Peas on Earth …

There’s never a Shepherd around when you need one. 

Christmas Favorites 6 : Sleigh Ride

Giddy up, Giddy up, Let’s go !
Just look at that snow!

Dedicated to Marilyn and Garry over at Serendipity blog.
https://teepee12.com/
Marilyn is a big Roy and Dale fan and this version
of Sleigh Ride is special. It has a bonus song: Jingle Bells
plus Roy does some yodelling! Alright!

Ella! Very nice!

https://youtu.be/tnEbRaFaqfg

Bing

Jack knows how to do it 

https://youtu.be/FMRTijuHbgU

This is sweet : 

Okay, I’m getting the spirit now !

They Shall Not Grow Old

They Shall Not Grow Old 

In Theaters December 17 & 27 Only

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/they-shall-not-grow-old?utm_source=unknown&utm_medium=unknown&utm_campaign=they+shall+not+grow+old&utm_term=warner


It’s a Long Way to Tipperary / Pack up Your Troubles in Your old Kit Bag

Credit to GP Cox who brought this my attention.
Pacific Paratrooper / https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/

 Fragments From France 

by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather

Christmas Favorites 5 : Blue Christmas

Blue Christmas

Many people believe Blue Chrismas was first done by Elvis, but it was written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and first recorded in 1948 by the great Country Crooner Doye O’Dell. (who nobody remembers anymore). There have been many renditions since including Elvis‘.

Somebody forgot to check his gun at the door.

Brenda Lee is another artist who did many great versions of Christmas Carols.
Her phrasing was always brilliant.

This ain’t bad at all …

Shocking how well this works:

Okay, Okay here’s Elvis:

Yeah … short and sweet.

Christmas Favorites 4 : O Little Town of Bethlehem

Christmas in Coutts

When I was a kid the annual School Christmas Pageant was a staple of Canadian culture. Thus it was in the small town of Coutts in 1958 (?) on the Alberta / Montana border. I was in Grade 4.
Some poor teacher had been assigned to teach all us kids to sing some Christmas Carols. I can imagine that was no easy task.
Yet, over all years I only recall two Christmas Pageants that I was in. The other was in Michichi, Alberta, a very small farm township on the Prairie.
In Coutts, I played a shepherd in our re-enactment of the Nativity. I wore an old purple robe that passed as shepherd getup. Luckily there was no sheep involved so my duties were light.
My pal Bryce Tolley sang O Little Town of Bethlehem. He had a great voice.

All was well.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

The text was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest, then rector of Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia and later of Trinity Church, Boston. He was inspired by visiting the village of Bethlehem in the Sanjak of Jerusalem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his church, and his organist Lewis Redner (1831-1908) added the music.

If there’s anything Barbra can’t sing beautifully I haven’t found it.

Pat Boone does a nice version. Yeah, he could sing pretty good.

A softer reverence …

Many great versions …
I give you just three.

Christmas Favorites 4 _________ Little Drummer Boy

Love has no Theology.

By playing all these Christmas Carols, I’m sure some people think I’m promoting Christianity.
I’m not. I’m not Christian. I just love a lot of the Christmas music.
It’s beautiful, uplifting and Joyous.

I hope you feel the same way

The Little Drummer Boy

Wikipedia says: “The Little Drummer Boy” (originally known as “Carol of the Drum“) is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.

Christmas Favorites 3 _________ O Holy Night

It almost requires a Heavenly Choir to return this piece of music
to the place it comes from.
A Divine Masterpiece.
Attempted my many. Achieved by a few.
I offer a few notable interpretations.

https://youtu.be/2473eKVsaqs

https://youtu.be/ieh1WFw8LQg

Ahhh … there are a few others,
but I have to stop somewhere …

 

Christmas Favorites … 2

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

A couple of years ago I discovered this version of
‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’.
It is not new song/poem, but an inspired update.
And although it’s author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
never wrote it as a Christmas Carol, it’s become
a favorite of many people.

There have been a several Lyric changes/versions over the years.

Some History

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Bells_on_Christmas_Day says:
“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is a Christmas carol based on the 1863 poem “Christmas Bells” by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song tells of the narrator’s despair, upon hearing Christmas bells, that “hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men”. The carol concludes with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace among men.”

It’s said that two personal tragedies inspired the poem: his wife being badly burnt in a fire, and his son going to fight in the American Civil War, where he was badly wounded.

“Longfellow first wrote the poem on Christmas Day in 1863. “Christmas Bells” was first published in February 1865, in Our Young Folks, a juvenile magazine …” “References to the Civil War are prevalent in some of the verses that are not commonly sung”.

In “1872 the poem is known to have been set to music.” by English organist, John Baptiste Calkin.

The poem as evolved through several different versions over the years and in In 1956, Bing Crosby released as a single that reached No. 55 in the Music Vendor survey. 

Then Burl Ives put out a version in 50’s? 60’s?

Harry does a great job (1958):

and on and on … with versions by
Frank Sinatra, Sarah McLachlan, The Carpenters … and more.

Sadly, I must agree, that there will never be Peace on Earth.
But I do believe we can find it in ourselves.

Christmas Favorites … 1

I like Christmas and I love Christmas Carols.
Christmas – like most things – is what you make it. 
But this wonderful music already exists. 
So I play it. 

My lady Rose turned me on to this wonderful version of
my favorite Christmas Carol, Silent Night. 
If you haven’t heard it already, I hope you enjoy.  

Day Trip to Elbow Falls … Part 2

Fish? Leaf? ?

Look what I found!

This will look great in our garden!

FINALLY !!! CALGARY STAMPEDERS WIN GREY CUP !!!

106th GREY CUP GAME

A lot of red on that Cup. Most of it blood.

Do I detect a lion in there?
_______________________________________________________________________________________

After 2 years of devastating losses to teams that didn’t deserve to be on the same field … 

AT LAST !!!

Day Trip to Elbow Falls … Part 1

God’s careless beauty is thrown o’er the moments
Like the golden coins of my fancy.
– Coins of Gold / Paul Twitchell

On the way … the Rockies ahead

The whole Elbow River basin had been devastated by flood in 2013 
which had ravaged the area destroying Park facilities and terrain. 

A rugged escarpment.

The Elbow Falls itself is not running high at this time of year. 
During Spring runoff it has twice the water flow and very spectacular. 

On a beautiful Summer day this is a favoured spot for Lovers to Propose,
for Picnicking, Wedding shots, Hikers, and young folks who 
dare to jump into the pool. 

continued … 

What’s going on with WordPress ???

You must have noticed I’ve been doing a lot of editing … and re-Posting on my Posts recently.

This is because some strange things are going with my Blog.

The first thing that started to go wrong was that any time I posted a clip from You Tube it often didn’t appear on the the Post. It was fine in the Preview, but screwed somehow up in the Posting. And each I tried to fix it, it wouldn’t fix. But I couldn’t tell that until I Posted. Very aggravating.

The other thing was line spacing. It sometimes added extra spacing or none at all. It didn’t look very good. And I care about how my Posts look.

These a couple of other ongoing issues have required me to keep Editing and Posting until things come out correctly.

Of course, I also sometimes make mistakes – typos and such – which I am inclined to correct. But not the extent that I’ve been having to do lately.

I don’t know if the video issue a You Tube fault or a WordPress fault??? I just know it never happened before.

I hope it clears up by itself because it’s a mystery down here.

Soooo … just so you know. Sorry.

the white album …

Birthday
In the early 60’s two scruffy kids from Liverpool named John Lennon and Paul McCartney
formed a skiffle group/band and started banging out some tunes.
Though they surely had some dreams, I highly doubt they had any idea they would soon be at the vanguard of a
Renaissance Era that literally exploded into an immense wave of change
that swept around the planet and forever changed things.
So … on November 22, 1968 the Beatles released the White Album. This is it’s 50th Anniversary.
It followed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour
and is possibly their most perplexing album.
There must have been tremendous pressure on these guys to continuously produce something
that measured up to – or surpassed – their previous work.
And we all waited very impatiently for whatever they were going to do next.
Yet I didn’t buy The White Album. I was probably broke at the time.
I was saving every nickel to go to Art College.

Anyway … I really was perplexed by the White Album. As many were. It was large … and so different.
It wasn’t what anybody expected. Not that there wasn’t a lot of good music on there.
There was. But some was forgettable too.

I still don’t own it today, but I can get any tune from it that I want for free via YouTube.

Sometimes my guitar gently weeps … but I’m still doing pretty good.


while my guitar gently weeps

 

 

The Rider / 2018

This looks good.
Another one I missed.

Release Date: 13 April 2018 (USA)

The Rider Poster

Image result for the rider poster

The Rider Movie Poster

The Rider (2017)

Writing on Stone Provincial Park … A Photo Essay … Part 3


same-thoughts-lion / klaus-schulze

Remembering …


Highland Laddie / The Regimental Pipes And Drums Of The Calgary Highlanders

1944

 

 

 

 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Update …

Coming November 16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YES0lLXIIz4

Lookin’ good !

 

Writing on Stone Provincial Park … A Photo Essay … Part 2

[/audio]
from heaven to earth / nicholas gunn


What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

– Blackfoot proverb

Take a Tour …

Amazing what God can do with a pile of rocks …
and a few pounds of clay.

Can you see the deer crossing the river on the left?

Just beautiful ….