An untitled poem

Back to poems today, this one, untitled and unattributed found among my grandmother’s papers:

She thought when night had finally ended day.
Dear Lord tonight I am too tired to pray
And wearily she closed her eyes in sleep.
Slipping far into the shadows deep.

Up in Heaven the dear Lord heard and smiled
Today she soothed a little crying child.
She stopped her work to take old Ella Koop
A fragrant warming bowl of her good soup.
Her house was orderly, her garden tended
Her children fed, their clothes all clean and mended.

Her husband home from work found happiness
And quiet peace in her deep gentleness.
The dear Lord smiled again
Too tired to pray,
Her hands have offered Prayer of love all day.

Edit: I’ve done some searching, which I should have done beforehand, I suppose. It would appear that this poem is entitled Too Tired To Pray and was written by Jane Coffin. There are some quotation marks in the original which really make a bit more sense of the poem, but I’ve left it as my grandmother typed it up.

Seven Social Graces, and a Picture

Taking a break from poems today, these two presumably come from the sunpaper in Baltimore:

Q – You once listed seven social graces for children which I kept for a long time. I wish you would write more about manners for children and give us this list again with explanations.
My children are reaching the point where they need this kind of guidance and I am not always sure myself what to tell them.

A – Here are those seven social graces for children.  Clip them out.  In subsequent columns I will take one point at a time.

1 – How to greet and take leave of others

2 – How to express thanks.

3 – How to excuse themselves or express regret.

4 – How and for what to give praise.

5 – How to carry on and end a conversation.

6 – How to conduct themselves in public places.

7 – How to make themselves physically presentable.

Unfortunately, I have yet to locate the rest of these columns, else I would post them (and will if I find them).

Next up, a picture I scanned in.  This one has my grandfather in it.  It’s right in front of the Baltimore Gas and Electric building where he used to work. A local Lutheran church had released balloons with messages from people who had donated money towards ending world hunger. Guess it didn’t work, but I like the picture.

The Bentztown Bard

Continuing in my series of poems and the like from papers recieved from my grandmother’s apartment when she went into hospice:

Folger McKinsey, the Bentztown Bard, wrote a column in the Baltimore Sun called Good Morning from 1906 to 1948.  It was so popular that it was reprinted for some time afterward.  This column consisted of poems, and my grandmother had clipped a few and saved them. Each column began with the following poem, written by Carlotta Perry:

It was only a glad “Good Morning”
As she passed along the way.
But it spread the morning’s glory
Over the livelong day!

The poems are here.

More information on B.B. is here.

Bread Upon The Waters

Amongst my grandmother’s papers, a letter an poem to my great-grandfather upon my great-grandmother’s death.  Letter and poem after the jump.  I have retained all spelling errors from the original.

A Message from Paradise

The first poem found in my grandmother’s papers:

A Message from Paradise

What mean you by this weeping
To break my very heart?
We both are in God’s keeping
And therefore cannot part.

You there – I here – though severed
We still at heart are one;
I only just in sunshine,
The shadows scarcely gone.

What if the clouds surround you,
You can the brightness see;
‘Tis only “just a little way”
That leads from you to me.

I was so very weary,
Surely you cannot mourn
That I a little sooner
Should lay my burden down.

Then weep not, weep not, darling, -
God wipes away all tears;
‘Tis only “just a little while”
Though you may call it years.

–Adelaide Proctor

How to put your thoughts on paper

My grandmother went in to hospice a week or two ago, and being as I took interest in the subject, she’s given me the collection of genealogy paperwork she’s built up over the years (and there’s a ton of it).  Amongst the birth, marriage, and death certificates, she had stashed all sorts of other papers, including recipes, poems, and this gem:  a booklet written by Theodore Irwin for the General Motors personnel staff entitled How to put your thoughts on paper.

I absolutely love the art style in this book, and the pointers it has towards writing are good too.  I’ve scanned it and posted it to flickr so that you may enjoy it also.  It was written in 1959, and I haven’t been able to find a renewal for it’s copyright, so I believe it to be in the public domain now.  If it is not, let me know and I’ll take it down.  Click on the front cover for the flickr set, or go past the jump for clickable links to each page.  Oh, and as for the poems and recipes, stay tuned.  As I try to get all of this stuff organized, I will be posting some of them here.

Music to keep you warm this winter

I don’t know why, but I recently started looking for more music again, this time mostly of the medieval and rennasiance variety (mainy because that’s what I prefer to play on the mandolin, and it’s good for inspiration).

So now I shall share with you the fruits of my efforts, in no particular order:

• Rayneke (Website)   (Myspace)
• Warsang (Website)  (Myspace)
• Murkeley (Website)   (Myspace)
• OmDuLö (Myspace)
• BraAges (Website)   (Myspace)
• Les Dragons Du Cormyr (Myspace)
• Gjallarhorn (Website)   (Myspace)
• Gny (Website)   (Myspace) (They have wonderful taste in hats)
  
• Alchymere (Website)   (Myspace)
• Irregang (Website)   (Myspace)
• Quem Ad Vitaem  (Myspace)
• Cantica Aeterna  (Myspace)
• Aux couleurs du moyen âge (Website)   (Myspace)
• VocaMe  (Myspace)
• Adivarius  (Website)   (Myspace)
• Al Cantara  (Myspace)
• Krless  (Website)   (Myspace)
• Al’ibi (Myspace)
• Skrömta (Website)   (Myspace)
• Tengwar (Website)   (Myspace)

There’s alot more.  If you enjoy any of these groups, check out their friends list on their myspace pages to find more.  I would be remiss if I did not mention the three groups that really turned me on to this style of music in the first place:

• Corvus Corax (found them via the Gothic III credits, oddly enough) (Website) (Myspace)
• Patrask (I love their rendition of Meie Din, Leihter Schin) (Website) (Myspace)

And last, but certainly not least, the one and only international minstrel troupe know as…

• Wolgemut (Website) (Myspace) (My YouTube page, which contains some videos I shot of them at the ren faire this year)

Enjoy!

Bär Tanz

I’ve been meddling with a few different variations of the Bear Dance (a medieval german sone) on my mandolin, and decided to tab out the variation that I kept returning to.  So for those interested, here’s a PDF copy of the tab/sheet music: Bär Tanz

I’ll probably do a video or recording of myself playing it at some point in time, so now you have something to ook forward to in the future. Isn’t it nice to finally have a reason to live?

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

Those who know me closely (and soon you too), know that I don’t typically cook.  Anything.  Left alone, I will live off of take-out and hot pockets until my body fails me.  There are two general exceptions to this rule, cakes (of the boxed-mix-add-eggs-and-milk variety) and my yearly pumpkin treat.  Last year, I made a wonderful pumpkin apple butter spread to go with the wife’s pumpkin bread.  This year: Pumpkin Pie Fudge (but you, being observant of the title of this post, already knew that).

My recipe was largely taken from here, but I’ve decided to include it here as well, as I made a couple of (minor) modifications and have my own comments to add :)

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup mashed pumpkin (you can carve, cook, mash, etc if you want, but I’m lazy and therefore canned)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 12oz package of white chocolate chips
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows (you can use the big ones, but it’s harder on you later)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

• Using butter, lightly grease the sides and bottom of a medium saucepan.
• Place the sugar, evaporated milk, pumpkin, butter, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in the saucepan.
• Stir constantly over medium heat.
• Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 12 minutes.  If it looks like it’ll boil over, you have it too high.  I had to turn my stove down a little lower than medium.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the baking chips and marshmallows until melted.  This also counts as a heavy workout session on your Wii Fit.  Be sure to note that in your profile.
• Stir in the vanilla extract and try not to take any swigs, you lush.
• Pour into an 8-inch square pan that has been lined with foil and greased.
• Chill mixture until set.
• Cover and store in refrigerator.

There’s a step in there that says ‘cut into small squares to eat, but to hell with that, break out the spoons!  It’s easy to make yourself sick on this stuff :)  And now, pictures!

Beards, the machine gun for your face

10 very good reasons why you should grow a giant beard.

It may be a viral for a dating site, but I love it! Click the image for more.