Shout, Brother, Shout...Happy New Year!

 

Shout, Brother, Shout...sung by the Inkspots with FANTASTIC dancing by Tip, Tap and Toe!

 

When I happily discovered the Inkspots this year, I found this fantastic dancing by Tip, Tap and Toe. (Real names- Samuel Green, Ted Fraser and Ray Winfield.)   Such joy, such incredible dancing!  I wonder if young people nowadays would think this was computer generated, but we know better.  This was just pure talent.  I wish they could have had more opportunities but I am grateful that we have this film that we can still enjoy it today. (And I have read that this dancing and singing scene is the best part of the whole movie!)  Let me know what you think, I was just stunned by how fast they could move. The tap called "sliding style" was invented by Ray Winfield.  Watch the video and you will know what I am talking about!

 These photos were taken at my sister's beautiful home on Christmas Eve. I LOVE her taste!

 

 

For the new year..."We'll take a cup of kindness yet".  Yes, that is what I would like for the whole world, an overflowing cup of kindness.   Light and love in the New Year for you all.

The Monastery And Arabia Mountain

 

 

 

We went to the Monastery and Arabia Mountain today. . (They are only a few miles apart and only a few miles from us.)  I wish you the peace that we feel when we are in the balcony of the church of the Monastery. When we are bathed in the blue light and with the monks chanting, the same chants that have gone on for centuries, the timelessness and holiness is beautiful.  This is truly a special place.

 

Arabia Mountain is just as special to us, and I hope you can understand me when I tell you that I also consider it to be holy ground.

 

 

 

 

Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries...

 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sunset Photos

 

 

 

So many things that I want to blog about today, and yet, I am very tired, so they are all jumbled up in my mind.  Better to wait and hopefully, will be better able to post tomorrow. In the meantime, these sunset photos were taken by me in my own yard, backyard in the first photo, and front yard in the second.  (Can anyone see a man's face in the second photo above? It looks like a man wearing glasses, kind of in the middle, to the lower right, do you see him?)  There is a word for finding faces in things, and I have actually written a post about it, but do you think I can remember the word? http://georgiagirlwithanenglishheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-see-faces-in-things.html

There, I found the post from January of 2012.

Anyone else remember the "Finding Waldo" books in England, when you had to find the character with glasses wearing a striped red and white shirt?  We had them in the USA, but they were "Finding Wally" books.  I think "Wally" is kind of a funny thing to call someone in England.  Maybe, they had to change the name for that reason.  Our son liked those books a lot, and was very good at spotting him, whether it was Waldo or Wally!  CORRECTION: It is Waldo in the USA and Wally in the UK.  I am afraid that I got the names mixed up. When you are Georgia Girl With An English Heart, that happens quite often! Still don't know why Wally means a stupid person though!

 

Oh, and I must not forget...a big welcome to any of my new followers, you are much appreciated, as are any of the nice folks who already read my blog. You will see that you are in very good company! The folks who read my blog are the BEST!

 

Crossroads At Stone Mountain Park

 

See all the lights secured to the trunk and branches of this tree?

Another post-card from Richard! (I LOVE this!)

 

 

See all the lights on this building?

From my last post, the photo of the building covered in Christmas lights was from "Crossroads" which is what they call the area just in front of Stone Mountain.  There are shops and restaurants there and beginning the first week of November, they start covering all the buildings and fences, the trees and the bushes with thousands of lights.  It is very pretty, especially with Stone Mountain in the background! (Every night beginning at Thanksgiving, I believe, there is a parade for children with a pretty snow angel and Santa Claus.)  Stone Mountain Park is unusual in that, strictly speaking, it is owned by the state of Georgia but the same company who owns DOLLYWOOD in Tennessee, the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation, has a long-term contract with the state so this company is responsible for all the shows, the cable-cars, the famous "Laser Show" on the Carving, the "Ride The Ducks" on the lake, the Snow-Mountain (they make snow for it), the train around the base of the mountain, and all the restaurants and places to shop.  The Stone Mountain Memorial Association is responsible for all the NATURAL areas of the Park, which takes up two-thirds of Stone Mountain Park.  You must KNOW that is what is most important to me!   Which is wonderful since the park covers 3200 acres!  You may read about SMMA here.   And you may see the site about Stone Mountain just here. Anything that the theme park side of it wishes for Stone Mountain Park must be approved by the SMMA. Recently, when I read that a water park was planned for Stone Mountain Park, I was on the phone to make sure that none of the large trees would be cut down!  I wish that there were more for people, especially for children, to tell them about the nature that is all around them and which a good many of them do not even notice. 

 

 



This is where they make SNOW MOUNTAIN! (All must be dismantled in early March.)

 

 

 There, remember the big Christmas tree from my last post? Can you see it in that first photo above, behind the fence?  It is really just wires strung over a big tree-like base but I am thankful for it.   As I am thankful that the Stone Mountain Memorial Association is still in charge of all the natural areas here.

 

(All of these photos are from November 3, 2012 from Stone Mountain Park, Georgia, USA!)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas day, wherever you are in the world!  I appreciate you reading my blog and I am thankful for YOU!

Christmas Eve/Christmas Lights

Lights At Stone Mountain, Georgia. (Richard should sell postcards of this!)




 

Christmas tree at the base of Stone Mountain.  I am the shadowy figure at the right.  Finally, a good picture of me!

 

 

 

Christmas card I received from Pat from the Isle of Lewis.  Just look at this scene! It is so beautiful, I just had to share it with you.  My photo doesn't do it justice, can you see the lights reflected in the water? And for me, the holly decorating the edge of the card is the perfect touch.

 

Light and love to all of you.

Merry Christmas!

Bright Shiny Aluminum Christmas Trees

What kind of Christmas tree do you have? A real one? A fake one that tries to look real, with green branches? Just this year, I have noticed in the stores for the first time, the shiny aluminum Christmas trees from my childhood. (Our tree was all silver, and it had a light with a revolving panel of colors so the tree would turn the various shades from the light through the glass but thinking of it, it was the 60's, so it must have been plastic.  I loved it.)  Apparently, they were all the rage in the USA from 1958 until 1965.  What happened to make them completely drop from favor? Why, it was the wonderful TV show, "A Charlie Brown Christmas", of course!  (And if you happen to be reading this, and you have NOT seen this, please do yourself a favor and watch it. Go on, do it RIGHT NOW, please.  You will thank me.)  The music, the dear little children's voices, the beautiful message...all of it makes for me, a very cherished childhood memory.  It was always something that I made sure that I always watched with my younger sister, every year, it was a tradition with us.  So much so, that when the music by Vince Guaraldi came out a few years ago on CD, my sister gave it to me in memory of those times together. (My favorite Advent music,  thank you Pam!)  My son sang this song recently, and it is so beautiful, it made me tearful.  I didn't know those last few words, and that seems the whole point of the song to me...so I have the lyrics here for you.

Tree with crocheted ornaments, all made by me except for the lovely snowflakes on the front which I received in a Snowflake Swap. Thanks, Samantha!

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here
We'll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year...

And my Dad always calls me when he sees this is on TV. ("Quick, Kay, turn on your TV, Charlie Brown is on! HEE HEE")  He loves Charlie Brown and so do I!  I love all these characters created by Charles Schulz and I am thankful that even though he is no longer with us, we can still enjoy his humor and wisdom. You may click on the following to read more.  A Charlie Brown Christmas  

 

Hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas-time.

"Oh, that we could always see such spirit through the year..." 

 

Gabriel's Message

 

One of the Sunday School teachers at my church will be out of town this Sunday, so I have been asked to teach the middle school aged children.  The lesson is to be about the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would be bringing the Savior into the world.  So many beautiful works of art representing this, it was hard to choose just one to show you here.  I have been given a "search-for-word" type puzzle for the children after we have read the scripture from Luke.   You know, I will make them do more than just a puzzle, right? I wish I could show them all the works of art and also, I want to make sure that they know this very old hymn, "Gabriel's Message", thought to be 13th or 14th century,  which was translated from the Basque by Sabine Baring-Gould, the Englishman who also wrote "Onward Christian Soldiers".  You may read about him here.

(And we may thank him for the Victorian image of the "wings as drifted snow".)

Many artists have this song on Youtube but my favorite was this one by King's College Choir from Cambridge.  

1. The angel Gabriel from heaven came
His wings as drifted snow his eyes as flame
"All hail" said he "thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favored lady," Gloria!

2. "For know a blessed mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emanuel, by seers foretold
Most highly favored lady," Gloria!

3. Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head
"To me be as it pleaseth God," she said,
"My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name."
Most highly favored lady. Gloria!

4. Of her, Emanuel, the Christ was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say:
"Most highly favored lady," Gloria!

It has been suggested that the song "Let It Be" by the Beatles, could be associated with the Virgin Mary.  ("Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be") Paul McCartney has always denied this (his mother's name was Mary), but the fact is that his words echo scripture very closely here.  It's okay, Paul, this is a very good book to borrow from!

⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”^[c]
29 But when she saw him,^[d] she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible.”

³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.