Fum Fum Fum

 

On December 25th** sing

Fum, fum, fum*.

On December 25th sing

Fum, fum, fum.

He is born of God's pure love,       

The Son of God, the Son of God;

He is born of Virgin Mary

On this night so cold** and dreary.

Fum, fum, fum.

     

Birds of every forest grove sing

Fum, fum, fum. 

Birds of every forest grove sing

Fum, fum, fum. 

All your fledglings on the bough,

Oh, leave them now, oh, leave them now;

For to make a downy cover

For our Jesus, round Him hover.

Fum, fum, fum.  

Shining stars from heav'n above, sing

Fum, fum, fum. 

Shining stars from heav'n above, sing

Fum, fum, fum. 

Oh, come rejoice, oh, come rejoice;

Come and light the night's obscureness

With your light and dazzling pureness.

Fum, fum, fum.    

--Traditional Spanish Catalan carol (one of many translations)  

*"Fum" [pronounced "foom"], an imitation of strumming guitars and other stringed instruments; possibly also suggesting the rocking of the cradle.

**We don't know what date or time of year Jesus was born.  (Some modern writers assert it was in August, due to supposed clues in the text, but this is not known for sure.)  This date was chosen to give people who converted to Christianity an opportunity to carry on old light festivals with new meanings.  Many carols reflect their European settings far more than the realities of 1st century Bethlehem.

Fum Fum Fum: Cedarmont Kids Version

Flag Waving

 

      This is the U.S. flag, being flown at McCormick Stillman Railroad Park near Phoenix, Arizona.  Next to "Old Glory" but not shown here is the French flag.  It is also here because a "Merci Car" is behind the railing.  (For more, click the link below.)

     Next year for Veteran's Day, my Witticism & Aphorisms Blog should be featuring the Arizona Merci Car (November 2025).  In the meantime, enjoy this flag for our American Fourth of July celebrations.  For other related posts of the past, click the "summer" link or the archived July links on web versions of this blog.

Merci Train Home Page

Merci Train Arizona

Merci Train Wikipedia Info

Trees

 

I think that I shall never see

A poem [as] lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is presst

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

  ---Joyce Kilmer, 1915  

Poetry Foundation: Joyce Kilmer

[The fountain in its source]

The fountain in its source

No drought of summer fears;

The farther it pursues its course

The nobler it appears.

But shallow cisterns yield

A scanty short supply;

The morning sees them amply filled,

At evening they are dry.

    --Madame de la Mothe Guion (1648-1717), translated by William Cowper  (1731-1800)

     This poem is not "Christian", per se, but Cowper certainly was.  His work is featured on both of my blogs.  There are links to his amazing life story. Madame Guion was also a fervent Christian, seeking private devotional disciplines.   

     The poem gives an overall sense of a giving, active life being preferable.  The flowing, active fountain which freely gives of itself never has to "worry" about running dry.   The still cisterns, from which people come and take what they want, do have that "concern.

     Cowper ended up living in the vicinity of Olney, England. There he was friends and a joint hymn-writer with John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace."  Though Americans are much more familiar with Newton, Cowper has had more fame in the UK.  (As noted elsewhere, Cowper was the favorite poet of author Jane Austen.)

   

  

Olney still hosts the Cowper and Newton Museum.  On its premises are Cowper's Summer House.  After his death, a book was published about the place.  "Fans" showed up and wrote on its walls, some of which is still visible today.

"Light Shines out of Darkness" (Cowper; with biographical notes)

[Joy & Peace in Believing] (Cowper)

"The [Slave's] Complaint" (Cowper, plus biographical link; Witticisms & Aphorisms Blog)

"I Will Praise the Lord at All Times" (Cowper)

Quotable Cowper (with biographical link; Witticisms & Aphorisms Blog)

Poetry in Motion

 

       Squirrel monkeys move with energy (and seeming joy) through life.  Full-grown monkeys are small enough; the babies are really tiny.  These creatures are my favorite zoo animal, capturing my attention even more than the big, grand and striking animals.  (Generally, I like most zoo exhibits.)  

       These photos are from the Wildlife World Zoo in Phoenix, AZ and the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, TX.  Both of these are private zoos. These seem to more commonly house squirrel monkeys in modern times; it seems the bigger, public zoos often don't bother with these charming little creatures, which are native to the tropical forests of Cental and South America.

       What must things have been like, interacting with monkeys in the Garden of Eden?  What will our interactions with animals be like in heaven? 

Squirrel Monkeys: Oakland Zoo

Spring Arrives

             

For, see, the Winter is past:

Its rain is over and gone away.

The flowers appear in the land;

The time of singing has arrived,

And the voice of the turtledove 

               is heard in our land.

The fig tree gives out her green figs,

And the vines, the tender grapes,

Give a good smell.

--Song of Solomon 2: 11-13a  

   (translated c.m.b., 2024)

The Months

 
January brings the snow,

Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain*,

Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes large and shrill,

Stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,

Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,

Skipping by their fleecy damns.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,

Fills the children's hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,

Apricots and gillyflowers**.

August brings the sheaves of corn***,

Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit,

Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasants,

Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast,

Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet*,

Blazing fire and Christmas treat. 

     ---Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)

     English writer Sara Coleridge is most known as the only daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and an editor of his work, particularly after her father and her husband died.  However, she was an author and translator in her own right.

     In the 21st century, a discovery of over 100 of her unpublished poems was made.  A lecturer at University College, London, Dr. Swaab, discovered them in the Coleridge manuscripts and published them in 2007.

*Many places in the northern hemisphere will still snow in December & February. The British Isles, being smallish and surrounded by water, do not always have the conditions for snow.

**Gillyflowers:  most often, another term for "carnations", though the term may be applied to other flowers,

***Corn: old-school, Old World, meant "wheat" (whereas New World "corn" was called some variant of "maize.")

****Though this poem is not overtly religious, Sara was.  She opposed the Oxford Movement (Tractarian Movement), in the 1840s.  The movement led to an Anglican Church that was more "high church" or more similar to Roman Catholicism, as opposed to other protestant ideas present in England.  [Gerard Manly Hopkins, whose work is featured elsewhere in this blog, did approve of the Tractarian Movement.  Eventually he went so far as to formally become Roman Catholic.]

Old Glory at Another National Park

 

Old Glory at Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Take this link to discover past postings of the US flag in scenic places.  Happy 4th of July!

Flag in s.e.Arizona

And this:

Natural Wonders of America

Flag Day

 
  In honor of the U.S Commemoration of Flag Day on June 14th, here are some pictures of the U.S. flag taken in beautiful, mountainous Northern Arizona.  (Yes, Arizona).   

  Although the pictures were taken in the fall, they are excellent to ponder this Flag Day and any other patriotic day.

 

#nature

Backyard Flowers

      

     Once again, our backyard is awash with blooms before the insane heat of summers here takes off.  We were blessed with far more rain than is typical, plus some cooler weather, this winter and spring.

     Towards the end, you'll see the lemon blossoms.  You may catch sight of parts of the lemon fruits in these pictures.  You'll also see some of the lemon bushes near the bachelor's buttons [see below]. I say bushes because this is how citrus naturally grows.  To have 'trees', you have to repeatedly prune lower branches and paint the trunks white to prevent various types of damage.  We let ours go as shrubs, and we get a LOT of lemons.  This also allowed a second bush to grow up as a root shoot, filling a spot where we had cut out a thorny bougainvillea bush.  (We have one of those in the front yard, not pictured here.  It has hot pink, papery 'rays' around a cluster of small white flowers.  It's surprising this bougainvillea blooms anymore, considering its age and how many times it has been trimmed back.) 

     This year, there are a lot of Icelandic-type poppies in various colors.  (Our California poppies show foliage but no blooms yet.  You can check out some of the previous posts that show backyard blooms in past years.  You'll see the orange California poppies there.  Use the menu item with my name.)  Poppies are in the "mallow family", along with hibiscus and other flowers.

     There are also the 'cornflower blue' bachelor's buttons, or chicory.  Yes, the roots of these are used to make the ground chicory southerners use in coffee sometimes.  A couple of our bachelor's buttons, in close proximity, are about 3-1/2 feet (slightly over one meter) tall. These flowering plants are closely related to dandelions.  All of these are in the "composite family", which includes sunflowers and daisies.  (Discussions of composite flowers are in my older posts on backyard blooms.)

    Speaking of daisies in the composite family, there's a spot of orange in some of these pictures. This is an African daisy.  We actually had bigger swaths of both yellow and orange African daisies in other sections of the yard.  They've mostly bloomed out and gone to seed.

    Return readers may recall that my favorite flower is the black-eyed Susan.  Though it is rather hot for them by the time we get enough hours of sun to suit them here, we've had some success off and on the past few years getting some to bloom.  (It took years and lots of over-seeding for any success.)  I believe I saw the foliage of one 'Susan' tucked away.)

     Yet one other bloom on the scrawny looking shrub is one form of plant we call 'bird of paradise' here.  It comes in a blue and purple blooming variety and a yellow and orange blooming variety.  There is a completely different type of flower, striking in fiery shades, which blooms here also called bird of paradise. The bloom is somewhat bird shaped.  We do not have those.

    Please enjoy what we do have.  For those of you still "shivering" in colder climes, maybe this will perk you up.  Spare us some sympathy when we're broiling by the end of May!

Autumn Glory

 
     Here are some photos from around northern Arizona this October.  Northern Arizona looks a lot different than some of you who have never visited this state might expect. This is going to be a bigger post, photographically.  It will also have a couple different 'takes' on autumn interspersed.

    There is also much more "human activity" in some of these pictures than what I typically include.  Some of this couldn't be helped in order to "get the shot."  But it's a reminder that, despite how radical environmentalists frame things, our world is a human-natural world cooperation.  To even enjoy it involves a human imposition. 

     After the flood, God gave Noah a rainbow.  Christians think of this mostly as a promise that God would not destroy the earth again by a flood.  There is also a promise that seasons will follow each other in order until the end of time:

"Through all the days of the earth,

Seedtime and Harvst,

Cold and Heat,

Summer and Winter, 

Day and Night 

Will not take rest [cease, pause, have a 'Sabbath']."  (Genesis 8:22)

San Francisco Peaks

Trees 🌳:

Arizona Walnut

"Quaking" Aspen, a type of poplar;

usually the leaves go golden, 

but soil conditions allow some as this

to go reddish

Locust, pea family

A Non-Native Maple 🍁

A Native, Western Maple 🍁

Basswood/Linden (?)

     When you're young, you often just admire Fall for the beautiful change of colors.  As time passes, you are more likely to have the haunting sense of 'death' arrive.  The leaves are actually dying.  While the deciduous trees aren't dying, their dormant state looks dead.  Even perceptive children will pick up on this, as in this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English Jesuit priest:

Spring and Fall

to a young child

Márgarét, áre you gríeving

Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Leáves like the things of man, you

With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?

Ah! ás the heart grows older

It will come to such sights colder

By and by, nor spare a sigh

Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal* lie;

And yet you wíll weep and know why.

Now no matter, child, the name:

Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.

Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed

What heart heard of, ghost guessed:

It ís the blight man was born for,

It is Margaret you mourn for. (1880)   

*Leafmeal, akin to "piecemeal"; term coined by Hopkins  

The Bible gives us hope in this, though.  Job, who was plagued by disaster and lived thousands of years before Christ was born, said in faith:

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at the last [day], He shall stand upon the earth.

And after my skin is destroyed-- this,

And in my flesh shall I see God,

Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold,

And not a stranger. *

My heart yearns within me!"  (Job 19:25-27)

*this is more accurate to the Hebrew.  Martin Luther made a similar choice, translating it into German, using the word Fremder, "stranger."

Mountain🌄Hike 🚶‍♀️ 🚶‍♂️:

solitary aspen leaf 🍂

Aspens Interspersed with Blue Spruce and Douglas-Fir🌲

Conifer Seedling with Aspen Leaf

Rain 🌧🌦🌨off in the Distance

Sweeping Vista

The Pinnacle Humphreys Peak 🗻

"Aspen Corner"

part way down the mountain 

Flowers 🌸🏵🌼💐 :

I was frankly surprised to see this many flowers still blooming, especially the 'last' lupine and all the black-eyed Susans, especially considering how cool it was already getting. 

Purple False-Clover

pea family

White False-Clover and Yellow Clover

(why one is a true clover and the other is not seems some botanist's whim)

Yarrow 

Golden Aster 

composite (sunflower) 🌼 family

Native Snapdragon 

Cliff Rose 🌹

rose family (along with many common fruits

such as 🍎apple, plum, cherry 🍒,  peach 🍑)

[alongside purple coneflower]

Purple Aster

 composite family; sometimes called Michaelmas Daisy,

due to blooming around St. Michael's and All Angels Day, 29 September 

Maroon & Gold Mexican Hats, composite family

Yellow Mexican Hats

(purple asters among both types of Mexican Hats)

White Asters or Fleabane

Wooly Mullein (Lamb's Ear)

Lupine, much like Texas Bluebonnet

pea family (note pods below)

Purple Coneflower, non-native; composite family

Indian Blanket Flower (Firewheel), Composite Family

only somewhat native to this area;

more common on the southern parts of the Great Prarie;

there are several subspecies with slight color variations

My Favorite: Black-Eyed Susans

composite family

native to the Midwest, from Wisconsin to Texas

They have been seeded and naturalized to this one field in Flagstaff, AZ.Though I like living in the West, these are still a big favorite with me.

with ponderosa pines

with Indian blankets scattered in

A poem of mine on these flowers from August 2019

Black-Eyed Susan