Ice Rink

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la 

The ice rink on Duke of Gloucester Street (aka Dog Street) has become an annual tradition here. Quite a treat, especially in southeastern Virginia where daytime temperatures around this time of year rarely fall below freezing. Hope you are able to enjoy a wonderful Christmas Eve. I've got a full day and evening of singing ahead of me. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Oranges

Odd, isn't it, how certain images provoke thought. This wreath had me thinking of those suffering from hunger all around the world this season.

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

-- Susan Cooper 

The Shortest Day

 

So the shortest day [yesterday] came, and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive,

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us—Listen!!

All the long echoes sing the same delight,

This shortest day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!

The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper