Friday Five: What Are You Doing for Lent?

Mother Laura at RevGalBlogPals says: Ready or not, Lent is upon us! [She then featured a Lenten song that's a favorite of hers, so I'm featuring one that's a favorite of mine here.]



1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How?
Well, not so much, as I mentioned in the previous post Slush Wednesday. I am still getting used to this new life of having only two humans in the household, and belonging to a big church with different rituals and expectations (same denomination, but many differences just the same). Home rituals seem odd with only two people, and most of my relatives here either are not Christians or are in non-Lent-observing traditions. This is something I'll have to keep working on.

2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent?
Having lived in the North most of my days, I've never celebrated Mardi Gras in context.
I suppose my most memorable Lent was the one when Cordeliaknits was born on the Wednesday before Easter (which I later discovered was called Spy Wednesday in some old traditions). Oddly, her birthday will not fall on Easter Sunday until long after I'm gone, but it does generally tend to fall during Spring Break for whatever school she's in. This should be her last Spring Break unless she ends up in academic chaplaincy, so there's a change coming for her!
Several years ago in my old church, the minister instituted something new for Ash Wednesday. Members were invited to submit general or specific people and other concerns to be prayed for during an Ash Wednesday litany. These were the most meaningful Ash Wednesday services I have ever known as we prayed for ourselves and each other and for the whole world.

3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it?
Not really, as far as I can recall. We heard our Catholic friends talk about Lenten fasting, giving up things for Lent, and so on. We did celebrate Maundy Thursday in the church where I was confirmed (on that evening, in fact) but I don't recall much else. In the first church I joined as an adult, we had Wednesday night soup suppers with a service and perhaps some mission component during Lent, and I still think of Lent as a time to think of others.

4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between?
More in the take-on camp, trying to have a more disciplined spiritual life.

5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year?
Primarily by reading and reflecting on the readings in Bread and Wine, the book chosen by RevGalBlogPals. I'll also make use of some other resources that I have or find. Just today when looking up Spy Wednesday to make sure I hadn't made it up, I came upon the Geranium Farm site -- coincidentally one of the principals of that site is the author of tomorrow's reading in Bread and Wine. So I'll be visiting that as well. In my "actual" (as opposed to "virtual") church, we are doing a study on Islam involving some lunches with videos and reading a novel about a Muslim American, and that ties in with something I often like to do during Lent, which is to learn more about another country or culture. (Probably fits in with all those Lenten soup suppers).
And today is Friday, and I will be making Salmon Wiggle* for supper. The Canadian Food Guide (I like it better than our Pyramid) says to eat fish twice a week, so I'm going to try that.

* How do you make a Salmon Wiggle? Tickle it under the gills! But seriously, folks, just open a can of salmon and take the skin and obvious bones out, give the juice to the cat or dog, and mash it up (the fish, not the cat or dog). Then make a white sauce like your Home Ec teacher taught you (don't forget to put on your hairnet!), add the salmon and some frozen peas, and serve over some form of starch. Usually it's toast at my house, sometimes potatoes, but today I am going to cast caution to the winds and by golly, I'm going to learn to make baking powder biscuits, or in fact, Bakewell Cream biscuits.

Slush Wednesday

Just back from my fourth walk of the day with Rusty. Earlier walks were quite wet and slushy; on this one, the slush was beginning to freeze but not, as yet, becoming too slippery. Anyway I have my Great Big Waterproof Boots to wear. They seem to weigh about 12 pounds apiece but that's probably not true.

No church for me today, I didn't want to walk all the way to Big Taupe Church, and I didn't want to trudge into the Episcopal Church in my clodhoppers. The only service at my church was at noontime, which suggests to me that the old New England Congregationalists here are not quite comfy with Ash Wednesday yet or at least don't think it's important for young families and children to participate.

I did read the readings for today from Bread and Wine, the book the RevGalBlogPals are reading for Lent. The general introduction talked about Lent as a time of joy, not the way many people think of it. The introduction for the first section was part of Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, where Wilde compares the heart broken by the consciousness of sin to the box of ointment that the woman in the Gospel uses to anoint Jesus. The reading for today was titled "Repentance" by Kathleen Norris, from her book Amazing Grace. She talks about reading the Psalms to parochial school students when she's being a poet-in-residence, and having them write their own psalms as not only an exercise in poetry, but a way to deal with their justifiable anger (for example, toward a sibling who mistreats them). Once they've got the anger out, they can begin the process of repentance. (And reconciliation?) If we think of the Psalms this way, it becomes a bit easier to take the parts where the Psalmist begs God to smite his enemies. I don't feel that we use the Psalms enough in church, and one of the reasons is probably a squeamishness about all that smiting! (Also there is almost an obsession in the mainline church with keeping the service to one hour in length. When this is used as a reason to truncate endless repetitious announcements, well and good; but I wouldn't mind staying a bit longer if we said or sang a Psalm every week, and maybe an extra hymn as well.)

Some years ago a friend told me this anecdote: An elderly man is asked whether he believes in infant baptism. His response: "Believe in it, hell! I've SEEN it!" I know people who say they don't believe in sin. And my response is, "Believe in it, hell! I've DONE it!" And it leads to a broken heart, or as the child in Kathleen Norris's piece puts it, a "messy house," but then it can also lead to the joy of repentance.

How Long Before Someone Writes This Novel?

In the half-sleeping time this morning, after Onkel Hankie Pants had taken Rusty for his walk, and before their return, I dreamed a plot for a story or book, possibly a romance novel. I doubt very much that I shall ever write it, so if you want to, feel free.

It's a blog romance! There is a blogger who is a youngish (30+) woman, a bit of a hipster -- she may perhaps spike her hair and have tattoos. In my dream her blog was (mystifyingly) called something like "always a suit." There is another blogger, a man in his mid-60s but still quite vigorous and good-looking in a craggy, slightly grizzled way. Both are unattached and assume they will remain so. Somehow they start reading each other's blogs, and commenting on them. This goes on for quite some time with the relationship unfolding until another person who reads both blogs gently points out that the two have fallen in love. At first they don't believe this but finally arrange a meetup and then another and pretty soon they are together. Oh, and the older guy turns out to be a fairly well-known poet (blogging semi-anonymously) who's originally from London.

I could go on about where all these characters came from (I believe most of my dreams are processing events in my life, books I've read and films I've seen) but I have much more to blog about. But when you see the first epistolary novel in the form of blog entries, remember -- I thought of it first! (Or maybe not. Maybe one has already been published, or at least is being written.) (According to Wikipedia, there is actually a novel/blog that is a blog...For Ilford Dyson, I Hope You Find This which is actually on Blogger just like me. But I was thinking of a print novel.)

Oh -- and the difference between this and other epistolary novels, also between it and stories of people who've hooked up via the Internet (with sometimes disastrous results) is that the whole courtship, at least until the face-to-face meetup, takes place in full view of, and with comments from, all the other blogreaders.

Tuneful Tuesday: Haunted Ballads

I haven't blogged much for a while (until today, when I'm going crazy blogging), and have missed a couple of Tuesdays. I'm not sure why, perhaps it's just that my hands get cold at the computer (with oil at #3.19 a gallon on our last fill, we are not keeping the thermostat set very high); perhaps a little seasonal depression (nothing serious, just lack of energy); or perhaps it's just because I've been spending a lot of time reading.

I recently read the last (alas!) two books in Deborah Grabien's Haunted Ballad series. There are only five books in all; Ms. Grabien, apparently partly because of publisher problems, has moved on now to a series with a rock'n'roll musician as the protagonist. But back to the Haunted Ballads....

The protagonists are Ringan Laine, a folk guitarist and vocalist with a successful band, but who also has another career as a restoration consultant for old buildings. The series is set in England so both the buildings and the folk songs are seriously old. Most of the music Ringan's band does are Child ballads and the like. His long-time companion, Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes, is an actor, director, and founder of the Tamburlaine Players, a theatre group which does a lot of Shakespeare and such around Britain and Europe. Ringan and Penny are fully committed to each other, but maintain separate residences, and their peripatetic lifestyles lead to many joyous reunions.

Each book centers around one of the Child ballads. I won't describe each of the plots, but the basic premise is that a ghost appears, usually in or near an old house or other building, causing a lot of trouble for Penny, Ringan, and anyone else who happens to be around. They realize that the ghost has something to do with one of the ballads and the story behind it. Through investigating the facts underlying the ballad (which the folk process has often garbled), Ringan and Penny are able to resolve matters, but not before many thrilling episodes take place. If you like Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins books, you'll probably enjoy these books as well.

Apart from the stories, which are well-plotted and gripping with engaging characters, one of the things I appreciated most about this series was Ms. Grabien's ability to write about music. Many times in each book, Ringan's band or some other musician plays, and the description almost makes you hear the music. And it's better, in her description, than the best music you've ever heard. It's sort of the way Rex Stout wrote about food in the Nero Wolfe books.

A fun thing as I've read the books was finding recordings of the songs they're built around. Unfortunately for me, the last, The New-Slain Knight (Child 263) doesn't appear to have been recorded as far as I can tell. But here are the books, with links to some recordings that are available, and some YouTube videos where possible.

1. The Weaver and the Factory Maid (This is an old ballad, but is not one of the Child ballads, dealing as it does with the Industrial Revolution): The apparently definitive recording of this song is by Steeleye Span, from their album Parcel of Rogues, and also included on various "greatest hits" albums. It's also available as a Digital Download ; look under Steeleye Span with the title simply given as "The Weaver." (By the way, if you are going to do any of these things with Amazon.com, you can go to RevGalBlogPals website and surf to Amazon from there, and RGBP will get a little money.)

2. The Famous Flower of Serving Men (Child 106) Here's the song as done by Martin Carthy:

This song is available on his album Waiting for Angels, and it's also available, as a Digital Download, from the late Ewan McColl combined with another ballad, Sweet William.

3. Matty Groves (Child 81) I was more familiar with Joan Baez's version, but the version Deborah Grabien had in mind was, I'm sure, Fairport Convention's. There are a number of versions available for Digital Download, and don't forget the variant, Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. Here is a fairly recent live performance by Fairport Convention
but for a rendition by a lesser-known band that perhaps has more youthful energy, try this one:


4. Cruel Sister (Child #10 as "The Twa Sisters") has many versions. The Armstrong Family have recorded it as "Lay the Bent" on their CD The Wheel of the Year, but it is a version that combines elements of "Cruel Sister" with the riddles that you may recall from "Scarborough Fair" as sung by Simon and Garfunkel. Deborah Grabien references the Pentangle version (available from iTunes) in her book, and it's available on iTunes.
The Dutch duo Yggdrasil does a lovely, though truncated, a cappella version here:

For a solo version with all the words, very scary, try this one:

Now, speaking of haunted ballads, there is another, longer series of mysteries set in the Smoky Mountains area which also takes its titles from old ballads. Sharyn McCrumb's series begins with If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O. The connection with the songs, and the "woo-woo" element, are both more subtle in these police procedurals, but I discovered that the author actually does "Words and Music" events where she reads from the book and a folksinger performs the songs. (Check out "Words and Music" on her website.) Although I tend to think of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan when I think of the song "Pretty Peggy-O" or "Fennario," apparently it was also a Grateful Dead favorite and has inspired a lot of people to post videos of themselves doing it. This was a nice one:

From Ugly to Pretty, Overnight

It's snowing again! Although I have somewhat mixed feelings about this (yesterday most of the sidewalks were finally dry and ice-free), I have to confess that I was wishing for the snow a bit. Yesterday, and indeed for several days now, all my views have been so ugly, in the way that only Northern urban winter landscapes can be. Grimy piles of snow and ice mixed with road sand. Last fall's unraked leaves and dead grass, revealed by the melting snow, damp and brown and depressing of aspect, and reminding us of tasks left undone. Bits of trash (cigarette butts and the like) which would be swept up at other seasons, lying frozen in place in puddles and gutters. Often a grey, oppressive sky. It was surely in just such a landscape that "California Dreamin'" was written.

Yesterday I had idly wondered whether we would get some more snow to cover this ugliness, but I must not have read the local forecast, because when a wet dog jumped on the bed this morning I assumed it was raining. It was a pleasant surprise to get up and see the trees (and our lions) covered once again in their lacy shawls of snow.

But, it's supposed to change to rain later -- and then in a day or two there is the dreaded prediction "Ice." But for now, my world is pretty again.

Friday Five, Very Late but with benefit of hindsight

Sally, from Great Britain, at RevGalBlogPals said last Friday:
There is so much going on this weekend that I thought I'd provide an options Friday 5!!!!

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First: Superbowl ( someone explain to this Brit the significance)- love it or hate it? 5 reasons please!!!!!
Well, Superbowl is kind of like World Cup Soccer, or the World Series in baseball -- whoever wins gets to say they're the best for a year. I'm actually fairly indifferent to it. This year "my" team (because of where I live, the New England Patriots) went in favored to win and coming off an unbeaten season. But the New York Giants beat them. So it goes, and the world goes on. I did notice while walking the dog about 7:30 Sunday evening that there were very few cars on the road or people on the streets downtown, although the one bar/restaurant that probably has a big TV looked busy. I guess the best thing about the Superbowl (though we didn't do it at my church) is a charity thing called "Souperbowl" that a lot of youth groups do -- a special collection of either canned soup or money for the hungry among us. Some years ago the Superbowl was held in Minneapolis, where I lived, and my workplace for some reason enlisted many of us as volunteers -- I was at a desk in a hotel, I think, in St. Paul explaining to people how to get to Minneapolis, and other tourist things. So a good thing about the Superbowl is the extra funds it brings to the city where it is held. To show you how ignorant I am, I have no idea where the event was held this year! (Unlike the World Series, it has nothing to do with where the teams come from, so there is normally a lot of travel involved and hotels are happy to have guests at what would otherwise probably be a slow time). So, is that five reasons? A lot of people enjoy it, so let them, is my feeling.

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Second : Candlemas/ Imbolc/ Groundhog day/ St Brigid's day- all of these fall on either the 1st or 2nd February.

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1. Do you celebrate one or more of these?
Not really. Although I'm aware of Candlemas as the time by which all my Christmas stuff should really be put away, and it isn't, quite, so I feel a little guilty. Also, it's hard to escape Punxsutawney Phil if you partake of any news media (he's the groundhog in Pennsylvania who sees, or doesn't see, his shadow). But where I've mostly lived my life, there will ALWAYS be at least 6 more weeks of winter after February 2nd, and indeed we're very lucky if that's all we get.

2. How?
See #1

3. Is this a bit of fun or deeply significant?
See #1

4. Are festivals/ Saints days important to you?
Festivals, yes. Not having been raised in a tradition of Saints' days, it's not embedded in my consciousness; I actually quite like the idea of having someone or something to celebrate each day. In a way I do this with Today in Literature, which commemorates various writers each day.

5.Name your favourite Saints day/ celebration.
Well, it would have to be St. Nicholas' Day (December 6) which is my "Name Day" and also part of my favorite Advent/Christmas seasons.

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Which Wife of Henry VIII Are You?

Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury