He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Does anyone remember my post about Cary Grant and the wonderful movie, Father Goose?  I was reminded of that movie when I heard a few whistled notes from someone while I was at work.  Today, the song "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" came on the radio and I was transported back to the 70's and I was on the skating rink floor, moving exactly in time to the music.   That song was by the Hollies,  who are English, of course, but I thought it was amazing how very SOUTHERN they sounded.  They also did the song, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".  I really liked that song.  When I looked it up, the wording is described as a "paraprosdokian" which is a figure of speech in which a sentence or phrase has an unexpected or surprising ending usually for comedic effect.    Here are some examples that were given:

From Groucho Marx:  I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.

The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on the list.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Light travels faster than sound.  That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Comedians often use this.  I remember Rodney Dangerfield saying  "Take my wife....please!"

Can you think of any others?

Now, you know I can't just mention these songs by the Hollies and not find them for you!

Ya'll enjoy this... I am still skating at Duvall's Roller Rink in 1972!

Desiderata- You Have A Right To Be Here

                                  St. Simon's Episcopal Church on January 1, 2012.

                  The Monastery of the Holy Spirit taken last year just after New Year's Day.

This is the oldest part of St. Simon's church, it is now used as a parish hall.  Do you see the large rock, can you tell that it is very much like Stone Mountain? Our county is called Rockdale County, supposedly because it is so ROCKY.  Kids have always loved jumping off that rock in play, my son included... Now, I have printed the entire poem of Desiderata, I thought it was beautiful as a teenager and I still do.  If you already know it, skip down to what I have to say about it! 

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

My sister had this poem which was on a big poster on our bedroom wall when we were teenagers in the early 70's.  I remember it saying that it was written in 1692.  It was actually written in 1927 by a poet named Max Ehrmann.  The confusion over it is that the Rev. Frederick Kates, who was the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland used the poem as part of some devotional materials for his congregation in the 1950's.   Printed at the top of the poem was the church's name and date of it being founded, it simply said "Old St. Paul's Church,  AD 1692".  The poem became well known after it was discovered on the bedside table of Adlai Stevenson after his death.  (Look at his story here   www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/stevenson/html   or you can also look at the info on wikipedia.)   Once you click on the link above, just type in Adlai Stevenson and that will get you to his information.  I always thought he was an interesting man and one that I really admire.

I was reminded of this poem today when I read that studies have been done that show the best thing for people who are suffering from depression is for them to do something for others.  According to Sonja Lyubomirksy who is a professor at the University of California, these deeds are "Positive activity interventions" and recommend that it can be as simple as:
 1) Being kind to others
 2) Expressing gratitude
 3) Thinking optimistically
 4) Meditating on good things

Can anyone see where I am going with this?  Doesn't this sound like what we have learned in church?

There, that is the newest part of St. Simon's church and it is the same rock, but at this angle, it looks as if the rock is laughing at us!  Hey, don't worry little guy, we won't bother you, YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE!

Covered Bridges And the Joy of the Outside World

On New Year's Eve day, Richard and I found the covered bridge on the Arabia Mountain trail!  Isn't it a lovely sight?  Months ago, when we walked on this same trail, we asked some of the bikers if they knew of a covered bridge but not one single person had ever seen it or even heard of  it!  I just looked up the name of the bridge's designer, Merle D. Grimes and discovered that he passed away in 2010 at the age of 53. He  had planned and developed trails in Georgia, Colorado and also, the island of Kauai.  A valued friend of nature... I really love that.  I remember reading that this bridge was based on the designs of Horace King, one of the principal bridgebuilders in the South during the 19th century.   His son, Washington King, built the covered bridge which was originally over the Oconee River in Athens, Georgia (built in 1891) but was moved to Stone Mountain park in 1965.  Would you like to see some photos of that bridge? 

Do you see that cars can drive across but on the left side there, it is for people who WALK!   It is so pretty to look out from this bridge onto the lake...

These photos from Stone Mountain were taken on June 11th of this past year...

Can you see why we love to go to Stone Mountain and/or Arabia Mountain every chance that we can get?  Wouldn't you?

"Merle would want us to search out some part of nature each and every day even if that journey is in our own back yard and experience the joy of the outside world...
Jeff Shoemaker, The Greenway Foundation

View of the sunrise from our house on December 31, 2011.  (Taken by Richard!)

English Chocolate and One Special Book

 Other women may want diamonds and expensive clothes for Christmas but all I really want is English chocolate and one special book.  The book that I asked for this year (and received!) is "The Mystery of Lewis Carroll" and is written by a former BBC journalist from England named Jenny Woolf.  (I am sorry that my photo of the book is on its side but I don't know how to make it go right side up!) I have not had time to read this book other than just to skim through it on Christmas day to see where it mentions Eastbourne! (He spent every August the last thirty years of his life in Eastbourne, which is on the southeast coast of England, and I am so pleased to know some of the places he visited!)  The very interesting thing about this book for me is that the author was able to obtain the records of all the bank accounts for Lewis Carroll and can therefore relay exactly how and where his money was spent in his lifetime.   Jenny Woolf also writes a wonderful blog and you can find her at www.jennywoolftravel.blogspot.com  She is an excellent writer.  Visit her blog and you will not be disappointed, I promise!  After I finish this book, I hope to write more about it.  Somehow, it is very hard to write about books on my blog.  I just want to say, here is a good book...read it!

Okay, now technically, those are English biscuits covered in chocolate (and they say biscuits in England whereas we call them cookies in the USA) but please know they are WONDERFUL! The nice thing about them, even though they are from England, they were purchased at our local Target! (Unless, Santa found them somewhere else!)  Oh, and speaking of Santa... I always believed in Santa so very much growing up.  My older sister knew from a very early age that our parents did everything and that no Santa came down our chimney... SHE NEVER TOLD ME THIS AND LET ME BELIEVE! She knew how much I loved him, you see.  I hope you have someone in your life who does wonderful things like that for you...
Oh, and you see the nice young man dressed in the vintage Christmas sweatshirt?  Remember little C. with Santa?  That is little C. but not so little anymore!  We still didn't open his letter to Santa, we will keep it in the special Christmas book...

And I hope everyone likes this cartoon..but it especially reminds me of the librarian in Germany (www.librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com)  and also of that nice sister of mine who works in a library!

The Nearest Faraway Place

Hello to everyone!  Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a brand new year!
Richard and I took the day off after Christmas and we spent another lovely day at Stone Mountain.   While we were hiking on the Cherokee Trail and because we had a heavy rain the night before, the smell of the pines was so intense and the air so clean and fresh, that it made me feel as if I was very far away, as if we had travelled a very long way to get to such a beautiful spot.  This made me think of a book: "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern Californian Experience".    Now, I really would love it if you would read that book and let me know what you think of it.  It goes into such detail, not just about  the genius of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, but also his family background and the whole history of Southern California.  Where can you go to that might not be too far from you but makes you feel as if you are very far away?

Tonight, Dec. 27th, did anyone notice the night sky? (It rained in the Atlanta area today and the skies tonight were very cloudy.)  Venus and the moon are very close together and you should have been able to see them in the sky looking south just before dark.  You might think that Venus is a star but it is, of course, a planet. At the moment, it is 11 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. ( If you missed Venus and the moon, don't worry, just mark your calendar, because the two of them together will occur a month from now, on Jan. 25th and Jan. 26th.)  This pairing is called a conjunction in astonomical terms.
Currently, Venus is 123 million miles (197 million kilometers)  and the moon is 275,000 miles (379,000 kilometers) from the earth.    Just think, our naked eye can see a planet that is 123 million miles away.   Reading about Venus and the moon appearing together made me think of that phrase...the nearest faraway place...

  Would love to hear from anyone that noticed this in the sky and perhaps wondered about it...

Little R. and Little C. and The REAL Santa

This photo was made in 1962 at Oval Road Primary School in Croydon, England.  The tall Joseph is my husband, Richard, looking a bit shy, don't you think?  Don't you love all these children's faces?  I wonder where they all now?  Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone recognized them and let me know?

By the way, did anyone hear the story from Ireland about the letter that was found in a chimney that a child had placed in there for Santa Claus?  The letter was dated 1911!  It was found during a renovation a few years back but the owner just made it public.  A man who lived about a hundred miles away read the story and realized that it was written by his own mother. She had passed away years ago, so what an amazing and wonderful gift it was for the gentleman.   I read it on the BBC website.   Here is the link, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16301048
    I have been holding onto a letter from 1997 that our son wrote to Santa Claus.   He put a stamp on it and mailed it, but since he put his return address at the bottom of the envelope, it was returned to us in the mail! I carefully put it into one of my Christmas books...should I open it this year and tell you what it says?  Should I wait and give it to him and let a future grandchild open it?  What do you say?  My friends say they can't believe I could hold on to it for all these years, but I have always loved anticipation!

This photo is of our sweet little son when he was three years old. He is all grown up now having  just turned 22!  Just look at his face, he was always very excited to see Santa Claus! Now, this Santa Claus was our "local" Santa.  We took our boy to the Mall and had his photo made with the very slick professional looking Santa and little C. then asked us when would we go to see the "real" Santa.  What we didn't know is that this Santa was Bernie Bourdon.  Originally from Montreal, Canada, he moved to Georgia after he had lost his wife. (They had been living in Florida).  He planned on becoming a monk and lived for a time at the Monastery. (I have mentioned the Monastery before in my earlier posts in September.)  Once there, the monks advised him to think and to pray upon his decision to become a monk since he was so outgoing.  Bernie began to work with as he called it "the homeless and the helpless".  He began a company called "Tech-Able" which was for disabled people to adapt and modify toys and electronics so as to be able to sell them.  Also, he started the  "Meals On Wheels" program which is still run by several churches today, but Bernie Bourdon is the one who first began this program.  Bernie won several awards for all his work.  There is a bridge named after him now in this county.  He passed away a few years ago but we still have our memories of the REAL Santa!  Just look at that photo of his face and see if you don't see the kindness in his eyes.  He would take little C's hands into his very large hands and say, "Remember, this Christmas, how much your Mommy and Daddy love you".  At the time I didn't know that he had planned on becoming a monk, I just felt that I was in the presence of someone very special and our son knew that too.

Oh, and in one of my earlier posts, I said that I didn't like a lot of the Christmas music with all the runs and trills.  Well, this week I listened to every bit of it that I could, and I love it from the most serious to the silliest, I love it all!  I wish everyone all the joy in the world during this most special time of year! 

  

Merry Christmas to all!

The Maker of the Stars and Sea

                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Stained glass window from St. Simon's Episcopal Church, Conyers, Georgia.  USA


And is it true?  And is it true?
The most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The maker of the stars and sea
Became a child on earth for me?
                                          
                                           John Betjeman