This Old House

I love houses that grow old well. :)



This old house once knew my children
This old house once knew my wife
This old house was home and comfort
As we fought the storms of life
This old house once rang with laughter... See more
This old house heard many shouts
Now she trembles in the darkness
When the lightnin' walks about

Chorus:
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
Ain't a-gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Nor to mend the window-pane
Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer
I'm a-gettin' ready to meet the saints

This old house is a-gettin' shaky
This old house is a-gettin' old
This old house lets in the rain
This old house lets in the cold
Oh my knees are-a gettin' chilly
But I feel no fear or pain
'Cause I see an angel peekin'
Through a broken window-pane

Now this old house is afraid of thunder
This old house is afraid of storms
This old house just groans and trembles
When the night wind flings its arms
This old house is a-gettin' feeble
This old house is a-needin' paint
Just like me it's tuckered out
But I'm a-gettin' ready to meet the saints

Now my old hound dog lies a-sleepin'
He don't know I'm gonna leave
Else he'd wake up by the fireplace
And he'd sit there and howl and grieve
But my huntin' days are over
Ain't gonna hunt the coon no more
Gabriel done brought in my chariot
When the wind blew down the door

- Stuart Hamblen

Each family member knows and does his/her own roles and responsibilities - how beautiful it is. :)

Down with Love

Down with Love: A less serious cultural study of a feminist message. :)

Read

Down With Love Lyrics

here.

You sons of Adam, you daughters of Eve
The time has come to take your love-torn hearts off your sleeve
Look, look about you
What, what do you see?
Love-sick, love-lorn, love-wrecked, love-worn... 
Boo hoomanity

They'll be no peace on earth until this curse
Is wiped off from this love-mapped universe
Are we mice or are we men? Can't you see the light?
Come you fellow victims, let's unite

Down with love, the flowers and rice and shoes
Down with love, the root of all midnight blues
Down with things that give you that well-known pain
Take that mood and wrap it in cellophane

Down with love, let's liquidate all its friends
Like moons, Junes, roses and rainbows' ends
Down with songs that moan about night and day
Down with love, just take it away, away

Take it away, take it away
Give it back to the birds, and the bees and the Viennese
Down with eyes, romantic and stupid
Down with signs, down with cupid
Ruttle that stuff that duff

Down with love
Down with love
Down with love
Down, down, down, with love

Pillow Case Dresses for Africa

Aren't these little dresses lovely? Isn't it inspiring? I love everything homemade - but add to it frugality, eco-friendliness, and if possible, charity. :)

Love and Marriage

Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can't have one without the other
 
Love and marriage, love and marriage
It's an institute you can't disparage
Ask the local gentry
And they will say it's elementary

Try, try, try to separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try, and you will only come
To this conclusion

Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like the horse and carriage
Dad was told by mother
You can't have one, you can't have none
You can't have one without the other!

- Sammy Cahn/Jimmy Van Heusen

P.S. I love how this song is fun without making a mockery of the institution of marriage. :)

Stir-fry beef with green chili

Photos will be absent temporarily because my camera is spoiled. Nevertheless, this recipe of stir-fry beef with green chili is worth taken note of. :)

Ingredients: 

100 grams of beef tenderloin, cut according to taste (I used minced beef) 

6 diagonal slices of green chilies 

100 ml water
 

Marinade:

2 cloves garlic, minced 

2 tbsp oyster sauce

salt

sugar

25 ml of water cornstarch (for thickening)
 

How to Make:

1. Saute garlic until half cooked, put chili, stir-fry briefly

2. Add beef and stir until half cooked, add water 

3. Add oyster sauce, sugar and salt to taste, stirring until beef is cooked 

4. Add cornstarch solution, wait until boils, turn off heat

5. Serve with a bowl of hot rice
 

Tips: Select the old green chili that is not bitter and if you do not want spicy, remove the seeds first.

The fruit of her hands: Respect and the Christian woman

Glade stunder

Jeg hadde mange glade stunder i går (sist søndag). Vi besøkte en sunn og fin ung familie fra Tyskland med fire barn - fem snart. Moren er 28 år gammel! :)

At home with homemaker Djenny Kjenstad

 

At home with a yi Djenny: A crash course on cooking, baking, and knitting. A day of efficiency, home productivity, and generosity. :)

A day out with homemaker Lemuella Rumawas

 

A day out with jie Ella: A class of art of flowers and photography. A day of beauty, elegance, and loveliness. :)

Bunch grass

Some kind of bunch grass with red flower spikelets? :)

More on bunch grass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunch_grass.

Yellow wild flowers

Good morning, yellow wild flowers. I do not know your name yet, but it was nice to be awakened early in the morning to your sweet fragrance and cheerfulness. :)

A Happy Man

When these graven lines you see,
Traveller, do not pity me;
Though I be among the dead,
Let no mournful word be said.

Children that I leave behind,
And their children, all were kind;
Near to them and to my wife,
I was happy all my life.

My three sons I married right,
And their sons I rocked at night;
Death nor sorrow never brought
Cause for one unhappy thought.

Now, and with no need of tears,
Here they leave me, full of years, -
Leave me to my quiet rest
In the region of the blest.

- Edwin Arlington Robinson

Plum blossoms

 

Luxuriant blossoming plum tree. :)

Apple blossoms

 

Apple tree flowers start to blossom. :)

Melketarte

Hver en dag

Ikke hver en dag kan jeg Herrens vei forstå, men hver en dag jeg kan til Jesus gå.

- Sigvard Engeset

Curly dandelion stem

 

Why do the cut end of dandelion stems curl up upon being immersed in water? 

Answer: Water-retaining property and Turgidity

Enkelt livet

Jeg elsker livet i en liten og gamle by. Jeg føler at i en liten by er det plass for deg selv og er det fortsatt rom til mye mer. Så enkelt livet kan være midt i all verdens jag.