Buffalo Gal

It seems fitting today…the final day of 2010…to quote some portions of American Poet John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “SNOWBOUND”.
Here at the Buffalo Bluff, we have been snowbound since yesterday and are not at all eager to get UN-snowbound til this weather system with its two blizzards passes by.
People get so frantic to “get out and get moving” that they miss the peaceful bliss of being “snowbound” as people in the earlier centuries were when snowstorms hit hard in winter.
It was expected by those earlier Americans that there would be times when they had to “stay put” and enjoy the quiet comforts of their homes during blizzards.
I find it comforting even now in the 21st century—to be kept at home by bad weather, heavy snow, cold winds and treacherous traveling conditions. For the life of me I cannot conceive of why so many people insist on driving in snowy and stormy conditions. They endanger themselves and others especially when they get stranded and want to be rescued from their own idiocy….endangering law enforcemment people and others who are in rescue occupations. Stay home for crying out loud…..enjoy being SNOWBOUND!!

Here are portions of the famous J.G. Whittier poem written in the 19th century before franticness took over so many people.

“The sun that brief December day
Rose cheerless over hills of gray,
And, darkly circled, gave at noon
A sadder light than waning moon.
…………………………….
“The wind blew east; we heard the roar
Of Ocean on his wintry shore,
And felt the strong pulse throbbing there
Beat with low rhythm our inland air.
……………………………
Unwarmed by any sunset light
The gray day darkened into night,
A night made hoary with the swarm
And whirling dance of the blinding storm,
As zigzag wavered to and fro
Crossed and recrossed the wing-ed snow:
And ere the early bedtime came
The white drift piled the window frame,
And through the glass the clothes line posts
Looked like tail and sheeted ghosts……………..”

Just a portion of a brilliant description by a long-ago poet from Massachussetts……some things stay the same…like getting winter blizzards!!!!
Now….. memorize a portion of SNOWBOUND and recite it when the second blizzard hits us later today!!!!!

Reading the news every day has consequences. Driving down I-94 can bring on anger and disgust. There’s always something!!!

I’M GLAD I LIVE IN THIS AREA!
Headline in today’s (Dec 30) NEW YORK POST: “Sanitation Department’s slow snow cleanup was a budget protest”,
New Yorkers have been frustrated by the molasses-in-January slowness of public workers to get the heavy snowfall cleaned up in New York and its surrounding boroughs. Quoting from today’s news article:
“These garbage men really stink. Selfish Santitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered their drivers to snarl the blizzard clean- up to protest budget cuts–a disastrous move that turned streets into a minefield for emergency service vehicles Ther Post has learned. Miles of roads stetching from as far north as Whitestone, Queens to the south shore of Staten Island still remain treacherously unplowed last night because of the shameless job action, several sources and a city lawmaker said, which was over a raft of demotions, attrition, and budget cuts.
Miles of roads stretching from as far north as Whitestone, Queens, to the south end of Staten Island still remained unplowed as of last night.
‘They sent a message to the rest of the city that these particular labor issues are more important’ said City Councilman Dan Halloran who was visited yesterday by a group of guilt-ridden sanitation workers who confessed the shameless plot.”

I am so GLAD live where I live…where Union and labor arguments do not deter workers from the major job of getting snow removed so people, emergency vehicles, emergency workers …eveyone can get moving after a major snow storm. What these NYC bosses and employees have done since the huge blizard in New York and other eastern cities is almost inconceivable to those of us who are used to being helped rather than hindered by our public employees. These Union workers put their own selfish interests ahead of the safety of millions of people in a huge city.
And speaking of safety…………………
I WAS SO ANGRY…….. by a witless, ditz-head driving east on I-94 yesterday at the same time my husband and I were eastbound on the same interstate. An older Cadillac whose license number we recorded in order to enter a formal complaint with the ND State Dept of Transportation–State Trooper division…was weaving from right lane to left lane and caused us to believe we were behind a very drunken driver. When we finally got brave enough to pass this Impaired Driver, we saw an adult woman looking DOWN and texting while driving. This stupid woman endanged everyone driving near her because she HAD TO TEXT while driving. Such idiotic choices are beyond my understanding. Due to her erratic driving she did not use her cruise control and we passed her again and this time she was yapping on her cellphone. Such drivers should be removed from our highways…as well as those who eat, drink, read or write or put on makeup or do their hair at the same time they are driving. These distracted drivers are just as dangerous as drunks on the roads.
STAYING HOME The forecasted blizzard is arriving more and more by the hour. I am so glad to be inside my warm home and not even thinking about driving in such conditions. I feel great pity for those who live in rural areas with jobs in Fargo-Moorhead; they always feel obligated to drive in to jobs under horrendous conditions when they should not be driving.
I just heard reports on a local radio station about a more than 100-car crash/pileup out by Mapleton on I-94. What a mess…… and law enforcement cannot easily get to the scene on such ice covered roads. I hope they close down i-94 and other roads in our area for the duration of this nasty weather which is supposed to be followed by more nasty weather tomorrow.
ANOTHER ICE AGE? In other current news this morning I read a news piece a British paper which says this winter is the COLDEST in Britain in 1000 years. It this another Little Ice Age beginning in Europe? The report stated that in the winter of 1683 when records were beginning to be kept, that the River Thames completely froze up…a rarity since the river is an estuary to the ocean off the east coast of Britain and usually remains open in winter. It would take some really deep freeze temperatures to freeze up a partly salt water river.

I am so thankful for our modern heating that keeps us warm in bad weather like we are having now…..if only the electricity stays on. We are really “Up the creek without a paddle” if the electricity goes off in a strorm…and it has happened before and will again, no doubt. I hope not today or tomorrow!!!!

HAPPY SNOWBOUND NEW YEAR TO ALL THE BLOGGERS AND BLOG READERS

The governor of Pennsylvania stirred up a hornet’s nest a few days ago when he made a rather lengthy statement about the cancellation of the Vikings/Eagles game til the bad weather in the East improved. Rendell was furious and even wrote an op-ed piece in the WASHINGTON TIMES about it. In part here is what Rendell said about cancelling the game last Sunday.

(after three opening paragraphs recalling some great moments in NFL history which included playing in snowstorms)
“Unbelievably the game was cancelled Sunday morning before one flake of snow had fallen , based on forecasts of a significant snowstorm. An hour before game time the city has less than six inches on the ground. The western suburbs has less than three inches. ….Cancelling a game because of that amount of snow is unthinkable. Vince Lombardi must have been rolling over in his grave. Americans in Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota …heck, even fans in Chicago, Boston and Pittsburgh..must have been astounded. Have we not all become wimps? The NFL explained that the forecast called for a foot of snow and didn’t want thousands of fans ‘trapped’ after the game in the parking lots.”
Then Rendell goes on to declare us a nation of Wusses and Wimps:
“….to call this game off because of snow is further evidence of the “wussification” of America. We seem to have lost our boldness, our courage and our sense of adventure and that frontier spirit that made this country the greatest nation in the world….”

Governor Rendell got quite dramatic in his fury over the game postponement. So..are we really a bunch of Wussies and Wimps? Let me count some ways I agree with Rendell.

I would say that a huge percentage of American children…the ones who never play vigorously out of doors….the ones who are overweight and soft from laying around on a couch in front of a TV set or a Game Boy or whatever they call those blasted kid-killers….these kids ARE Wussies. No excercise whatever—-they cry to be driven by their parents everywhere they go…there is no hopping on bikes or getting on roller skates to get to school or to a friend’s home. Yes, yes I know….it is a dangerous world out there for kids..especially those in big cities but even small town kids are begging to be transported on a car instead of (GASP) walking!!

A lot of parents are Wussies too—-their children do not see them getting any excercise or taking a walk or a bike ride instead of driving everywhere in big honking gas-guzzling pickups. The kids see them on the couches also–screaming at the TV screen when a football game is NOT cancelled.

I have observed a lot of Wussie parents in public places allowing their children to lead them around by the nose as if they are docile cattle with brass rings attached to their gaping nostrils. Kids yell, demand, cry, scream and throw tantrums in stores, gymnasiums, theaters, restaurants.

These Wussie parents act like nothing is happening while onlookers give them looks like daggers. If looks could kill there would be as lot of dead Wussie parents of bratty children in these venues.

Education has also been “wussifed”. There are much lower standards put on students…probably due to the whining of Wussie kids and their parents who think that their kids should not have to work so hard to get on in school. Homework? The little darlings need to rest or at least to get in their 4-6 hours of TV or computer games before they finally fall into bed at midnight….another sure sign of Wussification….no standards or rules in the homes about bedtime or the need to get adequate rest or even healthy meals. Wusses just let them eat whatever pleases them whether it be a steady diet of cheeseburgers and pizza or bread and peanut butter. Vegetables? Fruits? Salads? They can’t be bothered and besides that the kids don’t LIKE to eat that kind of food. Just let it be–it is a lot easier than discipline or teaching good habits by perseverance and always being consistent!
I have also noticed that it is a rarity to see Wussie kids do work in their homes to help out the family. Nobody holds them to any responsibility and God help the parents who might try it.

I am speaking of some EXTREME cases of what I see as Wussification but there are plenty of examples of non-Wusses, thankfully! I am hoping that Wussies are still in a minority in our country in spite of Ed Rendell’s sound and fury in the WASHINGTON TIMES. (google “Rendell: NFL thinks we’re a nation of wussies” for the entire op-ed….it is a good one!)

I am sure there are many more symptoms of Wussification but I have thought of my reasons. Maybe others can add their thoughts.

Today’s blog is being written as the day darkens on December 24. I have all our Christmas lights turned on inside the house and the highbush cranberry is lit up outside the house! I have just brought out extra food for the birds as was the custom of my father’s family so long ago in rural Clay County, MN.
The deck birds have been feasting all day on extra food I put out this morning.
My story today is not my own at all…it is one I read yesterday written by a man who started life in the midst of WW 2 raging in Europe. His story begins at the end of the war when many children had lost both their parents to the bombings and fighting in Germany and other countries in Europe. The article, “Saved by Christmas” is written by Steve McCann.
In the author’s words:
World War 2 has just ended and somewhere in central Europe , a solitary figure, his clothes in tatters, carefully walks around the piles of rubble and broken glass on the streets of a once-bustling city now lying in ruins. The few still upright buildings their windows and doors blown out, appear as skeletons framed against a blue sky. After the death of a woman he had live with–maybe a relative…now he was on his own. His daytime hours were spent in the never-ending search for food. Hunger was his constant companion; sometimes he begged locals and foreigners stationed nearby and sometimes he rummaged through the garbage cans outside of military mess halls.
At night he would find one of the least destroyed buildings with a remant roof overhead where he would sleep. But the constant stench of death fromt he rubble was horrible and caused him to wake often.
One morning as he began to make his rounds searching for food, he heard a woman screaming. He ran to the screams and saw a soldier tearing at the clothes of a young woman; the boy grabbed bricks from the rubble and began throwing them at the man. The bricks allowed the young woman to escape but the soldier picked up his pistol and turning to the boy, the man fired his pistol and the boy heard the loud noise and felt a sharp pain in his side. He ran forward for some distance before losing consciousness.
When the boy woke up he was in a military hospital ,being treated for a gunshot wound and malnutrition. For the first time he could remember, he slept in a bed and ate three meals a day. After he recovered,he was placed on a train headed to Bremen, Germany where he was taken to an orphanage. Sometime thereafter,this befuddled boy was taken to a dock and stared up at an enormous black hull of a ship destined for the United States. Walking up the gangplank, the boy had no luggage, no passport or papers—-just a yellow tag pinned to his coat.
The voyage was tumultuous; the sea was rough and nearly everyone on board suffered from seasickness. On the seventh day of the voyage, as dawn broke, thre boy stood at the ship’s railing and watched as the welcoming figure of the Statue of Liberty emerged from the morning mist. The skyline of New York became visible.
As the boy met his German-American foster parents who had agreed to take him in, he knew not what his future would be. Everyone in this strange new land spoke a different language than what he spoke— a mix of German and Polish.
The three people began a new trip…to a farm near a southerntown in Maryland.
But the foster parents were cruel. The boy was beaten and forced to do never-ending work on the farm. His only friends were animals on the farm and in the forest near the farm. He would at times, go to an adjacent farm in the quest for food. The neighbors were concerned and reported to the police what was happening on the adjoining farm to this refugee boy from Europe. After an investigation by child protection agencies the boy was removed from the farm and the abusive envrionment.

Once again the boy had to recover from malnutrition; he was then placed in a home for other orphans. There he was an outcast because he could not communicate with the other children….knowing only his native language. He was considered “unadoptable” because of his language problem and he had not yet been “housebroken”.

During the Christmas season, a kindly man dressed in black came to see the boy. He was the pastor of a local Catholic church parish. The priest took the boy to the recory for lunch and then next door to the church building. The boy had never seen a church before. The small space was decorated for Christmas. It was an astounding sight—-the lights, the colors, the atmosphere had something he had never experienced: peace and tranquility. But what really caught his attention were some statues and a spotlight shining on a baby in a manger. The frail boy, the inner spirit that had seen him through all the terrible times, now stood before the statues. He gazed at the face of a woman dressed in a blue robe looking lovingly at the baby. Was this an image of a mother? A mother he had never known. Staring into the eyes of the baby in the manger the boy felt a “presence” as if an unseen hand had touched the very core of his being.
With tears rolling down his cheeks the boy whispered “Hilf mir” (help me).
The time came for the boy to return to the orphanage; he turned one last time and gazed at the scene in front of the altar. He was overwhelmed with a feeling of hope and optimism.
At midnight mass on Christmas Eve the priest told the story of the boy….the orphan who was without parents, family, a home. He also said that the boy was in circumstances that made it nearly impossible to be adopted. The priest asked if anyone who spoke German could take the boy for a few days during Christmas before he was moved once again to new orphanage.
During part of the service a woman felt an invisible hand on her shoulder and knew she must speak to the priest about the orphaned boy. The woman turned to her husband and told him they should adopt this boy. Her husband reacted angrily saying that they could not even speak his language and they could not get involved in raising this war orphan. But the woman persisted saying she knew God had told her to adopt him and she could do not other thing but that.
“We must and we will” she said.

The boy was adopted by this couple although the process was long and tedious at times. It was around Easter time that he went to live with his new parents. A birth certificate was created and at last he had a name, a home and a country. For the rest of his life, the boy would fight the demons of his youth. He would lose some battles and win many.

(direct quote from the author)
“Today many in the United States and Europe, in the pursuit of their lives of relative ease, have turned their backs on God. This deliberate denial coupled with a disdain toward the basic rules of human behavior, as espoused by Judeo-Christian teachings justifies the pursuit of unfettered personal and physical satisfaction with no guidelines whatever.
The moral fiber of a country and the religious basis upon which the United States and European nations developed has been replaced by a misguided faith in people. Although mankind has accomplished great things , the human race has always been overwhelmingly susceptible to its base nature. The historical consequence of repudiating established moral and ethical guidelines is a society devoid of humility, honor and integrity….over the past century the nations of Europe by tolerating the ascendancy of man’s ignoble nature, suffered the near-total destruction of a continent and the loss of countless millions of lives in two wars and the emergence of communism.
On its present course the United States will also encounter an abyss of its own making. Societal upheaval will assuredly happen, culminating in the destruction of the culture and the ascendancy of those whose interest in a requisite change of direction, the nation’s citizenry and its leadership must acknowledge that throughout history , the key to prosperity and and peace lies in a relationship with God and in striving to live by established moral and ethical guidelines.
During the Christmas season many years ago I stood in front of a nativity scene in a small Catholic church, unaware of God’s existence. In my most desperate hour of need HE reached out to me. My life experience bears witness not only to the devastation and failure by the base aspect of human nature but also to the fact that God is there for each of us…if we choose to accept His helping hand.”
(Steve McCann)

The author of this article is the boy who was “saved by Christmas” !!!!

Do I dare say “Christmas”??? According to our culture’s current rule I might be offending someone.
I heard a news item yesterday that a Muslim student somewhere in the U.S. is suing a school because one of his teachers said the word “ham” in class.
Meanwhile in St. Cloud, MN….. Muslim students are allowed to leave classes several times a day to pray to Allah but the kids who are Jewish or Christian cannot pray before lunch in the school cafeteria!!!
Now I read a lengthy news article about an astronomer, Martin Gaskell, who was eliminated as the top contender (his qualifications out paced the other applicants) for the director of a student observatory at the University of Kentucky because he is an evolution skeptic ….and (GASP!) a Christian!!!!

“Martin Gaskell quickly rose to the top of a list of applicants being considered by the university’s search committee. One member {of that committee} said he {Gaskell} was ‘breathtakingly above the other applicants.’ ” (“Scientist alleges religious discrimination in Ky.” by Dylan Lovas, December 17, 2010, Daily Caller)

Others on the search committee worried that Gaskell’s Christian faith could conflict with his duties as a scientist calling him “something close to a creationist” {oh horrors!!} and “potentially evangelical” {more horrors!!}
Gaskell has sued the university , claiming lost income and emotional distress. Last month a judge rejected a motion from the university and allowed it to go to trial Feb. 8 {2011)

I predict that the University of Kentucky is in deep doo-doo and will lose this one. Can you imagine the hue and cry if the most qualified applicant was a Muslim believer and was rejected by the University of Kentucky because he/she believed in the Koran and in Allah as the supreme God of Gods????? Whoo——eee…..the proverbial manure would hit the fan with every Mainstream Media outlet in the U.S. condemning the U of KY for such a gross action!!!!
It would happen!!!!

But back in this Christian household, we are preparing to honor the coming to Earth of the Lord Jesus. Hopefully we won’t be brought to court or to jail for doing this on December 25—the designated holy day for such a remembrance and celebration. We will be reading the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke and singing the Christian Carols we love so much. We will also hold hands and circle around our Christmas Tree singing a Norwegian Christmas song “O Jul Med Din Glede” which roughly translaters “we welcome Christmas”…..it is not a sanctioned Christian carol but it does sing of the coming of the three wisemen to honor the newborn King . I am also waiting for the “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” from the BBC on the eve of Dec. 24 broadcast in this country on NPR. I can barely wait for the first verse of “One In Royal David’s City” sung by a boy soprano in the amazing choir from Cambridge England.
I am stilll reading the book KEEPING CHRISTMAS by Kathleen Stokker. I am fascinated by the traditions and customs from my ancestors’ homeland,Norway. I have not done it properly according to Stokker’s revelations….I have not scrubbed my house from top to bottom but I will do my best before the families arrive. I have finished the baking…just starting the cooking….and must deliver the homemade bread loaves to friends as gifts.
I will also observe my ancestors’ custom of giving the birds extra food…..also the rabbits and squirrels who are enjoying the spills!!!!

Now I have to get started on my disguise and goat’s head mask for the “Julebukking” to come after Christmas!!!!!

I have blogged a couple of times in just the past days about “silly songs” I recall fondly.
One of the writers of the silly songs…Yogi Yorgesson is the correct spelling of his stage name…has caused me to research him more. I found a website (yogiyorgesson.com) by myself and then got another tip from a blog reader which I followed up.
The life and times of the man who called himself “Yogi Yorgesson” is a fascinating one to explore.
He was born in 1908–the same year as my mother was born….and his name was Harry Skarbo. His parents were Norwegian immigrants to the U.S who landed finally in the Seattle Washington area where so many other Norwegians and Swedes had come. I think Seattle was attractive to them because the climate and environment is a lot like some of the Norse/Svenske seaports…Bergen,Norway comes to mind.
The mother died young and left a bereft grieving father who was unable to care for his 3 young children. Harry was adopted by the Stewart family and thereafter went by Harry Stewart. His brother and sister grew up in the home of an Uncle and Aunt.
Harry showed promise as a singer and songwriter of silly songs according to one of his Skarbo aunts. At a young age he had his relatives in stitches with his songs and his heavy dialect which became a “Swedish dialect” later even tho. he was a full blooded Norwegian! His persona later as “Yogi Yorgesson” was definitely based on Swedish dialect humor but then Norwegians and Swedes sound a lot alike when they actually speak in dialect.
He married his wife Gretchen in the later 1930s and they had a family. Harry tried out for a national radio show…comedy for sure..called “Merrymakers”. He eventually earned a spot as entertainer and singer of silly songs on a radio show. One memorable routine involved his persona as “Yogi Yorgesson” the “Swedish-Hindu Mystic from Stockholm, Sweden”. His costume consisted of a lumberjack shirt, a Hindu loincloth, big Swedish workboots and a turban. Picture that! It was a time of broad humor and slapstick comic routines.
In one session, Yogi’s son, Steve Stewart, recalls that they had a call in-advice time with Yogi the Mystic. A woman called and said her baby had swallowed bullets and what should she do? Yogi advised her to give the baby castor oil and “don’t point him at anybody.”
That story reminded me of a joke my friend Yvonne’s father told us way back in the 1950′s. Yvonne’s dad was 100 % Swedish and still had his Swedish accent when he spoke English. He was a big man with a huge booming voice and I can still hear that voice as he told us about Mrs.Olson and her bratty boy, Johnny Olson. It seems there was going to be a big doing at the Swedish Lutheran Church and Mrs Olson was expected to make her delicious homemade baked beans. When she was stirring up the bean recipe, she got a phone call and her bratty son poured a whole vial of beebees into the beans. Mrs. Olson of course did not known this and brought the beans to the “doing”. A couple of days latger she got a call from Mrs. Swanson.
“Say Mrs.Olson what did you put in your beans this time?”
“Nothing that I don’t always put in them–why are you asking?”
“Well,” said Mrs. Swanson, “This morning I stooped over to give my cat a drink of milk and I shot my canary.”

Anohter example of humor had him telling about visiting his cousin Hjalmer’s farm where Yogi discovered there were pigs under one of the beds.
“What about the smell?” he asked cousin Hjalmer who replied “the pigs will have to get used to it just like the rest of us.”

Yogi always said that humor about farm animals like pigs, chickens and cows went over big with his audiences. It came as no surprise that when his songs hit
the record market, he sold more in Minnesota than any place else even though they were nationally sold in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Another fact about Yogi/Harry was that he wrote for other radio shows before hitting it big with his Yogi Yorgesson character. He was responsible for the “Froggie” character on the children’s radio show “Smilin’ Ed McConnell” which aired in the 1940s. I remember waiting for that Saturday morning show when I was an elementary age kid….and the moment Simlin’ Ed would say “Plunk your magic twanger, Froggie! ” and we would hear the sound effects of Froggie and his magic twanger. Yogi had created that and the sound of Froggie!!!

I tried to find the lyrics for a silly song called “Hilda At The Smorgasbord”but could not find them on the internet. I have them somewhere in this house in a briefcase of old music from our quartet days when we and my sister and her husband would sing “Hilda” at entertainments and have the audience in stitiches. I am so sure it was one of Yogi’s songs but I cannot be certain til I find it. I hope I can find that case with all the music…I am baffled about where it is now. I used to keep it on top of a piano we had to get rid of.

I did find some other titles of Yogi’s many silly songs and some of them made laugh hard. Here are a few:
“Someone spiked the punch at Lena’s wedding”
“Who hid the halibut on the poop deck?”
“The ballad of Ole Swenson” (parody of the famous Ballad of Davy Crockett)
“The Snoring Song”
“Rusty Chevrolet Christmas”
“Aunt Frieda is enjoying poor health” (based on one of his own aunts!)
“Nincompoops have all the fun”

Yogi Yorgesson’s old recordings are available on the ‘net. I am thinking of saving up my “penger” and getting some just for the enjoyment of hearing his humorous silly songs once again in his own voice.
He was a good one!!!!

SUNDAY DECEMBER 19:
Under the weather…that is the old tim-ey way of saying that you wake up feeling out of sorts, out of sync…not really sick but not ready to meet the day. One funeral and a wedding yesterday has no doubt contributed to the” need to stay” put feeling I have today.
Lots of emotional expense and output at both events…..the brother of a good friend from high school is dead and I wanted to pay respects to his brothers and sister who were all my friends when we lived one block away from each other. I spent a lot of time in that family’s home and remember all those times fondly. I feel sad at the long- ago times gone forever just like the man who died is gone forever from his loved ones.
The wedding brought back so many wonderful memories of the bride…. She has been in my heart for 23 years and I am so happy for her now; she has married a wonderful husband and partner. Seeing her Dad bring her down the aisle just about did me in….he is one of the finest men we have ever known and so is her Mom. They have raised a beautiful daughter and I do not refer to her physical beauty..her inner beauty and her calm sweet spirit is far more important even though she IS a beauty as well!!!! Her brother played the processional….an arrangement he did himself of “O Come All Ye All Ye Faithful” Then when the bride and groom sang a duet together from the altar…”Oh Holy Night”…the entire fellowship was overwhelmed by the beauty of their blended voices. It was so wonderful!!!
The bride and her brother became excellent pianists at early ages and I still love the memories of them sitting together on a piano bench at home or at church , playing wonderful duets. Both of them had “senior recitals” at Concordia College when they were 18 year olds. I can still see the shy brother at age 9 or so playing his first piano solo at church and I was so glad I was the one who had asked him to do it. It was the begining of a long and marvelous time as a piano player of such excellence!
I am spent today….I need some rest and recovery from the emotional reactions of such a day as yesterday.
Life goes on. One friend departs to eternal life….two young lives begin as husband and wife.
I also recall another reason for emotional upheaval….December 19 is the day my dear Mother died …22 years ago today. Sadness and Joy mixed together.
I am describing all our lives, I think.

When I was a youngster in the 1940s there was a silly song singer called Yorgi Yorgerson (or Jorgi Jorgenson I suppose). He had a lot of hits based on tagging new words onto old songs. The one I want to share this time is a mystery song–I can’t think if it is a parody of a well known song but the words are enough to make people giggle…if they are of Scandinavian extraction. I think Yorgi’s songs were a midwest phenomena and were not so popular elsewhere. He sang them in a “Scandi-hoovian” (Swede-Norsk) version of English and those who come from those roots think they are kind of funny!! I sure did back when I first heard them. Yorgi did a parody of “Jingle Bells” called “Yingling Bells” and the only line I remember from that one comes from the last line of the real Jingle Bells song:

“I tink my vife (wife) fell out when we turned by Yohnson’s place”

The complete lyric today is the one for “I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas”

please read in Yorgi’s “dialect” English!

Oh I yust go nuts at Christmas, On dat yolly holiday,
I’ll go in the red, like a knucklehead
Cause I squander all my pay;
Oh I yust go nuts at Christmas,
Shopping sure drives me berserk,
On the day before I rush in the store
Like nervous nelly yerk!
I look at nightgowns for my wife,
at black ones trimmed in red…..
But I don’t know her size , and so she’ll get a carpet sveeper instead;
Oh I yust go nuts at Christmas
Ven each kids hangs up his sock
It’s a time for kids to flip der lids
While der papa goes in hock.

(he slips into a parody of “The Night Before Christmas”)

On da night before Christmas,
Its still in duh house
My family is sleeping, I’m quiet like a mouse,
I look at my vatch, and midnight is near,
I tink I’ll sneak out for a cold glass of beer;
Down at the corner, the crowd is so merry,
I end up by drinking about twelve Tom and Yerry….
I go to bed late and yee vizz, how I’m sleeping,
Ven unto duh bed dose darn kids they come leaping.
Day sit on my face, and yump on my belly,
And I’m quivering all over like a bowl full or yelly;
Day scream “Merry Christmas” at my poor vife and me,
Ve stumble downstairs and she lights duh tree,
My head is exploding, my mouth tastes like a pickle
I step on a skate and fall on a tricycle…..
Just before Christmas dinner I relax to a point,
Den relatives start svarming all over duh yoint!
On Christmas I hug and kiss my vife’s mother,
Duh rest of duh year ve don’t speak to each other,
After dinner my aunt and my vife’s uncle Louie
Get into an arguement , dere both awful screwy….
Den all my vife’s family say Louie is right
And my goofy relatives yoin in duh fight;
Back in duh corner duh radio is playing
And over duh racket Gabriel Heater is saying,
“Peace on Earth Goodwill to men”
And yust at dat moment someone slugs Uncle Ben.
Dey all run outside vhooping for duh neighbors to hear,
Oh, I’m so glad Merry Christmas comes
vunce a year! ”

(For those under the age of 65, Gabriel Heater was the Big Guy on radio news on those days…..a big news star like Charlie Gibson or Tom Brokaw!)

Well I have arranged things so I don’t “go nuts at Christmas”.
I do not shop; I stay totally away from Malls and department stores; everyone gets money so THEY can shop at the after-Christmas sales; our meals and gatherings are simple and enjoyable and I keep the holiday hoo-had to a minimum.
It works well and I actually get to enjoy Christmas in my own quiet way of celebrating what to me is a quiet Christian observance of the birth of Christ.
My Christmases are not about big parties or shopping til dropping or getting all bent out of shape trying to outdo others with baking, cooking, gift giving or such-like. My real Christmas comes in my heart as softly and sweetly as a favorite carol: “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

I wish blog readers a blessed and joyous and truly Merry Christmas!!!

I was writing a column for a small town newspaper the other day and what I was writing reminded me of a Christmas long ago and my cousin Suzie who was a very talented girl from the time she was very young. What I recalled was one of our familly Christmas parties always held in the week between Christmas and New Year’s and oh, how I looked forward to seeing my cousins on my Dad’s side of the family. We had so many good times at our family parties…there was a lot of singing because that side of the family had a lot of good singers and musicians. We always had a “program” before opening presents. All the cousins were prepared to perform. That memorable time Suzie had memoriized all ten verses of a popular “number” done over and over on radio by Walter Brennan, a beloved actor in many Westerns and other 1940′s films. It was a folksy thing…spoken not sung but accompanied by some background music. It was a hit in those days and you can sample the silly song humor of that time in “LIFE GETS TEE-JUS (tedious) DON’T IT?”

“The sun comes up and the sun goes down
And the hands on the clock go round and round
I just wake up and its time to lay down
Life gets teejus don’t it?
My shoe’s untied but shucks I don’t care
Cuz I reckon I ain’t a-goin’ nowhere,
I’d brush my teeth and comb my hair,
Just too much wasted effort.
The water in the well get lower and lower
Ain’t had a bath in a month or more
I’ve heard it said and I’m sure its true
That too much bathing will weaken you.
Danged old mule, he must be sick,
I jabbed him in the rump with a pin on a stick
He hunched his back but he wouldn’t kick,
Something cock-eyed somewhere.
Hound dog’s howlin’ so forlorn
Laziest dawg that was ever born,
He’s howlin’ cuz he’s sittin’ on a thorn
Just too tired to move over.
The cow’s gone dry and the hens won’t lay
And my well dried up last Saturday
My troubles keep pilin’ up day after day
And now I’m gettin’ dandruff.
Roof’s a leakin’ and the chimney leans
An’ there’s a hole in the seat of my old blue jeans
Now I’ve et the last of the pork and beans
Just can’t depend on nothin’ .
Mouse is gnawin’ at the pantry door,
He’s been at it fer a month or more
When he gets through he’ll sure be sore
Cause there ain’t a dang thing in there.
Well it’s debts and taxes and pains and woes
Aches and miseries and that’s how it goes
And now I’m gettin’ a cold in my nose
Life gets teejus, don’t it? ”

1940′s rural humor may not seem very funny in 2010 but there are few hidden truths in that humor I heard my cousin Suzie recite at that long ago family party.

AND THE GEESE (MY BIRDS) ARE GETTING FAT! (Please put a penny in the old man’s hat”
An old nursery rhyme says a lot about the upoming Christian holiday. People used to fatten up domestic geese for a holiday meal of roasted goose. Personally I am glad we switched to turkey!!
“Please put a penny in the old man’s hat”
I was heartened to read in yesterday’s FORUM that the controversial letter calling Red Kettle workers “beggars” and complaining about the noisy bell ringing has increased contributions to the Salvation Army!!! Wonderful!!! Thanks to the “Scrooge” from Moorhead who wrote that “Bah Humbug” letter to the editor. It has done good, in the end.
FAT BIRDS: Wild birds do not get fat but it is fun to watch them eat a lot at the birdfeeders I put up and keep filled. Over by the Spruce tree feeders, I also put food on the ground for the bluejays and other ground feeders. I notice a lot of rabbit tracks over there too and have seen little red squirrels in that spot also so I am feeding more than birds and that is fine with me. I enjoy making the winter a bit easier for wild critters. I plan to get some special treats (cracked corn and a mix of what is called “cardinal food” as a special Christmas treat for the birds and other small animals whose tracks I see.
I have named some of the birds who come back again again to the deck feeders which I can easily observe. A very large Downy Woodpecker has been named “Big Daddy”. He is enormous compared with most of the other Downies I see. This morning I saw Big Daddy sitting in a pan of leftover pumpkin pie put out by my Best Friend, over my objections…. (do not feed the birds desserts) Big Daddy was enjoying the pumpkin and the crust!!! I bought a very large special woodpecker suet and fruit block. All the birds love it. They are also eating off my home-made suet and peanut butter block.
Another bunch of “groupies” (the winter-tan goldfinches) come in as a flock so I call them “Ther Flutterbudgets” since that is what they do. Then there are the “DeeDees” (the black capped chickadees, and the “ButtsUps” (the nuthatches who prefer to eat upside down on the sunflower seed feeder. Last but not least by a long shot…. is “The Prehistoric Flying Monster”…a Pileated Woodpecker who shows up infrequently. Those flying dinosaur-look-alikes have plenty of food in the bark of trees ; they mainly eat insects of many kinds and must be great natural boon in getting rid of bad insects that harm trees. If the one that carries the disease that kills ash trees gets here, bring in a huge flock of Pileated woodpeckers!!!!
WINTER SOLSTICE: I am eagerly awaiting it next week. In these final days of darkness and little daylight I am overjoyed to think that after December 21 the returning light will begin to happen slowly and relentlessy just as it has done since Creation!!! No wonder northern dwelling people built structures like Stonehenge to observe the soltices in December and June. I feel like hibernating in this dark time; I get sleepy early from the darkness dropping so early in the late afternoon. The custom of lit candles and later…bright colored lights..surely must have something to do with the desire to see “Light” in a dark time of year. If I had lived in Northern Europe I would sleep the day away!!!! I have a hard time feeling like jumping out of bed on these dark mornings. If it weren’t for the Princess Kitty who pursues me relentlessly in the morning hours…get up! get up! feed me..the world revolves around ME!…I might sleep all morning til it is really light in the middle of the day.
Well, all that begins to change next week!
In the meantime I have 3 bowls of cookie dough to bake today.