Mortaine’s Blog

This is really just for my own reference/bookmarking.

Oak and Ash and Thorn lyrics: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=4318

Also from Mudcat (http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7479)

TWO SISTERS (Bonnie Broom)

There was a lady lived in York
Lay the bend tae the bonnie broom
Two daughters were the babes she bore
Fa la la la la la la la la la

As one grew bright as is the sun, Lay…
So darker grew the elder one, fa la…

A knight came riding to the lady’s door
he traveled far to be the wooer

He courted one with gloves and rings
But he loved the younger above all things

Sister will you go with me
To watch the ships all on the sea

She took her sister by the hand
And led her down to the North Sea strand

Long they stood on the windy shore
The Darker threw her sister o’er

Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam
Crying, Sister, reach to me your hand

O Sister, Sister, let me live
And all that’s mine I’ll surely give

It’s your own true love that I’ll have and more
But thou shalt never come ashore

And there she floated like a swan
The salt sea bore her body on

Some minstrels walked along the strand
And saw the maiden float close to them

They made a harp of her breastbone
Whose sound would melt a heart of stone

They took strands of her yellow hair
And with it strung their harp so fair

They went into her father’s hall
To play the harp before them all

But as they laid it on a stone
The harp began to play alone

The first string sang a doleful sound
The brighter, younger sister drownded

The second string did then reply
In terror sits the black-haired bride

The first string sang beneath the bow
And surely now the tears would flow

Child #10
sung by Frankie Armstrong on Lovely on Water
and by the Golden Ring
@love @murder @family @instrument @magic
filename[ TWOSIS
TUNE FILE: TWOSIS
CLICK TO PLAY
Other versions tend to have similar verses; different
tunes and choruses.
play.exe~TWOSIS2
SOF

I have a growing category in my online photo album: Nature. It’s large and has the most # of photos in my album, I think. I’m starting to think it’s big enough for some sort of organization scheme.

I had very bad dreams last night.

In the first one, I was working in a tall office building with the cast from The West Wing, Rowan Atkinson, and Neil Gaiman. I had brought Hammer to work with me that day, and Rowan or Neil had also brought their dog to work. During the course of the day, something bad happened and we were considering evacuating the building, but instead everyone went and waited pool-side. I eventually found out there had been a fire, and they had decided not to evacuate if they could fight it on the floors below without requiring us to get out. Something about how the amount of time it would take to get us out was greater than the amount of time it would take to put out the fire.

At one point, I looked out the window and down and saw that the entire building was gutted, all the way up to about 2 floors below us. I was very upset– even if we took the stairs, there would be nothing to come out onto. When the firefighters finally hooked us up to come out, I was worried because I was taking care of and herding the two dogs– they wouldn’t be able to come down a ladder. The firefighters helped get them down, though, and I woke up.

That one was a disturbing dream, but not horrible.

In the next dream, I was an extra in The West Wing, a girl from a foreign country (Croatia, I think), and I was in some trouble on the show. Off the set, I was also helping to set some sort of sting on one of the male cast members. Unfortunately, the deal went all wrong and I ended up being raped and stabbed repeatedly before I could get away (and yes, reliving this in my nightmares was not something I wanted to do again– ever).

I wound up at my grandmother’s house in Massachusetts. She was about to tell me that she wouldn’t be able to have me stay, as Sharon was over (the “Other Woman” in my parents’ marriage). But she agreed to take me to the hospital. My step-mom actually took me over there, but she hurt me on the way over by kind of half-dragging me to the hospital. I accidentally called her by my evil aunt’s name when she hurt me.

In general, it was a really bad night, both in terms of rest and in terms of dreams. Bleah!!

I cleaned wool today. There’s a story behind this, but I’m too tired to really explain it yet.

Before

After

I cleaned the fleece using techniques found at the Joy of Handspinning Web Site. It’s very white, very fluffy. All natural, though, so it has that slight off-white color of undyed wool fibre. It’s fluffy. And pretty. And still kind of dirty– needs carding now to card out all the rest of the dirt and broken fibres and make it all soft and fluffy.