Norman Rockwell - "Girl at the Mirror"

And since you know you cannot see yourself,
so well as by reflection, I, your glass,
will modestly discover to yourself,
that of yourself which you yet know not of.
William Shakespeare

HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY MARY!!!

We are stardust - Billion year old carbon

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
We are golden
Billion year old carbon
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden.
“Woodstock,” Joni Mitchell

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
John Muir

A Painting in my Livingroom

"Midsummer Eve"

LINK: 1909 Edward Robert Hughes

My daughter, Mary bought me this painting
a few years ago.
I love it's magical imagery
and the artist's ability
to capture the illusion of light.

Wedding vows

I said "I do" and so did he
So long ago when we were young.
Drenched in sweat from humidity
Of a steamy hot August day.
The minister droned on and on.
A big fly landed on his nose,
Making us laugh uncontrollably,
And we could think of nothing else.
We heard not our "holy" promises
As we recited rehearsed words
Memorized for the occasion.
They were not words written by us,
But expected by tradition;
Expected by church and family.
Voiced vows were unnecessary,
For we were already one.
Our hearts were bound together
Without the need for public display.
If we could live the day again,
We would go to a private place
In a quiet, cool, green forest
And confirm our promise of love
By looking in each other's eyes
Our arms holding each other close,
With sounds of Nature all around.
D. Bowden

My Squirrel Friend is Back!

I am so relieved! Mr. Squirrel was back on my deck this morning, sitting there looking through the glass patio door with his little paws folded like squirrels do, begging for walnuts! I have decided to put the treats I give him down on the lower deck under the tree so that he is camouflaged from the hungry hawk!

One reason not to interfere with nature . . .

In an earlier post I wrote about my little squirrel friend coming by our place for some free handhouts of food and nuts. Twice a day I put out bread with peanut butter, walnuts and other goodies for my little buddy. One day he was there with a friend of his. For several days these little fellas came to get their treats. Then suddenly they stopped coming. I haven't seen them for awhile now. The bread and peanut butter I put out for them days ago is still here. But yesterday I had quite a startle. I went into the diningroom to feed my fish and saw a huge hawk sitting on my deck railing and it saw me too and after looking at me out of one golden eye, it flew off. It hit me then what had maybe happened to my squirrel friends. I may have been fattening them up for the hawk's meal! And secondly, I was encouraging the squirrels to a regular and open place where they were easy prey to Mr. Hawk. My good intentions might have made the squirrels forget their instincts. I feel so bad now. :-(

My Favorite Song

Stardust

(Carmichael-Parish)

And now the purple dust of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
Now the little stars, the little stars pine
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a love that cannot die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
That melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
Ah, but that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song

Beside a garden wall
Where stars are bright
You are in my arms
That nightingale tells its fairy tale
of paradise where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
my stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.

Happy New Year from Chicago

View from Wacker Drive looking toward The Lake
(Chicago River in center)

Chicago, Chicago
That toddlin' town
Chicago, Chicago
I'll show you around, I love it
Bet your bottom dollar
You'll lose the blues
In Chicago, Chicago
The town that Billy Sunday
Could not shut down
On State Street, that great street
I just wanna say
They do thing's
They don't do on Broadway, say
They have the time
The time or their life
I saw a man
He danced with his wife
In Chicago, my home town

My Kind Of Town

(Writers: Cahn/van Heusen)
(Performer: Frank Sinatra)

This is my kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of people too
People who, smile at you

And each time I roam, Chicago is
Calling me home, Chicago is
One town that won't let you down
It's my kind of town

My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of razzmatazz
And it has, all that jazz

And each time I leave, Chicago is
Tuggin' my sleeve, Chicago is
The Wrigley Building, Chicago is
The Chicago Cubbies, Chicago is
One town that won't let you down
It's my kind of town

A Winter Walk
By D. Bowden

We walked through the park
My love and I
With the snow floating down,
And a hush all around.
The only noise heard,
Was the coo of a bird
As it fluttered down,
Down to the ground,
Into the white,
Then taking flight!
Children gave it a fright
With their laughter and noise,
Expressing their joys
And meaning no harm,
Nor to alarm,
Only wanting to play
On this cold winter's day.
My love and I
Walked through the park
With the snow floating down
And happiness around.

Winter

D. Bowden 2004

In the wee hours
Of a frosty morn
I lie coldly awake
and listen to the wind
howling in the darkness.
I hear the agonies
of lost restless souls.
Icy fingernails claw
and scratch at my window pane.

Dust if You Must

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture or write a letter,
Bake a cake or plant a seed
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there is not much time
With rivers to swim and mountains to climb.
Music to hear and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there,
with the sun in your eyes and the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain
This day will not come again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind
Old age will come and it is not kind.
And when you go, and go you must
You, yourself will make more dust

Bell Tower and Carillon of Yale University

The 54 bell Yale Memorial Carillon is the heaviest carillon in Connecticut, and, like the Trinity College carillon, was cast by the John Taylor & Co. foundry of Loughborough, England. It began as a 10 bell chime cast by Taylor in 1921 and installed when Harkness Tower was built. In 1966, 44 bells by Taylor were added to make it a full carillon. This necessitated removing all the original bells from the tower and installing a completely new frame and playing action. The addition was made possible by a gift from Florence Marcy Crofut, who also gave the money to enlarge the Trinity College carillon.

The carillon is played on a daily basis by the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs, and there is a summer series with concerts on Fridays at 7:00pm from June 21 to Aug. 16.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
1850

Season's Greetings

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.
In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.
~ Larry Wilde

Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep.

My "Pet" Squirrel

I have "adopted" a little gray squirrel and I feed it all kinds of things: breadcrumbs, walnuts, cheesepuffs, dried cranberries and raisins, etc. He comes right up on the deck and boldly looks in the patio doors, begging for food. I missed a shot of him with his little paws on the glass as he peered inside the diningroom. As soon as he saw me he ran off because he still doesn't trust me. My husband, Jon, says that if this creature, which is really a rodent (he says RAT with a bushy tail), gets into the attic or walls, it is up to ME to get the thing out and he wants nothing to do with the ordeal if it happens. It lives in a nest in a nearby tree. I HOPE he won't think to move his residence to our attic or between our walls all because I am feeding him! I will take my chances because it is so cold outside, and he is so cute. :-)

My Second Job: Amateur Mail Delivery Person

Many believe that the United States Postal Service provides the best mail delivery on the planet. In comparison to other countries, we are told by post office authorities, that the U.S. mail service delivers more letters and has a lower percentage rate for loss, theft, or damage than most other counties. If this is true, then why is it that I find myself all too frequently having to play postman and end up delivering people’s mail that I have received by mistake? My neighbors return the kindness by courteously bringing my mail to me, which was intentionally or unintentionally left in their mailboxes. The upside of all this is that we are getting to know each other better than we would have if not involved in this network of neighborhood amateur postal workers making unpaid special deliveries. (However, if I wanted a job with the postal service, I would have applied!)

UPS (otherwise known as Brown) is no better. At least the federal mail delivery person goes to each mailbox, even if he or she can’t always get the addressed mail in the corresponding boxes. UPS zooms by as fast as they can without stopping and sends the parcels flying out the door and onto your doorstep, (if you are lucky). This type of delivery system prevents the driver or the truck from being identified, making it difficult to phone and question the delivery methods of the United Postal Service. In comparison, when I phone the post office to request the carrier be more alert to the address he is delivering to, I am told that they will "talk" with the carrier. This only ticks the carrier off and makes him become even more lax with his deliveries. We have no alternatives, so what does he care? I don't know why some people are afraid of email and online communication. The problems with dealing with the postal delivery services are even more baffling than cyberspace!

Chicago Slang

Grachki (grach'-key): Chicagoese for "garage key"
as in, "Yo, Theresa, waja do wit da grachki? Howmy
supposta cut da grass if I don't git intada grach?"

Sammich: Chicagoese for sandwich. When made with
sausage, it's a sassage sammich; when made with
shredded beef, it's an Italian Beef sammich, a local
delicacy consisting of piles of spicy meat in a
perilously soggy bun.

Da: This article is a key part of Chicago speech,
as in "Da Bears" or "Da Mare" -- the latter denoting
Richard M. Daley, or Richie, as he's often called.

Jewels: Not family heirlooms or a tender body
region, but a popular name for one of the region's
dominant grocery store chains. "I'm goin' to
da Jewels to pick up some sassage."

Field's: Marshall Field, a prominent Chicago
department store. Also Carson Pirie Scott, another
major department store chain, is simply called "Carson's."

Tree: The number between two and four. "We were
lucky dat we only got tree inches of snow da udder
night."

Prairie: A vacant lot, especially one on which weeds are growing.

Over by dere: Translates to "over by there," a
way of emphasizing a site presumed familiar to the
listener. As in, "I got the sassage at da Jewels
down on Kedzie, over by dere."

KaminskiPark: The mispronounced name of the
ballpark where the Chicago White Sox (da Sox) play
baseball. Comiskey Park was recently renamed U.S.
Cellular Field (yuck!)

Frunchroom: As in, "Getottada frunchroom wit
dose muddy shoes." It's not the "parlor." It's not
the "living room." In the land of the bungalow,
it's the "frunchroom," a named derived, linguists
believe, from "front room."

Use: Not the verb, but the plural pronoun "you!”
“Wher e's use goin'?"

Downtown: Anywhere near The Lake, south of The
Zoo (Lincoln Park Zoo) and north of Soldier Field.

The Lake: Lake Michigan. (What other lake is
there?) It's often used by local weathermen, "cooler
by The Lake."

BoysTown: A section on Halsted between Belmont
and Addison which is lined with gay bars both sides
of the street. "Didn't I see use in BoysTown in
front of da Manhole?"

Braht: Short for Bratwurst. "Gimme a braht wit kraut."

Cashbox: Traffic reporter slang for tollbooths.
"Dere's a delay at da cashbox on da Skyway."

Goes: Past or present tense of the verb "say."
For example, "Then he goes, 'I like this place'!"

Guys: Used when addressing two or more people,
regardless of each individual's gender.

Pop: A soft drink. Don't say "soda" in this
town. "Do ya wanna canna pop?"

Sliders: Nickname for small, square hamburgers from White
Castle, a popular Midwestern burger chain.
"Dose sliders I had last night gave me da runs."
Also known as, "Wee Willy One-Bites"
and "belly bombs."

The Taste: The Taste of Chicago Festival, a huge
extravaganza in Grant Park featuring samples of
Chicagoland cuisine which takes place each year
around the Fourth of July holiday.

"Jieetyet?": Translates to, "Did you eat yet?"

Winter and Construction: Punch line to the joke,
"What are the two seasons in Chicago?"

Cuppa Too-Tree: is Chicagoese for "a couple,
two, three" which really means "a few." For example,
"Hey Mike, dere any beerz left in da cooler over by
dere?" "Yeh, a cuppa too-tree."

588-2300: Everyone in Chicago knows this
commercial jingle and the carpet company you'll get
if you call that number -- Empire!

Junk Djor: You will usua lly find the 'junk
drawer' in the kitchen filled to the brim with miscellaneous,
but very important, junk.

Southern Illinois: Anything south of I-80.

Expressways: The Interstates in the immediate
Chicagoland area are usually known just by their
'name' and not their Interstate number: the Dan Ryan
("da Ryan"), the Stevenson, the Kennedy, the
Eisenhower (da "Ike"), and the Edens.

Gym Shoes: The rest of the country may refer to
them as sneakers or running shoes but Chicagoans
will always call them gym shoes!

After the Storm

December 9, 2005
Photo of our deck the day after the winter day from hell.
Pretty isn't it?











Jason was the He-Man to dig us all out. This is only the beginning. We can look forward to this all the way through March.











Photo from the front door.