Burns...in preparation

If you've been reading the Chronicles for a couple years, you'll remember that the last Saturday in January is the annual celebration of Bobby Burns' birthday, in Miles City.  And tomorrow, you'll get a more complete post of the actual celebration...it's incredible!

Robert Burns is THE Scottish poet.  I'm not sure there is another, really.

My Gramps really loved his poetry, and I remember him reading one or two aloud to us, when we were kids.  They made absolutely no sense, whatsoever, because Burns wrote as he spoke, and anyone who has listened to a Scottish burr will affirm that even though it's English, it's completely incomprehensible to the average bear. 

So every year, I try to post a Burns poem on this weekend.  I appreciate his dry wit, his attention to detail and personality quirks, his great respect for the natural elements. The following poem is tragic, as many of his are, but it's one of my favorites and not just because of the title!

Highland Mary by Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Ye banks and braes and streams around
The castle o' Montgomery,
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
Your waters never drumlie!
There simmer first unfauld her robes,
And there the langest tarry;
For there I took the last fareweel
O' my sweet Highland Mary.


How sweetly bloomed the gay green birk,
How rich the hawthorn's blossom,
As underneath their fragrant shade
I clasped her to my bosom!
The golden hours on angel wings
Flew o'er me and my dearie;
For dear to me as light and life
Was my sweet Highland Mary.


Wi' mony a vow and locked embrace
Our parting was fu' tender;
And, pledging aft to meet again,
We tore oursels asunder;
But, O, fell Death's untimely frost,
That nipt my flower sae early!
Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay,
That wraps my Highland Mary!


O pale, pale now, those rosy lips
I aft hae kissed sae fondly;
And closed for aye the sparkling glance
That dwelt on me sae kindly;
And mouldering now in silent dust
That heart that lo'ed me dearly!
But still within my bosom's core
Shall live my Highland Mary.

Hello, Sunshine!

We've had some beautiful, bright, warm days this week....in the mid-30's.

Perfect snowman making weather, you know.

Heck, for Montana, it's almost swimsuit weather...

Anyway, Angus and I made a snowman and then rolled around in the snow for the afternoon, soaking up the sunshine!

Even the snowgirl was happy.

The wind blows the snow into fingerdrifts everywhere, rather like frozen waves.

The men have been trying to keep the snow plowed, so they can get to the cows and we can get to the house.  It's hard to tell how big these piles are, until I give you a perspective.

So, here's Angus, climbing to the top.  He's probably about 3 1/2 feet tall, so you get some idea of the pile.

King of the mountain!

(It's not as sweet, if you don't have a sister around, pushing you down and trying to capture the crown.)

Cows, off in the distance....mile after mile of nothing but glossy white snow.

I guess you know he threw some snow down at me.

I love Cordelia's smile, here.  She just sat on that fencepost in the sun, watching Angus roll around in the snow, and smiled. 

So did the snowgirl!

Crazy Mary

Another deep, insightful post from Crazy Mary....
It's been awhile, hasn't it?

And there are a LOT of questions. 
Really good ones.
Really crazy ones.
Perfect!

Q: What is your least favorite song of all time?

A: Of ALL time? Since there was no criteria on this, I made up my own.  It has to be stupid.  It can't be made better by anyone...no matter who sings or plays it, it's still awful.  It has to make me want to shut off the radio IMMEDIATELY....that's pretty big, because I really, really like music of all types and can tolerate most anything. 

Except the song "Swinging" by John Anderson.
It's aluminum on tooth fillings to me. 
(I know.  A couple of you readers broke into a cold sweat at THAT description...)

Q: What were the most expensive shoes you've ever owned?

A: Again, no specific boundaries here, so I'm going with any sort of foot covering. 
I bought a pair of Danner hiking boots, when I was 25....spent my grocery money for the month on them....for $140.00 at Don's Sporting Goods store in Lewistown.  Turns out, they were worth every penny, every package of ramen noodles, every pound lost that month. I finally retired them a year and a half ago, and only because they were coming apart at the seams.   
The only shoes I pay more than $50 for are boots or running shoes. I clutch my chest in horror when I see in the Oprah magazine that editors are buying $300 heels and calling them affordable!   

Q: Of what room in your parents' house do you have the most memories growing up?

A: The conservatory.  Doesn't everyone?

Not really.  It would be the kitchen.  More memories were made there than anywhere.  Good ones and bad ones, you know? Almost everything went down in the kitchen.  Almost everything came out in the kitchen.  It was the center of our domestic universe, our everyday lives.  Still is.

Q: What piece of recreational equipment that you own do you most wish you would use more?

A: It was between the touring kayak and the fly rod.  I spent a lot of time deliberating this one.

And my fly fishing rod won.  I've NEVER used it.  Ever.  I get it out, a lot, and hold it,  feel the action, dream.  I don't know how.  I don't even know how to tie a fly on! Last summer, I was frantic to use it.  But...nothing. 

I love fishing...have since I was a little girl...and fly fishing has been calling to me for as long as I can remember!  I just need some instruction.  Anyone? 

Q: What was the first album you bought with your own money?

A: Amy Grant and I think the album name was My Father's Eyes. I'm sure I still have it...somewhere....

Q: Overall, which of the Seven Dwarfs best characterizes you?

A: Good GRIEF!! Well, I did process of elimination....not Bashful, Sleepy, or Sneezy.  I can't say that I'm consistently Happy or Grumpy, overall.  I swing pretty polar on those two emotions.  Daily.  So that left Dopey and Doc. 

And I'm Doc.  I wear glasses.  I tend to be bossy.  I get my words mixed up, if I can even FIND the words. My  little tunic is on the tight side.  I miss big, glaring things because I'm so busy getting everyone else lined out.

Yep.  Doc.

Q: Who is your pick to win the next year's (2012) Superbowl?

A. Not who do I want to win, but who do I PICK to win....entirely different horses, there.

Well, right now, everything is sort of in flux.  There are recruits being sought, coaches being hired, drafting, roughing up of personnel, illegal videos being sold. So it's a little tough to see what the teams are going to be like, right this minute.  That doesn't mean I'm going to flake out on the question, but when next Super Bowl rolls around, I don't want to be held against the wall for this prediction.  Fair enough?

We haven't seen a winner from the West in a long time.  And I think there's a lot of talent being gathered up, here, that isn't getting a whole lot of attention from national media.  The coaching has been TERRIBLE.  Wretched. Non-existent, really.  I love the teams from the West.  And they're going to be strong next year.  But none of them will win the Super Bowl. 

I'd pick the Jets. I hate them.  But they're stinking good.  

I think the 49ers will have a great year, and maybe even win our division.  But I have no delusions about their Super Bowl chances. 

There you go! 
Send any Crazy Mary questions to my email, and I'll happily answer them.

True Confession #296

I have a crush.

It runs pretty deep.
That would be down-playing it quite a lot, really.

Okay...so deep that the Farmer knows he wouldn't stand a chance, and has agreed to politely step aside, should my crush ever come calling.

(The odds of that actually happening are 25,000,000,000,000:1, so he's pretty safe.  But still...)

Just finding the pictures for this post...
Swoons-ville....*sigh*

(I made that larger, just for the other women who are reading this post and having heart flutters, frantically right-clicking to "save as" so they can use this image as a wallpaper...)

Yes.

George Strait

(We say that name with reverence, here....)

I learned to jitterbug in the dorm to his song, The Fireman and Unwound.

Drove hundreds of miles and wore out a couple cassette tapes of Amarillo By Morning.

Had a good cry when Easy Come, Easy Go coincided with a big break up.

Desperately wished upon a star that he would accidentally show up at a team roping in Billings.

He never did.

But I'm sure he really wanted to.

(I always wore make-up and did my hair...just in case.

I'm sure he'd wink at the girl turning out the steers, because she did a magnificent job and wore tinted lip gloss. Don't you?)

And it's not necessarily that he's a cowboy.  That's never really been a pre-requisite for crushing, in my world.  It doesn't HURT, but here's the funny thing: (ANOTHER true confession...) I never dated a cowboy.  Really. And married the Farmer! Who doesn't ride OR wear cowboy boots!

I think it's because he's such a gentleman. 
And because music is such a big thing to me.
And also because...well....my goodness...LOOK at him!

The really awful thing is:
I think my mom has a crush on him, too.

Anyway, Pandora has been very thoughtfully playing lots of George Strait this morning, and Sara H. could use a little inspiration.  I can't think of anything more inspiring, really, to post.

(And I know there are a lot of spiritual things I COULD post...Bible verses and links....but I'm pretty sure God gave us George.  And I, for one, am truly thankful....)

:)

BIG

Remember a couple posts back, where I set a couple reading projects for 2011? 
Pretty modest, except for War and Peace.....
I thought.

Perhaps, before boldly stating to the world that I'm going to read that AND a little tome called The Autobiography of Mark Twain, I should do a page count on both. And start lifting weights. 

Here, for your amusement and amazement, is a comparison photo...

It weighs a conservative 4 pounds. 

And I don't know if you can see on this crummy picture, but it's only Volume 1.

Gulp

If I fall asleep reading this one, it'll require stitches the next day.

Our Underground Bookclub selection this month is:

...a mere pamphlet, in comparison.  The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.

My selection!  So, I get to host the meeting in February, which means I get to take pictures and write about it here on the Chronicles.  And it's going to be a Valentine's Day brunch on Super Bowl Sunday afternoon....none of that makes any sense at all, does it?  Welcome to my universe...

Fortunately, we are having good reading weather...

I didn't take pictures of the fingernail marks on the walls beside the windows...