Banners

Here are my very first attempts a banner/signature making. Feel free to critique and/or use, but please give credit where credit it is due! Thanks! If you click on them, you should be able to view them in slightly larger form.

This phantom one is the very very first one I ever did, so not very high quality or fancy. But I rather like it....
This is my second one. I made it on Adobe Illustrator and it is supposed to be blue... but when I upload Illustrator things, I find that the process discolors them. ARGH!!!! It's a Sarah Palin quote from her acceptance speech.

*grins* OK, this one needs a little explaining. It says "I'm a Fish Hat Fangirl!" Now by now you have all heard of the Shadow of the Bear movie, right? Well some of us girls on the FT forum have fallen head over heels in love... not with Fish!... but with his hat! So, I made one of what I am sure will be many sigs proudly proclaiming the fact that I am *cough* a fan of Fish's hat.

This one features my favorite romantic quote from the fantastic movie "Ever After".

*laughs* And this one... *giggles* featurs one of my absolutely favorite lines from "The Lord of the Rings in 60 seconds". "Ooh, that's bad. The Dark Lord Sauron probably has his evil henchmen out looking for it right now!" *knocknock* "Who is it?" "Evil Henchmen!" "Yes, what can I do for you?" "Sauron Lord of Darkness has lost his ring of evil... do you have it?" "Noooo..."

=)

Ah, and the last one... I- AM THAT IS!!!!! Martin and Matthias who is hiding behind Martin who is Matthias... and it's kinda complicated. Read the book! Which reminds me... Doomwyte is coming out in October!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Aaannndd... that's all the ones I have made so far. When I make more, you will be seeing them, because so far this is the only way I know of of getting them onto the forum...
TTFN!
ta ta for now!

Becoming Like the Angels

Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI

Faith gives joy. When God is not there, the world becomes desolate, and everything is completely unsatisfactory. It's easy to see today how a world empty of God is also increasingly consuming itself, how it has become a wholly joyless world. The great joy comes from the fact that there is this great love, and that is the essential message of faith. You are unswervingly loved. This also explains why Christianity spread first predominantly among the weak and suffering. To that extent it can be said that the basic element of Christianity is joy... It is joy in the proper sense. A joy that exists together with a difficult life and also makes this life liveable . . . Faith also makes man light. To believe means that we become like angels. We can fly, because we no longer weigh so heavy in our own estimation. To become a believer means to become light, to escape our own gravity, which drags us down, and thus to enter the weightlessness of faith . . . Catholics are not promised an "exterior" happiness but rather a deep interior security through communion with the Lord. That he is an ultimate light of happiness in one's life is in fact a part of all this . . . We are as alienated from God's voice that we simply do not recognize it immediately as his. But I would still say that everyone who is in some sense attentive can experience and sense for himself that now he is speaking to me. And it is a chance for me to get to know him. Precisely in catastrophic situations he can suddenly break in, if I am awake and if someone helps me decipher the message.

St. Michael! Pray for us!
St. Gabriel! Pray for us!
St. Raphael! Pray for us!

Mississippi Squirrel Revival

That's what I love about country music... you can sing about the most ridiculous things, and it ends up being a great song. In the car yesterday, we heard this song... and is it funny! So if you need a laugh, press play and listen! (And don't forget to turn on your volume ;)

Well, when I was a kid I'd take a trip every summer down the Mississippi

To visit my granny in her antebellum world

I'd run barefooted all day long climbin' trees free as a song

And one day I happened to catch myself a squirrel

Well, I stuffed him down in an old shoe box, punched a couple of holes in the top

And when Sunday came I snuck him into Church

I was sittin' way back in the very last pew showin' him to my good buddy Hugh

When that squirrel got loose and went totally berserk

Well, what happened next is hard to tell

Some thought it was heaven others thought it was hell

But the fact that something was among us was plain to see

As the choir sang "I Surrender All" the squirrel ran up Harv Newlan's coveralls

Harv leaped to his feet and said, "Somethin's got a hold on me", Yeow!



Chorus:

The day the squirrel went berserk

In the First Self-Righteous Church

In the sleepy little town of Pascagoula

It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival

They were jumpin' pews and shoutin' Hallelujah!



Well, Harv hit the aisles dancin' and screamin'

Some thought he had religion others thought he had a demon

And Harv thought he had a weed eater loose in his Fruit-Of-The-Looms

He fell to his knees to plead and beg and the squirrel ran out of his britches leg

Unobserved to the other side of the room

All the way down to the amen pew where sat Sister Bertha better-than-you

Who'd been watchin' all the commotion with sadistic glee

But you should've seen the look in her eyes

When that squirrel jumped her garters and crossed her thighs

She jumped to her feet and said "Lord have mercy on me"

As the squirrel made laps inside her dress

She began to cry and then to confess to sins that would make a sailor blush with shame

She told of gossip and church dissension but the thing that got the most attention

Was when she talked about her love life and then she started naming names




Chorus



Well seven deacons and the pastor got saved,

Twenty-five thousand dollars was raised and fifty volunteered

For missions in the Congo on the spot

Even without an invitation there were at least five hundred rededications

And we all got baptized whether we needed it or not

Now you've heard the bible story I guess

How he parted the waters for Moses to pass

Oh the miracles God has wrought in this old world

But the one I'll remember 'til my dyin' day

Is how he put that Church back on the narrow way

With a half crazed Mississippi squirrel



Chorus

Ballads and Blues

I was playing out of my George Winston Piano book yesterday, and I was reminded "My friends have no idea who this guy is!" Horror of horrors! Not know who George Winston is? Never to have heard his music? Scandalous! Luckily for them, they read my blog occasionally. And for any others of you out there who don't know who he is, consider yourself introduced. And if you have heard of him, please let me know!

George Winston is, to put it simply, a pianist. To elaborate a little bit, he is a very good pianist. (Actually, I think he plays the guitar and harmonica as well, but mainly piano.)

I have grown up listening to his CDs December and every year at Christmas, and until recently, have just taken it for granted. But in the last few years - with my growth in devotion to my piano - has come a deeper appreciation of his music. My dad owns several other CDs, and I have taken to listening them from time to time... as well as using them for music in my photo slide shows. =)

His music is a combination of blues, a little bit of jazz, some classical here and there, as well as what people would term "new age music". A lot of different kinds, really. It is very relaxing and peacful to listen to, mostly laid back, with a nice upbeat one here and there. If you would like to listen to some samples, you need not look further then the bottom of my blog, in St. Cecilia's Music Box! I re-did the whole music thing, and it is now 3/4 George Winston, and 1/4 Enya. The best Winston songs are Tacobell Canyon.. I mean... Variations on the Kanon by Pachelbel, Thanksgiving (because I can play that one), Joy and The Snowman.

If you are a pianist and would like to get the sheet music, I highly recomend it. Since you need to span two octivtes in order play with complete ease, it is not too simple. I'd say, about upper Intermediate and Advanced Level. Winston does not preform with sheet music, so these are the transcripts of how he played it on the days he recorded it. Now, my hand can not span two octives... ( one note over an octive) but with a little jumping I can do pretty well. And it so satisfying to be able to play something and have it sound like the CD! Another neat feature to the Sheet Music book is a brief description by Mr. Winston of each song, his thoughts on it and other little notes.

Andd..... I lost my train of thought. How was I going to wrap this up? Oh yes!

I haven't been to one of his concerts - exactly - but I am sure I would enjoy it! Here is a list of tour dates, so if he will be near you, I'd recomend going to hear him play! I say that I haven't exactly been to one, because my mom and dad went to go hear him play when my mom was pregnant with me. So, I was there, I just don't, er, remember anything! My mom likes to say that was where I developed my love of the piano, and indeed, I do seem to have a talent for it and have never been the least interested in playing anything else. And George Winston is my favorite pianist. Maybe!

So if you are looking for something new to listen to and relax... and even if you aren't... try out Goerge Winston!

Courage in Blue

"War is a test of character. It makes bad men worse, and good men better."
~ Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain