Camels and Signs

 

There are two of my blogging friends in different parts of the world and they have both had camels on their posts recently!  Camels? Yes, camels!  Debra from Edmonton, Canada showed us her amazing drawing of a camel. (She Who Seeks). Please go and look at it just here!

Patricia from Australia told us that she was in Dubai and purchased some bejeweled camel figures. She added them to her Nativity Scene for Christmas.  (Red Cardinal) You may see Patricia's camels  just here.

Okay, TWO camel posts, that is enough of a sign for me! Is it possible that even camels remind you of a song, Kay? You know it!

Ralph McTell is a very, very good guitarist/singer/songwriter. When his children were young, he made a FANTASTIC collection of songs. "Alphabet Zoo".  He wrote a song for each letter of the alphabet and had an animal for each letter. (He did 27 songs.  The letter "N" got two of them "Nellie, the Newt" and "Nigel, the Nightingale". You know your life is better for knowing that.)

Hope you love this genius song as much as I do!  If you notice, the background sounds like the kind of music that you could hear in the Middle East. Not that I have ever been there but hey, I have seen "The Ten Commandments" and since most of my knowledge is from films, it is enough for me to be impressed. Anyway, the thought of a very small camel bringing the Three Wise Men with their gifts, is such a lovely way to show children that even the smallest can do great things. 

Signs! Do you believe in signs? This reminds me of two movies. The first one is "Thunderheart" from 1992. It was directed by one of my favorite directors, Michael Apted. (I have written about him before!) Graham Greene, the actor who died last year, has a great role in this film.  (Graham Greene is a well beloved Native Canadian but he portrays a native American in this movie.) He tells the main character, "You had a SIGN!".  Now, you will just have to see the movie to know what this is about! The second film is even more obvious; it is the movie "Signs"!  It is from 2002 and was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is an interesting movie, scary but thoughtful also. Oh, and there are some good bits of humor in it too! "It felt wrong not to swing", is a line that my son and I quote to each other sometimes!

Now, I have never seen a camel but here is a photo of a cat, posing on a rock for Richard.  I hope this creature will be okay in the coming ice storm that is predicted for this area.  They are opening warming stations for all the homeless people also. It is scary to think of being outside in the temps they are telling us will happen. We will have several days that will not be above freezing, which is very cold for Georgia. Hope everyone is careful and takes the right precautions for dealing with the weather.

Wherever you are in this world, this is the sign that you should carry warmth to all!  My quote on my calendar today says, "If peace be in the heart, the wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty."  (C.F. Richardson). 

Precisely (Ha Ha)

 

Some words just keep popping up for me and when they do, you know I have to share them with you.  I like to read articles from "The Guardian". I have been informed that I have read 267 pieces, precisely.  Since my brain is wired to go straight to song lyrics, you know that must have triggered those little grey cells to start singing a Beatles song!  "When I'm Sixty-Four" was one of the first songs written by Paul McCartney when he was just a lad of 14!  I wonder if he thinks 64 is so very old now! Ha ha! (No offense, Sir Paul, you know I LOVE you!) I found a very good cover version. Hope you like it as much as I do....

I said "ha ha" just above. That is usually meant to describe a laugh or a chuckle, but did you know it also means something regarding landscape design?  I watched a TV series set in England recently, which was filmed at a stately home. One of the characters went outside the house into the front garden and suddenly, there was a low stone wall. "Hey!", (I shouted out to my poor husband who puts up with me with great patience), "What's that called again?". I had discovered the word a while back but couldn't think of it.  Never mind, I did a search for it and found the word...it is called a "ha ha"! Originally built to keep out livestock, they were later incorporated into the landscape. It blended in such a way that when one came upon it, "ah ah" was the response, which became "ha ha". 

That is it, precisely!   Ha ha

We had some heavy clouds come in yesterday. It was thought that we might get snow, but we were advised that instead of the Metro Atlanta area getting snow, it would be the counties SOUTH of us that would see it! Sure enough this morning, we saw beautiful pictures of the snow on TV but none here. Never mind! Speaking of snow, anyone else see the story about the bridge in Hamburg, Germany about the tiny snow figures? The little snowmen/snowwomen were all along the side of the stone bridge and one mean person knocked them all down. The townspeople simply showed up and REBUILT them! I was astonished at all the different snow figures. Just delightful.

We have walked in all kinds of weather recently. It really is better to have sunshine, but the clouds and fog have a beauty all their own.

Hello there, blue sky! So nice to see you!

Hope you are all doing well these days. Take care.

A New Song from Our Son! (Home Inside Your Heart)

  

Happy 2026 to you all!

Do you have a song in your head that you are singing yet? No? I have one for you!  It is "Home Inside Your Heart" and it is written by our son, with vocals and guitars, all by Christopher.  (Richard tells me there is some percussion that is also added. I hardly notice a drumbeat; I am always about the melody!)  I love it and cannot stop singing it! (I promise I would love it even if it were not written and performed by our dear son.)

Please, give this a listen.  And tell all your friends to do so also!

Home Inside Your Heart

I can't seem to get it from YouTube on this post but if you click on that link above, I hope you can hear it.

Going back in time, I am showing you some photos of Christopher!

There is a more recent photo of C. with his lovely wife, Sarah!  Ha ha, can you see that I have taken a photo of that picture from a phone? Why? Who knows? It takes a while for me to figure out how to do things on a phone. LOL! Anyway, you can see why I wanted it, it's a great photo with the Tennessee river behind them.

Please, let me know that you were able to listen to the song!

The winter picture that Christopher chose to go along with his video is by Monet.  Did you know that Monet painted over 100 paintings with snow?  I think there might possibly be a future post about this!