DowagerLadyUrsula

The fluttering of Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) butterflies and the green and white of garden Oregano. The larval stage (caterpillars) can do extensive damage to mustard and cabbage crops. They are originally a Eurasian species but were introduced accidently to Toronto a hundred or so years ago and they thrived. The song, "A Particular Sum" is by Patrick Doyle from "Sense and Sensibility" :) Comments Welcome

God gave my mother a beautiful voice and she used it to His glory. She also gave me my love of gardening. One thing I know is that God loves a garden :) Comments Welcome

My father singing the Irish standard also called "That's an Irish Lullaby" I think because noone remembers how to spell Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral :) Comments Welcome

Happy St Patrick's Day! This is my father singing The Rose of Tralee. He was a wonderful man with a lovely Irish tenor voice. He sang in church and community mostly with my mother except for the Irish songs he sang solo :) Comments Welcome

Following a heavily loaded log truck on Highway 26 running between Portland and the NW Oregon Coast, through the Clatsop and Tillamook state forests. Mostly two lane roads, some hazardous conditions in bad weather. Rousing music from the Act 1 Prelude to Bizet's opera "Carmen" :) Comments Welcome

The Cardinals and the Robins are making themselves heard above the others this early morning.There are Red-Wing Blackbirds and Sparrows as well and maybe Blue Jays. You can tell Spring is coming to the Northern latitudes :) Comments Welcome

Sunday, March 20, 2022 is going to be a GREAT day! At exactly 11:33 A.M. (EDT) our sun will cross the equator line heading NORTH! It will be the day of the Vernal Equinox . . . SPRING! Don't let the snow on the roof fool you . . . just listen to those birds. They sound very excited! :) Comments Welcome

The rugged NW Oregon Coast. The cold (54 degrees) Pacific Ocean, cool sands and winds backed by the Cascade Range make this an unforgettable experience. If you want to sunbathe go in July and August. Accompaniment Massenet Thais Meditation :) Comments Welcome

Chinese Almond Cookies . . . you cannot eat just one. With the famous secret ingredient . . . if I tell you I will have to kill you . . . but . . . they are to die for. And that is the entro to Jiminy Cricket's "When You Wish Upon A Star" :) Comments Welcome

The great American poet, Robert Frost recites his grand poem, a favorite of people at home and abroad. The work of Robert Lee Frost was published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life, Frost frequently wrote about settings in New England in the early 20th century. He was born March 26, 1874 in San Francisco,Calif. He passed away Jan 29, 1963 :) Comments Welcome

From the Van Gogh exhibit at the Art Institute (Chicago). Vincent van Gogh wanted a place where artists could live without care and delve into their art and an exchange of ideas. He was strongly influenced by the music of the times (1888) especially by Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. He wrote to Paul Gauguin, "Ah! my dear friend, to make of painting what the music of Berlioz and Wagner has been before us... a consolatory art for distressed hearts! There are as yet only a few who feel it as you and I do!!!" Music is Belioz' "The Trojans: Royal Hunt and Storm :) Comments Welcome

A nice warm bath in the sunshine. Music from Disney's "Cinderella" in 1950, "So this is love" sung by Ilene Woods and Mike Douglas :) Comments Welcome

A rainy night and a freight train through the Buffalo-Depew NY station. Waiting for the Amtrak to Chicago's Union Station. It's the midnight special. Song is Chinquapin played for us by the Evil City String Band :) Comments Welcome

Blue skies and open fields. Away from it all and loving it. One car comes along and you know who it is. It's a good feeling. You know your neighbor's kids and dogs and it's not very far to town. Mozart's Serenade #13 in G :) Comments Welcome

Driving Portland,Oregon west over the Burnside Bridge and up Burnside Street from the Willamette River past Powell's Books at 10th avenue. Just over the bridge we pass the old White Stag sign and the Portland Temple where Jesus indeed did a lot of saving. On the left "Big Pink" and further on the right, the NW "Park Blocks" and the "old phone company bldg" on the left where many Oregonians spent years of gainful employment with "Ma Bell". A great road. "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" by the Fred Waring orchestra and chorus :) Comments Welcome

Black Mamba and Hot Chocolate are old friends. They are Newfoundlands and they wash each others ears and you never find one without the other. The song is by Randy Newman from Disney's "Toy Story" :) Comments Welcome

The Ice Bucket Challenge! A lot of people had a lot of fun and raised a lot of money (approx $115 million) for a very good cause (ALS research). The American people are capable of so much kindness and generosity. We need to be focused now on what is worthwhile. Background music from "My Fair Lady" :) Comments Welcome

Camouflaged in an old tree (with interesting sun spots) lives a toad. Accompanied by a sprightly classical piano number but I can't remember the name of it :) :) Comments Welcome

February 9, 2020 and a full moon, called the Snow Moon. It is the second full moon of the year following the Wolf Moon which we see in January. Although both January and March experience snow, February is known as the month with the heaviest snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere. This Snow Moon is accompanied by "Michael's Lullaby" :) Comments Welcome

Disgusting. I left a Ladybeetle on the Milkweed leaves (to combat the aphids) but didn't see the Ladybeetle's eggs. They hatched . . . small, voracious carnivores devouring the Monarch Butterfly chrysalis :( Background music Circle of Life from Bibbidi Bobbidi Bach :) Comments Welcome

Fun in the snow and "The 12 Days of Christmas" by the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble. The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on Christmas day and runs through January 6, the Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day :) Comments Welcome

The beautiful, creative music of the holidays, both the sacred and secular . . . hate to see it go. Eartha Kitt's rendition of "Santa Baby" is a longtime favorite and as a mature adult I now fully appreciate the words and her style. Ms Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Her mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school to work in a Brooklyn factory. As a teenager, Kitt lived in friends' homes and in the subways. However, by the 1950s, she had sung and danced her way out of poverty and into the spotlight :) Comments Welcome

In a cornfield in the heartland . . . your imagination can run free. In 1936, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned to write a musical symphony for children. The intent was to introduce children to the individual instruments of the orchestra as well as promoting desired "pioneer" virtues such as vigilance, bravery and resourcefulness. The piece also illustrates Soviet themes such as the stubbornness of the un-Bolshevik older generation (the grandfather) and the triumph of Man (Peter) taming Nature (the wolf). Each character of this tale is represented by a corresponding instrument in the orchestra: the bird by a flute, the duck by an oboe, the cat by a clarinet, the grandfather by a bassoon, the wolf by three horns, Peter by the string quartet, the shooting of the hunters by the kettle and bass drum :) Comments Welcome

A "disco" morning at Starbuck's. At the end of the first fiscal quarter of 2019, Starbucks owned or operated 29,865 stores worldwide . . . . meanwhile a little pup waits for just the "right" person to come out that door. Donna Summer's "I Will Survive" seems totally fitting :) Comments Welcome

A Big Band take on a great Christmas Classic. And a big maple tree takes it completely in stride. :) Comments Welcome