Image Credit: tallshipschallenge.wordpress.com
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
"Childrens' Books ... Just for Fun!"
Image Credits:
"Fancy Nancy" -- reviews-of-childrens-literature.pbworks.com
"Good Dog, Carl" -- www.amazon.com
"Olivia" -- www.amazon.com
"Charlotte's Web" -- bookaunt.blogspot.com
"The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" -- www.amazon.com
I discovered a "Fabulous Find"-caliber site devoted to childrens' literature while creating this posting ... definitely worthy of a visit: "Book Aunt"
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
"Never ... -- Winston Churchill"
The newest addition to my refrigerator door ... a healthy reminder ...
Image Credit: www.quotablecards.com
Monday, December 28, 2015
Sunday, December 27, 2015
"Fabulous Finds -- Touch of Magic -- The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
Take a moment to enjoy this excerpt from the 1940 animated feature from
Walt Disney ... still fresh after 75 years!
Fantasia is based upon Goethe's ballad,
"Der Zauberlehrling (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)," written in 1797.
"A Christmas Carol -- Illustrator Arthur Rackham"
Image Credits:
Scrooge with Christmas Present -- www.cheswickcompany.com
A Visit with Jacob Marley's Ghost -- www.pinterest.com
Old Fezziwig's Christmas Fete -- kimberlyevemusings.blogspot.com
Book Jacket -- Not Known
A day late and a dollar short ... I discovered Arthur Rackham's lovely illustrations for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol ... I had to share ...
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Fabulous Finds -- "Christmas Sparrow -- Billy Collins"
Christmas Sparrow by Billy Collins*
The first thing I heard this morning
was a rapid flapping sound, soft, insistent --
wings against glass as it turned out
downstairs when I saw the small bird
rioting in the frame of a high window,
trying to hurl itself through
the enigma of glass into the spacious light.
Then a noise in the throat of the cat
who was hunkered on the rug
told me how the bird had gotten inside,
carried in the cold night
through the flap of a basement door,
and later released from the soft grip of teeth.
On a chair, I trapped its pulsations
in a shirt and got it to the door,
so weightless it seemed
to have vanished into the nest of cloth.
But outside, when I uncupped my hands,
it burst into its element,
dipping over the dormant garden
in a spasm of wingbeats
then disappeared over a row of tall hemlocks.
For the rest of the day,
I could feel its wild thrumming
against my palms as I wondered about
the hours it must have spent
pent in the shadows of that room,
hidden in the spiky branches
of our decorated tree, breathing there
among the metallic angels, ceramic apples, stars of yarn,
its eyes open, like mine as I lie in bed tonight
picturing this rare, lucky sparrow
tucked into a holly bush now,
a light snow tumbling through the windless dark.
*Billy Collins was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003 and Poet Laureate of New York State from 2004 to 2006.
Source: “Aimless Love; New and Selected Poems” by Billy Collins
Available from www.amazon.com
Thank you, CJ, for sharing this fabulous collection of poems.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Thursday, December 24, 2015
"Twas the night before Christmas ..."
"Twas the Night Before Christmas" or an "Account of a Visit from
St. Nicholas" was first published on December 23, 1823 in The Troy Sentinel newspaper in New York. Reading the verses on Christmas Eve is a tradition shared by many people.
St. Nicholas" was first published on December 23, 1823 in The Troy Sentinel newspaper in New York. Reading the verses on Christmas Eve is a tradition shared by many people.
Read Along and Join in the Tradition!
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc'd in their heads,
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap.
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap --
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name:
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem;
"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys -- and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:
He was dress'd all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish'd with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys was flung on his back,
And he look'd like a peddler just opening his pack:
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laugh'd when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; then turn'd with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight --
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
"Snowball -- in Falling Up -- Shel Silverstein"
Credit: "Snowball" by Shel Silverstein as found in Falling Up
Picture Credit: www.wired.com
Thank you, CJ for sharing this wonderful poem by Shel Silverstein!
"A Holiday Classic ... Rudolph"
Image Credits:
"Clarice" -- rentalsgonewild.com
"Sam the Snowman" -- www.memespp.com
"Santa" -- brianvsmovies.blogspot.com
"Rudolph" -- www.thefw.com
"The Bumble" -- www.didyouseethatone.com
"Yukon Cornelius" -- www.pinterest.com
This holiday classic first aired on Sunday, December 6, 1964 ... over 50 years ago! Are you a fan?
Monday, December 21, 2015
Sunday, December 20, 2015
"Fourth Sunday of Advent -- December 20, 2015"
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| Picture Credit: sofiesgeschichten.wordpress.com |
Luke 1:39-45
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.""Yes, Virginia ..."
Image Credits:
"Virginia's Letter" -- christmas-santa-letters.com
"Virginia Mailing Letter" -- www.victoriana.com
"Yes, Virginia ..." -- www.vegetarkontakt.dk
"Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause" is a phrase from an editorial called 'Is there a Santa Claus.' The editorial appeared in the September 21, 1897 edition of The Sun and has since become part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States ...
Source: www.Goodreads.com
Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun newspaper, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials and on posters and stamps. The text below is taken from Newseum.org.
“Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 West Ninety-Fifth Street
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
#No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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