Slowly catching up ...

photo from www.e-Cobo.com.

AUTUMN DAYS.  BY LOTTIE LINWOOD.

‘Tis Autumn time! the summer flowers

Have faded ‘neath its golden feet;

The birds have left their shady bowers,

And winds chime mournfully and sweet;

The maple boughs, whose folded leaves

Have whispered through the summer days

Like bright-winged birds, around the eaves

Are flitting in the sun’s pale rays;

I hear their rustling low and sweet,
As if an angel floated o’er;

They seem to me like friends I meet,

And love, then part forever more. 

The dreamy lull of limpid streams;

The azure haze that floats above,
Enshroud earth as mysterious dreams,
O’er all our spirits softly move. 

Spirit of dreams! oh, I would bless

Thy soft luxurious charms for aye,

And fold thee in my soul’s caress,

Now and forever till I die!

Oh, chide me not! the low wind rhymes,

Full many a plaintive trembling lay,

And I could listen to her hymns,

Till I had breathed my life away. 
-- from Godey's _Lady's Book_, October 1855. 

Happy May!

May flowers, or pink hawthorn
blossoms.  Wikipedia image.

As I went out one May morning,
One May morning betim,
I met a maid from home had strayed,
Just as the sun did shine

What makes you rise so soon, my dear,
Your journey to pursue?
Your pretty little feet they tread so sweet,
Strike off the morning dew.

I'm going to feed my Father's flock,
His young and tender lambs,
That over hills and over dales
Lie waiting for their dams. 

May Queen and her court, British Columbia,
Canada, ca. 1887.  Wikipedia image.

O stay! O stay! you handsome maid,
And rest a moment here,
For there is none but you alone
That I do love so dear.

How gloriously the sun doth shine,
How pleasant is the air;
I'd rather rest on a true love's breast
Than any other where.

For I am thine and thou art rnine;
No man shall uncomfort thee.
We'll join our hands in wedded bands
And a-married we will be.
--"Searching for Lambs", traditional.

Merry Christmas!

AntiqueClipArt.com

An Old Christmas Greeting
Sing hey! Sing hey!
For Christmas Day,
Twine mistletoe and holly,
For friendship glows
In winter snows,
And so let’s all be jolly.
-- old nursery rhyme

May you and yours have the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years!

"Oh, Fair to See", by Christina Rossetti

Fruit tree in bloom.  FreeFoto.com

Oh! Fair To See 

Oh, fair to see 

Bloom-laden cherry tree, 

Arrayed in sunny white: 

An April day’s delight, 

Oh, fair to see! 

Oh, fair to see 

Fruit-laden cherry tree, 

With balls of shining red 

Decking a leafy head, 

Oh, fair to see! 

-- by Christina Rossetti 

"The Valley of Heart's Delight", a poem from 1931.

Orchard in bloom.  FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

The Valley of Heart's Delight
The Santa Clara Valley is
To those who hold it dear
A veritable paradise
Each season of the year.

One loves it best in April
When the fruit trees are in bloom
And a mass of snowy blossoms
Yields a subtle sweet perfume.
When orchard after orchard
Is spread before the eyes
When the whitest of white blossom
'Neath the bluest of blue skies.

No brush can paint the picture
No pen describe the sight
That one can find in April
In "The Valley of the Heart's Delight."
-- Clara Louise Lawrence, "The Valley of the Heart's Delight" (1931)

An April Day.

 An April Day
When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
‘T is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
The first flower of the plain.

I love the season well,
When forest glades are teeming with bright forms,
Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell
The coming-on of storms.

From the earth’s loosened mould
The sapling draws its sustenance, and thrives;
Though stricken to the heart with winter’s cold,
The drooping tree revives.

The softly-warbled song
Comes quick from the pleasant woods, and colored wings
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves along
The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills
The silver woods with light, the green slope throws
Its shadows in the hollows of the hills,
And wide the upland glows.

And, when the eve is born,
In the blue lake the sky, o’er-reaching far,
Is hollowed out and the moon dips her horn,
And twinkles many a star.

Inverted in the tide,
Stand the gray rocks, and trembling shadows throw,
And the fair trees look over, side by side,
And see themselves below.

Sweet April! – Many a thought
Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed;
Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought,
Life’s golden fruit is shed.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Easter blessings!

Blossoms. FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
-- Psalm 103:8-11

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
-- A. E. Housman, "A Shropshire Lad", 1887

An Irish blessing for you ...

Image: Karen's Whimsy clipart

May you always have
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!
-- source: Irish Blessings & Sayings

Happy New Year!

AntiqueClipArt.com

Winter
Bread and milk for breakfast,
And woolen frocks to wear,
And a crumb for robin redbreast
On the cold days of the year.
-- Christina Rossetti

2011 was a hard year for me, as well as several other people I know.  Here's hoping that 2012 will be better for us all!

A new post (finally!): "Autumn Days" -- a poem from 1855.

Image: Nikolay Dimitrov.
www.eCobo-com

AUTUMN DAYS.  BY LOTTIE LINWOOD.

‘Tis Autumn time! the summer flowers
Have faded ‘neath its golden feet;
The birds have left their shady bowers,
And winds chime mournfully and sweet;
The maple boughs, whose folded leaves
Have whispered through the summer days
Like bright-winged birds, around the eaves
Are flitting in the sun’s pale rays;
I hear their rustling low and sweet,
As if an angel floated o’er;
They seem to me like friends I meet,
And love, then part forever more.

The dreamy lull of limpid streams;
The azure haze that floats above,
Enshroud earth as mysterious dreams,
O’er all our spirits softly move.
Spirit of dreams! oh, I would bless
Thy soft luxurious charms for aye,
And fold thee in my soul’s caress,
Now and forever till I die!
Oh, chide me not! the low wind rhymes,
Full many a plaintive trembling lay,
And I could listen to her hymns,
Till I had breathed my life away.

-- published in the October 1855 issue of Godey's Lady's Book. 

Join the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild for the Pre-Raphaelite Picnic!

"Bower Meadow" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Pre-Raphaelite Tea Picnic: join us at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose for an Artistic Salon, Victorian style!  Please come prepared to participate by reading a favorite Victorian poem or an excerpt from a period novel, showing a piece of Victorian artwork, singing or playing a Victorian song, or some other historical entertainment (family-friendly, please!).  Gentlemen and older children welcome!  Bring your camera so you can take atmospheric and artistic photos in the garden.

    Date: Saturday, August 20, 2011. Time TBA.
    Location: Japanese Friendship Garden picnic area, Kelley Park, Senter Rd. and Alma St., San Jose.
    Cost: $20 (Tea Guild members) /$25 (non-members)
    Suggested costume: Victorian or Edwardian day dress, Artistic, Reform or Aesthetic costume.

Please R.S.V.P and send payment by Thursday, August 18!  E-mail the Guild at southbayladiesteaguild (at) yahoo (dot) com for more information and to R.S.V.P.  Payment can be made by PayPal, or you can send a check (e-mail for the address).  To qualify for the Member price you must be a paid member of the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild; membership information is available in the links at the top left of this page.  We look forward to seeing you!

Happy New Year!

image from OldTimeClipArt.com
"Before the Christmas holiday was popularized, New Year's Day was the celebrated mid-winter festival, and New Year greetings originated in Europe around 1466, hundreds of years earlier than the first Christmas cards." -- from _Christmas Past_ by Barbara Hallman Kissinger.

Winter
Bread and milk for breakfast,
And woolen frocks to wear,
And a crumb for robin redbreast
On the cold days of the year.
-- Christina Rossetti

The Frost Spirit
He comes, he comes, the Frost Spirit comes! You may trace his footsteps now
On the naked woods and the blasted fields and the brown hill's withered brow.
He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth,
And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth.
-- John Greenleaf Whittier

Another poem.

image from Grandma's Graphics.
My Gift.
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am;
If I were a shepherd,
I would give Him a lamb.
If I were a wise man,
I would do my part.
But what can I give Him?
I will give my heart.
-- Christina Rossetti

Merry Christmas!

image from Antiqueclipart.com.

An Old Christmas Greeting. [ an old nursery rhyme]

Sing hey! Sing hey!
For Christmas Day,
Twine mistletoe and holly,
For friendship glows
In winter snows,
And so let's all be jolly.

Christmas Hearth Rhyme. [an old nursery rhyme]
Sing we all merrily,
Christmas is here,
The day we love best
Of all days in the year.

Bring forth the holly,
The box and the bay,
Deck out our cottage
For glad Christmas day.

Sing we all merrily,
Draw near the fire,
Sister and brother,
Grandson and sire.

Emily Dickinson Thanksgiving poem

In a previous post, we read how Sarah J. Hale, the editor of the now-unpublished Godey's Lady's Book, encouraged all Americans to celebrate Thanksgiving every year, and to honor the holiday with literary works. Several Americans did so, including a few famous poets who are still known today. One poem that I always forget to associate with Thanksgiving is the one by Lydia Maria Child known as "Over the River and Through the Woods," although its official title is "A New England Child's Thanksgiving Day," or perhaps just "Thanksgiving Day." As in, "Over the river and through the wood/to Grandmother's house we go;/The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh/through the white and drifted snow."

A more famous poet after her death than she ever was during her life, Emily Dickinson, whom the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild remembered with a tea and poetry reading in her honor this past May, also left us with a Thanksgiving poem:

One Day is there of the Series
One Day is there of the Series
Termed Thanksgiving Day.
Celebrated part at Table
Part in Memory.
Neither Patriarch nor Pussy
I dissect the Play
Seems it to my Hooded thinking
Reflex Holiday.
Had there been no sharp Subtraction
From the early Sum–
Not an Acre or a Caption
Where was once a Room–
Not a Mention, whose small Pebble
Wrinkled any Sea,
Unto Such, were such Assembly
‘Twere Thanksgiving Day.
-- by Emily Dickinson

I find her work interesting, even if I don't always know quite what she's talking about!

On another note, regarding the mincemeat cookie recipe I posted a little while ago, you may need to read the ingredient listing on your mincemeat if you plan to make this recipe and have dietary issues. For those who don't know, mincemeat is a spicy, sweet, tangy mixture of dried fruits, citrus peel, sugar, vinegar, spices and (traditionally), alcohol and small bits of cooked meat. It is most popularly used to make pies and tarts. Some brands of store-bought mincemeat contain actual meat, and others don't; also, some mincemeat contains alcohol (rum or brandy) and some doesn't. If this is an issue for you, it may be safer to look up a recipe for mincemeat that fits your dietary requirements (or can be adjusted to do so) and make your own. The presence of meat or alcohol is not a necessary part of mincemeat, although it is traditional.