From my morning mailbox

Some things come daily to start me off on the right track!!!

Like the  'Wordless thought for the day'......

sometimes cheerful, sometimes sombre, sometimes quite relevent
Today's thought. from W..H. Auden

"Death is the sound of distant thunder at the picnic."

And I think yes, - we reach a stage in life when we are watching mindfully for the first drops of rain.....

on the other hand I also received from 'A Year of Being Here'

Every Day is a fresh beginning

Listen my soul to the glad refrain

And, in spite of all sorrows

And older sinning

Trouble forecasted

And possible pain

Take heart with the day and begin again.

Susan Coolridge (Sarah Chauncey Woolsey)

And to top it all off, 

a link to The Four Seasons 

and The Piano Guys playing an amazing rendition of Vivaldi's Winter!!!

Under the lid of the pewter skies it  makes the sun appear to shine
and I look forward to going to the Berlin Philharmoniker Concert (digitally)
in just 23 minutes!

Fiddle De Dee

ABC Wednesday
The letter this week is F
for Fiddle Dee Dee!

So, used as an interjection the expression Fiddledeedee indicates scorn, or indifference, - impatience, or disbelief.  Perhaps you remember Scarlett O'Hara and her careless dismissal in Gone with the Wind.....

and then there is the children's' rhyme that announces the nuptials of

 

the Fly and the Bumble Bee

 

Oh fiddle dee dee, fiddle dee dee

the Fly has married the Bumble Bee!!

 

but have you heard the lovely young people's Choral by the same name?

 

 

Fiddle de dee - Kurt Bikkembergs

Perpetuum Mobile

Children's Choir Cantabile uit Novotroitsk

 

or Lionel Hampton and his orchestra   - Fiddle de Dee (recorded 1940)

 

 

For more really interesting interpretations of the letter F fiddle on over to

ABC Wednesday, here, with thanks to Roger and Denise!

 

 

Tugs of Spring

 

 

 

I woke with the urgent need to fling open the windows and let the fresh air rush into the house, spiraling in all the stale corners and circling the ceilings and the hallways.

 

Somewhere in my dreams I must have encountered Spring, but alas, she had only sent her

 Envoy, - slightly warmer temperatures. 

No sunshine, no blue skies.  Indeed, the sky has grown heavier and clouds have crept down lower in the valley so that on looking out all thoughts of Spring and uplifted spirits

would surely have vanished.

 

But wait, - the pavement is dry. 

 The ice has disappeared, except for small spots that even ancients with canes

should be wary enough to avoid. 

There is no wind. 

 The air feels warm and the door, open to the summer room,

 draws me like a magnet.

 

I have birthday cards to mail and books to return to the library

and a promised visit to an old friend.

 

Already I am recapturing a little of the spirit of adventure

after this long, enforced sojourn indoors.

 

I still have not retrieved any forsythia branches from the old garden. 

 Or uncovered the Lenten Roses  from what was their icy prison......

Or stirred up the compost that is hopefully warm and busy and productive,

making rich soil for the new pot containers we brought home from the Garden Shop......

 

Is this the day?????