WHEN APRIL SINGS

WHEN APRIL SINGS Robert Stolz (m) Gus Kahn (l) 1935 as rec by Deanna Durbin w Orch dir by Charles Previn August 28th 1940 Hollywood The countryside is green again, The world id seventeen again, My heart awakes when April sings. The skies above are blue again, The daffodils are new again, These are the joys that April brings. Songbirds are whispering down by the stream, Telling our weary world, "Wake up and dream!"; For love is new again, And one and one are two again, My heart awakes when April sings. Spring is here, Not a mere January thought, But a little robin I saw told me it was so, And so I know! Spring is here, Summer's near, How can I tell? I know every sign of Spring So very well! The countryside is green again, The world id seventeen again, My heart awakes when April sings. The skies above are blue again, The daffodils are new again, These are the joys that April brings. Songbirds are whispering down by the stream, Telling our weary world, "Wake up and dream!"; For love is new again, And one and one are two again, My heart awakes when April sings.
MY MOTHER SANG THIS OVER AND OVER EVERY SPRING: IT WAS TRULY WONDERFUL

WHAT IS MY ONLY HOPE?

What is my only hope?

That I am not my own but belong, body and soul, to my Lord and Savior Christ Jesus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY's?

March 9th, oh, when I just saw that date go up I realized it is a day after Isaac's birthday (see previous entry) AND the day before my Great Grandmother's birthday who was born in 1885, Anna Smick Livezey. (oh brother,,I use too many words,,that's called ''between") Anyway, at that moment I thought, I wonder if anyone I knew was born this day and = wouldn't that be cool, a distant relative born today mabye? anyway, if so,......> Happy Birthday!   (in september my birthday is the 14th, my sister's is the 16th and I know of someone the 15th; not a relative but still think that's cool.) I wonder how many of you out there know of someone born the same day as you; I know of two on my special day. Yeah, its special to me. Mom made it so very special...but, i think i wrote about that already. (did I write already that my sister and I are the same age for two days...perhaps I did.)


I never knew my Grandmother. She knew me ''perhaps." Mom took me several times to see her but my great grandmother forgot I was even there. She died about 3 months after I was born. Mom says I took after her with my love and passion for gardening. My grandmother was in a wheelchair when she was in her 60's. She had childhood rheumatoid arthritis. So, when she was older and gardening she would drag herself along the ground and weed her gardens. Mom said that people all around came for seeds from my grandmother's gardens and for flowers. She also placed a tub in the ground between two gardens where my mother would sit on a large stone and watch frogs jump in and out of the water garden. One frog my mother brought home from their walks from ''the Pines" in south jersey, would sit on the edge of the tub while my mother pet him. Imagine! That stone is still there today. I know there is a name for this type of stone; it is the stone that was placed in front of a home so when the coach stopped the passenger would step on it instead of stepping into the mud. I am hoping one day to ask if I can have the large stone.  My grandparents home was established in past years as ''historic'' and has been the local library for quite some time! Isn't that neat? (anybody want to loan me a crane to get it home?)

Anna was a beautiful woman, particularly with her hair pinned up. Remember how woman back then put up their hair but poofed it way out? Well, there is a beautiful picture of her next to the Wissahickon Creek outside Philadelphia where she would go boating often with her beau's. I would love to scan that pic and put it here but that is not possible considering the size and condition of the picture.

Well, for now I will just say, since i need to practice my piano, that Anna S. Livezey, a nurse in Philadelphia married a Dr. John Smith.  Can you believe that name?  John and Anna had 3 daughters. They named their last daughter none other than Mary, Mary Smith.  Can you imagine that? And Mary is my wonderful mother! Yep, we are pretty common folks but, special, gifted, talented, extraordinary ''folks." ha haha want to hear another joke?.......................................

ULTIMATE PAPER MACHE: tutorials, ideas, conversation A BLOG by Jonni Good

JONNI'S BLOG:                                http://ultimatepapermache.com

I would like to feature Jonni's blog! Several years ago I happened to come upon her blog and was fascinated by her work. So, I proceeded that very day to read ALL the "how to's" so I could ''someday'' produce my own paper mache creations. It is amazing how our brains tuck away all sorts of information and it somehow remains in the far crevices to be retrieved much later!!!
                                                                   WELL,
two weeks ago our daughter-in-law and son sent us an invitation to our 1st grandson's birthday party. He is ONE TODAY actually, MARCH 8TH.    The invitation informed us that  ''their LITTLE CUPCAKE" was turning one.  The theme of the party would come from the book IF YOU GIVE A CAT A CUPCAKE by Laura Numeroff.  

           WELL,
while returning their dog, Bailey, a puggle to them over a meal at TGI Friday's, Michael our son says,
"wouldn't it be fun if I had time to make a paper mache cat just like the one from the book?" INSTANTLY MY BRAIN THINKS ''YEAH~~! AND I AM GOING TO SURPRISE THEM AND MAKE ONE~~~!!!!"

                                                      WELL, 
I happened to have all the necessary ''fixin's" to make the cat. (Yeah, my art closet is rather large and is filled with an asundry of interesting finds from all over the place....) Understand, I do not think of myself as an artist; I am not an artist. For the first time a few years ago I tried my hand at watercolor. Am trying to teach myself knitting/crochet. My art form I guess is gardening....ANYWAY, I AM PROUD OF HOW HE TURNED OUT IN A MATTER OF SEVERAL HOURS. Now I am thinking perhaps 3D is a form of art I could consider.


I DID NOT USE JONNI'S RECIPE(S) as this was a serendipity activity! First I constructed the base (pic of cat on my piano); next I applied my paper mache (cat form with grey material).

Time for kitty to dry!


Notice he is propped
against a small fish tank.
He was heavier than
I planned and was falling to his right.
I also had to move him
upstairs to my art/sewing room near a heat lamp so he could dry in time!!! (the following two pictures.) Notice the scratch marks in the picture of the cat by the heat lamp; I wanted to portray hair/fur---there are arguments by ''those people'' which it really should be called..ha ha. 


I made holes for whiskers. These will be added at the end and be old bristles from an oil paint brush.

Last but not least; painting! More fun! I took my red, blue and yellow acrylics and mixed what I needed.

Below to the left is the ''kitty in progress." Well, I just realized I never got any great pictures of him all done! The last two are the best I have on hand right now. Wish you could tell how the cupcake looks like real icing. I used a medium to build the acrylic paint up to resemble whipped icing then sprinkled it with real jimmies. The last pic is out of focus; I wanted a view of his head like in the book. Imagine the whiskers; they are there just not visible in the picture. 

ISAAC AND HIS CUPCAKE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAAC!

Can you imagine: he got to dig into his cupcake with both hands and its chocolate! His first experience of sugar!!! He studied it for quite a while, took a teeny taste and proceeded with great care....hmmmm...what does that mean for a career....his temperment? 

SO WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU GIVE YOUR KID A CUPCAKE?

WHAT HAPPENED TO SEPTEMBER?

September is our birthday month. My sister and I are Irish twins; for two days we are the same age. My birthday is very special to me because Mom always made a big deal. Breakfast in bed is how our day started. We got to choose what we wanted for breakfast and dinner. Now isn't that a thoughtful Mommy?

We also had scavenger hunts sometimes for our gift. Get it gift. Today we give too many gifts and too costly of gifts. Simple is often the better way to go; especially homemade gifts taylored to the individual. Mom made us dresses. I remember one dress I really loved. It had puffy sleeves. The sleeves were short and had elastic around the bottom to gather and puff the sleeve. The dress was blue with rick rack for trimming. I wore this dress in 9th grade. I wore it everywhere. Anyway, she made us girls dresses and doll clothes, our curtains, and stuffed animals. I still have the pink large hippopotamus Mom made. It was my "huggable lovey doo" animal from 9th grade to college. I slept with him every night and talked to him about many things during my growing up time.

Anyway back to our birthdays, Hannah"s and mine. We celebrated with a lunch at (oh my what is it called?) It is something like Kung Pou or Ping...it is the restaraunt that has two huge horses out front along Rt. 1 and Rt. 322. How's that. Ding! Well, we sat all day and had a very nice time. Mom would have loved it too. Hannah is an artist; and, artist's always give interesting ''stretching/outside the box" gifts to their sisters. Did you know that? It has been the cause for some laughter and major hilarity. (a story to be told another day on one specific gift many moons ago that could have caused a car accident; we did live through it, just so you know!!)
Above is the picture of the surprise birthday gift, unable to be wrapped because of its unusual shape..ahemm. What is in there? Well, below is a picture of what she gave me. ''For your Library Suzie!" she says.

Now what in the world is that you say? Well, I am always nervous, isn't that silly (?) but true, when opening a gift from Hannah. It can be dangerous. So I take one glance at it after having opened it and I register ''horse." And I think this time it IS A COOL FUN gift.  I can adjust the neck and legs and position the horse anyway I want. Notice he is drinking from a water glass. Well, what a roar! It took me about 5 minutes before I realized it was

A GIRAFFE and NOT A HORSE! Man, ding dong.! We laughed and laughed. I do like it and have it  

now seated on a high piece of furniture with him appearing to be eating from a real plant. Of course there will be days where I will have to change his position and see if anybody notices. No one will notice; that I do know. Oh well. I will, and that is the fun part. Here is a better view of MY GIRAFFE & LUNCH: Now how in the world could I have registered: ''horse?" 

Eating outside is wonderful, isn't?
Well, after much chatter, sharing of tears about the really hard things in our life and just being ''together,'' we hugged and parted. She to New Jersey, me back to my home. So now we are 56 and 57.  ---the end.

PS: just remembered I did not ''reveal'' my gift to Hannah! Well, let me upload it: simple but nice: a fan from Ecuador for the hot days on her back porch at our parents home: (many memories on the porch).

Hannah has the most beautiful green eyes. Mine are a pale washed out blue. Doesn't Hannah look fun? She always wore green and I wore blue.
Sometimes we would pick out the same item from a clothing rack without the other aware of what we were doing, at the same moment. Her choice would be green and mine would be blue.

Al Qeada, radical Shiite clergy, Muslim Brotherhood, ......

Christians United for Israel (CUFI)

CUFI Executive Director David Brog's Blog - Blaming the Ally 

"Israel is not the problem. Israel is, on the contrary, our first line of defense."   On Monday morning we were greeted with the news that the State Department has issued a new advisory on travel to Europe... (read more)....http://www.cufi.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Brogs_blog

I don't know if the link will work for you...this article also helped me in sorting out some of the different groups/persons involved in terrorism. Great Blog.

              I have come to cogitate or should I rather ruminate
                              on verses and the rhyme?


            I believe it rather ample that I choose to run and ramble 
                              through verses set in thyme.


                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Set off shall I and ambulate

across the world divide,

savoring and honoring

               

all seen in this my time.

Susie Little Susie 

Susie, little Susie, now what is the news? 

The geese are going barefoot because they've no shoes 

The cobbler has leather but no last has he 

And so he cannot make them their shoes, don't you see 

Susie, little Susie, some pennies I pray 

To buy a little supper of sugar and whey 

I'll sell my nice bed and go sleep on the straw 

Where feathers do not tickle and mice do not crawl 

Susie, little Susie, now what is the news? 

The geese are going barefoot because they've no shoes 

The cobbler has leather but no last has he 

And so he cannot make them their shoes, don't you see 

http://www.bigsmithband.com/susielittlesusielyrics.html

Picture to the Right: Those are Mom's hands on my shoulders.

The story: Mom, as I've mentioned sang all the time. But this

song was especially for me! Well, I forgot all about this song

over the years until the other day when thinking about my

mother I started singing this song. It was a spontaneous 

serendipity occurrence. I stopped dead in my tracks. Johanna

was home so I ran to her and said, "Johanna, you have to

listen to this song!! Mom sang it to me all the time and it just

came back to me!!" So, Johanna kindly humored me and 

listened...then we chatted for a while. It was a very nice

time for me, now as "Mom," to be talking with my daughter. Did you catch the drift? A.K.A: ''talking" not singing!! Ha ha! I cannot sing well like my mother did so, I spared Johanna the complete rendition...ha ha ha! 

Mom sang as she did her work around the house, outside 

whether she was going about duties or just walking with us,

walking out to the horse barn, on picnics and so on. Music was a big part of her life; a part of her and now a major

part of mine. Mom gave me the love for the out of doors; most of my time was spent outside because of Mom and being on the farm. Anyway, it all fits together nicely; music, nature.........

There is also a poem that my brother had to recite about his little sister Suzie. Maybe I will find the words to it and put it here next time. 

NO AIR CONDITIONING HERE!!!

I am thankful for the breezes that flow through all the windows when I come
home and open them up. No air-conditioning here.

The air is so wonderful. Almost as wonderful as being on water, by water.
To have both is a marvel.

I now remember my mother saying almost the same thing:
"Suzie, just feel that breeze! Isn't it heavenly?" Her exact words.
Her smile.  I remember her smile and motions when she would say those words.
She seemed to gain some peace and joy in her ''nature moments." Many times Mom
would raise her head just a little, breathing in, savoring the scents and scenery. And boy
were there scents! Cows, horses, manure, bugs, cool mud after a rain and flowers to name
a few.
I am thankful for my mother.


I am thankful for the tons of birds that sing all day; for the lone raven in the poplar tree
and the cackling, territorial American Crows that keep the Vultures at bay....for the birds
nests I've come upon.

Cool breeze come waft
by this place,
Caress my cheek with balm. 


Gird me up on graceful wings,
Steel me,
for this hour.
                                       -suzie july 22, 2010

A YEAR

A year gone by;