Pope John Paul II to be Beatified on May 1st!

I have always been fond of the late Pope John Paul II and when I found this I just had to share the good news! I can't wait until May 1st!

             

     "Pope Benedict XVI has today promulgated a decree recognising a miracle took place at the intercession of the Ven. John Paul II. The beatification ceremony will take place May 1st in Rome, presided by Benedict XVI.

The date, the Second Sunday of Easter, coincides with Divine Mercy Sunday - a Feast Day instituted by John Paul II. The late Pope died on the solemnity, on April 2, 2005.

The announcement of the beatification comes after five years of investigations into the life and works of the Polish Pontiff. " ~ National Catholic Register

This coming week I will be taking a trip to Washington D.C. for the March for Life with a group of other kids. (in case you are wondering why won't being blogging). I'll try to remeber to blog about it when I get home.

Victorian Chatelaine

       What is a Chatelaine? Well its a type of jewelry that was worn by women in the Victorian era. They were  useful little trinkets that also doubled as jewelry. They could be almost anything, a nail file, small notebook, pencil, match case, scissors, needle case, anything that would be useful to a lady of that time. They would look something like this

They would be worn at the waste or at the neck. While I was looking for a picture I came across this cartoon from Punch magazine 1849,

Which makes me think where they really all that helpful? Well, probably not as much as they could have been, but they also had to be pretty and lite so that they could double as jewelry. So far as fulfilling their purpose as being useful and pretty (which is a very hard thing to put in to one object, completely)  they do rather well.

Fantasia on Greensleeves

Came upon this piece of music accidentally, and I thought it was Christmas music, well it is sort of. It came before the well known What Child is this? I have always thought it was just a Christmas song, but actually it was first a folk song that came from England. No one really knows who wrote it or what the words are referring to. Some people think that King Henry VIII wrote it to Anne Boleyn, of course there is nothing to suggest this, other then it is from around the same time.
Here are the lyrics:

Alas, my love, you do me wrong,

To cast me off discourteously.

For I have loved you well and long,

Delighting in your company.

Chorus:

Greensleeves was all my joy

Greensleeves was my delight,

Greensleeves was my heart of gold,

And who but my lady greensleeves.

          Alas, my love, that you should own
         Aheart of wanton vanity,
         So I must meditate alone 
         Upon your insincerity.

(Chorus)

Your vows you've broken, like my heart,

Oh, why did you so enrapture me?

Now I remain in a world apart

But my heart remains in captivity.

(Chorus)

I have been ready at your hand,

To grant whatever you would crave,

I have both wagered life and land,

Your love and good-will for to have.

(Chorus)

If you intend thus to disdain,

It does the more enrapture me,

And even so, I still remain

A lover in captivity.

(Chorus)

My men were clothed all in green,

And they did ever wait on thee;

All this was gallant to be seen,

And yet thou wouldst not love me.

(Chorus)

Thou couldst desire no earthly thing,

but still thou hadst it readily.

Thy music still to play and sing;

And yet thou wouldst not love me.

(Chorus)

Well, I will pray to God on high,

that thou my constancy mayst see,

And that yet once before I die,

Thou wilt vouchsafe to love me.

(Chorus)

Ah, Greensleeves, now farewell, adieu,

To God I pray to prosper thee,

For I am still thy lover true,

Come once again and love me.

(Chorus)

The End of the Quest

I think I have found my favorite painting it is called The End of the Quest by Sir Frank Dickensee. Looking at the painting you wonder what the is the story behind it? What is the conversation they are having? What was the artist trying to convey through his painting? It makes me wish that Sir Frank had written a story just for this painting! It is like you are missing out on a lovely secret and you will never know because you have already missed it. I don't know exactly but it is rather hard to formulate an exact thought on that. Maybe I will write a story for The End of the Quest. The only problem with that is that I am not much for writing, maybe I could get my sister to do it... Oh well, it is times like these when you wish stories were real and you wait and meet their characters in heaven. Who knows? Maybe you can meet fictional characters in heaven.

Winter Photography

I thought I might show a some of my winter photography.