ease on down the road...

Sometimes the holidays bring extra stress instead of extra comfort and good cheer.  Memories of loved ones who have passed are especially poignant at this time of year, and I think we can all agree the news around the world hasn't been uplifting the last few months.  Political diatribe, violence all around the globe, terror abroad and at home...it's all enough to make me want to crawl back into bed with an old familiar book and escape through fiction back to a less troubled time.  

So today I'm just sharing a happy memory from the past--nothing heavy, nothing serious.  Just a moment of lighthearted fun, because sometimes that's what we need to keep a smile on our face and our feet pointed in the right direction.  I think every family has their favorite movies--the ones you watch over and over, play the soundtrack in the car until you know all the lyrics, and certain lines become part of your family's lexicon.  Such a movie for us is The Wiz, a 1978 urban re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz with an African-American cast including Diana Ross, Nipsy Russell, Michael Jackson, and the indomitable Lena Horne as Glinda, the Good Witch.  

We love the infectious, toe-tapping music and the amazing choreography--no matter what you think of Michael Jackson's personal life, he was an amazing dancer and never better than as the naive and enthusiastic scarecrow that accompanies Dorothy on her quest to return home.  When the kids would start to squabble, I would find myself telling them sternly "Don't nobody bring me no bad news..."

No bad news
No bad news
Don't you ever bring me no bad news
'Cause I'll make you an offer, child
That you cannot refuse
So don't nobody bring me no bad news

When a vacation trip seemed extra long you could usually count on one us starting to hum "ease on down, ease on down the road...."

Come on and
Ease on down, ease on down the road
Come on, ease on down
Ease on down the road
Don't you carry nothing
That might be a load
Come on, ease on down
Ease on down, down the road

In fact, my husband loved the movie so much he used it in his orchestra curriculum.  Students watched the movie, discussing themes about home and believing in yourself and courage and resilience, and then performing the songs in class.  We've heard from so many of his students over the years how much they enjoyed watching this production and all the discussions about the magic within each of us--the magic to be our very best, to find our own path, to find our own happiness that is buried deep within each of us.  

If you believe
Within your heart you'll know
That no one can change
The path that you must go
Believe what you feel
And know you're right, because
The time will come around
When you say it's yours
Believe in yourself, right from the start
You'll have brains
You'll have a heart
You'll have courage
To last your whole life through

So when our good friends who threw spectacular Halloween parties announced a few years ago that the party theme for that year would be The Wizard of Oz...oh man.  We. Were. Pumped. Up.  Of course we had to watch the movie again and then the kids all created their own costumes.  We practiced a family dance routine to Ease on Down the Road and set off to the party, giggling in anticipation.

 
We rang the doorbell, and then eased on in the house with my husband's boombox blaring out the music while we all jived our way into the living room... 

Cowardly lion, Glinda the Good Witch, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Dorothy and the Emerald City gatekeeper!

where we were met with confused faces by the all white crowd, who had clearly never seen this version!! Oops!  We quickly filled them in and a good time was had by all.  A great memory--one that always makes me smile.  

With our party host, the flying monkey...

And tonight NBC is presenting The Wiz in a live production with a new all-star cast, including Queen Latifah, Mary Blige and Stephanie Mills.  We may not be in costume, but we will definitely be watching, singing along to the beautiful song Home...

When I think of home
I think of a place where there's love overflowing
I wish I was home
I wish I was back there with the things I been knowing
Wind that makes the tall trees bend into leaning
Suddenly the snowflakes that fall have a meaning
Sprinklin' the scene, makes it all clean

And I've learned
That we must look inside our hearts
To find a world full of love
Like yours
Like me

Like home... 

Have a good day, my friends.  God bless you all.

What a wonderful weekend!  Thanksgiving at my son and daughter-in-law's, complete with all my family.  One big circle of love--my heart overflowed with love and gratitude for all our blessings.

And now today my husband and I celebrate thirty-three years of marriage...I am truly grateful, thankful and and blessed!  

Such a special day calls for a very special poem, and poet Mary Oliver comes through again with words that may come from her pen, but resonate forever in my heart...

I Have Just Said

I have just said

something

ridiculous to you

and in response,

your glorious laughter.

These are the days

the sun 

is swimming back

to the east

and the light on the water

gleams

as never, it seems, before.

I can't remember 

every spring,

I can't remember 

everything---

so many years!

Are the morning kisses

the sweetest 

or the evenings

or the inbetweens?

All I know

is that "thank you" should appear

somewhere.

So, just in case

I can't find

the perfect place---

"Thank you, thank you."

And with the final poem found on my thankful banner, we bid adieu to the lovely poems of autumn, as winter is scheduled to arrive later today!  William Blake's To Autumn personifies autumn as a newborn, the offspring of summer.  The poet invites the season to recount the glories of its maternal summer--the lusty songs of fruits and flowers. But even though young, autumn's time is fleeting and as winter approaches the beautiful season of fruit and grape must prepare for the arrival of winter, fleeing over the bleak hills and out of sight. 

Oh Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

“The narrow bud opens her beauties to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hand round the brows of Morning, and
Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,
Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,
And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.

“The spirits of the air live in the smells
Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round
The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”
Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak
Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

My garden sang this song all summer...while feather'd clouds strew flowers round her head.

but oh, what a difference a few weeks can make, as autumn prepares to flee!

While I was putting these pictures together, taken in July and again in November, Robert Frost's poem My November Guest came to mind and seemed apropos...

My Sorrow, when she’s here with me,
     Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
     She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
     She talks and I am fain to list:
She’s glad the birds are gone away,
She’s glad her simple worsted gray
     Is silver now with clinging mist.

 

The desolate, deserted trees,
     The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
     And vexes me for reason why.

 

Not yesterday I learned to know
     The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
     And they are better for her praise.

The very last rose of "summer"...November 2015

But even as autumn's breezes turn into wintry gales later this afternoon, I remain thankful for all my blessings!  And please remember...

Today is a good day for a good day!

...will lead my steps aright

“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,” said Margaret, standing at the window one dull afternoon, looking out at the frostbitten garden.  (Louisa May Alcott, Little Women)

View of my backyard this morning from my bedroom window...

Blech.  I think I'll let the picture speak for itself...it's definitely the type of morning where I'd rather still be in bed!  But I was able to eventually crawl out from under the warm comforter and face the day, thanks to a nice hot cup of coffee and a cheerful phone conversation with my daughter!  Hearing a loved one's voice is a perfect start to the day--it even makes the cold rain more bearable.  

I was also eager to get up and share this story with you today about my recent visit to my uncle's home in Indiana--I love it when a story goes full circle.

 

 My grandparents with my Uncle Phil

While we were visiting with my aunt and uncle I was recalling some of my favorite memories of my grandmother, and how I loved listening to her recite a poem that fit the day or mood.  I was so impressed with how many beautiful poems she had memorized and could recite at the drop of a hat.  My uncle laughed and told the story of how he expressed his frustration over his studies one day, confessing to her that he was struggling to memorize all the lines of the poem To a Waterfowl.  My uncle recalled that my grandmother looked at him, smiled, and then recited the whole poem on the spot.  The cool thing was...my uncle was then able to recite the poem to me.  No wonder I love poetry so much! 

 My grandmother with my Uncle Phil and Aunt Freda on their wedding day--I'm sure she had a special poem ready!

But of course the story doesn't end with my uncle's recitation--impressive as that was.  No, in a beautifully serendipitous circle when I returned home and decided to blog about the poems I chose for my thankful banner I took another look at the "u" page, which I had chosen because it had Thanatopsis on it, my grandmother's favorite poem.  But wait...what poem was printed just above Thanatopsis, also penned by William Cullen Bryant??  You guessed it, and here it is for you today.  Sometimes, even in spite of raindrops and gloomy weather, life is just about perfect.

 

To a Waterfowl

   Whither, ‘midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
   Thy solitary way?

   Vainly the fowler’s eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
   Thy figure floats along.

   Seek’st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
   On the chafed ocean side?

   There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,--
The desert and illimitable air,--
   Lone wandering, but not lost.

   All day thy wings have fanned,
At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
   Though the dark night is near.

   And soon that toil shall end;
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
   Soon, o’er thy sheltered nest.

   Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
   And shall not soon depart.

   He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
   Will lead my steps aright.

so live...sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust

Sometimes, when the world has seemed to go to pieces and inexplicable tragedy and horror befalls innocent people, I grapple with what to write.  What could I possibly say that hasn't already been voiced, in words far more eloquent and resonant than mine? At the end of the day I can only offer up a prayer that those who have lost can find consolation, that those who witnessed the horror can find the strength to move past it and not let it define the rest of their lives, that those who continue to live in turmoil and fear can hang on and trust that there are good people in the world, people who fight tirelessly for peace.  

Today I am thankful for the German musician who understood the healing power of music.  Traveling four hundred miles from his home to Paris he set up his portable piano and played John Lennon's Imagine for the crowd.

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

And in the midst of all this terror and grief, I hope we can find time to reflect on all the things we have to be thankful about this season--our homes, our families, all the blessings that fill our hearts and our homes with love.  We're almost through the thankful banner, and today's poem is found on the letter "u".  It happens to have been my grandmother's favorite poem, and now that I am a grandmother myself I understand the power and beauty of a grandmother's love.  She taught farm children Latin and calculus in an Indiana one room schoolhouse, and inspired us all with her love of poetry and recitation.  Every time I enjoy a poem or hear one of my children recite, I am filled with gratitude for the gifts she bestowed upon us.  

This poem seems so appropriate today, after the horrors of the last week.  Go forth, under the open sky, and list to Nature's teachings... Let us take Bryant's counsel and live our lives with good intent and purpose.  

Thanatopsis
~~William Cullen Bryant

     To him who in the love of Nature holds   

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks   

A various language; for his gayer hours   

She has a voice of gladness, and a smile   

And eloquence of beauty, and she glides   

Into his darker musings, with a mild   

And healing sympathy, that steals away   

Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts   

Of the last bitter hour come like a blight   

Over thy spirit, and sad images   

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,   

And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,   

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart;—   

Go forth, under the open sky, and list   

To Nature’s teachings, while from all around—

Earth and her waters, and the depths of air—

Comes a still voice—

                                       Yet a few days, and thee   

The all-beholding sun shall see no more   

In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,   

Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears,   

Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist   

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim   

Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,

And, lost each human trace, surrendering up   

Thine individual being, shalt thou go   

To mix for ever with the elements,   

To be a brother to the insensible rock   

And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain   

Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak   

Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.  

     Yet not to thine eternal resting-place   

Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish   

Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down   

With patriarchs of the infant world—with kings,   

The powerful of the earth—the wise, the good,  

Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,   

All in one mighty sepulchre.   The hills   

Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,—the vales   

Stretching in pensive quietness between;   

The venerable woods—rivers that move   

In majesty, and the complaining brooks   

That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,   

Old Ocean’s gray and melancholy waste,—   

Are but the solemn decorations all   

Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,   

The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,   

Are shining on the sad abodes of death,   

Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread   

The globe are but a handful to the tribes   

That slumber in its bosom.—Take the wings   

Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,   

Or lose thyself in the continuous woods   

Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,   

Save his own dashings—yet the dead are there:   

And millions in those solitudes, since first   

The flight of years began, have laid them down   

In their last sleep—the dead reign there alone.

So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw   

In silence from the living, and no friend   

Take note of thy departure? All that breathe   

Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh

When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care   

Plod on, and each one as before will chase   

His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave   

Their mirth and their employments, and shall come

And make their bed with thee. As the long train   

Of ages glide away, the sons of men,   

The youth in life’s green spring, and he who goes   

In the full strength of years, matron and maid,   

The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man— 

 

Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,   

By those, who in their turn shall follow them.  

     So live, that when thy summons comes to join   

The innumerable caravan, which moves   

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take   

His chamber in the silent halls of death,   

Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,   

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed   

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,   

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch   

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who are victims of senseless terrorism.
May I never lose my sense of gratitude for the things I sometimes take for gratitude--for the opportunity to let my family and friends know how much I love them today, and always.

Today is a good day for a good day.

and the night shall be filled with music

(I wrote this blog last night, but since I am up at 4:30 am (why?why?why?) it seems extra fitting--it won't be light for at least another hour!  I am thankful for many things, but right now I would have been extra thankful for a few more hours of sleep...).  Also---I couldn't fix all my formatting problems with this post!  No matter how many times I adjusted line spacing and text size some of the post was just not cooperating, so my motto for today is progress, not perfection..

As we continue working our way through the poems on the thankful banner in my dining room, the letter "f" today is offering not one but two poems which seem pretty darn appropriate at the moment.  While I might enjoy a little more sunshine as I get ready for work in the morning, I'll confess I don't find much to revel in as I exit my work garage at the end of the day only to meet darkness. The clock may read 5:15 pm, but my inner clock is clamoring for comfort food (meatloaf and mashed potatoes, anyone?), comfy pajamas and a book to crawl into bed with!  But if the night comes too quickly, at least having Longfellow around makes it a little easier!

Henry's first poem (I've read his work for so many years that surely we're on a first name basis by now!), Day is Done, was written in 1844 as a preface to an anthology of poems called The Waif.  Longfellow selected his favorite poems by other writers and compiled them into this book, adding this particular poem as an introduction.  I think one of the things I love most about Longfellow's work is that he wanted poetry to be part of our everyday lives--poems don't have to be so complex and fraught with meanings that the average reader can't figure out what they mean.  He wrote poems that you could memorize because of the lovely language and rhythm, poems that could bring you comfort at the end of the day.  Poems that could lighten the heaviness of the world.

Day is Done

The day is done, and the darkness

      Falls from the wings of Night,

As a feather is wafted downward

      From an eagle in his flight. 

I see the lights of the village

      Gleam through the rain and the mist,

And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me

      That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,

      That is not akin to pain,

And resembles sorrow only

      As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,

      Some simple and heartfelt lay,

That shall soothe this restless feeling,

      And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,

      Not from the bards sublime,

Whose distant footsteps echo

      Through the corridors of Time. 

For, like strains of martial music,

      Their mighty thoughts suggest

Life's endless toil and endeavor;

      And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,

      Whose songs gushed from his heart,

As showers from the clouds of summer,

      Or tears from the eyelids start; 

Who, through long days of labor,

      And nights devoid of ease,

Still heard in his soul the music

      Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet

      The restless pulse of care,

And come like the benediction

      That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume

      The poem of thy choice,

And lend to the rhyme of the poet

      The beauty of thy voice. 

And the night shall be filled with music,

      And the cares, that infest the day,

Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,

      And as silently steal away.

    Over the weekend I had the chance to see the 75th anniversary movie of Disney's Fantasia on big screen.  It was so enjoyable listening to some of my very favorite pieces, with the remarkable and visionary animation that brings the music to life. I found it astonishing to think how all that art work was created 75 years ago...long before computers!  Every time I watch the last segment of the movie where the pulsing, whirling music of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain gives way to Schubert's plaintive Ave Maria, I always think of the last lines of Day is Done.  ...and the cares that infest the day...(shall) silently steal away.

New Orleans Botanical Garden, November 2014--a grand setting for Longfellow's  
Hymn to the Night

Aspasie, trillistos.

I heard the trailing garments of the Night

      Sweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light

      From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might,

      Stoop o'er me from above;

The calm, majestic presence of the Night,

      As of the one I love.

I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,

      The manifold, soft chimes,

That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,

      Like some old poet's rhymes.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight air

      My spirit drank repose;

The fountain of perpetual peace flows there, —

      From those deep cisterns flows.

O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear

      What man has borne before!

Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,

      And they complain no more.

Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!

      Descend with broad-winged flight,

The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,

      The best-beloved Night!

All other photos from Door County camping trips

But at the moment, we can't revel in the night music but must greet the day!  I hope your day is blessed with the simple things that bring you comfort and make you smile, and remember..

Today is a good day for a good day!