Miao!

Just saw this yesterday at my aunt's Facebook page.
Loved it!

The Duetto buffo di due gatti ("humorous duet for two cats")

by the Les Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois,
Concert in Seoul, Korea, Nov 30, 1996

From the Wikipedia:

Composition

While the piece is typically attributed to Gioachino Rossini, it was not actually written by him, but is instead a compilation written in 1825 that draws principally on his 1816 opera, Otello. The compiler was likely the English composer Robert Lucas de Pearsall, who for this purpose used the pseudonym "G. Berthold".^[1]

Music and lyrics

The music consists, in order of appearance, of:

• the "Katte-Cavatine" by the Danish composer C.E.F. Weyse^[2]
• part of the duet for Otello and Iago in Act 2 of Otello
• part of the cabaletta to the aria "Ah, come mai non senti", sung by Rodrigo in the same act

The lyrics are uncharacteristic, consisting entirely of the repeated word "miau" ("meow").

Thanksgiving

Not for the Thanksgiving table!

The Majestic Plastic Bag & Jabberwocky

The Majestic Plastic Bag - narrated by Jeremy Irons

 

Found the above great mockumentary via Content in a Cottage, a favorite blog—a varied feast of imagery, quotes, and vintage fonts.

This got me thinking:

The Trash Bags That Wish They Could
These poor defenseless critters also suffer a great deal here, very often impeded from getting to the little known Unchartered Southern Atlantic Patch by dastardly dumps, risky rivers, treacherous trees and other perfidious plastic predators.

I do not know if they are homing in on that one or would rather head over to the Great North Atlantic Garbage Patch.

For more information on Plastic Paradise Patches, go to the 5Gyres site and blog.

Reading of gyres, these words of Jabberwocky comes to mind.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
 Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

I can imagine the Plastic Bag gyring and gimbling in the wabes, chortling amongst its beamish polymerous companions.

Whatever it may mean of my mental, er, faculties, this was the only poem I ever memorized from beginning to end.
So here, from Lewis Carrol to you... down memory lane...

Jabberwocky

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
 Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
 All mimsy were the borogoves,
 And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
 The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
 Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
 The frumious Bandersnatch!”

 He took his vorpal sword in hand:
 Long time the manxome foe he sought—
 So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
 And stood awhile in thought.

 And as in uffish thought he stood,
 The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
 Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
 And burbled as it came!

 One, two! One, two! and through and through
 The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
 He left it dead, and with its head
 He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
 Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
 O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
 He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
 Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
 All mimsy were the borogoves,
 And the mome raths outgrabe.

from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872)

Another Bright Blue Snuggie

Oh, this is funny!

A few weeks ago on Nov 12, Son² came back from a week's business trip to the States bringing a gift for his dear old ma: a Snuggie.
At first, I thought it was just another blanket, a ve-e-ery bright blue, a blue that used to be called eletric for its visual shock potential; a blanket for warm tv watching.
But, eyes aglow, he insisted, , "Open it, open it!"

And, lo and behold:

A blanket with sleeves!!!

The Sleeve!

Ok, ok, this may not be world shaking news for all the blasé I-already-know-what-a-Snuggie-is folks, but is was a surprise to me!

I have since then, on the recent unseasonably cool evenings, been watching tv shnuggled in my son's sweetly thoughtful, very bright, electric-blue gift.

Taking a peek at The Pioneer Woman today, I suddenly see that there is another bright blue snuggie in the world!
Here you can read the funny&wow "A Gravel Road, Two Photographers, and a Bright Blue Snuggie", which was posted on the ... 12th Nov!
The very same day that my very own bright blue snuggie brightened and warmed my life!

Fall

Living where I live, I do miss those defined seasons of my childhood in the Northeast & New England.
Here, we are now in spring, in which begins The Rainy Season and hot weather.
Or used to.
As worldwide, the weather here is now also rather freaky: some years almost no rain, some years much and floods. This year, the rains have actually come "on time" in October as in the olden days, but accompanied by unusual bursts of, for us, a very winterish cold. Brrrrr...

But I do miss the lovely light and colors of the Fall...
The photos below capture these well.
And get me thinking even more of Thanksgiving.
We don't have this holiday here, but everyday can be dedicated to giving thanks for all our blessings, our harvest of joys.

(click to enlarge)

 Photographs by Elizaberh Maxson

To see more beautiful photos,and thoughtful post, go to her
The Adventures of Elizabeth

Venus Rising

"Now it is time for Venus to emerge from the light of the Sun, any day now, as the heliacal rising planet. Keep your eye on the pre-dawn sky, as many star priests and priestesses have done through millennia. This is just about the strongest position any planet or star can take, announcing the day."

— M. Kelley Hunter

Venus [rising], Orion and Sirius by Tristan Gooley @ The Natural Navigator

            "The Lady of the Morning is radiant on the horizon.

             Honored Counselor, Ornament of Heaven…
             When sweet sleep has ended in the bedchamber,
             You appear like bright daylight.

             You render a cruel judgment against the evildoer;
             You destroy the wicked.
             You look with kindly eyes on the straightforward;
             You give that one your blessing."

— from a hymn to Inanna, as given in Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth 

   by Wolkstein and Kramer, via Cosmic News by  M. Kelley Hunter

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
(look at all those wonderful, beautiful pudges!
forget the Twiggies, Bunchens, et al... Botticelli is the word!)

APOD - Astronomy Picture of the Day

Venus and the Moon at dawn, Nov 5, 2010