Blaise Rustic Cottage

Her cottage, then a cheerful object, wore
Its customary look, - only, it seemed,
The honeysuckle, crowding round the porch,
Hung down in heavier tufts; and that bright weed,
The yellow stone-crop, suffered to take root
Along the window's edge, profusely grew,
Blinding the lower panes.

“The Ruined Cottage” – William Wordsworth

My Dear Guests,
I wish we could all go back a little ways in time (to 2006 I do believe) and see this cottage as it was in the picture above. The description of the photo reads:

“The roof is now green metal ... and I don't think it's inhabited any more. The wooden walls are also green, but coloured by nature.”

Here is the cottage with its renovations

Nevertheless, it is still very beautiful. There are so many details to be seen.

All photos of the cottage are by crabchick on flickr.
God Bless,
Alice

2012 Playlist

Good evening everyone!

How are you all this weekend? I’ve been enjoying my last moments of "doing nothing" before the real course work starts. Been catching up on Dark Shadows mostly, and starting to read The Woman in Black, since both movies are coming out this year.

Recently Jillian Venters aka The Cupcake Goth posted on her Live Journal something interesting, a play list for 2012, songs to help set the tone for the New Year.

An interesting thing to do, something I’ve never been done before. Have any of you?

I’ve found myself lately listening to a lot of older music, as well, avoiding a lot of my more "heavy" sounding songs. My selection of metal is a little too "noisy" for me these days, or something like that, or maybe it’s a subconscious protest from my brain that cannot wait to get it’s mitts on the new Nightwish album ^___^

Whatever it is, these have been the songs I’ve been listening to these days and have been setting the tone for the New Year

The first song, I declare to be my theme song for my New Year, this is the year I need things to be “well with my soul”

“It Is Well” by Kutless

“Perfect Day” by Miriam Stockley

“Sweet Song” by Cecile Corbel

“Orinoco Flow” by Enya

“The Wayfarer” by Nightwish

Alright, what kind of playlist would this be if some metal or Nightwish song didn’t end up on it *grins* This is one of those new-old songs, an older song of Nightwish, but one that I have happily rediscovered after being forgotten about for some time now.

And there will be more Nightwish in my life very soon, in only a few days their new album finally becomes available in Canada (!!!) Oh January 10th, you have been long awaited by many.

I feel like rainymood.com needs a mention as well, as a current new favorite thing of mine, seriously though, listen to Misty Mountains (Cold) while having that website open, thank me later ;)

God Bless,
Alice

Christmas Traditions: The Nutcracker

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Good Evening Guests!

How are you on this fine Tibb’s Eve? What’s Tibb’s Eve you ask, well it’s a Newfoundland thing. I’ve always called December 23rd the Eve of Christmas Eve but a few years back I learned it was also called Tibb’s Eve, you can learn more about it here.

I spent this evening watching The Nutcracker. Not just any Nutcracker, the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s version! I have talked about it here on the blog before but really I cannot sing the praises of this film loud enough! Compared to all the other ballet versions, this one is the best.

Not to say that all the others are worthless, certainly not! I’m just a sucker for the story of the Nutcracker. Like with Phantom of the Opera, I’ve tried my best to get my mitts on every version made.

Also, I was trilled to learn that this most treasured movie of mine is now available on iTunes for rent and download. I want to scream this from the rooftops. The movie was never released on DVD. There are a few used VHS tapes floating about on eBay and Amazon, but this iTunes download will be a real treat. Until I do get around to downloading it, I shall stick with the copy I have.

Speaking of my copy, it’s a VHS that was taped from TV, in 1990. 1990! 21 years old, almost as old as I am! I can’t believe it still works!

This year I was finally able to place a date on the year of the VHS by paying attention to the commercials. You should see the commercials on it, seriously, they’re brilliant! Yes, I’m the sort of person who will give up an hour of her life to watch old commercials on YouTube ^__^ It was a commercial for the film Havana (1990), announcing the date it would be in theaters. As well, there’s a commercial for Sports Illustrated which mentions the coming year, 1991. One less mystery in the world...

If you want to view the trailer for the film you can view it on iTunes, sorry I couldn’t get code to embed it here. What I do have for you is the trailer for the ballet. See, that’s the exciting thing about the movie. The designs, the dances, everything you see in the movie is still being used by the PNB in their yearly performances of the Nutcracker. Of course, there have been some changes, but still, the thought warms my heart.

The PNB YouTube channel not only posts trailers and clips of their performances but interviews with their dancers, like this one, On Being Peacock:

I admire this young woman so much! This is the role I dreamed of having as a child. When I was young, I would take several of my play skirts, layering and tucking them in such a way as to try and create a sort of tail for myself. Ended up being more of a bustle I suppose, an early sign of the lolita fashion to come perhaps? ^__^

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Tomorrow I’ll be watching another VHS I have of the Nutcracker, and I may even re-watch the Care Bears Nutcracker Christmas Special ^__^ And tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, me and mom will be watching A Christmas Carol (1951) with Alistair Sims as Scrooge.

In other news, I must quickly note that it’s been snowing all this evening. The next few days are forecasted for snow as well. Perhaps I will get the white Christmas I wish for every year.

We get plenty of snow in Newfoundland, just not in December, mainly in the New Year. Oh yes, ask me in January and February if I’m enjoying the snow!

Stay Spooky,