I am so happy to participate in Sprite Write’s Virtual Advent Tour again! This is my third year of joining with Sprite to spread some Advent Cheer as we count down the days to Christmas! Thank you, Sprite for including me again this year!
Today, I want to share with you a bit of a childhood memory – Firestone Christmas Albums.
In the 60’s and 70’s the Firestone Tire store sold the most amazing Christmas albums (for the whopping price of $1.00) and I remember sitting in the car while my mom ran into the Firestone store on Pine Avenue in Holland to get the latest album.
The albums had the best music sung by varied artists – these albums were my first taste at hearing the Vienna Boys Choir and the Columbus Boychoir, and opera singers like Roberta Peters, Risë Stevens, Leontyne Price… and Mary Poppins…err Julie Andrews, Gordon MacRae, The New Christy Minstrals, and Harry Belafonte!
I can remember getting home from school and loading a stack of records onto the stereo (which was the most behemoth piece of furniture!) and singing along with them – for hours on end! Which was made easier as all the lyrics were printed on the back of each album.
I can remember my sister getting so angry with me and threatening me with great bodily harm if I sung one more word! Ahhh, yes… the best of times! Haha!
I knew that I could find some of the albums on YouTube but imagine my delight when I discovered a Firestone Christmas Album playlist on Spotify!! Friday night Happy Hour was a bit happier thanks to this playlist!
The joy of childhood memories – maybe not such simple times but made sweeter thanks to music.
What about you? Do you have Christmas Music Memories? Please share them, I’d love to hear about them!
Bonny stirred my interest last week with her review of Fox 8 – luckily my library had it and on Saturday I picked it up with a few other books, including a volume of Ted Kooser’s poetry (Thanks, Honoré!!)
I have been reading and rereading the poems in Delights & Shadows… and they are wonderful! This is a book I have added to my “need to buy” list!
I share some words for thought today from Delights & Shadows:
A Jar of Buttons by Ted Kooser
This is a core sample
from the floor of the Sea of Mending,
a cylinder packed with shells
that over many years
sank through fathoms of shirts —
pearl buttons, blue buttons —
and settled together
beneath waves of perseverance,
an ocean upon which
generations of women set forth,
under the sails of gingham curtains,
and, seated side by side
on decks sometimes salted by tears,
made small but important repairs.
This morning SwissMissshared this… which made me stop and think, especially at this suggestion, “Next time I book a trip I might book it around a library I want to see.”Umm… YES! That! And, so I had to Google libraries to visit, which brought up these interesting lists:
Today’s is all about things I think you should not miss.
Thing One:
Unequal Scenes has some dramatically striking images. Looking at the images these words of Nelson Mandela are equally striking at how poorly we are doing at this: We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity, and power in our society.
I hope you all had the best of holidays with family and friends! It was a gloriously long weekend, but I am very happy that Steve is back at work today! Because I did not even think about a blog post at all over the weekend, I thought I’d share some random tidbits that have either crossed my screen or have been drifting around in my brain recently! And, sorry in advance for the long post!
Has anyone beside me been lamenting the microscopic print on food packaging? To solve this dilemma, I have placed a pair of readers conveniently on the window ledge in the kitchen. But, really… is normal print size too much to ask for?
The Great Christmas Tree Debate came to its fruition over the weekend with the purchase of a smaller footprint tree! The Home Depot Black Friday Sale was the tipping point… unexpected sale FTW!
Heidi texted me Friday night asking ‘how hard would it be to make…’ which meant a quick trip to Joann’s on Saturday morning to get the things needed to make a fleece car seat poncho. A Google search found a free pattern on YouTube that will just need a couple minor modifications!
The knitting of Blaer has halted as the elbow aggravator seems to be purling. I have not stopped knitting entirely though because I did manage to cast on a pair of mittens that I worked briefly this weekend.
In a somewhat related thought, I have put one thing on my list of Intentions for 2019… learn how to knit and purl in the Continental-style in hopes of curtailing this elbow irritation! I know how, but what I need to practice is keeping the tension even!
In the cuteness overload category, did you see the Little Red Long Johns? I am in love with them and think these are the most adorable things yet this holiday season!
Football was so painful on Saturday with Michigan’s loss to Ohio State. So painful. And, I am still not recovered! Way to go from #4 to #8 in one stinking game Michigan! Ouch!
There were some glorious moments of sunshine on Sunday which helped the exterior Christmas Explosion tremendously. Although, you’d think we never saw the sun this year as we achieved #2 for wettest year on record and with 34 more days this year, is the #1 spot achievable?
We have some odd changes to our recycling program starting January 1…they are reducing the number of items we can recycle including a dramatic decrease in the plastics allowed and the removal of all glass from the recycling list. What?? I have not yet determined what I will do with these items, but I think it will merit a call to my state representatives – perhaps it is time for PA to get on board with a bottle deposit!!
That’s all I have for this Mon-uesday! See you back here tomorrow for the last Unraveled Wednesday of November!
Since reading The Overstory, I have been more fixated on trees and really thinking much about this brilliant story that Richard Powers wrote. Recently, when I was flipping through a compilation of Derek Walcott’s poetry, I was struck by this poem and though I have not spent much time in eastern Pennsylvania, I can distinctly hear what he writes about.
I think this poem fits perfectly for Thanksgiving as well and perhaps this week when you are outside you will listen to the beautiful “mute roar of autumn” with deep gratitude.
Pastoral by Derek Walcott
In the mute roar of autumn, in the shrill treble of the aspens, the basso of the holm-oaks, in the silvery wandering aria of the Schuylkill, the poplars choiring with a quillion strokes, find love for what is not your land, a blazing country in eastern Pennsylvania with the DVD going in the rented burgundy Jeep, in the inexhaustible bounty of fall with the image of Eakins’ gentleman rowing in his slim skiff whenever the trees divide to reveal a river’s serene surprise, flowing through snow-flecked birches where Indian hunters glide. The country has caught fire from the single spark of a prophesying preacher, its embers glowing, its clouds are smoke in the onrushing dark a holocaust crackles in this golden oven in which tribes were consumed, a debt still owing, while a white country spire insists on heaven.
I hope your Thanksgiving preparations are going smoothly and whether you are traveling or are receiving travelers – may those travels be safe.
I will see you back here tomorrow for Unraveled Wednesday!
