My husband has cared for this cactus
since 1994 and it is now over 6 feet tall.
This year, for the first time EVER, it sent out
some new shoots, so he now has two that are beginning
to take root.
It is such an amazing plant, it ONLY blooms at night (these
photos were taken in the very early morning) and the
blooms are spectacular!
Today is the third Sunday in Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. "Gaudete" in Latin means "Rejoice" and takes its name from the first words of the Mass, "Gaudete in domino semper" ( which means "Rejoice in the Lord always". ) The third candle on the Advent wreath is rose colored as this Sunday is a day of rejoicing. There is a wonderful hymn which is based on Isaiah, "The Desert Shall Rejoice and Bloom As the Rose". I often think of our night blooming cereus cactus when I sing it!
For the past two years I was asked to say a prayer before the beginning of our company Christmas party and I recited the prayer by Robert Louis Stephenson which I shared with you a few days ago. Again this year I was asked to say the prayer. ( I don't think this was because of any goodness on my part, I think that the manager is just a creature of habit!) Oh dear, surely I can't use the nice Robert Louis Stephenson prayer three years in a row, could I? Could there be something in my Book of Common Prayer that I could adapt and shorten without losing any of the meaning? Yes, that is just what I did.
Accept , O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life and for the mystery of love.
We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for all the people that we work with everyday.
Above all, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, for the truth of his Word and the example of his life. Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known, and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. AMEN.
Who doesn't love this music? It is a great song but I think it is even better with these lyrics. This is so cleverly done, not just the words to the music but the puppetry is excellent too. Do you think that I like puppets? Where did you get that idea?
"It's the greatest story, anyone can see, it's the greatest story to me"
Photo of Sunset from Arabia Mountain, Georgia taken Nov. 27, 2011 by my husband.
"Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" is one of my favorite songs during Advent. (Our church choir sings this beautifully. I would put it on my blog if I had a recording of it.) On YouTube, I listened to quite a few recordings but so many of them were so...polished and somehow just seemed like professionals doing a job rather than singing a hymn. I found a woman singing this as she was accompanied by her husband on guitar. I love this recording...you can hear children in the background, every so often you can hear someone whispering, and the recording itself isn't perfect but please stay with it and see if you are not moved by the genuine feelings that come across. You might want to just listen, but watch it too as her hands are very expressive as she sings.
Today marks the day that SIBOL reached the magical number of 120 blankets made! That means a grand total of 3000 squares that women from all over the world have either crocheted or knitted and mailed to Sue McGorie who lives in England. Sue carefully records each square received and then emails each and every person who sends her a square. She and some of her "Sibolettes" crochet the squares together and then puts a lovely border around each one. They are displayed on her website and then each one is named. Then, they are lovingly tied up with a beautiful ribbon and then taken to elderly care homes in England! Just recently, someone contacted Sue and informed her that many elderly people were suffering in their own homes due to lack of finances that they too could use some of the blankets. What do you think our Sue said? Of course, she said that she would be more than happy to share the blankets with them and so she did! Here is the website www.sunshineinternationalblanketsoflove.blogspot.com Please go and look at the blankets. They are beautiful!
I have written about SIBOL before when I mentioned in one of my posts that I like to make things and that I have sent a few squares to Sue. She truly treats each square that she receives with such respect!
And she appreciates everything that she is given. Just listen to her own words...
"Please don't ever feel your crocheting is not good enough. The other thing is - I worry about the cost of postage to you all. The last thing I want is for anyone to be out of pocket. I would be grateful for one square honestly! I know postage is so expensive!"
There, doesn't that make you want to send her a whole boxful of squares? She just began this on Feb. 28, 2010 and it was in honor of her grandmother who lived until the age of 103. These blankets are truly works of art. I read on one of the crocheting websites that the crocheters and knitters should really call themselves fibre artists and I agree. I am thankful that she accepts my squares and actually uses them in the blankets. I can't wait to see my little plain Georgia snowman square in the next snowman blanket!
As I typed my last post, I listened to several songs by Doris Day before I chose "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps". There were others that I liked but I only wanted the very best sound quality to be on there.
I know most people never click on the links to the songs but I honestly spend some time to find the very best of what I want to say! Anyway, one of the songs that I listened to was "Baby It's Cold Outside".
I only had a vague memory of that song, but I really liked it in the movie, "Elf" and I have found it for you here. ( Oh, and I really liked that movie too. Will Ferrell is very often even too silly for ME but I thought this was a sweet movie and the innocence portrayed in this film was I thought quite touching. And Bob Newhart as the Elf Dad and Ed Asner as Santa Claus, they are just perfect!)
There have been so many singers that have sung this song. I just saw something that said something like 160 artists have recorded it! It got me to wondering, who WROTE the song? It was written by Frank Loesser. Please read more about him here at www.frankloesser.com "Baby It's Cold Outside"
was in the 1949 movie Neptune's Daughter starring Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban and it won the Academy Award for Best Song. The interesting thing to me is that he had actually written it a few years before as a duet for he and his wife to sing at their housewarming party for their friends! Wow, imagine going to a party and having a song like that performed for you! According to what I have read, his wife was furious that he ended up using it for the movie. And also, there was a bit of a question that it should not have been considered for the Academy Award since it wasn't WRITTEN for the movie. Since the song had never been sung professionally, it was given the go ahead to be included as a nomination and it did indeed win the Academy Award.
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" was his song all the way, he wrote the words and lyrics.
If you go to the link for Frank Loesser above, you will see that he wrote the lyrics to over 700 songs! What an amazing talent. Songwriting is such a wonder to me. How can anyone take words and music and put them together in such a way that makes them last for years and years and they never grow stale and each new generation can enjoy them? (And this applies to all music, not just popular music!) Here is another wonder for me, his daughter, Susan Loesser is a wonderful artist and you can see her work at this site - www.susanloesser.com All of his children must be so proud every time they hear their father's song on the radio. It does make me think though, that of all the singers that have sung this song, and all those who have listened to it, how many of them know who wrote it? Hey, they should all read my blog, right?
And it does get cold and snowy in Georgia, here are some photos to prove it! The cedar tree looks really lovely with the snow, doesn't it? Those are our icy cherry trees in our front yard. Remember them in the snow and I will show you how they look in the Spring. That's a promise!
Doris Day released a new album a couple of months ago in the UK. Incredibly, it debuted at number nine on the Bilboard charts. She is now 87 years old and made history by being the oldest artist ever to enter the U.K. top ten with new material. (Vera Lynn released an album a few years ago at the age of 92, but her album was of previously recorded songs. And please understand, this is just to set the record straight, I have great admiration for both of these women.) The new album is called "My Heart" and should be released in the US very soon. This song that I found on Youtube is more well known as the song from the TV show "Coupling", but I love to hear Doris Day sing it! (This is not on her new album, but I like it, so that's why it is here.)
Just by looking at Doris Day, you might think that she has had a sunny, happy life with no heartaches. That simply isn't true. She has been married four times and one of her husbands, Marty Melcher, squandered away much of her earnings, which forced her into doing a TV show in the 70's. Her only child, Terry Melcher, died in 2004 of skin cancer. She has worked tirelessly for many years trying to help stray animals in America and the proceeds from the album will go to her Doris Day Animal Foundation.
Tonight, on the news there was a moving report on ABC news about a young American soldier who had been photographed with puppies the night before he had been killed. The family worked hard to get one of the puppies so as to remember their son. As the ABC news reporter was interviewing the family, the dog walked out into the backyard and suddenly, a sunbeam shone straight down onto the dog. What a beautiful thing to capture!
Is the world too cynical for Doris Day and a dog that can bring comfort to a grieving family? Happily, not yet!
