Merry Christmas from your friends at Boreal Community Media
Dec 25, 2022 05:08AM ● By EditorPost Holidays, some get the blues because of the long wintertime ahead. And after the Blue Blizzard of December 14 - 17 and the bone chilling and damaging winds during this week of Christmas that descended on the North Shore, it would be understandable if you said "enough already" about the Winter of 2022-23.
But there are many gifts to be discovered in the snowy months ahead. Today, we celebrate a few of the many artists from yesterday and today in all genres who have found reasons to celebrate the longest season in their creative expressions.
In Poetry
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly...
"Wintertime" by Robert Louis Stevenson
Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,
A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;
Blinks but an hour or two; and then,
A blood-red orange, sets again.
Before the stars have left the skies,
At morning in the dark I rise;
And shivering in my nakedness,
By the cold candle, bathe and dress.
Close by the jolly fire I sit
To warm my frozen bones a bit;
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore
The colder countries round the door.
When to go out, my nurse doth wrap
Me in my comforter and cap;
The cold wind burns my face, and blows
Its frosty pepper up my nose.
Black are my steps on silver sod;
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;
And tree and house, and hill and lake,
Are frosted like a wedding-cake.
In Fine Art
Claude Monet: The Magpie is created during the winter of 1868 - 1869 near the commune of Étretat in Normandy.
Between 1867 and 1893, Monet and fellow Impressionists Alfred Sisley and Pissarro painted hundreds of landscapes illustrating the natural effect of snow (effet de neige). This is Monet's largest winter painting depicting a single blackbird on a fence – what is most thrilling about the work is the shadows on the snow - done not in black but convention shocking blue.
And finally, in Song
Jones says of the song, "I'm just drawn to warm instruments in general, and happy lyrics always sound cheesy coming off my tongue. [This song is] just what comes naturally."
To watch the full Live from Home mini-concert recorded during the height of the pandemic, follow this link to YouTube.
Boreal Community Media wishes you and your family a safe and peaceful and joyful Wintertime in the months ahead!
Watch Norah Jones perform "Wintertime" in her mini-concert 'Live from Home"