03.09.12...

March 9 - Music

For years and years, during Christmas Eve service at Parkway UCC, someone would sing "O Holy Night" towards the end of the service. Everyone was given a candle at the start of service, and while the song was being sung, two members of the Diaconate would light the candle of the first person in each pew, and they would light the next and so on. It was a beautiful service, and I always wanted to be the singer. I finally got the opportunity and was able to sing solo for three or four years, then my daughter joined me and our choir director found a wonderful arrangement for two voices. Kira and I sang that wonderful duet another four years or so...until she got a job in Arizona and moved away. It was an absolute Rush to sing that song with her, our voices blended very well, and when we sing together, our egos tend to burst forth, so we had a lot of fun singing too. This arrangement is just fantastic. I really miss singing it with her, heck, I miss singing anything with her.

"Cantique De Noel"  (O Holy Night) by Adolphe Adam, arranged by Carl Deis

Linked 52 - Vegetables...

Hmmm, I'm not at all happy with the way these photos turned out.

Taking photos of food with light shining down is unappealing to me (in my photos).

Anyway, this was dinner last night...sweet potato, broccoli, snow peas, yellow pepper

on white and wild rice with veggies included and chicken sausage. 

It tasted way better than it looks.

Click on Linked 52 in the bar up above, and check out all of the other talented ladies' takes on Vegetables.

03.08.12...

March 8-Dreams

I have a few dreams for my life and unfortunately, I think that's all they will ever be...dreams.
I'm not much of a go getter. I can't sell myself and I have no confidence.
I will think I'm good at something, such as singing, gardening, photography, drawing, and then I see someone else do the same thing way better, their voice will be clear, their garden weed free, their photos stunning and their drawing, lifelike. Usually that makes me give up, but lately I've been thinking about my insecurities a bit differently. Lately, if someone is better than me, I'm choosing to believe that they are just different from me, not better. This is quite hard for me to do. Little by little, the older I get, the less bothered I am by others' perfection. I know I am not perfect, and never will be, but I believe I can be better, and if I can be better, maybe I can get some confidence, and if I get some confidence, maybe I can sell myself. If I can sell myself, I can realize one of my dreams. That dream would be to commission my drawings, both the pencil portraits and the name drawings. I have sold a fair amount, but I would like it to be regular. Maybe that's what I can do when I retire from the hospital (which will be sooner than I can believe).
This is a sample of my dream.
You can see other samples here.