A large meadow on the crest of a mountain in Shenandoah National Park.

© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Summit released this still from Eclipse of Edward and Bella kickin’ it in the meadow a while ago.

Dear Summit:

You are such a tease. You really know how to work your Twi-magic. Pls send more stills.Thank you.

His best angle for sure.

This picture is very reminiscent of Robear’s days as a Jaw PornStar.
Fo real, look at the profound valley of darkness beneath his effervescent jaw line. YUM.

BTW’s: I know this still is old as shit, i just needed some Edward/Bella Meadow action in my life.

So guys, my actual plan was to give it a bit more time between the introduction of the “me reading Wide Awake”-series, and the next post on this issue. But yesterday I did something related to it that I definitely have to share with you, maybe even for self-psychological matters….

Wide Awake - "Only suitable for adults", and that even for several reasons!!

The ones of you who have read the fan-fiction Wide Awake as well, lovingly called the Cookie-Book by Soul and me, probably know what I’m talking about when I mention Edward’s song. For everyone else, I’m talking about the song “All The Pretty Little Horses”. Cookie-Bella always hums this song to her Edward before they go to sleep, because his mother used to do this when he was a small kid – anyway, that’s the short version of it. But well, it happened that I didn’t know this song, because no one ever sung it to me when I was young. So, one evening, my curiosity took the better of me and I looked it up on Youtube! So, get your own picture of the song and then read what I thought about it:

a

So, first thing that went through my mind after I saw that was: Omg, this song is definitely creepy!! And not just a bit creepy, I mean really creepy, like in a disturbing horror movie with scary little children singing it. Or at a run-down fair, where you can hear it in the background, as a proof that no one has had a good time here in a very long while. I don’t know why people should actually sing a song like this as a lullaby, but I have to say, by then I was very glad that it never occurred in my childhood, because seriously – it scared me!!

Then, it’s not just creepy like hell, it’s sad, too. Because, while killing some time doing some journalistic research for this blog, I stumbled across the fact that this song was originally sung by an Afro-American slave, who had to take care about her master’s child and so couldn’t be with her own kid. Look what she actually sang:

a

Way down yonder, down in the meadow,

There’s a poor wee little lamby.

The bees and the butterflies pickin’ at its eyes,

The poor wee thing cried for her mammy.

Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,

Go to sleepy little baby.

When you wake, you shall have cake,

And all the pretty little horses.

I know. How disturbing is that?!

And as if that wouldn’t be enough scariness, while looking it up on Youtube, I came across loads and loads of dark tunes and videos, some really sad and some, yeah, downright disturbing. Like this one here.

Cookie-Edward, aka "Emo-Edward" - can't sleep without a creepy lullaby...

I’m actually too scared to put it in this post so you have to click the link (if you dare to!!)^^ I came across it around two o’clock at night, alone in my dark room^^ So if you think it’s lame, congrats, then you’re probably a lot harder than I am, I just watched the first aahm… 30 secs?And to use Cookie-Edwards words: It scared the shit out of me!! And to finally come back to Edward with this: After a bit of research I’m not very surprised anymore by the fact that he is a completely freaky and twisted person in this story. Because apparently his mother used to work towards this ever since he was a kid, by singing creepy lullabies for him, every night^^ Poor Cookie-Edward.

a

Off to look up the number of a good psychologist in town,

ZeldaTheTwilightPrincess

a

So what did you think about this song? Were you scared as well? Or at least disappointed, because you always hoped that it would be a really cool song while reading Wide Awake? Or maybe you know a good psychologist…?^^ Tell us about it! Leave a comment!!

(pictures: google, video: Youtube)

The grasslands on the Haenertsburg Common can give  a magnificent spring floral display, especially if the long grass was gently burnt during the winter, and there is sufficient early rain. I don’t have that (I’m working on it!) but my summer meadows, which start maturing around now, are pretty good.  Here Doubly is waiting to see if this will turn into a walk or whether he has followed me out under false pretences.  Below is the jewel in our meadow’s crown – Gladiolus dalenii. It is strange that there are two completely different strains: one in bright yellow and orange which flowers in autumn, and this one, more common in our area, which flowers around mid-summer.  This one is quite colourful – often they are a soft lime-green with brown markings. (Incidently – we mark summer from around mid October when the spring flowers are over to Easter or later – over 5 months we call summer! Spring is less than two months, as is autumn, which leaves only about 3 months for winter… But I am thinking of all in the North today, for whom the longest night has finally come!)

A herd of whitetail deer feeding as they pass through Big Meadows in the Shenandoah National Park.
© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

ふー，修論の内容が薄い．．
なんとかしないと

今週は寝不足が続いたので，今日は早く寝て明日につなげたいと思います．

ポプラ並木から

ちょっと飽きてきたので，久しぶりにMeadowの背景を変えた．
珍しく濃い背景．５％ほど透明度をいれて，かっこよく（笑

latex-math-previewを使用中

Thomas D. Mahard is our guest blogger for our final installment of A Christmas Carol blogs.  After being in the show for quite some time… he celebrated his 1,000th performance of the show at the beginning of the run this year, but now as Ebenezer Scrooge.  He is doing a magnificent job portraying the unfeeling miser and if you haven’t seen him yet, you only have until Dec 20, 2009 to do so.  A giant THANKS to Tom and all of our guest bloggers for the inside info on this beloved holiday tradition.

~Travis Walter

Thomas D. Mahard as Ebenezer Scrooge

After only 24 years of acting in A Christmas Carol, I’m finally getting the chance to play a role I’ve wanted to play my entire career.  I’ve performed the role 4 times as an understudy, so I entered the rehearsal period with a solid working knowledge of the words and blocking, as well as having some ideas of things I wanted to try.  Terry Carpenter (our esteemed director) was very open to all my ideas, and we incorporated many of them.

Playing the role of Ebenezer Scrooge requires a great deal of stamina especially when we start doing 9 and 10 show weeks.  Consequently, I used much of the rehearsal period like a workout session, trying never to coast and always trying to stay in the moment.  I knew that the harder I pushed myself in rehearsals, the easier it would be once I got on stage.

So many people think of Scrooge as a sort of cardboard cutout figure.  He is greedy and mean in the beginning, and generous and happy at the end. In order for the audience to connect with him, however, he must be real.  He must have redeeming qualities so that they will root for him in his fantastic journey towards redemption.  Although I revere the work of all the past Scrooges (and have shamelessly stolen all their best bits) it has been most important for me to make the part uniquely my own.  I had to take that cardboard image the audience has of Scrooge, and flesh him out with my own real emotions, my own humor, my own sense of pain and loss, and my own sense of joy.  Only if the audience can accept Scrooge, can associate with his pain and fears and longings, can they truly feel the joy and ecstasy of his redemption, and leave the theatre with that warm glow of the true meaning of Christmas.

~Thomas D. Mahard

Hello Thee,

Ye might feel a little fear at times.

Sometimes the fear is good, because ye should know when in danger.

At times of doubt though, tis quite different. The reason ye feel this fear is because ye are so near to something great. Especially the magic, your greatest fear will appear when you are closest to real perfection.

Never listen to the goblin whispering little failures in yer ear. For he is never brave enough to even think of a brave act. He cowers in the mud, waiting to gobble yer fear and tears. Yes, he gets many victories cowering below, for not everyone can be brave. But his victories are week and he always hungers for more.

So when ye are afraid, ignore the goblin. Great things will then befall you; for one small victory of bravery is more fulfilling and more powerful then any goblins filthy feat.

The last and… tallest of the spirits in A Christmas Carol weighs in with his two cents about playing an ominous figure, walking on stilts and the thrill of being able to perform during the holidays.  This excellent blog reminds us that it is never too late to change our lives.  Wonderful work, Patrick!

~Travis Walter

Patrick O'Connor Cronin as The Spirit of Christmas Future and Thomas D. Mahard as Ebenezer Scrooge

Portraying one of the spirits of A Christmas Carol at Meadow Brook Theatre is truly an honor. Seeing theatrical productions at MBT was actually one of the first things that threw me into the whole “I want to be an actor” state of mind. I’ve been seeing shows there since I was at least six or seven years old. And having a high school teacher for a mom, who would use almost any excuse to take her students to a play (whether it pertains to the studied material at the moment or not) certainly didn’t hurt. Yeah! That’s right! Sorry St. Hugo I feel bad for making you think I was sick all of those times. What!? I was learning things! Research if you will. Who wants to read The Three Musketeers when you can watch them live on stage? I always did learn more by observing anyway.

Preparation for my role of Christmas Future is quite simple actually. Less than the seven habits of highly successful ghosts actually! (attempt at a joke that would pertain to the masses ten years ago… sorry)
#1 DON’T FALL! YOU’RE ON STILTS! Doing so would make everyone uncomfortable. This only happened once during my three years actually. During the first tech rehearsal of my first year was the occurrence. It didn’t really hurt anything but my pride, though the chuckle of a few friends in the tech crew watching someone looking like a drunken skeleton hit the deck was less than fun for me.

#2 DON’T ADD ANY LINES! Oh did I mention I don’t have any lines? Sneezing or clearing my throat would make the Specter seem less than effective I would wager. Since the spirit looks like Death, it probably wouldn’t look good to have a coughing fit while Scrooge has “learned the things I have shown him.”

#3 REALIZE THAT KIDS AREN’T ADULTS! During the student matinee performances some children are actually chilled to the bone when I show up on stage. This always makes me feel quite affective and pleases me a great deal! It’s funny how much we can learn from children. They merely sit back and take it all in for the most part. While others (adults) have the need to have an answer. “He’s on stilts!” Is always a phrase I hear during high school and adult audiences. I won’t take it too personally however. How many skull faced eight and a half foot tall people do we really run into every day at Costco anyway?

All in all, with all joking aside. I believe my character shows Scrooge (Thomas D. Mahard) the way things could be. I firmly believe that the future is not written in stone as the name “Ebenezer Scrooge” is illuminated on the tombstone. Personally my take on Future is somewhat a selfish one. Since I also play Young Scrooge in the play, it makes it easier to connect with the character Scrooge as an older man. I feel that Future is trying to light a beacon not to follow, but to stay away from. Scrooge could so easily end up being just another tortured soul roaming in the dark if he doesn’t change his ways. Hey. Let’s not let that happen.

Also. Let me end this blog in saying how much of an awesome thrill it is to be able to share the stage/offstage with so many talented people. It throws a smile on my face that I actually get to go to work everyday during this holiday season, and get to do what I love the most! Thank You Meadow Brook!

~Patrick O’Connor Cronin

Hello! Attention! This next conversation is between a real life HUMAN and a real life FAERY. It is a small bit hostile-on the humans side-so be careful when reading. Did I not say ye humans were unkind beasts? Here is proof.

Faery: hey torniquet!

Human: hey

Faery: how is tortoise?

Human: good how aare you

Faery: i am as well as any peasant could be among the sprightly meadows.

are you still a member of troop 88?

Human: i was never a member of troop 88

Faery: oh! my discrepency

golly. i am so abashed now

so how is francis?

Human: i dont think your talking to the right person

Faery: hit and miss!

folks weve got a tough audience

i am sure i am chatting with the correct homosapien

Human: okay well i dont know what your talking about

Faery: why so somber ?

turn that grimace clockwise to a golden peek

Human: okay well this is weird so bye

Faery: giving up is the number one cause of…giving up

Human: just stop talking pleaase

Faery: i shall become to your request. May I not ask that if i bring some delicate tigerlillies would you perhaps reconsider?

END INTERACTION.

Utter unkindness…the young faery was just trying to make friendly human/faery interaction, and was clearly shot down. And ye wonder why we don’t show ourselves!

Proposterous,

Fand*

A mountain meadow along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park.
© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Enchanted Meadow Zen Garden Aromatherpay Travel Gift Set: Linden & Mimosa Review

Check Price Now!

Enchanted Meadow Zen Garden Aromatherpay Travel Gift Set: Linden & Mimosa Feature

• Treat yourself to a spa quality experience from Zen Garden Aromatherapy from Enchanted Meadow.
• With natural ingredients & essential oils, they provide aromatherapy plus gentle care for your skin
• This is a gift set of travel sized products in a clear zipper carry case with satin ribbon bow.
• Includes 2.1 oz bottles of Body Lotion, Shower Gel and Bath & Massage Oil, plus a Travel Candle
• Comes in Linden & Mimosa, a soothing aroma of the linden tree (lime) accented with mimosa.

Enchanted Meadow Zen Garden Aromatherpay Travel Gift Set: Linden & Mimosa Overview

Enchanted Meadow brings you the Zen Garden Aromatherapy line of quality products to provide a luxorious spa experience at home. Formulated to take advantage of natural aromatherapy qualities to lift your mood and made with natural ingredients like aloe vera, rosemary and chamomile naturally treat skin. We present this gift set of travel sized products for the woman on the go. Includes 2.1 ounce bottles of Body Lotion, Bath Gel and Bath & Massage Oil, plus a 1.5″ x 2″ Travel Candle that burns for approximately 15 hours. Enjoy the fragrance of Linden & Mimosa, exclusively from the Zen Garden Aromatherapy line, that has a relaxing and soothing aroma. Attractively packaged in a zipper-closed clear carrying case tied with a satin ribbon. The lovely presentation and elegant fragrance blend makes it a perfect gift idea for anyone on your list. These small sizes are perfect for travel carry-on to have airport approved sizes of liquids – plus the clear bag works with airport restrictions.

Enchanted Meadow Zen Garden Aromatherpay Travel Gift Set: Linden & Mimosa Specifications

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 30, 2009 15:40:04

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order of flowers on a cloudy blue sky background

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easter egg over green grass

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happy smiling easter egg and another few without face

happy smiling easter egg and another few without face

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easter eggs over green grass

easter eggs over green grass

hand with grass, care of environment

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Organisers of a campaign to protect historic water meadows in Surrey hold a public meeting to discuss the sale of the 34-acre site…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: artic ocean. The blog is also related to: arabian sea.

Bleak or Beguiling? Or Both?