To Followers and New Guests...

To Followers and New Guests...

Monday, June 28, 2010

memories...


"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away."
Bill Withers
...miss you Mom .....

Friday, June 25, 2010

Have_A_B_Day


Have_A_B_Day
Originally uploaded by Moonflower Studio

B can be for Birthday, or
Bright or
Best or
Beautiful...
or even
BOUND and DETERMINED
to have a great day, even under difficult circumstances.
I'm going to have one...
Wont you join me?

: )

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Pails in Comparison

We were watching weather alerts on TV Monday. The sudden blast of wind and rain got our attention. The swirling graphics on the weather map were cause for concern. Isn't that over our house? One more clap of thunder - we were surrounded by darkness. It's amazing how fast your mind can go when threatened.
The weather radio was quiet; while still connected to household power it couldn't switch to battery mode. Maybe that was a good thing. Our senses started scanning the situation. We were not hearing train sounds or sirens. Just thunder and lots of rain. The lightning was brilliant enough to see whether or not our surroundings were in peril. I decided to try and capture it on my camera.
I found this to be a handy way to rid yourself of dazzling lightning. The threatening clouds whisked by.
Being forcibly 'unplugged' from the world is difficult when you really want news. The last time we lost power we still had the use of a little battery operated TV. The big switch to to digital removed that option. We did have flashlights. This was good, because a well without power means no plumbing. We needed light to walk to the water and fill up pails. The magical twinkling of fireflies were little comfort when stumbling over branches to fill up pails. Tired and cranky, it was hard to sleep in my stuffy, humid house.
When the morning arrived, and the power returned, I was still hungry for news.
And there on the screen were the folks of Eagle. They did not have stuffy, humid houses-they had NO houses. While I was grumbling, they were scrambling for their lives. Thankfully no lives were lost and only one minor injury reported. Which is a miracle when you see the damage. I thanked God for that. Less than 10 miles away from me and my water buckets are shattered homes.
I am humbled. My trials are a day at the beach by comparison. I am saying prayers for those affected so much worse than I. And I am saying prayers of thanksgiving for my buckets
...and the fireflies.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Flag Act I



I have a wonderful book called, 'The Stars and the Stripes. The American Flag as Art and as History from the Birth of the Republic to the Present' by Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai where I first learned:
"The first Flag Act of 1777 was passed by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, in response to a petition made by an American Indian nation on June 3 for an American Flag. "Three strings of wampum" were sent with the petition to cover the cost of the flag (as a result, June 14 is now celebrated as Flag Day in the United States.) It reads, in its entirety: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."

The part a Wisconsin teacher played in this holiday can be found here.

While the children singing in the video clip below were not in his class, I think they've captured the spirit of the day quite well!

grand old flag

Happy Flag Day!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Word Up


On Friday, the Scripp’s 83rd Spelling Bee was on TV. I learned 2 new words, each of which was a favorite of two different contestants.
One was ‘sesquipedalian’ and the other was ‘logodaedaly’. I could actually use them to describe 2 different generations in my family.
My dad would be the sesquipedalian.
My daughter has a real talent for logodaedaly.
It is unlikely I will ever use either one in a text message.
On Saturday, I visited the MPM Exhibit
Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible” which did not allow text messages. We all turned off our electronic devices and stepped back 2000 years in time.
Fragments of parchment, pieces of papyrus and other artifacts from antiquity set the mind to contemplation. That these treasures survived in clay jars is a wonder. That they were discovered is another. I imagine the hands using the tools available then, taking the time to cipher just one letter. The letters are older than the ones in the word sesquipedalian, or almost any other in the dictionary. They are older than many languages spoken or written today. And yet they were held in such value that they were wrapped in cloth and stored in jars and tucked away for safekeeping. They must have had great hope for the future that they preserved these words to share. There are, oddly, no words I know that describe the wonder. I'm spellbound.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Why Study Music

When attending a concert on the night of the Full Flower Moon, there was an insert to the evening's programme. It was titled 'Why Study Music'. I am including a link to the full text in the header above, and quoting the programme's content here....

Why Should We Study Music?
Music is a Science...
It is exact, specific, and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.
Music is Mathematical...
It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.
Music is a Foreign Language...
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English - but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.
Music is History...
Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and or cultural feeling.
Music is Physical Education...
It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.
Music Develops Insight and Demands Research...
Music is all these things, but most of all,
Music Is Art...

It allows a human being to take all these, dry, technically boring, (but difficult)
techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate humanism, feeling, emotion.


Bravo to Band Director, Mrs. Amanda Krause and thank you for bringing your talent, enthusiasm and energy to your students!

Photos © Shannon Jepson, Used by Permission
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