Introduction and Welcome
Welcome to All Things Bright and Beautiful. If you are new to this site, I would recommend that you read my very first entry - which is an introduction and welcome to this blog. You can view it here
Some of you may be just starting back to school like we are - I thought this picture was fun with the little girl sitting outside with her books....Another lovely painting by Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen
Johann Sebastian Bach Six Cello Suites
These two poems by Aileen Fisher are from I Heard a Bluebird Sing
A CRICKET
In a matchbox
is a cricket
with a patent-leather shine.
It's at Peter's,
and he's printed
MISTER CRICKET on a sign.
In a fruit jar
that is open,
with a leaf on which to dine,
is a cricket
that is Kathy's
and she thinks it's very fine.
Nothing's gayer
than a cricket!
Nothing's louder after nine!
But my mother
thinks a thicket
is the nicest place for mine.
DEER MOUSE
Who tells the little deer mouse
when summer goes away
that she should fix a cozy place,
a comfy place to stay,
and fill her cupboard shelves with seeds
from berries, weeds, and hay?
Who tells the little deer mouse
before the year is old
that she should wear a warmer coat
to shield her from the cold?
I'm glad that someone tells her
and she does as she is told.
"At the Well" by Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen
I enjoyed watching and listening to this Tocatta and Fugue in D by Johann Sebastian Bach . Dmitriev does an amazing job of playing it on an accordian!
Two of Aileen Fisher's poems from I Heard a Bluebird Sing
CLIMBING
The trunk of a tree
is the road for me
on a sunny summer day.
Up the bark
that is brown and dark
through tunnels of leaves that sway
and tickle my knees
in the trembly breeze,
that's where I make my way.
Leaves in my face
and twigs in my hair
in a squeeze of a place,
but I don't care!
Some people talk
of a summer walk
through clover and weeds and hay.
Some people stride
where the hills are wide
and the rocks are speckled gray.
But the trunk of a tree
is the road for me
on a sunny summer day.
AT NIGHT
In the still dark depths
of the pines and birches,
day-birds sleep
on their hidden perches.
A woodchuck curls
in his burrow bed,
a squirrel in his leaf-nest
overhead.
And down in his tunnel
a chippy is dozing,
comfy and quiet
and never supposing
that out in the starlight
a doe and a fawn
are picking his daisies
and mowing his lawn!
Johann Georg Meyer von Bremen
Today's piece by Johann Sebastian Bach is one of my favorites - Air (on the G String) (You can skip the ad if you'd like)
Three poems today by Aileen Fisher from Sing of the Earth and Sky: Poems about Our Planet and the Wonders Beyond
THE WORLD AROUND US
Sing of the Earth and sky,
sing of our lovely planet,
sing of the low and high,
of fossils locked in granite.
Sing of the strange, the known,
the secrets that surround us,
sing of the wonders shown,
and wonders still around us.
THE EYE OF THE SKY
The face of the sky
has a golden eye
by day, when the sun
is low or high.
The face of the sky
has a silver eye
at night, when the moon
goes sailing by.
All day, all night,
with a watch to keep,
how does the sky
have a chance to sleep?
THE COUNTLESS STARS
Suppose you stood
on a darkened slope
and looked at the sky
through a telescope
and counted the stars
for hours...or, say,
you counted a night
of your life away...
You'd just make a start,
a very small try,
at counting the number
of stars in the sky.
I liked this painting of a sweet little girl knitting by Johann Georg Meyer Von Bremen
A lovely piece by Johann Sebastian Bach - Double Violin Concerto in D Minor - Largo
Two poems by Aileen Fisher from In One Door and Out the Other. I highly recommend you check out some of her many poetry books for children.
THE FROG AND I
The frog and I,
the frog and I
can sing and hop
but cannot fly.
We both can dive,
we both can swim
(although i can't
compete with him).
We both have skin
that's on to stay,
but mine's not green
I'm glad to say.
PICNICS
Picnics in a box are nice,
with bread and peanut butter,
but campfire picnics are the best
when wieners split and sputter.
Cheese and jelly-bread are good,
but toasted buns are better...
and for a week
I still can smell
the campfire on my sweater.
Johann Georg Meyer Von Bremen
The recommended documentary from last week highly recommended Johann Sebastian Bach's Passion of St. Matthew. Here it is in its entirety. It is long but beautiful.
If you want to listen to just the last song it is here (you can skip the ad). This song is only about 10 minutes long.
Two Aileen Fisher poems from In Summer today:
BEDTIME IN SUMMER
In winter when it's time for bed,
the world outside is dark.
In summer when it's bedtime,
it's still daylight in the park.
The sun still shines at eight o'clock.
I see it in the sky.
If the sun can stay up late in summer,
why, oh why, can't I?
SUMMER MORNING
Mornings can be
dazzling bright,
when we've had
a dewy night.
Sparklers blaze
on grass and weeds,
and spider webs
are strings of beads.
