Sunday, August 06, 2006


~:W E E K • T H I R T Y:~

So we are at week 30 now. Another milestone. Yay! Tomorrow night we begin the wonders of child birth classes. I will be escorted by Doug and 2 firm pillows to class tomorrow, during which we'll get to meet other soon-to-be mothers and fathers. I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

I can feel bimp move even more now. The larger he gets, the stronger his movements. During our last visit on Thursday, the midwife showed me how to tell where he was positioned. Most of the large movements are happening on the lower right side of my belly - it's wonderfully creepy. I can nudge him gently now and get him to nudge me right back.


I spent a little bit of the day yesterday downloading lyrics of some very old and beautiful Scottish folk songs I fell in love with a long time ago. Anyone heard of the King's Singers? They've been around forever. One tune has been a favorite of mine for a long time - the Skye Boat Song, witten in 1884. Check out a snippet of the Skye Boat Song on this page. I never understood the historical background of the lyrics until yesterday.

Charles Edward Stewart, the Young Pretender (Bonnie Prince Charlie), lost a battle on Culloden Moor in 1745, trying to claim his right to the English throne. He managed to escape to the Island of Skye with the help of a Jacobite heroine named Flora MacDonald. He was exiled in Rome, where he died. So he never did manage to get back, in fact he died a miserable drunk. Oh well. I shant sing that part to Bimp.

Skye Boat Song
(Sir Harold Boulton, 1884)

Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward, the sailors cry
Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to skye

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunder clouds rend the air;
Baffled our foe's stand by the shore
Follow they will not dare

chorus

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep
Ocean's a royal bed
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head

chorus

Many's the lad fought on that day
Well the claymore could wield
When the night came, silently lay
Dead on Culloden's field

chorus

Burned are our homes, exile and death
Scatter the loyal men
Yet, e'er the sword cool in the sheath,
Charlie will come again.

Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward, the sailors cry
Carry the lad that's born to be king
Over the sea to skye
Over the sea to skye
Over the sea to skye

This is the only tune I've been humming to him so far. Anyway - interesting that most of the songs I love, are already considered lullabies. Now that I've got the lyrics, I've got some memorizing to do.

9 comments:

Roger said...

you look happy

Anne Elser said...

tanks Wogah

angie said...

that dress is adorable and perfect!

Anne Elser said...

Tanks Angie Unit! I think it's rather selnderizing, no?

It's actually the most comfortable thing I own. And I am not taking it off until the Bimpster arrives.

Tania Rochelle said...

Anne, have you heard Loreena McKennitt?

Anne Elser said...

i have not. do tell!

Collin Kelley said...

Loreena McKennitt is one of my personal goddesses (good choice, Tania!). She's a Canadian singer who writes her own and adapts old-world music. One of the most beautiful and crystal clear voices you will ever here. I would start with the album "The Visit" and then progress to "The Mask and The Mirror". She has a new album out this fall...her first in nearly a decade.

Collin Kelley said...

*hear


sigh

Jason said...

is everything going ok? It's unlike you not to post in a week? Has Bimp arrived early?