These are a few of my favorite things...

 

Girls in white dresses, with blue satin sashes...






Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes...





Silver-white winters that melt into springs...



these are a few of my favorite things.

I always loved watching the Sound of Music as a child. It was a family affair when it aired on television and my sisters and I would sing along to all of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, completely charmed by Julie Andrews. We envisioned ourselves as Liesl, twirling in imaginary white dresses with blue satin sashes under a moonlit gazebo. We chimed in to the strains of "Doe a Deer, A Female Deer" and were delighted by the puppetry during the goatherd song, enjoying the chance to practice yodeling. But the one song that always moved us to tears was Edelweiss, of course. It hardly mattered that we were born a continent away, and two generations later than the time period highlighted in the movie. For one night, we were Austrian in spirit. Enjoy these images that celebrate Tyrolean costume and culture.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever
(The Sound of Music, Rodgers & Hammerstein)

  

A Young Man in Tyrolean Costume
Franz Von DeFregger, 1872

 

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu...