The Gryphon's Feather Studio

only the heart remains

 

 

one of my favorite songs:

 

 

I hope your Valentine's Day was lovely.

Not a big fan of the beer, but love their commercials.

Yes, I know these are beer commercials. But for some reason, they make me happy. Heinecken isn't my favorite beer, but I do love their commercials.  

 

The music is The Golden Age by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. ( While I might not have any Heinecken, I do have the song.)

The main character reminds me of Eric Balfour. (click to enlarge the photo)

 

I like this one, too.

 

Yeah, I know.  But, I am totally okay with that.

a moon, a reflection

 

Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody. 

~Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894

 

heart song tonight

Touching my heart as I sing to the baby:

 

Simple Gifts" was written by Elder Joseph Brackett .   He wrote the music when he first joined the Shakers at Gorham, Maine, when his father's farm helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement. He later wrote the lyrics while he was at the Shaker community in Alfred, Maine in 1848. 

These are the lyrics to his one-verse song:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

 

Several Shaker manuscripts indicate that this is a "Dancing Song" or a "Quick Dance." The references to "turning" in the last two lines have been identified as dance instructions.

The song was largely unknown outside of Shaker communities, until it became world famous- thanks to its use in Aaron Copland's score for Martha Graham's ballet Appalachian Spring, first performed in 1944.

And tonight, as I sat in the quiet dark, singing along to the lullabies on the cd in the player in Sunny's room, Simple Gifts came round and was just right.

Sent from my iPhone

Blessings

Today I am counting my blessings!  Thanksgiving is headed our way here in the US, and while it hasn't ever been my favorite holiday, I am a big fan of gratitude as a way of improving my outlook on life. 

My favorite holiday movie of all time, White Christmas, has a song I love and actually sing to my littlest at night when she is struggling to find her way to sleep.

 

 

One of my blessings this year has been the great response to my online class offerings. I thank everyone who is joining in the fun! In gratitude, I am giving my November class an extra week of information.  (five weeks of November's fun.)

Here's what we are working on this week:

  

Cupped in my hands are my blessings- my family- my husband and my three littles.  

Feel free to join us. You have plenty of time. I still have people signing on to the first class I had in October as well as joing us in November. I am renaming October's class to Point & Shoot: One, and November's class will become Point & Shoot: Two.  They will remain available.  And, yes, they are different from each other. 

We will keep going in December with Point & Shoot: Three.  I will be adding in special options for working art journal pages around the holidays because we take lots of photos at those times. Also to come will be the much asked about painted papers class- I'll be teaching every way I can of applying paint, print and pattern to pages with acrylics and some other supplies.  In that class, I'll be including a couple of sets of bookbinding instructions.  It will run mid December through January.  More about the new classes soon. 

thinking songs

Well, it has taken me some time to figure out just what to post, so I simply picked intuitively  this morning and gave up on the intellectual sorting!...

• As a mom of both girls and a boy: Dar Williams, When I was a boy

• for people I'm thinking of... Rosie Thomas, All the Way to New York City

• for my artfest housemates: Jack Johnson, (though we are already friends.)

• and for my littles, this Brandi Carlile song

 

WAKING UP!!!! A Blog-along

I think I am finally awakening from a long winter's nap!  I need to freshen everything up!  I've been clearing and cleaning and rearranging.  I need to settle down and work soon, but I had an IDEA. Let's freshen up our music!  I'm seriously gonna mix up my ipod library!  Come and play!!!!!!

(didn't mean to scare you!)

LET'S HAVE A MUSIC WEEK!

we'll include somewhere in a blog post a link to a youtube video, an amazon mp3 clip, a clip on the artist's website.  There are themes !  How can you resist?

Monday or Tuesday:  a song that is upbeat, that makes you move- something where we can join you in dancing, foot stomping, hip swinging our way around our studio or office... we'll get movin' this week! any genre!

Wednesday or Thursday: link to a song that makes you think, remember, or feel soulful. Maybe it is the lyrics, maybe the melody.... maybe just the associated memory.  You can blog about the content or just post the link.

Friday or Saturday: Two choices- link to your maxin' and relaxin' music or a free-for-all (ANYTHING YOU WANT!)

Link here on this post, and we can share!  Spread the love around and convince your friends to join in!

 

Here are two three, four a few totally random, but fun choices from my ipod...stand up and get ready to dance! Turn up the volume!!!

one (Michael Franti and Spearhead)

two (Marc Broussard, Home.)

three  (Love train, the incomparable O'Jays.  I watched Soul Train every weekend)

four (Kung Fu Fighting - fifth grade, maybe?)

five (deee-lite - Groove Is In the Heart)

six (fantastic voyage- lakeside)

seven (Nuttin But Stringz- 2 juliard-trained violinists JAM)

 

clearly, I have eclectic tastes, and a sense of humor... 

 

birches

Birches

by Bill Morrissey

They sat at each end of the couch
watched as the fire burned down
so quiet on this winter's night
not a house light on for miles around
then he said "I think I'll fill the stove,
it's getting time for bed"
she looked up "I think I'll have some wine,
how 'bout you?" she asked and he declined
"Warren," she said, "maybe just for tonight,
lets fill the stove with birches
and watch as the fire burns bright.
How long has it been?
I know it's quite awhile,
pour yourself half a glass,
stay with me a little while."
Warren, he shook his head
as if she'd made some kind of joke
"Birches, on a winters night?
No, we'll fill the stove with oak."
"Oak will burn as long and hot
as a July afternoon,
and birch will burn itself out
by the rising of the moon
"And you hate a cold house, same as me,
am I right or not?"
"All right, all right that's true," she said,
"it was just a thought."
And she said "Warren, you do look tired,
maybe you should go up to bed,
I'll take care of the wood tonight."
"Oak." he told her, "Oak." she said


She listened to his footsteps
as he went up the stairs
then she pulled a sweater on
and set her wine glass on the chair
She walked down cellar to the woodbox
it was cold as an icechest
then climbed back up with four logs
each as white as a wedding dress
And she filled the stove and poured the wine
and sat herself down on the floor
she curled her legs beneath her
as the fire sprang to life once more
And it filled the room with it's hungry light
and it cracked as it drew air
and shadows danced a jittery waltz
like no one else was there
and she stood up in the heat
as she twirled around the room
and the shadows, they saw nothing
but a young girl on her honeymoon
and she knew the time, it would be short
soon the fire would start to fade
she thought of heat, she thought of time
and she called it an even trade

longtime favorite song

 

to Joe, who once upon a time gave me the moon and stole my heart.

Love is Our Cross to Bear 

I didn't know where to look for you last night
I didn't know where to find you
I didn't know how I could touch that light
That's always gathering behind you

I didn't know that I would find a way
To find you in the morning
But love can pull you out of yesterday
As it takes you without warning

I want to be a long time friend to you
I want to be a long time known
Not one of your memory's used-to-bes
A summer's fading song

It's from me, it's to you
For your eyes
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear

I know I'll think of us upon that hill
With the golden moon arising
And the stars will fall around us still
While the love is realizing

And so it is until we meet again
And I throw my arms around you
You can count the gray hairs in my head
I'll still be thankful that I found you

 

It's from me, it's to you
For your eyes
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
I am here, you are there
Love is our cross to bear

John Gorka has long been one of my most favorite singer songwriters.  I've had the pleasure of seeing him in concert a few times, once in a small church outside Hershey, PA, with about forty other people. 

 jan 07

Song for a Winter's Night

The lamp is burnin' low upon my table top
The snow is softly falling
The air is still within the silence of my room
I hear your voice softly calling
If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you

The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead
My glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon each page
The words of love you sent me

If I could know within my heart
That you were lonely too
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you

The fire is dying now, my lamp is growing dim
The shades of night are liftin'
The morning light steals across my windowpane
Where webs of snow are driftin'

If I could only have you near
To breathe a sigh or two
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love
Upon this winter night with you
And to be once again with with you

written, and originally performed by, Gordon Lightfoot