On a Monday morning..

There are a few different items to post about today. First, following up Julie's post...here's a favorite quote from Jane Austen.

"Ah! There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."

Second, one of my favorite things happened this morning. I went out to the mailbox at the end of our driveway, to find a package from Julie in West Virginia. In the package were two copies of a book written by a young woman in Julie's church, Tricia Regar, entitled "The Feminine Minority...a Brief History of Feminism and the Modern Woman." Julie had enjoyed it so much, that she sent it for me to read and an extra copy for me to let others read. I'm looking forward to it. Also in the package (and this is the favorite thing) were a pack of pictures drawn and painted by five of my grandchildren, along with thank-you notes from Christmas presents. I enjoyed each one greatly, but especially enjoyed the one from William age 9, as he wrote us several poems. Here is my favorite:

"Although the Son of God was born in a stall,

He will make His enemies fall

and the righteous stand up tall."

William Jones

Getting back to my sheet music stack...here are a couple more. The one at left in the photo below is entitled 'Love's Lullaby'. The interesting thing about this one is the portrait below at right. It says, "as sung by The Celebrated Hawaiian Tenor, Prince Leilani." I think there was a real fascination with all things Hawaiian at the time. This of course, was back in the days of Hawaiian royalty, before U.S. Statehood. My copy of 'Baby Face' says that it was to be played with the piano and was written for a ukulele accompaniment. 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' at right, is the newest song in my stack, with much more of a jazz feel, and the music was written by the famous Richard Rodgers.

This piece of sheet music below is one of the popular songs of the sea at the time. I looked up this composer, Amanda Kennedy to find that she wrote a lot of music at the end of the 19th century. This particular piece was her most famous and was the best-selling song of the time for many years.

Another reason for writing music was for the various holidays. I am so glad to have this piece of music, written for Christmas (or for children.) When I was young we used to hear this piece on the radio around Christmas a lot. But I haven't heard it for many years now. It is a great one, and I love to play this. Bring back any memories for you?

One last poem:

"The sun may crumble,

man may die;

but God will reign

forever on high!"

William