for summer is a’comin’ in
And winter’s gone away-o
from the May carol “Hal-An-Tow”
traditionally sung on May 8 in Helston, Corwall
Beltane is the first day of summer in the Celtic calendar midway between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. Here’s a 1965 BBC video of The Waterstons singing Hal-A-Tow.
On this day of equal dark and light,
let us set extremes aside
and celebrate spring's arrival.
Lettering with Calligraphica Crystals and Hiro/Leonardt #40 "blue pumpkin" nib
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When I heard the new King Charles referred to as a septuagenarian, I thought, Wow, he’s old. Then I realized I too am a septuagenarian. Last year I turned 70. This year I am in my seventies. Since I began my birthday year with a spine surgery a couple of weeks in followed by a more extensive one 3 months later, there has been a lot of healing to do. Progress is steady and I feel SO much better than I did last year on my birthday but it is slow. I spend a lot of time focusing on exercise of various sorts (walking, PT, Tai Chi, swimming) and a corresponding amount of time resting. I do spend time in the studio. While I miss being lost in my own world at my desk or computer for hours and hours at a time, the half hour segments are extra special and extra sweet.
May we take joy from the world we live in and share our gifts to build a more compassionate one.
Here is the text which Take joy! is taken from. It is most commonly attributed to a sixteenth century monk named Fra Giovanni Giaconda in a letter to his friend, the Countess Allagia Aldobrandeschi, on Christmas Eve, 1513. It was in fact written by Ernest Temple Hargrove in the earlier part of the twentieth century.
There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, that while I cannot give, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy!
May the gifts of the season bring joy to our hearts.
Lettering was done with Hiro/Leonardt #40 nib and Calligraphica Crystals. Lilac blossoms from Jan Lorrey Flowers rest on a lilac branch with seed pods from last year's bloom.
In Celebration of Imbolc, the First Day of Spring in the Celtic Calendar
The lettering was done with Calligraphica Crystals and a Hiro/Leonhardt #40 pen nib.
from "Rise Up Jock" by Bob Pegg in Nowell Sing We Clear’s Book of Songs and Carols for Midwinter and Christmastide. Hear Nowell Sing We Clear sing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVGJPrCT8Yc
Eleventh Day of Christmas
from "The Old Hark Hark" in Nowell Sing We Clear’s Book of Songs and Carols for Midwinter and Christmastide. Hear Nowell Sing We Clear sing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTfrCvFj-c0
Tenth Day of Christmas
from "Villagers All" in Nowell Sing We Clear’s Book of Songs and Carols for Midwinter and Christmastide. Andy Davis set these lines from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame to music. Hear Nowell Sing We Clear sing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPSf6pTVdkA&list=RDUPSf6pTVdkA&index=1
Ninth Day of Christmas
Eighth Day of Christmas
from "Chariots" by John Kirkpatrick in Nowell Sing We Clear’s Book of Songs and Carols for Midwinter and Christmastide. Hear Nowell Sing We Clear sing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYUT5p7yP3A
Words from "The Sussex Carol" in Nowell Sing We Clear’s Book of Songs and Carols for Midwinter and Christmastide. Hear Nowell Sing We Clear sing it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9leHAuWOUA
from Nowell Sing We Clear’s Book of Songs and Carols for Midwinter and Christmastide.
