Animal Crackers

I walked into Winco today and was met with a bit of nostalgia.  I haven't seen these childhood oh-so-my-favorite-treat since I wore French braids and ribbons.  

The boxes have lion, seal, hippo, elephant, and koala cookies, not pandas unfortunately.  (Percy the Panda is happy to model anyway.) They were a treat and a safari in a box with it's own handle! 

They originated in England in early 1900, but were so popular they soon had to be manufactured in the United States. According to Google, they cost a dime in 1975 when I was particularly delighted by them. They even have their own sweet poem, does anyone remember? 

Animal Crackers by Christopher Morley 

Animal crackers and cocoa to drink.

That is the finest of suppers I think;

When I'm grown up and can have what I please

I think I shall always insist upon these.

What do YOU choose when you're offered a treat?

When Mother says, "What would you like best to eat?"

Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?

It's cocoa and animals that I love most!

The kitchen's the cosiest place that I know;

The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,

And there in the twilight, how jolly to see

The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

Daddy and Mother dine later in state,

With Mary to cook for them, Susan to wait;

But they don't have nearly as much fun as I

Who eat in the kitchen with Nurse standing by;

And Daddy once said, he would like to be me

Having cocoa and animals once more for tea. 

I bought three boxes. Is your childhood favorite still available? Does it have a poem? 

A Summer Morning...

 

Never was sun so bright before,

No matin of the lark so sweet,

No grass so green beneath my feet,

Nor with such dewdrops jewelled o'er.

I stand with thee outside the door,

The air not yet is close with heat,

And far across the yellowing wheat

The waves are breaking on the shore.

A lovely day! Yet many such,

Each like to each, this month have passed,

And none did so supremely shine.

One thing they lacked: the perfect touch

Of thee—and thou art come at last,

And half this loveliness is thine.

Robert Fuller Murray 

A Child Is Only A Moment by Earl Brown

A CHILD IS ONLY A MOMENT
by EARL BROWN

Spring will return to the meadow when the long winter's chill fades away
Tomorrow, the blossoms will open their eyes to the skies, of a brand new day
No matter how dark be the nightfall, each day the sun is reborn
To shine on the beauties and wonders that stir with new life every glorious morn
Most of the treasures we cherish can delight us again and again
A rose in a book and the murmuring brook, as it wanders across the glen
The words of a poet that lie on the page can recapture the soul of the past
A song in the heart can be sung and re-echoed, as long as our voices may last
But a child is only a moment, only a snowflake of sweet remember when
Yes, a child is only a moment, a wonderful moment that never comes again
Yes, a child is only a moment, hold on to that moment, for it never comes again.

The Coming of the Lord by Jones Very

Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. Mark 13:33

The Coming Of The Lord

Come suddenly, O Lord, or slowly come, 
I wait thy will, thy servant ready is;
Thou hast prepared thy follower a home;
The heaven in which thou dwellest too is his.

Come in the morn, at noon, or midnight deep,
Come, for thy servant still doth watch and pray;
E'en when the world around is sunk in sleep,
I wake, and long to see thy glorious day.

I would not fix the time, the day, nor hour,
When Thou with all thine angels shall appear;
When in thy kingdom Thou shalt come with power,
E'en now, perhaps, the promised day is near!

For though, in slumber deep, the world may lie,
And e'en thy Church forget thy great command;
Still year by year thy Coming draweth nigh,
And in its power thy kingdom is at hand.

Not in some future world alone 'twill be,
Beyond the grave, beyond the bounds of time;
But on the earth thy glory we shall see,
And share thy triumph, peaceful, pure, sublime.

Lord! help me that I faint not, weary grow,
Nor at thy Coming slumber too, and sleep;
For Thou hast promised, and full well I know
Thou wilt to us thy word of promise keep.

Jones Very

God bends to His bent world.

He weeps for all its wailing: 

Feels every stick and stone, 

Each broken heart, each broken bone,

And gathers every fragment home.

Jonathan Penny

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.

Where never lark, or even eagle flew —

And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

~John Gillespie Magee WW2 Pilot & Poet

Stillborn by Merrijane Barton Rice

Merrijane was a favorite BYU roommate. She was talented then, now she wins big writing contests like Mormon LitzBlitz with this beautiful and poignant poem.


Stillborn
You were wanted,
not an accident.
Your first fluttering cells
set plans pulsing—
names, knitting, nursery colors,
universities.
Though two others came before,
I saved a part for you.

Sometimes a heart stops beating
and dreams bleed free
in a slow, red river
of barren pain.
No healing prayers,
no reasons sought,
none given.
Just one of those things.
But it wasn’t an accident.
You were wanted
elsewhere.

Grudges & Dragons...

A Poet in Zion has posted her Friday Post... you'll not want to miss her Dragon Poem...

OK.. discuss.

Lily of the Valley...

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love... ~Leo Tolstoy

Thank you so much Sarah.. I love the flowers so much!

Finding Courage in Faith

This is what I have found about religion. It gives you courage to make decisions when you must in a crisis, and then the confidence to leave the result to a higher power. Only by trusting God can a man carrying great responsibility find repose. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

This is a man who made a lot of tough decisions in his time. I thought this was inspiring. I found the quote in the book Ye Are the Light of the World by Harold B. Lee a book that I am enjoying almost as much as Standing for Something (my favorite). President Lee was a very optomistic and positive person. His words are comforting and inspiring.

Your Refined Heavenly Home...

That's what I want. To be surrounded by real beauty; good music, great art, the best books and most importantly of all, a spirit of peace and love.

I love this BYU Devotional talk by Douglas L. Callister sent to by my sister Jackie. Beautiful.

Here is a favorite quote: The nearer we get to God, the more easily our spirits are touched by refined and beautiful things.

Read More...

Marjorie's Wisdom...

‎"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!"

— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Books...

I love to read history. I love to read the stories of the lives of great men and women, the founders of our nation, the reformers, the people who've made a difference. In my reading I have found that most of these people had something interesting in common... They loved books. Abraham Lincoln dreamed of having a library of his own. The first money he earned, he spent to buy a copy of Aesop's Fables and his library continued to grow throughout the rest of his life.

Books have a spirit in them. Great literature brings a spirit of greatness in to a home and gives it grace and dignity.

I practice what I preach here. I have books piled all over the floor. They are only my favorites. I am trying not to keep those that aren't my favorites. I just tell people that I decorate in late, early and modern books. My books are my friends. I love them. I often make a return visit to a great book. I don't always read it again cover to cover, but I re-read favorite passages.

I hope my daughter will be a reader. I hope that she will find wisdom and comfort in great books. I hope that she will value books above almost every material possession.

I love this quote by Winston Churchill

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate.. peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them be your acquaintances."

and this one by James A. Michener

"A nation becomes what its young people read in their youth."

C.S. Lewis...

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

I wonder if C.S. Lewis would like the movies that have been made and are going to be made of his books. I liked The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe very much. The Lion is so beautiful. I hope the next one will be as good. C.S.Lewis was an amazing scholar whose wisdom is still a blessing. My friend Liz posted a quote here that she likes and it reminded me of this one that I like.

Spring is coming...

I have been out walking on every sunny day and the signs of spring are everywhere.

Spring, the season of renewal and rebirth, is a good time to take stock, fix up and clean up and find in those efforts a breath of freshness. I am looking forward to planting the pansies, seeing if my lilacs survived the winter and watching for all the flowering trees to blossom. It will be sad to say goodbye to one of the most beautiful winter seasons that I ever remember, but it's good to be moving in the direction of spring. Onward!

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it-- but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Christmas Quotes..

Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it are born our art, our science, our religion.
~Ralph Stockman

Longfellow, Paul Revere & Our Veterans...

My sister, the English teacher, sent me this amazing article about a great American Poet. I enjoyed it very much. And since it's Veteran's Day today, or at least we are celebrating it today, I want to share a favorite poem about one of America's first Veterans in honor of all the great and good men and women who have kept and continue to keep us free. God Bless our fighting men and women stationed all over the globe today.

Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere... Read the rest here.

An Educated Mind...

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought with out accepting it." Aristotle

I like this quote so much and it reminded me of this story about a judge in the U.K. who, in the interest of telling school children the actual truth, pointed out some inconvenient questions. A brave man.

Love...

Love is a gift.

I hope you are surrounded by it today.

October...

You ought to know that October is the first Spring month. - Karel Capek

That's how I feel too.