Winter's Gift

In the middle of the Christmas rush and just a bit of stress today, I decided that a trip to the children's book store was in order to set things right. I found a beautiful book called "Winter's Gift." After reading it, life looked much better.

A Christmas favorite

One of the best sounds in the world...children singing

Update

I don't usually "journal" on this site, but...wow, has it been a while since I've posted anything. So, I'll give a bit of an update. Life has been very full of late. I just started my new job in Advantage Health administration. Same company, different position, more responsibility...a move up. Hard to leave the coworkers I love, but it's a good thing and it's exciting.

Word of the Day for Saturday December 3, 2005

chagrin (shuh-GRIN)

noun: Acute vexation, annoyance, or embarrassment, arising from disappointment or failure.

He noted with chagrin how little hair clung to his head.
- -John Marks, The Wall

transitive verb: To unsettle or vex by disappointment or humiliation; to mortify.

Rich Moroni was earning $20,000 a year as a cook and was chagrined to discover that he couldn't keep up with the style of life and spending of his preferred reference group -- the lawyers and executives who shared his passion for squash and belonged to the same health club.
--Peter T. Kilborn, "Splurge," New York Times, June 21, 1998

Chagrined to find that her current boyfriend has become best pals with her ex-boyfriend Hank, she goes to her ex with the problem.
--Stephen J. Dubner, "Boston Rockers," New York Times, July 26, 1998

I'm never moving to Saudi Arabia!

RIYADH (Reuters) - Four Saudi women teaching in a remote village school have married their driver so they can live closer to work, Al-Watan newspaper said on Monday.

The newspaper said the women from Al-Baha province in south-west Saudi Arabia were impressed with the man's "good morals" and decided to marry him and live together in the village where they teach -- avoiding a tiring daily commute.

They were married in a short ceremony, and have agreed to pay the driver a share of their monthly salaries, Al-Watan said. Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, while men can marry up to four women according to Islamic law.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I kid you not...the first thing I saw when looking out my window this morning (other than snow) was a great big turkey at the feeder! This must be a Thanksgiving day tradition now because last year there were three out there just before we sat down to dinner. They must know that by this time our turkey is already in the oven and it's safe to come out and say "ha-ha, you didn't catch me!"

The Roar of Love

From an email I received today from Matthew Ward Ministries -

For all of you who are moviegoers, you’ve probably seen the trailer for the upcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I can’t tell you how excited I am personally to see a work like this being offered to the public. My hope is that the Narnia film will be met with enough success to cause a whole new generation of people to look into not only the Chronicles of Narnia series (seven books in all), but also other writings by C.S. Lewis, much as the Lord of the Rings films did for J.R.R. Tolkien.

The singing group “The 2^nd Chapter of Acts” (of which I was a member) read C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. These stories had a very profound effect on all of us. It wasn’t long before we began writing songs inspired by the first book in that series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Over a span of a few years, we had enough songs put together to complete this concept album. We decided to call the project The Roar of Love. This recording ended up being like nothing we had ever done. Instead of having the typical songs that, once they were over, would either end or fade, we decided to arrange the songs in such a way as to have them weave right into each other without stopping. This approach made the listener more apt to be drawn into the storyline, much as a great orator, reading the book aloud, might pull you in. The only time the music really stopped (this was in the days before CD’s) was when it came time to turn over the album or cassette!

The Roar Of Love was originally released in 1980, and it remains in my mind as one of the best projects “The 2^nd Chapter of Acts” ever recorded.
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I have this album! That's right...I said album. Still listen to it, too. It's lots of fun, especially for a fan of the books. If you go to the link you can listen to song clips...I love Are You Going to Narnia, Gifts From Father Christmas, Roar of Love and Something is Happening in Me. I just read "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" again this summer. Can't wait for the movie!

ar·dour (Variant of ardor)
n. Chiefly British

n 1: a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause);

"they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor" [syn: ardor, elan, zeal]

2: intense feeling of love [syn: ardor]

3: feelings of great warmth and intensity;
"he spoke with great ardor" [syn: ardor, fervor, fervour, fervency, fire, fervidness]

Word of the Day for Sunday November 6, 2005

verdure \VUR-jur\, noun:
Green; greenness; freshness of vegetation;
as, "the verdure of the meadows in June."

"A wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea."
--Motley

Quotation for Sunday, November 06, 2005:

"I am rather sick of the modern assumption that, for all events, 'WE,' the people, are never responsible: it is always our rulers, or ancestors, or parents, or education, or anybody but precious 'US.' WE are apparently perfect and blameless. Don't you believe it."

Letters to an American Lady

"To be interested in the changing seasons is...a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."

- George Satayana, "The Life of Reason"



Ok, fine...I'll accept that summer is over already. After all, it was a beautiful fall weekend.

Quotation for Tuesday, October 25, 2005:

"Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't lie and it is obvious she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth."

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
(C. S. Lewis)

Personal Mobility Vehicles...



Transportation of the future? We shall see.

Quotation for Friday, October 21, 2005:

"How could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back -- if we did not know that every day in a life fills the whole life with expectation and memory?"

Out of the Silent Planet

Quotation for Saturday, October 15, 2005:

"All that is made seems planless to the darkened mind, because there are more plans than he looked for."

Perelandra
(C. S. Lewis)

Carnegie Hall, here I come

The latest news is...
In April, I am going to be singing in the Isaac Stern Auditorium...in Carnegie Hall! My friend, Jim, and I are signed up to participate in the MidAmerica choral concert series with none other than the famous John Rutter. We'll either be performing his "Magnificat" or a Mozart Requiem. Besides rehearsals and the concert itself, we'll do some sight seeing and go on a midnight cruise around Manhattan after the concert. And the family's coming along!

Word of the Day

effulgence \i-FUL-juhn(t)s\, noun:

The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.

The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.
--Congressman Henry Lee's Eulogy for George Washington, 1799

The setting sun as usual shed a melancholy effulgence on the ruddy towers of the Alhambra.
--Washington Irving, The Alhambra

Quote of the day:

"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost."

- Arthur Ashe

Word of the Day

This is definitely a new one on me.

gimcrack \JIM-krak\ noun:
A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw.

adjective:
Tastelessly showy; cheap; gaudy.

Yet the set is more than a collection of pretty gimcracks.
--Frank Rich, Hot Seat

In those cities most self-conscious about their claim to be part of English history, like Oxford or Bath, the shops where you could have bought a dozen nails, home-made cakes or had a suit run up, have shut down and been replaced with places selling teddy bears, T-shirts and gimcrack souvenirs.
--Jeremy Paxman, The English: A Portrait of a People

Unctuous
adj.

1. Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness:
“the unctuous, complacent court composer who is consumed with envy and self-loathing”

2. Having the quality or characteristics of oil or ointment; slippery.

3. Containing or composed of oil or fat.

4. Abundant in organic materials; soft and rich: unctuous soil.


[Middle English, from Old French unctueus, from Medieval Latin nctusus, from Latin nctum, ointment, from neuter past participle of unguere, to anoint.]
unctu·ous·ly (adv)
unctu·ous·ness or unctu·osi·ty (n)

Synonyms: unctuous, fulsome, oily, oleaginous, smarmy

(These adjectives mean insincerely, self-servingly, or smugly agreeable or earnest: an unctuous toady; gave the dictator a fulsome introduction; oily praise; oleaginous hypocrisy; smarmy self-importance)