Love’s Old Sweet Song

By G. Clifton
Once in the dear dead days beyond recall,
When on the world the mists began to fall.
Out of the dreams that rose in happy throng,
Low to our hearts Love sung an old song;
And in the dusk fell the firelight gleam,
Softly it wove itself into our dream.

Chorus
Just a song at twlight, when the lights are low,
And the flick’ring shadows doftly come and go,
Tho’ the heart be weary, sad the day and long,
Still to us at twilight comes Love’s old song, comes Love’s old sweet song.
Even today we hear Love’s song of yore,
Deep in our hearts it dwells forever more,
Footsteps may falter, and weary grow the way,
Still till the end, where life’s dim shadows fall,
Love will be found the sweetest song of all.

July 4th 2009, A day to remember

We decided to stay home this 4th of July, Tori and family came up for the weekend. On the morning of the 4th, Tori and hubby ran in the 5k roadrace while Nana and Baba sat with the boys and S. The rest of the O’s were helping with the organization of the race. After the race we watched the parade, headed home for lunch and then to the lake. Upon arriving at the lake, we discovered that we had left the little life jackets at home, luckily I was able to purchase some from the marina. After getting the cover off the boat, we could not start the engine. While the key turned, made a noise like it was supposed to, the engine would not even try to turn over! We tried everything including calling our son and asking him what the magic key was: his answer was “Mom, you should be able to turn the key and it will just start! “(well dah, that is what I thought too) but the truth was – it just would not. Finally Baba went up to the marina and brought back a man who quickly discovered that the clip for the engine disconnect was notin place. After finding it and putting it in and turning the key, the engine roared to life. We had a lovely afternoon on the lake, just cruising and swimming. Late in the afternoon, we made our way back to the dock only to find that we could not find the key to our daughter’s leased vehicle. A call to the leasing company on a holiday gave us a 90 minute wait, or more, for a man to come and break into the car. We were hoping to find a valet key, no such luck. While we waited, a SOS call to Michelle, got a ride for Tori, boys and Baba to our house. A huge thanks to you Michelle!  T stayed and started dinner while Baba came back to pick the rest of us up. Once we got the cover back on the boat, items transferred from their car to ours, important things like car seats, wallets, cell phones, dvd player and various cords, we headed home. T had a lovely dinner going and we ate about 8:30 pm. Needless to say we never saw the fireworks but we had a 4th of July that won’t be forgotten soon!  Oh, we will get to see the boys again this coming weekend when we swap the cars – that is assuming that either Enterprise or Saturn comes up with another key!

Der Vater-Mill

By Charles Follen Adams
(From “Yawcob Struss and Other Poems” published by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, Boston.)

I reads aboudt dot vater-mill dot runs der life long day
Und how der vater don’d coom pack ven vonce it flows avat;
Und off der mill-shtream dot glides on so beacefully und shrill,
But son’t vas putting in more vork on dot same vater-mill,
Der boet says, ’twas bedher dot you holdt dis preverb fast,
“Der mill id don’d vould grind some more mit vater dat vas past.”

Dot boem it vas peautful to readt aboudt; dot’s so!
Budt eef dot vater vasn’t past how could dot mill-vheel go?
And vhy make drouble mit dot mill, vhen id vas been inclined
To dake each obbortunity dot’s gifen id to grind?
Und vhen der vater cooms along in quandidies so vast,
Id leds some oder mill daks oup der vater dot vas past.

Dhen der boet shange der subject, und she dells us vonce again;
Vell! vonce vas blenty, ain’t id? Id youldn’t peen so nice
To haf dat seeckle reaping oup der same grain ofer twice!
Why! vot’s der use of cutting oup der grass dat vonce vas mown?
Id vas best, nime moder dold me, to ledt vell enough alone.

Der Summer vinds refife no more leafs strewn o’er earth and main.”
Vell vho vants to refife dhem? Dher vas blenty more again!
Der Summer vinds dhey shtep right oup in goot dime to brepare
Dhose blants and trees for oder leafs; dhere soon vas green vous dhere.
Shust bear dis adverb on your mindt, mine frendts, und hold it fast:
Der new leafs don’d vas been aroundt undell der oldt vas past.

Dhen neffer mindt der leafs dots dead, der grain dots in der bin;
Dhey poth of dhem haf had dheir day, und ghust vas gathered in.
Und neffer mindt der vater when id vonce does droo der mill;
Id’s vork vos done! Dhere’s blendy more dot vaits, id’s blace to fill.
Let each von dake dis moral, vrom der King down to der peasant;
Don’t mind der vater dot vas past, budt der vater dot vas bresent.

Boy’s Sweaters

I finally finished the sweaters for T’s boys. They turned out really cute and I have to give  credit to Ben for helping me with the graphic design for the fronts. The sweaters worked up quickly enough once I decided what to put on the front of them. They are made with sport weight yarn on size 3 and 5 needles. I used graph paper to plan not only the design but also the names. The names are done in duplicate stitch so that Tori can remove them and will make A’s wearable for D at a later time. I now need to make some baby sweaters but also do some sewing as S wants matching bathing suits for her and her American Girl doll. I’ll post more about that later

The Life of a Nurse

The world grows better year by year,
Because some nurse in her little sphere,
Puts on her apron, grins and sings
And keeps on doing the same old things,
Taking the temperatures, giving the pills
To remedy mankind’s numberous ills.
Feeding the baby, answering the bells,
Being polite, with a heart that rebels,
Longing for home, and all the while
Wearing the same old professional smile.
Blessing the new-born babies breath,
Closing the eyes that are still in death.
Taking the blame for all the mistakes.
O, dear, what a lot of patience it takes!
Going off duty at seven o’clock
Tired, discouraged, just ready to drop,
But called back on a “Special” at seven fifteen
With woe in her heart, but it must not be seen,
Morning and evening, noon and night,
Just doing it over, hoping its right,
When we lay down our caps and cross the bar,
O, Lord, will you give us just one little star
To wear in our crown, with the uniform new,
In that city above where the Head Nurse is You?

A Light In the Window

The following interesting incident gave rise to the beautiful song “A Light In The Window”.
A boy, at the age of 12 years, worked out by the day to support a widowed mother, carrying home his earnings at night. “One night,” he says, “it being very dark and muddy, and having three miles to travel and a heavy bundle to carry, I did not reach home until late. My mother, feeble and weary, had retired, but she was quickly aroused when she heard my voice and soon met me at the door with a warm kiss and warmer tears and a “God bless you, my dear boy.” As she received my bundle she exclaimed: “After this, my son, I’ll set a light in the window for you:” and true to her word, the bright light in the window appeared, and O how it cheered my heart ever after for years.
Health failing me, I left home (after my brothers could help mother) and went to sea. When three years from home, and on the Pacific Ocean, my mother died; but just before she expired she said to those around her: “O, give Edward my dying blessing, for he has been a good boy. Tell him I have gone to Heaven, and I will set a light in the window for him.”

A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW

There’s a light in the window for thee, brother,
There’s a light in the window for thee;
A dear one has moved to the mansions above,
There’s a light in the window for thee.

Chorus
A mansion in Heaven we see,
And a light in the window for thee;
A mansion in Heaven we see,
And a light in the window for thee.

There’s a crown, and a robe, and a palm, brother,
When from toil and from care you are free;
The Savior has gone to prepare you a home,
With a light in the window for thee.

O watch, and be faithful, and pray, brother,
All your journey o’er life’s troubled sea,
Tho’ afflictions assail you, and storms bear severe,
There’s a light in the window for thee.

Then on, perseveringly on, brother,
Till from conflict and suffering you are free;
Bright angels now beckon you over the stream,
There’s a light in the window for thee
L.J.M
Requested by C.A.P. Melrose Highlands, Mass

iTunes gift card – Be Careful

Last week I bought an iTunes gift card at a newly opened CVS near our home. I bought it for my eldest grandson for his 5th grade graduation. We were in Atlanta over the weekend and when he went to redeem the card it said it had not been activated. Of course, I can’t find the receipt and CVS will not do anything about it so I went to the iTunes web site, entered all the information required and received an automatic response that I would be hearing from them within 24 hours. That was Tuesday. As of this morning I haven’t heard a word and I have to wonder what is up! The card was intact (B had to reveal the access code), CVS says that they could not have rung the card up if it had not activated during the process, so what gives. I had gone to our local Lowes grocery store first and inquired about the iTunes Gift Card and was told that they had all been pulled from their inventory. I should have suspected something then and there.  UPDATE: I tried to redeem the card this Sat and lo and behold it worked.  I still have not heard back from iTunes so I am still wondering what happened.  Maybe the activation process was delayed in the upload from CVS – who knows?

I Must Be There On New Years Day

By Cornelius T. Murphy

Trudging along at early dawn on a cold December morn-
That on which the old year dies and before the new is born-
Came a gentle youth, with hair of gold, shivering from the bitter cold.
With shoeless feet and box on back, the switchman heard him say-
“I will not give up, for there is the track, and I said I’d come on New Year’s Day.”

All aboard! The train moves off with its load of human freight,
And a moment more and the little lad with box would be too late,
But on the platform, with firm hold, stands the shivering lad with hair of gold.
“Come, come,my lad, I want my fare.”
“I’ve got no money, sir, to pay, and I can walk no more, and I must be there
For I said I’d come on New Year’s Day.”

“You must be there? What’s that to me? I have heard such tales before:
I want my fare. It’s very cold, come in and shut the door.
Where do you wish to go, my lad? You’ve got no money? Well, that’s too bad!”
“I want to go to Dover’s Creek, but that’s so very far away,
I couldn’t walk it in a week, and I must be there on New Year’s Day.”

“Sit down, my lad, come closer still, I’m sure you must be cold.
Blacking boots, is that your trade? You can’t be ten years old!
Your name, what might it be? To Dover? Whom do you go to see?”
“The bootblacks call me little Dave, I will be ten years old in May.
I go to see my mother’s grave and I must be there on New Year’s Day.”

“Your mother dead? Your father, Davey, where is he?”
“Don’t ask me, please, Father’s dead, but not like mother, dead to me.
Seven years ago, so mother said, he did some deed for which he fled.
Now mother lies beside the church where we once used to play,
And before she died I promised I would always come on New Year’s Day.”

“Brave little lad, you shall not break your promise to the dead,
Go, visit her, and may God pour choice blessings on your head.
And always hold her memory dear; though far away, she is every near
To watch and guard you on your way,
Remember her holy love and keep your word on New Year’s Day.

“Dover Creek!” the breakman shouts, in voice both loud and clear.
Box on back, off on the track jumps the boy with golden hair.
And there he stands with the bitter past just as the old year breathes the last,
And a moment more and he is at the gate of the churchyard old and gray.
“O mother dear, I am not too late; I said I’d come on New Year’s Day.”

Long years have passed since that cold morn when the lad with hair of gold
Came plooding along with box on back, and shivering from the cold;
And many a new grave has been made in the churchyard where his mother is laid.
Old age has bent his form alow, he’ll be eighty-five in May ;
And at his mother’s grave, in rain or snow, he asks her blessing on New Year’s Day.

Sent in by D E, Boston

The Little Brown Cot

I remember that little brown cot on the hill.
Where I lived in the bright long ago;
And the beautiful sound of the murmuring rill,
That beside the brown cot used to flow;
And, although to no others these charms might appear
To awake in their bosoms a thrill,
Yet there’s nothing on earth to my heart was so dear
As that little brown cot on the hill.

Chorus
It was lonely and old and in winter was drear,
And the winds could assail it at will,
Yet there’s nothing on earth to my heart was so dear.
As that little brown cot on the hill.

Long ago in that little brown cot I was born
And there passed my boyhood away;
On its porch I would sit from the first flash of morn
Till the close of the long summer’s day;
Or I’d play in the cool, shady woods that were near,
And my shout would ring merry and shrill;
Till fatigued, I’d return to my mother so dear
And the little brown cot on the hill.

Chorus

It is years since I parted with friends at the door,
And left them to wander away;
I sigh when I think I shall see them no more,
For they sleep in the churchyard to-day;
But although on this earth I’ll not meet them again,
I will cherish their memory still,
And remembrance with me will forever remain,
Of the little brown cot on the hill.

Chorus

The Adventure

A few weeks ago, Hubby, granddaughter and I attended the local Greek Festival. As usual, they had a raffle for a trip to Greece and as usual, hubby bought some tickets. No, he didn’t win the trip, but he did win a weekend use of a Smart car. We picked it up Friday afternoon and I couldn’t believe that we were going to take a trip in such a “cracker box”. Our son drove it home and we checked it out. It took a while to find the engine, it’s under the luggage area behind the two seats. We noticed that the front and rear tires are different sizes and that there is no cruise control. The dealer had warned us that it has a manual transmission but shifts with an automatic clutch with no manual clutch to use. There are shifting paddles on the steering wheel to allow manual control of the transmission. if one feels the need to do the shifting. In 2006, we had purchased tickets for the Biltemore House and had not used them. We decided that a road trip was in order. After much discussion of what we could not take, we packed the miniscule vehicle and our adventure began. We were on the road at 6 AM Saturday and about an hour out of Winston-Salem be watched a aluminum row boat fly through the air from a car ahead of us who had the boat bungeed to a larger boat being pulled on a trailer. The bungee didn’t hold and the smaller boat went flying through the air, almost striking a tractor-trailer truck in the oncoming lane before coming to rest on it’s stern in the median. After flagging down the owner, we continued on our way. We arrived at the welcome center at Biltemore House at about 9:30 and received out tickets. On our way back to the car, we were asked by a lady from Lousianna how we liked the car. After telling her about the comfortable seats and great visibility of the vehicle, the feeling of being in a much larger car (until you look out the side mirrors and realize you left half the car at home) and of course the great gas mileage, we proceeded to the parking lot and were bused up to the mansion. We spent most of the day exploring the mansion, grounds, doing some “letter boxing” and visiting the vineyard. We drove to Hendersonville for dinner in our favorite restaurant “Cypress Cellar”. Sunday, we were up early and drove down to Cashiers as we were having lunch with friends. We were way too early and Hubby wanted to check out a town called Franklin. We drove there via a very twisty road that climbed up the mountainside. We checked out the area and then decided it was time to head back to Cashiers. Unfortunately, TomTom routed us back a slightly different road and we ended up on a one lane dirt road that led straight up a mountain and down the other side. It was an adventure straight out of our youth,  ( You know, when you were looking for the perfect place to go “parking”) Beautiful scenery, hugh mansions and a white knuckle road. On the other side of the mountain, we had to give our friend a call as TomTom would have us go down a private road that looked like it led to nowhere. We finally got to our friend’s summer house and had a delightful lunch with them. We headed back home, tired but very pleased with the performance of the car on a very challenging test drive. I would definitely consider this car for a second car, especially if I had a fairly long commute. We averaged 47 mpg on interstate, back roads and hilly conditions. A very enjoyable weekend.