old, sitting on the

sofa in the dark of a December evening in 1964, mesmerized by the

glittering live tree, complete with those wonderful big bulbed lights

and streams of long crinkly silver tinsel. On the radio, Bing Crosby

was singing Silver Bells, scooping up lots of that baritone with each

b-e-l-l-l-l-l-s. It was a magical, goose bumpy, childhood memory I

will never forget. The scene fondly pops into my mind every time

I hear the song.

Then there are the silly twists on songs. One from my childhood is

our version of "may your days be Mary and Bright", which was

incredibly funny because we have a great uncle named Bright (a

family name) and his daughter's name was Mary. We would then

sing, "and may all your Christmases be Luella and Joe", the names

of my great aunt and their son. Well, okay, maybe you have to be

part of the family to get the hilariousness of this one. I can also

remember my youngest sister singing her own little version of

Hark the Herald Angels, "with the jelly toast proclaim, Christ is

born in Bethlehem", complete with her own grape jelly mustache.

.

Back in his college days, WT made a Christmas album which

included the song Home for the Holidays. The big joke here is the

line "if you want 'Tubby Happy' in a millions ways, for the holidays

you can't beat home sweet home". No pun intended, since none of

us at the Manor eat too much during the holidays. Not us.

Years ago, WT had a business associate named Kahled. I don't know

exactly how this came about, but we filled his name into the words of

Handel's Messiah, "and his name shall be Kah-led". Kahled? If he

only knew how his name gave us chuckles every time we heard this

majestic bit of Handel. And of course, the kids could never sing or

even hear, for that matter, "don we now our gay apparel" without

bursting out laughing.

(Yes, the picture is a bronze statue of Lenin. WT brought it back

from one of his trips to Russia and did actually see Lenin's body in

Red Square, a strange experience. Our Mr. Lenin wears a holiday

hat every year as part of his gay apparel. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la! )

.

Right now, I happen to be listening to this Christmas album by the

mezzo-soprano Anne Sophie von Otter, one of my oh-so-classy

holiday favorites.

.

Alex Colville

Hound in Field, 1958

Susan, my talented artist bloggy friend from Nova Scotia, thought that

I might enjoy the artwork of the Canadian artist Alex Colville, since I

like Andrew Wyeth's works. And she was so right! The soft tempera

paintings are simple, realistic and his subject matter very ordinary,

which, in my opinion, makes them extraordinary. Colville worked as

one of Canada's most famous war artists in WWII, painting troops

landing on Juno Beach on D-Day. He returned to Nova Scotia after the

war where he was a member of the faculty at Mount Allison University's

fine arts department until he left to devote himself to painting full time.

Horse and Train, 1954

Colville's Horse and Train was inspired by two lines of the 1949

poem "Dedication to Mary Campbell" by the South African Poet Roy

Campbell. The painting is simple, yet I think very haunting and

complex. This piece, like many of his works, has a surreal and quite

magical quality about it.

.

Against a regiment I oppose a brain
And a dark horse against an armored train.

Alex Colville, by Arnaud Maggs

December

Winter, Andrew Wyeth, 1946

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

.

I woke up to huge blowing snowflakes this first morning of

December! I adore this poem by Robert Frost. There are a lot

of interpretations as to the meaning behind it, but I just love its

basic simplicity. The last two lines are what really put the spin

on it, though.