Welcoming Back the Light

photo courtesy of Strictly Social.com
Yesterday was the Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year. I noticed on the weather.com site that today was 2 minutes longer in my neck of the prairie.

Here's to welcoming back the light--despite bitter cold temperatures.

While thinking about that good thought, pick up a copy of Anne Dudley's Ancient and Modern on CD and listen to the "Canticles of the Sun & Moon." From what I read at Amazon.com, the song is based around the hymn "From All Who Dwell Beneath the Sky," but Dudley gives it a minimalist turn with cyclical marimba lines. Also, there is a track called From "Darkness to Light" that is very Bach-like but with the influence of Howard Hanson. Hence, ancient and modern.

Very fitting.

Tuesday Night Music: Celtic Women

Doin' "Sail Away"(Orinoco Flow):



I'm getting in the travelling mood, especially with snow on the ground where I live.

And I Dream...

One of my favorite Winter tunes...Snow ...by Loreena McKennitt..

White are the far-off plains,
And white the fading forests grow;
The wind dies out amongst the tides
And denser still the snow,
A gathering weight on roof and tree
Falls down scarce audibly.

The meadows and far-sheeted streams
Lie still without a sound;
Like some soft minister of dreams
The snowfall hoods me around;
In wood and water, earth and air,
A silence is everywhere.

Save when at lonely spells
Some farmer's sleigh is urged on,
With rustling runner and sharp bells,
Swings by me and is gone;
Or from the empty waste I hear
A sound remote and clear

The barking of a dog,
To cattle, is sharply pealed,
Borne, echoing from some wayside stall
Or barnyard far afield;
Then all is silent and the snow
Falls settling soft and slow


The evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer Earth to sky
The world seems shrouded, so far away.
Its noises sleep, and I
As secret as yon buried stream
Plod dumbly on and dream.

And dream
And dream
I dream
And I dream…


Winter Landscapes (different tune, but lovely pics...McKennitt embraces the Winter)

More to add later about "Snow" and another song that resonates with me.