Memorial Day -

John & I did the service yesterday at church. It was "loosely" called an Odyssey of UU music (as seen through the past hymnals that we had available.)

My part was to provide the Prelude, the kids story (in song), provide accompaniment for several of the hymns and provide a short overview of church music in general in less than 10 minutes. Actually, it turned out pretty good, everyone loved the kids song I did (off Cindy Mangsen's Cat Songs album). And my "short overview" went well - I actually learned a few things myself. The Prelude had me stumped though - - I was going to try and learn a new song off of one of the Jim Scott CD's that I bought when he was here in March - but it just wasn't working - Then I had a flash of inspiration - since it was Memorial Day weekend, I would sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" - written in 1961 by Julia Ward Howe, a Unitarian woman, and a hymn from the earliest hymnal that we were exploring.

The tune to this song was written around 1855 and was popular with the words "Caanan's Happy Shore" as a campfire song, then used as a walking song for the troups during the Civil War, as "John Brown's Body". After attending a review of the troups in Washington DC, a friend of Mrs. Howe's suggested that she write new words for this song. According to legend, she went to bed like normal that evening, and awoke at dawn with the words to the song in her mind. She scrambled out of bed, found a writing instrument and scribbled the words down on paper as quickly as she could "lest she fall asleep again and forget them". Now that's inspiration!

The song was published in 1862 in the Atlantic Monthly and quickly became popular. It has been widely used in politics and society, movies and TV, and has been recorded by everyone from Judy Garland to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Today we honor all the men & women who have fought and are fighting today on foreign shores to protect the freedoms that we hold dear. I'd like to mention my friend Emily's son who is in Iraq in the military. Come home safely Jared.

This is not the full text of the song, which has six verses - these are the three that I like best.



BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC By Julia Ward Howe

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.


I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps,
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.





(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His day is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

(Chorus)
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! While God is marching on.

Fascinatin'

The moon..................................Venus

Fascinatin'

So "fascinatin' ", I almost drove off the road because I was transfixed.

Fascinatin'

The "technical/astronomical " term when the moon and a planet are together like this is called a conjunction. Read more about it here

Totally Fascinatin' that I was able to take this picture with MY 5 year old Fuji Digital camera - (it rocks!)

If'n it wasn't so dang cold out, I'd pull up a chair on the back porch and just cogitate on the whole situation.

Fascinatin'

We've been able to see pairing of the moon and Venus a bunch recently because the sky has been clear at nights. It's like being given a gift each time I see it.

Fascinatin', just fascinatin'

Eeek!

OK, so this is how I felt the other day when I opened the shower door and there was a spider THIS BIG (ok, bigger than a quarter from toe to toe - EEEK!) If The Shepherd hadn't been sleeping, there would have been a big ruckus raised, I can tell you that!

So, my question is - where do tub spiders come from??? We do NOT have spiders in our bathroom, the tub/shower is a sealed unit with a glass door and because the people who made this manufactured home were basically cheap (cheap, cheap, cheap!) there is no overflow on the tub. So, where do these humoungous spiders come from?

Sadly for Mr. Spider, he was still there the next a.m. and all I'll say is that he went to spider heaven.

More funny (primarily cats, but somethimes they sneak in another species)pictures here ...

Random thoughts.........

I got an email joke from a girl friend last week - it was the one about why they don't let women over 50 have babies - you see, they think we would set them down and forget where we put them. It's probably true.

I need to buy one of those little recorders (like in the commercial where the lady says "One loaf of bread and a quart of milk" Who couldn't remember that?) During the day I have these brief flashes of brilliance - a thought so grand it could only have come from Robert Fulghum - you know the "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden" guy? Then I could record those moments of grand thought so that I could share them with you - but alas, they come and go, like fairies in the garden. Maybe just keeping a little notepad in my purse would help.

So, my random thought for today is: Don't be afraid to say "I'd like to know you better"

A local man named Tom Hunter is a talented singer and song writer - one of the most talented that I've ever had the pleasure to meet. He has been a teacher and most recently a minster. I've known OF him for many years - my good friend Linda was his family's day care provider and they have remained friends for almost 30 years. Tom and his wife Gwen have performed their wonderful music locally and nationally.

Last week it was announced that he has been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease a rare and fatal prion disease that affects the brain - similar to BSE (otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease) or Scrapie (even the word strikes terror in the heart of a shepherd). It is a cruel disease, taking bits of one's life away daily - most often, the afflicted person is aware of what he or she is losing, making it even more heartbreaking. It progresses rapidly, and is, as I said, fatal.



Over the years, I've often wished that I knew Tom and Gwen better. Our circles of friends overlap, but never quite enough to make a connection, if you know what I mean. And that is not a bad thing - one cannot be all, or know all things to all people, but sometimes, you just wish you had known a person a little better.

Button, button, who's got the button?

What ever happened to my mom's button jar?

I got to thinking about it yesterday after we were getting ready for church. The Shepherd asked me if his collar looked straight and mentioned that he had lost the button off it after he put his tie on.

I told him to keep the button and I would sew it back on for him. He seemed surprised - like maybe he didn't know I knew how to sew?

I remember sitting for hours and looking through the buttons in that jar. There were some pretty cool ones (like the blue flower shaped ones in this picture I snagged off of Microsoft's Clip art website.) Maybe it was that when things wore out, they would take the buttons off before they threw the clothes in the rag bag - don't want buttons on the rags - I suppose they would scratch what ever you were cleaning. Prettier pieces of fabric were reused in quilts. Don't want buttons on your quilt, I suppose, either.

Maybe it's that a lot of things don't have buttons any more - I know most all of my pants are elastic waist bands. (even the ones with buttons on them!) . Oh, well, thoughts to ponder, I suppose.