10 Words People Would Use to Describe You
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Crazy
Weird
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Introverted
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Highwayman
Since today is my birthday, I thought I would share my favorite poem as a gift to you:
The Highwayman
PART ONE
I
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
II
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
IV
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
V
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
VI
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonliglt, and galloped away to the West.
PART TWO
I
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.
II
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
III
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
IV
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
V
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain.
VI
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!
VII
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.
VIII
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
IX
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
* * * * * *
X
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
XI
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
The Highwayman
PART ONE
I
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
II
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
IV
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
V
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
VI
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonliglt, and galloped away to the West.
PART TWO
I
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.
II
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
III
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
IV
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
V
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain.
VI
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!
VII
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.
VIII
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
IX
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
* * * * * *
X
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
XI
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Weekend Report
This weekend was fairly quiet.
On Friday, I came home to find my Knitter’s Treasure Swap package had arrived. It was very exciting. It contained the following:
Later that night, we watched Order of the Phoenix which wrapped up our Harry Potter marathon. I also worked on my sister’s Christmas present which was a bit of a disaster. I worked the first part of the pattern and got about 20 rows in when I was supposed to change colors and realized I had done it backwards. I knit brown where it was supposed to be white but I fixed it.
The screw up on this project just confirmed that I am a spaz sometimes when it comes to knitting. Take for example, the Easiest Baby Blanket for Melissa's baby. This blanket is worked with one strand of Caron Simply Soft in pastel variegated and one strand of Bernat Baby in purple. I was plugging away on it and got to where I had about a foot of the Simply Soft left and realized that I forgot about the border on the edge. It is supposed to have 8 rows of garter stitch but I don't have any more Simply Soft left. Well, no problem right? I'll just unknit it and put the edge on. Well, apparently I did not go back enough so it didn't work right. Instead it reversed the stockinette pattern on the wrong side. So unknit again, drop a stitch, pick it up before the whole thing gets ruined, and try again. Repeat same mistake. Finally, say "to hell with it" and put it down before I kill someone and move onto another project for the time being. (Interestingly, when I went through my scrap yarn for the new project, I came across another small scrap ball of Simply Soft which means I can continue making the Easiest Baby Blanket in the correct size.)
On Saturday, Princess Ivi and I got up and gave Nyx a bath after we picked a tick off of her. She was very good for her bath. She really liked being scrubbed. Then we took her to the flea market. This woman was there with upholstery fabric for $2 a yard. I found some really nice fabric to re-upholster a couch mom has for me. (We won’t do it until just before we are ready to move out.) The fabric is cream with turquoise, yellow and green wavy lines. I like it and at $2 a yard, you can’t beat it.
We also picked Nyx up a bag. She is so small and she is still skittish around people that we needed something so we didn’t have to carry her all the time. She liked the bag once she realized that we were still there beside her.
When we got home, I made chicken tenders with honey-chipotle barbecue sauce, fries and salad. (This is the dish Princess Ivi orders every time we go to Applebee’s and it was really easy to recreate.)
We watched...ummm....something while I worked on Marci’s gift and then I talked to her until the wee hours of the morning.
On Sunday, we went to Michael’s. I picked up some clearance wrapping paper with cute elephant’s on it and a few goodies for my envelope swap partner. Then we went to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner. It was tasty. Princess Ivi gave me a beautiful necklace she beaded herself and a little statue she painted. (The statue is one my mom made). I will post pics tomorrow.
After we got home, I did laundry, knitted, watched Last Cake Standing and went to bed.
On Friday, I came home to find my Knitter’s Treasure Swap package had arrived. It was very exciting. It contained the following:
- Three skeins of yummy yarn
- One big skein of Kool-Aid dye yarn
- Homemade stitch markers
- A sheep shaped bar of soap (which coincidentally, I sent the same one to her)
- A notepad
- A measuring tape
- Some Starburst
- 24 Hour Knitting project book
- Tea
- A handmade quilted project bag
Later that night, we watched Order of the Phoenix which wrapped up our Harry Potter marathon. I also worked on my sister’s Christmas present which was a bit of a disaster. I worked the first part of the pattern and got about 20 rows in when I was supposed to change colors and realized I had done it backwards. I knit brown where it was supposed to be white but I fixed it.
The screw up on this project just confirmed that I am a spaz sometimes when it comes to knitting. Take for example, the Easiest Baby Blanket for Melissa's baby. This blanket is worked with one strand of Caron Simply Soft in pastel variegated and one strand of Bernat Baby in purple. I was plugging away on it and got to where I had about a foot of the Simply Soft left and realized that I forgot about the border on the edge. It is supposed to have 8 rows of garter stitch but I don't have any more Simply Soft left. Well, no problem right? I'll just unknit it and put the edge on. Well, apparently I did not go back enough so it didn't work right. Instead it reversed the stockinette pattern on the wrong side. So unknit again, drop a stitch, pick it up before the whole thing gets ruined, and try again. Repeat same mistake. Finally, say "to hell with it" and put it down before I kill someone and move onto another project for the time being. (Interestingly, when I went through my scrap yarn for the new project, I came across another small scrap ball of Simply Soft which means I can continue making the Easiest Baby Blanket in the correct size.)
On Saturday, Princess Ivi and I got up and gave Nyx a bath after we picked a tick off of her. She was very good for her bath. She really liked being scrubbed. Then we took her to the flea market. This woman was there with upholstery fabric for $2 a yard. I found some really nice fabric to re-upholster a couch mom has for me. (We won’t do it until just before we are ready to move out.) The fabric is cream with turquoise, yellow and green wavy lines. I like it and at $2 a yard, you can’t beat it.
We also picked Nyx up a bag. She is so small and she is still skittish around people that we needed something so we didn’t have to carry her all the time. She liked the bag once she realized that we were still there beside her.
When we got home, I made chicken tenders with honey-chipotle barbecue sauce, fries and salad. (This is the dish Princess Ivi orders every time we go to Applebee’s and it was really easy to recreate.)
We watched...ummm....something while I worked on Marci’s gift and then I talked to her until the wee hours of the morning.
On Sunday, we went to Michael’s. I picked up some clearance wrapping paper with cute elephant’s on it and a few goodies for my envelope swap partner. Then we went to Red Lobster for my birthday dinner. It was tasty. Princess Ivi gave me a beautiful necklace she beaded herself and a little statue she painted. (The statue is one my mom made). I will post pics tomorrow.
After we got home, I did laundry, knitted, watched Last Cake Standing and went to bed.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday Fill-Ins!
1. Apparently there's some sort of belief by everyone in the office (except me) that I am the only one who needs to answer the telephone.
2. Today is a sunny day.
3. 2009 is okay so far. Sometimes it is great, sometimes it sucks.
4. Oh, yeah, that was it.
5. For too long I've been fighting with the child support system and seeing absolutely zero results.
6. I am not obsessed with the Easiest Baby Blanket; I am not! Just because I have frogged it 8 times for the edge does not mean I am obsessed.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sitting on my butt working on my sister's Christmas gift, tomorrow my plans include doing laundry and possibily tackling my yarn stash and Sunday, I want to eat lobster at Red Lobster where Mom and Princess Ivi are taking me for my birthday (which is Monday)!
2. Today is a sunny day.
3. 2009 is okay so far. Sometimes it is great, sometimes it sucks.
4. Oh, yeah, that was it.
5. For too long I've been fighting with the child support system and seeing absolutely zero results.
6. I am not obsessed with the Easiest Baby Blanket; I am not! Just because I have frogged it 8 times for the edge does not mean I am obsessed.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sitting on my butt working on my sister's Christmas gift, tomorrow my plans include doing laundry and possibily tackling my yarn stash and Sunday, I want to eat lobster at Red Lobster where Mom and Princess Ivi are taking me for my birthday (which is Monday)!
Happy Birthday Isaac!!!!
So today is a super special day. On this day four years ago, my nephew Isaac was born and he brought light into everyone's life. I thank God everyday for bringing him into our world. And I thank God for the strength of my sister and her husband who handle all the challenges of having a child with Down Syndrome and Isaac's health issues like champions. And, of course, I thank Him for the great doctors and nurses who cared for Isaac when he was in the NICU.
I wanted to send a special message to Isaac:
Isaac,
You have come so far in your life over the past four years and I am so very proud to be able to be your aunt. I love you so much and I can't wait to see how much you change and grow in the coming years. I miss you sweetie but I am always thinking of you!!!
Love , Aunt Len
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