War poems

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.



The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

1.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

2.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

3.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

4.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.

5.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

6.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson,
J. E. Tilton and Company, Boston, 1870
On this webpage

Life redux

Last night was spent with some friends... reacquaintances... no, friends sounds more apropos... discussing unusually small appendages, high school frivolity and insanity and one unanswered question that I promised I would ask and only made one of them do a spit take... and unfortunately not the one it was intended for...

Could I have served too much wine?

Of course, I was a little freaked out when the one who is a counselor suggested I was overly obsessed with small appendage person... of course I am, because never before has one human been so worthy of my obsession with their "beingness" as a source of my intellectual curiosity.

I had a good time, and it is always an interesting process to spend time with people whose source for inter-relations is a shared past... but bringing that past and shared or similar experiences into the present can be a fun journey.. I learned a lot about them, Things I hope I get the chance to discover more about.

It is nice to know that the world does have lovely people, plus how often do you get to meet a like minded soul who loves Latin mass and abhors the hootenanny and liturgical dance gracing the "stages" of churches these days (I say "stages" for that is what their inclusion makes the front of the church). That was cool. Heck, the whole evening was enjoyable, and I hope it is not the last of them.

Tags: friends

Who here loves vanilla?

I do!

Vanilla is one of my favorite things to use in the kitchen... I would put it into more savory dishes if I could figure out how. I use it in everything sweet.

Anyway, Jaden from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen is having a contest and will be giving eight (yes 8) lucky folks a half pound of vanilla pods from a place she loves and trusts.

I do not know if I will win, but I am sure going to try!

Go here to see the contest details, nothing could be easier!


Tags: contest

Home Tour 2007

I am exhausted.

But, exhausted in that way after a performance, where you are like a monkey in the jungle swinging through trees... in that I also feel amped up.

We helped the local historical society by putting our house on their tour.

It is an incredible experience to have so many strangers peek around your things, have a glimpse into your life.

I was fortunate enough to have some dear friends come over and help out by talking to people and pointing out the neat things about the house we live in.

But I am so freaky tired, and the Squink never got a nap because it is hard to put a kid down when there are lots of folks in the house... so we are winding down, mindless in front of the television set, not even sure of what we are watching.

Tags: community
also posted over in the house blog, which rarely (uhmm, never)gets posts since folks started walking in randomly.

little sad boy

little sad boy, originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.

Last night, he had a tough time getting to (and staying a-) sleep.

One of those dreaded "did not get a nap and ended up at a birthday party" kind of days... where they get so spun up they just can't relax enough to fall asleep.

Finally, I brought him into bed with me... he proceeded to fall out and skin his lip (about 12:30 am)... which I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts is more painful than a skinned knee.

He refused Tylenol and once I got the bleeding stopped, I just put him to bed and let him cry himself to sleep... which happened much faster than I anticipated.

He slept until 8:30 the next morning.

He woke up in a surprisingly good mood in spite of my following him around with a camera (since he would not let me look at his lip very closely so I thought I would take a high res picture and look at it that way).

He ended the morning giving me this look... which is equally precious!