Yes, It's a Commercial, but it will still make you cry

Commercials don't have to be crass.

They don't have to be loud or flashy, 

or full of inappropriateness.

Sometimes, it takes an international commercial to remind you.

Have tissues.

If you can't see it above, click on this link, or cut and paste this:

http://youtu.be/cZGghmwUcbQ


To be honest, there was a bit there, when I thought it was going to be a Mormon tv spot like those of days of yore.

Make Good Art.

~Neil Gaiman

Happy 8th Birthday Drew!

 Happy Birthday Drew!

I can't believe you are 8! You were just a wee little thing, but look at you now ... growing up before our eyes. Even if we need spectacles to see you. Wait, are you mocking us?

HEY YOU!

I mean, it's sights like this that make me realize that you will be off to junior and middle school so soon, and my lovely handwritten letters will possibly be replaced by e-mails or texts. Don't stop writing to me, please?

Then two seconds later, you are still that adorable little boy who likes to get cuddles, play, and get presents.

Hugs with Dad

Naptime on Dad

I'm so glad you let me tape you while you read your Holiday Card, in your own words ...

Happy Birthday my Drew. I'm so excited to be there with you on your birthday this year (for the first time), and then for your baptism. Such milestones!

Lots of love and birthday wishes, 

with real presents and hugs in person,

Auntie Nettie

Summer Fridays 2012: Afternoon in the Garden II

Second Summer Friday, almost a repeat of the first.
Book. Bench. Botanical Garden.

With the additions of editorial work and no other agenda than to stretch out, I was delighted to head back to "my spot." After last week, I had brought a larger water bottle, a cushion, and a big shade hat. I thought I was going to be okay with sun protection with the hat and long pants, but I didn't have long enough shirt sleeves or sunblock, so I lightly burned my forearms. It wasn't quite a farmers tan.

It was a much nicer afternoon, so there more crowds in the gardens interrupting me in my little nook where I had snuggled in with a good long book. I must have been a picturesque sight, what with the hat and the book on the bench, because I glanced up and caught someone mid photographis clickus and then made it photographic interruptus ruinus. *No takee the photo of Auntie sans permission, thank you*

In a bit of forethought, my book of the afternoon, Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland, was all about the craftswomen in the Tiffany Glass studios - previously unrecognized for their work on his famous windows and lampshades. I think Tiffany windows I think vibrant jewel tones, rich, lush, verdant hues of greens and purples, irises, wisteria, etc. Look at what my view was as I reading about the creation of those masterpieces.

National Poetry Month: The Highwayman

Any girl of a certain age who loved reading the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery also loved the Kevin Sullivan productions of the films based on those novels.

This poem was excerpted for the production and was the "gateway" through which many new narrative poem lovers were introduced to this epic poem by Albert Noyes.

(Purists, please note: I know the second to last line of each stanza should be indented. I just can't get it to format on this post!)

The Highwayman

Part One

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler, listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter:
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way.”

He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand;
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.

Part Two

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead;
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest:
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way!

She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years;
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her Love's refrain.

Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.

He turned; he spurred him Westward; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, and slowly blanched to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her Love in the moonlight; and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat;
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

~Alfred Noyes

Pgs 96-100
Story Poems: An Anthology of Narrative Verse selected and edited by Louis Untermeyer, Washington Square Press, New York 1961

Excerpts as used in the Sullivan film Anne of Green Gables, as performed by Megan Follows.

If you can't see it, click here or cut and paste this into your browser: http://youtu.be/wcAzEea4j-w

It's also been put to music by Loreena McKennitt.

If you can't load the video, click here, or cut and paste this into your browser: http://youtu.be/teq2m0BN-Wo

Now, I bet you can't get this out of your head for the rest of the day!

YouTube Tuesday: Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Take 2

Wherein one aunt takes a nephew to a park and proceeds to make him run around the bases until he is completely exhausted. Unfortunately, his imagination takes flight and he begins to direct various takes. These are the tales of Drew the Dude - a legend in his own mind.

This is Take 2 -- wherein "Drama" occurs, as does a bit of "Directing." Where he got that? Well, I can only blame his grandfather, uncle, and father.

If you can't see Take 2 here, please head over to YouTube at: http://youtu.be/D2WKJQlMD34

Take 1 may be seen here or at: http://youtu.be/joyeUmnNREQ

YouTube Tuesday: The Joy of Books

Just cause.

If you can't see the clip above, please visit YouTube here: http://youtu.be/SKVcQnyEIT8

Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Take 1

Wherein one aunt takes a nephew to a park and proceeds to make him run around the bases until he is completely exhausted. Unfortunately, his imagination takes flight and he begins to direct various takes. These are the tales of Drew the Dude - a legend in his own mind.

If you can't see Take 1 here, please head over to YouTube at: http://youtu.be/joyeUmnNREQ

Emily's Big Adventure II - The Movie

Cape Cod Girls Weekend 2011: Cartwheels at Sunset

Cape Cod, Brewster, MA
October 1, 2011

Postcard for Grumpa: Cape Cod

Cape Cod, Brewster, MA
October 1, 2011

Pardon the audio quality

Synopsis:

Dear Dad, Wish you were here. Look at all the sea kayakers. It's a beautiful day on the beach. Even Mom could handle this today. It's gorgeous. Too bad you are too far away. Maybe you could drag J back and do an tour. Down here by Brewster.Love you, Auntie Nettie

Postcards for Grandmary: Cape Cod

Cape Cod, Brewster, MA
October 1, 2011

YouTube Tuesday: Firebolts

Harry Potter, the books and the movies, inspire all kinds of reactions.

"Did you ever feel so disappointed when you closed the book and realized that the story had to end? But maybe you were wrong and you are chosen, too…so grab your wand and go." ~Melanie Call, BYU's* Divine Comedy Troupe

You are not alone. See the footage here:




[*Only occasionally we will suspend all BYU mocking ... this is one of those times.]

YouTube Tuesday: Windmills of my mind

I was totally stuck on what to post today, when a clipart picture of a windmill on my cellphone triggered the need to find this.

It almost perfectly captures my state of mind these last two weeks of the semester.

Can be found at: http://youtu.be/Xu_6hdGZ6gU

Why is that you can always find the perfect Muppets segment for anything?

In other timely notes, it has been 21 years since Jim Henson's untimely passing.

Here's a clip of one of the Muppets Tribute numbers:

Can be found at: http://youtu.be/olHV1o9TE-8

I will admit, I got misty. I bet you did too.
Rest in peace Jim. You are missed.

The Calla Lilies are in Bloom Again

The answer to yesterday's paraphrase is:

"The calla lilies are in bloom again.
Such a strange flower, suitable to an occasion.
I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died. "

These lines are from the play "within the play," Enchanted April, in the play Stage Door, which in turn became a 1937 RKO feature starring the late great Kate, Katharine Hepburn. This clip is from the end of the movie, when Katharine Hepburn's character has an amazingly heartfelt performance that shocks most who know her.

The film also featured Ginger Rogers, a very young Lucille Ball (not as Lucy as we came to know her), Eve Arden, Ann Miller and some of the other great character and featured actors working in Hollywood.

I love old black and white films. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

YouTube Tuesday: Explaining an Arts Non-Profit

One of these days I am going to write that semi-fictional expose/memoir of the first third of my life as a fund-raiser, under a thinly disguised nom de plume. ONE DAY! Until then, this may suffice.

If you haven't seen/heard of these series of animated monotone voice-over cartoons, the gist is that any ol' person can submit the text that will be narrated by these or other cartoon animals. Some are veryveryveryVERY not suitable for my parents, and the "humor/truth" is best appreciated by some one who has spent considerable time in the particular field on which the cartoon is based.

There are many to choose from, and many that are far to close to the truth but to be anything but painfully familiar, like this one:

YouTube Tuesday: Revenge of The Peeps

YouTube Tuesday: Secret Garden

A Clip from the 45th Annual Tony Awards with the original Broadway Cast of The Secret Garden with the incomparable Rebecca Luker, John Cameron Mitchell, Mandy Patinkin, and the much missed from the Great White Way, Robert Westenberg. I had the privilege in seeing him in Les Miz, Into the Woods, and The Secret Garden and still haven't see anyone to compare with him, even after all this time. He is much missed in New York.

One of the best parts of this clip is the excerpt of the duo, Lily's Eyes with Mandy and Robert, which makes me well-up every single time.

YouTube Tuesday: Eye of the Storm

YouTube Tuesday: Criminally Excellent Cello Duet

Via the Huffington Post on Jan. 25, 2011:

"Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic- two very talented musicians- have turned a pop classic into an epic and beautiful classical duet with a hard core twist. The harmonies between the cellos are passionate and lively; Hauser and Sulic have created a conversation with their instruments, doing more than justice to Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal.'"

YouTube Tuesday: a-ha Butterfly, Butterfly

Sadly, the ability to embed this video has been disabled.

To view it, please click here.

If it doesn't work, please go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZjXysUwmM4