tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91255668659261629832024-03-06T00:02:19.354-05:00Just The Write TouchQuodlibets and quibblings of a quirky quasi-quinquagenarianAnnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-19224674869132150942019-01-08T21:26:00.003-05:002019-01-12T12:09:29.418-05:00Part 2: Dancing with one who danced with Pavlova<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvPSG13ziygvsc0SIJs5W5_jOsXe9-nInlEfiw7f9n9tceEH6Iagft7ZwnbIKEtz_IKEGg2TEWQqnuZEYkg7ZnOEQNjAGZzWVrjFzWWZ2hD2z1eCJ5W07t-BYhyphenhyphenfwpY-qc2uMc7jd8-I/s1600/AlexandraBaldinaKosloff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvPSG13ziygvsc0SIJs5W5_jOsXe9-nInlEfiw7f9n9tceEH6Iagft7ZwnbIKEtz_IKEGg2TEWQqnuZEYkg7ZnOEQNjAGZzWVrjFzWWZ2hD2z1eCJ5W07t-BYhyphenhyphenfwpY-qc2uMc7jd8-I/s320/AlexandraBaldinaKosloff.jpg" width="237" /></a><br />
<b>Left: </b>Alexandra Baldina (Kosloff) was a member of the Bolshoi Ballet and later a principal dancer with the Ballets Russes, along with Anna Pavlova and others. Eventually, she came to the United States.<br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Photo courtesy of Susan Tyne, U.K.</div>
<br />
<i>Scroll to the bottom to see a video of Alexandra Baldina and Theodor Kosloff / Koslov performing. </i><br />
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<i>"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days." Ecclesiastes 11:1</i><br />
<br />
Writers knead together assorted words, shape the mass into one form or another, bake it under the heat of scrutiny and revision, and -- sometimes -- release it upon the tides of publication. Most often the words are carried away -- perhaps lost in the vast ocean of words, perhaps run aground on a sandbar somewhere, or perhaps washed up on a remote shore, never to be heard from again.<br />
<br />
But once in a very great while . . . .<br />
<br />
In 2011, almost eight years ago, <a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/2011/02/dancing-with-one-who-danced-with.html">I wrote about being part of a long-ago ballet class</a> conducted by Alexandra Baldina, then in her eighties, at a dance studio in Tustin, California. I was not-quite fifteen, growing up in an era of "Hey, Jude," "Born to Be Wild," and "Mrs. Robinson," and I only partially comprehended what an extraordinary opportunity it was.<br />
<br />
Baldina had been one of the four principal dancers -- the other three being Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Tamara Karsavina -- who first performed Mikhael Fokine's Les Sylphides as part of <a href="https://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/ART309940">Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes </a>in 1909, in an era of radical change in art and in world politics.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QU1BPYuHlS1ye76LPnMk3W_7_0h5DYlkpWz-3zMUA_wlDXQH1yps-IlXpryR0-gG3V0fEU8wvH2iMUHs8ufiZNI3EjrrzcA01dA4rUrOq192VdOWhcgBsMZf99mlCZpqv31JyvjMlrE/s1600/MontmarteStudio.REV.1960s.Hoffman.IMG_1489.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QU1BPYuHlS1ye76LPnMk3W_7_0h5DYlkpWz-3zMUA_wlDXQH1yps-IlXpryR0-gG3V0fEU8wvH2iMUHs8ufiZNI3EjrrzcA01dA4rUrOq192VdOWhcgBsMZf99mlCZpqv31JyvjMlrE/s320/MontmarteStudio.REV.1960s.Hoffman.IMG_1489.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Students doing floor exercises </span><span style="font-size: small;">at Montmarte School </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">of Imperial </span><span style="font-size: small;">Russian Ballet, owned by </span><span style="font-size: small;">Miss Irene Wilson, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">in the </span><span style="font-size: small;">late 1960s. The wooden </span><span style="font-size: small;">room in the back corner is </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">where we changed into </span><span style="font-size: small;">our leotards and tights. The </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">seats and dais were </span><span style="font-size: small;">used by the Tustin City Council </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">when they held </span><span style="font-size: small;">their meetings.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Photo courtesy of Paula Hoffman. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.ballet-dance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9029&sid=e0172b1b91219e4fdf6a1680873db079">Miss Irene Wilson,</a> the owner of the Montmarte School of Imperial Russian Ballet where I attended in the late 1960s, had studied under Baldina many years prior, and Baldina had visited her studio on a day my class was scheduled. Quite literally, we were, in that lesson, dancing with one who had danced with Pavlova.<br />
<br />
In the process of writing the post about the class, I searched for links to articles about Miss Irene and about Alexandra Baldina and especially for a picture of her. Eventually, I traced one to <a href="https://www.mevagisseyactivitycentre.co.uk/fitness-classes">Susan Tyne</a>, at the time a Grades Examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance, whose grandmother also had been a student of Baldina's. Susan sent me a digital copy of a photo Baldina had given her grandmother, and I included it in the blog post, published on February, 25, 2011.<br />
<br />
And that was that. The words floated away, and they never came back.<br />
<br />
Until July 2, 2014, that is, when an Anonymous someone left a comment on the post that she, also, had been in that class and had Baldina's signature. I responded and left my email address, but didn't hear anything further until August 2015, when the same person left another message, this time with a name: Paula Hoffman.<br />
<br />
Hoffman wrote, "I studied and taught with Miss Irene for years, and I am still using what she taught me all the time. Had a class tonight in fact, and a chat with my teacher after the class about my training and how it intertwines with his teaching. I also had classes with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/12/obituaries/paul-petroff-and-nana-gollner-leading-ballet-theater-dancers.html">Nana Gollner, also a Kosloff student, and Paul Petroff</a>. Amazing, we were learning the real thing."<br />
<br />
Again, I responded, but there was no further reply.<br />
<br />
I understood. Email hackers and cyber frauds abound. Neither of us had any assurance the other was legitimately who we claimed to be.<br />
<br />
In January 2017, out of the blue, another reader emailed me the link to the video below, which he said had just been posted to YouTube. The video features Baldina and Theodore Kosloff, who later became Baldina's husband during a short-lived marriage, in a joyful <i>pas de deux</i>. This time, I was the one who dropped the ball by neglecting to even thank him for sending it. The email sat there, unacknowledged, until I began writing this post.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Xn-YqNQZTFkCbVlI5QgLCdJxFA5njhvWsN_7HlxPC8q6qh_FwIl8lQjHu_YP6eYAb8GmcXw0kJ1dd0CCWY7Yoo20NNmX6KpHH1DJNBb9D3DrShVI0opIS9NllD27hIbQN2DsSttvBio/s1600/BaldinaSignature.REV.Hoffman.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Xn-YqNQZTFkCbVlI5QgLCdJxFA5njhvWsN_7HlxPC8q6qh_FwIl8lQjHu_YP6eYAb8GmcXw0kJ1dd0CCWY7Yoo20NNmX6KpHH1DJNBb9D3DrShVI0opIS9NllD27hIbQN2DsSttvBio/s320/BaldinaSignature.REV.Hoffman.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Baldina's signature endorsement on the back of the check </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Paula Hoffman used to pay for the lesson that day.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Photo courtesy of Paula Hoffman.</div>
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This post began just before Thanksgiving 2018 when another woman, Roberta Patton, left a comment saying she had studied with Miss Irene for years and that she thought she remembered Paula. Patton also mentioned she had just been talking with someone about her past ballet experience.<br />
<br />
Patton's comment prompted Hoffman to email me directly, as well, and to send the two images included in this post--a picture of students doing center work in the studio and a picture of Alexandra Baldina Kosloff's signature endorsement on the back of the check Hoffman used to pay for the class that day, April 27, 1968.<br />
<br />
The cost of a lesson with one who had danced with Pavlova and Nijinsky? $3.50.<br />
<br />
The words I wrote in 2011 had floated out into the blogosphere where at least two other people who had occupied that same place and time fifty years ago had read them. The three of us had, in the strength of that memory, reconnected and had celebrated Miss Irene and Madame Baldina. We were older than Miss Irene was at the time of the lesson, though not as old as Baldina. But still we danced, sometimes with our bodies, always in our hearts.<br />
<br />
Such is the power of dance and of words . . . and of words about dance.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Postscript: </b>In my searching for information about Alexandra Baldina, I also connected with <a href="http://www.byui.edu/dance/faculty/patricia-kaye-dienhart">Patricia Kaye Dienhart</a>, adjunct dance faculty at BYU in Rexburg, Idaho. Dienhart's CV says she studied under Baldina from 1962-1971 and toured during that time with the Fremont City Ballet under Baldina's direction. I also discovered that my original post had been linked to a page about Baldina on <a href="http://www.dancehistoryproject.org/index-of-artists/madam-baldina/">The Dance History Project of Southern California'</a>s web site. I had had no idea.</i><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dsm6qkTFtek" width="560"></iframe></div>
Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-78820516546569981222015-04-25T14:40:00.001-04:002018-06-09T17:07:33.833-04:00Best advice about learning?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/infomania/infomania14/dewey14.htm"><img alt="http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/infomania/infomania14/dewey14.htm" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigV4SJYLCTiXW6x_fM6WucPrYD79lIxhsrjYJM5SCP9-hK1OKF_tEhBiW6v-9ostd99lhowGjKVlnirT3kMCR6yopnZ8bFdJmNEyL6iD5EVsMqUwpjuCijoJ6qNBXd6rqzIP6-d-t5xkU/s1600/DeweyDecimalSystem.Storylady.jpg" width="249" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="_Hcb _Fcb"><a class="_Epb irc_tas" data-ved="0CAYQjhw" href="http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/infomania/infomania14/dewey14.htm" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk"><span class="irc_pt" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">dewey1.jpg</span></span></a></span><br />
<div class="irc_hd">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="_r3"><a class="irc_hl irc_hol" data-ved="0CAcQjB0" href="http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/infomania/infomania14/dewey14.htm" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr">www.ais.up.ac.za</span></a></span><span class="_r3 irc_msc"><a class="irc_hl irc_msl" data-i="1" data-ved="0CAkQhxw" href="http://www.google.com/search?imgurl=http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/infomania/infomania14/dewey1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ais.up.ac.za/vet/infomania/infomania14/dewey14.htm&h=254&w=199&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSpwEJ_1jzbmFYVZKIakgELELCMpwgaiAEKOggCEhTzCIsIggntC8gN5QiBCZMV7gv5CxogRljglcjXTn9Bf1qL0slQOtlvpHE9UA6261V73hdRCJQKSggDEhSIE8cdiRPCHZATkROPE6MTtwjwAhowYuDWyKH9SMnPRKyNRQJwnWuGLamUJWje-aW3mTTu-1qib1SoFtUfCSaby1RByJKCDCEV1DVgeZPvrw" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk"><span class="irc_idim">777 × 991</span></a></span><span class="_r3 irc_sbc"><a class="irc_hl irc_sbl" data-i="1" data-ved="0CAoQiBw" href="http://www.google.com/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZis75lTNl5OXBBFEhZsCMLG49aD8SWsNys8UVM0p4zLyYDJ04gcqE7hGckVKKMP0yZ9P-_1PohhGZblElHJho0yiVO90E2kTq9zxTIMSF-lhKB-uFixGNiGURZdRBhn7gl57sGxaIf48rTEjdZR1MnnnVmyoONKvPsm-AHiGcAwaM0ApSYAK8DxzgFdtuKprofBZ6V6lrvzCRWdUj_1dh8Yuv8uMrq8mxbogM6thLruhdFAfVNzW1boPqlc2qibE8Ji-41ptwAmzNZlbi0Dr4jqweJbBber1uBhwrlOge8B4zQCXxxCcqJcY86jVyMNTC3n0Xa4KxS" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk">Search by image</a></span></span><br />
<div class="irc_asc">
<span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Adapted from </span></span></div>
<div class="irc_asc">
<span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.storylady.com/deweygame.html)</span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The best piece of advice</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I ever received</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about learning</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
was to start</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
by reading a children's book</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about whatever topic</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I wanted to study</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
because</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the language would be simple,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the important points would be obvious,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the overall text</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
would be much more interesting</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
than a so-called adult book</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
about the same topic.</div>
Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-72104750637753029142015-04-09T02:23:00.000-04:002019-01-12T12:07:54.030-05:00Beyond Narnia and Middle Earth: The Other Worlds of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien (and friends)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHg2ceZYmXEYXW01FeTjmxztwu9RUTIxojI7A4DjwJv67oRN-AmroZuBjYRaMTPSBCobcDMZ8s6XGk-CWcU6-FX_JEphAsns2x33Zy3wG-uZazqeteGqNc9-DR3jPgRx-aU-13-FPAlEc/s1600/LewisTolkienEvent+Facebook+ProfilePhoto.CIRCLE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHg2ceZYmXEYXW01FeTjmxztwu9RUTIxojI7A4DjwJv67oRN-AmroZuBjYRaMTPSBCobcDMZ8s6XGk-CWcU6-FX_JEphAsns2x33Zy3wG-uZazqeteGqNc9-DR3jPgRx-aU-13-FPAlEc/s1600/LewisTolkienEvent+Facebook+ProfilePhoto.CIRCLE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
If you have been through the wardrobe with Lucy... </div>
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<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
If you have wandered from home with Bilbo...</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
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<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
If you have dwelt, even for a while, in Narnia and/or in Middle Earth...</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #222222; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Then come explore the other worlds of Lewis and Tolkien....</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b style="background-color: white;">Saturday, April 18, 2015 </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><b style="background-color: white;">from 2 - 5:30 p.m.</b></span></span></div>
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</span>
</span><br />
<div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Congregation Ohr Chadash</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">
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</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="font-weight: bold;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3190 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., Clearwater, Florida 33759</span></div>
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-size: x-small;">Free and Open to the Public; an offering will be received to help defray travel expenses. Mr. Hamilton will have books available for sale and will remain to sign books after the sessions. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #274e13; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Suggested readings: </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Surprised by Joy</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Till We Have Faces</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> by Lewis; </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; text-align: start;">Leaf by Niggle</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">by Tolkien (not for sale at the event)</span></span></div>
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<div class="gmail_default">
<span style="clear: right; color: #222222; float: right; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk4PeTHAcfqL0iFuwB55u_YJrldU-wEZ2IwQvZ0IhalhhaIeGsDh_FIqcBVsD7pX7zXZSFzljV2VOTHdGexe0vCMc_I-nG1UjnhVXVEknPoPGQvBldlq34HgH_MCsLTlixU_N7uy26Grw/s1600/Dan.Hamilton.rdh_color_headshot_1200.jpg" width="133" /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Author, editor, and teacher <a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/2012/11/got-inkling-who-inklings-were-come-hear.html">Dan Hamilton </a> will present biblio-biographical overviews of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Between sessions, <a href="http://ohrchadash.org/who-we-are/">Rabbi Dr. John Fischer and Dr. Patrice Fischer</a> will lead a panel discussion on the impact of Lewis's and Tolkien's works. Dan will conclude the afternoon with a short discussion of related authors and works.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">While Lewis and Tolkien are, perhaps, best known for their high fantasies <i>The Chronicles of Narnia </i>(Lewis) and <i>The Hobbit</i> and <i>Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy (Tolkien), both writers explored other fictional worlds and both struggled to reconcile their created worlds with this real, much more mundane world they inhabited -- and to reconcile both with the realm of the eternal they sensed was just on the other side of the veil. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dan noted that Lewis, in <i>De Descriptione Temporum</i>, his address upon receiving his professorship at Cambridge, identified himself as one of the last surviving specimens of "old Western Man." <br /><br />"By that," Dan said, "Lewis meant, in part, a person who was educated (and saturated) in the classics of Western literature and still believed strongly in absolute values and rational thinking." <br /><br />Dan will explore Lewis's life through a discussion of the books he wrote at various periods. In particular, Dan will focus on <i>Surprised by Joy</i>, Lewis's fairly straightforward recounting of his spiritual life from childhood on, and <i>Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold</i>. <br /><br />"<i>Till We have Faces</i>, a reimagining of the mythical story of Psyche and Eros, contains a number of subtler autobiographical elements," Dan explained. "<i>TWHF</i> is a story that Lewis had wrestled with for decades; it didn't finally fall together for him until after meeting Joy Davidman and working on <i>Surprised by Joy</i> and <i>The Four Loves</i>."<br /><br />"Similarly, the short story "Leaf by Niggle" sheds light on the post-Hobbit period in Tolkien's life when he was beginning to despair that he would live long enough to finish <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>," Dan said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the past 30 years, Dan Hamilton has edited a number of George MacDonald's works, making them more accessible to modern American audiences*. He has lectured on the Inklings and related authors, and with Dr. Ed Brown wrote <i>In Pursuit of C. S. Lewis</i>, which tells the story of the Lewis collection at Taylor University.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Additionally, Dan and his wife, Elizabeth, helped buy, rescue, and preserve <a href="http://www.cslewis.org/programs/kilns/kilnstour.htm">The Kilns</a>, C. S. Lewis’ home from 1930 on, where he wrote the Narnia series and many of his other books. Dan co-founded the <a href="http://library.taylor.edu/cslewis/society.shtml">C. S. Lewis and Friends Society at Taylor University</a> and the Central Indiana C. S. Lewis Society in Indianapolis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/70202.Dan_Hamilton">Dan's trilogy</a>, <i>Tales of the Forgotten God</i> (T<i>he Beggar King, The Chameleon Lady,</i> and <i>The Everlasting Child</i>) will be joined later this year by <i>The Inn at the End of the World</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />Rabbi Dr. John Fischer and his wife, Associate Rabbi Dr. Patrice Fischer, lead Congregation Ohr Chadash, a Messianic Jewish Synagogue, in Clearwater, Florida. Additionally, both are <a href="http://sptseminary.edu/site/index.php/academics/faculty">faculty members of St. Petersburg Seminary and Yeshiva</a> and have written numerous books and articles. </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Congregation Ohr Chadash is located at the east end of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. and at the beginning of the approach to the Courtney Campbell Causeway (SR 60). Turn left at the light onto Bayshore Blvd., and the synagogue, which faces Gulf-to-Bay, will be immediately on your left. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #d9ead3;"><span style="color: #38761d;"><br />For more information about the event, please visit our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/428080260686223/">Facebook page</a></span><span style="color: #d9ead3;">.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #d9ead3; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I am indebted to Dan's work as it introduced me to several of MacDonald's children's novels I hadn't known existed. In the early 1980s, I purchased Dan's edited versions of <i>The Wanderings of Clare Skymer</i>, <i>The Boyhood of Ranald Bannerman</i>, and <i>The Genius of Willie MacMichael</i> for our sons. Thirty years later, as I was reading about the British 1870 Education Act, which was the beginning of compulsory public education, I recalled the ideas about education MacDonald had discussed in <i>The Genius of Willie MacMichael </i>or, as MacDonald originally titled it, <i>The History of Gutta-Percha Willie, Working Genius. </i>I realized that MacDonald knew the men involved in proposing and lobbying for the 1870 Education Act -- and that <i>The History of Gutta Percha Willie, Working Genius</i>, most probably was his contribution to the discussion. This became a paper, <a href="http://www.snc.edu/northwind/documents/By_volume/sk000_Volume_32_%282013%29/sk000_Straddling_Boundaries=_Gutta_Percha_Willie_and_the_1870_Education_Act_-_Anne_W._Anderson.pdf">"Straddling Boundaries: Gutta Percha Willie and the 1870 Education Act,"</a> published in <a href="http://www.snc.edu/northwind/"><i>North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies</i>.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-29315970485667624612015-04-04T20:48:00.000-04:002015-04-25T14:41:49.335-04:00'Twas the night before......the morning of the beginning of the end of night.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-62401982211581194452015-03-31T21:25:00.001-04:002015-03-31T21:25:41.317-04:00Can I just say......Nutella on a half of a day-old croissant is luscious!Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-55223400371450952982015-03-28T14:51:00.000-04:002015-03-28T14:51:52.272-04:00Last year's business......is this year's bookkeeping chore; this year's business is a resolution not to procrastinate until next year.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-70538799233538747252015-03-27T20:22:00.000-04:002015-03-27T20:22:08.193-04:00Rendering unto Caesar....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvRr_xk-O-syH-sNPWRTYd9k4iAJm7-id8vSZTdPwT56R-JzpNAURDhywsiZPManlVt7UbAm8CPHM555TGZiiRcaiRXctfDDqaguo5wWzvscXiD8QUhWJCLk4k83esZKTn_YxP9-mxzE/s1600/GirlYuckyFaceRZ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvRr_xk-O-syH-sNPWRTYd9k4iAJm7-id8vSZTdPwT56R-JzpNAURDhywsiZPManlVt7UbAm8CPHM555TGZiiRcaiRXctfDDqaguo5wWzvscXiD8QUhWJCLk4k83esZKTn_YxP9-mxzE/s1600/GirlYuckyFaceRZ.jpg" height="160" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image courtesy of what used to be MicroSoft Clip Art</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Taxes keep the system rolling along, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">sometimes more smoothly </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">than at other times, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">but rolling along, nevertheless; </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">however, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">while I do not begrudge, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">for the most part, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">my fellow citizens </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">my share of </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the systemic financial burden, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I am more aggrieved by </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the amount of time </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I must dole out</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">to figure out</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">what I</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">owe. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-78733552834889951992015-03-26T17:08:00.000-04:002015-03-27T20:23:20.275-04:00Setting on Fire Versus Going All AflameI cannot set sodden matter on fire; but I can choose to not quench nor to become quenched.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-12006909488204078412015-03-25T11:19:00.000-04:002015-03-25T11:19:57.816-04:00Ite Infammate OmniaReportedly, Ignatius commissioned Francis Xavier to India (before either was deemed a saint) with the words above, loosely translated as "Go and set the world on fire" but transliterated (by Google Translate, anyway, and with <i>inflammate </i>spelled with one 'm') as "Go all aflame" -- a big difference, in my thinking!Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-61498125003353811732015-03-24T18:01:00.002-04:002015-03-24T18:02:30.036-04:00Sentenced<a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-single-sentence-journal-begins.html">Yesterday's post</a>, which asked how long I would maintain the sentence-a-day journal, provoked an encouraging response from a cousin:<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="color: #222222;"><i>Ite Inflammate Omnia.</i></span></span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-43556001113362765392015-03-23T16:39:00.003-04:002015-03-23T16:40:40.622-04:00The Single-Sentence Journal BeginsLet's see how long I can keep this up!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/can-just-a-sentence-a-day-make-you-happier.html">http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/can-just-a-sentence-a-day-make-you-happier.html</a>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-2720041043811552252014-11-11T11:07:00.000-05:002018-11-11T12:32:14.466-05:00Veterans Day / Armistice Day / Remembrance Day<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVpWyiMVvSzw8V0GMbl_lhBUB3uId6ZhUxQvTClp58E-NRsdHWcCBD5o_rYLJyt2H-DHKrnkw8RIvMuZK7gxbDdLR-__179mSbQA2rN9bT705OZqzDJap_0SSGgW3qWav4xNeTXaj-Uc/s1600/Poppies.WWI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAVpWyiMVvSzw8V0GMbl_lhBUB3uId6ZhUxQvTClp58E-NRsdHWcCBD5o_rYLJyt2H-DHKrnkw8RIvMuZK7gxbDdLR-__179mSbQA2rN9bT705OZqzDJap_0SSGgW3qWav4xNeTXaj-Uc/s1600/Poppies.WWI.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.greatwar.co.uk/images/poppies/connaught-cemetery-poppies-250.jpg</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
We used to call November 11 Armistice Day, even as November 11 in the Commonwealth countries is Remembrance Day, marking the end of World War One on November 11, 1918.<br />
<br />
"<a href="http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm">In Flanders Field</a>," one of the most well-known poems written during WWI, was composed in 1915 by <a href="http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields-inspiration.htm">Major John McCrae</a> after he conducted the funeral service for another officer, a friend, 22-year-old Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who had been killed in the fighting in France.<br />
<br />
"Conducted the funeral service" puts it mildly. The account linked above says Helmer died on the morning of May 2 when he "left his dugout and was killed instantly
by a direct hit from an 8 inch German shell. What body parts could be
found were later gathered into sandbags and laid in an army blanket for
burial that evening." No chaplain was present, so McCrae "conducted a simple service at the graveside, reciting
from memory some passages from the Church of England's 'Order of Burial
of the Dead'." Then they buried Helmer and marked his grave, as they had countless others, with a cross bearing his name.<br />
<br />
Helmer's grave was marked, but the marking eventually was lost, and he "he is one of the 54,896 soldiers who have no known grave in the battlefields
of the <a href="http://www.cwgc.org/discover/the-ypres-salient.aspx">Ypres Salien</a><span style="color: #741b47;">t</span>." That's 54,896 unknown graves in an area that was fought over during the four years between 1914 and 1918, was the site of the first use of chemical (gas) weaponry, saw fighting <i>every single day</i> during one two-year stretch, and was the place where as many as 400,000 to 500,000 men on all sides of the conflict were killed or mortally wounded. That's one area of one region on the continent as a whole.<br />
<br />
This year, the British remembered their dead WWI soldiers, those from Britain itself and from their colonies at the time, with a <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/08/16/340649115/a-sea-of-ceramic-poppies-honors-britains-wwi-dead">Sea of Ceramic Poppies</a> flowing from the Tower of London and pooling around the base of the tower. One poppy for each soldier who died adds up to 888,246 poppies filling the moat.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfxR3fNBgJFfgDP1Uv-KU_q8CmPC9I7k5OkikyNbeIcLtEco5r1DzuTjWi3UJRKC6E595qPcBMIzk_4QFIDg2dNhksCu6lbmgG9O81q0oqLESivcvg344bcYEtBcTSRx6CJGpGWUMLMRs/s1600/SeaPoppies.DailyMail.article-2762620-2143BA0E00000578-772_964x632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfxR3fNBgJFfgDP1Uv-KU_q8CmPC9I7k5OkikyNbeIcLtEco5r1DzuTjWi3UJRKC6E595qPcBMIzk_4QFIDg2dNhksCu6lbmgG9O81q0oqLESivcvg344bcYEtBcTSRx6CJGpGWUMLMRs/s1600/SeaPoppies.DailyMail.article-2762620-2143BA0E00000578-772_964x632.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This image from the <a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/19/article-2762620-2143BA0E00000578-772_964x632.jpg">Daily Mail </a>shows the Sea of Ceramic Poppies <br />
filling the moat around the Tower of London. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="poem">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">In Flanders fields the poppies blow</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Between the crosses, row on row,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">That mark our place; and in the sky</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">The larks, still bravely singing, fly</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Scarce heard amid the guns below.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="poem">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">We are the Dead. Short days ago</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Loved and were loved, and now we lie</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">In Flanders fields.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">Take up our quarrel with the foe:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">To you from failing hands we throw</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">The torch; be yours to hold it high.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">If ye break faith with us who die</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">We shall not sleep, though poppies grow</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #fce5cd;">In Flanders fields.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
The last stanza charges future generations to "take up the quarrel against the foe," and we can and should consider carefully who/what that foe is and how best to "take up the quarrel."<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, as long as we live in an imperfect world where evil vies for our hearts and minds and lives and nations, each of us is called to protect, to guard, to defend -- whether through military service or through civil service or through active, thoughtful citizenship -- the ideas* that good exists, that good will ultimately prevail, and that, until then, it is better to die, physically or in the small daily sacrifices we make for others, in the service of good than it is to pretend that evil does not exist, that the conflict does not exist, and/or that we are not called to serve.<br />
<br />
None of us is innocent. None of us is excused. None of us ever can be said to have retired from active duty. We each have been thrown a torch. Will we take what is good and use it for evil to burn, kill, and destroy? Will we, out of fear that we are misusing it, stamp it out and, having blinded ourselves to good, stumble about in evil's darkness? Or will we hold it high to shed as much good light as we can so all can see to work for good.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #073763;">*When a recruit joins the U.S. military, he/she takes an oath to "support and defend" what? The president? The country? The people? <a href="http://www.history.army.mil/html/faq/oaths.html">Read the oath here.</a> Here is another Department of Defense article worth reading to help us understand how our country works and why: <a href="http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45870">"Why Civilian Control of the Military?" </a> Update November 11, 2018: In re-reading this post today, I discovered the last link is no longer active. The article has been archived <a href="http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45870">here,</a> which, I think, says something about the availability of information; about who spins what, how, and why; and the responsibility we each have to learn about the processes of our government in order to actively participate in it.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-50562268729410266092014-02-23T01:47:00.000-05:002014-02-23T23:35:20.972-05:00Punctuate This: Remembering the Original President's Day<br />
No wonder we can't figure out complicated problems like health care and climate change. We can't even figure out how to punctuate Presidents Day.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YqcByNhr7AHUtPJWy_bykisb0UmBFY_Q9l_4BLXr6VeSdK_lzprE_5vS6wNX8LTzEBQaFTRSiVPqg7cb4lTW6iqAzPK-dlACGJFTvSPhP5Ohc2aM-hAHtfbsu7Eib80zIn1hZbpOBVU/s1600/Slide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YqcByNhr7AHUtPJWy_bykisb0UmBFY_Q9l_4BLXr6VeSdK_lzprE_5vS6wNX8LTzEBQaFTRSiVPqg7cb4lTW6iqAzPK-dlACGJFTvSPhP5Ohc2aM-hAHtfbsu7Eib80zIn1hZbpOBVU/s1600/Slide2.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>George Washington probably wouldn't have </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>minded our </i><i>changing the date we celebrate his birthday. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>A change </i><i>in calendar systems during his lifetime shifted </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>his birthday </i><i>from February 11 to February 22. And, because </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>the latest the </i><i>third Monday can be is the 21st, we never again </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>will celebrate </i><i>his birthday on February 22. Never say never, </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>however; </i><i>the 1968 bill also moved Veterans Day to the fourth </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Monday </i><i>in October -- but that only lasted until 1975 when it </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>was</i><i>returned to its November 11 origins.</i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many of us of a certain age remember making <a href="http://amhistory.si.edu/ourstory/pdf/lincoln/lincoln_hat.pdf">stovepipe hats out of black construction paper </a>on February 12, eating <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cherry-pie-recipe.html">cherry pie</a> on February 22, and having no school on either day.<br />
<br />
Pity our children and grandchildren. The <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/90/hr15951/text">Uniform Holiday Bill of 1968</a> moved Washington's Birthday, as it had been called since 1885, to the third Monday in February. <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=28963">President Lyndon Johnson </a>justified the change <br />
by saying it would "enable families who live some distance apart to spend more time together. Americans will be able to travel farther and see more of this beautiful land of ours. They will be able to participate in a wider range of recreational and cultural activities" and it would reduce the disruption caused by mid-week, non-uniform holidays.<br />
<br />
The 1968 bill also had proposed renaming the holiday Presidents' Day (apostrophe after the s) to honor both Washington and Lincoln. But that part of the bill got lost. And, even though the bill had passed in 1968, it didn't take effect until January 1, 1971, when President Nixon signed <a href="http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11582.html">Executive Order 11582</a>. <br />
<br />
Technically, we celebrate one president's birthday (apostrophe before the s) because the holiday is still listed in federal statutes as Washington's Birthday. State statutes are another matter.<br />
<br />
On the third Monday in February, for instance, <a href="http://media.alabama.gov/calendar.aspx">Alabamians</a> officially celebrate George Washington's birthday and Thomas Jefferson's birthday -- even though Jefferson was born in April. Somehow, Jefferson's birthday slipped into the state calendar in 1907.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dms.myflorida.com/workforce_operations/human_resource_management/for_state_hr_practitioners/2014_state_holidays">Florida</a> doesn't list any official holidays in February. <a href="http://www.in.gov/spd/2555.htm">Indiana</a> celebrates Washington's Birthday in December.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi709cwedbmr9tisa8Ymur5RVGI_ndLokTNnp9jrvj9Lwkgh9Yxbv7CdkNC7i2OYZEXRH_1wzciPQYB4k0sbt2TAKYjlFVSbAMCLLYXkO1_G0OQRlPJSisLDmNfRTDJ_csMY7xP0hEhlno/s1600/Slide6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi709cwedbmr9tisa8Ymur5RVGI_ndLokTNnp9jrvj9Lwkgh9Yxbv7CdkNC7i2OYZEXRH_1wzciPQYB4k0sbt2TAKYjlFVSbAMCLLYXkO1_G0OQRlPJSisLDmNfRTDJ_csMY7xP0hEhlno/s1600/Slide6.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Merchants, wanting to milk the day for all it's worth, tend to refer to it as Presidents Day, President's Day, or Presidents' Day, but also tend to picture only Washington or Lincoln in ads--if they make any historical reference at all.<br />
<br />
Presidents Day (no apostrophe) has become the officially preferred designation, even though President's Day is the p.c. -- punctuationally correct -- version and even though the Chicago Manual of Style and many dictionaries prefer Presidents' Day. And even though it officially is still just Washington's Birthday.<br />
<br />
With the latest round of presidential candidates preparing to ride into their respective Jerusalems so convention delegates can raise the palm branches and shout 'Hosanna!' we should acknowledge the peculiar combination of destiny and drive that has drawn fewer than 50 people -- people very different in parentage, in education, in religion, in character, and in conviction of what was best for this country -- to occupy its highest office.<br />
<br />
We also should acknowledge that we, among the nations of the earth, can most truly say to our children that any of them might grow up to be President of the United States. We should not take either of those peculiarities for granted, regardless of whether we agree or disagree with the current occupant of the office.<br />
<br />
It's time to make it official. Presidents Day.<br />
<br />
No apostrophe. Honoring our past. Keeping faith with our future.<br />
<br />
If we can do that, maybe there's hope for finding consensus on health care and climate change.<br />
<br />
<br />Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-57887147348186092152013-12-29T18:22:00.000-05:002013-12-29T18:22:03.466-05:00Coming Clean Five Months Late<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFHLb6Mpj1ccOo3nzsmCK1cgqt5OV7chC0SVUAjres-kzdxHU0zfVwt2tKpQUBg2JB8FJpeminEAzCQfRzLR9V1QVlYEZvOgCDAl57SjfPByuEQg3oE3Yvk7qmrLwqyLCgFQ0CNkWHTo/s1600/60&Awesom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAFHLb6Mpj1ccOo3nzsmCK1cgqt5OV7chC0SVUAjres-kzdxHU0zfVwt2tKpQUBg2JB8FJpeminEAzCQfRzLR9V1QVlYEZvOgCDAl57SjfPByuEQg3oE3Yvk7qmrLwqyLCgFQ0CNkWHTo/s320/60&Awesom.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back in August, this showed up in the mail<br />one day, and I mistook it for a birthday<br />card. I read it twice before I noticed the<br />$ sign…. :-) </td></tr>
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Confession: Despite the subheading on my blog, I haven't been a quinquagenarian for almost five months now.<br />
<br />
Yup. I'm officially a sexagenarian and will be for the next decade.<br />
<br />
Oh, hush. You think I can't hear the giggles and snickers and yuck-yuck jokes springing to mind?! Most of them sprang to my mind a year ago when I began pondering how I would handle the transition from quinquagenarian to sexagenarian.<br />
<br />
The only place I foresaw a problem was here, on my blog. I mean, how many times do you hear someone say they are a trigenarian or a quadragenarian? Obscure words are obscure for a reason.<br />
<br />
Some of us, however, like obscure words. And, as I have written <a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/p/about-this-blog.html">elsewhere</a>, <i>Quodlibets and Quibblings of a Quinquagenarian</i> sounds a whole lot better than <i>Feisty Frothings of a Freaky Fifty-something</i>.<br />
<br />
So now what? <i>Simpering Snippets from a Silly Sexagenarian? </i><br />
<br />
Hmmm.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><b><span style="color: purple;">Quodlibets:</span></b> </span>Musically, it's two or more pieces of music played simultaneously in counterpoint, usually in a whimsical way, as in the clip below where the Canadian Brass Quintet play Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" together. Quodlibets also are theological or philosophical point of discussion, topics I often present in counterpoint to other lines of thought -- like the<a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/search/label/white%20socks"> joy of new white socks</a> or <a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/search/label/gas%20can">the parable of the gas can</a>. Quodlibet is Latin for "what pleases," and the topics vary according to what pleases me at the moment.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder=".5" height="252" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9aRYxzeIVuM" width="448"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="color: purple;"><b>Quibblings:</b> </span>To quibble is to gripe, grouse, or grumble about trivial matters . . . OR to make a play on words, to pun. Guilty on both counts. Just read my TWO posts on the differences between <a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/2012/03/sherd-by-any-other-name.html">shards</a> and <a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/search/label/shards">sherds</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: purple;">Quirky</span>:</b> Unpredictable, "weird in a good way" (according to the Urban Dictionary but which I couldn't get to link), peculiar, idiosyncratic. You get the picture.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: purple;">Quinquagenarian</span>:</b> Someone between the ages of 50 and 59. Which I am no longer.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: purple;">Quasi:</span></b> Seemingly; apparently, but not really.<br />
<br />
My newest favoritest prefix.<br />
<br />
For at least the next decade.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-69293029088016562672013-12-25T23:51:00.000-05:002013-12-25T23:54:44.030-05:00Happy Jesus' Birthday -- Today and Everyday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_Mqs3DYYApufBP_tfTyHzhmsul0FVjWRgSRR2VrzhoDszjXlTCodErDu_xjfDqYcCMSyNUQo2a0em37HpyVhGWhCdaHHZ_pRH1HkS19nl8Ki4wlT4SP5w9C8Hru4h9dmeBLtSu4CrJs/s1600/Nativity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy_Mqs3DYYApufBP_tfTyHzhmsul0FVjWRgSRR2VrzhoDszjXlTCodErDu_xjfDqYcCMSyNUQo2a0em37HpyVhGWhCdaHHZ_pRH1HkS19nl8Ki4wlT4SP5w9C8Hru4h9dmeBLtSu4CrJs/s320/Nativity.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
This really happened.<br />
<br />
Maybe not on exactly this day or with these particular animals present.<br />
<br />
It is unlikely that the garments worn were this pristine. Nor do we know who arrived exactly when or in what numbers.<br />
<br />
What we do know is that this really happened. A Jewish baby was born sometime during the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. He grew up and was crucified sometime during the reign of Tiberius Caesar. <br />
<br />
He claimed to be the son of God; more, he claimed to be God. He said a person's response to this claim would determine that person's future for all eternity. <br />
<br />
As C.S. Lewis put it, "<i>I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing
that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great
moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one
thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said
would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a
level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the
Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is,
the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up
for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can
fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any
patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not
left that open to us. He did not intend to."</i> (<i>Mere Christianity, </i>1952)<i></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Some people <a href="http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Liar,_Lunatic_or_Lord">argue Lewis's logic.</a><br />
<br />
Their arguments tend to hinge on the question of whether anything outside this natural world can be proved to exist -- proved using the <a href="http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=JREF">scientific method</a>, that is. One group has even offered a <a href="http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Million_dollar_paranormal_challenge">"million dollar challenge"</a> to anyone who thinks he or she can prove any kind of supernatural occurrence. The parameters and protocols are set by the group.<br />
<br />
The logic here escapes me. Isn't this a bit like using a microscope to study a galaxy -- only magnified exponentially. The galaxy, after all, exists within the same realm as the objects studied by the microscope. Still, the analogy seems valid. To study another existence, surely we would need tools from that existence.<br />
<br />
All I can say is, I know what I was before I said "Thy will, not mine," and I know what I am now. I know where my thoughts and plans and motivations were leading me. . . and I know where His thoughts and plans and motivations have brought me. Someone today looking at me from the outside may see only the imperfections yet to be sanded away and not notice anything of what has already been done because they have no frame of reference of what I was before. I was dead. Now I am alive. That is a supernatural act, one which cannot be proved by the protocols of the scientific method.<br />
<br />
All I can say is, this really happened. It happened for me. It happened for you. It happened for each and every one of us -- whether we believe it or not.<br />
<br />
God rest ye merry, gentlemen -- and gentlewomen and boys and girls in all places, in all times. <br />
<br />
<br />Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-46961692531724654552013-10-25T14:13:00.000-04:002013-10-25T14:13:58.913-04:00More on George MacDonald & Dan Hamilton<span style="font-family: inherit;">Oy -- my last post was almost a year ago! One of these days I will catch up with myself....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In any case, someone just asked about the original titles of the George MacDonald books edited by Dan Hamilton (<a href="http://justthewritetouch.blogspot.com/2012/11/got-inkling-who-inklings-were-come-hear.html">see previous post</a>). Here they are; the Hamilton editions are on the left, and the original titles are on the right. Keep in mind, however, that even during MacDonald's lifetime, different editions sometimes had slightly different titles. I have found <i>The History of Gutta-Percha Willie, Working Genius </i>listed as just <i>Gutta-Percha Willie</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"><i>The Parish Papers:</i></span><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><i><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"> A Quiet Neighborhood / The Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood</span><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"> The Seaboard Parish / The Seaboard Parish</span><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"> The Vicar's Daughter / The Vicar's Daughter</span></i><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"><i>The Last Castle / Saint George and Saint Michael</i> (Follow this link to </span><a href="http://peterkazmaier.com/?p=59">Peter Kazmaier</a>'s discussion of the conflict between the two "just warriors" in this book set in the time of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell.) </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><br /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"><i>The Prodigal Apprentice / Guild Court </i>(I believe)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;"><i>On Tangled Paths / Weighed and Wanting</i> (This link leads to a discussion of whether Hamilton's edition should be considered a translation or not: <a href="http://www.librarything.com/topic/54418">http://www.librarything.com/topic/54418</a> .)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><i><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;">The Elect Lady / The Elect Lady</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><i><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;">Home Again / Home Again</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><i><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;">The Boyhood of Ranald Bannerman / Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><i><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;">The Genius of Willie MacMichael / The History of Gutta-Percha Willie, Working Genius</span></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #6aa84f;"><i><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;">The Wanderings of Clare Skymer / A Rough Shaking</span></i></span><br style="color: #202020; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #6aa84f; color: #202020; line-height: 18px;">These books are available through <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m">Project Gutenberg</a>. And here is a site devoted to scholarly writing about George MacDonald's work: <i><a href="http://www.snc.edu/northwind/">North Wind Journal</a></i></span></span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-1749690372202557802012-11-17T16:34:00.000-05:002012-11-21T14:54:04.171-05:00Have an inkling who the Inklings were? Then come hear Dan Hamilton!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiihQ7S2i3prIDRS6Apc-Xs-egtW_02PFPFakHTsDSFSSqy5ZobH35jadMCJi6S_zzRfGZnzUki9tam5RGGqZrsdqN2m5D_qEOing6EdxHndrxm0P67ItleJSN0W5bNlND5pJW4GudtZ-s/s1600/Dan.Hamilton.rdh_color_headshot_1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiihQ7S2i3prIDRS6Apc-Xs-egtW_02PFPFakHTsDSFSSqy5ZobH35jadMCJi6S_zzRfGZnzUki9tam5RGGqZrsdqN2m5D_qEOing6EdxHndrxm0P67ItleJSN0W5bNlND5pJW4GudtZ-s/s1600/Dan.Hamilton.rdh_color_headshot_1200.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">SEVEN SAGES</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">A talk by </span></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 24.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dan Hamilton</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sunday, November 25, 2012, at 5 p.m. </span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Congregation Ohr Chadash</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3190 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., Clearwater</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.ohrchadash.org/">Congregation Ohr Chadash</a>, a Messianic Jewish synagogue, is located at 3190 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., just east of the Bayside Bridge (connecting 49th St. and McMullen Booth Rd.) and on the corner of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. and Bayshore Blvd. (Gulf-to-Bay is the extension of the Courtney Campbell Causeway and is State Rt. 60.) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Mr. Hamilton will bring along a number of books he has written to sign and sell. Coffee and dessert will follow the talk.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> There will be no charge for the lecture, but participants will be invited to make a donation instead.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>C.S. Lewis * George
MacDonald * </b><b>G.K. Chesterton</b></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dorothy Sayers</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">J.R.R. Tolkien * Charles
Williams * </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Owen Barfield</span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These seven writers, whose "baptized
imaginations," as C.S. Lewis termed his own experience, produced some remarkable writings and influenced countless
other writers, artists, and thinkers. They often are treated as a cohesive group, though the connections may be elusive. Who are
these people? What did they write? Why are they important? Which of their books
should we read? Some of these writers were part of the literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Others came before, and their earlier writings nurtured their literary progeny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Seven Sages</i> presents an overview of the lives and works of these writers, pointing out their common ground and differences,
identifying their connections, and providing recommended reading.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dan Hamilton is an engineer, technical consultant,
teacher, tutor, and writer with a lifelong interest in the works of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis">C. S. Lewis</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inklings">Inklings</a>, and other associated authors. <br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Dan has edited numerous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald">George MacDonald</a> novels,
written a fantasy trilogy (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tales of the
Forgotten God</i>), and co-authored two books with his wife: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Should I Home School?</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Look Both Ways</i>. Dan and Dr. Ed Brown
wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Pursuit of C. S. Lewis</i>,
which tells the fabulous story behind the magnificent <a href="http://library.taylor.edu/cslewis/index.shtml">Lewis collection </a>that now
resides at Taylor University in Indiana. <br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>
Dan and his wife, Elizabeth, helped buy, rescue,
and preserve <a href="http://www.cslewis.org/programs/kilns/kilnstour.htm">The Kilns</a>, C. S. Lewis’ home from 1930 on, where he wrote the
Narnia series and many of his other books. Dan co-founded the <a href="http://library.taylor.edu/cslewis/society.shtml">C. S. Lewis and Friends Society at Taylor University</a> and the Central Indiana C. S. Lewis
Society in Indianapolis.<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span>
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</span><br />
<div class="Section1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/The_Kilns_1997.jpg/220px-The_Kilns_1997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/The_Kilns_1997.jpg/220px-The_Kilns_1997.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Kilns @ 1997. Photo taken by <a class="external text" href="http://www.flickr.com/people/39452139@N00" rel="nofollow">jschroe</a> from Kailua-Kona, <br />Hawaii, USA, and uploaded to Wikipedia:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kilns">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kilns</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dan is finishing <i>The Inn at the
End of the World</i>, a volume of short fantasy stories intended as a companion
to <i>Tales of the Forgotten God</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">BOOKS BY DAN HAMILTON</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Forgiveness</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
Tales of the Forgotten God:<br />
The Beggar King<br />
The Chameleon Lady<br />
The Everlasting Child</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">WITH ELIZABETH HAMILTON</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Should I Home School? </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">
</span>
<br />
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<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Copperplate Gothic Bold"'>Contact
Dan Hamilton at <a href="mailto:rdhtiger@sbcglobal.net">rdhtiger@sbcglobal.net</a>
to arrange for a Presentation about the writings of Tolkien, Lewis,
Chesterton, or the Inklings as a group. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Look Both Ways </span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">WITH DR. EDWIN W. BROWN</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Pursuit of C. S. Lewis</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-language: ZH-CN;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">EDITED BY DAN HAMILTON</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
George MacDonald Novels </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Parish Papers</i>:<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Quiet
Neighborhood</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Seaboard Parish</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Vicar's Daughter</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Last Castle</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prodigal Apprentice</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On Tangled Paths</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Elect Lady</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Home Again</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Boyhood of Ranald Bannerman</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Genius of Willie MacMichael</i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wanderings of Clare</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Skymer</span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-17156881956047977912012-10-27T22:19:00.004-04:002012-10-27T22:21:22.946-04:00Can I Just Say...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-j-79oluha0f1KwOuSl2SgiQPiGTCVcAGPKQJ6-PBgdRk8Sl2sbch6RWJIrkM6isV0DgHEANtXVhG_W1bZ3D9URXT3lPTe-lKMkjNjPDbDQYSuin4sOidJQevONIhLcaau93BrFMIJiA/s1600/2012-09-09+11.30.42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-j-79oluha0f1KwOuSl2SgiQPiGTCVcAGPKQJ6-PBgdRk8Sl2sbch6RWJIrkM6isV0DgHEANtXVhG_W1bZ3D9URXT3lPTe-lKMkjNjPDbDQYSuin4sOidJQevONIhLcaau93BrFMIJiA/s320/2012-09-09+11.30.42.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Does my sweetie know me, or what?<br />
<br />
Plus a matching card!<br />
<br />
This post is a couple of months overdue ... so I'm craving another licorice fix.<br />
<br />
Maybe he'll see this and take the hint?<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">:-)</span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-31560718678421885322012-03-18T15:36:00.000-04:002012-08-31T19:49:00.163-04:00Part Two: A Sherd is a Shard is a ... Huh?Something to ponder when you're on the pot ... or on pot ... or contemplating going to pot. :-)<br />
<br />
Wanna know what the primary meaning of shard (preferred spelling) or sherd (secondary spelling) is, according to the <a href="http://www.oed.com/">Oxford English Dictionary</a>?<br />
<br />
<b>Hint: </b>It has nothing to to do with broken pottery.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="numbering"><strong>I.</strong></span> A cleft, gap.</span></span><br />
<div class="senseGroup scrollUnit" id="eid23182920">
<div class="top">
<h3 id="eid23182920">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #6aa84f; color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;"> <span class="numbering"><strong>1.</strong></span> A gap in an enclosure, esp. in a hedge or bank. Now chiefly <em>dial.</em></span></h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The OED gives examples from literature going back to 1000 A.D.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wanna know what the second meaning of shard is, according to the OED?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Hint 2</b><b>: </b>Still has nothing to do with broken pottery.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h3 id="eid23183025">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;">†<span class="numbering"><strong>2.</strong></span> Used by Spenser for: ? A dividing water.</span></h3>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;"><i><span class="noIndent" id="eid220782173">[Yr.] 1590 <span class="smallCaps">Spenser</span> <a class="sourcePopup" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=9125566865926162983" rel="0002614">Faerie Queene</a> <span class="smallCaps">ii.</span> <span class="smallCaps">vi.</span> sig. R7,</span> Vpon that shore he spyed Atin stand, Thereby his maister left, when late he far'd In Phædrias flitt barck ouer that perlous shard.</i></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wanna know what the third meaning of shard is, according to the OED?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Hint 3: </b>Still has nothing to do with pottery.</div>
<div>
<h3 id="eid23183037">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;"><span class="numbering"><strong>3.</strong></span> A gap or notch in the blade of a tool. <em>dial.</em></span></h3>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Finally, we come to the fourth meaning of shard, according to the OED:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;"> <span class="numbering"><strong>II.</strong></span> </span><br />
<div class="senseWrap" id="eid23183051">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;"> <span class="numbering"><strong>4.</strong></span></span><br />
<div class="senseGroup scrollUnit" id="eid23183052">
<div class="top">
<h3 id="eid23183052">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-size: large;"> <span class="numbering"><strong>a.</strong></span> A fragment of broken earthenware. <em>spec.</em> in <em>Archaeol.</em>, a piece of broken pottery. Phrase: <span class="lemmaInDef" id="eid23183056">to break, <span class="roman">etc.</span> into sherds</span><span class="almostInvisible" id="eid123338563" xml:space="preserve"> </span><span class="almostInvisible" id="eid255442655" xml:space="preserve"> </span><span class="almostInvisible" id="eid255442656" xml:space="preserve"> </span><span class="almostInvisible" id="eid255442657" xml:space="preserve"> </span><span class="almostInvisible" id="eid255442658" xml:space="preserve"> </span>: to reduce to fragments, break beyond repair. <span class="note" id="eid23183058">Cf. <a class="crossReferencePopup" href="http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/view/Entry/148907#eid29064418" rel="148907" rev="/view/Entry/148907#eid29064418"><span class="xref"><span class="smallCaps">potsherd</span> <span class="ps">n.</span> and <span class="ps">adj.</span></span></a> <span class="ieWhitespace"> </span> and Old English <em>crocsceard</em>. <em>Sherd</em> is now established as the normal <em>Archaeol.</em> spelling.</span></span></h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So ... according to all of this, wouldn't the actual meaning of shard seem to be the gap or the hole left in the pot when it breaks apart? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How did we come to assign to a fragment, the absence of which <i><b>causes</b></i> a shard, the term for the absence? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Isn't that a bit like calling a doorway the door? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-62776915024902934882012-03-17T20:13:00.000-04:002012-03-17T20:13:33.139-04:00A Sherd By Any Other Name?SpellCheck agrees with me. But what do we know?<br />
<br />
Shard. S-h-a-r-d.<br />
<br />
A piece of broken pottery or glass; a fragment.<br />
<br />
But now I see it spelled sherd. S-h-e-r-d.<br />
<br />
SpellCheck underlines it in red, and to me it has the not-quite-right look of a word with an errant letter.<br />
<br />
My style books are no help. The APA (<a href="http://www.apastyle.org/">American Psychological Association</a>) style guide, which I use to write most of my education papers, doesn't list the word. MLA (<a href="http://MLA.org/">Modern Language Association</a>), in which I write my literary papers), doesn't seem to address the word. The formidable <a href="http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html">Chicago Style Manual</a>, which I use to write history papers and travel guides, doesn't list it.<br />
<br />
Even my AP (<a href="http://www.ap.org/">Associated Press</a>) Style Book, which I use for newspaper writing and which has explanatory listings for when to use shake up (v.) or shakeup (n., adj.) and calls for a hyphen in mo-ped, contrary to Webster's New World College dictionary, is silent on the spelling of shard/sherd.<br />
<br />
Google to the rescue in the form of the<a href="http://stylemanual.ngs.org/system/app/pages/search?scope=search-site&q=shard"> National Geographic Style Manual</a>! The listing says to use sherd when writing in the archaeological sense of potsherds or sherds of pottery; use shard for all other senses.<br />
<br />
So ... if I break a flower pot I bought at Wal-Mart yesterday, I pick up the shards. If I find a broken flower pot in what a century ago was a dump site, I excavate the sherds.<br />
<br />
Love it.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-54116413041720602842012-02-17T21:07:00.000-05:002012-02-17T21:07:08.949-05:00"Good" Teaching ... Not Always What it Appears<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPs9zOiih-H1jg9UrTj3NbTJQGcnQdTAwZDaps7RyHo-viexXUgGBkt1LhM5X_svKCWt7ru3WoQ0S9XkMvvr_UF4qsFB3aPIrxb8oBWc4cfniQL6M1K2umRHrxvSsvSTA8h19JFe_bVE/s1600/BU005292_2f58a240.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPs9zOiih-H1jg9UrTj3NbTJQGcnQdTAwZDaps7RyHo-viexXUgGBkt1LhM5X_svKCWt7ru3WoQ0S9XkMvvr_UF4qsFB3aPIrxb8oBWc4cfniQL6M1K2umRHrxvSsvSTA8h19JFe_bVE/s200/BU005292_2f58a240.png" width="189" /></a>My masochistic tendencies, as my millions of faithful followers are aware, have taken me deep into the bowels of academia once again.<br />
<br />
This time I'm in a Ph.D. program at the <a href="http://usf.edu/">University of South Florida</a> in Tampa -- in the <a href="http://www.coedu.usf.edu/">College of Education,</a> no less. Ostensibly, I am studying children's literature in a program called <a href="http://www.coedu.usf.edu/main/departments/ce/literacy_studies/">Childhood Education & Literacy Studies</a>. The path to literary paradise, however, is paved with courses in philosophy and policy and statistics -- lots and lots of statistics.<br />
<br />
Once a week, I place my brain on the rack, pin it to a matrix of rows and columns of data, and turn the inferential crank until it is stretched one cog past snapping. Then I gather up the pieces, repack my cranium, and spend the week mending the grey matter.<br />
<br />
This past week in stats class, we dissected an article called "The Influence of Gender on University Faculty Members' Perceptions of 'Good' Teaching," published in a 1993 issue of the<i> Journal of Higher Education</i>. The authors list some "generally accepted characteristics of "good" teachers and teaching situations: enthusiasm, knowledge of the subject area, stimulation of interest in the subject area, organization, clarity, concern and caring for students, use of higher cognitive levels in discussions and examinations, use of visual aids, encouragement of active learning and student discussion, provision of feedback, and avoidance of harsh criticism" (p.166). <br />
<br />
My purpose here is not to review the methods used in this study. We could discuss such matters as the difference between good teaching and good learning and how one can measure teaching. How many years down the road when the "aha!" moment happens does it still count as good teaching? What about the cumulative effect of one teacher building on previous teachers' work? Was a MANOVA appropriately applied and were all <i>post hoc</i> tests completed?<br />
<br />
We could -- but we won't. <br />
<br />
My purpose here is to focus on the last item: avoidance of harsh criticism. <br />
<br />
Speaking only for myself, some of the times I have grown the most deeply are the times I have received the harshest criticism. <br />
<br />
In fifth grade, for instance, we were assigned to cut out and bring in a newspaper article. I hacked one out of the paper and turned it in, and my teacher held it up and commented -- in front of the class -- that most people learned to cut things out in kindergarten.<br />
<br />
Ouch.<br />
<br />
But she was right. Meekly, I took my clipping back and trimmed it neatly.<br />
<br />
I have seldom merely hacked anything out since then. Sometimes I spend too much time on projects, searching for just one more reference, because I still hear her reprimand.<br />
<br />
What if she had not made that comment? Would I have just been content merely to hack out an existence and get by?<br />
<br />
Or is she the reason these masochistic tendencies kick in every now and then and I submit myself to being stretched beyond what I think I can -- or need to -- endure? <br />
<br />
Bless you, Miss Robb, wherever you are.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-39173002905331536572012-02-16T00:35:00.000-05:002012-02-16T00:35:43.589-05:00Wastin' away again . . .<div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhED8o7QGxlK8ErHLimJoQnLuad2N4vn_KLn8bY04OZ5CX7Oql-LTmggtRhczs2-bTgk8v_KjwF0KJFpnbcXwkit7AsKxS7COWuAw1P_UAayohVQoYfTXXHM9wlGmDvfApv5I7BZdPVk/s1600/P1230445.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhED8o7QGxlK8ErHLimJoQnLuad2N4vn_KLn8bY04OZ5CX7Oql-LTmggtRhczs2-bTgk8v_KjwF0KJFpnbcXwkit7AsKxS7COWuAw1P_UAayohVQoYfTXXHM9wlGmDvfApv5I7BZdPVk/s320/P1230445.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>One morning, late last fall, the toilet in our little bathroom--the one just off of our bedroom--started gurgling.<br />
<br />
It wasn't the first time I'd heard the toilet gurgle recently.<br />
<br />
A few days before there had been a little <i>ba-lurp. </i>Nothing more. Nothing to worry about, right?<br />
<br />
This particular morning, when the toilet started gurgling, it was still dark out. Half asleep after a late night plugging away on some writing assignment or another, I burrowed further under the covers and listened to Lee showering in the other bathroom and to the toilet <i>ba-la-lurping</i> nearby. <br />
<br />
But then the <i>ba-la-lurp</i> became a <i>gurgle </i>and the <i>gurgle</i> sounded suspiciously like it was growing into a <i>gu-g-gurgl-gurgle</i>, expanding to fill the bowl and--<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9F6aKvCRvFRvNoVbFMuaq3fWDLVl1FDax_K5cVHFDX77MZsS8oRAaAFL5Riit6XNXHD0gzy3S5F0vJ-uu76sYFp7nMSLzLDwly9Xhj7Di4pBdmZ0A1RwcsnUq2Co1sTNBdEzpHWXwcI/s1600/IMG_0250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9F6aKvCRvFRvNoVbFMuaq3fWDLVl1FDax_K5cVHFDX77MZsS8oRAaAFL5Riit6XNXHD0gzy3S5F0vJ-uu76sYFp7nMSLzLDwly9Xhj7Di4pBdmZ0A1RwcsnUq2Co1sTNBdEzpHWXwcI/s320/IMG_0250.JPG" width="239" /></a>Suddenly awake, I threw off the blankets, dashed to the other bathroom, stuck my head in the door, and yelled into the steam, "The toilet in the other bathroom is overflowing!"<br />
<br />
I grabbed some rags from the closet, dashed back to the little bathroom, and began to try to staunch the fountain bubbling forth from the blue porcelain bowl. Thankfully, we were able to contain the overflow to the bathroom itself with no other damage to carpet or walls.<br />
<br />
We called out the honey truck and had them suck out the septic tank, thinking that after almost ten years with no problems it was about time for it to be cleaned out.<br />
<br />
Yes, you read that right--septic tank.<br />
<br />
Actually, tanks. As in two. One for the old house; one for the new house. It's complicated. <br />
<br />
I know. Who in this day and age still has a septic tank? You'd be surprised. And, having written about waste treatment systems, I can tell you how septic systems can inhibit the economic growth of an area, how into the 1940s the government was encouraging people to modernize and install septic systems (!), and what concerns public officials the most about our out-of-sight, out-of-mind waste water systems, a vital part of our infrastructure.<br />
<br />
In any case, Lee dug down to the top of the tank, removed the cap, and let the honey truck do its work.<br />
<br />
End of story.<br />
<br />
We thought.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, he decided to try his hand at growing herbs and veggies, so he built several one-foot square garden boxes and planted basil, oregano, carrots, cabbages, and more. For Christmas, he put down a block pathway from one side of the house to the other.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRGOqh5HgXlhgHgo7MoOzKpEYJCFSZKBeJo3GMU0hERI_8L6n4k5U5jSBnNOe5IF2QQs-0snb7gpzzrjDTNhIsf_frQW0D_cJOSY6Y5VyzRglEeOaiNsjQKb5dcL5I-SJ191T3AchYDo/s1600/P1230446.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRGOqh5HgXlhgHgo7MoOzKpEYJCFSZKBeJo3GMU0hERI_8L6n4k5U5jSBnNOe5IF2QQs-0snb7gpzzrjDTNhIsf_frQW0D_cJOSY6Y5VyzRglEeOaiNsjQKb5dcL5I-SJ191T3AchYDo/s320/P1230446.JPG" width="239" /></a>Lovely.<br />
<br />
<i>Ba-lurp</i>. <br />
<br />
About a month ago, I heard the old familiar song playing in the potty. Just a note or two. But then I took some laundry to the garage and discovered the utility sink half full of shower water and a bit of overflow on the garage floor.<br />
<br />
Turns out the drainfield was no longer draining and it would cost as much to run a new one as to tie into the city's sewer system -- the one that had been installed, oh maybe twenty years ago and was running right behind our house. The previous owner hadn't wanted to be beholden to the city -- he was / we were independent county folk -- and so hadn't taken advantage of being grandfathered into the system without having to annex in to the city...even though the city has collected sewer fees from this address for all these years. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Y0RuE4wbjEr8nXpyIED3jYnhuzg7-PTDf92P_CVZPDMZX4PMyGQcdCE522so-LEEnP4adopP-_y3OPf6M9X_0U5Yx4VFWu_3k9qgftRyWOZ32oq6ysk91n9ZUppihCKbh6BqFZWczr4/s1600/P1290504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Y0RuE4wbjEr8nXpyIED3jYnhuzg7-PTDf92P_CVZPDMZX4PMyGQcdCE522so-LEEnP4adopP-_y3OPf6M9X_0U5Yx4VFWu_3k9qgftRyWOZ32oq6ysk91n9ZUppihCKbh6BqFZWczr4/s320/P1290504.JPG" width="239" /></a>We, however, had no choice.<br />
<br />
So we filed the annexation paperwork, got an emergency permit to do the tie-in, and called out the plumber.<br />
<br />
And Lee took a couple of vacation days to dig up part of the walkway and all of the patio he had just put down -- thankfully bypassing the gardens. He dug trenches from both sides of the house and out to the clean-out cap marked by the city crew.<br />
<br />
The plumber, one we've worked with for years, was impressed with the quality of the trenches -- all he had to do was drop in the pipe -- and we saved a good chunk of change on the job.<br />
<br />
But wait! That's not all folks!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvid7eTzynZMBrkBQu5Lo4aoInNtSokQU-eAv9_59HVk7kjhQKeYQ53MqN7wrZm2QEV46KKxvXKH1K_nFNRpNZwUK3nNFd22RqvCmCZ_G0gX3FYy839CFdpi46sabUVnArHGzENUmo20/s1600/P2050508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvid7eTzynZMBrkBQu5Lo4aoInNtSokQU-eAv9_59HVk7kjhQKeYQ53MqN7wrZm2QEV46KKxvXKH1K_nFNRpNZwUK3nNFd22RqvCmCZ_G0gX3FYy839CFdpi46sabUVnArHGzENUmo20/s320/P2050508.JPG" width="239" /></a><br />
The septic tanks then had to be broken so rainwater would drain through, the concrete lids had to be dropped into the tanks, and the tanks had to be filled-compacted-filled. The health department had to inspect them after breaking and dropping and before filling.<br />
<br />
Out came the sledgehammer and the ram bar. <br />
<br />
The trenches had to be filled and compacted. The grandkids helped with that. The gizmo to the left is a power compacter that jiggled and shook the ground -- and our whole house -- to get everything settled.<br />
<br />
I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled.<br />
<br />
But it's done.<br />
<br />
We're officially city folk.<br />
<br />
We've officially entered the modern plumbing era.<br />
<br />
What you can't see is the fingernail that turned black from all the digging and pounding.<br />
<br />
Or the sunburn from neglecting to wear a hat one day because it was so cool.<br />
<br />
I rather suspect he was enjoying the work. At the least, I know he is satisfied knowing it's done and done right.<br />
<br />
I'm just grateful for a husband who digs digging.Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-17959711838868637862011-09-17T22:46:00.000-04:002011-09-17T22:46:33.850-04:00To pick or not to pick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5-iDIE-iVwyCEQciGjdOOa49vxdvixif7FS4U6i66dEhayPIpcE7-KTD1D4LQ3mOEhIvgrhMM2bsqeZVgfkSrQYIKlfnSix5ufmPlYdftiAbe9jKIU33yXzeP-ytdSvPxeb-cPmwYuc/s1600/GuitarPick.photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5-iDIE-iVwyCEQciGjdOOa49vxdvixif7FS4U6i66dEhayPIpcE7-KTD1D4LQ3mOEhIvgrhMM2bsqeZVgfkSrQYIKlfnSix5ufmPlYdftiAbe9jKIU33yXzeP-ytdSvPxeb-cPmwYuc/s320/GuitarPick.photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>My fingertips are tender; my left shoulder is aching.<br />
<br />
After playing a two-hour jam session yesterday, and four hours today, I guess my fingertips and shoulder have a right to complain a bit -- especially as it has been almost two, maybe closer to three years since I have played that extensively. Nevertheless, I am exhilerated!<br />
<br />
Something happened this evening as I played with a bluegrass group called Willow, a group kind enough to invite me to sit in and play and sing with them every now and then at their Gospel Opry. For ten years, they have played mountain gospel tunes on select Saturday nights at a church in Seminole. Most of the songs I had never heard before, but these musicians grew up hearing them sung at church and at home -- and I have learned some poignant tunes.<br />
<br />
So what happened this evening, you ask? Or maybe you're not asking, but I'm going to tell you anyway! :-)<br />
<br />
For the first time, and after playing guitar for almost 40 years, I played my guitar with a pick. <br />
<br />
That's it?!? You drew me this far into this rather lame post to tell me you played your guitar with a pick?!?<br />
<br />
OK -- before you click off in disgust, please hear me out.<br />
<br />
To pick or not to pick is just the surface question. It's not just a matter of preference, although I do have a tendency to prefer bicycling to motorcycling and kayaking to outboard motorboating. Maybe I started strumming with my right hand fingers because I didn't have a pick. The tiny town we lived in when I first started playing didn't have a music store -- it was so long ago I don't even remember.<br />
<br />
But I do remember trying a pick a time or two. Aside from the fact that I'm not terribly coordinated -- so the pick usually ended up flying through the air or inside the guitar itself -- there was another matter.<br />
<br />
Playing with a pick made the guitar sound VERY LOUD!!! Much louder than I was used to playing.<br />
<br />
So loud, in fact, that I was afraid somebody might actually hear me play. 'Cause, see, I'm not a perfect player. Sometimes we play by ear or with lead sheets that are in a different key than we're playing in so I'm having to transpose and play and sing. And I mess up -- a lot. So it has been safer to play, but not to play loudly enough that anybody but me -- and God -- could hear.<br />
<br />
That doesn't mean nobody has ever heard me play. I used to play for kids' church and for an occasional women's group. I used to play when I was a library story lady and I used to pull the guitar out and play and sing at home quite a bit. But somehow those times were different -- and my rather quiet guitar strumming matched my not very strong voice. So.<br />
<br />
When I have played with Willow, it has been more a time for me to reconnect with my guitar than to actually add some sound to the group. They're all amped; I'm not. My guitar isn't even miked, 'cause I like to move a bit when I play. Nobody could really hear me play. I couldn't even hear me play.<br />
<br />
Tonight all that changed. I bought a couple of different kinds of picks, and ended up using the one shown above. See those little diagonal lines? They're actually raised ridges that act as grippers so the pick can't fly away as easily.<br />
<br />
This particular pick is the lightest one made, so it's very flexible. Even so, I could feel my right arm tiring sooner than during yesterday's practice. <br />
<br />
But -- I could actually hear myself play! And I didn't sound half bad. <br />
<br />
There's more to this little tale. My writing has been the same way. My voice has been heard in the publishing field -- I've had a number of children's magazine stories published, have written for a couple of newspapers, have a travel book and some church plays published. But, so far, it has been a rather softly strummed voice. I have a feeling -- just a feeling, mind you -- it's about to pick up in volume...pun intended.<br />
<br />
Maybe I'll even get an amp before too long.<br />
<br />
:-)Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-13365893084648247612011-08-31T14:11:00.001-04:002012-02-14T22:22:18.414-05:00Today's OED Word: Indian Summer<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm curious as to why the <a href="http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/94406">Oxford English Dictionary</a> chose Indian Summer as today's Word of the Day.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the definition given:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> orig. <em>N. Amer.</em></span><br />
<div class="senseWrap" id="eid684667"><div class="senseGroup scrollUnit" id="eid684669"><div class="top"><h3 id="eid684669"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <span class="numbering">1.</span> A period of unusually calm dry warm weather, often accompanied by a hazy atmosphere, occurring in late autumn in the northern United States and Canada; a similar period of unseasonably warm autumnal weather elsewhere.</span></span></h3><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">However, the weather of late has been neither calm nor dry, and warm and hazy are understatements. Nor is it late autumn -- summer is still in full swing for almost another full month.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps, the OED had in mind the second definition?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><h3 id="eid131603122" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 1.35; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 11px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; width: 401px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="numbering">2.</span> <em style="font-style: italic;">fig.</em> A late period in the life of a person or in the existence of a nation, culture, etc., characterized by calm, happiness, or achievement.</span></span></h3></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Don't think I'll go there.</span></div></div></div></div>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9125566865926162983.post-4395159432806663542011-08-21T00:12:00.001-04:002011-08-21T14:01:44.217-04:00"The hurrier I go . . .<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CR5F_SL670HkgWx66NX8_m_s3OqdRTSAd9E5tc9CruweULPLZkghjN_NvbiFEr2TQiVimZLtCeoRFmasvlJLY1ucssTcy5Z8h5mz3fgiTkKzjZEU7AMVYqZqvicMLsVXqsujjjj1UCs/s1600/Numa_Pompilius.Wikipedia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CR5F_SL670HkgWx66NX8_m_s3OqdRTSAd9E5tc9CruweULPLZkghjN_NvbiFEr2TQiVimZLtCeoRFmasvlJLY1ucssTcy5Z8h5mz3fgiTkKzjZEU7AMVYqZqvicMLsVXqsujjjj1UCs/s1600/Numa_Pompilius.Wikipedia.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Numa Pompilius, 2nd King of Rome, 715-673 B.C.</div><br />
<br />
. . . the behinder I get!" said the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's <i>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
I think I may finally have figured out why I always feel as though I'm two-steps behind in the <i>tarantella</i> of life.<br />
<br />
It's all King <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numa_Pompilius">Numa Pompilius</a>'s fault!<br />
<br />
This second king of Rome -- after Romulus (of "and Remus" fame, suckled by a she-wolf and all) -- added two months, January and February to the calendar of the day, pushing August from the 6th month to the 8th month.<br />
<br />
I, being born in August, should have been born in June. But, no -- I started out two months behind! No wonder I feel like I'm forever playing catch-up.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August">Augus</a>t, itself, seems to have been awarded the left-overs in terms of festivals and events. It is the National Month of <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niam/default.htm">Immunization Awareness,</a> <a href="http://www.psoriasis.org/page.aspx?pid=937">Psoriasis Awareness</a>, <a href="http://www.alamo.edu/pac/lrc/water.htm">Water Quality</a>, <a href="http://www.aao.org/eyecare/news/August-is-National-Cataract-Awareness-Month.cfm">Cataract Awareness</a>, and <a href="http://www.fsma.org/LatestNews/index.cfm?ID=5405&TYPE=1150">Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness</a>.<br />
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It is also, however, <a href="http://blog.artisanalcheese.com/cheese_news/national-goat-cheese-month">National Goat Cheese Month</a> and Happiness Happens Month, the latter brought to us by <a href="http://www.sohp.com/">The Secret Society of Happy People</a>.<br />
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Yes!!!<br />
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King Numa seems like a fairly savvy ruler. If the Wikipedia entry is accurate, the Roman historian Plutarch recorded King Numa as being spiritually sophisticated: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>He [Plutarch] says Numa "forbade the Romans to represent the deity in the form either of man or of beast. Nor was there among them formerly any image or statue of the Divine Being; during the first one hundred and seventy years they built temples, indeed, and other sacred domes, but placed in them no figure of any kind; persuaded that it is impious to represent things Divine by what is perishable, and that we can have no conception of God but by the understanding."</i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">King Numa also established an understanding of boundaries and legal ownership that prevented many disputes. His reign was a peaceful one, and he apparently died of old age.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The image above is imagined, of course. It is fitting that this particular image was imagined by Gnaeus Calpernius Piso, during the reign of Caesar <b>August</b>us. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">King Numa had a good reason for shoving August from 6th place to 8th -- he was trying to align the solar and lunar calendars to make life easier for all.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">He couldn't have known that 2600+ years later his mucking around with times and seasons would set me back from the get go. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Ah, well. Don't worry. Be happy.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Maybe I need to take a lesson from the White Rabbit. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Do you suppose the pokier I'd go, the further I'd get?</span><br />
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</span>Annehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16437664516123030421noreply@blogger.com0