Wishing you all: "Merry Christmas" 🎄... 🦌... 🌟... 🎁... 🕯️... 💝

 I wish you a Lovely Time Celebrating!

It's ok if you don't... you can always count on Nora to "have you"!

Yours,

Teresa

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The house was lovely. In the big bay window that faced the street was a

Christmas tree, cluttered and green in the daylight. 

At night it would glitter like magic.

Home for Christmas

Wonderlane, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

“Do you have a tree in your room?”

“No.”

She gave him a wide-eyed look. “Well, where do you put your presents? It’s not Christmas without a tree, is it, Mom?”

Faith thought of the years Jason had grown up without one. She remembered how hard he’d tried to pretend it didn’t matter. “A tree’s only so that we can show other people it’s Christmas.”

Home for Christmas

🍪

Ho Ho Holidays

🍪

In memoriam

Die with a Smile...and...Face the Fire

The first time I listened to this song it took me back to the final big scene of "Face the Fire". What a perfect soundtrack it would make...

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 “I’m working on that, Mia, but this wasn’t your fight. It was ours.”

“I wasn’t sure of that. I wanted to be, but I wasn’t sure, until you stepped out of the circle in front of me. And what you felt for me . . . telling me you love me, paled with the feeling it burst out of you in that one moment. I knew you’d come after me. I knew then, without question, that we had to finish it together.”

Face the Fire

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If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you

"Save Your Tears"

 

Raven was made for the stage, for the live audience that pumped the blood and heat into the music.

Once more with Feeling

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While these two stars and the inspired supporting cast lit up the stage, 

it was the music that drove the production.

Waiting for Nick

Halo

 

A man didn't forget that face. God knows, he hadn't. Timeless. In one of his

youthful fantasies, he'd imagined her as a princess, lost and lovely in flowing silks.

And himself as the knight who would have slain a hundred dragons to have her.

Suzanna's Surrender

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Baby, I can see your halo

You know you're my saving grace

 

Hold Me While You Wait

He said nothing. Tears were clogging his throat. Understanding, she

turned to him. Holding each other, they sat in silence as the sun rose

higher and dried the dew on the tall grass.

"I should never have left you," he murmured.

"We left each other."

"Why?" He tightened his grip. "Why?"

"I've thought about it so many times. I think we couldn't bear to be

happy. That we felt, or I did, that if we could be happy after he was

gone, it would be like dishonoring him. It was wrong."

"Bev." He turned his face into her hair. "Don't go. Please don't go."

Public Secrets

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Lovers ~ Heroes and Saints

She lifted his head, looked into his eyes. And gave him her magic. 

“Share with me,” she said, drawing him down into the kiss. “Share all.” 

Her light was gilded red against his deepening blue. 

The brilliant thrill flooded her, swamped her as their powers entwined and merged. 

And merged, streamed inside them both. She let herself fly on it, rose to him as he filled her. 

There was a rush like the wind, a stream of sound like a 

hundred harpstrings plucked at once. 

The air swelled. All she was, and all he was, laid open. The air shimmered, 

light against light building to a radiant glow. Even as he moved in her, long, 

slow thrusts that savored the gift, he took her hands. 

Linked fingers curled tight and sparks swirled from them to dance in the air. 

As they climbed, the light brightened, building, 

building toward a flash that burst like lightning. 

And on that burst, he met her mouth with his, and flew with her.

Face The Fire 

_________________

"Dream It Possible"

How well she remembered those first heady days of lessons. 

Finger exercises, scales, drills, those first simple melodies. 

She felt an echo of that rush of emotion that had come 

when she had learned that she had the

power to turn those printed notes into music.

More than twenty years had passed since that first day, 

that first lesson.

Unfinished Business

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 Dream it possible

Delacey

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“It felt wonderful. I felt wonderful. I wanted to step out on the stage, into

those lights. I wanted to play and have thousands of people listen. I

wanted. And it changed everything.”

“I’m glad for you.” He ran his hands up and down her arms before he

stepped back. “I am. I was worried.”

“It was glorious.” Hugging her arms, she spun away. “And in my heart

I know I never played better. There was such … freedom. I know I could

go back to all the stages, all the halls, and play like that again.”

Unfinished Business

"The Edge..."

Ryder sat a moment with his homely and sweet-natured dog, 

Dumbass, beside him

while Lady Gaga seduced the edge of glory. 

Chick was pretty weird, Ryder thought, 

but she sure had the pipes.

The Perfect Hope

____________________

"There ain't no reason you and me should be alone "

Lady Gaga

"The Edge of Glory"

Celebrating Bach

She closed her eyes, opened herself to the music as she drew out Bach. 

The lovely, complicated and romantic notes from his Suite Number I in G 

for Unaccompanied Cello.

Her mind could rest with the music. Flow with it. Quiet. 

Here was comfort, the mathematics and the art, blended together into beauty.

For these precious moments, she had and would drag the cumbersome instrument

 on every plane, truck, train, to every dig no matter how problematic.

Soothed, she set the bow aside.

Birthright 

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Google Doodle celebrates the composer's birthday with AI music game

Search engine giant makes its first-ever AI-powered doodle in an incredible tribute to the Baroque composer.

Today, you can mark the 334th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach by creating your own two-bar chorale in perfect harmony.

You can try the interactive doodle here.

J.S. Bach was born in Germany on 21 March 1685, spending his life as a church and court musician, writing over 1,200 works for organ, choirs, chamber ensembles and orchestras.

Classic FM

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"Why don't you play, Kirby?" Fairchild poured a second brandy for himself

and Adam. "It helps clear my mind."

"All right." With a quick smile for Adam, Kirby moved to the far end of the

room, running a finger over a wing-shaped instrument he'd taken for a small

piano.

It took only a few notes for him to realize he'd been wrong. A harpsichord,

he thought, astonished. The tinny music floated up. Bach. Adam recognized

the composer and wondered if he'd fallen down the rabbit hole. No one—no

one normal—played Bach on a harpsichord in a castle in the twentieth

century.

Fairchild sat, his eyes half closed, one thin finger tapping while Kirby

continued to play. Her eyes were grave, her mouth faintly moist and sober.

The Art of Deception

"Danny Boy" 💚

"How about 'Danny Boy'?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. 

"Count on a Yank to ask for it. 

A Brit wrote that tune, outlander."

Born in Ice

_____________________

"What a pity that it is often the favourite repertoire of drunks on late-night trains!"

Danny Boy: mystery remains over a haunting tune

The Australian

_____________________

_____________________

Phin only shook his head as he climbed the stairs. 

"I should've known you wouldn't remember. You were too busy drinking Irish

 and singing 'Danny Boy.'"

"I did not sing 'Danny Boy.'" Please, God.

"Can't say for sure. All those Irish tunes sound the same to me." 

High Noon

"Rewrite The Stars"

When he sang to her, it was as if he told her there wasn't anyone else,

had never been anyone else. It was more moving than a kiss, more

sexual than a touch.

When they finished, their voices hung a moment, locked together.

Once More With Feeling

_________________

Red Sox blast 'New York, New York'

In his easy way, Joe picked up the basket of biscuits, offered it to the boy. “Oh, yeah, Mr. New York. Yankees or Mets?”

“Yankees.”

“Not a prayer.” As if in sympathy, Joe shook his head. “Not this year, kid.”

“We’ve got a strong infield, good bats. Sir,” he added as if he’d just remembered to.

“Baltimore’s already killing you.”

“It’s a fluke. They died last year, and they’ll fade this year.”

“When they do, the Red Sox will pounce.”

“Crawl maybe.”

“Oh, a smart-ass.”

Black Hills

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By Waz8 [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons

The Boston Red Sox can "Name That Tune" in one note, or so it seems, as they had the last word in musical taunting after knocking the New York Yankees out of the postseason in front of the home crowd at Yankee Stadium.

As the champagne bottles were popping in the Red Sox locker room after their 4-3 American League Division Series Game 4 clincher Tuesday night, the background music was Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York," the song that echoes around Yankee Stadium after every game.

ESPN

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The batter dropped a short single into left field, and she grabbed Thorpe's arm. "Oh, look, he hit one!"
"That's the wrong team, Liv," Thorpe pointed out wryly. "We're rooting for the other guys."
She accepted the hot dog and peeled off a corner on the packet of mustard. "Why?"
"Why?" he repeated, watching as she squeezed the mustard on generously. "The Orioles are from Baltimore. The Red Sox are from Boston."
"I like Boston." Liv took a healthy bite of the hot dog as Palmer whipped a mean curve by the next batter. "Shouldn't he have swung at that one?"
"Don't like Boston too loudly in this section," Thorpe advised.


Endings and Begginings

"My Old Kentucky Home"

Each hooked an arm through one of his and strolled to their box to the strains of 

“My Old Kentucky Home.”

True Betrayals

_________________

Let no man steal away your thyme

Come all ye maidens young and fair / All you that are

blooming in your prime / Always beware and keep your

garden fair / Let no man steal away your thyme.

Connor picked up the melody, flushing a bit when she winked at him and served his soft drink. 
She served the others as well, singing as she did a song of regret and the loss of innocence.

Conversations hushed, and more than a few hearts sighed.

Heart of The Sea

________________________

🌿The Sprig of Thyme🌿

Perfect

Raven knew how it needed to be sung: face to face, eye to eye.  

It was a caress of a song, meant for lovers.  The audience was silent now.

Their harmony was close, intricate.  

Raven had once thought it must be like making love.  

Their voices flowed into each other.  

Once More with Feeling

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Mentions in Nora's Books

"Last night, when I got home, and went in to check on the boys. I heard her first. 
She sings some sort of lullaby."

" 'Lavender's Blue.' It's what you could call her trademark." 

Taking out small clippers, Roz trimmed off a weak side stem. 
"She's never spoken that I've heard, or heard of, but she sings to the children 
of the house at night."

" 'Lavender's Blue.' Yes, that's it. I heard her."

Blue Dahlia

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"Lavender's Blue" (sometimes called "Lavender Blue") is an English folk song and nursery rhyme dating to the 17th century. It has been recorded in various forms since the 20th century and some pop versions have been hits in the US and UK charts.

(wikipedia) 

This Valentine's, be lovely and Loved

The music drifted out, slow and romantic. "Which is this?"

"'The Rose.' It's a ballad—a standard, I suppose, even today." 
"Do you like to dance?"

"Yes. I don't often, but…" 
Her words trailed away as he gathered her close.

"Cal—"

"Shh." He rubbed his cheek against her hair. "I want to hear the words."

They danced—swayed, really—as the music drifted through the speakers. A mother with two squabbling children rested her elbow on her table and watched them with pleasure and envy.

In the glassed in kitchen a man with a bushy mustache tossed pizza dough in quick, high twirls.

"It's sad."

"No." She could dream like this, with her head cushioned on his shoulder and 
her body moving to their inner rhythm.

"It's about how love survives."

Time Was

_____________________________

Mentions in Nora's Novels

Then we went into 'Somewhere,' from West Side Story. Do you know it?"

"I've heard it." Dylan leaned back and lit a cigarette. 

The Last Honest Woman

____________

"The Dark Night of the Soul"

Fascinated, he shut off the engine.

And heard the music.

It filled the world. A strong, sweet female voice, twined around strings and pipes 
lifted with sunrise over the endless white.

It soared over him when he stepped out of the truck and seemed to come 
from the air or the earth or the sky.

Northern Lights

_______________

_______________

"I was just. . . what's that music?"

"Loreena McKennit. Like it?"

"It's amazing. It's like . . . God."

She laughed. "You're the first man I've met who'll admit She's a woman."

Northern Lights

Driving Home For Christmas

What ten years hadn’t changed was what was inside.

He was still looking for roots, for his place.

That was why he was heading back to Quiet Valley.

The road still twisted and turned through the woods, up the mountains and down again, as it had when he’d headed in the opposite direction on a Greyhound. Snow covered the ground,smooth here, bumpy there where it was heaped over rocks. In the sunlight, trees shimmered with it. 

Had he missed it?

He’d spent one winter in snow up to his waist in the Andes. He’d spent another sweltering in Africa. The years ran together, but oddly enough, Jason could remember every place he’d spent Christmas over the last ten years, though he’d never celebrated the holiday. The road narrowed and swept into a wide curve. He could see the mountains, covered with pines and dusted with white. 

Yes, he’d missed it.

Home for Christmas

_________________

Driving in my car
I'm driving home for Christmas
Driving home for Christmas
With a thousand memories

I take look at the driver next to me
He's just the same
Just the same