Song # 4 Close Your Eyes and relax Romantic Piano - "Daydreaming" by Ja...

Nativity of Christ Troparion (Byzantine Chant)

Song #1 Romantic Piano and Flute - "A Dream Within A Dream" by James Onohan

Christmas in Killarney - Irish Christmas Song (HD)

"Ballade of Christmas Ghosts" by Andrew Lang

"The ghosts we all can raise at will...."

LOVE THIS!!!! ENJOY!

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Poetry/ballade_of_christmas_ghosts.htm

Song # 3 Fall In Love Piano Music - "Only You" by James Onohan

John Schlitt: O Holy Night

Hymn to St. Nicholas

Timothy as Aladdin and Jasmine

I Wonder As I Wander - part 2

All the verses to "Over the River and Through the Woods"

Originally titled, "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day," Lydia Marie Child's peom first appeared in 1844 her book, "Flowers for Children." Child was a teacher, novelist, and journalist. Sound familiar?

Although I thought I knew all the verses, it turns out I didn't know most of them. I can still sing it, though, or, at least, warble a few notes that somewhat resembles singing.

         
          Over the river, and through the wood,
          To Grandfather's house we go;

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh

through the white and drifted snow.

          Over the river, and through the wood,
          To Grandfather's house away!
          We would not stop for doll or top,
          For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood—

Oh, how the wind does blow!

It stings the toes and bites the nose

As over the ground we go.

Over the river, and through the wood,

With a clear blue winter sky,

The dogs do bark, and children hark,

As we go jingling by.

Over the river, and through the wood,

To have a first-rate play.

Hear the bells ring, "Ting-a-ling-ding",

Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river, and through the wood,

No matter for winds that blow,

Or if we get the sleigh upset

Into a bank of snow

Over the river, and through the wood,

To see little John and Ann.

We will kiss them all, and play snow-ball,

And stay as long as we can.

Over the river, and through the wood

Trot fast, my dapple-gray!

Spring over the ground like a hunting-hound,

For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood—

And straight through the barnyard gate,

We seem to go extremely slow,

It is so hard to wait!

Over the river, and through the wood,

Old Jowler hears our bells.

He shakes his pow, with a loud bow-wow,

And thus the news he tells.

Over the river, and through the wood,

When Grandmother sees us come,

She will say, "Oh, dear, the children are here,

Bring a pie for everyone."

Over the river, and through the wood—

Now Grandmother's cap I spy!

Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?

Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

Song #1 Romantic Piano and Flute - "A Dream Within A Dream" by James Onohan

"Savior like a shepherd lead us" with "Take my life" ( and let it be) Pi...

Song #11 - Wedding Song First Dance - "To Say I Do" by James Onohan

Bryony's Three--Verse Scripture Playlist

Bryony is not a “Christian” vampire novel, nor did I write it specifically for a Christian audience.

And as a Christian, some—not all—of the songs on my inspirational playlist while I was writing Bryony are Christian. In fact, that playlist is very eclectic. I wrote about it here: http://bryonyseries.blogspot.com/2010/08/experimental-posts-and-play-lists.html

Yet, music was not the only tool I used to keep me focused on Bryony’s storyline during its roughtest drafts. Bryony contains thirty chapters, which I mentally divided into three parts of ten chapters each. Above each section was a virtual scripture-verse canopy that defined its theme. Here are the verses:

1 Peter 5:8. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Deuteronomy 30:19: “I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life.”

Isaiah 5:20: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Perhaps, if Fr. Alexis had been more discerning, he might have impressed these verses on Melissa and urged her to make different choices. But he didn’t and so….

A Song for Tara

Song # 6 Epic Piano Instrumental - "Escape" by James Onohan

It's An Exciting Week in Bryony World

So pumped! The Bryony trailer team met this week to review a script and discuss details of its upcoming filming. So far, we have planned an official book trailer, a music video for the Bryony theme song, and individual interviews with members of the Bryony team. We even have a mansion for on-location shots. How cool is that? Also, CAL Graphics, Inc. (http://www.calgraphicsinc.com/) sent two sample logo designs for me, the director of marketing and our web administrator to review, and it was unanimous. Everyone loved option #1, so it now goes to our illustrator, Kathleen Rose Van Pelt(http://www.imaginarylinesstudio.com/) for a sprig of vines. We also have an opportunity to help sponsor Bowl for Kids Sake, a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties (http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.coIJLROnGlF/b.3919285/k.FB2C/Big_Brothers_Big_Sisters_of_Will_and_Grundy_Counties.htm), which is the recipient of profits from the Bryony cookbook. We are forming a couple of teams to bowl, too, and crossing our fingers we'll be able to create some Bryony T-shirts by then. Also, please check out the survey Sarah Stegall, Bryony's web administrator, posted yesterday. It's just five, short questions, but it will give her insight for future Bryony posts. http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=d4henfcoo429xm1861356 Later today, I'll post another song by James Onohan (http://www.jamesonohan.com/), Bryony's pianist and composer, the musical "voice" of John Simons, the nineteenth century pianist and composer in Bryony. Have a great day!

WHAM

Yesterday afternoon, our family received a delightful nineteenth century Christmas treat from WHAM.

Five members of the Wheeling High Alumni Men's Chorus (They were Wham long before WHAM! with George Michael) in top hats, scarves and canes (they've outgrown the rest of their official lamplighter costumes) stopped by our deck and entertained us with their rendition of traditional carols, including Joy to the World, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, The First Noel, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

One of WHAM's members was participating in a fundraising event at the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park in Joliet, and WHAM was singing in between performances. Our house just so happened to be on the way, and boy, were we glad!

Now it just so happened that our small mission church (so small we haven't told anyone about it yet--one of our goals for 2011) was celebrating old calendar St. Nicholas and the repose of St. John of Kronstadt (our mission's patron saint), so the chorus was the crowning point of an upbeat afternoon.

What began as a bit of Christmas fun back in 1975 (Bryony zig zags between 1975 and the late Victorian era; yes I had to get that in) with a dozen newbie high school graduates has morphed into a holiday celebration of spreading good cheer. With the remaining members scattered across the country, those who still live in the area also use WHAM as a reason to see each other once a year.

I'm hoping singing at the Unland house can become part of their annual tradition.

James Onohan, Bryony's Composer

By Sarah Stegall, Bryony web administrator.

Since I've immersed myself in what I think of as The Bryony Book Project, I've done quite a bit of researching. The latest was listening to LOTS of classical piano. In Bryony, John Simons is a famous classical piano player, and Melissa stumbles across an old record of his (The Best-Loved Compositions of John Simons) at the library. John's signature closing song, rightfully titled, Bryony, plays on Melissa's music box. We thought it would be so fun for readers to listen to the song, just like Melissa.

And so the hunt began. I sat for hours on YouTube and various websites listening to out of copyright classical piano that we could use for Bryony. Nothing fit. Then I stumbled on James Onohan's One Last Time. I had been listening to Debussy clicking randomly on the side links. I almost clicked out when I realized, "Oh wow, he's what we are looking for!" The enchanting sounds James was plinking out were so captivating, I could see why Melissa played her music box over and over. I immediately found his website and listened over and over. He became my John Simons that night.

However, I had quite a few problems. The biggest? He wasn't out of copyright. I sent him a brief email wondering if maybe, just maybe, he would let us market his songs under the book. It was a long shot, so imagine my surprise when he emailed back within minutes sounding interested. More than interested. He volunteered to compose the Bryony song and several others for The Best Loved Compositions of John Simons. Wow!

A few months later and everything smoothed out legally, I'm happy to announce James Onohan as our composer! Even if you don't believe you would like classical piano, his songs will leave you spellbound. He makes the magic of Bryony and I encourage you to check out his website at http://www.jamesonohan.com/. You can read his full biography there.