The front fell off

oh dear

(does it remind anyone else of John Bird and John Fortune? if you're not familiar with them, I'll be posting them next week... stay tuned.)

I will sing forever

"I will sing forever" sung by Christ Church College (and probably we could listen to I will sing forever, forever. I love the words and the whole idea of singing for your creator as your life's work. it's a great prayer. and this song makes me very happy and sad at the same time. Plus well, it's those chorister bell like voices that completely do you in. my nephew was a chorister once and of course it was completely hopeless. we spent most of the services not being able to see with the tears in our eyes.)

children again

The 16 snowflakes dance at the heart of the storm in The Nutcracker "At this and every point of this 'Nutcracker,' we’re children again. So much drama is about the loss of innocence or of paradise in some form, but here is an enthralling tale of innocence preserved and paradise discovered." Alastair MacCaulay in The Times. He also points out something interesting. Have you noticed how lately it's being referred to as "George Balanchine's 'The Nutcracker' TM"? Aside from the TM which is irritating, what about Tchaikovsky?

Annie Leibovitz - Monarchy

The most famous woman in the world photographed by the most famous photographer of the most famous in the world. Annie Leibovitz shoots the queen... very interesting stuff. you actually see the cultures clashing right in front of your very eyes. (And you can hardly blame the Queen. Is there, do you think, a more foolish thing to say to Her Majesty, dressed up in her full Imperial Royal Regalia?)

happy pumpkins

the source of joy

by Rumi

"No one knows what makes the soul wake
up so happy! Maybe a dawn breeze has

blown the veil from the face of God.
A thousand new moons appear. Roses

open laughing. Hearts become perfect
rubies like those from Badakshan. The

body turns entirely spirit. Leaves
become branches in this wind. Why is

it now so easy to surrender, even for
those already surrendered? There's no

answer to any of this. No one knows
the source of joy. A poet breathes

into a reed flute, and the tip of
every hair makes music. Shams sails

down clods of dirt from the roof, and
we take jobs as doorkeepers for him."

Translated by Coleman Barks

Happy Thanksgiving!

you can't ever tell...

You can't ever be sure what's the thing that will last... it seems you only know what is really good with time. Just look at the books everyone was raving about 100 years ago and you probably won't even recognize any of the titles. And what about Lincoln and his most famous speech of all time? On 19th November 1863, Abraham Lincoln got up in front of about 15,000 people and delivered the Gettysburg Address, which begins, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Lincoln's last line, "government of the people, by the people, for the people." It was a foggy, cold morning. As Writer's Almanac describes it: "Lincoln arrived at the new national cemetery in Gettysburg at about 10 a.m. Around noon, the sun broke out as the crowds gathered on a hill overlooking the battlefield. A military band played, a local preacher offered a long prayer, and the headlining orator, Edward Everett, spoke for more than two hours. When Everett was finished, Lincoln got up and pulled his speech from his coat pocket. It consisted of 10 sentences, a total of 272 words. The audience was distracted by a photographer setting up his camera, and by the time Lincoln had finished his speech and sat down the audience didn't even realize he had spoken." A 320-page book on Lincoln's 272-word speech was published in 2006 called, Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America. Words that remade America. And at the time no one even noticed. Which only goes to prove we most of the time don't really know what on earth we're talking about when we say what's what and who's who. And what about that poor guy who went on for 2 hours. Who now remembers anything of what he was saying? oh dear. (Note on the image: there is no actual photo of Lincoln giving his speech because, of course, it was over before the photographer had time to take one.)

now appearing on a christmas album

Hold on to your hats. Yes, The Jesus Storybook Bible is appearing in a Christmas Album near you. It's in the wonderful Sara Groves' latest Christmas Album (she's wonderful and so is her music). It's read beautifully by 5 year old Toby Groves, in the song "It's True" and it's an exerpt from "The Light of The Whole World" story. I just listened to it and I love it. It reminds me of Charlie Brown's Christmas when the little boy at the end recites the christmas story. Listen here. Album available here on CD or mp3.