Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

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  “La Vie en Rose” is a song that expresses the bliss of being in love.  It brims with pure emotion and beautiful sentiment.  To me, it’s one of the loveliest songs ever written.  “La Vie en Rose” or the English translation, Life Through Rosy Pink Glasses, was released as a single in 1947 by French singer, Édith Piaf and is one of her most famous and beloved songs. Édith Piaf, also known as “The Little Sparrow,” became an icon of France during World War II.  She was a symbol of French passion and tenacity.  Piaf’s signature song was about finding love after a trying time, and many people saw it as an anthem of hope as it was released shortly after the end of World War II. “La Vie en Rose” is about a state where everything appears rosy and cheerful because of being in love; thus, creating a feeling of “wearing rose-colored glasses.” When I hear it, I think of it as something more.  It isn’t just a song about romance; it’s an anthem of love for life, especially when everything around you is considered a source of joy. Here’s the thing:  Life through rosy pink glasses isn’t about being foolishly optimistic. Instead, it’s about a state of bliss, where one is truly able to see things in a positive light.  So, here’s to life in pink! “La Vie en Rose” performed by Catherine Carraway Quartet

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Art

The Weekly Bleat

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“By the River,” 11 x 14 acrylic on canvas   A heartfelt thank you to my friend, Donna as well as my art teacher, Mrs. W for their helpful input and kind encouragement on my latest painting.     “An extraordinary dream by Lord Charles Wellesley. (Charlotte Bronte) ‘In this slumber I thought I was walking on the banks of […]

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Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

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“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day When it’s cold outside I’ve got the month of May…”   ~The Temptations   Well, we haven’t exactly had a typical warm and cheerful month of May around these parts, but today is fair and beautiful.  And, all of the rain has made my New Dawn climbing rose the loveliest it’s ever been. […]

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Reflections on Farm Life

An Expression of Perseverance

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Originally posted on fourth generation farmgirl:
As a speech and language pathologist, I’ve worked in a number of settings, including hospital, public school, and private clinic.  I’ve also worked with adults as well as children.  Although I enjoy working with people of all ages with varying speech and language issues, I find that working with children is especially enriching and rewarding.  Children who have limited communication skills are typically identified and treated for their speech or language delays between the ages of two and eight; this is usually due to having difficulty expressing themselves effectively and/or having limited understanding of language.  Children who have delayed speech and language skills may also demonstrate challenging behaviors, such as, tantrums, hitting, and biting. In my opinion, behavior IS communication; and, for many children without effective communication skills, it’s their only method of expressing themselves.  After all, not being able to tell someone we’re hungry or really need to use the bathroom may just evoke a kicking and screaming fit from us as well.  It is my job to help these students by providing opportunities to learn speech and language in a meaningful way.  This may include instruction on sound, syllable, and word production as well as language treatment, including sign language and other forms of augmentative communication.  This is sometimes easier said than done; as I mentioned earlier, there may be challenging behaviors to overcome. When I first began working in this profession, I…

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Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

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  The Tuesday Tune for today’s post is one of my favorite hymns.  “For the Beauty of the Earth” is a Christian hymn by Folliott S. Pierpoint, M.A. (1835-1917).  Folliott was born at Spa Villa in Bath, England and was educated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, graduating in classical honours in 1871.  “For the Beauty of the Earth” was first published […]

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Family Homeplace

Green Hill Farm: A Retrospective #3 — Faith

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This is the third and last of the Retrospectives on restoring my family’s home.  Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂 Looking back on the experience of saving my family’s homeplace, I’ve realized that not only was it a gesture of love, but more importantly, it was an act of faith. Faith, or wearing my rose-colored glasses as I like to say, sustained us through difficult times and propelled us forward. I don’t know where we would have been without it. At the beginning of this journey, shortly after my parents offered us the homeplace, my mom and I took a walk through the house. I remember walking through the dark, dimly lit downstairs hallway, the musty smell of rooms left undisturbed for too long, and cobwebs carefully covering yesterday’s treasures. I remember slowly climbing the stairs, counting each one as I went up. It made me think of Granddaddy. He once shared a story of the time his Grandmother Rieley visited when he was just a boy; she asked, “John, how many steps are there?” He quickly replied, “16!” He told me that he knew the answer because of the many, many times he had carried firewood up these very same stairs. So, after climbing all 16 steps and arriving at the top, I began to look around. Metal and plastic buckets, and maybe even a pot or two, sat strategically placed to catch any drips of water. I glanced around […]

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Friday Farm Favorites

Friday Farm Favorites: The Beginning of a Journey

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Green Hill Farm: A Retrospective #2 — Perseverance   “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Lao Tzu (c 604 bc–c 531 bc) Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64 There’s a sign that hangs in our vestibule or small covered porch that reads “PERSEVERANCE,” and it’s been our mantra since moving to Green Hill Farm.  Farmguy and I were in our early 30s when we decided to take on this project. Sometimes when we look back at pictures we say, “WHAT in the world were we thinking? Were we INSANE?!!” Whatever the answer, it was the path taken. This path has lead us on a journey that has been difficult and challenging at times but rewarding and enriching, too. Anyway, we all know that anything worthwhile isn’t easy. Which brings me to the next piece of our story.  The first day we visited the house after construction started was surreal. It was a hot, humid day in June, and the grass was starting to need cutting. I could smell the fragrance of something blooming that I didn’t recognize, and the wrens were singing away–weedeater, weedeater, weedeater, tweet! As I walked toward the house and started to process what I was seeing, I felt sick to my stomach. The large, white columns that had stoically stood sentinel in front of the house had been removed from the front porch; and where they’d majestically once stood, skinny, dark, wooden […]

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Poetry

The Weekly Bleat

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A Prayer In Spring ~ Robert Frost *Read at the Dedication of John F. Kennedy Park, May 29, 1987   Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year.   Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.   And make us happy in the darting bird That suddenly above the bees is heard, The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, And off a blossom in mid air sands still.   For this is love and nothing else is love, The which it is reserved for God above To sanctify to what far ends He will, But which it only needs that we fulfill.

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