• Quotes from my Parents
  • Purpose In Life
  • My Wedding
  • My Significant Other
  • My Spirituality
  • Birth Stories


  • Elementary School
  • Summer Late 80s
  • Two more Summers
  • Time Capsule Writings
  • High School
  • "Bloodshed"
  • Survival Weekend
  • Viaje A Espana
  • Best Friends
  • 12th Grade
  • My Brother
  • Personal Essay for...
  • An Introduction for...
  • Roommate Match Desc...
  • 1996 End of Year Letter
  • Special Friend
  • To 2nd Grade Teacher
  • Intuition
  • Moods
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Grand Canyon Raft Trip
  • 1997 End of Year Letter
  • Junior Year of College
  • Follow Up To Letter
  • Worthy Advisor/Rainbow
  • Levels of Friendship
  • Love In Life
  • 2000 End of Year Letter
  • First Time Talking...
  • My Mother
  • Thanksgiving Thoughts
  • 2001 End of Year Letter
  • Memories of Dad
  • Getting Ready!
  • 2002 End of Year Letter
  • Heart Wrenched
  • Manipulation
  • Stories
  • 2003 End of Year Letter
  • 25 Years, 25 Pictures
  • For 5 Year Reunion
  • Unknown
  • As I Live and Learn

    I've been collecting my writings from years gone by as I find them. Each time I move - now 5 times in the last 3 years - I find more scraps, loose sheets, etc. with my thoughts from various times in my life. I've decided to copy as many of them as I can here to try and keep from losing them again, and to share with the world. Please feel free to comment as thoughts occur to you. Either send them to trekker9er@yahoo.com or use the comment links here. Thanks, and Enjoy!

    Wednesday, December 21, 2005

     

    Songs We Sing Up North


    So I've put together a list of songs my family remembers (and still does) singing up north, with exceptions as requested and one I couldn't find the lyrics for. The list is for a book I then put together of all the lyrics of the songs for the family, which I'm going to end up giving as a Christmas gifts. I intend to put the lyrics to all these songs up on my website eventually. We'll see if I get around to it!

    Amazing Grace
    America the Beautiful (Oh Beautiful, For...)
    Animal Fair
    Ants Go Marching, The
    Are You Sleeping/Freizaca
    Baa Baa Black Sheep
    Battle Hymn of the Republic
    Bear Went Over the Mountain, The
    Beautiful Dreamer
    Bicycle Built for Two (Daisy, Daisy)
    Bingo
    Camptown races
    Clementine
    Do Your Ears Hang Low?
    Doe a Deer
    Down By the Old Mill Stream
    Down By the Station
    Edelweiss
    Five Foot Two
    Five Little Monkeys (Jumping On the Bed)
    Goodnight Song, The
    Happy Wanderer, The
    He's Got the Whole World In His Hands
    Home On the Range
    How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?
    I'm Henry the Eighth I Am
    I'm a Little Teapot
    I'm a Nut
    I've Been Working On the Railroad
    If I had a Hammer
    Igga Flygga Fleega Flogga
    It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'
    Itsy-Bitsy Spider
    It's Raining, It's Pouring
    Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho
    K-K-K-Katy
    Kookaburra
    Kum Ba Yah, My Lord
    Lift Every Voice and Sing
    Little Bunny Foo-Foo
    Make New Friends (But Keep the Old)
    Mares Eat Oats
    Mary Had a Little Lamb
    Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore
    More We Get Together, The
    My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
    My Country Tis' Of Thee
    My Gal's a Corker
    Old MacDonald
    Oh, Susanna
    Oh, You Can't Get to Heaven
    On Top of Old Smoky/Spaghetti
    Puff, the Magic Dragon
    Rock-a My Soul
    Roll Out the Barrel
    Row, Row, Row Your Boat
    She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain
    Sing a Song of Six Pence
    Sitting on the Dock of the Bay
    Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
    Swing Low Sweet Chariot
    Take Me Out To the Ball Game
    There's a Hole in the Bucket
    This Land is My Land
    This Old Man
    Three Blind Mice
    Three Little Fishes
    Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
    When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
    When the Saints Go Marching In
    White Coral Bells
    Yankee Doodle Dandy
    Yankee Doodle (Went to Town)
    You're a Grand Old Flag
    Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah


     

    Monday, December 19, 2005

     

    A Christmas Poem


    by B. J. Wrights

    It happened in the kindergarten class,
    Right at the table where they were having snack.
    Joanie asked the question and they all sat back:
    "Mr. Slater? Can Santa Claus be black?"

    Poor Mr. Slater didn't know what to say,
    Christmas vacation was twenty days away.
    There were snowflakes to cut and
    Window wreaths to be hung,
    Christmas cards to be painted,
    And Christmas songs to be sung.

    He hadn't time to think
    What Christmas was about,
    In twenty more days,
    School would be out!
    Why couldn't they wait
    And ask their questions then,
    When mommies and daddies
    Were home to answer them?
    "Mr. Slater? Can Santa be thin?"
    "Is Santa Clause always a him?"

    Mr. Slater looked at twenty pairs of eyes,
    Twenty children of every shape and size.
    He ate a bit of cracker and finished his drink.
    "Children," he said,
    "I'll need some time to think."
    As soon as class was over,
    He ran down the hall,
    Skidded 'round a corner,
    Crashed into a wall.
    Ran up the steps to the second floor,
    Rapped on the window of the principal's door.

    "Ms. Frazer, Ms. Frazer, what can I do?
    The children asked these questions
    That now I ask of you:

    'Can Santa Claus be black?'
    'Can Santa Claus be thin?'
    'Does Santa always have to be a him?'"

    "Mr. Slater, it's a difficult task
    To find answers to the questions you ask.
    I think with these I'll need some assistance,
    But I'll get you the answers with a little persistence."

    Ms. Frazer turned in her swivel chair,
    Picked up the phone and dialed Mr. Dare.
    Mr. Dare was the head of the P.T.A.,
    He called for a meeting the very next day.

    "Thank you for coming,"
    He began with a greeting.
    "I'd like to get right to the point of this meeting.
    Mr. Slater, in charge of the kindergarten class,
    Needs the answers to some questions
    And he needs them fast."

    "'Can Santa be black?'
    "'Can Santa be thin?'
    "'Does Santa always have to be a him?'"

    The parents didn't know what to say,
    Christmas vacation was nineteen days away.
    There were cookies to bake and lights to string,
    Gifts to wrap and carols to sing.

    They hadn't time to think
    What Christmas was about,
    In nineteen more days
    School would be out!
    Why did children have to ask questions when
    Parents had no time to sit and answer them?

    "Well, Parents?
    Are there any suggestions?
    Do we have any answers
    To these difficult questions?"

    "Who knows best
    What Christmas is about?
    Let's ask Santa!"
    Someone called out in a shout.

    The secretary of the P.T.A.
    Sent a letter to Santa the very next day.
    The reply came back very, very fast,
    Addressed to Mr. Slater
    And the kindergarten class.

    Dear Mr. Slater, Dear Girls, Dear Boys,
    Once a storywriter caught me bringing you toys.
    The year he spied me opening my sack,
    My skin was white, my boots were black.
    You probably know how that story goes . . .
    I laid a finger aside my nose?
    All these years, needlessly,
    That story worries children who don't have a chimney.
    All year long I listen to the news,
    Read people's thoughts, see people's views.
    At the end of the year, when I see what's needed most,
    I take that shape, like a Christmas ghost.
    I can pass through keyholes, windows and locks,
    Apartment buildings, hospitals, tents, and trailer lots.

    One year I used a wheelchair in place of my sleigh,
    Once I was blind and had to feel my way.
    It's hard to understand when I don't leave a toy:
    You can't unwrap a gift like hope or health or joy.
    My skin has been black, white, yellow, red, brown;
    My eyes have been slanted, crossed, and round.
    Sometimes I have been a she:
    All these things are a part of me.
    You may not believe all this is true,
    But that's okay, boys and girls, because . . .
    I believe in you.


     

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