I'M OFFICIALLY AN OLD LADY

Therefore---

WHEN I AM AN OLD 

WOMAN I SHALL WEAR

PURPLE*

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats and things in boxes

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

When you are an old lady, you can wear purple and a red hat, too!

*No, I am not a member of the Red Hat Society. (click on link in case you want to be a member.

SONG FOR SEPTEMBER

Try to remember the kind of September

When life was slow and oh, so mellow

Try to remember the kind of September

When grass was green and grain was yellow

Try to remember the kind of September

When you were a tender and callow fellow

Try to remember and if you remember then follow

Try to remember when life was so tender

That no one wept except the willow

Try to remember when life was so tender

And dreams were kept beside your pillow

Try to remember when life was so tender

And love was an ember about to billow

Try to remember and if you remember then follow follow follow

Deep in December it's nice to remember

Although you know snow will follow

Deep in December it's nice to remember

Without a hurt the heart is hollow

Deep in December it's nice to remember

The fire of September that made us mellow

Deep in December it's nice to remember and follow

National Quilting Day and St. Patrick's Day 2018

March 17, 2918

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

and

National Quilting Day

Here are a few of mine!

Holly-Wall Hanging

Morning Glory-Wall Hanging

Purple Mountains Majesty-Wall Hanging

Heritage Quilt-Double Wedding Ring
Hand Pieced and Hand Quilted

Rescued Everything Vintage
Wall Hanging

An Hour at the Museum

We went to the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock this week to see the Mid-Southern Watercolorists Annual Juried Exhibition. It was wonderful. Especially since one of our fellow member of Brush Strokes Art Club of Hot Springs Village had a painting that was juried into the Exhibition.

Red Among Us
Marlene Gremillion
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas

Low Tide, Boothbay Harbor
Maine
John Keller
 Searcy, Arkansas

Rosco
David Lencho
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Then, we were really taken with the lobby exhibition:

I did not get the title of this piece.

Growing Up

Tasty

Well, I couldn't resist!

Could I?

DAY TRIPPING ALL THE WAY TO LITTLE ROCK

To see the Chilhuly Exhibit at the Clinton Presidential Library

White Glass Christmas Tree
A Part of the Permanent Collection
Clinton Presidential Library Little Rock Arkansas

We are still trying to figure out
how to take a 'Selfie'!

This exhibit was not as large as the first Chihuly Exhibit that we saw at The Arkansas Art Center in 1985 on the last day.  From that moment on I was a big fan of Chihuly glass.  If you ever get the chance to see one of his installations, do not pass it up!

Boston Installation

See More 'Chihuly' glass on Artsy.net

SONG FOR SUNDAY

I'd like to build the world a home

And furnish it with love

Grow apple trees and honey bees

And snow white turtle doves

I'd like to teach the world to sing

In perfect harmony

I'd like to hold it in my arms

And keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once

All standing hand in hand

And hear them echo through the hills

For peace throughout the land

That's the song I hear

Let the world sing today

A song of peace 

That echoes on

And never goes away

I'd like to teach the world to sing

In perfect harmony

I'd like to teach the world to sing

In perfect harmony

I'd like to build the world a home

And furnish it with love

Grow apple trees and honey bees

And snow white turtle doves

I'd like to teach the world to sing

In perfect harmony

I'd like to hold it in my arms

And keep it company

SONG FOR SUNDAY-FROM A DISTANCE

From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man.

From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.

From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend
what all this fighting is for.

From a distance there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,
it's the heart of every man.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves.
This is the song of every man.
And God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance.
Oh, God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance.

SONG FOR SUNDAY-AMAZING GRACE

Amazing Grace

John Newton (1725-1807)

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come;

'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.

His word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease;

I shall profess, within the vail,

A life of joy and peace.

The following stanza was written by an an anonymous author, often replacing the sixth stanza, or inserted as the fourth.

When we've been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we've first begun.

Chorus:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

SONG FOR SUNDAY

Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee! 
 E'n though it be a cross that raiseth me, 
 still all my song shall be, 
 nearer, my God, to thee; 
 nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee! 

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down, 
 darkness be over me, my rest a stone; 
 yet in my dreams I'd be 
 nearer, my God, to thee; 
 nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee! 

There let the way appear, steps unto heaven; 
 all that thou sendest me, in mercy given; 
 angels to beckon me 
 nearer, my God, to thee; 
 nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee! 

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise, 
 out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise; 
 so by my woes to be 
 nearer, my God, to thee; 
 nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee! 

or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky, 
 sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly, 
 still all my song shall be, 
 nearer, my God, to thee; 
 nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

Thoughts for Thursday

First Day of Spring

The Daffodils

William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

  That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

  A host, of golden daffodils,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

  Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

  And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

  Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

  Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

  Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;

A poet could not but be gay 

  In such a jocund company.

I gazed, and gazed, but little thought

  What wealth the show to me had brought;

For oft, when on my couch I lie

  In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

  Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

  And dances with the daffodils.

Born April 7, 1770
Died April 23, 1850

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

Thought for Thursday

The House by the 

Side of the Road

Sam Walter Foss

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn 
  In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars.,that dwell apart,
  In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
  Where highways never ran---
But let me live by the side of the road
  and be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
  Where the race of men go by---
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
  As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
  Or hurl the cynic's ban---
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
  And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road,
  By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
 The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears,
  Both parts of an infinite plan---

Let me live in a house by the side of the road

  And be a friend to man.

Mixed Media Art by Lynne Grant-Tull

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead
  And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
  And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,
  And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
  Like a man who dwells alone.

Born June 19, 1858
Died February 26, 1911

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

Thought for Thursday

Opportunity

John James Ingalls

Master of human destinies am I.

Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait,

Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate

Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by

Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late

I knock unbidden, once at every gate!

If sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before

I turn away. It is the hour of fate,

And they who follow me reach every state

Mortals desire, and conquer every foe

Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate,

condemned to failure, penury, and woe,

Seek me in vain and uselessly implore--

I answer not, and I return no more.

John James Ingalls
Born December 19, 1833
Died July 16, 1900

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

Thought for Thursday

Abou Ben Adhem

James Henry Leigh Hunt

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,

And saw, within the moonlight in his room,

Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,

An Angel writing in a book of gold:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the Presence in the room he said,

"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,

And with a look make of all sweet accord

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"

Replied the Angel.  Abou spoke more low,

But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves this fellow-men."

The Angel wrote, and vanished.  The next night

It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,

And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

James Henry Leigh Hunt

(Born October 19, 1784;

died August 28, 1859)