Today I was very happy to see that I have reached the 50 followers point! Thank you to everyone who follows, I am very grateful for each one of you! =)
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
I am in need of assistance that only you can give!
(That title is based on something Frank Churchill said to Emma in the 2009 mini-series.)
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The halls in our house are decked with holly...well, not really, but our decorations are up, and I wanted to make my blog look festive too...especially since most my posts from here on will be something Christmas-based, as I discussed in this post.
Now, as you can see I've already made a new blog top, and I've also changed the link colors to red and green. (The blog top picture is from the 2009 Emma...that's Jane Austen's story that has the most about Christmas, and that mini-series has some great snowy and Christmassy scenes!)
I'm having a little trouble with background though, and decided to ask my readers for their opinions. I've tried several things, and I'll list them here so you can vote on which one is your favorite! Now whatever wins doesn't necessarily mean that's what I'll use, but there's a good chance, and I really want to know what you'd like most to see. =) I'd really appreciate comments too!
These are in no particular order, just whatever I happened to try first. (If you want to see the pictures bigger, just click on them.)
Choice 1: Patterned background/wallpaper
Choice 2: Dark green
Choice 3: Minty green
Choice 4: Very dark red
Choice 5: Dark red
Choice 6: A sort of light gold (at least that's what it's supposed to be)
Choice 7: The current background - whitish
POLL
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The halls in our house are decked with holly...well, not really, but our decorations are up, and I wanted to make my blog look festive too...especially since most my posts from here on will be something Christmas-based, as I discussed in this post.
Now, as you can see I've already made a new blog top, and I've also changed the link colors to red and green. (The blog top picture is from the 2009 Emma...that's Jane Austen's story that has the most about Christmas, and that mini-series has some great snowy and Christmassy scenes!)
I'm having a little trouble with background though, and decided to ask my readers for their opinions. I've tried several things, and I'll list them here so you can vote on which one is your favorite! Now whatever wins doesn't necessarily mean that's what I'll use, but there's a good chance, and I really want to know what you'd like most to see. =) I'd really appreciate comments too!
These are in no particular order, just whatever I happened to try first. (If you want to see the pictures bigger, just click on them.)
Choice 1: Patterned background/wallpaper
Choice 2: Dark green
Choice 3: Minty green
Choice 4: Very dark red
Choice 5: Dark red
Choice 6: A sort of light gold (at least that's what it's supposed to be)
Choice 7: The current background - whitish
POLL
Friday, November 25, 2011
GIVEAWAY: Old-fashioned Christmas Music
Click here to go to the CD’s main page
This giveaway is now closed.
I am so very excited to be hosting my first giveaway!
Songs from Old-fashioned Fiddle and Guitar Christmas, the wonderful CD I’m helping to sell this year, will be available in sound file format to three lucky people! (I’ll email the files to the winners.)
1st Place
Complete Album
(18 songs)
2nd Place
2/3 Album
(12 songs, chosen by the winner)
3rd Place
1/3 Album
(6 songs, chosen by the winner)
This is the list of all 18 songs:
Joy to the World
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
I Saw Three Ships
The First Noel
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Silent Night
Good King Wenceslas
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
Deck the Halls
Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming
Jingle Bells
Away in a Manger
O Holy Night
Good Christian Men Rejoice
In the Bleak Midwinter
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella
Here We Come a Wassailing
How to enter
Mandatory entry: Read the CD’s main page and watch the sample video, then leave a comment (or email me) saying which song clip you enjoyed the most.
Extra entries:
(Be sure to point out whatever you do by commenting, or it won’t count as an entry; for example if you already follow my blog, be sure to mention it so I can enter you in the drawing.)
(5 entries) Write a post about the giveaway on your blog or web site (and make sure to include a link to the CD’s main page.) Leave the link to your post in a comment (or an email).
(Non-blogger option: write a “note” about it on Facebook and tag at least 10 friends.)
(3 entries) Display a giveaway button on your sidebar.
(3 entries) Follow this blog.
(2 entries) Display a blog button for Regency Delight on your sidebar or list of blogs.
(2 entries) Display a blog button for Regency Delight on your sidebar or list of blogs.
(1 entry) Tell about a Christmas tradition you/your family has that you especially look forward to each year.
When you comment (or email)
- If you have no blogger or Google account, you can comment under ‘anonymous’. Please leave your name (or an alias) so I have something to call you.
- MAKE SURE you leave a link to your blog/web site OR an email address, however you would like me to contact you if you win.
- Don’t forget to mention everything you did!
The last day to enter is Saturday, December 10th. Winners will be announced on the 11th.
Thank you for participating! This will be great fun! :-)
You can contact me at: old-fashionedfiddleandguitar[at]live[dot]com.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Old-fashioned Christmas CD
It isn’t quite Christmas time yet...but we’re getting close. A week from today is the day after Thanksgiving. All the stores are already displaying their festivities, Christmas music is playing on the radio, lights are going up all over the place…and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been looking forward to Christmas for several months and have lately felt like listening to Christmas music. I am quite enthusiastic about Christmas music, which makes me doubly excited for what I’m about to share with you.
I am so delighted, because of special acquaintance with the musicians, to be “marketing” this splendid CD!
I love Christmas, and as I said, I love Christmas music! Old-Fashioned Fiddle and Guitar Christmas has been a favorite of mine for many years. Expertly arranged and performed, it has a wide variety of traditional Christmas carols – all delightfully old-fashioned – from sprightly songs that make you feel happy and festive, to beautiful slow ones that give you that warm feeling which is often merited to Christmas. The slower ones are my personal favorites; they have that sentimental touch which I adore.
This CD contains the true spirit of Christmas; the songs are played with much skill, taste, and emotion, creating a wonderfully meaningful album.
Making this sample video was delightful. It was quite hard though, choosing only 6 songs, and including only short clips.
To suit my own fancy and so it will go along well with my blog, I have put a collection of Christmas pictures from some of my favorite old-fashioned movies in the video. It was fun gathering them.
The pictures include: Emma (2009), A Christmas Carol (1984) Emma (1996, A&E), Little Women (1994), and Pride and Prejudice (1995).
And now, I’ll include a little about the musicians.
On the guitar is Bethany. She has a natural gift for the guitar, and plays with a sensitive touch and rhythmic accuracy that sets her style apart. She was 17 when this recording was made.
Bethany’s brother Seth is the fiddler, 13 at the time of this recording. He is a multiple time national fiddle prize-winner and champion. Intensely interested in Classical music from a young age, Seth is now an accomplished violinist, having graduated with highest honors from a private liberal arts college, and was given the place of Assistant Concertmaster in a professional symphony orchestra, where he now regularly performs.
This is the list of all 18 songs:
Joy to the World
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
I Saw Three Ships
The First Noel
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Silent Night
Good King Wenceslas
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
Deck the Halls
Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming
Jingle Bells
Away in a Manger
O Holy Night
Good Christian Men Rejoice
In the Bleak Midwinter
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day
Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella
Here We Come a Wassailing
The CD is $12 and $3 for shipping in the U.S.
If you live elsewhere or wish to purchase more than one CD, contact me about it and I will calculate the shipping rate according to your location.
To order:
Send an email to old-fashionedfiddleandguitar[at]live[dot]com. I manage this email account, and will reply to your email with where to mail your check, and to whom you should address it. After receiving the check, your purchase will be mailed directly, and I will keep you updated during this process by email.
Feel free to email with any questions or comments!
Next week, I plan to have a giveaway for the sound files of this album, so keep your eye out!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Emma and Christmas
Here are a couple updates/bits of information about me and my blog.
First of all, I am reading Emma for British Literature in school. I did not choose it (if I had it probably would have been Pride and Prejudice), it is just conveniently in the curriculum. I’ve finished Frankenstein and the Romantic poets, and have yet to read A Tale of Two Cities, The Time Machine, Animal Farm, and other poets. I wish Animal Farm was something else – some Gaskell or Brontë or Eliot, perhaps – but I’m looking forward to reading Mr. Dickens.
Anyways, back to Emma. It’s quite nice to be reading Jane Austen for school – it feels so un-schoolish, you know. And, oh! With what delight I first read about Jane Austen and Emma when the Literature book first came! Seeing all those familiar names in the text book – Jane Austen, Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, Mr. Elton, Harriet – gave me a silly excitement.
I also liked what the author said at the very beginning of the Emma section:
“Note: Perhaps some of the male readers will be rather distressed when they learn that they will be studying Jane Austen this school year. Unfortunately, many people unthinkingly consider Austen a writer solely for women. In Emma, the main character is a young woman; women carry a majority of the dialogue; and, sadly for some perhaps, there is no physical violence. However, those who are disappointed by the former will be at least as pleased upon learning that, in the novel (and in all of Austen’s other novels), there are no improbable, long-winded, indulgent professions of love and they contain much satirical wit and humor.”
Thank you! You know what, if us girls had to read The Red Badge of Courage last year in American Literature…that’s a war story, and isn’t that supposed to be a boy’s thing? I saw no disclaimers or explanations there.
Anyways, I especially appreciated that because a man wrote it.
The second thing. Sometime between Thanksgiving and December 2nd, I shall turn my blog into a Christmas blog, and it will remain so for about a month. I love Christmas time so very much, I just have to share my excitement here too! I’m planning lots of special Christmas posts. They will still be centered around Jane Austen, etc. but there will be a few other ones, too. The look of the blog will also change.
I am planning a special post for later on this week, quite a Christmassy one, so be watching for it! =)
In the title of this post, I wasn’t trying to connect Emma with Christmas – but have you noticed that Christmas is mentioned in Emma more than any other Jane Austen novel?
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