Music I like

I just discovered this great video by accident on YouTube.  It's a look at all the different singers from different countries who sang for "Frozen" .  They took one song and edited all the different languages.  Well, have a listen.  I haven't even seen the movie, but this is very good.

Frozen, behind the mic

You know from my post about the sea that I like the album "The Sea".  So here is another selection from that.  There's no video, just the music, but that's enough.
 
The Gypsy Camp

Earlier today I was watching a movie and there was Billy Eckstine singing in a scene and then during the closing credits.  So here's one of Billy's.

Everything I Have Is Yours

And speaking of the 40's how about some big band music?
Glenn Miller Moonlight Serenade
This one has some moonlight photos sliding by while you dance.  You are dancing aren't you?

I study Italian and I love listening to Italian singers.  Here's one of my favorite funny songs, about a crazy cat.  He bothers the singer, comes in his house, eats his food, dominates his bed, he watches everything with suspicion. And he keeps coming back.

Gatto Matto by Roberto Angelini

Someone fixed this one with some funny cat photos.

And lastly, one of my favorite songs from years ago.  It's from the movie "Black Orpheus", which I only saw much later, but I always loved the song    Manha de Carnaval.  It's in Portuguese.

Perhaps I will make another post with other favorites.  How do you like quartets?   Acapella?   Fiddle music?  Come back and see.

Socks done

Just a short note today to say one of my original unfinished projects is done.

On the left, the little yellow sock start?

Part way through sock one.

First sock.

Both done, a pair.

How wonderful that today is a little cool and rainy so I can wear my socks before the summer weather arrives.  Thank you, Lord.

Longing for the Sea

Where does it come from?  The need for a certain place or kind of place?  Is it because you grew up there?  Maybe it's because you had so much fun in such as place when you were young.  Perhaps it's in your blood because a parent and their parents before them spent summers on an island.

For me, it's the ocean.  The seaside.  Rocky, driftwood strewn coast or glorious wide sand beach. And the weather?  Doesn't matter.  Sunny or stormy.  And so some of my favorite places in no particular order of love.

Kauai

Elk, California

Cannon Beach Oregon

Cozumel in December

My daughter's feet in the Gulf of Mexico on the Dry Tortugas, USA

This is me. I'm in North Carolina on the Outer Banks.  It's March 2007 and look!  I'm the only one on the beach.  Oops,  I guess there is a photographer, yes.  However, I don't remember who it was.  Some kind stranger, I think.

I'm thankful to say that besides the places  above I have had my feet in the Atlantic in Maine, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and South Carolina.  I have also touched the Tyrrhenian Sea.

My husband to be and I spent lovely moments together at the beach near Half Moon Bay when we were dating.  I had this album (a record) called The Sea.   Here is the a video of the first song put on YouTube by the artist, Rod McKuen.  Do You Know My Friend the Sea?   

The home movies used in the video are very evocative of those happy times with Don.   I hope you enjoy it.  This post is definitely intensifying my longing for the ocean. Maybe next month, stay tuned.

 

Loma Rica, California

With a few friends, I took a lovely road trip into central Northern California.  Most of the travelers were interested in shopping for a fleece or two for hand spinning.

Well, when I look again at the map I see it's  rather on the eastern central part.  Here's a map of  the state.

There are just a few photos and they don't really show how beautiful it is in California in the springtime.  You had to be there.  I hope you like what you see.

Looking south.  The others are in the shed admiring the gorgeous fleeces that are stored there.

 

The gal in the center wearing the hat, is Terry Mendenhall the farmer and fleece producer extraordinaire  The fleeces are wrapped in blue. Two of our fiber guild's longtime members are perusing the book of locks.  They are making informed decisions.

There is a very affectionate sheep dog and a more reserved barn cat.

 Some of the sheep relaxing in the shade.  It was so lovely there.

This is looking back to the road. We had come over that drive to get to the fleeces.   I just had to take a photo of this tree.  And isn't the propane tank a marvel?

There is a little story about this final photograph.  It is the last one I took.
This one looks east (to the right from above) across a field.

I stood near the fence and using my phone I framed and snapped this picture.  Then I lowered the phone and my hand onto the top of the electric fence.  ELECTRIC FENCE?  Oh, yes.  Oucheeee!  While holding my hand in my other hand, I oohed.  My phone had fallen on the other side of the fence.

Never fear, all is well,  I had ice and acupressure for the pain which rapidly subsided,  I retrieved my phone.  There were no after effects.  No burn or pain.  It's like it never happened.  But I remember how much it hurt.   So for all my readers out there:  you can survive an encounter with an electric fence.

After we left the farm, we had a nice lunch at the Loma Rica Pizza and Deli.

To celebrate Jesus' resurrection, here is the chorus to my favorite Easter hymn.

Up from the grave, he arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes.

He arose a victor from the dark domain and

He lives forever with His saints to reign.

He arose.

He arose.

Hallelujah, Christ arose.

More soon.

Some Beautiful

All of the following photos, I collected from the Internet.  They are from a folder of mine called Beautiful.  That, of course, is my personal opinion.

 

Cayucos, California

A hammered dulcimer

I like this one because it is evocative.  A misty morning, a country lane, peaceful.

Well,, that's all for today.   I was just thinking about my photos and remembering I had a few that people might enjoy.  There may be more.

I Needed a Journal

Hands up those of you who keep a journal, a diary, or just keep the occasional note on your life.  When I was about 10 or so, I received a gift of a 5-year diary.  This was a small book and each page was marked off into 5 sections.  Each section being 2 inches of the page.  I was supposed to write my thoughts downs in those tiny spaces.  Oh, I tried. Some days it was easy enough to write " got up, went to school, kicked Billy for pushing me, had fried chicken for dinner."  but most of the time I needed more space.   I kind of gave up on that, but I loved the tiny key I could lock it with.

Years fly by and soon I am sixteen going on seventeen.   My mother decides she wants to take a trip around the United States.  Before we go, she suggests I take notes about all the places we visit.   I decided a plain school notebook would be find.  Lots of room to write and I didn't really need a key.

Upon returning from my wonderful, exciting, stupendous trip around the land that I love,  I continued writing.  There were things I didn't want my mom to read, but I still didn't need a key.  She told me she would never read my diary and I trusted her.

However, when I got married, I didn't want my husband to  read it so I burned it.  What a complete nut I was.   It would have been interesting reading to recall my thoughts from ages 16 to 21.  Some times I think of it with regret, but mostly I just get on with it.

Forward to many years later.  It's 1986.  I have my husband and three wonderful children, I've turned 40 and I am not writing much of anything.  I even gave up writing letters.  The occasional greeting card, maybe.  I'm working in a pre-school teaching 4 year olds to get ready for Kindergarten.  Carolyn, one of my students gives me the gift of a "blank book".  Consequently, I took up journaling again.  In 1992 I started nursing school.  One semester we were required to keep a clinical journal and turn it in to the teacher. She commented and then turned it back to us.

As I wrote more and years happened, I got other "blank books" and filled them up.

L-R

From Carolyn, clinical journal, a not-so-blank book.

So now. Present day.  I have one page left in my current journal.  I said, "I need to go shopping for a new journal."  My rational self said, " You can just make one, you have everything you need. You don't have to spend money."   I'm thankful for my rational voice.

First I took thirty-six pieces of printer paper, some bright ones. I folded them all in half, then stacked them in groups of 4, making a group of 8 pages.  (One folded page is called a folio, a group of folios is a signature)

 

Signatures.

I stacked the signatures up and put a heavy book on top to flatten them.  I don't have step by step photos as this isn't really a lesson.  I made the covers from a cereal box

This is a replica of the box I used.  I cut the front and back a bit bigger than the folded pages.  Then I covered them with some nice paper I had. Using other paper I covered the inside of each.

 Inside back cover.

Back cover.

Inside front cover

Front cover.








Then holes must be poked.  I used an ice pick over a phone book.  There are no photos of that process.

This is the book unsewn.

 Sewing.  A curved needle.  One must be careful.  It's easier to stab oneself with a curved needle than it is with a straight needle.

Sewing back into the center of one of the colored pages.

At last, sewing on the back cover.  My palm was a bit tired of getting poked.  I've made a book using a straight needle, but it's harder to sew through the signatures. Note the curved needle just making it look easy.

Finished sewing.  The back of book.

From the front.  Yay!

Inside the front cover.

This page is really a nice bright green.  Not a good representation of color.  You can see the stitching.

 

All finished and ready for daily jottings or the occasional poem.   Did she say poem?

The grass in my yard is up to here.

It's still a lovely shade of green
Presently  the green will  go
So I must find someone to mow. 

Oh, sorry.  I only have to look out the windows to see the truth of these  poetic lines.

May the Lord bless you today and every day.

A Falconing We Shall Go

In December last,  I was thinking about gift giving.   You know how much fun it is to find and purchase or make something for your family and friends.  While reading through my emails one day, I had one from Travelzoo.  I have been subscribing to their top twenty weekly travel deals for several years.  In between those, they send short, local deals for my perusal.  There it was a voucher offer for a falcon experience!  It was half price so I bought two so my daughter, Elizabeth and I could go.  I was sure she would find it fun and different.

History lesson:  People first started hunting with falcons and other birds of prey more than 7000 years ago. Maybe you thought it was a medieval or renaissance thing. No indeed.   It started, we think, in Asia.

These fellows are in India, but not
7000 years ago.

I'm not sure where this is, but isn't that a beautiful bird?







There were surely medieval falconers.

And many times they went on horseback.

This sport seems to be more popular in Europe and Asia and on the East Coast than here in California.  See this famous Brit.

I'm sure Prince William knows what he's doing, but we were told to hold our arm high for the bird to land on and then draw our arm close to rest before releasing.

West Coast Falconry is where my daughter and I went for our experience and it was wonderful.  We learned so much and worked with nice people and a lovely Harris Hawk named Tikka.

We stood near and the speakers asked questions and told us the history of falconry.  Tikka was there as well.

This Tikka up close.













We were too busy having our falcon experience so we didn't get any photos of the birds landing on our glove or taking off.  But after we got to do that, Elizabeth got to toss a bit of meat up in the air for Tikka to catch.

It's only 17 seconds, but it's cool.  We had a very good time.  See below.



A portrait with Tikka

What a smile!

Come back another day.