In Shakespeare's time about 400 years ago, the second month of the year was called 'Feverell'. In Isaac Newton's time one hundred years later it had become 'Februeer'. The modern name, February, is only about a hundred years old.
There’s never a rose upon the bush, And never a bud on any tree; In wood and field nor hint nor sign Of one green thing for you or me. Come in, come in, sweet love of mine, And let the bitter weather be! Coated with ice the garden wall; The river reeds are stark and still; The wind goes plunging to the sea, And last week’s flakes the hollows fill. Come in, come in, sweet love, to me, And let the year blow as it will!
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) (also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's favourite son, the Ploughman Poet, Robden of Solway Firth, the Bard of Ayrshire and in Scotland as simply The Bard) was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a "light" Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these his political or civil commentary is often at its most blunt.
He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the 'Greatest Scot' by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.
As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) Auld Lang Syne is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and Scots Wha Hae served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well-known across the world today include A Red, Red Rose; A Man's A Man for A' That; To a Louse; To a Mouse; The Battle of Sherramuir; Tam o' Shanter, and Ae Fond Kiss.
This is a Plume & Atwood (P & A) Royal bracket lamp. Jim and I restored this one to working order and gave it back a mercury glass reflector. There was no longer one with the lamp when we found it. It took Jim considerable work to get the burner off and cleaned on this lamp, it seems it had been allowed to dry up with a full tank of fuel so it was gummed up something terrible. Jim used a mixture of Coleman fuel and denatured alcohol to soak the parts until they were movable again and he give the lamp a new wick.
"O Winter! frozen pulse and heart of fire, What loss is theirs who from thy kingdom turn Dismayed, and think thy snow a sculptured urn Of death! Far sooner in midsummer tire The streams than under ice. June could not hire Her roses to forego the strength they learn In sleeping on thy breast." - Helen Hunt Jackson, A Calendar of Sonnets: January
"Bare branches of each tree on this chilly January morn look so cold so forlorn. Gray skies dip ever so low left from yesterday's dusting of snow. Yet in the heart of each tree waiting for each who wait to see new life as warm sun and breeze will blow, like magic, unlock springs sap to flow, buds, new leaves, then blooms will grow."
The Lamplighter, engraved by Francois Seraphin Delpech 1778-1825
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Old Lamplighter Words & Music by Charles Tobias & Nat Simon Recorded by The Browns, 1960 Previously charted by Kay Kyser, 1947
Refrain:
G D F# F#7 Bm He made the night a little brighter wherever he would go–
G D G D A7 The old lamp lighter of long, long ago.
G D His snowy hair was so much whiter
F# F#7 Bm Beneath the candle's glow –
G D G D A7 D A7 The old lamp lighter of long, long ago.
D D6 You'd hear the patter of his feet
D D6 As he came toddlin' down the street,
D D6 D The smile would hide a lonely heart, you see;
Em Em7 If there were sweethearts in the park,
Em Em7 He'd pass a lamp and leave it dark,
Em Em7 Em A7 Remembering the days that used to be,
"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."- John 13:34-35
Plume & Atwood produced a full line of lamps and lamp accessories. Their lamp lines included Royal, Plumbwood and Naugatuck in table, bracket and hanging versions. I am showing the model known as the Royal in brass in a hanging set up with smoke bell and frame.
Here is an instrumental version of Leezie Lindsay performed in Taybank Pub Dunkeld Perthshire Scotland. Here is a Tour Scotland video of Dougie Law playing Leezie Lindsay. The tune by Robert Burns. It was Filmed in the Taybank Pub in Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland.
This is a lovely tune, and there are a number of versions of the words this song.
"will ye gang tae the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay? Will ye gang tae the Hielands wi' me? Will ye gang tae the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay, My bride and my darling tae be?"
"To gang to the Hielands wi' you, sir. I dinna ken how that may be; For I ken nae the land that ye live in, Nor ken I the lad I'm gaun wi'."
"O, Leezie, lass, ye maun ken little, If sae be ye dinna ken me; For my name is Lord Ronald MacDonald, A chieftain o' high degree."
She has kilted her coats o' green satin. She has kilted them up tae her knee, And she's aff wi' Lord Ronald MacDonald, His bride and his darling tae be.
Leezie Lindsay first appears in Print in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1803). These words are by Robert Burns. Other versions found by Child include Donald of the Isles.
The cold winds of January from the north east does blow And the weather is cold quite cold enough for to snow And the hungry birds silent on the naked hedgerow In the flat and rushy fields where the Blackwater flow.
January in Duhallow from here far away In the chill of the morning the frost bound fields gray In the farmyard sheds cattle bellow for silage or hay Where the sun seldom shines on a January day.
The distinctive harsh caws of the silver backed crow In the Season where grass does refuse for to grow And few cars on the roadway that leads to the town Near where the river flows bank high in flood waters of brown.
In January in Duhallow the old fields looking bare With the harsh chill of Winter in the cold Morning air And at least eight long weeks till the first breath of Spring When Nature will bloom and her wild birds will sing.
"The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the tyrant shall be no more, and the scoffer shall cease to be; all those alert to do evil shall be cut off— those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit, who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate, and without grounds deny justice to the one in the right."-- Isaiah 29:19-21