Lo how a rose e'er blooming

My favorite Christmas carol of all time - this mid-way through Christmastide:

Not sure what's on tap for this New Year's Eve day - probably maintenance practicing (scales& spaghettios) and stitching for sure - a bit cold for a toddle but we'll see.

I Saw a Swete Semly Syght

The fifth day of Christmas - Anonymous 4, one of my favorite med-Ren groups singing "I Saw a Swete Semly Syght." We got some lovely snow last night - I've taken pictures that I'll post soon.

Lullay, lullow, lully lullay,
Bewy, bewy, lully, bewy,
Lully, lullow, lully, lullay.
Baw, baw, my bairne,
Slepe softly now.
I saw a swete and semly syght,
A blisful bird,
A blossom bright,
That murning made and mirth among.
Lullay, lullow, lully lullay,
Bewy, bewy, lully, bewy,
Lully, lullow, lully, lullay.
Baw, baw, my bairne,
Slepe softly now.
A Maiden moder mek and myld,
In cradle kep,
A knave child,
That softly slept, she sat and sange.
Lullay, lullow, lully lullay.
Bewy, bewy, Lully, bewy.
Lully, lullow, lully, lullay.
Baw, baw, my bairne,
Slepe softly now.

Bewy = a lullaby sound
Baw, baw my bairne = lullaby sound, my child
Slepe = sleep
Swete = sweet
Semly = seemly
Syght = sight
Murning = morning
Moder = mother
Mek and myld = meek and mild
Kep = keep
Knave child = young boy child

Gaudete - Christus est natus

One of my favorite folk groups, Steeleye Span, with the aforementioned Maddy Prior (she sounds a wee bit better here than on their 40th anniversary tour - maybe she was tired) for this 4th day of Christmas:

Snow forecast for later today - 3+ inches - yippee!

On Christmas Night - Sussex Carol

My favorite folks singers, Maddy Prior, on this 4th day of Christmas:

Heading out soon for a toddle at least to the Post Office & maybe the bank if the line isn't too long.

In the bleak mid-winter

On the third day of Christmas.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I hate heat & humidity, so mid-winter is my favorite time of year. Maybe it's because I was born in January.

One of my favorite Christmas carols:

Il est né

I don't know - it this day 1 or day 2 of Christmas?

Anyway, what does a drag queen do to celebrate Christmas?

Eat, drink and be Mary.

Oh come, Immanuel

This picture of mom is from January 6, 1949 (remember you can click on the image to get a bigger version). Thanks to Aunt Buzz for this clipping. The video reminds me of her singing. Have a wonderful Christmas Day.

Love,

JR

All I need is love

In case holiday preparations (not to mention national tragedies) are getting you down I hope this will cheer you up.



If you have Santa in your heart, you have Santa in your home.

Ipad magic

My iPad certainly doesn't do this! Maybe I'd better get me a German one.

Anderson Cooper - therapy dog

A little something to lift your spirits.

 

Here's his catalog record (click it to see the larger version):

A gray day here today - tootling (and toddling if I can get out before the sleet/rain) & stitching on tap.

Dona eis requiem

For those who lost their lives in Newtown, CT yesterday and for all of us left to grieve:

Yooper Christmas

For those of you unfamiliar with the U.P., where hunting is king, here's a little example of a Yooper Christmas.

Happy to say the second performance of the Nutcracker went much better for all concerned. Now it's clear sailing until January when the Melrose rehearsals kick in again.

Heading out soon for acupuncture, then some tootling & stitching as per usual - oh and I'd best not forget the laundry!

World AIDS Day: Orion's rainbow

As we mark another World AIDS Day, I remember the day I got my diagnosis - in Aug. 1992 in WI on the phone from my MD who called with the results because he knew I was concerned. I'd recently gotten a job with health benefits and one of the first things I did was have the test, which I'd avoided doing in order not to have a pre-existing condition which would make it impossible to get coverage. I remember literally having the pins knocked out from under me - one moment I was standing answering the phone the next I was in a chair & didn't remember sitting down. I remember feeling dirty - there was something in my blood that could kill. In those days a diagnosis of AIDS was pretty much a death sentence - the time between diagnosis and death usually around 4 years. I wondered if I'd see my 40th birthday (I was 38 at the time), whether I'd live to see the year 2000. I must have had that statistic in the back of my mind because around 1996 I went into a deep depression - withdrew from the world (from which withdrawal my playing career has not yet recovered), waited to die.

Fortunately I didn't. After a couple years I realized I missed the flute, there was a reason I'd studied if for so long, gotten a doctorate and I returned to it with new-found passion and joy. Can it be it's 20 years since that day in August? I can't believe it.

Turning from within to without, I share with you the incredible photo above that was taken by the Herschel Space Observatory. It's a view of the Orion nebula, which is "is found below the three belt stars in the famous constellation of Orion the Hunter." I heard about the observatory on a recent Nova PBS broadcast, "Hunting the edge of space"the first chapter of which I've linked below. I was struck by the fact that, quoting the transcript, "Earth and our solar system lie in a spiral arm in the suburbs of our galaxy, dwarfed within a giant disk of 200 billion stars, spinning together around a bright central bulge that hides a supermassive black hole. The Milky Way is so large, it would take 100,000 years, traveling at the speed of light—that's 670 million miles per hour—to cross from one edge to the other."

Watch Hunting the Edge of Space: Part 1 on PBS. See more from NOVA.

Compared to the vastness of this universe, 20 years is less than the blink of an eye. Who could imagine that the universe holds images of such beauty? That technology could bring that beauty to our computer screens? I feel so lucky to have survived this long, in relatively good health, alive to the beauty that surrounds me.