Sunday Drive: Once in Royal David's City

The familiar Advent hymn, as performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge:

 

The First Sunday of Advent

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Thanksgiving Hymn: Come Ye Thankful People, Come

Though M.P. and I are relatively poor in material terms, we are rich in good company, good food, and good health (mostly) - that is a great deal to be thankful for, and we are.  I hope all of my truckbuddies are similarly blessed and enjoy a happy day with friends and family, rejoicing in everything good and lovely:  such remembered joys can never be taken away from us.

Here is a beautiful rendition of the familiar Thanksgiving hymn, written in 1844, played on dulcimer, mandolin, and fiddle:

 

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Russ Recommends: Three Comedies

More lighthearted movies from the golden era of Hollywood, with nary a hint of the ugly, vulgar modern world to be seen or heard. We often watch such things while eating our weeknight dinners.  Here are three films we especially enjoyed recently.

The Strawberry Blonde (1941)

Starring James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, and Rita Hayworth.  Supporting players include studly Jack Carson, handsome George Reeves (later Superman), Alan Hale (who looks a lot like a stranded skipper), and George Tobias (later neighbor to a witch). Available as a $2 rental on YouTube.

 The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) 

Starring Bette Davis and James Cagney, supported by George Tobias again, Jack Carson ditto, William Frawley (later Fred Mertz), Eugene Palette (the eternal blowhard), and Harry Davenport (Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind). Another $2 rental on YouTube.

 

 My Sister Eileen (1942) 

Starring our gal Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, and Janet Blair (who looks a lot like Janet Leigh). Ubiquitous George Tobias plays the artistic landlord.  Roz later won a Tony starring in the musical version on Broadway.  The film was remade in Technicolor in 1955, starring Betty Garrett, Janet Leigh, and Jack Lemmon, with a young Dick York (later married to a witch) as the athletic upstairs neighbor.

 

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Sunday Drive: Beautiful Isle of Somewhere

An old favorite in my family, performed here by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae:

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A Thank-You to a Veteran

It seems to me that the country and the world would do well to focus, not on what divides us, but on what unites us all - as in this story, broadcast a couple of months ago on CBS Sunday Morning:

 

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Sunday Drive: Handel, I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

From Handel's Messiah, a very fitting piece for the feast of All Saints, celebrated today in some churches, and a great favorite of your Head Trucker's - exquisitely performed here by the lovely Sylvia McNair:

 

 The text is from Job 19:25-26 and I Corinthians 15:20:

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep. 

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The Pork Boys Do Halloween 2021

Boo!  Just a few pics to show how M.P. decorated our Halloween feast:

Click to enlarge.

Didn't he do a brilliant job with the jack o'lanterns?  The flowers were on sale at the grocery store.  Dinner was just a great big pot of steaming beef stew and a pan of hot cornbread - a perfect fall feast.  Oh, and a delicious made-from-scratch pumpkin pie, of course, topped with real whipped cream.  A real treat to eat.  The trick is, we were so hungry, we didn't take any food pics this time, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

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The Queen on Climate Change

 Her Majesty the Queen, heeding her doctors' advice to stay home and take a little rest from her outside duties, today sent a video message to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), which is meeting in Glasgow this week:

 

Whether the nations will listen to her, any more than they listen to me, remains to be seen.

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