Christmas 2008

Christmas has come and gone, and what a wonderful Christmas it was.

Early Christmas Eve, the roads full of snow and ice melted a bit to slush, so Chris and I took this opportunity to escape our cooped up apartment and venture into town and buy groceries. It looked as though there hadn't been a delivery there in a while. All the vegetable had been picked through and there was not much left, however, I bought as many veggies as I could.

We decided to "try" to go to bed early that night, I emphasize try because we both went to bed quite late. At a quarter to nine Chris and I snuggled up while I read the poem "Twas The Night Before Christmas", by Clement Clarke Moore. It is a new tradition for us that we have started, and we love it.

We were both so excited for Santa to come. As soon as I heard Chris snoring in the other room, I stole away into the den, which we had designated our official Christmas Room, where nothing but Christmas is allowed. I unburied the presents I had hidden and began to wrap and prepare them; I wanted to hurry so that when Santa came I wouldn't be in his way.

Near the end of this whole process I heard Chris wake, and I quickly doused the lights. As I listened to his footsteps go down the hall, I held my breath, hoping that he would not open the door and find me. After a few minutes had gone by, I very slowly and stealthily turned the door knob as quietly as possible and crept down the hallway. I found Chris at his computer, but noticed that he looked like he was up to something...perhaps my Christmas Present...so I respected his space.

That night it was as hard to sleep as it had been when I was a child. I was so excited to see the look on Chris's face when he saw our presents from Santa; I couldn’t wait. The next morning at 6 A.M. we both woke up full of Christmas Spirit and excitement. I began chopping up fresh apples and peeling oranges for a fruit and cheese platter. When we were both ready, we entered the Christmas Room together.

Santa had come and he had done a fabulous job. We all opened our presents, including the kitties, then enjoyed a Christmas movie "A Charlie Brown Christmas", while we ate our fruit platter for an early breakfast.

At 9 A.M. Bryan came and picked us up to go spend Christmas at my Mom and Dad's house. It was a very slippery, snowy drive; I was a little nervous. It took us over an hour and a half to get to our destination. When we got there, Kylie showed us all of her Christmas presents, and we got to watch Dominique open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Suchanski. Chris and I got to open presents too. I got the DVD "Neena & Veena Belly Dance Workouts", which is awesome, because that is exactly what I've been wanting.

After we had been there for about twenty minutes, Bryan was ready to go; he was very excited and anxious to get home and have Christmas with Dominique. We all decided to go and watch Dominique open her presents.

On the ride home, Chris, Dominique, Bryan, and I all experienced a magical Christmas Card moment. As we pulled around a snowy bend we slowed to a complete stop to watch a family of deer pose out in the middle of a meadow, in the most perfect Christmas Card pose I have ever seen. They were beautiful. They slowly moved out of this pose and that's when we scrambled to find a camera. Luckily Bryan had his camera with him, so I'll have to ask him for a copy. They ventured out onto the road, and it almost looked as if the biggest deer was challenging the truck, but it stood it's ground until it decided it was safe for the others. They gathered again closely together and slowly walked down the middle of the road in the opposite direction we were going. It was a precious moment, and a very awesome one to share.

At Bryan's house we feasted on a big Christmas breakfast with yummy hash browns and eggs, and a choice of eggnog or juice. We ate while we watched the movie "A Christmas Story." When everyone was done eating we followed Dominique to the Christmas tree and watched her open all of her many presents. Santa was very good to Dominique, so she must have been a very good girl this year.

After all the Christmas excitement everyone migrated back to their own homes. Chris and I came home happy, but exhausted; falling asleep to the lull of Christmas Specials, we both took a long winters nap.

Merry Christmas Everyone

All Things Christmas

M & M Mondays

It's the most wonderful time of the year. I love the magic that grows inside me and all around me this time of year; the happiness and cheer that seems to spread, watching children's faces as they talk about snow, Christmas, and Santa, wrapping presents, putting up the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas carols, and coming in out of the cold and warming up under a blanket while watching Christmas movies. Most of all I love spending time with the ones I love.
Christmas music is a fun tradition that I love to honor each year and I have a pretty long list of Christmas songs that I love to sing and listen to this time of year so I will share just a few. I found these two videos on youtube to share with you:








Another tradition I like to honor each year is popping popcorn and watching a good Christmas movie or TV Christmas Special. There are a few shows that I love to watch each year, such as "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "Christmas Vacation", and "A Mickey's Christmas Carol". I love it! I have included a link that will take you to my Youtube Channel where you will be able to watch a bunch of Christmas Cartoons, Christmas TV Specials, and Christmas Commercial. There is also a Playlist for Christmas music there for you to enjoy, it is still being constructed, so each time you visit there may be something new that I have added for you.

http://www.youtube.com/homework28


I hope you enjoy, I know I will :D
Merry Christmas To All, And to All a Good Night!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

SNOW DAY

Wow what a day! An unusual and extremely fun one for Oregonians. Why's that? Well, snow is not very common here, and when it does snow, it is usually gone within an hour. However, that was not the case today.

My niece came over today to announce the snow and get me to come out and play, and so Chris, Dominique, and I all had a very fun snow day. We did many fun things together:

We had a snowball fight.


We went for a winter wonderland walk in the woods.
















Then we went to the park and built a snowman on a park bench; however, by then my camera died and so I couldn't take anymore pictures.
It was such a fun day. The snow fell for a long time with great big flakes. It painted the whole town white and you could see the occasional car go by, but not as many as you would have seen on a clear day. No, today was a special day, because it felt as if time stood still so that we could enjoy winters play day.
When we got home we snuggled up on the couch together with big warm quilts and watched Christmas movies while we ate popcorn and candy.

Ah; the perfect cozy winter day.

Introducing Music and Movie (M&M) Mondays

Music and Movie Mondays



Hey everyone, this is my very first entry on my Music and Movie Mondays. Over the next few Mondays I will be writing about my favorite music genre, Jazz. I wanted to start by telling you about my favorite jazz musician, The Father of Jazz, Mr. Louis Armstrong.

For many years it was thought that Louis Daniel Armstrong was born in New Orleans on the 4th of July, 1900. It was what Louis thought anyway, however, it was discovered that Louis’s birth certificate proved that Louis was really born on August 4 1901. Soon after his birth his father, William Armstrong, abandoned him and his mother, Mary Ann Armstrong. He was born and raised in one of the toughest and poorest neighborhoods in New Orleans where he was raised by his maternal grandmother until he was five. When his mother became very sick he went to live with her. To support Louis and his little sister Beatrice, his mother became a prostitute, leaving Louis alone often to care for himself and Beatrice.

At a very young age, Louis started doing multiple jobs to help support his family. He would sing on street corners for pennies, worked a junk wagon, cleaned graves for tips, delivered milk, and sold many things such as coal, bananas, and newspapers.

His first instrument was a simple tin horn; he used it to draw attention to the junk collector’s wagon on which he worked. At age 7 the junk dealer he worked for helped him buy his first cornet for $5 at a pawn shop after which he taught himself to play.

At age 11 he had his first formal lesson on the cornet in the Colored Waif’s Home, a reform institution. He was sent there after shooting off a pistol into the air at a New Year’s Eve Celebration, December 31, 1912. “My whole success goes back to that time,” said Louis. There he joined the school band and was soon made leader. He was released on June 16, 1914, after which he decided to pursue a career as a musician.

Armstrong later began to perform with pick-up bands in small clubs, funerals, picnics, and parades around town; this is how he captured the ear of Joe “King” Oliver, a member of Kid Ory’s Band, one of the finest Cornet players around. Oliver became his mentor, and when Oliver left for Chicago, Armstrong took his place in Kid Ory’s Band.

In 1922 Louis and his first wife, Daisy Parker, moved to Chicago to join his mentor, Joe Oliver, becoming a member of “King” Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. In 1923 Daisy and Louis divorced; soon after Louis married the band’s pianist Lillian Hardin. Over the next few years Louis traveled between New York and Chicago playing and recording with several bands.

In 1925 Louis returned to Chicago, where he switched from the Cornet to the trumpet and vocals. From 1925 to 1928, Louis led a recording group known as the “Hot Five” and “Hot Seven”. They produced nearly 90 recordings, which included hits such as “Potato Head Blues”, “Big Butter and Egg Man”, “The Heebie Jeebies”, and “West End Blues”. It was 1926 when the “Hot Five” recorded “The Heebie Jeebies”, which was a song about a popular dance. It was the second time Louis had ever sung on a recording. During the second verse of the song Louis dropped his sheet music and could not remember the words to the song. He improvised and began to scat “Deep-dah-jeep-bop-a-dobby-on-doe-dah, leep-a-la-da-dee-da-dee-on-bo.” Although Louis hadn’t invented this type of singing, it was he who had been the first person to record it. People loved it, and it sold over 40,000 copies in just a few weeks.

In 1935 Joe Glaser became Armstrong’s manager, and remained his manager for the rest of his career, helping Armstrong become an international star. With Glaser as his manager, Louis performed in films, on the radio, and in the best theaters, dance halls, and night clubs. With Glaser, Louis recorded hits such as “Mack the Knife”, and “Blueberry Hill”. In 1964 his recording of “Hello, Dolly!” reached number one on the billboard charts. By this time in his life, people knew him more for his singing than his trumpet playing since his lips had become damaged by a lifetime of horn playing.

Louis was one of the very few African Americans to appear regularly in Hollywood films; he was known to bring a film to life. He appeared in 28 full-length films and many short features from 1931 to 1969. His last film in 1969 was a musical called “Hello Dolly” starring Barbra Streisand and Gene Kelly.

Louis Armstrong married again for the last time in 1942 to Lucille Wilson, a dancer at the Cotton Club where Louis and his band had been playing. They bought a home in Corona, Queens, where they lived out the rest of their days together.

He became “Ambassador Satch” for America after World War II, spreading good will around the world; he toured Europe, Africa, Japan, Australia, and South America. By the 50’s Louis had become established as an international celebrity.

Armstrong, with his great big beautiful piano key smile and his unforgettable sandpapery voice, is an American icon for Jazz lovers everywhere. He performed regularly until recurring health problems gradually put an end to his trumpet playing and singing. In the last year of his life he traveled to London twice, appeared in over a dozen television shows, and performed at the Newport Jazz Festival to celebrate his 70th birthday.

Louis died in his sleep on July 6, 1971. Since then his legend has lived on. Dizzy Gillespie once said of Louis Armstrong: "If it hadn't been for him, there would have been none of us. I want to thank Mr. Louis Armstrong for my livelihood." Miles Davis agreed: "Louis has been through all kinds of styles. You know you can't play anything on a horn Louis hasn't played." This was true for many other Jazz musicians who had been greatly influenced and inspired by the music of the great Louis Armstrong, and in my opinion the greatest Jazz musician that ever lived.

Bibliography_______________________________________________________________

• Crouch, Stanley. “Louis Armstrong.” TIME. 08 June 1998. Time Inc. 30 Sep. 2008 <http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/armstrong.html>.
  
• Hentoff, Nat. “When I Pick Up That Horn, That's All”. Gadfly. March 2000. Gadfly Productions. 30 Sep. 2008 <http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/MarchApril00/archive-louisarmstrong.html>.
  
• Krebs, Albin. “Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter and Singer, Dies.” The New York Times. 07 July 1971. The New York Times Company. 30 Sep. 2008 >.
  http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-armstrong>.
  
• "Louis Armstrong." Biographies. Answers Corporation, 2006. Answers.com 30 Sep. 2008. <
• "Louis Armstrong." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press, 2003. Answers.com 30 Sep. 2008.
  
• "Louis Armstrong." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2006. Answers.com 30 Sep. 2008. <http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-armstrong>.
  
• "Louis Armstrong." The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press, Inc., 1994. Answers.com 30 Sep. 2008. <http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-armstrong>.
  
• "Louis Armstrong." Contemporary Black Biography. The Gale Group, Inc, 2006. Answers.com. 30 Sep. 2008. <http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-armstrong>.
  
• “Louis Armstrong.” Biographies: Life and Times of the Great Ones. 2000. Jazz at Lincoln Center. 30 Sep. 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_armstrong_louis.htm>.
  
• “Louis Armstrong.” Legacy Recordings. 2008. Sony BMG Music Entertainment. 30 Sep. 2008. <http://www.legacyrecordings.com/Louis-Armstrong.aspx>.
  
• “Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy.” National Portrait Gallery. 08 Dec. 2004. National Endowment for the Humanities. 30 Sep. 2008 .

O Christmas Tree

Today was certainly a fun day. I love setting up the Christmas tree; I made sure to wait till after Thanksgiving. Chris helped me by bringing in the decorations and helping me get the tree all situated in the perfect location. We listened to Christmas music as we decorated the tree together. It was fun.

Tenshi and Koko were so excited they kept racing up and down the hallway. Their favorite holiday is definately Christmas; they know it is my favorite time of year as well. Tenshi loves to lick the tree like a lollipop, it is so hard for me to enforce the rules when she does that because it is so darn cute when she does it, but I try not to let her know it (she loves to make me smile, and if she sees that I like something she repeats it, what a sweetie).

I couldn't seem to get the camera to take a picture of the tree with the lights on, so this is my best effort. Oh well, it turned out fabulous and it is everyone's favorite room in the house to hang out in now.

The Bridegroom

Had she lost him?

Was he gone now?

Was the perfect soul released?

Did God take him,

And remake him,

Was his promise to her ceased?

The perfect soul consecrated for only she.
Their contract now abolished no longer was it to be.

She was told to be patient and wait for her betrothed,

But with the fear of the unknown her heart became loath.

Now her bridegroom's arrived,

And she's been caught off guard.

Life for her has been so weary,

For her, life has been so hard.

As she goes to grab her lamp now,

No trace of light from it doth shine,

And she with no more oil,

Unworthy, has been turned into swine.

All pearls have been taken from her,

All her hope has been cast aside,

And the Bridegroom claims he does not know her,

No more of her will he abide.

The door has been shut,

It will not open,

Shame runs down her tearstained face,

The sorrow inside her is unsurmountable,

She is alone for all time and space.

An Apology to the Ones I Love

Isn't life suppose to be full of happiness with only brief moments of sadness? It seems just the opposite for me. Lately I go back and forth with how I feel inside. Sometimes I truly feel I've gone mad and I wonder who I can turn to for sanity and peace. Sometimes when I view the success of my loved ones, I am proud of them and their accomplishments, but then I find myself viewing myself as a failure at life.

Sally Owens (Practical Magic) says what I feel best:

"Sometimes I feel there is a hole inside of me. An emptiness that at times seems to burn. I think if you lifted my heart to your ear, you could probably hear the ocean...

I have this dream of being whole, not going to sleep each night wanting...

I just want to be loved; I want to be seen."

I have never been one who looks back and says "I wonder what could have been", but lately I do find myself wondering, what if I had lived my life differently...made some different choices...what would my life be like today? Would I have been happier? Better off? More successful? I'll never know, cause I can't rewind time. I wont know what might have been.

I made a mistake, and my pride has kept me from saying this sooner. I apologize to my family for writing to them in a moment of anger. I am sorry for saying what I said. The love and respect I hold for you all is immeasurable. I expected words of anger back, but instead you showered me with love. I am so sorry. Please forgive me for what I said.

I have so many emotions running through me as of late, and sometimes I feel like pulling my hair out. Sometimes I feel so alone.

I wrote a poem not to long ago expressing how I was feeling in that moment, I believe in April, it is still untitled, but here it is:

Untitled

Blackness drips like rain.
A white pallet soaks it in.
Silver to the touch, the cold, shiny steel.
Tracing with a delicate finger, sliding smoothly near the blade.
A single tear hits the surface distorting the image reflecting back.

Cold to the touch the white porcelain face,
The blackest, fullest lashes seal the tear stained eyes.
Red lips that once held laughter now motionless, and content.
The blackness engulfs the picturesque maiden.

Dawn breaks with a breeze that carries the reddest of blossoms.
They dance in the wind, free of worry, full of life.
The songbird sings a still sweet sound, conducted by the tall thick cattails.

The willow tree that gives her cover soothes her cool still face.
Its lazy branches keep rhythm to the orchestra of the fields, brushing her pallid cheek.
There is a stillness in the air, which one does not oft notice.
A reverence held only by nature.

A single rose lay near the knife, red beauty kissed with dew,
The wind picks up just one last time,
Taking the pain, taking the hurt, taking the worry.
A smile is born up in the sky, in clouds, in air, in wind.

No more will the salt sting her soft warm face,
No longer the torment to keep her down,
Never again will the pain claim her heart.

She smiles down on the beauty of life,
She contemplates her freedom,
She sings along with the songbird's song,
Forever dancing to its rhythm.

Here is another Poem I wrote back in March:

Glass Doll

Loneliness fills my heart as your distant eyes brush my way,
An emptiness swims inside of me.
Your touch is cold and insincere,
Though you sit near, you've never been so far.
A tear falls down my cheek as I long for your warmth.
I am locked in a box and you hold the key,
I am a doll on display that never comes out to play.
Take me out and break me,
Bring me to life.
I long for you as I watch you leave,
I reach for you like a child to its gaurdian.
Once upon a time a strong budding love,
Is now wilting and weeps for revival.
You hold my heart in your hand,
As you walk from my sight.
My breath is fading,
My sight is lost.
Emptiness.
Loneliness
All is black.

This is just a way for me to express my feelings in those moments. I'm sorry that I wrote in a time when I should have been meditating and writing in my journal. I'm sorry that I took what I was feeling in a moment of passion and threw it all over you. I hope that in time you can forgive and forget. You are not expendable and I shouldn't have written what I did.
Please know that I love you all, and I don't want to burn bridges. I got some very good insight and advice from all of your comments and it helped me to put my feelings and my actions into perspective, and I wish now that I could take it back. All I can do is hope that you will forgive my harshness.

Camping Fiasco Part One

Ah, the great outdoors, my favorite place to be.

I decided that one of the things I wanted to do most this year was go camping.

Chris had a routine doctors appointment set on the 7th of August, in Eugene. We decided that after his appointment we would head east on highway 126 towards Bend to find a good camping spot. However, we didn't expect Chris's doctor visit to last for over 2 hours.

Since the Doctor appointment took most of our daylight, we hurried with our shopping trip, choosing only that nights worth of groceries and supplies.

I was getting pretty nervous because I knew we only had about 2 maybe 3 good hours of daylight left to find a prime camping spot.

We knew that there were tons of camping sites that you had to pay a fee to camp out that way, but we had high hopes that we would find a free site, since we didn't have any money.

We searched and searched finding sites that were just to rocky and that would not be enjoyable to camp in. We took the Blue River Reservoir Rd hoping we would find something soon. If we had to pay for a site it would have to be cheap, so we crossed our fingers.

When we found the perfect camping spot we were so excited. It was everything we had hoped for. A huge site nestled in the woods with a trail that led down to the river. It was so beautiful and quiet; it was absolutely perfect. We walked around scoping out our site and looking for a sign or something that would tell us how much it would cost us. We thought about $5, maybe $10 at the most.

Well, along comes Mr. ranger, and he approaches us like we are two delinquents trying to steal a free night of camping.

We approached him with big smiles, happy that we'd found such a cool place, and asked him how much it was and where we could pay.

He sternly replied, "You realize this is a double lot don't you?"

We shook our heads. Of course we didn't, it looked regular to me.

He proceeded to scowl and tell us that we would have to pay him $25 if we were planning on staying here.

We nodded and smiled at him and then exchanged looks of defeat with each other. We were crushed. This was not our spot.

As we packed up to move, we asked him how much it would be to camp in a smaller lot and where we would find them. He pointed up the road and told us we'd have to pay $14 a night, and we’d have to pay by morning if we were planning to stay past noon the next day.

We eagerlessly ventured toward the more affordable lots. Every lot available was extremely small and sandwiched between huge parties of people. The best lot had a big pile of dog poo at the entrance to greet us. This was not our idea of a camping trip.

A knot began building up in my throat as I felt the camping trip begin to fall apart; we were both getting very tired and feeling pretty defeated. Neither of us liked the idea of paying $14 to sleep in the wild, in the middle of a large and very loud party. Shouldn't camping be free? We are sleeping on the ground under the stars after all.

We dug in our car for every trace of change that we could, we found just enough to stay. As we sat tired and frustrated filling out the form to stay, I let Chris know that I REALLY did want to camp, but this wasn’t exactly what I had had in mind. For $14 we had better be happy with the location and this was just not the right place.

We agreed that we were done searching for a site, it had gotten way to dark, and the options were to either stay here or go home. The knot in my throat grew bigger, because I knew if we stayed we would not have a good time. We voted the camping trip over and we would just have to try again on a different day, with an early start. We once again packed up the car and began to leave the reservoir.

On the way out, we stopped to view the river and watch the moon rise. It was absolutely beautiful. Even though we weren't able to camp that night, at least we were able to explore a little bit of the beautiful Blue River Reservoir.


That was attempt number one, and by golly we tried again, but that is another story.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette/recreation/camping/index.html

http://www.hoodoo.com/mona.htm