Scribbler
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Isaiah 49
Friday, February 9, 2024
Not Made to Fly
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Man Cub
In June we were delighted to learn that our prayers had been answered and our youngest son and his wife were expecting their second child. Gerald and Kelly were married nine years before their first child, Abigail, was born in 2020. (My post from March 6, 2020, tells how that came about.) They hoped to have a second child as soon as possible but there were multiple roadblocks and disappointments. It took a year longer than they hoped but in June they brought Leroy a Father's Day card with the news tucked inside. In July they let Abigail tell everyone with this picture.
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Puzzling
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Memories Are A Treasure
Steve had a vivid imagination that created all kinds of fun. His little brother, Gene, followed him around joining in the fun and imitating him. Once day Steve set up this crow's nest in the front yard so they could play pirates. Notice the empty paper towel tube his Raggedy Andy had for a spy glass.
We had a cabin in the mountains where we went several times each year. One time, when Steve was about twelve years old, we had a long full summer day and got to the cabin well after dark. He was so tired he thought he could die. He flopped on the couch right inside the door and said, "Mom, will my skeleton be in your way here?"
Monday, December 18, 2023
Golden Age
I survived a weekend of parties. We had our family Christmas dinner on Saturday. There were 34 at the tables plus two infant great-grandchildren.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Ornery People
"I Wonder as I Wander" is a Christian folk hymn, typically performed as a Christmas carol, written by American folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles. The hymn has its origins in a song fragment collected by Niles on July 16, 1933.
While in the town of Murphy in Appalachian North Carolina, Niles attended a fundraising meeting held by evangelicals who had been ordered out of town by the police. In his unpublished autobiography, he wrote of hearing the song:
A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform attached to the automobile. She began to sing. Her clothes were unbelievable dirty and ragged, and she, too, was unwashed. Her ash-blond hair hung down in long skeins. ... But, best of all, she was beautiful, and in her untutored way, she could sing. She smiled as she sang, smiled rather sadly, and sang only a single line of a song.
The girl, named Annie Morgan, repeated the fragment seven times in exchange for a quarter per performance, and Niles left with "three lines of verse, a garbled fragment of melodic material—and a magnificent idea". Based on this fragment, Niles composed the version of "I Wonder as I Wander" that is known today, extending the melody to four lines and the lyrics to three stanzas. His composition was completed on October 4, 1933. Niles first performed the song on December 19, 1933, at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. It was originally published in Songs of the Hill Folk in 1934.