BOB! Your Life Preserver

Gaudeamus Igitur?

2009-04-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Is it with "youthful zest" that I come back to this blog after almost two years? Maybe. Someone on "Life Journal" made a comment on one of my previous posts on the subject. This was the title of a song/words I learned in college. Wikipedia says it is a "drinking song". Well, I didn't drink to it then or now. I also remember the "Whiffenpoof Song" which was a drinking song...ie. "We are poor little lamb who have gone astray... Gentlemen (songsters) flyers off on a spree, doomed from here to eternity..." I learned that one in Jr. Hi. I prefer the former.

I will say that a key part of my life work/career has been working with children as a teacher. I just came from subbing in a Kindergarten class or three. I have fun with them ie. sing and play games with dominos. This is the way I have stayed/felt "young". I highly recommend it. I'm not a deep thinker and I think this also helps. I live in the moment most of the time. I meditate. I swim...almost daily. So, I have reason to "rejoice". mobius_bob

Hoy Es Un Regalo!

2007-07-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ayer se fue, historia,

Manana es un misterio

Hoy es un regalo!

Yesterday has gone, history,

Tomorrow is a mystery

Today is a gift!

I was given this saying by our dinner companions from New York City as a bit of wisdom from their mother country, Puerto Rico. They were two retired teacher/counselors also traveling on the Star Princess on our Baltic Cruise. We also made some fascinating friends in Mary and Betty from Oahu, Hawaii. Mary is a free-lance forensic pathologist and Betty ran a trucking business. Great conversationalists and dinner companions.

What follows here are highlights, fond memories and gifts from our recent 22 days abroad. Yes, there were and always are challenges and frustrations with transatlantic travel but there was such a wealth of experiences that they will last a life time. These are what I'd like to remember and share.

Of course, it would've been no fun without Betty, my love, my wife and companion now for almost 45 years. The first day in Copenhagen we just happened to find a private boat with her name on the life preserver...how appropriate for the theme of this my last post on this blog. We celebrated alittle early with a rare and exquisite alexandrite pendant we found duty free on board ship. We had been looking for just the right one (birthstone) for years. One in a million have a real one from Russia. We also found a drawing of a symbol of our love in an airplane magazine. Brett, our jeweler son, is going to make it for us to share from the gold of my wedding ring I had to cut off.

So this is what we did. We greeted each day as a gift and had the best time seeing places we had always wanted to see and doing fun things and sharing our mutual joy of finally experiencing Sweden and its beautiful countryside of forests and friendly people. We had to miss Gdynia, Poland (Gdansk) because it was so stormy the ship couldn't risk docking. No matter, we had another day on board ship with lots of food and entertainment. We enjoyed cappucinos from our last cruise and this one had a card you could buy that would get you those specialty coffee drinks at a discount. We bought two "Java Jake" cards and just about used them up. We found that their idea of a cappucino was more like a latte. So we ordered double espressos and had them add spray cream to the top. Delicious. Our main barista was Olga from the Ukraine. She was so sweet and barely spoke or understood our jokes in English. She spoke with her eyes though and was so very friendly. The Troika Dancer from St. Petersburg, Russia were invited onboard for one performance they were also fabulous especially in their nightclub costumes looking like snowflakes. They were hard to capture on film. So were so many of my attempts at pictures in the Hermitage and the Gold Room. We had an excellent guide who had just graduated from the University there majoring in Cultural History. I hope she finds a job.

One thing we did not share was my tour of backstage on the ship. It was fascinating to me and not of interest to Betty. I had lots of questions for the Stage/Production Manager. It is all state of the art and no one pulls a rope...digital machines to within 1/16 th of an inch. The sound and light designs and special effects (pyro too) were out of this world. Costumes and makeup are the responsibility of each member of the cast. (few props)

Our time in Stockholm was too brief. We saw the Vasa Ship, 95% preserved and brought up from the harbor. It wasn't ready last time Betty was there. It was too dark to get any really good pix in that huge building. They only brought up one tiny gold ring in all that wreckage. It is a very large, cosmopolitan city of several islands and we felt frustrated with so little time there. Betty's mother was born there but we didn't know where or the names to look up.

Helsinki was a pleasant surprise. We visited a chuch hewn out of solid granite and went to a quaint country home for traditional afternoon coffee and pastries. Got some wonderful picture there. i.e. their sauna, antiques, a nature hike and an old mariner's church and graveyard surrounded by bright yellow fields of rape seed. (brighter than mustard) They had my favorite, rhubarb pie. We all loved it and felt so at home in their quaint, antiquiy home. They take tour buses twice a week.

In the ancient village part of Tallinn, Estonia we were too hasty and had our first bad cup of coffee. (the ship's buffet coffee wasn't too good either) They were just opening the town square where all the vendors dress in old fashion costumes and sell all kinds of local craft items. We did find a little covered wagon with a large kettle that made (not kettle corn) but warm almonds layered with all kinds of secret spices (cinnamon and clove mainly) Delicious snack. Fascinating walking tour with many quaint shops and stalls.

In St. Petersburg, we took the short excursion the first day and didn't enter any famous churches with the multicolored spiral cupolas. We saw children begging around the tour buses in the shade of the gold leaf overlayed towers. It was depressing. We were warned many times by our guides to watch out for pickpockets and the "distraction commotions". The next day was gloriously spent at the apex of art collections, The Hermitage. It is massive in 4 or 5 buildings that are different colors and well kept.(as are their Arts buildings i.e. Opera, Ballet etc.) The gold room had a Russian-speaking guide who didn't think our English-speaking guide was giving the full translation and chastized her. English phrasing is much shorter and clipped compared to Russian phrasing. Many of the painting were too dark to photo but the statuary was fantastic as was the inlaid, parkayed flooring and mosaic ceilings (matching) and the GOLD Chandeliers.

It was very crowded and confusing at times. The guide moved quickly from room to room without warning or gesture. Oh well...

In Oslo, Norway (and Stockholm) the harbor entrance is fjord-like and full of little islands. Very picturesque. We went to the Viking Ship building and I think I enjoyed them more than my wife. Then to their giant ski jump that is scheduled to be torn down and rebuilt. Hollemkollen was the name I think. It gained fame in the '52 Olympics I think. Spectacular in size alone but not a real treat for Betty. By the way, it has a small lake/pond at the bottom; frozen over in winter of course. The absolute hit was the Statue Garden of Vigland. What a tour-de-force in sculpture. Took many a pix and the flowers above are from their gardens there. The statues look rough but are actually very smooth and so true-to-life...especially the "mad little kid" one.

The best meal on board ship for me was the twin lobsters and the Flaming Baked Alaska Tradition with the waiters parading. Francisco and Victor were the best we've had. Javier, our room attendant was very friendly but we had to remind and wait for some things our neighbors already had. We gave everyone an excellent review and tipped them all as already deducted from our ship's account. One particularly funny/exasperating incident was in the ship's library with Adrian, from Poland. I had a thumb nail that was catching on everything and I just had to clip it right there and then. Adrian was on me like a "heat-seeking missle". I had the clipping in my hand when he came over and said, "We have a spa up on deck 15 for that." Yeah right, I'm going to get on the elevator and go up 10 decks/floors for one snaggle nail?

Sorry, this was not a gift we enjoyed from Adrian, so we left the ship's library. I did enjoy the daily quizzes posted in the game room next to the library though. Had to stump everyone at breakfast in my exasperatingly teacherish way.

We disembarked early without a hitch and our luggage was waiting for us at the airport where we were to pick up our Volvo stationwagon for our 8-Day tour of the back roads of Sweden. All of our excursions were well managed by the ship's personnel. This was our last with them...to the airport. We barely fit in the car. It was very tight for the ladies in the backseat. By the time they bought all their souvenirs, seven days later, they had to hold some in their laps almost. It was oh so jolly and fun with all the crazy signs and maps to read. I was helping with the navigating but the trip was well planned. Two new words of many that we chuckled over were "infart" and "utfart" which were little sign near drive throughs, fast food, gas stations. I think they meant "fast in" and "fast out". In Copenhagen, near the lifting bridge they had a sign "pissor" for the a public restroom of the standing variety. The other one their had an attendant with a stall key that expected the equivolent of 10cents. It was clean. In fact, very little grafetti could be seen in any of the major cities, not like Rome etc.

On the way to our first night in the Swedish countryside was a small village stop in Venga. Here Patti was looking for her father's church and where in grew up. We got lucky and found a neighbor lady out picking strawberries (yordgubba) in the wooded areas nearby the old church yard. Roy speaks enough Swedish (8 yr. old learned) that he was able to communicate. She was very helpful and was able to put us in touch with the church caretaker, who let us in. This is an ancient, but active Luthern church. No records there but then just 300m away was a little "stuga" with a little old lady who had all the town's records on micro fische. She spoke no English. Most all younger Swedes do. Patti was in tears of joy because she found all the records and family. We looked but found no graves in the neat, well-kept church graveyard.

By 3PM. we made our first Inn, Stufvenas Gastgifveri (some missing omlauts). It was built in the 16th century but mondernized and building a big spa in the back. I was on a long dirt road through heavily wooded forests of mixed evergrees and birch. So lush with moss and fern undergrowth. On our walk to the nearby lake we almost stepped on a big black slug with a yellow dot on its end. Must've been 3-4 inches long. We discovered several others on the way. The girls loved them. They move so slow no wonder they are hermaphydytes. In the hallway to our rooms were two stuffed snowy ferrits. We had already noticed the quietness of the forests on our walks...no squirrels, very few bird's chirps. The owner said that they had had a heatwave in May that killed off wildlife, mosquitos and winds that felled many a tree in spots. We continued to notice this on our long road trip. The rooms were comfortable, gourmet evening meal was delicious but expensive. A former elite cruise line chef and his girl friend ran the place. Got some lovely pix.

Next stop was in the little village of Gransholm and was called, in it's hayday the Villa Gransholm - an old victorian, white, two-story with manicured lawns. It was near the glass-blowing district and Orefors which was our goal for the next day. I was the first to go in and register and the place was empty. There was a note on the desk to make ourselves at home and our room keys for upstairs, uniquely decorated rooms. The owner was off with their new boat we found out. I toured the village the next morning and found the pond, dam and roaring stream near the only business of the orginal owner of the Villa, a paper factory (all the trees). Now it is a AC fan factory that ships all over the world. The girls loved the fact that we were alone in the monstrous manor with old time, black and white albums and setees. We found out that the kitchen was closed for "dinner" but would serve the typical Swedish breakfast buffet at 8AM. We found other food in a nearby town that night. Very quaint and full of history, the whole area. Out in the yard, fenced in, I found some "blonde, furry ducks" We jokingly called them "Swedish Ducks" along with the blonde cows we had seen earlier on the way. The owner said they belonged to her three girls and were kept to keep the snails and slugs down. I found another slug on the front steps and fed it to them. Lots of pix again. We also had "egg-rurra" for breakfast. My mom used to make it, runny, scrambled eggs. I was the only one who liked them. We had too many eggs during the trip, on board ship and countryside. I'm sure my cholesterol is way up.

The next half day or so was spent at the famous glass factories of Orefors and Kosta Boda. The ladies went wild. We took the tour, fascinating and had "elva coffee" (11AM coffee at the Crystal Cafe Coffe Bar. Very sparkly and stunningly modern in design. Yummy pastries and a cute, Swedish, blond barista. Betty got some outlet type bowls and Patti found her leaded crystal girl looking at the stars, a close out and a bargain. Wow! On the way to Orebro, our next stop (a major city) we saw the IKEA headquarters and distribution center. Roy wouldn't stop, we were on course/target for his boyhood haunts in Orebro and his cousin's country, summer home in Asbro near the lake. A real challenge finding the place through backroads etc. but finally, hugs and lots of memories with Monica and Ulf. She's a retired nurse and he's a retired Director of Social Service on the State. (big in Sweden's Social Serviced economy where there are 50%+ taxes for these services) They had quite a lovely, well kept yard and three little "bedroom stugas" on their property, all red and white. Satellites for their kids and grandkids to visit. They had an outdoor shower and a "chemical toilette" because they were too close to the lake for other kinds of sewage. Dense underbrush surrounded their yard where they go to pick blueberries (we had them, yum) raspberries and new potato plants. They pulled some up for out evening meal at their city flat over looking the local Orebro river (? name) They were consummate hosts and took us on the tours, i.e. The Swampen a giant, mushroom-shaped water tower. Betty and Roy had taken pictures there back in 1960 on her original trip. What a beautiful city. We stay in a downtown hotel within walking distance to their flat. Our room was right over a sidewalk pub and it was Friday night. The next morning I insisted on a room move to one overlooking the inner court. It had a balcony, and much quieter for the second night. Every three days or so I had to do my underware laundry and so I hung it our on the balcony. On our final night there we ate at an Argentine beef place owned by a Turkish man. Excellent shrimp for us and good conversation. We also toured the Orebro Castle in the center of town. They had college students doing a dramatic, in character, tour of the olde time life there. I enjoyed it but it was not all that informative, they never "broke character" once, kitchen maids, mad queens, mayors and butlers. What a kick!

We had to go next to the state of Dalarnas (north) and the town where they make the little red and blue horses, chickens and pigs out of whittled, painted(rosemalled) soft pine. We were allowed to personally lead our own tour of the "factory" and I joked with the finger-bandaged, old whittler because I had a bandage on my finger too. Again, the girls went wild and bought all kinds of souvenirs and decorative items. Betty has decorated our home in Sun Lakes with many of these items, especially at Christmas time. On the day going to this area we visited Carl Larsson's home. This was a dream come true for Betty who has collected his paintings etc. and loves his technique, (the Swedish Monet) His home is much smaller than we expected but just packed with his and his wife's artwork, tapestries, sculptures and interior designs. The grounds around the home are immense and very picturesque. No wonder he was so inspired to paint. We saw many of the actural settings, picnic areas he used. Even I bought some things at their small gift shop. Again, many pix. We stayed for two nights at our best place, the Historic Klockargarden Hotell. We had our own three-room flat in our own separate stugga. Patti and Roy had the upstairs. It was very nice with a double jacuzzi tub that we used both nights. This was especially fun after our gourmet dinner, too expensive wine and dessert at the main house. I saw dried an dead midsummer/maypoles but no clocks. They had some ancient wooden log homes on display and some old car collections including a mint condition, converitble monza. (I had a monza in '63) We had dinner the next night at cheaper town restaurant highly recommended called the Bosporan. It was a "Pizza-Kabab" place but not all that fast food. There are the above kinds of places all over, in each town run by middle easterns. Quite popular I guess. The pizza was delicious and thin crust. I pulled it apart like in Rome. Proper ettiquette in Sweden, I guess, is to use fork and knife in reversed (American) hands. I wasn't too good at that. Met an interesting couple and their mother from Seattle and Irvine at the next table. We split the pizza (margarite), ten kroner charge for the split and a carlsburg. Betty wanted a glass of water, 10 kroner please, no ice. no service, no tip. On the wall were pictures of the blue mosque and minarets but all the service personel were Swedish. Lovely big Swedish families getting together with twins(?) maybe, they all look so cute toe headed and they sound so sweet. We were used to only our parents and grandparents speaking Swedish and it sounds so neat to hear kids doing it.

Now on our way back south and the big bridge/tunnel crossing to Copenhagen, our last stop was at an imposing, 13th Century Convent called Vadstena Klosterhotel. It had a very scenic setting on the 2nd largest lake in Sweden, Lake Vetdnern(?) very long and wide. The monestary was very austere and we felt like monks climbing the two sets of well-worn steps to our tiny rooms. It has a blue plaque showing a 4-star rating for Historic Hotels in Sweden, but it was not as good as all the other 3-star ones. Must be the settting. We tried to snack at the terrace but a freak wind burst crashed an umbrella on Roy and he got some more korv (sausage) when his plate smashed and the gross-looking grackle crows were on it. The nearby konditorri was somewhat better with prettier waitresses but it was grossly over priced. We walked along the lake and Roy thoroughly checked out the marina. The girls and I check the village shops and pedestrian traffic mixed with lost tourist cars. We found our konditorri for the A.M. departure and Betty's birthday treat. It was a long night, as were most, with no setting sun or darkness until 11pm or midnight and no darkening shades in the convent rooms. I put up a blanket and then no air in a very humid climate. Betty had her worst night with her fever finally breaking and relief finally from the cold/flu she had been suffering from the past two days. Perfect for her birthday drive to Molmo and Copenhagen next. By now the car was jam-packed with gifts and the ladies could hardly move in the back seat.

We stopped for gas at a place that had a Mickey D's, a Burger King and a Max (Sweden's equivolent) Mac Donald's was crowded and smelly, there was a big restroom line at B.K. so we took our chances at MAX. Wow! So clean and neatly designed including the restrooms. Betty proclaimed this her Birthday Lunch and wanted a veggie burger with pineapple. Nope. So she had a fish (philsh) burger with pineapple. I ordered a veggie and an aloha burger w/ pineapple and then took the slice of pineapple and put it on the veggie patty. Roy took the other patty. Betty was happy and we had alot of fun. Max rules!

We hit the bridge earlier than expected and I video taped for Roy. Quite a montrous bridge and tunnel and I guess they are planning another where the ferry is. In Copenhagen (Kopenhaven) we had fun searching in the city traffic and one-way streets for H.C. Anderson Blvd. #9 The Alexandra Hotel. We finally found it by risking life and limb and parking/unloading in the designated, very busy bike lanes (some near crashes) Again, we were located on the second floor, rm. 222 right above the corner traffic of a very busy intersections. I immediately went and complained and got us moved to the 4th floor and down the way. It was next to the typical European caged elevators you find in these turn-of-the-century hotels. It was alot less noisy with double windows we left closed and a little electric fan, our first, that we adored. We were two blocks from Tivoli Gardens (planned) and so we spent the early evening of Betty's Birthday having a share lite Carlberg at Cafe Ultimo next to the lake, and the weeping willows. A big, brass Danish, redcoated band marched by right at 7PM. Lots of pix again. The place had changed quite a bit since Betty had been there and seen Punch and Judy and the Flea Circus. We were very tired so we went to crash knowing we had an early start (5:45AM) to finish reorganizing our luggage for the airplane's required limits. We had gotten an extra sports duffel at an outlet along the way for only 100 kroner ($15). We were in good shape weight wise.

With only two mistakes, loading near a trash truck pickup and missing a airport (little airplane sign) turn while getting a fill up we returned our rental to the 4th floor of the rental car garage and put all our luggage on three carts. (By the way, in Europe they are free, at Ontario they are $3.) We then had some time for a breakfast snack after our Duty Free stop and refund to our credit card of about $65. in tax. Then we hit the Delta 767 and Patti and Roy used their saved up 90,000 pts. each to ride "business class" lucky ducks while we were sardined with loud children nearby. We opted not for out vegetarian meals but pasta. Our next stop in Atlanta was delayed due to rerouting and storms nearby. We were lucky and got out, Patti and Roy were stuck all night in the airport in line with 300 others trying to get to Wisconsin or Michigan. They had their grandsons to pick up in Greenbay and barely made it I guess after a sleepless night. What they do for those kids!

SuperShuttle was no where to be found at the Ontario Island of Taxis so we called and complained. They came again about a half hour late and we were alone in a large van. It had electrical problems nearing Banning but we made it by 10PM on at day that started in Copenhagen at 5:45AM their time (add 9 hours) So we were zonked again but happy to be home and in our wonderfully soft bed. Now, 3 days later, we are still feeling the effects of jet lag i.e. getting sleepy at 3PM and waking up at 3AM. Oh well, we did it and it was WUNDERBAR!

I'm sure there are many more things I'll remember later and cherish. We loved it and felt it was a "gift" of a lifetime. We got to know each other even better and realize how much we love each other and need each other as we grow older together. We are quite a team, a couple, and true buddies. We'll travel again, but only to Alaska, Canada or Hawaii. No long flights and to a world that is becoming increasingly anti -American.

I'm now ending this blog. It has been a great exercise for me and I've truly enjoyed doing it. It has helped me bring back memories and relate them to my present retired life. It has been a "life preserver" for me and, I hope, a record of my thoughts and ideas up to now. It helped me with my personal "demons" which are all but licked I think.

I'm going to start a new phase of my life, substitute teaching in classes of my choice two to 4 days a week as long as I feel healthy about it. I can only earn so much and still draw my teacher's retirement. I'm also renewing my Real Estate License even though it is not with a Broker. Who knows, I may do that again also. Blogging is a thing of the past now...unless...I get tempted to do it anonymously...just for fun. Who knows?

So I'll end this endeavor as I began it:

"El que da,

Recibe,

El que ensene,

Aprende!"

"He who gives,

Receives,

He who teaches,

Learns."

Keep on Bobbin'

Bob!

Majoring in Minors for 68 years

2007-06-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. (6/27/39) It is the 178th day of the year. (187 to go) It is less than 10 days to halfway through this calendar year. It must be a holiday somewhere. Let's see: It is Independence Day in Djibouti. (that's a fun place to say, but I wonder where it is?) It is the Feast Day of St. Cyril of Alexandria, (Egypt?), St. Zoilus and St. Samson of Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey - been there)

James Smithson died today in 1829 leaving his vast fortune to establish the Smithsonian Inst. in Wash. D.C. I'm a member and will be taking my favorite magazine with me on my trip. In 1893, the New York Stock Market crashed. (I used to live on York Blvd. and I love to sing/teach about the "Grand Ol' Duke of York") In 2003, more than 735,000 phone numbers were registered on the first day of a "national do-not-call list". It hasn't worked well with me yet. In 2005, the BTK serial killer pleaded guilty to 10 murders in Wichita, Kansas. He is now serving 10 consecutive life sentences and won't have the possibility of parole for 175 years. (much better than a lethal shot)

Also born on this date: 1859, Mildred J. Hill, the American Composer of "Happy Birthday to You" and "Good Morning to You" (with her sister, Patty Smith Hill) (but could she sing, "Estas Son Las Mananitas"?) 1880, Helen Keller, American Author, educator and advocate for the blind. 1827, Bob Keeshan, American actor, "Captain Kangaroo" (now here's a Bob I can relate to) 1930, Ross Perot (I voted for him) and 1975, Tobey Maguire, American Actor -"Spiderman" (can't relate)

Died on this date: 1844, Joseph Smith, Mormon founder and his brother, Hyrum, killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill. 2001, Jack Lemmon, Am. Actor (I can relate, "everyman") 2002, John Entwistle, bassist for "The Who" (can't picture him) 2005, John Walton, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam. (just went to their store today)

I had lunch with my oldest son, his wife and their son, Xavier, yesterday. Loving family. I'll see Soren, his other son soon, I hope. Had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory with my third oldest son and his wife and two Grand Children last weekend. Wonderful group. Got an email from my second son, and his lovely wife today. He has great plans to search the stars and vacation with his ol' bud Scott. Just talked to my youngest son and his girl on the phone. They are in love.
All is well with the Burgan Clan.

We are going on a Baltic Cruise tomorrow. It will be a trip of a lifetime for us. My wife has been to Sweden before so she'll show me around with her sister and brother-in-law. We are excited. What a Birthday Present!

The above may seem minor to you, but they are "major" to me in this, my 68th year. I've lived nine years longer than my dad was allowed to. I still miss him. My mom was 83 before she passed. She was a teacher of all 8 grades in one room when she started. I'm retired from teaching 2nd -8th for 38 years. I've just made the decision to do some Substitute Teaching in our local schools this next semester. We'll see how that goes. I do miss the eager smiles and joys of learning with these "Minors". It just gets in your blood I guess.

So, I don't mind saying that "I've majored in minors." It has been a good life and hopefully will continue to be the best. "A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the type of house I lived in, the kind of car I drove, where I cruised,...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child...or children." Keeping that child-like humor and openness is my continued goal. Bob!

Exclusive Club 33

2007-06-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

You talk about exclusive, even their logo can't be copied or pasted off the internet. It just makes it that much more mysterious and unattainable for most of us. Club 33 is a rarely advertised restaurant in New Orleans Square in Disneyland. It is only marked by a single green door next to the Blue Bayoo Restaurant entrance and the address marker "33". It is locked. There is a doorbell and a speaker phone but no one responds without the secret code. Yes, very mysterious, indeed. The significance of the number "33" is just an address: 33 Royal St. in the park, so it could serve alcoholic beverages.

Walt Disney himself started it back when he was alive for wining and dining potential investors and celebrities. It has only been open for "business" after his death around 1967. It has earned many strange rumors and tales on the internet. i.e. a talking vulture, microphones in the lobby near the antique, glass elevator. (you can also use the stairs, it's upstairs above N.O.S. There is a gourmet buffet and a very small, dark and lushly appointed dining room with appolstered everything. How do I know?

My wife and I have been lucky enough to be invited there, separately. We didn't even have to pay. Oh yes, we're celebrities now!...not really. You see, my wife's sister has inlaws who are members of the exclusively small list and they are invited annually(probably to renew their investment in it). They are guests of the park for the day with special entertainment and then dinner. Oh so posh! I, on the other hand, was part of a group of So. Calif. Pardee Employees who had a party there two or three years ago. I'm guessing the Pardee Brothers, true blue southland developers, who go way back, were connected to the originally building or the land where Disneyland is. They still have a corporate membership. At least for now...with new homes not selling much nowadays, maybe they won't be able to pay ther annual fees either. These are rumored to be: initial: $25,000. and then annual: $5,925. Whereas the individuals only have to pay $9,500. and $3,175 annually. This wouldn't be so bad, but the list is only 487 people/companies long. They are in the news, L.A. Times Business Section because they are thinking of increasing the list to 500. Big whoop, 13 +!
Still there are over 1000 on the waiting list or more just dying to get in and experience it, spend their money and try the buffet. There's even a website hosted by Dale Mattson who has been on the list since 2001 http://www.disneylandclub33/ Think how frustrated he must be.

Elton John, Kobe Bryant and Arnold Schwarzenegger have all dined there. (not together, I'll bet) When I went, it capped a day of "Trivial Pursuit" with 20 questions our team had to find the answer for to be revealed at Club 33 that evening. Our group came in third. We got most of our answers on Main Street at the "Memorabilia Store" from a friendly clerk...who may have been pulling our collective "leg".

As a family we used to go once a year, free, because my wife was the "Employee Group Rep." for places like Disneyland, Knotts, Magic Mountain etc. This was great when you have four boys and like to stand in lines alot. We got a free annual picture with Mickey or Minnie and we just loved it. Later on, I went with my church choir at Christmas and or took my own classes there as rewards in classroom contests. I've already mentioned in this blog that I've seen "behind the sets/streets" because several of my students (Jr. Hi.) were picked up for "shoplifiting" and their parents had to be called. I met them at the Disneyland Police Station (full size). Come on, we couldn't watch them all the time. We'd let them go off for acouple hours and then "touch base" or check-in before we let them go again. No one could leave until all had checked in...bummer with the late-comers.

Now we have So.Cal. Season tickets and try to take our grandchildren when they aren't busy, in school, etc. This is difficult. So we usually just spend a day there ourselves and reminisce. "Soaring over California" is our favorite. We are looking forward to getting back on those submarines too. The last time they were in operation, I got claustrophobic and had to sit by the door (hatch?) It should be better this time. (and dryer)

What is it with this attraction to "exclusivity"? We all want to think we are special or different or something, don't we. I wonder if this is the way Walt wanted it to be? Probably. After all, when you're at the "Happiest Place on Earth", what more could you want? Rat...atouille? Bob!

Leitmotif

2007-06-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted your own musical theme which always accompanies you wherever you go? I have. And, at times, I do have one; inside my head. It is not one of those nagging pop tunes that just keeps repeating itself mindlessly once you hear it. It is changeable though, according to my mood and circumstance. Sometimes there are lyrics with it, sometimes not. It is not that profound or mood changing, but it is just a part of me.

Dictionary.com's "Word of the Day" says: 1. In music drama, it is a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea or allusion in the course of a play or opera; a sort of musical label. 2. A dominant and recurring theme.

Leitmotif (leitmotiv) is from German Leitmotiv, "leading motif", from leiten, "to lead" (from Old High German leitan) + Motiv, "motif" from the French. It is especially associated with the operas of German composer Richard Wagner.

An up-to-date example of its modern use would be in my wife's favorite "Soap" DOOL* "Days of our Lives". The archetypal villain, Sephano Dimara, has just reappeared, like the "phoenix" of old to complicate and threaten the good lives of the "Bradys" etc. and his leitmotif is his constant playing of "Die Valkyrie" from "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner. It is classically ominous. Even though he is Italian and he has a vendetta against the Bradys, an Irish family, he just loves this Norse themed opera. It just heightens the suspense and flesh-crawling quality of the soap's summer episodes.

There are those in my family to whom I could easily assign a leitmotif. They would also vary but have an over-riding theme and mood. It is fun to do. Music has that ability to move me and help me understand life's circumstances and those around me. The classic example for my wife and I was my choosing the theme from "Tristan und Isolde" (also Wagnerian) for one of our Wedding songs. Of course we had the traditional ones, sung by our favorite baritone, wedding singer from our church, but I just had to have this leitmotif. I wouldn't use the word "pathos" for our wedding, but it has that quality of yearning. There are certain Italian Opera Arias, especially tenor ones, which also have the same effect on me.

Voltaire is quoted: "Anything too stupid to be said, is sung." I disagreed, sorry, Voltaire. I would say, "Anything too profound to be said, is sung." From the early cavemen, who probably gathered for the first concerts at the mouth of enormous caves with the first percussion insturments and vocal to the latest rock concerts under the stars in gigantic amphitheaters, trivial and profound communication does take place and we are moved. Digital recordings of it now just don't do it justice. Live performances stir the soul for me. I only wish that the best concert venues, i.e. The Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A., weren't so out of reach for me. Rarely do you get any big concerts, even at the colleges anymore. Everything is eventually recorded and put on the smallest of screens like ipods etc. Big thrill!

Maybe that's what "heaven" (or hell) will be like for me...one massive concert after another of all my LEITMOTIFS forever after... Ah Bliss! Bob!

Ten Thousand Veiled Suns

2007-06-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

Pardons begged from Khaled Hosseini and his latest best seller, "A Thousand Splendid Suns". This is a quote from one of his favorite Farsi Poets about the beauty of Afghanistan. It may have been a land of beauty to some but to me, the culture that continues to barely survive there is anything but Splendid. Now we are hearing of the return of the Taliban. I can only imagine with horror what atrocities will also return.

Hosseini's first book, "Kite Runner" was a wonderful book. I blogged on it here. Now, I guess, it is being considered for a movie. It gave just the beginning insights into the "Male Dominated" culture of Afghanistan a few years back. What an eye-opener. It is so hard to believe that such a "tribal mentality" still exists in this world, especially in the Islamic World. Now his second book continues to reveal this primitve culture from the "Submissive Female" point of view. Actually, these women are only outwardly submissive. His story offers a glimmer of hope for those who can survive the physical part of the domination. (a feeling of "safety" inside a burka is reported) In an recent article in the L.A. Times, he expresses the hope that this society will progress and evolve to one of equality but not through "Macho American Intervention" i.e. forced democracy etc. like we are trying to do in Iraq.

How can any society hope to make it when they discount half of their human resources, hiding them in burkas and let the other half blow themselves up? There was an excellent commentary on Good Morning America today with Diane Sawyer about this very situaltion in the Gaza Strip. When you have jihadists blowing up their own, not just Jews and Christians, what have you really got...idiotsy. How long can they continue to do this? Their sense of frustration is so great, with their daily needs not being met by any kind of civil government, that they just continue to self destruct. (Almost like rats in a blistering hot desert cage)

A few days ago the L.A. Times had another excellent article in their "Column One" feature on the left of the front page entitled: "A Veiled-eye View of Saudi Segregation" It was a heart-felt report from Megan K. Stack who was recently back from being "embedded" in the above culture (Saudi) based in Egypt for many years. What insights she had, being a female reporter and having to wear the abaya, which, I guess is similar to the burka. She expressed an exasperation with it from the moment she had to don the full-length veil in the airplane arriving, to when she threw it off departing. And no one seemed to notice her frustration. It was as though women were expected to cover themselves completely so they won't "tempt" the men into any "unholsome thoughts or acts". Ridiculous! And yet, it wasn't too long ago that our leading presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter, had to publically confess that he had "lust in his heart" when he looked at certain women. And then, of course, there's Bill Clinton.

What is so fearful about an "empowered woman"? Is she going to cut your "you know what off"? Is she going to "swallow you up" with her superior competence? Are we that threatened by them? Our pop culture sure has fallen for the young, lean ones lately, who "kick butt". Jessica Alba after all is one of the "Fantastic Four". She better watch out, look what happen eventually to Jane Fonda...hip replacement from all that aerobisizing.

Seriously though, what will Islamic women have to do to be considered equal and valued. The poor heroine in "Thousand" eventually had to kill her husband in self-defence. Then she was summarily sentenced to a swift death in the arena. This was less than 10 years ago in Kabul (in the book) but I bet it is still happening all over the Islamic world. They just don't have a chance, even with increased educational opportunities. They are allowed to be doctors, teachers etc. all service and helping occupations, but not leaders politically or scientifically.

When we visited Istanbul, Turkey last year around this time I was struck with a number of incongrueties: gigantic mosques, lavishly carpeted, (smelly too) but only for the men; women beggars, who turned out to be pick-pockets, used by men in cues of tourists; proud husbands (heads up) carrying their male infants to the mosque to be dedicated with the dutiful wife(s) following the appropriate steps behind, heads downcast; circles of men only chanting and beating themselves in a public display of sadistic sanctitude(?). So they not only beat on their women.

What do we (our culture) have to fear from such a "primitive one"? Much. One of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, read the Koran for just this reason. When he was president, he had "dealings" with this culture and it was not even then in its early stages. We are the "infidel" and we are to be eliminated, not assimilated as we might try to do. i.e. Congressman Ellison's swearing on T.J.'s Koran recently. What are we thinking? We are not "The Borg"! Bob

Once in a Blue Moon

2007-05-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight we will have a "Blue Moon". It is the first in nearly three years. They happen approximately every 2.7 years and our next one is in December of 2009.(another month with 31 days) Full moons happen every 29 1/2 nights so they don't neatly fit into human calendars. I like that about them, being a "moon child" myself (and my wife) So, this month, we get two full moons, not one, but two, count them. They don't happen everywhere in the world i.e. Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. They will not have the full moon until June 1st., tomorrow. The next full moon will be June 30, and we'll be on The Baltic, on a Princess Cruise. I bet it will be so romantic out on the deck. (I just checked with our travel agent and she verified it) Maybe I'll have to "croon in June under the moon" to her.

Just some other facts here before I move on to my "musings". In the Pacific Time Zone, tonight the moon will be full at 6:04 P.M.. It will barely be dark by then. The current meaning of the term "blue moon" is only 61 years old.(I'm older) Starting in 1932, the Maine Farmers' Almanac suggested that when a season had four full moons, instead of the typical three, the third full moon should be called a "blue moon". A 1946 Sky and Telescope magazine article misinterpreted this rule to mean the second full moon in a calendar month. The first use of "blue moon" appeared to be in an English verse in 1528. There it meant "never". Now, it connotes "very rare" or seldom for an uncommon event, but it originally meant "never" and then "absurd" according to the International Planetarium Society. The moon can appear to be blue after volcanoes or forest fires emit clouds of particles of a certain size. (refracting/reflecting just part of the spectrum-longer rays) In 1883, ash from the massive eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia caused a "blue moon" in parts of the world for years.

I remember being in a talent show in high school in the late '50's where one of our most talented singers, I think her name was Sylvia, sang "Blue Moon" the old standard in such a romantic way that the staff/faculty was "not pleased". At the time, we didn't associate the "scientific meaning" with the "song's meaning"...if you catch my meaning. Come on, we were just high school boys with one thought on our minds...

Speaking of thoughts...if you get a chance, go and see the current movie, "Waitress" with Kari Russell. It is a gem. This kind of "old fashioned movie" only happens, "once in a blue moon". It is so quaint and architypal(?) in it's roles and message. She is so cute, the kind of girl, you want to bring home. (not the current popular kind, who "kick butt") Without spoiling the show, she expresses herself through her pie-making ability. ala "Can she make a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" Boy, can she! This was a popular song for my parents. My dad's name was Bill (William) and boy, could my mom cook. (yes, I know, the song has "other meanings") Anyway, she, Keri, is the only one who can get along with the old, cranky, demanding codger played by Andy Griffith(?) or Griffin. Yes, he's getting old and playing marvelously "against type" He becomes her mentor and saviour. Such a sweet movie...yes, a chic flic, and I'm recommending it.

Of course, "Waitress" reminds me of one I chanced to meet in Claremont many years ago now. Her name, as I recall was June, as in tomorrow, the first day of the famous month. She was true to that song from one of those Rogers and Hammerstein Musicals, I forget which one, that is about the month of June... She too, worked at a Pie Place and I'd stop there once in awhile for a slice. We got to talking and I found out that she was going to college and preparing to be a teacher. Well, as it goes, things just worked out. Our school, Oakmont, was looking for a "teacher's Aide", an open position. I told her to go apply. She did and was hired by Dorothy Bromage. She didn't work with me but helped with kids who were having trouble reading. She was so well liked as an Aide that she was hired by the Principal at Sycamore as a 1st grade teacher. We became "friends" with her and her husband and they moved to a big house on Indian Hill. We renewed our "wedding vows" in their backyard with them. We even went with them and a group to the Renaissance Faire one year. That was the last time we saw them. The movie reminded me of them in a way. I wonder whatever happened to them. I wonder if they wonder whatever happened to us? Maybe we'll do it tonight, under a big "blue moon". Bob!

Mysterious Energy?

2007-05-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

These snapshots above are just a few of the thousands of images from the Hubble Space Telescope in recent years. More importantly though, it has also shown us that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating pace. This has given rise to expanding theories about what almost 2/3rds of the Universe seems to be made up of..."Dark Energy" ("Dark Matter" is the subject of a previous post on this blog) Now I prefer to call it "Mysterious Energy" because we don't really know what it is. We have called it "dark" because we can't really see it, just its affects. This alone is prompting the thrill of another major discovery in the field of Astro Physics. A few years ago it was Quatum Physics to explain some anomilies in the Einstein's Theory of Relativity. This has produced computers, medical devices, cell phones, cameras, ipods and every modern electronic device. What will the mystery of "dark energy" reveal and who will discover it, harness it, use it for the future of mankind?

My money is on some...Female Science Professor. Yes, a woman of mystery. It may even be Prof. Meg Urry, soon to be chair of the Department of Physics at Yale. She is a renowned researcher in the area of massive black holes. She may even be writing that blog I check into daily www.femalescienceprofessor.blogspot.com Well, she's not anonymous anymore if she wrote the lead article in this Sunday's Parade Magazine. She goes on to trace the history of Big Ideas that have transformed our thinking about the Universe. She thinks we are due since Niels Bohr's explanation of the Universe at the atomic level with his "quatum mechanics". What excites her personally is how the discovery of "Mysterious Energy" (Dark) illustrates that science is not a set of beliefs that one constructs. Instead, scientists observe nature, then develop theories that describe their observations. Science is driven by nature itself, and nature gives us no choice. It is what it is.

Contrast that to the recent announcement in the news of a new museum in Petersburg, Ky that displays God's Creation in 6 days with dinosaurs munching grass next to Adam and Eve. Yes, believe it or not, scientist? are behind this too. I wonder how many are anonymous female science professors? Maybe it would be better if they stayed anonymous.

Space satellites and ground based telescopes are already being proposed by NASA, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation to probe this mysterious energy and further develop theories from their observations. If they observe a weakening of mysterious force, gravity (a la Einstein) could take over again and pull the Universe back together. This is already referred to by scientists as the "Big Crunch" (I wouldn't want to be around for that...and won't) If Dark Energy gets stronger with time it may eventually pull apart the galaxies (you see in snaps above here) now held together by gravity and that, they are calling "The Big Rip" (doesn't sound so good either) Or the Universe could have an intermediate fate, expanding gradually to a vast, cold, empty place called "The Big Chill" (I've already experienced that a few times, being married) The truth is out there as they say and, I predict that will be discoverd by some smart, young, female students taking high school physics right now. I doubt that they'll be wearing birkas, or from Petersburg, Ky...but you never know. Bob!

Moonbow

2007-05-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

R.O.Y. G. B.I.V. has never been so captivatingly beautiful. I wish I had been there to see this rare occurance...an evening rainbow (or spraybow) near Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA. Ah, it does, though, bring back memories of romance and risk. Read on, oh intrepid post reader, and you shall see through my eyes and words what didst transpire almost 50 years ago at this very spot.

The last time I remember seeing a rainbow and being utterly enthralled was when we had one right out of our front window looking northeast. I took a picture of it and it appeared to be resting on the street sign right outside my house. It was as though my house was the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. I posted a blog about it here probably a year or two ago (220+ posts later). It was thrilling. Rainbows just have that effect on me. Reference.Com today said, "A rainbow is a series of concentric colored arcs that may be seen when sunlight, or light from some other distant source, falls upon a collection of water drops as in rain, spray, or fog. The colors are a result of the refraction and internal reflection of light rays entering the water drops, each color being produced by rays bent at a slightly different angle. The colors separate as they emerge from the water droplets. The spectrum of a rainbow, from the outer edge inward, consists of the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet." My question would be: does this order change if the light that is refracted and reflected is from the moon which is already reflecting the sun? It would appear not to in the picture above.

When I was in high school my parents liked to send me off for the summer to work at a summer church camp. I can see why now. It gave them a break from me and visa versa. I earned alittle extra money and got alot of work experience for future jobs and the "work world". It wasn't the kind of work you'd write home about, i.e. first summer, cleaning toilets, washing dishes in the dining hall kitchen to all hours of the night; second summer, same place but a "promotion" I was assistant cook and pots and pans washer (not much of a promotion). We, my church buddies and I, made fun out of it. We drove the caretaker/manager's model A truck all over the camp ground, learning how to backshift and turn the ignition off and on to cause extremely loud backfires especially when we were passing hot chicks, girl campers. There was a mountain road around the perimeter of the the camp that was remote in spots and mostly residential (cabins etc.) There was a romantic lookout spot we'd drive to with a bunch of kids in the back. Every two weeks or so we'd get a "new crop" of church campers (girls) to try and impress/take out after evening vesper services. We'd then come back and brag about our exploits ie. "first base, second base, homeruns" etc. We got a reputation I'm afraid. I kind of remember that was the first time the term "moonlight evangelists" was coined or used about us. We'd also have other fun tricks like locking h.s. girl employees in the walk-in refrigerator for...minutes...extracting promises etc.

It was from these "mild" beginnings that my next summer "work assignment" through our church connections was to a two-part job in Yosemite Park's Tuolumne Meadows. One of our former members had a job at Camp Curry on the floor of the Valley. She had the responsibility of posting young h.s./college aged students at the various satellite camps such as Tuolumne Meadows as "student/assistant ministers". Our job, on Sundays was to help the rotating, vacationing, real pastors to run a morning worship service out under the pines. We'd pass out the hymnals and take up collections etc. This was not enough work time of course so we were assigned to the Standard Oil Gas stations on the weekdays. This went fine with me. I was learning how to service cars, pump gas etc. and "think" about whether or not I wanted to continue on after college into seminary. I didn't have to preach but I sure heard alot of different sermons from many different denominations. I also met and got to know three other college students who could sing parts and so we formed the "Strolling Madrigals" on those Sunday afternoons and we'd serrenade the campgrouds with olde English Madrigals (early barbershop harmony, but SATB) What fun! I'd also have Mondays off. That was my day for hiking to the famous surrounding peak(Vogalsang, Glen Aulen) by myself or preferrably with girls that I had met the previous Sunday at the campground church meeting. Now, you can probably see where this is going...some of those hikes did last into "moonlight time" and, being the "evangelist" that I was so familiar with...need I say more?

One weekend I had off, I hitched a ride down into Yosemite Valley with a oil trucker. He only talked of WWII and how horrible it was. When I got down there I looked up my folk's church friend's trailer and touched base with her. She recommended that I stay at least until it got dark and witness the awesome spectacle of the "Firefalls". I had never seen it and wondered what it really was. She gave me the name of a student she had "employed"/reccomended working at the Baskin Robbins there as being a "good guide" to that event. I went into the ice cream store that afternoon and asked for her. She wasn't there, but an awfully cute co-worker was answering my questions with "interest". I expressed disappointment at not being able to find where to sit to watch the "Firefalls" that night and she...volunteered to show me. I don't even remember her name. She brought a blanket out to an open field with a perfect view of Yosemite Falls maybe a quarter mile away. We had some snacks and conversation etc. and then, when it got dark enough, "Let the fire fall!" was yelled out from below. Pretty soon someone was pushing live, burning coals over the edge at the top, right next to the waterfall. It was "breath-taking". We responded in kind...as I remember. As they say, "Time stood still".

There was an after glow but no "moonglow" or "moonbow" as I remember. At the time, I had other thoughts on my mind...I was trying to save this "poor girl's...soul"?...I thought.

It is wonderful now to "reflect" on a "reflection" brought about by a "moonbow". It certainly confirms the truth and power of NOW, books that I'm reading by Eckhard Tolle. Our egos (my ego) through my memory drives me and what little I have left, are mostly, "moonbows". Bob!

A Revelatory Moment?

2007-05-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

My horoscope today said that I would benefit from a low-pressure environment so that "a revelatory moment" might sneak up on me. I am so ready for one of those right now. I can hardly wait. I think I'll just stay home all day and do my laundry and ironing...that seems pretty low-pressure. I wonder if I should go through my usual musing pursuits as I de-pressurize. I get so stressed here...being "retired". Maybe I'll just wait for the phone to ring with another "happy revelation"...I get so many. I still subscribe to two newspapers and I compulsively peruse them daily just looking for "revelatory articles". Oh, I think I've found one...

"OCH TAMALE"

Och Tamale

Gazolly Gazump

Deyump Deyatty Yahoo

Ink Damink

Deyatty Gazink

Deyump Deray Yahoo

Wing Wang

Tricky Trackey

Poo Foo

Joozy Woozy

Skizzle Wazzle

Wang Tang

Orky Porky Dominorky

Redland!

Rah, Rah, Redlands!

Ah yes! This is what I've been looking for...a non-sensical chant called the "Och Tamale" from Redlands University. It has been required reading and memorization at the University for the last 80 years. I guess it was originally used as part of "pledging and hazing" on campus with the result of not being able to chant it on command, would mean waiting tables and busing dirty dishes. It is very popular among the undergrads and now, in honor of the University's 100th Anniversary, it is A Musical. Can you imagine making a musical out of this gibberish? I'm almost tempted to go and see it.

Maybe this is what is wrong with our educational system. I've always looked up to Redlands U. as on the level with other, favorite private institutions i.e. Occidental (near my hometown), Harvey Mudd or any of the Claremont 7(where I lived so many years), U.S.C. (where I went for my credential) Granted there is a certain amount of "sillyness" always going on with undergrads just to relieve the "pressure"...say of...finals. Speaking of which, my wife and I just attended mine yesterday at "Rosie's Mexican Restaurant" in Yucaipa. What an affair!...pressure?! I think I had a preliminary "revelatory moment" there. I can take that class over and over, at least 4 times for credit. I worked hard, but I have actual physical improvement I can point to.

Here's another "Fact for the Day": The Knights of King Arthur's Round Table, at one time, numbered up to 25. That must've been a big table...all just to get them to feel equal. This Table of Britain's Legendary King, was first mentioned in Wace of Jersey's Roman de Brut (1155). There are many locations and lists of this "historic" item/location. The following 12 are usually included: Sir Bedivere, Sir Bors, Sir Galahad, Sir Gareth, Sir Gawain, Sir Kay, Sir Lamorack, Sir Lancelot, Sir Mordred, Sir Perceval, Sir Torre and Sir Tristan. What great names! I know at least four boys to men who remind me of some of these names. Why didn't we use these names for them instead of the ones we picked? The ones I like in particular: Bedivere, Lancelot, Bors, Galahad, Gareth, Gawain, Mordred, Preceval...two per boy/man. Why not?...first and second names per. They are all equal. This was important yesterday too, come to think of it. I was online at "Legal Zoom.com" doing my Last Will and Testament; a task I've been avoiding. I thought it prudent to take care of this before my upcoming world cruise. My vast estate and "millions" will be divided equally among all my heirs. Don't think they'll need a round table tho...especially after they see the "special instructions". Oh well, Bob on...to maybe more "revelatory moments". Bob!

Bob's Your...Genie!...NOT!

2007-05-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

I've decided to...come out of the bottle. Yes, it is finally time to let everyone know...that I am not...your uncle, your "Life Preserver" your "Waldo" or your genie. I know, it's hard to believe after all those years of near miraculous performance as a husband, father, teacher, moonlighter etc. that I just don't have it in me anymore. I don't even command the snappy repartee or the storytelling chops that I used to have. When called upon now, I seem to simply shrink and defer to my masterful sons. Oh, I still have lots of dreams and fantasies but, zero-zip on the follow through. If I do happen to come through, then there is a greatly increased recuperation time.

Cases in point: Yesterday, for my Total Body Fitness Class at Crafton Hills College, I had to imporve my jog/walk time for the mile and a half. I barely did it and now I'm paying, pain-wise.
The first time I did it, it took 27 minutes walking steadily. The next time, a couple months ago, I improved it to 23:18 in the cooler weather around the track. My latest effort was just over 22:21 with mitigating circumstances. You see, the EMT class was having an on-field demo of a rescue heliocopter. It and its crew had landed near our walking/jogging track and we were able to get around it; but along about the 5th lap for me, it/they decided to take off and we all had to wait out of the way. Our coach Chris had to stop her watch and then start it 1:30 later. This gave us all time to catch our breath. Would I have been able to improve my time if this hadn't occured? I doubt it. Sunday, I had the great idea of flying kites again, this time with my grandchildren. Oops, maybe not. I needed help building them, finger strength or just perseverance and then trying to run with them in the gusty wind was...too much. Little things like this keep reminding me that...I've got to step asside. It is very hard after being the...Robin Williams...I used to fantasize.

We seem to need more of a "cushion" now in many ways, especially financially. No margin of error anymore, little time to recoup booboos. Can't be counted on to replenish, reboot or bail out anyone anymore. Kind of a weird feeling I haven't experienced before. The real concern now it not to come off as a "jerk" about such things but to be gracious and quiet. Not so quick on the "comeback" or sarcastic zinger that is still right there in some instances. Love conquers all and sometimes, lack of action speaks louder than words.

I was reminded of all this by an article in yesterday's L.A. Times Calendar section, titled: "Scriptland: Jim and Ryan's Excellent Adventure" It seems that Jim Herzfeld and Ryan Rowe, successful screenplay writers, have just gotten a $1.6 million advance for a comedy screenplay they co-wrote 20 years ago. They had tried several times to get it developed by various studios for TV or a movie but it had "died" mostly from neglect and circumstances. Disney was going to do it but then along came a very successful Aladin. There was also a Screen Writers' Guild Strike too. Their idea, from a colleague was: a messed up, jerk of a Genie named Bob. (why do we continue to choose my name for this characterization? ie. Bill Murray's "Bob"...baby steps etc.) This genie was a ghost who inhabits a bottle that some teenagers find. He, of course, is more than willing to grant their typical (teenaged boy) fantasies, but screws them up, predictably. Anyway, 4th wish is granted and we will be seeing a redrawn scenario based on this concept in the near future by Fox. I can hardly wait...2, 3, 4... for this blockbuster. You never know; these guys have written for "Meet the Parents", "Charlie's Angels", "Men in Black", "Great American Hero" (one of my favorites - a superhero - teacher) . It may be just what we need in "TVLand". I'll pass...and just...Bob!

2:03:04A.M. on 05/06/07

2007-05-06T02:08:00.000-07:00

Are you a numerologist? You'd think I was. Here I am posting a blog on the 4th second of the 3rd minute of the 2nd hour of the 6th day of 5th month of the 7th year in A.D.2000. I must be crazy, or I can't sleep or both. This has to be a very special time for those of us who are bound by time, numerology and blogging. Something special is going to happen today. Actually there is!

I cut a cartoon out of our newspaper the other day. It showed the last words of a guy standing before a firing squad, "Can I put one last entry in my blog about this?" That's me. Who knows? He who lives by the blog may die by the blog. The blogging gods surely know that I have tried to keep it clean and healthy and apolitical and nonreligious. But sometimes secret pet peeves do creep out. My apologies again to all. If you go back to my original post back in May of '05 you would see that my motivation back then was: 1. To "preserver" my memories and life. This is quite similar to what my mother did in her last few years with a written journal. We still have it. I have just taken it a step or two further by publishing it on the internet for everyone to ignore. 2. To make observations about events and things that are still important and interesting to me as I age. 3. To exercise my "gray matter" in these regards. 4. To provide "advice" about "self preservation" to those who might read ie. my loved ones especially my four sons.(two of whom don't have access to a computer). 5. To provide therapy for me as writing always has. 6. To "bob" like a life saver in a storm.

A true numerologist would "cast out nines" with the above time/date numbers. So...2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 27 and 2 + 7 = 9 which you "cast out" gives you 0. This is how you can check your work in basic math. I'm sure "9" has some magical significance also...something mythical perhaps. All I know is this is the first time in a long time that everyone in our family appears to be "healthy and "happy"...so we are. There is this old wive's tale that says, "You can only be as "happy" as your least "happy" child. Well, all our children are grown men and we don't even want to make our happiness dependent on theirs. Their "good fortune" or the opposite waxes and wanes and we just like to think we "bob" along and float with it all. (hence the name of this blog) It is also advice to me, "Bob!...as a life preserver." Go with the flow, the ups and downs of day to day living.

Blogging can also be part of an almost daily "mantra", a comforting, self-speech that reassures you and allows you to work through things...working thoughts into writing. To me it is alot like a "cat's purr". Purring has been described as a low, continuous, rattling hum of domesticated cats and other feline species. It can be interpreted as an expression of pleasure or contentment. Purring also occurs in cats that are injured and in pain. It is mostly a relaxing, self-comforting sound (writing) and a mood conveying signal. Cats can and will purr without stroking or petting but here again, blogging sort of accomplishes that too doesn't it? Bob!

Copying Beethoven

2007-04-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

I missed this film when it hit the theaters back in November of 2006. I guess it wasn't a blockbuster and didn't last that long. I just saw the DVD thanks to Netflix. I watched it twice. It was so thrilling for me in parts that I was tempted to get my souvenir baton from the L.A. Phil and conduct it myself. (what a visual...my hair isn't quite long enough) I'm referring to Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

The story starts in 1824, in Vienna, Austria. This period is considered his "Late Period" of composition. He had already been stone deaf for more than 20 years. It was a form of tintinitis, a terrible ringing in the ears and it kept him from even talking to people. He had other odd habits like dunking his head in ice cold water to keep himself awake to compose. It is thought that it might also have been lead poisoning since there was no control of that element at the time and it was even used to sweeten wine. Ludwig had become a very sloppy liver and writer. He needed a copyist and maid, one who could endure his rages and temper tantrums. He probably had several but the film creates a purely ficticious character patterned after a rare, Italian, female composer who did visit him during this time. She is called Anna Holtz (Holst) in the film and she is young and beautiful...which always helps. She wants to compose like Ludwig (who is wonderfully played by Ed Harris)and, through his publisher, Herr Schlemmer, arranges to be Ludwig's copyist. This is quite a feat since there were only sharpened quills and ink wells, no Xerox at the time. The professional musicians of the court's orchestra couldn't begin to read his chicken scratches.

Beethoven was one of the first major composers to "free-lance" and not be tied to a court, a patron or a church. He was also considered a transition composer between "Classical and Romantic" periods. He was quite an innovator in all genres of instrumental and choral music. He was one of the first composers to systematically and consistently use interlocking thematic devices, or "germ-motiffs", to achieve inter-movement unity in long compositions. Equally remarkable was his use of "source motives" which recurred in many different compositions and lent some unity to his life's work. His Ninth Symphony was the first to use Choral Crescendos in the final movement. He was a risk-taker in this regard. As the story unfolds, it is apparent that if he is to conduct his latest symphony, the 9th, which he insisted on doing, he would need help with the down beats and timing. It was a 2-hour performance and the only one who could visually help him with that was young Anna Holtz(Holst)
and she pulled it off brilliantly...hidden from view of the audience and the Arch Duke. Thunderous applause was not heard by him until she came up and turned him around to see the standing O.

One of his last compositions, "Der Grosse Fugue", was not well received when played in court; by this time most of the Venetians thought him to be a crazy old coot. Even Anna had trouble understanding it when she had to copy it. It was done verbally from his death bed. He insisted on no key signature, which was also unheard of in that day. It was prophetically one of his major transitional works which instructed and frightened many a young composer in the late 19th Century. It was beautifully depicted in a photo-montage at the beginning of the film when Anna was frantically riding in a stagecoach to his death bed. She suddenly got it as the scenes flashed before her eyes and she realized the "fugue-like journey" that his life had taken. (and hers too) Then cut to "flashback".

The concept of "Copying Beethoven" speaks to me on several levels. There is that very personal response to his music, his Soul and the "Ode to Joy" theme of the Ninth's Chorus. I just can't help wanting to lead it, sing it, feel it, all over again. There is the empathetic response to his tortured existence, the on-going melodies in his head, that he could never hear anymore in our world...only the vibrations. His over-riding compulsion to bridge the gap between "His God" and "Man" with what he thought was "God's language" - "Music". (Much like Mozart, with whom he wished to train)
Then there is my realization that this happens to many an Artist/Musician. They are in between "worlds" and don't really make it in either realm. It drives their Art, their creativity and their passion, which may allienate them from their everyday world and it's problems of survival. Late in the film-story his young nephew, Karl van Beethoven, greatly loved by Ludwig, poses this key questions: Can you force someone to be an Artist/Musician? And, of course, the opposite: Can you force someone to not be an Artist/Musician? Unfortuately, Life has a way of doing just that...tragically. Bob!

Vitruvian Man

2007-04-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

"Cosmografia del minor mondo"

In 1492, Leonardo da Vinci recorded this drawing in one of his journals. At the time he envisaged this picture chart of the human body as an analogy for the workings of the universe. The symbolism of the square within the circle meant that he believed the material existence (the square) was within the spiritual existence (the circle). The proportions shown were originally from a treatise by the Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, hence the name. He observed, at the time, that:

a palm was the width of four fingers
a foot was the width of four palms
a man's height was 24 palms
the length of a man's outspread arms was equal to his height
the width of the shoulders was a quarter of his height
the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand was 1/5th his height
the distance form the elbow to the armpit was 1/8th his height
the length of his hand was 1/10th his height

He also made more refined observations about a man's face. These statements by Viruvius may be taken as average proportions. Leonardo knew this and also commented, "The navel is naturally in the centre of the human body, and , if in a man lying with his face upward, and his hands and feet extended, from his navel as the centre, a circle be described, it will touch his fingers and toes. It is not alone by a circle, that the human body is thus circumscribed, as may be seen by placing it within a square. For measuring from the feet to the crown of the head, and then across the arms fully extended, we find the latter measure equal to the former; so that lines at right angles to each other, enclosing the figure, will form a square."

I have tried this in my classroom as a "scientific investigation". Even though the kids were not full grown there was a "sense of proportion" in these measurements. I would ask them if they were a "square" or a "rectangle"? Artistically, we then proceeded to draw ourselves in/within these shapes. Great fun.

This "sense of proportion" in life is essential I believe...not just for design purposes. Our center is actually not the navel, but moves up and down throughout our lives. Some of us are more "well balanced" to begin with. Some of us achieve it later. Some of us, sadly, never attain it. As good ol' Dr. Seuss says, "Life's a balancing act..." (from "Oh the Places You'll Go") I think he might've been referring, like Leonardo, to balancing the square within the circle...the physical/material within the spiritual/emotional. Much depends on where you locate your center. If it centers in your "gut", your appetites, instead of your "heart", your soul, then you are going to have a whole different "balancing act".

The ancient Vedic beliefs from India further define "health" this same way - "A Balance" They believe there are "doshas" that have to be in balance for optimal health. They are, (roughly) Vata...Pitta...Kapha in name and refer (again roughly) to the body types: Ectomorph...Mesomorph...Endomorph. They have distinct habits and ways of dealing with stress/life because of their approach to life which is dependent on their "shape". I'm, for example, a "pitta-kapha" right now. I haven't alway been. At certain times in my life I've been more "Vata". To me, the shape of a pure vata is more an elongated rectangle. The shape of a pure kapha is more of a horizontal rectangle. So, pitta is in the middle as a square. None are ideal, but they can all be better, if they are in balance with each other and no one "dosha" is over powering. What we eat and drink can greatly effect/affect our balance and proportions. Moderation is always the best. (especially with drugs and alcohol) Too much of a "good thing" can be just as bad for our balance. (except chocolate).

Can we help someone else maintain or restore balance?....Probably not...only by example...and prayer. Bob!

Saca's Mediterranean Cuisine

2007-04-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

This will be a first in my blogging. Whenever I'm back in Claremont, CA, I try to have lunch at Saca's. They have the best falafels I've ever tasted. I've had them in Iowa and at the Farmer's Market in West L.A. and in Istanbul, Turkey. Saca's, for my money, are the best. It may be the extra gourmet sesame sauce on the side. Every bite has to have extra until it drips down my hand.

We go way back with Mr. and Mrs. Saca. Their original restaurant was in "lower Claremont" in a shopping center near my workplace, Vista School. I got in the habit of visiting them at least once a week for their falafel sandwich. We have been vegetarians for a long time now and chick peas or garbanzos are a staple for protein. They are also great sprinkled over salads. Mr. Saca always had an encouraging comment as he worked and managed the "helpers" he currently employed. His son, at the time in high school, was usually at the cash register. He was bound for college and papa was proud of that. He liked to employ local college students and was just concerned that he couldn't keep the "good ones" very long.

I remember when he made the risky decision to move to "The Village" in Claremont. He was worried because of the increased rent, but he knew that was where the future of his growing business would be. It was closer to the college campuses, walking distance for most. He and his wife are always there. That is part of it. He has built his business not only on good food but personal contact and care. It is usually very busy at meal times and his only lament is that he can't get away, say to visit his homeland. He was very interested in our cruise. He would have to close up for a couple weeks or so and he just can't do that now.

Other treats on his menu for me are: Hummus, Tabouleh and Baklava. Hummus is, again, made from garbanzos and spices topped with paprika and olive oil. Tabouleh is a salad of freshly chopped parsley, diced tomatoes, green onions, cracked wheat and blended herbs. Baklava is made with baked filo dough, walnuts and pistachios and honey. Very sweet. I'm sure most people who keep coming back there have his combo plates of Chicken, Beef or Lamb Shawerma which are flame skewered on a rotating vertical spit. He has rotisserie chicken and pita sandwiches galore. I've tried the Dolma and Baba-ghanouj but not as much. Dolma is vegetarian grape leaves, rice and spices. Baba-ghanouj is a dip of roasted eggplant flavored with olive oil and spices. Tables are small and it is crowded. Not much ambiance but that is just fine for a busy lunch crowd. It can get noisey. It is alway clean and neat.

Bob! gives this restaurant in downtown Claremont, Ca "A Full - 5 Life Preservers" our highest rating. Visit it soon, for your health. Bob!

Stressed? Try Desserts

2007-04-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

This has actually worked for me for years. Yes, and I think I'm going back to it very soon. I've been stressed lately. Palindromically, stressed is desserts backwards. The desserts I'm referring to here are not the calorie laden ones however; they are what I have always considered desserts...SINGING... of all kinds. I'm sure desserts come in many forms as do stresses. How we handle the two are the key to our success. What we physically and mentally/emotionally interpret as stress for us personally can make or break us, our lives, our careers, our families and our loved ones. What we subsequently do or refuse to do to relieve that stress can also do the same. Some stress reducers are very temporary and eventually destructive. i.e. fattening desserts, sugar highs, frantic hyperactivity, compulsive behaviors and escapist alternatives. Not good. Won't work.

According to Susan Brink, an L.A. Times Staff Writer, "a simple tune can boost mood, memory and the immune system - it can ease stress." Her article in the Health Section yesterday summarized these truths for me. She went to a retreat for amateur singers in Oregon called "How to Sing in the Shower". What a wonderful discovery she had. She, like many students I've known, was afraid to sing in public or where anyone else could hear her. Problems with pitch, tone, volume plague many needlessly. Karaoke Bars have jokingly pointed that out. Church choirs have been the haven for many a "closet singer"...no audition, no pressure, come on, you're praising the Lord. Who could criticize that? Well, I've been there. No, I've never had problems with my singing voice but I've worked with many who just refused to sing because of peer rejections or ridicule. It can be a problem in a music class. You can't force someone to sing. They have to want to. I'd get around that by including instruments of all kinds, rhythmic in nature so that they could participate somehow. It usually worked.

Susan's article goes on to point out lots of recent research on the effectiveness of singing as a stress reliever and immune system strengthener. Oxytocin is a hormone that courses through us when we are having a good time i.e. new mothers nursing, having sex, and when we sing in groups as teenagers and so on. according to Walter J Freeman, a neurobiologist at U.C. Berkeley. Music is mainly "right brain" and language (lyrics) is mainly "left brain". How they get together through the corpus colossum, the pathways, can be very robust. Some of us can remember songs and words from our childhood. How do most of us learn the alphabet? The ABC song.

Yesterday I taught a song I pulled out of my memory to my kindergarteners and they loved it. Of course, I didn't remember it exactly and I added some gestures and teaching points, but we had fun. I used it as a vehicle to teach/review the Seasons and their knowledge of them and their sequence. Do you remember?..."Its gona be a cold winter...and what will da birdies do den?...the poor tings." It was silly, used baby talk but it got to its purpose. It also taught rhyming words, barn - warm, fly - sky - dry, pool - cool, etc. I added: school - stool and book - rook for Fall. See if you can figure it out.

My barbershop group meets tomorrow. Our quartet, The Shakers, hasn't had any time alone to practice so we are somewhat frustrated. We have fun when we do sing in front of the group but we can't get past a certain point of improvement...and that's the point. Maybe, if we tried harder we wouldn't enjoy it as much. This is probably one of the reasons many of these old guys are still going strong: they sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong...don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear, just sing!
Inhale...and phonate...don't just exhale. Bob! (too, while you're at it)

Earth Days in America 1607 to 2007

2007-04-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today is EarthDay. I've been commemorating it since 1970 when it officially started. It was such a great thing to teach in my classrooms. We went to fairs and gatherings all about ecology. We even had a giant "Earth Ball" that we used for P.E. There was a whole list of "non-competitive games" we taught to emphasize the same then i.e. get along with each other and the environment, everything doesn't have to be a competition. We envisioned our world as it should be, like the picture above, all fuzzy, warm and sunflowery. Now, since Mr. Gore and the "global warming issue" it is like we are starting over again with the same basic themes. It is almost a "new religion" and very evangelical. Well, we've been there...and, sadly, done that. It is truly hard to get all hyped again about these same issues thirty years later. i.e. we went from paper shopping bags to plastic and now to cloth. We recycle all our aluminum and glass (originally sorted by color) I can remember many a trip to the recycling trailers in San Dimas with my trunk full. Excuse me if I'm just not as eager to jump on this latest bandwagon.

The latest issue of the National Geographic has a very interesting cover story about the beginnings of our country in Jamestown. It is not the one I taught for so many years in 5th grade about colonization and settlement. Strangely, it is about an invasion and upsetting of a well-established ecosystem of the indigenous Indians at the time. Yes, 400 years ago, 1607, to the year, the old profit motive was rearing its ugly head to start the process over here, in what is now South Carolina,(then Virginia) Although originally sent to find "gold" or a "northwest passage" to the orient and spices, the new settlers and representatives came equipped like English farmers to set up their kind of farms. They totally ignored the land management techniques and systems that had been successful for the native Indians (Powhattans) Of course their immediate motivation was to avoid starvation. The Indian ways just weren't workin' for them fast enough. The tobacco plants they brought totally devastated the local soils within two seasons robbing the nutrients for other crops that were successful (corn, beans etc.) The honeybees were brought for honey because they didn't know that much then about cross pollination and the English bees went wild, as did the pigs they brought. They soon were feral and competing for the same food as the people. The Indians had no domestic animals and therefore didn't need fences to pen them in. They didn't have the same sense of "ownership of plots of land" as the English did. They rotated crops and land burning the underbrush. The settlers themselves were mainly from the marshy parts of England where they weren't making it and so they came to the Jamestown area which was also marshy. They brought in their blood the parasites of malaria mosquitoes. Those were dormant until they found fresh blood of animals and Indians. So diseases like this and small pox nearly wiped out the native population and most of the colonizing one too. The investors just sent more and more boats of desperate settlers. These diseases, if they didn't kill you, zapped your energy and pioneering spriit/resolve. So the Indians couldn't get it together to kick them out once and for all, nor could the colonist fight back effectively. In later years, defending the area, Cornwallis' troups were nearly wiped out by these diseases, not by the vicious fighting of the patriots. So, we, as a culture/people have been in the business of unbalancing ecosystems, environments for hundreds of years...and we haven't learned our lessons yet. We consume. We use up. We don't replace or recycle. It isn't in our nature.

We'll probably do it to Mars or the Moon if and when we get a chance to get there. This was one of my favorite blue book essay questions from my best History professor, Zenos Hawkinson at North Park College. "How will we colonize Mars?" Compare and contrast the way we did it to America. You can see all kinds of parallels between the two.

My belief is somehow the Earth will go on...Gaia. It will adapt with or without our species on it. Sooner or later we will get it. Hindsight is such a good teacher. It is probably already too late for many of the animal species...2 out of 5 are threatened. Passenger pigeons, Dodos, et al. we will follow in our time, because that is just our basic nature. No new tricks for us old dogs. Bob!

A Consultant of Oz

2007-04-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

My fascination with stagecrafts continues. Sad to say, I'm almost OCD about it. I did it for so many years and still feel I have something to share. So...I just finished consulting on our local Middle School's production of "The Wizard of Oz". It was fun to be backstage again and not having that performance pressure or the discipline of the hyper/excited students..."Places!"

My local elementary school's principal, Mrs. Kinney, suggested that I might be able to help since she knew I used to do "productions". Her school was providing the "Munchkin Chorus" and the auditorium. So...I went and volunteered with Mrs.Ropppelt, the Middle School teacher/director (brave soul). She immediately referred me to Lydia Sandecki, the Art Teacher/Stage Manager. She was very open to my "suggestions" and clearly needed some "help" backstage. Her students/classes had created some beautiful sets/scenes and she had "a ton" of props to manage. She also created the "special effects" i.e. black light, smoke, mirrors, prop "water" and all the minutia "Wizard" needs. Quite an undertaking for a Middle School with more than 70 kids involved, lots of parent volunteers who built the rolling sets, did the lighting and sound effects. What a wonderful way to bring the whole "school-community" together. Eleven performances were planned but there may be less due to a snag of "no permission slips" for the rest of the middleschoolers.

They thought that I was just going to "help" push scenery around in the dark...but, early on they found out that I had other objectives. (plus my artificial hip wouldn't let me do too much). No, I was more interested in "future productions" being better organized and run by the student/leaders. Parents and Teachers continue to do so much in these massive productions...like they are providing the "experience" for their kid/school that "they didn't have or did and wanted to reprise"

My first consulting was to suggest that there be a well-defined hierarchy of backstage "jobs" and "job descriptions/expectations" of students. i.e. "Student Stage Manager, Props Manager, costumes manager, scenery grips etc. They needed to be "empowered" and challenged to make it their production as the "calm" controllers of the show - backstage - dressed in black. They had "places" to be in also, cues, and responsibilities to make the show, their show, a success. (the actors are all too excited usually) So...I suggested a "prop checklist" stuck to the tables. A complete, in order, list of what it was (they were), who took them on stage, who took them off and where they were kept for future shows. I then watched and monitored to see if that was done...it was, very capably, by a very "in charge" student/actor named Ainsley. (?). She was then promoted to Student Stage Manager/prop manager. Suggested grips were assigned to stage left and right and a curtain operator (automatic draw) could also be the "promptor". Mrs. Sandecki was already liking these suggestions because they ultimately gave her less to do frantically in the dark.

Next I suggested, in writing (all) a "spreadsheet" on what yet needed to be done, bought, scrounged, set, repaired etc. This is always a good tool just before "tech/dress rehearsals" It also contains a column for "who is responsible for what, where and when" It forces organization backstage. Luckily the Spring Break week came after the Dress Rehearsals and before the Final Performances. So hours and hours of work were donated during that week, mainly by, dedicated teachers on their own "vacation time" and by volunteer parents and grandparents...I know, I've been there too.

My last major contribution/consultation in writing was for the importance, at this age (kid) for "Peer Recognition", and "Peer Evaluation" of what they had done individually and as a cohesive group/team backstage and on stage. I felt the need when concern was voiced about the lack of recognition/anticlimax of just the "lights and applause" of elementary students and parents. My vehicle for this was the "Wrap Party" with "Balloted Awards" (Tonis, Academy etc.) Call them the "Toto Awards" because they did have a live, well-behaved, dog on stage...and back stage being held. Have the kids consider the "values learned/taught" through productions like these in the "nomination process" of their peers (can't nominate self or best friend/popularity contest etc.) Define the nomination categories and criteria...i.e. Best Girl Supporting Actress, Best Stage Manager, Best Chorus Member etc. Then have them presented with "thankyou speeches" at the "Wrap Party with a keepsake certificate or trophy, cookie etc. This is where the learning takes place and where "fond memories" are made about school projects. Nothing wrong with mutual "stroking of egos" at this age.

We'll see if they follow my suggestions or some modified form of them. (not taking them all to a reward field trip to Universal Studios...they would be nice but, not really necessary) My opinion...but what do I know?...We took as many upper elementary kids on the longest bus trip ever after a production of "Midsummer Night's Dream"...to the Renaissance Faire from Claremont to Thousand Oaks area. It was not the adult fair of today, but one for students run by that old actor from "Walton's Mountain" Will ...(can't remember his name) The grandpa role...white hair, beard. The kids enjoyed all the "renaissance stage skills" i.e. sword fighting, costume making/wearing etc. Yes, this was the only time my wife went along because we had our oldest son in it. Never again...those school buses did serious damage to your kidneys and back...plus, no seatbelts...so the temptation is there to "reward" the good, compliant kids with such an outing...not necessary. (in my, never to be humble, opinion. Bob!

Imperials Class of '57 to '07

2007-04-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Im-per-i-als!

We're known for our success

With our colors flying

We symbolize the best!

Persian Blue and Ivory

Forever may we stand

Ever true and loyal

And known throughout the land.

Yes, I can hardly believe it has been 50 years since we youthfully sang this song together on the "Sr.Quad". We had such hope and enthusiasm for our lives ahead. It now reminds me of that old Latin "Drinking Song?":

Gaudeamus igitur

Juvenes dum sumus

Post jucundum juventutem

Post molestam senectutem

Nos habebit humus...

(roughly translated)

Let us now in youth rejoice

None can justly blame us...

For when golden youth has fled

And, in age, our joys are dead

Then the dust doth claim us...

Recapturing that youthful zest! That was my motivation as my wife and I attended our long awaited 50th Reunion. We hadn't been to more than one or two previous (20th, 25th?)so we didn't really know what to expect after half a century! As the Ides of April drew near I decided to try to remember some of my old high school friends and times so I'd be prepared. My wife keeps everything. She dug down in our old steamer trunk and found my old year books for 1955, '56 and, of course, '57. They were all still in black and white photos and just pages and pages of hand-written "well-wishes" and pledges of "friendship forever". What a kick to read them again and find the pictures signed. It truly had been 50 years or more. I realized that I had quite a few older and younger classmen as "friends" and acquaintenances. I had several teachers who also wished me well also. I knew I wouldn't be seeing them because they were not invited (not in our class) or had "passed on". My favorite teachers would be in their 80's or 90's. I was shocked by the large number of names in the "In Memorium" books; over 50 out of our class of 300+.

Mrs. Ruth Hill came to Eagle Rock in 1927 and was retiring in 1957. She was my Latin teacher. She wrote to me, "Puer melior hoc anno quam anno priore eras. Opus scriptum minus bonum quam opus aris. Vale." I'm afraid I don't know what that means anymore, but I'm sure she'd be proud of me referring to Gaudeamus Igitur above. She was ever challenging to impress and I remember Joyce Keen and Claudia from her classes...major distractions. Claudia was my "personal slave" (I bought her) at the "auction" at Our Roman Day Festivities. Joyce was quite a flirt/tease but always out of reach. We met many years later at a party in Pasadena that my wife's former boyfriend had .

There was Oliver Skanse, my first and favorite Choral Director/Coach. I was in his A Cappella Choir, Glee Club and Madrigals. I even got to sing my first requiem (Faure) with his church choir. I was wondering how many of the seniors in the Madrigals I'd get to see again. Tom Richardson signed above his picture and he was the second person I met at the reunion. He had grown a beard. He couldn't find my name tag. I think I also saw Vivian Maeno from a distance. I don't think she recognized me. I was looking for Bev Johnson, Gary Flanders, Herb Saunders and Judy Howard. They were all better known through my church. They were missing; as was Ron Ferguson. Alden Baker sat at my table and I recognized him right away. I think he was in music also. We didn't make the connection though.

Mr. Harada left a kind note and said he'd miss my "long essays" in English. I'm sure he was instrumental in my getting the English Dept. Award that year; a big Oxford Dictionary which I still have somewhere. I'm still not a very good speller. I remember Judy Redding in his classes. She could write "whole stories" with her eyes. I, of course, was only into "Pilgrim's Progress" and other seriously religious works. i.e. "Screwtape Letters"...I was planning on going to Seminary at North Park. I also remember Mr. Nance, Mr. Kelley and Mr. Friedman. They made good impressions. I wonder if I always did as a teacher?

Neil Johnson, our president, stopped by our table. He called me "Al"...which is just fine ala that Paul Simon song. I saw Wally Rados come in late. Diane Beal was the first classmate we met. My wife remembered her from one of her childhood birthday parties. Their mothers were friends. She didn't remember Betty. David Baken came up to me and shook my hand. He remembered me. He came all the way from Wisconsin and is a retired minister. He didn't really graduate with our class but was always so friendly and serious.

I was hoping to see Richard Paul, David Swan, Robin Webb, Priscilla Box and Eleanor Sloane. I think they are all deceased. Too bad. They were good friends.

Marilyn Carriger-Holst wasn't wearing her name tag and fooled me at first. She and I first met in third grade, her mother-in-law's classroom at Delevan Drive. Yes, she married her former teacher's son. I wish I could've met her husband. She and I have been keeping in touch by email this last year. She has quite a list of "emailees". She was my "tall" square dance partner. I asked her if she watched "Dancing with the Stars" on TV. She wanted to know, why? My wife and I both said, "Because it's fun!"

I kept looking around for Dennis Kemper. He was my main buddy at Eagle Rock. We had emailed this past year. He lives in San Dimas I think. I wish I could've seen him again and reminised. He might have elected to go to the dinner-dance later or maybe the cruise. We had to opt out of that because of my wife's health issues. The freeways were relatively clear Sunday. We made it back home by 3:P.M. We were tired.

I would've liked to meet and talk to more of my former "friends" in a different format. Our lives and families separated us early on and we never were able to keep our "promises" of "friendship". Now, telling about our "paths" almost felt like "bragging"...and I didn't want that. I was genuinely interested in...how their lives and plans worked out? Did they realize any or all of their "dreams"? Did they "fall from Grace" as I may have? Or did they find other ways and means to be "fulfilled" and "loved"..."loving"? Are they still active and creatively growing? What has helped them survive thus far?

For me, it has to be my love of kids, my career centered on them...now my grandchildren. My wife and I are well-matched in this mutual love. They have and do keep us "young". Monday, the day after our reunion, I taught my classroom kids where I volunteer now to "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." We sang and learned the song from "Toy Story" "You've Got A Friend In Me". I told them that, just maybe, one or two of the "friends" they have now will still be their "friends" in 50 years. Bob!

Our Trip to Palindromia and The Huntington

2007-04-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Spring Break Vacation time again and we were privileged to take care of our two oldest grandchildren, Layla and Stone. "Camp Gramma/pa", as it has become known, has grown, developed and gotten more and more elaborate. This time it started on Easter Sunday so we had to have an Easter Egg Hunt. We had to make it challenging because we knew they were "veterans" of many a "hunt". So we came up with the "Amazing Palindromic Hunt"...a spin-off of the "Amazing Race" on TV. We had to have a "Pit Stop, Detours, Road Blocks, Fast Forward" just like the show. So besides finding the 48 plastic eggs (they found 47) they had to complete 4 out of 5 tasks around the house to their liking. i.e. "Play it or Say it" (play a piano piece from memory or read a tongue twister) "Decorate it or shake it" (decorate eggs or shake and spray readywhip in your mouth) "Curl it or Crop it" (pretend to curl your hair or cut it) "D.S. or B.S. or G.S. or A.S." (play Nintendo D.S., a Barbershop CD, lead dad in singing a Gilbert and Sullivan Patter Song or Find an Art Selection) "Fast-Forward" Torture Chamber (listen to Gramps sing Barbershop oldies with an hourglass timer) They chose this tortuous task rather than the D.S. task. (unpredicted)

They then had to open all the found eggs at the Pit Stop and spread out the palindromes and other key words in them. They had help from parents puttting together key sentences of palindromes and the secret coded location(s) of the "Fabulous Prizes" hidden around the house. "Kool pu" "X or O Marks the Spot" (X meaning kiss, O meaning hug) They then had to go hunting for those wrapped prizes, jump ropes, pencil boxes, special candies etc. Lots of fun...especially for us grandparents who, through them, are growing younger...a choice you can have living, as we do, in Palindromia.

On Tuesday, we had reservations for tea at The Huntington Tea Room. We had been looking forward to this ever since we took "Flat Stanley" there last year. (See previous post on this Blog) We had a long car trip but the kids were excellent. We played car-games alphabetically. I also brought the D.S. (Big Brain Academy, Brain Boost and Brain Age) Being members, we got in early, before the general public. We enjoyed seeing the Japanese and Zen Gardens first without the throngs. We fed the koi with the resident gardener. We each chose our favorite bonsai tree. We went to the Visual Garden and touched all the "Stones" (Stone liked that) We then hiked through the sub-tropical gardens and the desert gardens and took pix. We were already tired and hungry when we hit the crowded tea room. We had a special table next to the fireplace, the lion gargoyles and golden hyppogryphs. Our grandchildren have been well trained and have "impeccable manners"...so we had one rule..."Take and eat only what you like" They could try new finger sandwiches, scones, salads, pettifors, mini desserts, fruits, cheese, even caviar. They let them use their tea cups for their milk...they each tried a "spot of tea" in their milk and quickly rejected that option. They could go back to the buffet table as many times as they wanted and take anything if they would actually try it. We have been practicing "teas" at home, with each other and with "American Girl Dolls Molly and Kirsten". We were well practiced and so...polite.

We then went to the conservatory and looked at all the exotic plants and hands-on experiments in the Rain Forest, the Cloud Forest where the humidity was intense. It was hard to get them to leave this magnificent, teaching structure. Of special fascination were the carnivorous plants i.e. venus fly traps and pitcher plants. Stones fascination with bugs reigned supreme. We checked out bogs and pond scum. We looked through microscopes, magnifying glasses and performed tests with galvinometers and litmus-ometers. They are such smart and inquisitive kids.

We then collapsed in the childrens' garden while they ran around and explored all the wonders there. Their favorites were the cloud and rain forest circles, the rainbow tunnel and volcano and gigantic magnet. The weather was perfect, not too hot or too cold or windy. We took some nature trail back through the camelia forests and elected not to see the indoor galleries this trip...just too tired. We had to stop at the gift shop and get them each a remembrance gift. Stone, of course, picked a Fly-Trap Garden in miniature and Layla picked a miniature Tea Set.

On the way back we stopped and had a brief visit with their cousins Soren and Xavier in Claremont. They also enjoyed the dogs Sancho and Bongo. They saw Amy's kitchen garden and her roaming chickens. What a Day! Perfect for us. Memories are made of this. Bob!

So She Dances...

2007-04-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

A waltz when she walks in the room

She pulls back the hair from her face

She turns to the window

To sway in the moonlight

Even her shadow has grace.

Asher Lenz and Adam Crossley are credited with the Music and Lyric for this beautifully moving Josh Groban song on his latest album "Awake". It starts in his low register and gradually soars into his highest voice, even falsetto. For me, it is the best song on his new album because it gives my current feelings about the love of my life...words and melody.

A waltz for the girl out of reach

She lifts her hands up to the sky

She moves with the music

The song is her lover

The melody's making her cry.

We got the album about the same time of the new season of "Dancing With The Stars". We have enjoyed that show, the professional dancers, the guest performers etc. We like the fast dances but we are really enamored by the slower ones. i.e. the waltz. It, in some ways, is just as difficult with the measured, 3/4 beat, held frame, rise and fall, and sweeping turns all under the utmost muscular control and restraint. "This would be the perfect song to dance to," I said to myself. That's when I wrote to Josh (his website) and the show (chatroom) and suggested Josh sing it on "DWTS" as one of the guest soloist like last season they had Rod Stewart. Immediately it got alot of "hits" and comments in the chat room...mostly positive. One person complained that since the program was on a Disney owned station they would probably favor Disney-type entertainers. I got no direct email answers from Josh or DWTS but, lo and behold, three weeks later, there he was surrounded by spotlights singing a shortened version of "So She Dances". They used their newest female professional, youngest too, (Apolo Ono's partner) and Leeza Gibbon's pro-partner to dance to it on the darkened floor with thrilling choreographic lifts and carries. It was amazing and got an on-going standing ovation. This next week now several of the remaining couples will have to dance the waltz without the lifts. It ought to be inspiring and fun to watch.

So she dances

In and out of the crowd like a glance

This romance is from afar calling me, silently.

A waltz for the chance I should take

But how will I know where to start

She's spinning between constellations and dreams

Her rhythm is my beating heart.

Our first date, after our meeting at Jr. Hi. Church camp, came after we met again as members of a mutual friend's wedding party. We were paired going down the aisle as bridesmaid and groomsman. I called her very soon after and set up a "date" but not a dance then. It was a "tennis date". She looked so hot in her white tennis togs, short skirt, tan...I was totally distracted and she beat me. She said she enjoyed winning. That's when I knew...we would continue the "match". We both belonged to a church that didn't "promote" dancing but we easily found ways to dance...very intimately. Since then, we have been dancing many times usually as part of a wedding party or a dinner celebration with a band. Neither of us have what you'd call "dancing talent". We feel the music together but I'm about a foot taller. A drink or two really helps us loosen up, and not step on toes.

So she dances...

I can't keep on watching forever

I'd give up this view just to tell her

When I close my eyes I can see

The spotlights are bright on you and me

We've got the floor

And you're in my arms

How could I ask for more?

I could. A few more years would be nice. Our time together now is even more precious. We have so many wonderful memories and we want to still make more. We are both getting alittle more forgetful lately and we have to remind each other when we slip up. (Like I just forgot my doctor's apt.) Do young couples even think about "growing old together" anymore? I hope so. It is sweet.

So she dances...

And I'm giving up this view just to tell her.

Bob!

Jocular Jaguars and Jackalopes

2007-04-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

My wife and I recently visited an old Arabian Restaurant. We were all set for some mighty fine vegetarian cuisine. i.e a bit of humus, pita, dahl, etc. Serrendipitiously, the site had been revamped to be a performance venue for "Tales of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves". Suddenly, out of the gaping maw of this jaguar, or maybe it was a leopard, (seen above) appeared "Jafarr"; after the cloud of smoke/fog cleared and the eyes stopped glowing red. What proceeded was the "Story Theater" version of "Aladin and the Magic Lamp". The kids down in front, on the "magic carpets" loved it. They were allowed to perform and get involved in the "story" as it unfolded as told by the actors themselves. Certain "special effects" made it all the more fun. i.e.everytime the name "Jaffar" was spoken, everyone had to audibly gasp...everytime a "wish" was granted, the audience had to come up with a special "sound effect" (this time a "meow") The cutest, tiniest pre-schooler from the front row became the "evil Jafarr" with the help of a mask and lots of imagination.

The first time I actually saw "Story Theater" on stage was many years ago when our Indian Guide Tribe went into L.A. (Music Center I think) and saw a popular production of "The Goose that Laid The Golden Egg" and other similar "fables" It was so creatively mounted with a blank, background scrim on which silhouettes and the like could be projected along with vibrant colors. "Here Comes the Sun" from the Beatles was the theme song. We all enjoyed the show, at least the "little braves" did. I remember a little "disagreement" with one of the "big braves" when I, in my "teacher voice", was telling the kids to "be quiet" since we didn't have the "talking stick" out. Later, in the park next to the La Brea Tar Pits, we met and got an autograph from one of the actors in that show. He was on his bike (motor). He was later cast as one of the stars in "The Bob Newhart Show", a dentist, I think.

The first time I took my boys to visit my sister in Santa Fe on the Train, we had some new and different experiences. We were dropped off at the nearest railroad station to be picked up by my sister later. The name of the the station was "Lay-me". Boy did I have fun explaining the meaning of that name to them. i.e. my dad, being a railroad man, originally working on a "signal crew" of men who went from station to station, fixing the electric signals and had to "sleep-over" once in awhile. As we waited, we found several 4-leaf clovers and thought ourselves very lucky. I think it was also then that we saw our first "jack-a-lope". It had gotten its antlers caught in the bushes just above its rabbit hole. I think Brooks wanted to chase after it but I told him that we planned to do that later with my sister outside her home on the hill at "Laughing Sky". We later turned it into a "Snipe Hunt" in the dark where we left him, holding the gunny sack waiting to snag a snipe coming through the bushes.

On our daily morning walk today we caught a glimpse of our first Easter Gander. You know, the ones, with their goose wives, that lay the Easter Eggs out here in Sun Lakes. These geese were poking around in the bushes in front of one of the homes with their rabbit-ears firmly attached...listening for the rare grandkids who visit around this time and hunt their eggs...so they can color them. We had just gotten our annual telephone call from Clark. He can be counted on to call on April 1st, yes, April Fools Day, to try, once again, to fool mom. Today, his new wife, Vi, was fed up and heading back to Utah with their new son, X. He was so "distraught". It didn't work of course. It hasn't since he tried, successfully to fool mom, using the neighbors up the street with one of his "many" run-in stories.

I just looked up "April Fools' Day on Google and went to Wikipedia. After reading the "disclaimer" at the top of the articles, I waded through the stories and wondered how many were "fluff" (which I think alot of Wiki's are) It appears that the day probably got started when they switched the first day of the year from April 1st (March 32nd) to January 1st. and people kept forgetting because there were certain things you always did, rituals on the first day of the year. Then it proceeded to go through all the "hoaxes" that have been perpetrated on the radio, television, media, and, yes, the internet. Some of them were/are pretty famous. i.e. "War of the Worlds" etc. There are ancient roots of this day set asside for foolery i.e "Saturnalia" and "Festus Fatuorum". In England, it was the mythical town of Gotham, in Nottinghamshire, where the whole town tried to act like lunatics to fool King John and his planned visit. It worked and they were not punished.

I must confess that I have, at times, been a "spinner of tales" i.e. made up definitions and interpretations of unknown things and events. This increased after our trip to the British Isles. We were there, touring with our choir and took a side trip to Ireland and the Blarney Castle...you know the rest. As a teacher, we even had a weekly "Liar's Club" named after the popular TV show one year. Kids would bring in odd objects on Fridays and try to explain what they were and what they were used for. Then a chosen panel would vote on "truth or lie"(?) My best was a "mechanical dog dropping" (an extruded glob of shiny metal) Some believed it.

The above post of this blog is filled with the same "blarney". Can you detect which are true tales and which are made up? It seems only appropriate as an activity on this April Fools' Day don't you think? Bob!

Palos Verdes Blue...Boy!

2007-03-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

I came home from school today to find my "better half" out planting in our garden. Oh joy! She's back, I said to myself. She was planting carpet rose bushes to take the place of several victims of our recent freeze. They are a small, low-lying roses that spread out and cover a larger area than, say a bush.(2' tall and 4' wide) These are "apple blossum" color, meaning they start out pink and change to white. She so loves color in our yards. It makes her happy.

Lately we've also noticed more butterflies flitting around; last season too; yellow and black with a spot of blue or black with an orange stripe. It had gotten to where we rarely saw swallowtails or monarchs anymore. They seem to be coming back? Let's hope. The above picture is from an article in the L.A. Times on Monday, 26th by Deborah Schoch. It is all about the valiant efforts to save the "Palos Verdes Blue", one of the rarest butterflies in America. It is about the size of your thumb nail and a beautiful hue of blue once out of its pupa casing. There have only been 219 seen since the last count in 2006. This is up from less than 50 sightings in 2003. Like so many frogs and amphibians, butterflies and moths are our "canaries in the mineshafts" and their dwindling numbers or extinction is a warning about their threatened habitat and consequently "ours". Their down to just one viable location just north of the Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro, CA. It is only because it is a Navy Fuel Depot area and developers aren't allow there yet. (yes, I worked for two gigantic "developers/builders" Pulte/Del Webb and Pardee/Weyerhaueser, and there is still some guilt) Because these insects live on the deerweed and locoweed growing on military land, the Uban Wildlands Group is handling this 10-year-old breeding program for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Jana Johnson, a 37 year old, biologist with an affinity for country music is raising and coaxing the latest groups of hatching pupae with music of all kinds in her labs in San Pedro and Moorpark. If the species is to survive, her program must produce enough pupae to establish colonies elsewhere on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The also talks to them in the same soothing tones she uses with her two sons. Johnson say, "If a butterfly struggles, unable to spring free of its pod, or shake off that last casing, its wings won't expand properly. If he doesn't expand, he can;t fly and if he can't fly, he can't mate. If he is not "pretty", he gets rejected." In this race to save the Palos Verdes Blue, everything is about courtship, mating and eggs. She feeds the young hatchlings on wads of toilet paper soaked with honey-water and "Fierce Melon Gatorade" as nectar substitues based on research from the University of Florida which has a captive breeding program for the Miami Blue. (Passion Fruit was second) They need the sugars and electrolytes and the color attracts them like bright colored flowers. It makes them "happy".

I've been wearing blue these last few days too. I haven't quite been flitting around the garden but "I'm in the Flow" of new life, and birth. Our newest grandson was born this last Saturday and his proud parents, Clark and Vi are overjoyed with us. He was alittle early, over 6#'s, 19" and very healthy. Mom and Dad are a bit tired by the long labors. His name? Xavier James Burgan. Quite rare and endangered as a name, I think. I like it. I googled the name and found out it means "Bright" and the most famous namesake is St. Francis Xavier who was the most "successful" missionary for the Catholic Church in the 16th Century since St. Paul in bringing converts to the Faith. He died in China doing "God's Work". His name also starts with the "roman numeral" X = 10. I had jokingly challenged my son and his wife to pick a roman numeral name since his name starts with a C (=100) and his wife's name is VI (= 6). I really don't think they took me seriously, since she says she went to a school by that name. But, who knows. "What's in a name..."anyway? Will it be coo-ed to by his mother and father and family in love? Yes! He will be loved, fed and nurtured as the newest member of our Burgan Clan. He will get to hear his dad's music and his see his mom's beautiful smile everyday. He has "Quantum Probabilities" of growing up to be healthy, happy adult...this little Baby Blue... Boy! Bob!

Tenacious Tivo Trial

2007-03-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

We have just had what will become known, in perpetuity,as the "Tenacious Tivo Trial" Incident. I write about it here because it is a monumental testimony to my wife's "Fight On!" Spirit of never giving up. She is a "Bull Dog" in this way. It is also proof of her record-keeping and filing system of every technical manual we have ever had to buy. She's a person who has had to "read manuals" and figure things out on her own throughout our married life just because we couldn't usually afford to call a service man or buy a new one. It is also because I was often "not home" to help her through these trials with my working second jobs etc. She was also a "Compliance Administrator" for her HMO to the DOC. She had to figure out all the tedious rules of legal compliance to keep the Intervalley Health Plan up and running. When she left that job for sales, Acct. Exec., they had to hire three people to do what she had been doing technically.

Here's how this particular "Tivo Trial" happened this morning. I usually get up early, swim and have my cup of coffee with the newspapers. I'm a bit clumsy, especially in the morning, after my hot jacuzzi with my arthritic fingers. I have a few broken coffee cups etc. to prove that. Anyway, I pressed two tivo buttons at the same time again and "froze up" the unit. Last time I did that, I called Tivo and they told me to unplug the unit and count to 20 and the reboot it. So as I was trying to do that, I must've knocked loose the "S-video" input line. Suddenly the screen went blank. Panic! We can't live without our Tivos. This living room one had last night's UCLA game in "March Madness" on it. So, not knowing exactly which cord came loose from which socket, and having to fish around, by feel in the back of the machine which is on top of the TV in a cubby hole, I just couldn't make my big hands do what was required.

Betty, my wife, was still sleeping. I didn't want to wake her up...oh no...been there, done that...not a wise thing to do. When she eventually arose, and was coffeed etc. she got out her file of Tivo manuals. She reads. Then her small hands get to work and after, several trial and error attempts and even a call to our "technologically talented" son. She figured it out and got it working again all by herself. She had gotten a magifying mirror from the bathroom that she uses daily, held the mini-flashlight, and figured out the schematic in reverse. She said she doesn't even know what an "S-Video" cable does, but she does know that the book says not to plug in the "yellow one" when the "red and white" one are already engaged.

I had stepped out of the room, a pit-stop needed. When I came back she had it running again and without "rebooting" She then proceeded to write down what she had done so when it happen again, she'll be ready. She filed it all away somewhere in her vast, but very organized files.

You can see why this is just another reason I can't live without her. She has this indomitable stubborness and tenacity and won't let anything deter her...not even multiple melanomas. I love her so. Bob!

Music and Lyrics

2007-03-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

My wife's turn to pick a chic flic, but I must admit, "Music and Lyrics" was alot of fun. Drew Barymore and Hugh Grant looked cute together as their characters and they had chemistry, as they say. You can't not think of Drew without remembering her first character in E.T. with that sweet little-girl smile. Hugh, of course, is such a veteran of this type of movie. i.e. Notting Hill, Runaway Bride(?) no, 3 Weddings and a Funeral. He's so self-depricating. His extreme example of self-loathing was brought up on Jay Leno when Jay asked,"What were you thinking?" and he retorted, "Not with my head."(no pun intended)
They just "work" as a duo... a song-writing duo. He seems to be able to play the piano etc., maybe he really does, and she was so quick on the rhyming couplets. Quick reparte and witty comments made this movie, chic flic more than just tolerable. The usual "formula" for sit-coms follows a pretty predictable course but with some surprises and a old fashioned sweetness that has been missing lately at the movies. Too much salty "popcorn" and sacarin "soda". They are also poking fun at the "music business" as just a business with no sentiment in it anymore...maybe there never was. They succeed in co-writing a new love song for the current hotty (young pop-rock starlet) that is really more of a sexy dancer who tries to sing than a singer who tries to dance.

It reminded us of us...in many ways. Betty, of course, is more about the lyrics; I like to think I'm music, harmony or at least the tune. This is one of our long-standing, long-running jokes. We like to challenge each other to rhyme with a line or a phrase we have just said or sung to each other...the more obtuse or remote the better. Lately, in the past 20 years we do the same with crossword puzzles. We always take one along, and if we are bored with the scene, say shopping or a restaurant, or our own lack of conversation topics, we just pass a crossword back and forth, preferrably the Sunday Edition doing only one down and one accross. There has always been this give and take in our relationship (almost 45 yrs. now) We have striven for brevity as the soul of wit in our life together...not shortness of life but quickness and humor in comments and observations.

The cogent content for me came when Hugh wrote and sang a song for Drew after years of blockage from his "hits" in the 80's. His theme? "Don't write me off yet". This struck a chord, pun intended, with me. Although I do notice a decrease or lessening in my verbal abilities i.e. this very writing, posting blogs, I still feel I have something to say and feel about any number of topics. I've always had this but it was probably sublimated when I taught and worked extra jobs. I was just too darn tired most of the time. Now, I do have the time...and I am trying to write. I have a children's book churning around on the back burner...to mix metaphors. I like to play with poems and lyrics; especially rewriting existing ones. I don't share those publically unless truly inspired. The last one...is posted in the comments of the previous blog.

In music, I still sing the "lead" part in a barbershop quartet group. Our quartet is temporarily named "The Shakers"* because we come just before "The After-Shocks", another group in our up-coming program/contest. I miss singing with a chorale now but it is just too hard physically. Listening to good choral music is a distant second to actual singing and blending in with a large group as a tenor. I'd sing with the local Sun Lakes Chorale, they meet in the morning, but I'm currently going to college at that time and the group is too large and unchallenging musicallly. i.e. some of the men don't sing tenor or bass but just the melody or some form of it an octave lower. I still enjoy CD's of tenors like Josh Groban, or Il Devo or The Ten Tenors. I know, my taste in music is not "current" or "pop". Josh makes an attempt at it with his latest album "Awake". "So She Dances" is my favorite on it.*(not the Shakers of "Simple Gifts")

Music and Lyrics are often combined in the dance. Our favorite show on TV right now is "Dancing With the Stars" It adds that kinetic dimension to the beat, the lyric and the melody that, when interpreted with grace (yes, there's that word again, grace) is very entertaining and thrilling. Yes, we did vote last night and this A.M on line...about 22 times for our favorite couples. This is one of our new pleasures together...we don't dance much anymore...my hip, her knees. Ah, life is so short, so sweet, but still lots of fun with my resident lyricist. Bob!

Amazing Grace Pt. 2

2007-03-19T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is the masterpiece woodcut I was referring to in "Amazing Grace Pt. 1". It is called, "Allegory of Law and Grace by Lucas Cranach the Elder. It was done in 1530 and is about 10 5/8" X 1' 3/4". It was produced in the years after the onset of the Reformation (1517). Protestants viewed low-key images such as woodcut prints as useful devotional aids. Prints provided a prime vehicle for "educating the masses", because artist could print them easily, permitting wide circulation and sale of numerous copies. Woodcuts were among the least expensive of all the art forms, making them more accessible to a wider audience than traditional commissioned art, such as paintings and sculptures.

In this print, Cranach depicted the differences between Catholicism (based on Old Testament Law, according to Luther) and Protestantism (based on a belief in God's Grace) in two images separated by a centrally placed tree. On the left half, Judgment Day has arrived, as represented by Christ's appearance at the top of the scene, hovering amid a cloud halo and accompanied by angels and saints. Christ raises his left hand in the traditional gesture of damnation, and, below, a skeleton drives off a terrified person to burn for eternity in Hell. This person tried to live a good and honorable life, but, despite his efforts, he fell short. Moses stands to the side, holding the Tablets of the Law - The Commandments Catholics follow in their attempt to attain salvation.

In contrast to this Catholic reliance on good works and clean living, the Protestants emphasized God's Grace as a source of redemption. Accordingly, God showers the sinner in the right half of the print with Grace, as streams of blood flow from the crucified Christ. On the far right, Christ emerges from the tomb and promises salvation to all who believe in Him. (unless his "bones" are still in an ossuary in Jerusalem...see previous blog post "Dem Bones")

At Wittenberg, Germany, Cranach became a friend and follower of Martin Luther; indeed, his close association with Luther and the degree to which Luther influenced (if not guided) his imagery led scholars to refer to Cranach as the "painter of the Reformation."

So I can see how this might influence the hymn writing and lyrics of the time. What is doing the same today? Bob!

Amazing Grace?

2007-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

We just saw the film "Amazing Grace" directed by Michael Apted. It is about the campaign against the slave trade in 19th century Britain, led by the famous abolitionist William Wilberforse, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. The title is a reference to the hymn "Amazing Grace" and the film also recounts John Newton's inspiration for writing this hymn during that time.

My wife and I were split on the "impact" of this film. She thought it was boring and tedious. I, having chosen it, (my turn) liked it for a number of reasons. It is a period piece about "life" back in the late 1700's and the stark differences between the "classes" in England at the time. We both enjoyed the scenes from "Bath" in western England were rich people (MP's) at the time "took the waters". We had a day there as tourists and "took the tea" not the "waters". The House of Commons, even then, was run by the wealthier, "landed" merchants who were getting and staying rich off the "slave trade" out of Africa (Sierra Leone) and the new plantation owners in America. It is a time in history that fascinates me and I'm studying the Art History Period right now (Baroque to Roccoco) Extreme embellishment, richness for the wealthy (merchant) patrons was what was mostly saved and called "masterpieces".

The protagonists in the "true" story were "William Wiberforse", played by Ioan Gruffudd of Capt. Hornblower (TV Series) fame and "John Newton", played by Albert Finney now quite old...remember him in "Tom Jones" and the "eating orgy"? Then there was the "token" steadfast woman, his life support who kept William at the daunting task when his health was failing along with his resolve. Her name was "Barbara Spooner" played by Romola Garai. He also had the "help"(?) of an addiction to "ludlum" an opiate until the birth of his first child. (They don't get into the "drug trade" at the time with China.

Anyway, it was very thought provoking to me to consider some of the historical issues at that time. Abolitionist were very unpopular in England and the M.P.'s in the majority came up with some very creative and naive reasons to continue "slaving"...mostly they had to do with the economy of Britian at the time...not moral issues at all. Year after year William and his group of "Abs", mainly ministers, would propose the "bill" to the parliament and year after year it was voted down. Each year he was able to get more and more support for it. He did this with suprise tours of "slave ships" docked in the harbor to show the appauling conditions that the slaves had to endure for three weeks and more in passage. Life, at that time, was so squalid for the common man anyway that it didn't change many a mind. He got the support of the new Prime Minister, William Pitt, but then politics got in the way, and a "War with France" was brewing. A local preacher, John Newton, had a "history of slaving" that he was forced into in his youth. He had a "miraculous vision" on board ship and converted to a form of Calvinism (popular protestant) at the time. He persuaded William to keep up the fight and he also wrote the lyrics to the hymn "Amazing Grace" because he felt that that was what saved him from his life of slave trading. He eventually goes blind but is able to be present in parliament when William's Abolitionist Bill is passed (over 200 to 16). It ends with a rousing rendition of "Amazing Grace" played by the traditional bagpipes in front of Westminister Abby.(where Wilberforse is now buried).

What is "amazing" and shocking to me is that, what "won the day" was not overriding "morality" or conscience, but "the merchant class pocketbook" again. In order to get the initial bill through the House they had to "lie" and slip a "quiet bill through" on some innocent rules of "trade". This was suggested by a "lawyer" who was just returning from the New World" (Jamaica, Haiti) where he was "gathering evidence". What he notice on the return trip to England was that the "neutral American ships" flying the "Stars and Stripes" were not "boarded and searched" by the "Privateers" from England and France. So the slave ships were striking their "home colors" and falsely raising our "colors" whenever spotted. So the Abolitionist simply proposed that that practice be stopped by the Royal Navy. Soon the "neutral slavers" were not getting through. They were stopped and their "human cargo" was stolen by the "privateers and French". English merchant money was lost and they got the attention of their representative in the House.

"Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)

That sav'd a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see."

I have never "bought" this "wretch" belief that is still prevolent. Conversion and reformation from "one state of mind/opinion" to another, yes. John Newton, ironically, ended up eventually blind after that fateful "vision" that showed him his "wretchedness". Many still enslave...minds.

"Thro' many dangers, toils and snare,

I have already come;

'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home."

The contrast in belief back then, and even now is "Law vs. Grace". There is even a masterpiece woodcut print called "The Allegorie of Law and Grace by Lucas Cranach the Elder, of the common belief back in the High Renaissance. This came from the Reformation vs. the Counter-Reformation battles in Europe. The catholic church preached that everyone was "under law"...i.e. sin, hell or at least purgatory. The Lutheran and Calvinists preached that everyone was "under grace"...and need only to believe, repent and personally "talk to God" (no priest needed) This reminds me of a time that I taught at Chaparral School with a teacher name Chuck Noffsinger and our boss was definitely "an under law guy". Chuck was so happy when we got a new principal that he commented that he thought he had gone to "teacher heaven" and was "under grace". He was a staunch conversionist (had a Bible on his desk) and sometimes preached in class, and at teacher meetings too. He was a great art teacher and taught my sons "cartooning and Xmas Windows" painting. Minds and hearts can still be enslaved...by grace.

"Shall I be wafted through the skies,

On flowery beds of ease,

Where others strive to win the prize,

And sail through bloody seas"

"When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we'd first begun."

See what I mean? These verses, over the years, have been added by the likes of Harriet Beecher Stowe in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and preserved by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie who mixed it with a hymn "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?" Enslavement continues? Bob!

Teaching to Learn is Learning to Teach

2007-03-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

Here it is Mid Term already again. Doesn't the time fly when you're having fun "learning"? At least that is what I used to believe when I taught. It has been more than six years since I was actively engaged in "teaching and learning" full time (as a career). Maybe it takes some "distance" from the profession, a degree of "stepping away" or maybe it just takes "being a student" again to begin to realize the delicate and dependent relationship that is, as the title above suggests: "Teaching is to Learning as Learning is to Teaching".

I have had a number of recent experiences and observations of the above that certainly have impressed on me how vitally linked these two activities are. i.e. one creates the other, one feeds the other and not just in our formal "institutions" called schools, colleges, universities etc. Relationships are key at all levels and in all subject areas I believe. And lately, I've seen vibrant and healthy ones and...the opposite. I can only reflect back on my own experiences while drawing these conclusions and hopefully learn to share and accentuate the positive ones.

My midterm in my Physical Fitness class was very "hands-on" and interactive. We had to prove that we had become more than alittle bit familiar with our "muscle groups" and what "trains and improves them". We did this with a written test of identification and spelling. The "coach" pointed to the muscle group on her body and we had to name it. This was "a piece 'o cake" because I had been trying to exercise and improve the flexibility of most of these groups. She was very "animated" and helpful/hintful. She also assured us that if we missed five or more we could take the test again. We then went up to the track to have our jog/walk test. I had suggested that we take the written test first since "some of us" might be too tired and "shakey" after the heat and stress of the "laps". She listened. Six laps around a field of uneven turf is a challenge at my age. I was determined to do it and show improvement from my first time at the start of the semester. With her verbal encouragement at every lap marker, I did improve by more than three minutes. I was so jazzed. All that work had paid off and I was beginning to enjoy exercising my "bod" again. This time I wasn't "next to last" but "next-to-next-to last". You see I walk the whole trip at a steady pace...no jogging. Others, the kids, who I have more than 40 years on were trying to do six-minute miles. I even have more that 20 years on the professor...and yet she made me feel "self-actualized"...like I had learned something. It was as though "I taught myself"...but I know I hadn't. There was her example and encouragement all the the many weeks and days.

After my hand-packed lunch I had my other midterm. I felt pretty confident that I knew the material. There were five chapters of Art History with more than 250 pieces of "Art" (paintings, sculptures, architectural examples) covering more than 525 years (mid 1200 A.D. to mid 1700 A.D.) There were hundreds of artists and architects, styles, trends, movements, schools to memorize and show understanding about. There were many historical events and movements that also had to be dealt with. This is what you call "a survey class". What is being called for is mainly "surface knowledge and recognition". It is very difficult even for someone like me who has "lived" and seen alot of these works of art and places of interest. So we had already had two multiple-choice tests, one twice with revisions. I did better on the first attempt(s) or guesses. Now for midterm, here they come again, same tests with most of the questions in the "negative" and only 30 or so new ones. This would've been ok if we had actually found out what the correct answers were to the previous ones we missed. But no, we had to go "figure them out" from the four or five "distractors" we hadn't chosen previously. We never got a "firm grip" on what was thought to be correct answers and why. So I now have this "sinking feeling" that I may not have learned as much as I thought I had. When I brought up my "numbered scantron" I had to make sure it was in the pile in the correct numerical order with all the other tests...so that all were accounted for...none missing. None of this "evaluative knowledge" must be compromised in case it is put to use in the future.

One hundred questions about Art and not one "visual" slide or projection for comparison or analysis; and I ask you, is this anyway to "teach or learn the Love of Art"? I'm not discouraged because I'm taking the class for other "reasons" but just think of all those young, neophyte Art Students and even those who are just taking the class to "get the credits" and get through it. Will this method teach them to learn more about Art?...to enjoy it? Or just how to better take a test? I'm betting the latter. Why do they still have classes like this? Why are they taught this way. Is it really just easier? Is it worth it in the long run? I'm thinking, "Nope!"

Then I got to thinking...I was a "tenured teacher" for many years. I was a "mentor teacher" in my district. I was not only asked to help teach students but also new teachers. Did I ever get to the place where I was just "going through the paces", just "marking time" until I could retire? Was I presenting a "good and vibrant" approach to learning and teaching toward the last of my 38 years or was I looking for the "survey technique", the "scantron evaluation"...of what I tried to teach? Was I so disenchanted with my subject(s) and students that I did the least I could get away with and still call it "school"? Was I open to any questions or suggestions from my students and administrators or was I just trying to "cram in" as much material as I could?

Fortunately, I was blessed, or lucky, to work at the "Elementary Level" and have other challenges to "teaching and learning". I felt I taught "some of students...some of the times"; probably never "all of the students...all of the times"...but I tried my hardest to make sure they felt they were learning and liking it. I tried to figure out ways to get them to help each other and teach each other. i.e. share what they had learned with me and with each other. At one time I actually thought that teaching was a "Performing Art". Now, I'm seeing that both teacher and student have to "perform" and exchange roles at times to be in a successful learning relationship. Yes, I do keep going back to an old saying that was shared with me by one of my first teaching year's Hispanic Grandparents: "El que da, recibe! El que ensene, apprende!" "He who gives, receives. He who teaches, learns"
Bob!

Bridges to Terabithia

2007-03-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been to "Terabithia" many a time. In fact, you might say, I have lived there most of my childhood and adult careers.

Back in "the day" when us kids were told to "go out and play" after school...pre-television, video game days, we had to be pretty inventive with our neighborhood friends and believe me, we were. We created all kinds of "imaginary realms" for our "escapes". The books we read (had to read) helped that too.

I was greatly into "Robin Hood" and "King Arthur's Round Table". We had a terraced backyard and the upper terrace was our "Terabithian Realm". We had a gigantic avocado tree that "served" as many a castle and "armour tree" where we hung all our "silent weapons" we had "hand crafted". We took various roles and had running "battles" from our "underground fort" in the unoccupied "back lot". This was also where I planted my first garden of fast-growing vegetables and buried my first pet and a opossum playing "possum". We made mudball hand grenades filled with rocks for those pesky (imaginary and real) adversaries (various neighbor kids we fell in and out with) We made shields and helmets out of anything we could find in the trash behind the garage.

Soon bikes and roller coasters were involved. We lived near the corner of a hill that was perfect for long, thrilling rides One coaster just had to have "jets" nailed to its underside and I remember saving up my allowance for those special jets you could only by in the local hardware store (no more than 4" long) What a disappointment when they had no measureable effect on our downhill coast.

Soon we had to fit in our terabithian play after dinner in the summer until dark. We, of course, were allowed to go barefoot at that time of the year and it was so hard to put on those new shoes for school in the fall. Neighborhood jobs, not just chores at home, took more and more time away from those halcyon days. At one time I had seven lawns around the neighborhood to mow weekly. I pushed my own (dad's) mower, catcher, sack, hand trimmer and broom to each neighbor's lawn and was so happy to get up to $1.75 (for the whole lawn) once a week. Here I also created "worlds of creative mowing patterns and designs"...anything to make it go easier and quicker, like fun.

We lived accross the street from the backside of Forest Lawn Cemetery. Up and across the street there was a another vacant lot behind some homes where nobody was ever home. There was a hole in the fence behind the "Court of David" (yes, a repllica of the real one in Florence, Italy) We got quite a thrill sneaking into this area of Forest Lawn and risking being caught and taken to our parents or the police. We continued our "Terabithian Ways" here too. Little did I know then that I would be working at this cemetery as a college kid later as a "pall bearer for hire".

You can see why I gravitated toward the "creative subjects" in school. I soon was involved in music and drama productions from elementary school, Junior High and High School. More chances for me to "escape to Terabithia" in an acceptable way. "King of the May Day" in Kindergarten set me off. "Turkey-lurkey" in our second grades recorded production of "Chicken Little". (very appropriate, don't you think, for my later career choices) Mystery Theater co-lead in Junior High...some "murder in the bogs of Scotland" I think. I had to wear a tweed jacket I remember. I concentrated more on music in High School and did a couple musicals, one I remember was "Lost Horizons" ... we chimed in at the end with the chorus, "Beyond the Blue Horizons Lies a rising sun!"
Here I started to work on my "terabithia of writing" with teachers who enjoyed my "flights of fantasy" in their assignments. In college I again concentrated on music, vocal music, because it had that same ability to "send me to terabithia".

So you see it was a very natural thing for me to love teaching elementary school and do it through my "terabithian eyes". I had one rule: "If I got bored, I knew the kids were." So I kept it open for lots of drama, creative problem solving, i.e. "Burgan Bucks", Disneyland Trips, semi-annual class play productions, and lots of reading aloud to the class after lunch break. I tried to choose books that kept "terabithia alive" in them and me. i.e. "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" was big at the time, "Hobbit", "Narnia", and towards' the end "Harry Potter's series. I think we got to book three.

On one of our choir tours to Europe before I retired, I brought this special book above to preview(read) so I'd be prepared to read it to the class. I remember that Kirk Schaumann, my singing tenor buddy in the choir, asked to read (reread) the book on the bus. He sat behind my wife and I. It was then I realized that I'd have trouble reading it...it has a tragic death in it and I usually had trouble reading these passages aloud. Yes, I'm from the old school that says "men" should not cry in front of others, especially their students. (I had the class TV on when the Challenger went down and the first teacher in space was killed...that was a tear-jerker) There were other incidents that I probably choose to not remember. So, I never read "Bridge..." to my classes. It was just too...true in so many ways for me. i.e. The little sister who just had to "tag along". The "one main best friend" of the opposite sex in the neighborhood. The getting my pants pulled down in a "tackle football" backyard game with the girls watching from "the tree" and being so "em-bare-assed" that I wouldn't come out of the house for a month...the bullies in school and to and from school...being beat up and locked in the gas station restroom. The guilt trips so embedded in me by my church and parents when "things" went "wrong"..."God, what have I done to deserve this?" Certain that I was "going to hell" or other friends would. (yes, this is in the book too)

We all have these memories I assume. It would be a terrible shame if the kids now-a-days don't have those same opportunities for "bridging to terabithia". I just can't think that video games, nintendo DS's etc. can provide the same total involvement. Do our kids even have any "non-structured", unplanned out, unscheduled time anymore? Bob!

Meat Still Life

2007-03-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

This is one Masterpiece I plan to see when I visit Uppsala, Sweden this summer. It is in the University Collection there. It was painted by Pieter Aertsen in 1551. Over 450 years ago people were still enthralled with meat. (animal flesh of all kinds) The artist lived 70 years, which is long in the 1500's.(he must've been a vegetarian) He worked and lived mostly in Antwerp (more than three decades). This area is now the "low lands" or Netherlands/Belgium. It was a great place for an artist in those days because of all the wealth from commerce and commissions. At a glance, this painting (oil on panel, 4' x 6') appears to be a descriptive genre scene. On display is an array of meat products - a side of a hog, chickens, sausages, a stuffed intestine, pig's feet, meat pies, a cow's head, a hog's head and hanging entrails. Also visible are fish, pretzels, cheese and butter.

Like other artists of his time, Massys for example, Aertsen embedded strategically placed religious images as reminders to the viewer. In the background, "Joseph" leads a donkey carrying "Mary and the Christ Child" (photo above is cropped on the left to exclude this) The Holy Family stops to offer alms to a beggar and his son, while the people behind the Holy Family wend their way toward a church. Furthermore, the crossed fishes on the platter and the pretzels and wine in the rafters on the upper left all refer to "spiritual food" (pretzels often served as bread during Lent) Aertsen accentuated these allusions to salvation through Christ by contrasting them to their opposite - a life of gluttony, lust, and sloth. He represented this degeneracy with the "oyster and mussel shells" (believed by Netherlanders to possess aphrodisiacal properties) scattered on the ground on the painting's right side, along with the people seen eating and carousing nearby under the roof.

Where would you hang a picture like this? Now it is obviously in a collection in a museum of a major university for study but who commissioned it and why? Was it a rich merchant wanting to impress his clientele? And, if the priest dropped over he could point out all the religious allegorical symbolism as a conversation piece. Would they display it near or over the dining room table? I suppose, back then, it didn't bother folks to be reminded of the actual animals as they ate their prime cuts of "boef", "veal", "porke". It didn't seem "sinful" or crude to look into the eyes of those innocent creatures and lick your chops. As Anthony Bourdaine says, "If you are dumber than me and slower than me, then you are "in" me." Isn't it interesting that the seafood, i.e. oysters, clams, mussels were considered "bad" for you (tempting you into sex) where they actually are better for you than "red or fatty meats"? I wonder what they would've thought about "tofurkey", "veggie burgers"?

Don't get me wrong. I'm a firm believer in consuming protein in many different forms. Our species wouldn't be here if we didn't have some pretty dedicated wolly mammoth hunters. Our skills at obtaining "protein" have progressed a bit since then and scientifically we have found out that we don't need as high a percentage of our diet to be "meat"...like how often did they get to put mammoth "prime rib" on the blue plate special? Hunters and gatherers were mostly scroungers.

I'm just wondering why this "masterpiece" of "art" made it into my History of Art Text over all the other possible candidates of the time. Could it be that it was "one of a kind" for the time/era? After all, so many artist back then, Renaissance to Baroque Periods were imagining "demons and hellish monsters devouring us, bodily in hell...according to the clergy of the time that it wasn't that unusual to create a "Still Life" of what they were forced to eat. It was not unlike "Survivor Fiji" recently when they had to eat such delicasies as "pig snout" with the hairs still attached....anything to win an immunity challenge.

It is commendable that it was a "still life". Moving meat, on the hoof, so to speak, would be much more difficult to paint, let alone capture don't you think?...especially with a pallet and paint brush in your hands. Bob!

Dem Bones?

2007-02-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

"Dem bones, dem bones, dem...dry bones..." (fragments) of the Holy Family? Unbelieveable! This would maybe mean that the "Da Vinci Code" may have some truth to it. That's right. Twenty-seven years ago,(1980)in the East Talpiyot neighborhood of Jerusalem, Southern Israel, the bones of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, his wife?, Mary, his mother, two of his brothers Matthew and Jose and his son, Judah, by Mary Magdalene(?) were found in a crypt in ten limestone boxes called ossuaries. The inscriptions on the outsides are interpreted to be authentic.

In 1996, when the British Broadcasting Corp. aired a short documentary on this, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television. Most Christians believe Jesus' body spent three days at the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City. This is no where near where these bones were found. Do we have a monumental hoax on our phalanges? Is it possible that someone else in the area also had the same names and were buried together? Talk about "a bone(s) of contention" or "... a bone to pick with you"...

James Cameron ("Titanic") now has produced a documentary that more thoroughly investigates the above claims and authenticates them with DNA testing by a forensic lab in the U.S. He further shows the tests of the "patina" or crusts of the ossuaries because one, James, brother of Jesus (father Joseph), was missing, stolen and turned up later in another collectors collection. It is all very fascinating and I saved the TIVO'ed, two-hour presentation to pour over again. They also had a mathematician from Toronto work out the probabilities that this is not the Family Tomb of Jesus, historically. He, at first, put it at 1 in 600 that it wasn't...but then with the discovery of the missing ossuary he put it at 1 in 30,000. The tomb is now sealed up again after being rediscovered and searched. The local authorities hadn't given permission.

I was raised in a church that taught us to celebrate on Easter Sunday by saying and responding, "He is risen...He is risen indeed!" as our mutual greetings on that day. I think its origin might be Eastern Orthodox (Catholic Church). Just think how much of history and how many wars have been fought based on this belief in the resurection of the dead "in Christ". A great portion believe in the "bodily resurection" and therefore will not be cremated. Forget cryogenics. Is there something "special" about bones? Do they contain the "soul"?...if there is one. Do they have special "powers" that "live" on? Some aboriginal tribes ground up the bones and kept them or sprinkled them on special ceremonial sites. Some american tribes put the bodies on stilted platforms where they were desicated and picked clean by the elements and birds.

I have had the privilege(?) or opportunity to witness a cremation at Forest Lawn behind the "Wee Kirk of the Heather" chapel; back when I worked as a "pall bearer/flower carrier" there. The casket is a cheap pine wood covered with thin gray cloth. After the fire turns it all into "ash" it is raked into a wooden box and a magnet is passed through it to pull out the nails and hinges of the casket. There remain small fragments of "bone"...not really ash (wood ash). That is what is then put in an urn and interred. In that capacity, I saw and participated in all kinds of funerals. i.e. both open and closed casket, ceremonial interment in crypts, walls and the ground. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is frequently referred to...not bones.

To my way of thinking, now, and or my level or depth of faith, or lack of it; I am not changing any of my thinking/faith/beliefs about all of this. Finding historical remains of "the Holy Family", Jesus' marriage, His son existence, although extremely interesting to me, have very little to do with my over-riding faith and belief in a "hereafter", another dimension, another reality. Yes, I believe that there are "mediums" who have been able to communicate with "those beyond" in whatever physical or non-physical shape they are in. I have been to one and have had "things" shared that no one else could've or would've known. This has nothing to do with "bones" or remains on this "physical plane". Now you can see why I really "dig" the popular TV shows, "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium". No, it's not just Jennifer Love Hewitt. Bob!

Doing a Number(s) on The Disney

2007-02-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

"Here's a how-dee-doo...!" Just like a Gilbert and Sullivan lyric. The "keystone kops" filming at the Disney Concert Hall? Can you believe it? Yes, we are finally allowed to see inside this modernistic L.A. Landmark but only to stage a "kidnap and killing" on stage...not a Philharmonic or Master Chorale Concert, but a "lurking sniper's" execution and double cross of a fellow kidnapper. Why? Disney Management? Why? Is it money? or the lack of it to support the on-going cultural highlights and ground-breaking musical tributes that the L.A. Public isn't able to support?

I'm a "Numbers" fan. This is a cutting-edge TV show on Friday nights that uses a Cal Tech professor and his colleagues to help the FBI solve crimes in L.A. It is fascinating the way the theories and theroms and equations are displayed on "see-through" boards on the show. I doubt if any or all of this "math" really exists but it sure sound feasible. This latest show was about a drug lord's son being kidnapped and how he had to cooperate with the FBI, and they with him, to solve the case on a desperate time table. A sub-plot was the "boss's pyschological analysis and therapy all during the case without him even being involved. He had to turn off his cell phone and trust his "team" and talk about them. It was excellent in every way. His brother, the math genius, and his girlfriend (math genius too? yes, a girl math genius) actually have to do some fast, creative probability extrapolations to come up with the location and senario of the kidnapper/killer.

It all ends up out in front of the Disney Concert Hall on Grand Ave. in L.A. at a public phone booth (do they actually have those any more?) and racing labyrinth of phones at Olvera Street and the Union Station all within "running distance" carrying a heavy duffle bag of $3.2 Million in cash. It is "on-the-edge" of your couch viewing and then they throw in the magnificent "interior of the Disney Hall" and all it's lovely wood and accoustics. This is where I go, almost once a month, (season ticket) to my L.A.Master Chorale performances and am not allowed to "take pictures" of any kind. They actually jumped on the stage from right where I sit, stage left, down left. The kidnapper comes out from back stage right with the kid and is killed at center stage by his sniper boss in the third balcony back right. The "logical" math thinking that correctly put him there was a "process of elimination" of exits and entrances and room for a clear shot. The FBI agents are sneaking and laying around all over under the seats and in the aisles on the beautifully colorful carpets.

"Some Pig" i.e. "Some Publicity" for the Hall I'd say!...but I'd rather it was for a wonderful concert...what it was originally built and intended for. Poor Walt was probably "turning over" in his cryonic freezer. I've had some "thrills" there these past few years and plan to continue but frozen my memory is that image of the "killing at center stage" Why? I ask you, why? Yes, I used to teach "drama" and staged many a "fake" killing or sword fight but it is just not the same "Performing Art" i.e. "The First Art" Vocal/Choral Singing. Bob in Bb Minor!

B Flat Major Blog!

2007-02-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

My son Clark called me the other day to share with me a website he heard about while commuting to work and listening to NPR. It was all about "B Flat" (Bb?) the note one and a half tones below "middle C". He plays guitar and sings to his son and knows that, when tuning, this is next to the highest string (B) and it can go flat. I was curious, so after some searching on (mpr...etc.) I found the site and "Krulwich on Science" which was mentioned on the "Morning Edition" Feb. 16, 2007

During World War II, the New York Philharmonic was visiting the American Museum of Natural History. During rehearsal, somebody played a note that upset a resident live alligator named Oscar. Oscar suddenly began to bellow. Naturally, with so many scientists in residence, an experiment was quickly devised to see how to get Oscar to bellow again. After numerous musicians tried, it was found that B flat, one octave below middle C was the sound that set him off. That was back in the 1940's. Robert Krulwich repeated the experiment on an ABC News broadcast in the 1990's, playing a B flat to a collection of gators at a roadside attraction in Florida and recorded their bellows. Maybe a mating call? Or "male bonding"?

In September, 2003, astronomers at NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory found what can be described as sound waves emanating from a supermassive black hole. This black hole can be seen in the Perseus cluster of galaxies located 250 million light years from Earth. Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy of Cambridge, England, analyzed the waves and announced, "We have detected their sound..." The sound he found (which is really the waves passing through gas near the black hole) translate to the note B flat. But this is not a B flat you or I can hear. It is 57 octaves below middle C. A piano, by comparison, contains only seven octaves. So, if a black hole hums, it hums at a frequency a million billion times lower than we can hear. Talk about "music of the spheres"... This is also how elephants communicate great distances, I've heard...Bb?

I did alittle checking myself in the past few days and found that most of the songs us "barbershoppers" like to sing are in the key of B flat. (as you see above) It has two flats, B and E. My part, the "lead" usually doesn't start on B flat but on the 3rd or 5th above the the "tonic". They are called the "mediant" and the "dominant". In harmonic singing, i.e. barbershop, it is important to "hear" these intervals, also the "leading tone" (7th) which usually resolves to the "tonic" (Bb) "Woodshedding" is a "BS" term for making it up as you go (adlibbing) with 3 other singers i.e. the Bass, Tenor and Baritone. You have to "sing" with your "ears". My favorite songs that are in the key of Bb are: "My Wild Irish Rose" (lead on F), "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", "Shine on Me", "Sweet Adeline" "The Old Songs" (S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. Theme Song) "In The Good Old Summer Time" etc. (36 of more than 50 I know, are in Bb) The first time I was asked to sing "barbershop harmony" was as a freshman at a North Park College "Gym Jam" (Fall mixer 1957) They needed a baritone. We sang "...while strolling in the park one day". My first job teaching 5th grade in Pasadena at Allendale Elementary was partly due to my baritone voice and the three other men on staff (including the boss/principal) who needed a 4th part. We sang, "...nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina..." I just visited our BS leader in the hospital...and sang him one of his/my favorites...probably in Bb "Thank You, Dear Lord". He is also a retired teacher from the Redlands area. He sang with the "Roger Wagner Chorale" back in the day. Efraim Soto welcomed me to "VLQ" group six years ago. He and his great brother Chechi are great to sing with.

A musician friend of mine just told me today that they used to tune their instruments to the "hum" of the florescent lights in the band room...Bb. I'm betting that the famous movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"...had that 5 note communication with the "aliens" and the octave jump was...Bb's. What do you think? Am I reaching a bit? Or just Bobbing from Bb to Bb? I wonder why they never call it A#? Bob!

Another Da Vinci Mystery?

2007-02-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Could this be an example of what a "Lost Leonardo" might look like now? Whatever did happen to "The Battle of Anghiari," a grimacing crunch of men and horses considered by some experts to be Leonardo's greatest painting? Well, it wasn't buried by Vesuvian flow as this one above was. This is the "Alexander Mosaic" from the House of the Faun, Pompeii, Italy. It is thought to be what is left Philoxenos of Eretria's "Battle of Issus, ca. 310 B.C.E. This is where Alexander humiliates Darius III, the Persian King in southern Turkey. It was a floor mosaic using tesserae (tiny stones and pieces of glass cut to desired size and shape instead of pebbles)

Scientist turned Art Detective, Maurizio Seracini is the only "real" person mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code". For 32 years he has chased a real mystery and he now seems ready to solve it. He has recently been given permission by the government of Italy to restart his search, which involves using the most modern detecting equipment to peer through a 500-year-old wall in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy. On that wall, in 2002, he found a tantalizing crevice behind a Vasari Fresco. He believes that is where the "Lost Leonardo" may be sealed up.

The painting did exist, or at least a part of it depicting a fight for a standard on this particular wall in the former home of the Medicis, his frequent patrons. "Friday the 6th of June, 1505, at the stroke of the 13th hour," (1:P.M.)Leonardo wrote in one of his notebooks, (in his left-handed, mirror writing)"I started to paint in the palace." His younger rival, Michelangelo, had also been commissioned to paint his own battle scene on the opposite wall. He left for Rome and never even began it. Both men produced preparatory cartoons considered not only among the finest ever created but exemplary of the two strains of Renaissance Art the men embodied: Michelangelo drew heroic bathing nudes; Leonardo worked the motions and fury of men and horses in action. He was also marketing his talents as an inventor of "war machines" for the local combative Dukes. He studied war...among so many other things. He started much and finished little. Technical problems plagued him as he experimented with new processes for painting on plaster. i.e. "The Last Supper" not on wet plaster which is quicker but lasts longer but with oils on a wax-impregnated dry plaster. The condition of the hidden battle scene may be even worse than it predecessor, "The Alexander Mosaic". Then again, being sealed up in a wall away from the moister air of Florence, it may be in much better condition.

In the early 1970's, Seracini, a former medical student studying bioengineering in California, took an Art History course at UCLA from one of the leading Leonardo experts, an Italian professor, Carlo Pedretti. In 1975, Seracini returned to Florence, his hometown and again linked up with Pedretti who had begun to search for the "Lost Leonardo". It was then, on a scaffolding, that Seracini found a flag in the Varsari painting that he considered a possible sign of what might lay behind it: the words on the flag, "Cerca, trova," or "Seek and ye shall find." It turns out that that was the motto of one of the companies in the battle Leonardo had painted(?). From then on he developed a career using his engineering training and modern equipment to analyze works of Art. His most contentious finding, also landed him his unwelcome place in "The Da Vinci Code". In 2001, he proved that the paint in Leonardo's "Adoration of the Magi" was not applied by the master himself but much later by a "not very good artist".

The challenge is great. He cannot touch the Vasari, a treasure of its own, and instead must find a way to peer behind it with machines that do not exist yet. He has several theoretical methods, including a machine that would detect the pigments Leonardo used. There are records of the pigments, paid for by the city, of lead white, vermillion and a blue that might be lapis lazuli.

This is why I enjoy studying Art History. There are so many possibilities and causes for Art. I was inspired years ago by a display at the Claremont Colleges of "The Da Vinci Inventions". His drawings were superb and so exacting. He studied so many things and was a true "Renaissance Man". What an example for the ages. Bob!

It Ain't As Hard Bein' Green

2007-02-10T14:07:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this? They can't be serious. Branson has been involved in some "crazy" schemes in the past...like his reality show last year where he wanted to give away his company to the winner of some impossibly "herculean task" that only he could judge. Here we go again.

There are so many questions that occur to me about this, his latest promotion. Poor Al Gore; he's so well-meaning, but does he actually think you can just "suck up" the Carbon Dioxide in our global climate and send it somewhere? Like outer space? or, as an article in the newspaper today suggests, "bury it" somewhere near the town of Thornton. This is one of several government industry coalitions called West Coast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership or WESTCARB. They are looking at two site, one in Arizona, and the other in California near Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley because of the geology. Below Earth's surface, impermeable caps of shale rock overlie layers of porous sandstone that once held natural gas deposits exist in these areas. It will just leak out slowly over the eons. But just how do you collect all this CO2? How do you even measure that you have it? How do you transport it to these sites?

Would you win the $25 million from Branson if you came up with a three-pronged approach? i.e. Cutting energy use through better efficiency and changing lifestyles; expanding the use of energy sources that don't put CO2 into the atmosphere; capturing the CO2 from fossil fuel-burning engines and storing it (underground or in outer space). But then, how would you monitor this? The logistics wouldn't even be feasible.

There's a new show on TV-Cable that is, at least, entertaining. "Living with Ed" Have you seen it? It is supposed to be humorous and plays on the "eternal battle" of spouses. i.e. Ed Bagley's wife who likes to shop and spend and Ed, who likes "green projects" to build and install in his Studio City home...where money is no object. He goes on about saving money but he keeps getting new gadgets that have to cost something. At least he is making an effort to make us all more aware of the so called "global warming" that has now been officially declared by some conference in France. Even Mr. Bush is starting to listen and give it "lip service" in his "State of the Union" address.

Years ago, back when they were still having "Earth Day" and giving out awards and certificates for classrooms and teachers who were "making the effort", we won a "prize" from KCET at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens (with TV coverage) for our efforts with "styrofoam trays" used with our school lunches. We decided to collect them at our school after each lunch, rinse them off, stack them and bag them and send them back to the company that provided them to our district. At first they (the Co.) were reluctant because of the hassle of putting them back into the trucks that brought them in boxes. Our "administrators" were also reluctant with approval on letting the kids "mess with all that garbage". We had to stand over the trash cans and have the kids knock off the left-over food in one can and drop the tray in another. Then they had to be hosed-off, stacked and bagged and stored in a shed near the lunch area. It went fine until we discovered rats and the smell. Needless to say, if we had all this hassle with a mini-green-project, how are Branson and Gore going to handle a global one?

Branson compared the "Project CO2 Suck" with a competition Britain's Parliament launched in 1714 to devise a method to estimate longitude accurately. Six decades passed before English clockmaker John Harrison received his prize from King George III for making a portable, accurate timepiece that could weather the "weather" on board ships in those days. It is just not the same in scope. Sixty years? Think of all the politics involved...(lying, cheating, stealing etc. yes there was)

Weather Science has yet to be that accurate and dependable. "A 40% chance of rain tomorrow." I just wonder what the percentage chance of "global warming" is in the next 100 years? Can we really do anything about it...besides complain? ...and Bob!

Cross-Country Hiking and Multiple-Guess Test Taking

2007-02-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day for hiking and test taking. I did both with aplomb. I haven't written much about going to Crafton Hills College since I originally checked it out over a year ago and decided to take some classes for fun. I remember, at the time, checking out the "Writer's Workshop" upstairs at the Library. I haven't been back there yet. But I have taken some music classes and Art History. Currently I'm taking a "Total Fitness Class with Chris P. and an Art Hist. II class with Kris A.; two very interesting professors.

My first Chris has us stretching, doing cardio and pumping iron every Monday and Wednesday at 11:A.M. She is very involved and "hands-on" in her approach. You can tell she loves her job and enjoys helping all of us "get fitter". Yesterday she allowed me to hike cross-country up a fire access road above the campus to the gigantic water storage tank (reservoir) on the top of the hill. (the one with the "CHC" written on it among other four-letter words all sprayed out, except one) At first, she was only permitting walking on the level track but now, with the golf class practicing drives there, she has acquiessed. This is a roughly-paved road that winds around for about a mile and a half and has an assent grade of up to 15%. My younger classmates were trying to run up and down with some success. I decided to walk briskly. Well, that soon had to be modified. I like to challenge myself with only "nose-breathing" (like the Indians used to do with a mouthful of water to spit out at the end) Halfway up I switched to mouth breathing big time. Soon I was slowing down and I even tried walking backwards. Chris kept track of me and came back for me on the way down. A bit concerned? Maybe.

On the way up I was remembering an incident near my childhood home on York Blvd. We too had a "water tank" on the top of a hill above our house. We kids used to hike up to it and play catch/ball below it. One particular day, we thought we kept hearing someone yelling/screaming from up by or in? the tank. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that there were some "teenaged boys" swimming in the tank and the water level had gone down and they were trapped and getting tired. We ran home and called the fire department (before 911) and "Saved their Lives" (my first "life preserving") They had been sneaking into the water tank (our drinking water) and swimming (among other things I suppose) but always earlier in the day. Toward the evening, people were watering their lawns and cooking supper and the water level had gone way down and they couldn't climb up the slippery center pole (being too tired). We were never rewarded or recognized for that rescuing act.

I then proceeded slowly to the gym's basement where I had planned to "pump iron" for my arms and shoulders/back. I did, slowly, but by the end of the hour, I was literally shaking. No problem, no concern, I had a test coming up at 1:P.M. with my other Kris professor. It was only later, today, that I found out I had a mild infection going on in my lungs and I'm back on the antibiotic Avelox for the next seven days. The doctor recommends "treadmill only". I'm still alittle achy but I walked my 30 minutes today.

My Hist. of Art professor is so funny especially when she is preparing us for one of her "babies" as she refers to her "M-G-Tests". She is referencing her daughter and the way she dealt with the boyfriend/suitors coming to call. She wanted/wants "No Marks" of any kind on her daughter or her tests. All the marks go on the scantron sheets with a #2 pencil. She was actually quite proud of the the first test over the first two chapters because "we had some input into them" according to her. We had to write our "best" M-C test questions (8 of them) and turn them in (in a timely fashion) She chose from them and combined them with her own i.e. suggested one from the textual materials that professors get. They were "beauties". Every trick of test construction and "distractor writing" was used. i.e. "All of the Above, None of the Above, B and C only etc. You really had to know your stuff or be awfully experienced at "M-C Test taking". I felt pretty confident and finished in good time. But, I must admit that I had to do some guessing. What amazed me was that for a "History of Art" course there was absolutely no "visuals", no slides, no id's, no comparisons of style etc. No creative thinking, or expression was asked for. Wait, what's the matter with me? This is a survey class with 40 + students. It is lecture only with no discussion or "socratic dialogue" That would come with a smaller class wouldn't it? We were turning in the questions but getting no "feed back" on their correctness or authenticity. I'm missing that. Maybe in a future, smaller class we can have that helpful way of learning.(aside: At a summer school I taught on the Olympics and Greece, I came one day dressed as "Socrates" toga and all and "bugged" the students to distraction when I would only ask and answer with questions all day)

I'm surprised that Kris has gotten no help from the college or her colleagues on how to set up and run the slide projector or how to make a "power point presentation" of just the artwork slides juxtaposed for comparison. Has team teaching not come to the college level or has it left already? Kris's husband is an artist who works with computer graphics at another college. Maybe he could help. Ms. Blalock, my Art Hist. professor for part one, could probably help with the technological logistics. I can appreciate the fact that she wants this class to be more "analytical" and not "just memorization of works/dates etc." But I think that my younger fellow students could be asked to participate in ongoing discussions and questions that would only enhance their learning. I was not happy with the "one mid-term, one final" grade either in Art Hist. I. We even did a "research paper" on two museums. But there wasn't that much feedback.

Just like the sudden cross-country hiking without build-up or prep; multiple-guess testing doesn't really test for long-term staying knowledge or learning growth without some preparation on how to effectively write and answer questions that measure facts and knowledge acquired in such a short period of time. I'm guessing that some students paniced and got "shakey" and just left early. Or, they learned how better to be ready for the next "multiple-guess test" by reading the chapter more thoroughly, taking notes better and asking more questions. Bob!

A Renaissance Man

2007-02-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

On this Ground Hog Day-Candlemas Day my first moribund task was reading the obituaries. Yes, I was looking for my "shadow". The old belief is that if the sun shines on Candlemas Day or if the groundhog (woodchuck) sees his shadow when he emerges on this day, six more weeks of winter will ensue. Well, the sun is shining bright, it's cool and the prediction is for warmer days here in So.Cal. Candlemas commemorates the occasion of the Virgin Mary bringing her new Son, Jesus, to the temple to meet the aged Simeon and learn in his shadow.

Gian Carlo Menotti, a world famous opera composer and director died at a hospital in Monaco yesterday. He was 95. His opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors" holds a special memory for me. I learned today, in the obit. that he was inspired by "The Adoration of the Magi" a painting(at left) by Hieronymus Bosch, a Renaissance Painter. I am studying his "The Garden of Earthly Delights" in my History of Art class. The question I would like to venture is: would either of these men be considered "Renaissance Men"?...for that matter, would the Three Kings (or Wise Men) be considered "RM's" before there even was a Renaissance? What constitutes one these days?

Gian Carlo Menotti organized music festivals in Spoleto, Italy and the U.S. and helped bring opera to the masses with his repeatedly televised Christmas work "Amahl and the Night Visitors". He has been called the "most-often-performed living composer of opera". Before composing "Amahl", the first opera written for television in 1951, brought forth "The Medium" in 1946 and "The Consul" in 1950. The latter won him a Pulitzer Prize. It was translated into 12 languages and performed in more than 20 countries.

He welcomed the commission from NBC to create a Christmas piece. He took inspiration from the famous Bosch work above and musically wove the touching tale of a disabled boy who offers his crutches (or crutch) - his only possession - to the three wise men to give to the infant, Jesus. Because of his sacrifice, the boy is healed. NBC ran the special for many years on Christmas Eve.

My special memory has to do with our annual Christmas Programs that we used to present in our Public Schools. We I started teaching in 1962-3 we thought nothing of having a Tableau of the Manger Scene and having our little exchange student from Mexico be "Nuestro Angelita". She was so sweet and spoke very little English. We continued to present religious and and quasi-religious plays, songs etc. for our annual festivities. The last year I did that was in the early 1980's (forget the exact year). We were heading up to the High School Auditorium because of the bigger venue/stage. That year, I also had a very special boy in my class. He was the first, "student of a former student" of mine. Yes, I had his father in my first years teaching in Pasadena. He was a wonderful student and could not only sing but act. His mother was a music teacher. I think I remember his name was David Yenoki. We, (I) decided to put on "Amahl". We did everything i.e made the hut(hovel) for him, the crutch, costumes, props, makeup and all with lots of help from parents. This was a "cut-down" elementary arrangement of the opera but we learned the main aria's tunes and words. David had a lovey soprano voice and sang his part beautifully. The Magi were magnificent in their splendor. We only did it once and had "SO's" (standing ovations) We thought it was a hit. But then came the complaints, some written, to our school principal and Board. They were mainly from one or two Jewish families in the school who were there that night. That is when I decided, as did the school and district, not to allow anymore "religious" programs from our public schools. From then on we called them "Holiday Shows" and did secular, popular songs i.e Frosty, Rudolph etc. I think the next year, as a school, we did "Babes in Toyland". I was, from then on, discouraged and didn't do any major works before the Christmas Break.

Menotti's compositions also took a backseat and he decided to organize an international summer music festival in Spoleto, Italy, near his childhood home. He told his biographer, John Gruen, "I became so completely disenchanted with the role of the artist in contemporary society. I felt useless...I felt the artist should become a part of society - a needed member of society - rather than just an ornament...My dream was not really to create a festival, but to create a small city wherein the artist would thrive and be one of the most essential members." He nourished young artists there and in 20 years created another festival in Charleston, S.C. U.S.A. He briefly worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and in 1984, received the Kennedy Center Honor for "lifetime contributions to American culture". He went on, 95 years, to many continued firsts and successes in the U.S. (San Diego) but he always kept his Italian Citizenship.

Is not a "Renaissance Man" one who inspires his peers and his "world" to new heights of creativity? From the meaning of the word, renaissance, "rebirth" didn't he see to that over and over again? Is it not continuing in these festivals? Here was a man who was a "citizen of the world" and willing to travel with his "gifts"...not unlike the Magi of old. Who knows what they started as they returned from their journey following that star. They must've cast a long shadow for all us "groundhogs". Bob!

SHINE!

2007-01-30T15:18:00.000-08:00

"This little light of mine,

I'm gona let it shine..."

"Shine on me,

In the...evening"

These little song phrases in my memory are conjured up when I think of "shining on" someone or something. The first is a Sunday School song I was taught and the second is a Barbershop Quartet Chestnut I enjoy singing. So I thought the concert last Sunday night at L.A.'s Disney Concert Hall by the L.A. Master Chorale was going to be a "shining tribute" to Steve Reich, one of our best modern, minimalist composers on the occasion of his 70th Birthday. Well, it truly was. And yet it was so much more for me, casual, amateur choral music singer/fan/blogger. The graphic from the printed program shown above gave me a hint of the rich and textural experience I was to have musically with the shining, dark, pock-marked pebbles glistening from the signature architectural shapes of the, now familiar, L.A. Landmark.

I arrived five minutes late to "Listen Up" only to find standing room only. This rarely happens at these pre-concert lectures i.e. mainly populated with early-bird retirees, like me, who have nothing better to do before the concert. I stood for awhile, listening and taking some notes while Alan Chapman from KUSC, Grant Gershone, L.A.M.C.'s Director and Steve Reich, honored, baseball capped composer held forth. These sessions are usually very conversational with little interacting from the masses. What seemed to be the fascination with this particular concert was the West Coast Premiere of a recently commissioned work by Reich on the tragic kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl by Islamic extremist in Pakistan in 2002. Daniel was a Wall Street Journal reporter of American Jewish decent. He also played the jazz and blue grass fiddle. My interest was piqued and my memory was jarred back to that loathsome event. Even though I wanted to hear more about the inner workings of the minds of the composer and the director, I needed alittle fuel and a pit-stop before the concert that I knew would be emotionally draining on me. So I stopped standing in the side/back and went back downstairs for refreshment.

I had missed the Christmas concerts due to illness and family obligations and I wasn't about to miss this one for other reasons. I usually like to come into my seat early and get settled and read the blurbs in the program. I sit on the extreme stage left now, just three rows from the lip of the apron. It is an area that I can stretch out my legs and relax and not have to get up 17 times for latecomers. Usually a little usherette stands in the corner holding a pile of programs that she offers to no one. It seems her main purpose is to spot "flash photographers" and tattle to her superiors on just exactly where they are sitting. He then "walkie-talkies" to his cohorts on that level and, boom, they're busted. Never mind that the hidden, slanted, unmarked steps are there to trip up unsuspecting, older, disabled ticket holders. She does give the verbal warning but there are a series of three steps that usually surprise most. Someone will have to fall and...threaten to get letigious before the steps will be marked with glow-in-the-dark caution tape and have extra ushers there to grab an arm. Anyway, I go on...too much. I usually make sure my cell phone is off or turned to vibrate. I've recently upgraded my phone to one that takes pictures. It doesn't flash...so...yes, I was tempted to take a picture of the organ pipes and send them to my musician son. No one would be the wiser. Good thing, I don't tempt too easily.

I was amazed at the set-up on the stage, a first. Everything was mic-ed. Eighteen music stands and eighteen microphones for the singers in the back of a small complement of an "orchestra" i.e. four grand pianos, four marimbas, a few reeds, horns and strings. Only one bass viol.

This was the set-up for the first half, "You Are Variations" by Reich which the chorale used to open the Disney a few years back. For the second half the marimbas were replaced with "vibes" (vibraphones) and the strings were cut to a quartet with a bass drum (muted) and a "tam-tam" (gong) I knew we were in for a ton of percussion.(usually always fun for me) The "Daniel Variations" singer were reduced to 12 and excluded any basses or altos...interesting. My excitement and anticipation was rising. Everyone/thing was amplified so there were two gigantic multidirectional speakers on either side down stage right and left.(also a first for me) Usually the accoustics in this special hall were unaided (very lively) Wow! Then I saw and read that the composer himself would do the "mixing" from the booth in the back. This was just like a recording session...which, I guess, there will be in the future with "Nonesuch".

The first introductory, companion works performed were motets from the Renaissance Period by Josquin des Prez and William Byrd. They can be very beautiful, flowing and polyphonic(weaving melodies like canons or rounds) Their subject matters were very fitting from Psalms. "Jubilate Deo Omnis Terra" and "Haec Dies" in the first half and "Absalon Fili Mi" and "Justorum Animae" introducing the darker second half. I was all set to be awed...and musically, I was; but visually, staging-wise I was distracted. The professional singers came out in their "informally diverse and black costumes and proceeded to sing to each other in a circle near the edge of the apron. In the first half, they were very near me and I had an excellent view of some basses big behinds (eye-level). I also heard individual voices, especially a tiny tenor one. Now, granted, as a singer, I have practiced this way so to better hear each part/voice and blend, but to perform this way, even in a concert hall with "surround seating", no thanks. There were two areas of risers that could've been used in these small side areas without mic cords...at least face one direction and smile at the audiences instead of each other (which they didn't do either)

I was prepared for non-harmonic, minimalist music with few cadences. This was the least of what I got; especially with the "Daniel Variations" The driving, repetitive nature of the percussive pianos and marimbas. Soon I was in another world of my thoughts and dreams/nightmares about this horrific lapse in justice. The minor dominant chords were taking me back to Daniel in the lion's den and the Persian King, Nebuchadnezzar's demands and dictates. History? repeating itself? "Handwriting on the wall..You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting." always was used to scare us kids. Nightmares coming true for many of our best and brightest/youngest even today. Yes, the music was disturbing, that was its purpose. Yet at the end, the major dominant chords helped bring me back to our modern day Daniel who simply stated his name, "My name is Daniel Pearl." for all the world to hear and know that he still existed, his strong will would proceed. "He was what his thoughts were. Explanations come to an end somewhere. Say little and do much." Even today, we commemorate his sacrifice and we too hope, as he did, that the Angel Gabriel likes his music.

"Hide it under a bushel,

No!

I'm gona let it shine,

Let it shine,

All the time!

Bob!

A Dying Breed?

2007-01-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

Is extinction threatening our unique breed? We Bloggers must unite! Somehow we must propagate. I'm doing my part. I even have cards I pass out to those who might be interested in reading my journal of thoughts and opinions. I have registered my "blogging theme" with the Writer's Guild for future "spin-offs" (attempt at humor)

In a recent article in our Press Enterprise entitled, "Burnout Thinning Ranks of Bloggers", Jon Tevlin of the McClatchy sites these signs: The Technology firm of Gartner Inc. has announced that 2007 may be the year the blog world loses steam - there were more than 56 million active weblogs (blogs) in Oct. of 2006, according to Technorati, but the average life span is three months and declining. (I've been doing my blog since March of '05 with about 2 or 3 posts a week!...lately maybe once a week) There are already 200 million ex-bloggers. The peak number worldwide will be about 100 million before July. Today's exuberance will level off to a stasis of at least 30 million active bloggers and 30 million frequent community contributors worldwide.

The reason, according to Gartner, is that people have gotten bored with their blogs, or just found the responsibility - not to mention the strain - of saying something profound or even interesting every day just isn't worth it. (Here, I totally disagree. I usually find something everyday in the two newspapers I subscribe to or the several magazines that suggest topics of interest. Then there is always what is happening to me in my "retirement world" i.e. going back to college, singing with my barbershoppers, going to concerts and reviewing them, shopping, playing with games and puzzles such as my nintendo DS "Brain Age" etc. or tutoring at the Kindergarten and Middleschool or gambling at the local casinos)

"A lot of people have been in and out of this blogging thing," says Daryl Plummer, chief Gartner fellow. "Everyone thinks they have something to say, until they're put onstage and asked to say it." (Aha! No wonder I like it...I'm at ease on the stage, having taught drama of some sort all those years.) However, I just took the "Online test" for Jeopardy and it was a "humbling experience" to say the least. You get only 15 seconds to read the question and type in the the answer before the time runs out on you. Most of the time, I had an answer, maybe right, but time had gone. We watch the show every night and usually do pretty well without the question phrasing and the pressure of time. They don't stage the "Seniors Contests" anymore...not that entertaining I guess.

What I've also noticed is that alot of our up and coming, younger generation doesn't have "time" to bother with the newspaper or printed media. They get what they need or all they want off the TV or the internet "sound bites". No "in depth" coverage or fascinating "human interest" stories. These are perfect for Blogs in my book. Too bad for them, living life at such a "surface" level. The metaphor I like is the "bobbing" I do when I meditate...going deeper each time in that "sea of consciousness". Maybe that will come with age. Come to think of it, I was pretty busy and stressed out when I was suppporting my family with at least two jobs. I should not criticize my juniors without remembering what we went through. Just glad to be here and blogging and bobbing away. Bob!

Divine Comedy or Tragedy?

2007-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

I just found these pictures of Dante Alighieri in an information service I get called "Knowledge News". They are quite interesting to me since I just started studying the Renaissance Period in my Art History Class. Dante and his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy are significant in the development of the Tuscan Dialect of Vernacular Italian or "common language" invention and usage during a time, more than 700 years ago, when Latin was primarily used to convey the Glory of God.

Italian scientists have recently reconstructed the face of Dante, their nation's most famous poet. Using a combination of modern forensics and a plaster model made from his skull in 1921, they produced the bust you see above. He must've had quite a "Roman Nose"...a comedic nose?

"Midway upon the journey of our life

I found myself within a forest dark,

For the straightforward pathway had been lost."

So begins Dante's Divine Epic. For more than seven centuries, Dante's readers have connected with that feeling--of finding themselves lost--before following him on a poetic journey that leads, literally (or at least literarily), from the depths of hell to heaven's heights. It has been more than a few years since I was required to read it, but I remember the arduous trip for I, at the time, was considering going to the Seminary of our church and it must've had an influence on my deciding not to go. Undergraduate college courses had that effect on me. i.e. "dark forest" "fear and trembling" etc. Also, I didn't really believe in "Purgatory"...hell, yes, heaven, maybe. My what a distance I've come since my first major research paper back at Ol' North Park College -"Symbols of the Godhead". Can you even imagine?

Anyway, back to Dante - He was born in Florence, Italy in 1265 and became one of the city's leading political lights. His very success proved to be his downfall because in 1301, the Florentine faction he helped lead lost power to a rival faction, and he wound up exiled. Bad news for his budding political career. Good news for the history of literature. A few years into his exile, he began writing La Commedia (people added "divine" later) in the Tuscan dialect of vernacular Italian he had spoken back home. By the epic's end, his poem consisted of 100 cantos, each roughly 140 lines long, and all written in terza rima, a rhyme scheme he invented for the project.

The first canto introduces the entire work. The other 99 are divided into three equal parts: Inferno, in which the Roman poet Virgil leads Dante through nine descending circles of hell. (I was reminded of this when our tour in Rome took us to a catacombe...only it got cooler and damper) Purgatorio, was next and he was led up Mount Purgatory (a volcano not unlike Vesuvius which we saw fromt the forum ruins at Pompeii) and then Paradiso, in which Dante's deceased love, Beatrice, takes him on a tour of heaven (Virgil, a heathen poet couldn't go) (here I'm transported everytime I hear "Im Paradisium" a standard movement in most Requiems especially Faure's or Mozart's)

Together, the cantos draw a detailed map of the Medieval Christian Cosmos. This was one item we were in need of when we spent a day in "Fiorenza"(Florence) and didn't want to live in their museums and cathedrals. We ended up sitting an immense pallazio between the architectural wonders getting our "characatures" drawn by a local "al fresco arteest" My wife looked just like Oxana Byooul to him.

The Divine Comedy wasn't all fire and brimstone, penance and salvation to Dante. He wove in classical allusions, philosophical reflections and juicy details from his personal life --including spats with his political enemies, who got their just desserts in his version of hell. This classic work is considered one of the greatest literary works of all time but many of his contemporaries viewed it as vulgar in the "common tongue".

I'm sure some of my family, friends (contemporaries) view my "blog writing" in this same way..."pearls before swine" "putting out my private thoughts and pictures for the whole world (internet) to see...shameful! Tragic! What have I come to? Well, I don't care. I think it's a kick. Something to do in my "retirement spare time" It helps me remember all the wonderful things I have done so far and what I can dream and look forward to. Bob!

Chimerical Uxorious Coxcombs

2007-01-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

These then are the new "words of the day". Believe me, they are nothing you would want to be...even though, at times, you may feel that way. A "coxcomb" has many obsolete meanings now ie. a cap worn by a court jester adorned with a strip of red, a fool. Now it refers to a vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display, a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a dandy, a fop. Now, you add to that the adjective: "chimerical" and you get "indulging in unrealistic fantasies or fantastic schemes. This comes from the Greek "khimaira" = "she-goat" or "chimera" which in Greek mythology was a creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon. Top it off with an adjective like "uxorious" and you have the ultimate tragedy ie. "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife". Can you imagine?

Shakespeare did...probably more than once. Of course now we think it might have been the Earl of Oxford, his Ghost Writer. The play I'm referring to is "That Scottish Play"...you know, the one we "theatre people" don't refer to by name outside the rehearsal hall for fear of "the curse/jinx". You see I've been consulting on one of the first Shakespeare Plays I attempted back in the day..."Macbeth". Our local drama coach/teacher has chosen to have her kids do scenes from it and I've been trying to explain it to them. Macbeth's flaw was not only the three witches who put "a curse" on him but his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth. Of course, she went crazy with guilt, ie "Out damn spot" This all happened when there was much credibility given to such things as "witchcraft" not unlike "Harry Potter" and his cohorts. Since it was presented in England during the reign of King James, of Bible sponsoring fame, it was banned for five years or more and thus got its reputation. ie. a very dark and tragic-tragedy. This was a play where you could truly "break a leg" stumbling around in the dark. My first attempt at the play was so much fun and such a "success" that it got in the local paper in Claremont. I had two rebellious sisters in my class at the time. They were constantly challenging me and the school rules. ie. came to school barefoot. So I gave them the parts of the witches in Macbeth and they just loved it and took off with it. Of course we had to have all the scary make up, sound effects, green lighting and slimy animal part props for the caldron. The boys loved the sword fighting...first time they had been allowed to do that in school (with wooden blades)

The "fool" for Shakespeare was more associated with Falstaff or Yorick. Even "Taming of the Shrew" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" had fools or foolish acts. I have fond memories of them all at my "elementary level". We had more fun with the "fairy dust" and the special sound-effects for that when "Bottom and Titania" were made to fall in love with each other. And we did it all without "kissing or touching". I'll never forget the "fight" between Kate and her "not-to-be uxorious" husband. We had to choreograph quite a knockdown drag out brawl with out "a scratch".

Schools now days wouldn't allow any of that. No siree! Teachers wouldn't be given the kind of "freedom" I had. Too bad. We learned alot of vocabulary and "life lessons" and how to work as a team, cohesively...something schools don't/won't teach now. It is not on the Standardized Tests. Can't be measured and evaluated by paper and No. 2 pencil.

Who might be the "Chimerical Uxorious Coxcombs" now? Not us Bobs!

Her Jar is a Door!

2007-01-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

What happens in Vegas...stays in Vegas! Not quite. We recently had an opportunity to do some "shootin'" in Vegas. I'd like to tell you about it.

First of all, we had a great time. We went to celebrate my wife's sister's 65th Birthday. She wanted to see Celine Dion so we all got tickets. WOW! What a show! State of the Art Staging with "visuals" to match and enhance her spectacular "sound system". You couldn't take your eyes off of it. I tried to use my binoculars but then I would miss alot of the overall effects and the expansive choreography. It set me to dreaming about "staging" again and my minute productions back "in the day". What is it? "Young men see visions, old men dream dreams." Or is it the other way around? Anyway, the Director, Dragone, has some "Colosseum" there at Caesar's to work with. To me, from the outside it is shaped like a big "jar". He has taken the lid off the jar and given that audience a spectacular view of an "open door" with all kinds of possibilities and ways of expressing Celine's songs and dances. (hence the title of this post) ie. her band, 2 drummers, 2 keyboards, violin, accoustic guitars etc. are (at times) hidden in "see-through" stair mounds that open and close. Things fly, rise up from under the floor and appear out of nowhere. The lighting design and choreography supplement each other to the degree that they pulsate with the music and her "crystal shattering" vocals. She is very personable with the audience at times and effemeral too. The whole cast, after the bows walks out arm-in-arm to "What a Wonderful World" (L. Armstrong's) She also does a tribute to Frank Sinatra blending voices and pictures just the way Nate King and Natalie did. Go see it. You'll be awestruck too.

Another very interesting experience was our visit to the "Silverton Casino" and the "Bass Pro Shop". This was my brother-in-law's request. He wanted to pick up some fishing gear for his grandchildren. I had been there before with him last August and was quite impressed with the "taxadermy" displays. Half of the pictures above are from there. You've got your stuffed elk, bear, skunk, fish and even African animals. You've got your ammo, tackle and every possible thing you might need to hunt, fish, hike and even mountain climb. I included two stuffed people too,mountain climbers. My wife didn't want to see them or even go near them. She has some awfully scary memories of bears trying to get into our tent-cabin in the Sequoias. We gambled a bit and I found a new table game I really liked and made alot of money at. It is called "Boston 5" and is a form of poker played against the dealer. Minimum bet was only $2. but you had to put it in 5 places to collect. I just couldn't seem to lose. My only other winning instances were at two video poker games where I got four 7's and four 2's. I decided to stop while I was ahead.

We also visited the Atrium/Solarium at the Belagio. We just have to include that each trip to Vegas. Half of the picture above are from that display. Giant polar bears and reindeer made of flowers and pecan shells...not looking threatened or endangered at all. That's more my kind of "shootin' range".

We had some wonderful meals. Buffets at Paris and Bellagio are the best. Our new favorite place happened serrandipitiously. We had reservations at Spago before Celine but when we looked at the weird menu we changed our minds and went across the forum to "The Palms". Great choice! It is trying to be a "west-coast" "Sardi's" you know, with the characatures of "stars" all over the walls. (by the way, Vincent Sardi Jr. just died at 91 in New York) So we felt like stars and our waiter, Fernando Coyote, "Coyote" was quite a character himself. He and I sang the Mexican Birthday Song to my sister-in-law to bring down the house (restaurant) "Estas son las mananitas..." He got a big tip. The food was very delicious. We (both couples) split the salmon and (they) beef. We'll be going there again and look for sister restaurants in L.A. etc. We went out to Lake Las Vegas and to Monte Lagos Casino but we were not impressed at all. It was kind of dead, as in winter-dead. The casino was empty and in the "wine cellar". It was a side trip of only about 45 mins. On the way back we gambled at Mandalay Bay. Ideal place to throw money away. ie. very open, high ceilinged, spacious and the bar maids are "spectacular". I was hanging around the sports book which is close to the Mama Mia show entrance and some lady came up and offered me a free ticket to see Mama Mia (again). I was tempted but no...it is more fun to see, even a second time, with someone you love. So I went back to see my "Mama Mia" and her sister who were having the greatest time with "flaming Sevens" and "Free Merlot". Bob!

Smash Hit Musical Turns Historical Irony?

2006-12-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

We were watching "Final Jeopardy" last night when the Network broke in with "Breaking News". We were rather frustrated because we thought we knew the answer.(question) "It is the longest running Musical in History based on a novel written in 1911." We thought it was "Cats" and the literary work was t.s. elliot's. We later found out that that was wrong. It was "Les Miserables" based on Victor Hugo's book by the same name. That struck me then as being rather ironic, historically. The "Breaking News" was the confirmation of the hanging of Saddam Hussein in Bagdad. I know, you think I'm reaching here...but hear me out.

More than 100 years ago, The French Revolution bitterly raged. Innocent peasants were starving in the streets while the Royal Government was oblivious ie. "Let them eat cake." They rose up, following in our country's footsteps and revolted. Many were killed, and executed...by guillotine then. (Iraq uses hanging) This was a "Class War" and not a "Religious War". It was not "Sectarian Violence" is was hunger. There was no oil wealth but there were distinct classes of the "haves and have nots".

All over the media today there is speculation that this execution might signal or cause some kind of change in the near-civil-war violence. (by the way, death in 3's...Brown, Ford and Saddam) So far no great reactions or retaliations have been seen. And yet, the steady rate of suicide bombings continues...and the U.S. death toll is the greatest at 108 for December alone. When are we going to see that...again...History Repeats Itself!

I know, I had promised myself that this blog would not get into politics and/or religion but how can one ignore what is happening? Even President Ford, who we honor, as being true and loyal made a tape, not to be released until after his death, saying that going into Iraq was/is a mistake. It begs the question, would we be so involved, even after 911, if Gore had been elected? We'd probably be working more on the "Global Warming" (see previous blog/notes) which seems just as hopeless. The difference would be that our "best and brightest young men and women" wouldn't be dying at record rates in a land and for a cause that seems not to be our own. Oh yes, War on Terror, fight them "over there" so we won't have to here...hah! In this modern society, it is already everywhere. And yet there is no real "exit strategy" no real "victory" and forget about forcing "Democracy and Freedom" on a Culture that hasn't/won't take the "baby-steps" necessary to grow into even wanting it. Then you've got the neighboring countries and their policies of allowing radical groups to form and go into Iraq and continue the mayhem.

If it didn't truly look like the "Latter Days" to me...as in heading to "Armagedon" I'd be willing to bet that in 100 years or so there would be a Smash Hit Musical on the Broadways of the World entitled: "Les Innocentes" Yes, it would be "a novel" but it would have lots of "truthiness" ie.
100's of thousands being blown up, fanatical dictators being hanged, sectarian battles of Shite brother against Sunni brother (just like "Kite Runner" see previous blog/post) with the same historic father, Abraham/Ebrahim and oblivious government leaders who are more concerned with saving face, saving oil and bringing Democracy and Freedom to all the "down-trodden" of the world. It would get rave reviews because it was so true to life and true to history. ie. "Man's inhumanity to MAN." ...barely able to...Bob!

Aged Brains?

2006-12-28T08:31:00.000-08:00

No. This is not an advertisement for a "new gourmet organ food" promoted by Anthony Bourdaine on his TV show "No Reservations" or his latest book "Nasty Bits". He must have quite a iron-clad stomach by now. Nor is it a promotion similar to the ones we've been seeing on the TV lately for "Aged Beef"...can you imagine? People actually want to eat meat that is right next to "putrid or rancid"? Just to say that it is "aged"...maybe they mean "marinated" in some sauce like beer. I suppose it makes it softer and easier to digest, as in quicker...like it doesn't sit in your intestines for a week and putrify there. Nor is it a recognition of the new "cloned meat" that is "aged" by whole life spans and "reincarnation"...Nope!

This is acceptance and promotion of the new (to me) electronic software for my new Nintendo DS. It is called "Brain Age" My brilliant daughter-in-law introduced it to me awhile back. I also got "Club House Fun" from my Son and Grandchildren for it. There is also "Big Brain Academy".(it weighs brains, heavier the better) They are all to help me in a desperate attempt to forestall my "aging brain" from slipping into senility and altzheimers. It is all quite fascinating to me. My initial "brain age" as measured by the instruments/games it has on Arithmetic, Reading, Analysis etc. was 64. Then it slipped to 80. Then it went back to 49 and today it is 51. Shocking, isn't it? Developed by a "Dr. Ryuta Kawashima", who appears through out with helpful hints and "engaging conversation and motivation", is the inventor and devisor of the "mental scale". It makes the assumption that a younger, more agile brain is better and to be desired. So the faster and more accurately you do the little tasks he gives, the better. Some of the tasks are "voice activated" but need a quiet room. Most are written with a stylus on the adjacent screen. I find that so far it is challenging and my wife and I are having fun doing it and comparing results. So this is one electronic game that I can do and improve in....and it doesn't involve shooting and blowing up things.

Now if they could just come up with "software" that develops the opposite skills of "depth of insight" and "caring concern in actions" they'd have someting. Our society seems to be slipping away from these values as measured goals: ie. respect for aged experience and advice, dialectic decision-making, responsible and considerate living. Sage suggestions are ignored or laughed at. Then there is the possiblity that the "Brain Age" can be "frozen" at that young and inexperienced age without a care for the consequences and results of that uninsightful thinking. "Oh well, we'll muddle through." "Why am I having all this bad luck?" are often heard. Is it possible that all our electronic inventions will eventually be responsible for our demise as a culture? Oh, we'll be ever so quick and agile on the surface but the real thinking and decision-making will be left to wither and die...or the electronic robots will do it for us. Brave New World...count me out...pass me by. I'll be just bobbing along. Bob!

A Grown Up Christmas List

2006-12-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

Every year at this time I'm asked, "What do you want for Christmas?" "Make us a list." "Put it on Amazon." I confess, I've done it too. It is a way to show you are thinking of each other with love and want to do something special for that person. Each year it has gotten harder and harder to respond to that or come up with "gifts" and "ideas" that those loved ones might like or ones they can afford, or I can afford. I really don't need a "thing". I'm trying to get free of "the wants" too. We've been given so much. We still have our health, a comfortable and secure home, family who loves us. What more could we want?

I now enjoy this time of the year through the eyes of my grandchildren. I enjoy the sweet memories we have of our Christmas' with our four boys. Yes, we still think of them as "boys" even though they are our "men" now and two are fathers themselves. I'm sure they have gotten lists from their kids but we haven't felt the need to. We like to surprise grandkids and try to get them things that they won't probably be asking for or getting from their parents. ie. electronic things. I think back to my favorite holidays with my parents. One definitely involved a new bike with "riser handlebars" and one involved the "new stereo" with records by Robert Shaw. Mostly they are all clumped together in "how to decorate the tree",ie. one piece of tinsel at a time, memorizing "The Night Before Xmas" and the motions to "12 Days of Xmas" and eating "Lutfisk" and other Scandinavian "Treats". It definitely involved church services going on and on and the music of the choir and organ. These now would be on my "grown up list" and be unrecoverable.

Traditions, I still think are so important in growing up in a family. ie. things you do every year just because you do. They must involve those closest to you, those you love and hope the best for. They are non-judgemental but they have a "yearning for what could be" or "could've been"...yes, they are bitter-sweet. Life just doesn't turn out like a "Norman Rockwell Painting" and especially not a "Thomas Kincaid Painting".

Yes, top of my "grown up list" would be the health and happiness of those I love, yes even those I won't be allowed to see. More time becomes a "list topper" too. Time to do the things I've always wanted to do with them and with ourselves and friends. There are still many places on this Earth I'd like to experience. I used to have "a list" of those too. ie. I, at one time, wanted to hike the length of the John Muir Trail through the Sierras. I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail from end to end. Don't think I'm going to make those. I wanted to sing in Carneigie Hall in New York City but my one chance had to be passed because it was right after "911" and there was "fear" in the family. I also gave up the Olympics back there for similar reasons. Yes, there are regrets, but they pale in comparison to importance of the security and integrity of my family and loved ones. At one time I wanted to get my pilot's license. What a dreamer I was. I can only hope that my sons and grandchildren will have such dreams and more...and achieve them.

My Christmas List is for them and their happiness. I would hope that they would find faith in their lives and in their loved ones. Bob!

A Jazzy Christmas

2006-12-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the seventeenth already. Eight day until Xmas. It doesn't look like I'm going to get to any of my traditional concerts this year. I've been sick...still am. It seems like it takes me longer and longer to recover from even a small bout with a Cold or aCough. I had the flu shot and now I'm taking some expensive, non-generic antibiotic for seven days just to make sure my "compromised immune system doesn't let me get something worse. It doesn't help the sore throat, post nasal drip, cough etc. These all don't really let me sing or even go to concerts. I had to give up and donate my L.A.M.C. ticket to their annual Xmas Concert at the Disney...one to which I look forward. I'm also missing my beloved Mountainside Master Chorale's second performance today. Sad. I would've like to have heard/seen how they are doing with their new conductor. ie. "the Post Bruce Era". Oh well, maybe next time.

I did honor my commitments to my Mixed Chorus Group at Crafton Hills even though I was not in my best form, voice-wise. Above you see the front cover of the printed program for the event. According to the director, Bruce, it was the best group/performance he has had there. I did have fun with it. I was also asked to participate in the Caroler's Octet. We did all right even though we got the wrong pitches on one song and had to start over. We had originally practiced and planned to do the "Soul Version" of "The Hallelujah Chorus" from the "Messiah" which was too tricky, rhythm-wise for us and the accompaniest, so we dropped it. We also didn't even try to do the "Frosty the Snowman Hand Jive"...no choreographers/dancers in the group. The songs I liked best were: "Silent Night", "One Candle Lights the Way", "Jazz Gloria" and "The Twelve Days After Xmas" (quite funny) My sister sent me some other "Comic Christmas Carols" that I intend to pass on to Bruce. ie. "Throw the Yule Log on, Uncle John", "Good King Kong Looked Out", "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch", "J.B.M.C.A. (YMCA?) "Jingle Bells, Merry Christmas to All" & "Fruitcake"...maybe next year.

One of the most enjoyable parts of doing this singing is meeting and working with such great young people of "like-mind" ie. they love to sing too. Who can forget the nutty girl from Kentucky and her drawl pronunciations and daring suggestions to Bruce. ie. daring Bruce to turn around at the end of "A Groovy Twelve Days" (70's Style) and strike a "John Travolta pose"...he did it! I enjoyed his sense of humor and the way he handled challenges and disappointments that are bound to appear. Then there was the father and son, bass and tenor in the Octet who just seemed to love to sing together and practice all the time. Nice bond to have with a son. Then there was the fellow tenor, standing next to me, very shy and quiet who confided that his dad or friend was in the Inland Master Chorale. He made great strides in learning to sing some tricky tenor parts. There was the fellow senior singer and bell-ringer. She sings in 3 different choirs locally. Invited me to join. She also helped Bruce with the "logistics" of running the group, music library, bookkeeping etc. Very nice. All in all, a worthwhile endeavor. I'd do it again...it is just...the "handwriting on the wall", yes, health issues connected with being out at night, and leaving Betty alone. Our days and nights with each other are getting shorter/fewer and I just hate to miss any of them...even for singing. We went "dancing" last night at the clubhouse. Our annual Xmas Dinner Dance...it was fun...even though we both felt "under the weather". It is such a "short drive" home before 10P.M. Yes, I know,...it happens to all of us here in "God's Waiting Room". Bob!

Word of the Day: Inkhorn

2006-12-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

I subscribe to Dictionary.com's Word of the Day. Today's word is "Inkhorn", a new one for me. It means: 1. Affectedly or ostentatiously learned; pedantic. 2. A small bottle or horn or other material used for holding ink. It derives from the name for the container formerly used (beginning in the 14th century) for holding ink, originally made from a real cow's horn. Hence it came to refer to words that were being used by learned writers and scholars, using ink, but which were unknown or rare in ordinary speech. It probably has nothing to do with "Greenhorn" or "Lena Horne" or "Horn of Plenty"(cornucopia) or an "alpine horn" and I could go on...but that would be rather "inkhornian" don't you think? Now, at least, I have a name for what I like to do, or seem to do ie. play with words/meanings. I really don't mean to be pedantic or pedgogical but, after almost 40 years in the classroom, I just can't help it.

I just finished my Music Theory Final. Wow! I hadn't realized all the things I had learned. A ton of terms for musical stuff I usually just did or assumed were right without any reason. I think I now know what a cadence is and the different types. I know that I love phrases and progressions and even modulations (although none were on the test). I was also prepared with notes on the history of music but that wasn't called for either. I don't think I ACED it ("ace" being notes in a triad) but I felt that I showed I had learned something. I had a fine professor; very open to suggestion, witty and I hope to take him again ie. Music Theory Part 2. (maybe next year) I also enjoyed performing once again at the "Jazzy Christmas Concert" we had. It went well and I was surprised at the turn out. I enjoyed the director and have a new respect for what he is trying to do there. I have had a sore throat for more than a week now and I was still able to reach all my notes, sometimes using falsetto. I sound like a bass now when I talk. I have also come to appreciate all those years of singing with Mountainside Master Chorale and the Barbarshop groups. I have gotten a practical music (theory) education just by the years of experience. Hopefully, I can share that now with fellow students, those I tutor and even my grandchildren.

Friday is my last final...Art History. I'm really "inkhorned" in that subject. I've learned so many new terms, styles, etc. and now the challenging part is knowing the relative dating of all those objects of Art. Here again, I have really enjoyed my professor. She had quite a sense of humor and perspective for her young age. ie. Her dog has the given name of "Gieselbertus" who was a Romanesque Sculptor of the "Last Judgement" tympanum.at St.- Lazare, Autun, France. He knew how to sculpt those demons in hell weighing the "lost souls". Probably some deserving "inkhorns" in the lot. Best not to be too ostentatious and pedantic...unless you like to Bob!

Art Imitating Life?

2006-12-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

In the long History of Art, one of the pinnacles of human expression is found in the exquisite statuary standing in the portals of Gothic Cathedrals. Two exemplary groupings that still exist can be found in the jamb of the central doorway of the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France. They are representations of Old Testament Kings and Queens. They were sculpted between 1145 and 1155 A.D. The other grouping of jamb statues is in the central doorway of the west facade portal at Reims Cathedral in Reims, France. They were wrought almost 100 years later in 1230 A.D. It is called "The Visitation" because it celebrates the "Annunciation" by St. Elizabeth and Mary, mother and daughter. It is part of a series of statues illustrating the Life of the Virgin Mary in that Portal. (see above photos)

Both groupings represent ancestors of Christ. The Kings and Queens may be distant, Biblical relatives, while Elizabeth and Mary were quite close, mother and grandmother. The Kings and Queens were dressed in 12th Century garment and could also be thought of as present-day royalty (hence the name, Royal Portal). It was this modern identification that put them in jeopardy during the French Revolution when statues of secular Kings and Queen were being vandalized ie. Saint-Denis Cathedral. They were easily accessible being almost at eye-level in the jambs or sides of the doorways. This was thought to be done to show the kindly faces of these figures and not the mask-like visages of the Romanesque Style portraits. Mary and Elizabeth were more approachable and meant to inspire love. Mary became central to Gothic Iconography.

The Kings and Queens were actually statue-columns and, from a distance, looked like vertical decorative accents holding up the lintels under the massive tympanums of statuary. They were rigid, upright and elongated with elbows close to their sides under the very linear folds of their robes. However, unlike the classically styled Caryatids of the Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Rome, these Old Testament Patriarchs did not literally support the New Testament Saints above; only by appearance, figuratively. They stood out three-dimensionally but not as much as the Visitation Grouping. Mary and Elizabeth appear to be completely detached from their background. Their columns are shrunken and don't restrict their free and easy allusion to movement. They are portraits of specific individuals in the fully-ripened High Gothic Style. These classicized figures hadn't been seen since Roman times and they even were posed in the Greek contra postal posture with one foot forward and a right bent knee under their loosened garments. Swaying, child-bearing hips can even be imagined. It is thought that the master sculptor might have borrowed actual Roman sculpted heads for patterns ie. Younger Mary could easily be Faustina, the Younger, Marcus Aurelius' wife. These were the first signs of a New Naturalism in Gothic Style and progress can be seen over this 100 years from characterizations of Kings and Queens to the actual individuals of Elizabeth and Mary having a conversation in a Biblical narrative. Their faces are turned towards each other and there remains some evidence of paint.

The Catholic Church commissioned these works of Art and placed them at the entrances to their cathedrals for definite reasons of worship and proselytizing converts. They believed they were "imitating" the True Life of the Saints, Kings and Queens. Their belief in Mary and the Virgin Birth became so strong that much of the Art, statues, paintings, icons and relics took on "lives" of their own becoming the objects of worship and devotion. "Life" might have begun to "imitate Art"; especially in the hearts and imaginations of the True Believers. Yes, in the long History of Religious Arts, it is quite easy to see how this might happen even today, in the Modern Era; with the popular fascination for the "DaVinci Code" novel about another Mary. Bob!

A Wholly See's Rarebit and Reliquary from the Star

2006-11-30T07:49:00.000-08:00

On our annual pilgrimage to our local mall we just had to pay a visit to the immaculately white shrine of Mary See. All of her attendants were dressed in white and black and wore plastic gloves. As usual there was a line of "pigrims" with quite a wait. I was allowed to purchase one box of Wholly Peanut Brittle...my heart's/stomach's favorite. My wife had the maiden attendants hand-pack a special pound of Wholly Dark Chocolate Truffles from the Elixir of the gods. What a gustatorial thrill. We felt we had fulfilled our annual quest and contentedly made our journey home to partake in these offerings. We are so devoted to this ritual each year at this time. My parents made my sister and I initiates to this ritual way back in our childhood.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear... but a miniature "rarebit", yes, an icon of another holiday, right there in my box. I'm just sure it was a wholly relic so I immediately took a picture of it above...before I bit its head off in ritual satisfaction. Can you spy the tiny eyes, wiggly nose and mouth? I must now resist the temptation of this ritual more than once a day. I am so dedicated. I've even thought of inviting friends over or alerting the media to come an witness this wholly delicious event.

Today is also the day we start our annual countdown to that Special Day on the 25th of this December. Our dear friends, the Buck's, from the Star, have made it oh so easy and delicious this year by providing a little grouping of red boxes in the shape of a coniferous tree. Each day, starting today, you open a box and take out a chocolate treat and then turn the little box around to form a festive scene on which to meditate. This is called a reliquary box and it holds only the very wondrous of delights in wholly anticipation of that glorious event on the 25th (more gluttonous feasts). It is also customary to imbibe in the guaff of the aromatic bean during these daily rituals. Ah such fun!

Yes, I'm having fun with my Art History Class this year. We have just studied the Romanesque Period and Byzantine Period where it was quite normal to "worship" Icons and then into the Gothic Period where wholly religious pilgrimages and Crusades were taken to the Holy Land to rid it of the "infadel". Along the way, cathedrals would charge a fee to see Holy Relics ie. a Saint's toe, a fingernail, a lock of hair kept in a box (reliquary). In this way they were able to build bigger and better churches and altars for the Saint's glory. Then there arose those who banned the worship of Icons and Relics because of the 2nd Commandmnet ie. "Thou shalt not make any graven image..." That is why the "Blue Mosque" today, which was once the "Hagia Sophia"(Eastern Orthidox Christian) has no "images" on display...only very intricate designs and calligraphy in gold leaf. We saw the picture of Pope Benedict visiting there today and praying with the religious leaders about bettering relationships. I'm wondering if he got down on his knee, as they do, and raised his bottom in the air? I wonder if he took off his shoes, as we did? Did he smell the awful stinch of smelly feet/socks, as we did?

I'm truly sorry to be so "iconoclastic" here but it just seems to me that everytime in the news we see some "new holy image" on a shower curtain or shiny building or water-seapage spot in the sewer that we just have to "alert the media". Here's to the "true meaning of the season"...New Life and the Giving of Love! Bob!

It Ain't Easy Bein' Green.

2006-11-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

Kermit the Frog (Muppet) sang it best. Back then "he" was referring to his "different" skin color. Lately, it has taken on a few more poignant meanings. ie. Saving a species...not only a "Mountain Yellow-Legged" one but US! Yes, it seems to me and people like Al Gore and Gary Larson that this may be a very "Inconvenient Truth!"

A little local amphibian may very well be our first and only "canary" in our global environment's mine. Our booming population is causing pollution and warming at an astounding rate. We seem to be unable to do anything significant about it. Oh, we continue to try, but only like a few "bell-weather-individuals" on a scary "ride" called "The Entropic Planet of Doom".

Yes, they found these little survivor tadpoles in one of our local San Jacinto Mountain streams. This was after an earlier attempt to save some others (thought the last of the "Mohiccans") had all died of "frog tuberculosis" in the lab. Now, rather than leave them in that "drying up/polluted" stream they have successfully gotten most of them to morph, as the picture shows, to "froglets". I'm sure this is just the "tip of the frogberg" when it comes to endangered species.

With some degree of guilt I must admit I have enjoyed my share of "froglegs"...yes, they taste just like "fishy chicken". My first time to have them was on a family camping trip to Lake Hume. My dad was a fisherman. He wasn't catching that much on this overpopulated lake, even back then. So he decided to go "frog hunting". He took me along to hold the lantern because you have to do it at night from a small row boat. From somewhere he found a giant, 10-penny nail and cut off the head with a pair of dikes he always seem to have in the trunk. He then found a straight pole-type branch and stripped it of bark. He then took a log and knocked the nail into the end backwards to make a spear. Yes, he was crafty that way. Then out we went with our Coleman lantern, and a gunny sack. Oh, the excitement of it all! Dad and I out on an adventure. I was a bit shocked when I first witnessed the procedure. In the shallows of the lake we sat in the boat and quietly waited. Pretty soon we began to see lots of frogs around our boat and they were just frozen and mesmerized by the lantern light. Croaking ceased. My dad was deadly with that homemade spear...but, they wouldn't die! He had to take them off the spear and hold them by the back legs and konk them in the head on the side of the boat. I became very quiet too. The next morning over the campfire he gleefully pulled their "little pajama bottoms off, rolled them in flour and fried them. They were delicious but I can't remember having them again in restaurants more than once or twice as a curiosity...like "escargot".

Gary Larson's cartoons are missed. He knows it. He has only recently consented to do another calendar with all the profits going to "Conservation International" to help end the illegal trade in Asia...a noble gesture. Since so many of his "subjects" were comic wild animals and how they might want to fight back, I included a cartoon above showing a one-legged elephant talking on the phone about his new "ash-tray" foot/leg. Gary grew up near a great swamp and used to spend hours observing the fauna, salamanders frogs etc. "Now it's filled in...everything is getting filled in, overrun and generally made uninhabitable for everything but humans." To follow up on these concerns: www.conservation.org profauna.org leuserfoundation.org sumatranorangutan.org

Thanks to Netflix I just saw "An Inconvenient Truth". Besides being extremely depressing, it was galvanizing and I only wish I was younger. It is a masterful presentation that Al Gore, former Vice President, (winning the popular vote, but losing the electoral vote, thanks to Florida) is giving all around the country and world. It is packed full of facts and proofs that our planet has recently been getting warmer because of the pollution our growing populations are making. He goes into the political and ideological reasons why it is not being recognized. He believes we have a "moral imperative" to now start doing something about it before it is too late. ie. He sites, shrinking glaciers, ice caps, icebergs, polar bear populations as being the "too late" warnings. It then affects the weather and can even be attributed to "Katrina". Our leaders just don't seem to want to pay attention until some shocking "911" type event happens environmentally. It just isn't going to happen that way. It will continue to be very gradual creeping up on us like the "high tides" over many of our major cities ie. New York, San Francisco, not just New Orleans.

History is repeating itself..."Ice Age" "The Meltdown" but it is not the sequel to a very successful DVD cartoon. This is for keeps. If we don't do what we can now, our children and grandchildren won't have a chance. www.climatecrisis.net Bob!

Phonetic Pros?

2006-11-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

"Bravo, Charlie Alpha! You made it back from the Delta. I hear you stayed at the Echo Hotel in India, where you learned to Foxtrot(?) and play Golf.(?) Did you bring the Kilo that Juliet gave Mike in Lima? Big Papa Oscar has wanted it back since November. He wanted me to give it to Romeo in Quebec. I was going to drive my Sierra cross-country. I was even willing to Tango in Uniform with Victor if I had to. No, I haven't had too much Whisky! Do you need your brain X-rayed? I'm just trying to be a good Yankee Doodle Zulu!

This is supposed to be the NATO Alphabet. It is used by police, maritime communications, air traffic control and military. I'm wondering who actually thought it up. Isn't it time for a new one? I wonder what it looks like in another language. I always thought it was..."Alpha Beta Charlie Dog"...from that travel novel by Steinbeck - "Travels with Charlie". He and his cute little dog traveled across America in his camper with many an insight about our national life. When I was in the Naval Air I attempted to learn this alphabet by recognition of the various flag positions that were used to communicate aboard ship. Yes, this was in "ancient times" before...computers...radar etc. I think it was called "Semiphor". Then there was ASLAN. These are hand/finger signs for all the letters(for the deaf) I used to teach it to some of my more precocious students. I told them that when I was in Jr. Hi. we used to get a pass, get out of class (to go to the restroom?) and actually "talk" to our friends in other classrooms through the little windows in the classroom doors with our hands only...until we got caught and got a "citation". Then we had "detention".

Last night there was an interesting new show on TV called "3 lbs." In it a young violinist had a "stroke" during a recital that seemed to first effect her left "fingering" hand. The computer graphics were awesome. It also disabled her language/speech centers (Broca's) in the left lobe. She was worried about her disability also taking out her skill with music. The "heroic surgeon" assured her that center was in the right-brain. That was quite a relief to her. I think it has been some time now that we have known that the brain isn't so location-specific. Otherwise her left-brain would've shut down her bowing-right hand first. There is this amazing structure called the "corpus collosum" which connects the two hemispheres. They say it is more developed in women. "The Arts" are not stictly right-brain and "Language" is not strictly left-brain. They also abused terms like "soul" and other "intangibles" like "meditation". To top it off they almost lost her on the "table" and when she came back she wrote a note that she had communicated with her dead twin sister. Boy, doesn't that just push all the right buttons? We want to believe so much that we now make primetime TV shows about all of this "esoteric communication" ie. "Ghost Whisperer" "Medium". Until we all get better at communicating with each other here on Earth, even with my outdated Phonetic Alphabet, we should leave the other kind to...telepathy! Don't you think? Bob!

RESONATE!

2006-11-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

What a perfect title for a concert of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Op. 37, "All-Night Vigil" also called the "Vespers" by the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Synonyms for "resonate" or "resonance" are: reverberation, sonority, fullness, vibration, depth, resounding, booming, loud. That is exactly what it was this past Sunday night in Gehry's magnificent structure.. There were 15 hymns or selections sung in very precise Church Slavonic, not Russian or Cerilic. We had the sheet for translation and the Chorale had a consultant to help with the pronunciation and meaning. He was with Grant Gershon and Alan Chapman at the "Listen Up" at 6:P.M. It was very informative. I didn't catch his name or see it in the printed program above.

Historically, Rachmaninoff composed this master work more for performance and not for worship in the Russian Orthidox Church which was being shut down after the Revolution (1915) So it wasn't performed again in a church until the 1960's. What a loss. It was/is so inspiring. Sergei had to leave Russia by way of Switzerland and Stockholm before finally coming to America. He wrote very little after this composition (6) in all those years, dying in 1987 in Beverly Hills. His favorite work was Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells" and he wrote a companion piece for that too. He was often "at odds" with his "mother-church" and wrote more secular music. This may have been because he married his cousin which was frowned on by "the church" at that time...probably still is. The "Vespers" is actually only partially correct as a name. There were 3 parts to the Festival in the monastic church on the Eve of a Feast Day. They had an "all night vigil" every Saturday night and it went on for hours. The Russians love to sing is my guess, especially the Russian Monks. The piece was originally written for a "choral school" and originally performed there. It certainly must've been a challenge especially for the deep bass voices. Two story/comments mentioned about that were those of the conductor saying it was harder to find competent low basses as it was to find asparagus in winter. He is reported to have told the basses to sleep with the winter window open and have several shots of vodka just before the performance.

Musically this work is considered the "pinnacle" of the Romantic/Harmonic Period. Sergei took many of the themes from indigenous "chants" from the local monks and some he even "made up". It has the "horizontal feeling and phrasing" that chants produce but with a richness and depth of harmonics that is just unbelieveable. Forget simple SATB and think SSS,AAA,TTT,BBB all interlaced and moving at the same time ie. a full spectrum of sound. Then there is just something about singing the Russian music and the deep resonating contrabass underneath that just gives you goose bumps, hearing or singing it. Selection #5, "Lord, now Lettest Thou Thy Servant" reaches a low Bb. The basses in the choral were mostly in the back and center and out of my view but you didn't need to see them. I had "a baritone" closest to me I'm guessing by the way he sang and when he chimed in. He had a blue spotlight on the back of his head and his gray hair was combed to produce a couple of little horns. Hardly what you'd expect or be reminded of when hearing this angelic work. In the "Listen Up" it was mentioned that RACH-maninoff "signed" his major works with a cadence that "said" his name. Four chords which usually finished the piece. Usually they were quick paced and decisive. In this work they were slower and more ponderous and Perfectly Authentic. During the several standing ovations I had to step out to hit the restroom and when I came out they were singing an encore...#2 I thought."Bless the Lord, O My Soul" Even from the lobby it was heavenly. The dynamics in so many of the selections were so extreme from very PPP to very FFF in just a few bars and with a group of more than 150 up there it was just awesome that they could sing so softly and then so loudly. Grant's direction was so expressive with hands only, no baton. This is one of the reasons I sit where I do, so I can watch his expressions and emotive gestures. He is a master ie. so expansive and yet so precise with his cut-offs. At times, I just had to close my eyes and transcend so I missed other visual cues. I truly did enjoy the singing of a tall second soprano #6 from the left in the third row. She was so attentive and really feeling the meaning of what she was singing even though it was in Slavonic. The two tenors named as soloist in the program were right there in the choir. I could see Charles Lane at all times and he really can sing. I couldn't see Sal Malaki but his voice was so perfect in tonality with this rich sonorous music. I think I caught a glimpse of Daniel Chaney but I couldn't be sure.

I think, in another life, I must've been a Russian Monk, a bass for sure. Or if not, maybe I will be. I'm sure they will be asked to sing in "heaven" simply because they RESONATED so heavenly here on earth. Thanks to RACH-maninoff!...and the L.A.M.C. Bob!

Stranger than Fiction?

2006-11-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

I think I now have a new "favorite movie/screenplay". It, at least, has to share that spot with "Groundhog Day" in my profile here. I just can't stop thinking about it. We saw it yesterday, the first day it was released...how addicted are we? "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Ferrell just looked like our kind of movie from all the ads on TV.

Besides an all-star cast ie. Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, and ___ Gillingham, all with outstanding performances, there is this very tight and inclusive screenplay. I took a class on writing screenplays and I know how hard it is. There is also the appeal for the fiction/non-fiction prose writer like me...potentially me. Who knows? "Little did he know"...(one of the plot turns in the movie) There is the question there for all of us, "Will my life be a comedy or a tragedy?" There also is the "narration factor". Will and Emma play it beautifully.

I've known someone now for years who "narrates" her life. I tease her about it but it seems to have kept her "sane" so far. She, my wife, grew up mostly alone and just got in the habit of talking to herself...aloud. I actually think we all do it to some degree...just not out loud. It is part of our consciousness. ie. thinking of what we are going to do next or should do next and then how we fell about it. Will's problem is that Emma is doing that for him with a "better vocabulary" It would drive anyone nuts especially if they are trying to see themselves as the "hero/ine" of their own life like the Dickensian "David Copperfield". What decisions and follow-up actions does one have to do to become that "main character" in such a personal novel?

It has to go back to the Greeks and their mythology. The basic definitions of "Comedy" and "Tragedy" are from them. We see it again in Shakespeare for the stage. "Having a life that rises from low to high estate" = "Comedy" and the opposite: "Having a life that fall from high to low estate" = "Tragedy" Fate...some say is what causes it all. Others, me included, say that your positive thoughts preceed your positive actions and determine your "fate" or not.(also called planning) Dustin's character, a literature professor, asked Will, "Harold Crick" to just stay home and "do nothing". That was very hard for him to do, but he did cease hearing the narrative voice. That may be an option for some of us...but it can't be for long.

It all gets real interesting when he starts to fall in love with his next "auditee" (he's an IRS Auditor). She, Gillenhall, starts to make him think differently and not just always about himself. It is such a heart-warming love story.

Of course there are all kinds of parallels that can be drawn between the "writer's blocked" character, Emma, and say...one's concept of god or some supreme being that predestines all our lives. Then there is the surprise twist at the end that just makes you think about your own life in it's "latter years". How will mine end? Will it be tragic? Will I see it coming? What can I do about it, if anything, as it approaches?

I dug the "graphics" of the movie and the "wristwatch" as a "vehicle" of fate. Time continues to be our modus operendi and eventually our "executioner"...but maybe not for "Harold". Oh, how we would all like to escape the "time-n-ator"...and its effects. Any thoughts or ideas on how we could? Bob!

Outside Assignment: The Museum

2006-11-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "museum" as "...a place devoted to the acquisition, study, and exhibition of objects of scientific, historical, or artistic value". Its derivation is from the Greek word for "Shrine of the Muses" (Mouseion). In Greek Mythology, Zeus, king of the gods, had nine daughters, muses, who presided over different arts and sciences. They were to inspire artists and poets of old and maybe even today. Cynthia Freeland, a modern muse and author of "But is it Art?: An Introduction to Art Theory" in a chapter on "Money, Markets and Museums" raises the question: "Museums preserve, collect, and educate the public and convey standards about art's value and quality- but whose standards, and how?" Are museums just repositories for valuable objects? Can they still be places to have meaningful experiences? Are they responsive to the new challenges of our society or are they too traditional and frozen in the values of the past?

To begin to answer these questions for myself, I decided to investigate two of our traditional American Institutions which are synonymous with the word "museum". Webster's New World (Roget's)A-Z Thesaurus lists my two choices among more than thirty others worldwide. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanic Gardens in Pasadena, CA (San Marino) and The Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. have actually been my choices for years. As a child, I remember my parents taking me several times to see "Pinky" and "Blue Boy" at the Huntington's main residence, their actual home. It was always on a Sunday afternoon and usually with out-of-town house guests to impress. I was also impressed- mainly with the wealth of the Huntingtons. In the Naval Air I had the opportunity to fly to Washington, D.C. and time off to visit the Smithsonian. Again, I was impressed with the immense wealth and privilege that must have created and maintained such displays. In the years that followed, as a teacher, I was able to bring my students on annual field trips to the Huntington. I found grants and funding to attend the special Summer Prep. Classes for teachers for the next semester's visit. We rotated our visits to the galleries and gardens every other year. My wife and I joined as "Sustaining and Senior Members". We probably visited at least four times a year (seasonally) and checked out the new exhibits. We watched the New Conservatory being built and took "Flat Stanley" on a trip to the Children's Garden for our grandchildren's benefit. (see previous blog/post in March of '06) I have subscribed to the "Smithsonian Magazine" for many years and have used it in my lessons.

Over the years I have noticed changes in these institutions; not only in the displays but in their support and funding. Beginning, as they both did, as "private collections" of wealthy business men/families, they have had to adjust and adapt to the demands and tastes of their growing and changing public supporters and requirements of governmental and private funding. The most recent project at the Huntington, as mentioned in my blog/post, is the New Chinese Gardens and Art Display (see Huntington website). So many of the current patrons and supporters of the Huntington who actually live in the area have Asian Ancestry. The first Chinese to come to the U.S. were "employed" (enslaved) by industrialists like the Huntingtons to help build the Transcontinental Railroad and other infrastructure that made them so wealthy. They have had to offer more interactive exhibits for younger people in order to stimulate their interest and get the "educational funding" various "Title Funds" require. They have had to increase their "market-ability" with attached gift shops and on-line access. We love to have "High Tea" at the Huntington's Tea Room. We always check out the annual "plant sale" from the Huntington Gardens. Yes, I believe that these two traditional museums have had to adapt to "stay alive" and that their "public supporters" (like me) have had to stay actively involved in their programs and exhibits. I find my on-line membership and visits are less involving but interesting. They keep me in touch with what's going on at both institutions ie. performances, lectures, etc. For the actual, visual enjoyment of the art I have to make the trip in person and that is what my wife and I did last weekend at the Huntington. (see included photos)

After renewing our membership we walked right by the sign on the fenced off Art Gallery We approached the ionic columns of the Scott/Boone Gallery with excitement. We were stepping back into history ie. An ancient Roman Domus "fauces". Next to the "impluvium" was this inspiring sculpture of "Diana the Huntress". We are "moon children" (Cancers) so we were thrilled to see her crescent moon headdress. I had read in Gardner that she is sometimes called "Artemis"(Gr.) "Selene-Luna". We later found her again twice inside the Erburu, miniature and a nude, black bronze over 6' tall without the moon. The friendly/informative guard told us it was rare to see her nude and hunting(she had her bow and arrow in each hand and was balancing on her right foot. Might she be our muse today as we hunted for more "inspiration"? How about the "Blue Hourse" at the Smithsonian's website.

I was then shocked and spellbound by "Vesuvius from Portici". It was just as I had imagined it back in May '06 as I stood on the crumbled ruins of the forum at Pompeii and took pictures of the, now dormant volcano. The artist had seen smoke still rising from the cone in 1774, seven years after it had erupted again. I noticed the white-hot magma and compared it to the serenely white full moon in the lower left. I was awed at the tragic spectacle and yet delighted at the surreal composition of the landscape. It must've been just like that! (see Pliny the Younger's eye witness account in Gardner)

My wife called me over to feast on the rich portrait of "Boy with Peaches" Considered the best painter of children in France at the time, Drouais put life, transparency, humility and charm into his eyes. Peaches symbolize "truth" thus "out of the mouths of babes..." It was then I realized that "children" (all the ones I taught over the years)have been my muses. Oh, I've had some congress with "Calliope", "Terpsichore" and "Thalia" because I loved teaching the Arts, especially Performing Arts.

We then revisited the new Chinese Gardens which are partially done and the "Chrysanthemums of the Eastern Hedge". We would like to bring our new daughter-in-law to see these. She is my oldest son's new muse.

Yes, Cynthia Freeland, I believe the Huntington "standards" over the years have done the job for me and my family even when the kids were "Sick" and we were "Looking for the Mountain" (Smithsonian website) Bob!

Anonymous Friends?

2006-11-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Somebody must be your friend! But who? How many friends have come and gone in my life so far? How many more will I have? Better questions: Will I be considered "a friend" to anyone? Will I still have time to make more? How can I do that? Can I conceiveably be "a friend" to someone I've had to be "a parent" to? Are there ever "parental friends"? ie. they take care of each other throughout life. Is it even possible this could be done "anonymously"? That is the topic of a surprise article in the L.A. Times Sports Section today.

Yes, we knew Jim Sterkel. My wife knew him and his family better because they went to her church. Upon seeing this article, she immediately went to her scrapbook and pulled out pictures of their wedding party. Now which one would be the "anonymous millionaire"? After we moved to Claremont and "shamefully" left the "Downtown Church" we lost track of many of the notables there. We did keep up with the "fame" of the Sterkel Family. ie. Joanne and Jim's daughter Jill and her "Gold Metal" in Olympic Swimming. We were always amazed at their dedication and athletic ability. The senior Sterkels were more the friends of my wife's mother. She was quite a "sports fan" and a loyal "Trojan Supporter". However, we always thought that Joanne and Jim were UCLA fans. Little did we know of his former attendance at USC and his brief athletic career there. Wow!

Now, his name is on the new basketball floor at the New Galen Sports Facility and because he was a "good friend" and co-alumni there. What a story of loyalty to a place where "friendships" can start. I remember the old gym/basketball court at SC. I took a class on it when I was getting my teaching credential there back in '62-'63. It was old and drafty then. I can't remember any actual skills or techniques I learned there nor do I remember any "friends" that I made. I was a commuter grad students on the "Ford Foundation" getting my credential after my military service. I also rembember that in that building I learned how to thread and rewind a 16mm film projector which was a "requirement" for new teachers then. (my career ended with video tapes on VCR's in the classroom...nope not DVD's) The last time I found myself on the SC campus I walked right passed Coach Robinson and he waved and said,"Hi". I have taken classrooms on field trips to the Exposition Park Museums across the street there and even brought some of them to see "Tommy Trojan" in the quad. I toured the place with my third son hoping that he might go there someday.

What is even more interesting is that his surviving family didn't even know of this "anonymous gift" in his honor. His daughter was moved and said, "My dad was never famous, he never cared about that. He was just a good guy and a great parent." His wife wept and said, almost in disbelief, "He was such a good husband, such a good man, but do people really notice those things anymore?" Maybe they do...anonymously. Too bad it took ten years after his death for this to all come out and still remain "anonymous".

We seem to be so quick at letting others know what we don't like and who we are critical of but we keep our friendship making acts and comments to ourselves. Is it just a "sign of our times"? I can certainly understand why "Sherman, a cartoon shark" doesn't seem to have any "friends". Just like in "Finding Nemo"..."fish are our friends". Some of us have this "annoying habit" of "devouring our potential friends" and/or turning them away before we do. What a shame. Bob!

EMBARK!

2006-10-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

I embarked on my freeway flying car trip to The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown L.A. at 2:45 P.M. I was excited for two reasons. I hadn't seen or heard the Los Angeles Master Chorale since last March (see previous post). I also hadn't seen my oldest son's new "digs" "The Orsini" an apartment/condo complex on N. Figueroa. It took me until 4:30 P.M. to actually get there with many a stop and crawl manuever on the I-10. This was on a Sunday afternoon. Where are all these trucks and cars coming from?

The Orsini is quite some place...massive and new. The main door was locked and the call box didn't work so I went through the parking garaged entrance. The attendant had never heard of my son and knew only how to call up a room number. I didn't think to get his room number so I fussed and fumed around there trying to get their "security" to lapse long enough to contact my #1 son and his new wife. No soap! Finally, my son appeared in the lobby looking for me. He had come down previously and left his room number but the attendant "hadn't written it down"? Yeah right! Oh well...I was impressed with the facilities ie. spa, pool, work-out rooms, study rooms, internet rooms, party room and fountains. It had lush interior enclosures and every apt. had a patio. I took pictures and brought them back to share with my better half, his mother/in-law. I noticed the sign pointing to "Chinatown" and "Pueblotown" across the street. My son says it is "walking distance"...lots of fun. It is also walking distance to the "Disney" by taking Temple to Grand. It is very handy to several freeways and "ideal" for his and her "jobs" and future. I wish them well on this "New Embarkation".

This left me about an hour for dinner at the "Patina" cafeteria on the first floor of the "Disney". I had invited my son and wife but they declined. I had a wonderful mushroom ravioli, pesto potatoes, bun and mango juice all for only $20.01! (self-service not included) Then I learned that the "Listen Up" pre-concert lecture was not in the usual place but in the actual auditorium. Boy was I tempted to snap a picture of the organ pipes...but I didn't. The Opening Night Gala was in full swing in the usual area for the "Listen Up"...very plush with green table cloths.

The pre-concert discussion with Grant Gershon and his "interviewer" Alan Chapman (the P.M. Voice of KUSC) was entertaining and informative. I knew very little about Franz Joseph Haydn's "Schopfungsmesse"(Creation Mass) and nothing about "Itaipu" by Philip Glass. Alan had alot of witty and insightful comments about the works and Grant had actual "cuts" from them to play and comment about. I learned that Papa Haydn was Beethovan's teacher and a "very priveledged" court musician for "Maria Theresa" (Marie Antoinette's mother) from the Court in Vienna. He was very prolific and hasn't had all the credit he is due. ie. He wrote the National Anthem for German (...uber alles) He loved the ladies and wrote the "Surprize Symphony" for them. He had a great sense of humor and his music showed it. He may have "invented" the string quartet and symphonic format. (some discussion on that) He was overshadowed by Mozart but he had more "depth" and "volume" (not the hearing kind)

The "Creation Mass" was named that because of one small phrase sung by the Bass soloist in the "Gloria" section (a quote from Adam/Eve) Marie-Theresa wouldn't have it and had him remove that phrasing because it was "too frivolous" and "joyful" for such a "serious subject". He put it back in and we heard "the director's cut" in our concert (10-22-06).

"Itaipu"is one of three works by Glass on Nature Portraits. It refers to a gigantic Hydroelectric Plant (Dam) on the Parana River between Paraguay and Brazil in 1989. It was a massive project 10X more powerful than any other power plant/dam in the world at the time. The problem was it wiped out the homeland of the "Guarani" Tribe. "Itaipu" is "singing stone" and refers to their "Creation Myth". (catch the connection?) Problem being it was sung by the Chorale in "Guarani-ish" and was incomprehensible. (no text included as there was with the "Creation Mass" of Haydn ie. Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benetictus, Agnus Dei...the usual...in Latin-also incomprehensible) So... the chorus is more like "another throbbing instrument" in Glass' magnificently percussive orchestration.

The works were extreme opposites for me but just as facinating. Since I have been taking "Theory" classes I knew more what to listen for and observe. ie. My new seat is on the extreme "stage left" at about stage/floor level. I had ample opportunity to observe the timpany (kettle drums) and the bass viols(violins) and the bass singers. These are my favorites anyway. I noticed right away in the Haydn all of the "Perfect Authentic Cadences" going from the V chords and V7 to the I chords. This is "feel good" music to me. I notice that the "tympanist?"(kettle drmmer) was tuning his drums to those deep bass (root) tones of the cadences. Awesome! I noticed that the bass player had to stand the whole time (they had unused stools) and again were adding "gravity" to the pieces. I noticed the big, bay windows of the the basses on the end.

In the "Itaipu" the bass players had some kind of electronic extensions to give a deeper/louder sound?) First time I had seen that. The first cello-ist? was such a perfect picture of "what you'd expect one to look/act like...very professional with his tails and goatee. The lower strings did alot of short bowing frantically in the Glass work to illustrate the "water flow" You see the setting is one of the river's flow from it's birth springs in the highlands to the Lake which is formed by the dam and then the spillage over the dam and out to sea. What an instrumental journey vividly captured by all the massive percussion (the whole back row) and the chorale itself. This was Smetana's Mouldau" on steroids! There were no forest glades, weddings etc. that this raging river passed by...no...they were able to reproduce the churning, throbbing currents, rapids and the thrummming? of the hydroelectric turbines. It was unnerving at times. Grant's direction was enervating to look at...talk about "keeping the beat"! He had said in the "Listen Up" that there were some challenging meters ie. 13/8 "that's 2 sixes with a limp". I guess this was his primiere conducting challenge with the Chorale 6 years ago at the Dorothy Chandler before they moved to the Disney. The accoustics were unbelievable this time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and "got lost" in the "choral symphony". I was able, this time to stretch out my legs and take copious notes. I was in my "heavenly bliss". Bob!

Deep Purple Matter?

2006-10-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Finally, Scientist think they have found proof of "Dark Matter". Astro-Physicists and Astronomers for years have been theorizing that there must be "something else" out there to account for all the gravitational pull (at least 20% of it) The visible Universe, like planets, stars and comets just couldn't be enough to hold it all together. The Big Bang would be happening much faster. Many of their recent theories have tried to explain away all the incomprehensible events and "singularities". Now, thanks to Hubble's photographic power and NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory with several ground based observatories, a team, headed by Douglas Clowe from the U. of Ariz. have final, definitive proof it exists...now, what is it, actually, and what does it do or not do?

Of course, I happen to have some ideas and "theories" of my own. Wouldn't you know it? These "invisible particles" could be streaming through us 24/7 and we're none the wiser. We might be greatly influenced by them and we have no way to perceive it.

First, I'd like to think it might have something to do with our responses to "the music of the spheres". There is more than "a feeling" I get when I appreciate or produce "thrilling" music. And there is that old pop song..."When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls..." ( also a great charades "song title" to pantomime)

Although I really don't think it could be a "negative force" in our Universe ie. "dark matter" Dark doesn't necessarily connote negative as in photography. I'm thinking it may be like "anti-matter" like in Star Trek. Where would their warp drives be without discovering how to harness its use?

Then there is the not so random possibility that there just might be an "alternative universe" out there/in here with mirror images of us all and what we've created. Maybe we don't even have to go through a "worm-hole" to get to it. Dark matter is the only evidence we'll ever have of it, at least until we accomplish "time travel".

Maybe the "forces" that built the Pyramids and Stonehenge were able to tap into the mysteries of Dark Matter. Crop circles don't just lay down of their own free will. Deep Purple has to "fall" somewhere. Ghost Busters probably have some gizmo that detects it by now; unless they're like Jennifer Love Hewitt who seems to inspire "souls" to leave her and seek "The Light" which contains all the hues of R.O.Y. G. B.I.V. (I don't think I would)

And then, just maybe, there are "things" in this Universe that we will never be able to know or understand...and isn't that just peachy? I think so. Bob!

Ode to a Grecian Midterm

2006-10-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

I just had what I consider a lot of fun. Yes, I'm the kind of guy who loves to take academic tests. I like to study for them and then I like the challenge of organizing that knowledge and reproducing it in some form or another. Maybe it's an adrenalin high I get from just, once again putting my skills and abilities "on the line" Call me weird or nerdish but I just dig it.

Obviously I haven't had an opportunity to take "Midterms" or any kind of "Terms" for quite some time. Oh, I've made/created tests for my students on an Elementary level. I took a class at U.S.C. on how to construct a multiple-choice exam with 3 out of four "distractors". But it has been many a year, maybe 15, since I actually took a college level exam myself. I didn't quite enjoy the ones I took at U.C. Riverside in Math and Science when I was getting my Supplementary Credentials to teach the same at the Jr. Hi. but I did enjoy the essay parts and the chances to express my "opinions" in writing. I've had some pretty scary Real Estate Credentialing exams but they were all very objective and I just saved the math questions until last and made my best guess. This time I went into my recent (this last two weeks) midterms (one was billed as a quiz) with confidence having had nothing better to do than study non-stop for them. Yes, I was confident and I loved the subject matter. That helps alot.

My first test was last Wednesday. It was in Music Theory I. My professor was almost apologetic about the whole thing. He has been challenged by a small group with a wide range of knowledge/experience or lack thereof in the subject. He has been very available and helpful in explaining the concepts and he even allowed us to use our notes. I had excellent "notes" and learning "devices". Being a teacher, I really knew how to make them. ie. rings of flash cards, cassette tapes of ear-training CD's to replay with my piano etc. I felt I had learned alot and I wanted an opportunity to prove it. Haste makes waste...I plunged in too quickly and got the first key signature wrong. I didn't follow the handy "BEADGCF" guide that he had pushed. I had my own cards that I had printed from an online program called "Finale" with color-coding for Major and minor, punches for #'s of sharps or flats...it did me in. I did fine on the triad building and intervals and the ear-training parts. I even survived the chord progression analysis and the perfect tonic ending. I got an 84% which, I guess, wasn't too bad considering his later remarks about the range of grades. Best of all, I got to network and help a fellow student, Victor, who is only 22 and a "pre-med" student. We worked on the differences between hearing a minor and a diminished chord and a major and an augmented one. Hopefully we helped each other.

Now the test I just took was another matter. Art History has always been something I wanted to take, especially since we have started to travel to places ie. The Acropolis, Pompeii, Santorini, the Vatican,etc. and I wanted to know more about all the wonderful Art, Sculptures, Mosaics, buildings, ruins etc. This time I was one of a large lecture class (60 +-) Totally different approach in teaching and exam prep. My professor is/was very organized graphically with a detailed syllabus, warning dates, study guides, etc. She even had an "extra credit" interactive prep game that got most of the class involved and realizing what kind of a test it was going to be. It was "something" I would've done when I taught to get kids interested and prepared. This time there was redundant warning about "cheating" and what constitutes it in such a large class. I was almost "paranoid" about where to look or not as I began to take the test. As it turned out, I had prepared well and didn't have to "scratch my head" or look up or down to think. I felt I knew most, if not all, of the objective/multiple choice and fill-in-the blanks part. I had made two set of flash cards by scanning and color printing all the works of Art and a shorthand version with just titles and dates and periods. They were tucked away in my backpack out of reach. I had exhaustively looked up and verified all the terms she proposed in my notes and the book. I had done a Franklin T prep on the proposed essay comparison questions. That was the part I enjoyed the most. I had an "intro" "a body of facts" and "a conclusion". My handwriting/printing was pretty bad/rusty. I hoped she could read it. Too bad the essay only counted for 16 of the 100 pts. That's where you show if you really understand the significance of the Art in History and culture. I tried to tie in the "provenance" of the two pieces above. The one on the left is the massive Geometric Krater from Ancient Greece, precursor to the "Grecian Urn/Amphora" of the Three Revelers" on the right. They show the progress that was made in the Art of Ceramic Painting over the years. I felt especially atuned to that assignment since my oldest son, Clark, took a Masters in Ceramics from the U. of Colo. and still "throws" a few pots for sale every year. He is "into" glazes/slips and firings big time. I felt like I was "at one" with this part of the exam and I tried to express it. It was quite a "Midterm" and I'm now looking forward to my trip to a local museum, both real and online for our "paper" that's due in one month. Good Luck! Bob!

N.I.C.

2006-09-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

For almost a week I have been unable to post on my blog here. Technical difficulties kept me off the internet and got me to thinking what life was like before the "Internet". At first, I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't check my email. I felt out of touch with the world and the news services etc. that I usually check. I actually got alot more reading done for my classes and fun reading too. Checked out Ken Jenning's new book "Brainiac". I'm enjoying it.

I called Verizon, our FIOS provider and finally got a Tech Support Person. We did many different checks and he finally determined that my "Ethernet Card" had probably failed! I didn't know I had such a thing in my computer. Sounded rather mysterious. Maybe, over all these years I had been lulled to sleep by what was eminating from that mysterious card. The last time I had been given ether was when I had my tonsils out. I think I was four. The last thing I remember then was waiting my turn with my dad and him showing me how to make "a mouse" out of his handkerchief. I've used it many times ever since for fun at the dinner table since we don't carry handkerchiefs anymore.

I called my son who knows all about computers and told him the problem I was having. He had me check a few things also and then said he had better come out and do alittle "hands-on" exploratory surgery. He had orginally given me the computer, actually built it, maybe five years ago and knew it inside and and out. He hinted that it might be time to change it out and was I prepared to spend upwards to $1500. for a new one? Shock! Is that how much they cost nowadays? Aren't they getting cheaper? We also entertained the idea that I, again, in my "internet wanderings" had down-loaded a virus or some terrible thing that had not been killed by my Norton Spy Ware. My computer was acting sluggish and was having trouble turning itself off. He checked his calendar and found that he could come out yesterday, Saturday after his soccer game. Yes, he is his son's coach. I would love to see him coach basketball or chess, but soccer? No, just kidding. He is such a good dad. We were hoping he would bring the grandkids out but they were too busy with other soccer games, tai kwan do, piano lessons, you name it. They are so involved and happy little guys. He got here and "a hush" fell over our office. You could tell that he was a "professional". In less than a half hour, he had the problem diagnosed and remedied. Fortunately he had thought to bring his "little black bag" with his spare "test kit" (emergency laptop). He also had the forethought to bring an extra "N.I.C." I had no idea what that might be. He explained that it was another name for an ethernet card ie.
"Network Interfacing Chip"(or Networking Interface Card). With his handy swiss army knife, he just popped that chip in my CPU...there was alot of extra space in there, and voila! The router immediately started to "sense" it and connected to the internet. Wow! Were we relieved. We offered to pay for the part and for his time but no...Just being the great son that he is...oh, and he also brought some "gift catelogs" that our grandchildren were "selling from" for their elementary school. No problem...I know that routine...fund raising is now one of the skills taught at all public schools. (through the parent's/grandparent's connections) We also offered to take him to dinner at our local casino's buffet. He accepted. We, of course, had to "drop a few coins" with the no-armed bandits.

You can't tell me our family doesn't "network". Here is the proof. We have a chip to prove it, an "interfacing chip". If it were only this easy. We can connect to the "world/internet" and yet sometimes we can't communicate with our own loved ones. We are all so busy with our own lives and agendas. We seems to have all kinds of "reasons" not to keep in touch. We look back on when we raised our family and realize how "isolated" we were at times. We had friends but they came and went (were transferred). People came in and out of our lives so quickly we barely had time or reason to "interface" or "network" and help each other. How sad. Life is so short and our "N.I.C.'s" just mysteriously "die" maybe from lack of proper care and maintenance. Bob!

The House that Jack...and Jill Built!

2006-09-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

1. This is the house that Jack built.

2. This is the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

3. This is the rat that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.

4. This is the cat that chased the rat, that ate the cheese, that lay in the house that Jack built.

5. This is the dog that worried the cat, that chased the rat, that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

6. This is the cow with the crumpled horn, that tossed the dog, that worried the cat, that chased the rat, that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

7. This is the maiden all forlorn, who milked the cow with the crumpled horn, that tossed the dog, that worried the cat, that chased the rat, that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

8. This is the farmer who planted his corn and loved the maiden all forlorn, who milked the cow with the crumpled horn, that tossed the dog, that worried the cat, that chased the rat, that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

9. This is the priest all shaven and shorn who married the couple early next morn, who owned the cow with the crumpled horn, that tossed the dog, that worried the cat, that chased the rat, that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack and Jill built!

10. So this is our story, we've counted to ten, Can you name them before we must end?

House, Cheese, Rat, Cat, Dog, Cow, Jill, Jack, Priest, Family.

I have taught/tutored this many times to primary/elementary students as a Choral Verse. It has rhythm. It has rhyme. Wasn't "life" simpler back then? Bob!

Little Miss Sunshine vs. The American Girls Revue

2006-09-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

We recently had the opportunities to see the above presentations and thoroughly enjoyed both for some of the same reasons. Having had no daughters to raise, these were both quite new and "foreign" to us. We are only now properly trying to "spoil" our only granddaughter. She is such a beautiful and smart child who is being brought up with such love and understanding that it is going to be very hard to "spoil" her too much.

When we heard that our grand daughter was celebrating her 8th Birthday at the American Girl Place in L.A. we just had to "invite" ourselves. It was an experience we didn't want to miss in her growing up. My wife had gotten "into" giving her doll clothes and the dolls over the past year or so. Having four sons, she had missed all that. The fact that there are only 3 Am. Girl Stores in the country and this one was only about 2+ hours away at our "old stomping grounds" (The Farmer's Market) in West L.A. at The Grove was also an attraction. We arrived early and checked it all out. Much of the Farmer's Market is gone but my wife was pleased to see some of the old booths were still there. The old metal tables were too. We sat and had a cup of iced coffee.(we usually, over the years, had a "hottle" of coffee) Then we just sat and "people watched" for an hour or so.

The Am. Girl Place is actually quite a large 2-story building with every, and I mean every accoutrimont (sp?) one could think of for a doll. This is the essense of "marketing" and "packaging" for a "niche" client. We had reservations with the family at the restaurant with special "chairs" for the dolls. In this case it was "Molly" and "Kirsten". The menu was perfect for a luncheon with such patrons who might attend. Our grandson somewhat reluctantly got into it. He bit the cut out cheese hearts into "underpants" and pretended that his flower on his dessert was poison. We got some good pictures. We then went to the "Musical Revue" which was just excellent. In it, girls of all ages acted, sang and danced original numbers depicting the "thematic dolls" through our American History. Of course, it was all about what they had overcome, heroines for all ages. It was well done, well rehearsed, performed and kept our wee charges wrapped in attention. We all got to sing the "Anthem" standing at the end..."brave, true, best we can do, dare, dream, care, reach out, belong, friend, helping hand, own voice, strong, be the best that we can be..." Then, of course, there was shopping to do for the dolls, with "twin outfits for their owners". Furniture and every accessory was there for the right price. Lastly, Kirsten just had to have her hair "done" with helpful hints on how to braid it properly. It was such a nice day we didn't even mind the 3 hr. traffic (pre-Labor Day getaway) we fought going home.

Yesterday we had a two hour window to see a movie which had been highly recommended. It was such fun. We laughed out loud through most of it. "Little Miss Sunshine" is the story of a very disfunctional family that has this wonderful daughter who wants to enter a contest called "Little Miss Sunshine". It is not in wide distribution so we couldn't go to our usual theater. We think that they may have kept it rather low-key since it came out just about the time of the resurfacing of the tragic Jon-Benet Ramsey case. It is very dark humor and not for kids. In a way though it has some of the same messages as the "Am. Girls Revue"...just taken to the "extreme". It reminded me of that old Chevy Chase movie "Vacation" with grandma strapped to the top of the car...this time it's grandpa. Enough said. Allen Arkin and Greg Kinear were at their best. "Olive" the title role was so innocently played by an unknown with glasses.(didn't catch her name) Needless to say we saw all kinds of connections to our own family...not really. Humor helps. Bob!

That Special Spark of Life?

2006-08-31T15:17:00.000-07:00

Going from the ridiculous to the sublime, I just couldn't resist these two graphic representations of a very controversial topic right now. With the latest news being that a small portion of a stem cell can be extracted and viably used without hurting or killing the donor cell, it seems that the much needed research using them for Parkingson and spinal trauma etc. can move forward and we can keep up with the rest of the World's Scientific Community...cutting edge...no pun intended.

Since my blog's theme is "preserving life"...especially mine, my family's etc. I think it is only fitting that I take a stand on such an important issue. My views are somewhere in the middle of these two "extremes" depicted. All life is sacred but when does it actually become "life"? And if the cells were going to be discarded or aborted anyway, what's the point? If another aging, dying life can be saved or prolonged by this procedure, then why not?

The above cartoons/comics poke fun at what, I think, so many of us have grown to detest. ie. the "militant" side of the question where the proponents almost "dare you" to disagree with a "pro-life" issue. We all want to save lives, like this "Life Guard" but sometime it can't be done...it would be too "god-like" omnipotent to do so. So we kind of sit there with our "shades" on and try to ignore the whole problem.

The section below of a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of the "Cappella Sistina" ceiling by Michaelangelo, to me graphically represents another extreme on the issue. (my wife did it in about a week) We again had the opportunity to see this masterpiece in Rome at the Vatican and were struck by the center "panel" of "creation" in the artist's mind. The whole ceiling is an optical illusion since is looks vaulted but is actually flat. How appropriate. Also the figures at one end are more foreshortened we were told because he "ran out of room" for all the Bible stories he had to tell.

When is conception? Is it purely physical? Are our lives conceived and changed as we live and grow...up...much like our thoughts? It continues to be "a puzzle" to me. Bob!

Love's Labors Lost?

2006-08-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

When the heart

is cut or cracked or broken

Do not clutch it

Let the wound lie open

Let the wind

From the good old sea blow in

To bathe the wound with salt

And let it sting

Let a stray dog lick it

Let a bird lean in the hole and sing

A simple song like a tiny bell

And let it ring

Michael Leunig

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,

A medley of extemporanea;

And love is a thing that can never go wrong,

And I am Marie of Roumania.

Dorothy Parker

These are two poems from my Poem a Day book that seem to be so appropriate right now in part of our family's life. So called "Love" can motivate us all to do things that we subsequently regret. Not only "feelings" get hurt...little people do too. They then "Inherit the Wind". But we must all muddle through and do the best with what we are given. (or with what we choose) Time does not always heal a broken heart it just procreates another one. How sad...making it so hard to... Bob!

Giving it the "Old College Try" again...Really Old

2006-08-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

So I'm almost done with my first week back to school at Crafton Hills College. What a kick! I have one more class lecture/lab Friday. I'm really enjoying it so far. Some things have changed since I last went to college back before and during the '70's. Actually it has been since the '60's when I last went to a Junior College. Where has the time gone? What do "they" say, "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." Well, I didn't really make other plans. I've always planned to go back to college and "follow my bliss" ie. study the things and take the courses I never got a chance to take and wanted to. If you look back in my posts last year you find my planning and applying to CHC. And that is just what I'm doing. I actually was going to work on my creative writing but first, I had to have some Music and Art...what I most enjoyed teaching on the elementary level all those 38 years of my career.

You see, I never had "History of Art"...back then they called it "Western Civilization" a "required course". Now I have this most interesting and entertaining professor with slides in a "darkened theater style classroom along with 40 other students who could be my grandchildren age-wise. Not to worry. I think the subject is facinating, especially since our Greek Isles Cruise in May. I'm already reading and hearing about "object de arte" that I have actually seen, touched and walked on. I'm really into making "flash cards" of all the "Canon" and Provenance on each site and object. I plan to renew our membership to the Huntington. We had let it lapse. I used to take kids there every year. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Chinese Exhibit which we have received notice about.

I'm also enjoying my Music Theory class with a very experienced professor. He is cool ie. plays the bass or double bass and leads a jazz group on Thursday nights. I wonder if he does vocal jazz like Bruce Rogers at Mt. Sac. I should ask. He is requiring a lab on Fridays after class. This should be fun. He has offered the use of more than 20 practice room pianos. I can use ours at home but it might be fun to use the schools too. The last time I did that was at North Park College when I was practicing for my call back audition to the choir. I was singing bass at the time and had to learn a very diffficult hymn's bass part, "Break Forth O Beautious Heavenly Light" I'll never forget it. That year the choir toured the Pacific west coast of the U.S. The next year it was the east coast. I'm looking forward to finally learning key signatures and how to change pitches with sharps and flats for memeory. I recognize the rudiments for barbarshop singing which is all acappella but not how to notate it.

The Mixed Chorus class on Tuesday nights is starting out interestingly. I volunteered to audition first. He always needs tenors. Who doesn't. There were about twenty there and there will be a Christmas performance required. Our director/professor has a church choir in Redlands and knows Howard Duffer from Inland. I sang with them one year when I had to stop Mountainside Master Chorale. Bruce Rogers was the best. He spoils you for other conductors because of his expertise and his friendliness and compassion. He made it fun to sing. I've already met two of the young men that were there. Brian Harkness was one and I've already forgotten the other's name. He wanted to know if I knew his dad when I sang with the IMC. I didn't.

I have an hour between classes to have my lunch and just enjoy the campus. I've been doing just that. I love the carolon (sp) bells that play at noon. There are lots of trees, grass and views of the valley below the Yucaipa Hills (Crafton Hills) I must look alittle strange...not just because of my age, there are very few there my age or even approaching it. I also pull my backpack. It is too heavy with all the books and it has wheels. I also have my little lunch pal, mini fridge. I'll probably stop carrying all my books and grab lunch at the Student Dining Hall...even though it didn't smell all that good...alittle greasy. I have time to leave the campus to a local coffee house "Grounds for Enjoyment"...about 10 mins. away but then I'd lose my parking spot. This is one of the things that hasn't chanced since I went to Cal-State L.A. Parking! Even though I bought the sticker, I have to endlessly cruise for a recently vacated spot...they go quiokly. So far I've had to park in the remote lots and walk. I don't mind the walks. Of course there is also the beautiful, young "scenery"...so many of the co-eds have such a "sense of fashion"...if you know what I mean. Ah youth! I have interacted or conversed with no one yet. None seems to need "fatherly" or "Grandfatherly" advice...other than..."get more clothes on please"...and I wouldn't want to say that. Wait 'til it turns cooler. Bob!

Trevor Goodchild + Aeon Flux

2006-08-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Two very interesting names don't you think? I especially like the the first...a bias of mine. It smacks of such genuine heroic proportions. The writers of first a TV show and now a movie must've thought so too. In their Sci-Fi Thriller taking place in the 25th century, he is first a villain and then a hero along with his former wife and heroine Aeon Flux. She is a "monokin" and very special genetically. In the title role Aeon is first sent to assassinate him as the protagonist and then she turns with him to fight the real antagonist, his evil brother Orin.

This plot may sound familiar to many. It comes from ancient mythology and from the Bible. Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his jealous brothers all had the same cathartic problems with each other. I think you can site more "problem brothers" than "buddy brothers" down through the ages. I can only think of David and Jonathan as a positive example for now. Orin, the second in command to his brother, Trevor, hatches a plot to unseat his brother and keep the old regime going. Trevor, nobly, has been trying to discover a cure for the fatal disease that has made everyone sterile. Orin knows that Trevor is succeeding but has been executing the evidence of his success. I don't want to tell the full plot and spoil it for my "vast readership" but I'm saying that it does keep you guessing and engrossed.

Then there is the beautifully designed, starkly modern scenes and costumes of Aeon. She is the tall and athletic Charlize Theron. She fits into her surroundings which are all ultra modern and quite graphically creative. One of the key co-conspirators with Aeon is her colleague monokin Cynthantra. She has hands for feet...so look out. (no match for Aeon though) My favorite Aeon feature is her deadly...whistle. She has such strength; not only physical, but moral and mental. She is wonderful example of what many of our women today aspire to be...invincible, indomitable, self-sufficient. "Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound". Yes, it's a brave new world out there and this movie/TV show sure brings it on. Enjoy! Bob!

I.C.E.

2006-08-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

I just received an excellent suggestion from a long time friend of mine. I think it is very fitting for my blog and the underlying theme, ie. "Life Preservation". The initials I.C.E. in this case stand for "In Case of Emergency"...not some new "rapper". The suggestion with these initials is that everyone who carries a cellular phone should put these letters in the phone's memory and they would be connected to the one person or persons that you would want notified "in case of emergency" and you were unconscious. This person might just be your next of kin or loved one or someone who would know who to call and what emergency procedures should be followed. It is also suggested that "ICE1" or ICE2 and so on be used for a priortized list of those who need to know of your emergency. They could also be other numbers for the same person just in case the first number, say, a cell number is down or turned off.

As I was programming our cell phones I mentioned this to my wife. Oh oh..."a different kind of ICE"...It seems she told me to do that several month ago. Her sister and brother-in-law had done it and suggested we do the same. I have no memory of this suggestion at all and of course, never did it. Big trouble! Paying more attention to my email friends/suggestions than my wife's. Big no-no. I'm thinking this is not my unique problem. Many "long-time", "survivor-husbands" have probably developed a "syndrome" that I'm now going to call "I.C.E" for "Inconsistant Concentration Energy" It is sort of an off-shoot of the "Yes, honey...(nod)" modus operandi that we all have had to adopt/adapt just to "survive". Some other names might be..."Inconsiderate Concern Envelope" or "Insouciant Conjugal Entropy". Can you think of some others? I'm guessing it is a habit developed over years of hearing "talk" in the background, especially on the phone. She and her sister spend hours there. My suggestion is that there be a physical gesture or sign when she wants me to really listen and take notes. What do you think? Bob!

Walking the Line

2006-07-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Netflix we just had the chance to see "Walk the Line". We thoroughly enjoyed it on many levels. As you probably know by now, Reese Witherspoon won last year's best actress oscar for her enactment of "June Carter Cash"...a role she was born to play. She nailed it in so many ways. In the final credits you can hardly tell the difference between her voice and the real June's voice. She is such a sweet "southern lady" both in real life and the one she plays. Joaquin Phoenix was also nominated for his role as "Johnny Cash" and they say he learned to play the guitar and sing for the role. He certainly had all his mannerisms down. My wife said it must've been hard for him to play the "adictive parts" especially because in real life his brother(?) River Phoenix died from an overdose.

"Among the pantheon of great country singers, Johnny Cash may just be the most enigmatic. James Mangold's film distills Cash's transformation from man to icon -- from his hardscrabble days on an Arkansas farm to Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn. where he finally found a way for his talent to come into its own." His story resonates with me probably because of my roots with my father in rural Kentucky, coal mining country. As a child I visited my grandparents and his home in Wallinscreek, Harlan County. I saw them work the garden and chase a chicken around the yard for our dinner. I remember the wonderful morning bisquits and gravy; the nights on the front porch swing and catching fireflies. We listened to Cash's kind of music before his time. I rarely if ever heard my daddy sing it but his brothers and sisters did, all 10 of them. It was a sweeter, slower time where you got to go barefoot all summer and try to "smoke" "life everlasting weed". He caught and fried frog...legs for us. They tasted "just like chicken".

My first recollection of listening to a Johnny Cash hit was on the small radio always on in the basement/repair shop of the old Glendale Memorial Hospital. It had to be in '56 or '57 just before I graduated from H.S. I had gotten a "Maintenance Man Helper" job there after school because it was near to my house. Muriel Hanson's dad was the administrator there and he went to the L.A. Covenant Church where my folks knew him. I'd have various "clean-up" task in the shop or out in the rooms. The maintenance men, whose names I've forgotten, were country music fans and just had it on in the background. I was atuned to music/singing because I was in the school choir and madrigal singers. This was different music, not "sacred", kind of a "no-no" secular music for our family. What I remember was his distinct baritone sharpness and twang when he sang..."I walk the line"...and..."ring of fire" ("far" as he pronounced it) It had a catchy beat, infectious and easier to do a repetitive task to. One of my most memorable tasks was when they gave me a "hacksaw blade" and I had to go to each bed, table, cart etc. in the hospital that had casters (wheels) and pull that blade along the axles on either side and get out the accumulated gunk and hair and then clean it up. Yuk! Now that I think of it, not good, but then, it was a job and "great experience" for "future jobs and references" (Yes, that job got me an orderly job at the Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago while was a freshman at North Park) Again, our former pastor's wife, Mrs. Honnette was a nurse at that training hospital where the nurses were so young and demonstrably "loving". Anyway, early on I learned one meaning of "walking the line" by all the jobs and bosses I had. If you didn't "care" and do what you were told or expected to do, ie. "walk the line" you were out. I think I only got fired once, selling shoes for C.H. Baker, but then I quit. That was one of the main problems Johnny had, "walking the line"...(eventually it was the cell line in prison...and his big hit album from Folsum Prison) His was not only job related but wife, family and girl friend related. Just once in the movie did she "June" refer to his not "walking the line" or wanting to. His love for her and her eventual friendship and love for him is what saved him. They went on to have a long marriage, children. He died just 4 months after she did in 2003.

It is my belief, contention that many a good, successful man and/or marriage is because of the support of a "good woman". June Carter Cash was that to Johnny, but also a "teammate and friend" (first) He had a load of guilt in his life because his older brother, the favored one, was killed in an accident when he wasn't there. (off fishing and making up songs) His father never forgave him of that and so Johnny couldn't forgive himself. It took June and the Carter family and their "religion" to get him "right" This is what I mean by a "good woman". That was what was "right" back then. Even now, I think that the love and support of your life's mate and lover is "what keeps you going" through the rough spots. You've got to know that they are there for you no matter what. We all have our "flaws" and "hard to love" parts and that's why it is so important to "go the extra mile" for each other, ie. "in sickness and in health" Betty and I are doin' fine with this. Bob!

Gnats, Mice and Smiles

2006-07-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

One Hard Look

Small gnats that fly

In hot July

And lodge in sleeping ears,

Can rouse therein

A trumpet's din

With Day of Judgement fears.

Small mice at night

Can wake more fright

Than lions at midday;

A straw will crack

The camel's back-

There is no easier way.

One smile relieves

A heart that grieves

Though deadly sad it be,

And one hard look

Can close the book

That lovers love to see.

Robert Graves

I like this poem. It is from my "Poem a Day" book. It first reminds me of the time that I got a real live mosquito or gnat caught in my ear and it buzzed around in there until it got tired and was stuck in some wax. It was another hot night in July, like now. My dad had just finished our new room addition, a den and my bedroom. This way my sister could have her own bedroom. I was so excited to sleep over in my knotty-pined corner that I didn't care that there were no screens on the window there yet. I kept hearing a high-pitched whine by my ear. I slapped down to my ear on the "sound" and suddenly it was much louder. I stuck my finder in my ear to get it out but that gnat was too far down the canal. I called my parents and they didn't really believe me and sort of humored me. The next morning, after little sleep, I was in no shape to go to school so my mom took me to the doctor's office and he pulled parts of it out with his elongated tweezers. It all seems rather funny now, but at the time I know I was not too amused. I still have very sensitive hearing. ie. the TIVO hum bothers me in our bedroom.

This morning I was hand-watering in our shaded area by the back AC unit. There was a little dead mouse. Haven't seen one of his kind since we "mouse-proofed" the garage last year. We were gettting about one a week in our traps until Roy, our brother-in-law came over and added an inch or so to our secondary garage door. He had the tools and the know-how, plus he could squat down low to adjust it. I've heard of rodents that get into people's walls and attics and scurry around at night especially driving everyone mad. That hasn't happened yet. I did sell a house to a lovely old couple who found out that they had a skunk and her babies trapped at the time of construction in their attic and then died there. My company put them up in a motel for more than a week while they "gutted" the house and attic. We did have a dead opposum and her babies in our old garage in Claremont. Lots of fun!

I've always enjoyed smiling at people, especially strangers. Mostly I do it just to see how they'll react. Will it be a half smile with just the mouth or will it include the eyes? As teachers, we used to do it with our students in the hall in passing. It was especially effective with certain ones we all knew were having problems in class or at home. Of course there was also that "teacher look", a "Hard Look" that usually conveys disapproval and reprimand. With some students that would be all you had to do. No words of warning need be spoken. A raising of the eyebrows, brief eye contact...that would do it. By now, I don't even need to do that with my "Better Half". She can just sense, and so can I, when something is not quite right. Then I'm reminded of ol' Rumpole of the Bailey, "She who must be obeyed" and my expression suddenly changes to a "Soft Look" and or word. Forty-four years of practice and love will do that. Bob!

Don't "Click"

2006-07-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

You're looking at all the TV remotes I currently have in my house. Do you think I need a "Universal"? Yes, our TV viewing has changed over the years and I think it has had an effect on our lives...probably not for the best. Tivo is mostly to blame. It is true that we don't have to watch our favorite show on "their schedule". That's good. However, we now can "pause", "fast-forward" and "rewind". This is especially good for skipping the commercials which seem to be increasing in number and length. It is also handy to replay something you missed especially if you didn't hear it distinctly which is also becoming more of our problem. The problem is...lately we have caught ourselves thinking and even wishing we could do the same...with "real life" situations and especially movies. Now this could be scary. Lately, we have even wished that we could "fast-forward" through some really challenging parts of our life. Let's get the pain and discomfort over with. Let's see a real "tragic" situation better itself. Is this wrong? Is it mephistophilline?(?)

This is the topic of the last movie we saw, "Click". It is barely more than a sitcom and not one of Adam Sandler's best. (not like Spanglish) It has its cute/funny parts and is very predictable. He is an overworked dad who is so frustrated that he can't spend more time with his son and family that he wishes for (dreams up) a "universal remote" for his life. You can imagine what follows, all the special-effects etc. He eventually learns a lesson about the importance of living his life as it comes and trying to cope and understand it with compassion and kindness. There were times during the movie that I even wanted to "fast-forward" the action and get to the point. But I was stuck in his process and predicament. I couldn't even "Bob".

The same was true for Karen Armstrong whose autobiography I just finished. It was fascinating and I could hardly put it down. A National Bestseller in 2004, I read the paperback my sister sent me for my birthday. She is so thoughtful, considerate and knows me...like a book. It was just what I needed at this time in my life. "The Spiral Staircase" - My Climb Out of Darkness. The title and organization (chapters) of the book refer to t.s.elliot's poem "Ash Wednesday I" as a metaphor for "life's journey":

Because I do not hope to turn again

Because I do not hope

Because i do not hope to turn

Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope

I no longer strive to strive towards such things

(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)

Why should I mourn

The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know again

The infirm glory of the positive hour

Because I do not think

Because I know I shall not know

The one veritable transitory power

Because I cannot drink

There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again

Because I know that time is always time

And place is always and only place

And what is actual is actual only for one time

And only for one place

I rejoice that things are as they are and

I renounce the blessed face

And renouce the voice

Because I cannot hope to turn again

Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something

Upon which to rejoice

I pray to God to have mercy upon us

And I pray that I may forget

These matters that with myself I too much discuss

Too much explain

Because I do not hope to turn again

Let these words answer

For what is done, not to be done again

May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly

But merely vans to beat the air

The air which is now thoroughly small and dry

Smaller and dryer than the will

Teach us to care and not to care

Teach us to sit still...

This is only one part of the poem where we watch the poet painfully climb a spiral staircase. This image is reflected in the twisting sentences of verse, which often revolves upon itself, repeating the same words and phrases, apparently making little headway, but pushing steadily forward nevertheless.

This is from Karen's preface and introduces her extraordinary life so far. She put herself in a convent at 17 hoping to "find God, her faith". After 7 years and many shocking incidents she left the "habit" behind and went on her own search, losing her faith and belief in "God", Christianity and herself. She studied at Oxford but her thesis was rejected. She found out she had been suffering from a form of epilepsy. She tutored an epileptic. She taught high school English Lit. She starred in several TV series about St. Paul and the Middle East. She wrote "The History of God" and several other bestsellers (which I have ordered) I just saw her on one of the recent PBS programs on religion. Out from all of this she remains rather solitary and on her own. She is learning compassion and stillness as suggested by the poem above. Her recent works are very cogent to the currently tragic situation of the Middle East, ie. Israel vs. Hezbola, Lebanon etc. She is inspired and inspiring to many I am sure and especially me at this time in my life.

Interestingly enough, the last spiral staircase I saw was in the Vatican Museums from one floor to the next. It is more of a ramp that curves back on itself with historic pictures along the sides. We took the elevator. Bob!

Wobble Bob

2006-07-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

This is not only a new, multi-function clock for me but a new concept of survival. I'll have pictures of it here when I figure out what's wrong with my piece of crap, Kodak share ware. Ever since I down loaded umpteen million pixels of cruise pictures it hasn't responded to any transferring commands. I get so frustrated with these electronic gagets and yet I'm hooked by them too.

On my recent birthday outing to Victoria Gardens to see a movie that was only showing there ie. Lake House; we stumbled into a Brookstone and were attracted by the come-on poster in the door. With any purchase you got a Wobble Bob-5 Function Alarm Clock. It was kind of cute, egg-shapped with a multi-colored, back-lit, digital readout. The sales clerk informed us that all we had to do was buy the batteries and we'd get the clock for around $12.00. What a deal! We ended up getting some neat leather slippers with tempur-pedic soles, memory foam again. Couldn't resist that. That store and Sharper Image always suck me in. Can't pass them by in the malls. I guess it's like my ownership of the remotes in the house; just have to have them to tinker with.

This clock now virtually runs my life. Not only does it have the accurate time in blue; it has the room temperature F in red. I've set the alarm clock, in magenta for our daily meditating time as a reminder. In case I forget the day and date, that's in yellow. Then the count-down timer is set for 20 mins. in green. Again, that's for meditation. The alarm beep is so high pitched only I can hear it ie. dog ears. Now here's the wobble part. It doesn't light up unless it gets nudged. Then it wobbles and stays lit. This stops the timer alarms too. Just fascinating! Being egg-shaped (metalic, unpolished, smooth silver in color) it is quite modern looking on our coffee table. I just found out my daughter-in-law also has one. She took it to China and was all the rage.

I like the way it rights itself when disequilibrium is introduced by wobbling. This happens to me too, daily almost. I now not only bob, I wobble. I've observed myself. Mostly I react it with humor or a wry comment. Then I usually take stock and decide what reaction is called for...maybe none. These can be all the way from life's little frustrations and pet peeves to major goading and ego challenges. Meditation usually figures into the wobbling equation. Time to process and let it be. Financial concerns are minimal now and leave some wobble room. Having been a victim of fraud twice so far this year, I watch my account like a hawk and have a very close relationship with my bank. My CFP has had lots more action lately as he/they help us plan our retirement. There has been some wobble there too. Family worries and concerns continue as seems to be=par. Lots of wobbling and bobbing are needed here. Love is the underlying support and force with these on-going concerns. We want the best for our loved ones ie. their independence, happiness, self-reliance and self-sufficiency. They are wobbling too. Grandchildren are now so precious and wobble-worthy. Living, full time now, with my life-long love just gets better everyday. We wobble together so well since we almost know what the other is going to say or do before it happens. Lots of loving humor, a form of wobble, I think. Bob! (this post is totally composed of my own thoughts and opinions and I make no claim as to their authenticity or veracity; ie. just musings from an addled mind that has bobbed and wobbled much too often)

"Born on the Fourth of July"

2006-07-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

It just seems appropriate that I make some comments here about the day ie. Independence Day. I do have feeling for the day even though we won't be celebrating in any of the more popular ways today ie. barbeque, picnic, concert, family gathering, parade, live fireworks etc. We have done all those in the past and enjoyed them greatly. We have fond memories of a number of 4ths, picnic blankets, games etc. But, this day will be a more quiet, an introspective Independence Day where we will comtemplate that, Independence.

I have an email service or two that sends me current topics daily. Knowledge News and On This day...both had appropriate offerings. I'll pass those highlights along in case some of my vast readership doesn't receive those downloads. The great patriotic song, "America the Beautiful"was published in "The Congregationalist" on this day in 1895. The poem, then, was written by a Wellesley College English professor, Katharine Lee Bates to commemorate the Fourth of July. In Wisconsin, where our sister, her husband and family are celebrating the 4th, it is Indian Rights Day. In 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. "America" was written by Dr. Samuel Francis Smith, was sung in public for the first time in Boston on this day in 1832. The 49 and 50-star flags were unfurled on this day in the consecutive years of 1959 and '60 in Philadelphia. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act in 1966 on this day. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point officially opened on this day in 1802. Construction began on the Erie Canal to connect Lake Erie and the Hudson River on this day in 1817. "I got a mule her name is Sal..." And, Henry David Thoreau began his two-year simple living experiment at Walden Pond, near Concord, MA on this day in 1845. Casey Kasem hosted American Top 40 on the radio for the first time on this day in 1070. And NASA's Mars Pathfinder became the first U.S. spacecraft to land on Mars in more than two decades on this day in 1997. Other things happened that weren't so patriotic.

Some interesting people were born on the 4th of July: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Stephen Foster, Calvin Coolidge, Rube Goldberg, Louis Armstrong, Mitch Miller, Ann Landers, Neil Simon. The Arts are truly represented. I read yesterday that Cohan, of "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" fame, (the musical) and where"...born on the 4th of July"...came from was actually born on July 3rd.
Three of our Presidents died on this day: John Adams, 2nd President in 1826, Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President, on the exact same day as John Adams above and James Monroe, 5th president in 1831.

Having taught school for so many years and mostly 5th grade, I had more than my share of the subject. Social Studies in that grade in Calif. schools is The U.S. (4th is Calif., 6th originally was South America and then it was switched to the World and ancient history). So we did plays about it, memorized poems about it, sang/learned songs about it. Most every Flag Day (June 14) we were in charge of an assembly out by the school flag where we did all the honors and sang, "Your a Grand Ol' Flag".("where there's never a boast or a brag") I taught when we still had to start the class day with the Pledge of Allegiance. In later years we had those who didn't participate but I asked them to stand. We even tried, one year, to learn it in Espanol...bad idea now to be P.C. They all weren't happy or proud times ie. in class, with the TV on when Kennedy was Assassinated and when the Shuttle with a teacher aboard exploded. Both times I had to explain to the class through my tears.

I got an email from an old friend about the meaning of the Flag draped coffin. Having been through that with my dad's flag, I thought it was very interesting. I had taught how to fold the flag respectfully but had never thought that each fold had a meaning. By the way, I don't know the source of this but it gives you something to think about: The reason for the 21 gun salute at military funerals is that's the total number you get when you add 1776 across individually. When the flag is taken off the casket it is folded maticulously 13 times and that's not to represent the original 13 colonies. Oh no...(?)
1st fold, in half long ways is the symbol of life
2nd fold, long ways again is the symbol of the belief in eternal life(?)
3rd fold, first triangle, honors veterans departing the ranks still living
4th fold, first triangle fold over, in God we trust in times of war or peace
5th fold, triangle fold over, Stephen Decatur, "Our Country...right or wrong."
6th fold, triangle fold over, people's hearts and their saying of the pledge
7th fold, triangle fold over, tribute to the Armed Forces and their protection of our flag/country
8th fold, last stripe triangle fold, into the valley of the shadow of death...?
9th fold, first triangle into the blue field, motherhood, devotion/development of character
10th fold, second triangular fold in total blue, fatherhood, giving his sons and daughters/defense
11th fold, third triangle in field of all blue, all stars, God in the heavens...?
12th fold, fourth triangle of all blue, eternity...?
13th fold, makes a square before remaining flap is tucked in, "In God We Trust"
When complete it looks alittle like a soldier's hat and reminds us of the patriot's hats who originally fought for our country. So the Star-Spangled Banner is a symbol of our country, its liberty and freedom. Kind of a strange shock to me that our congress recently had to vote on the legality of the symbolic burning of our flag and only one vote kept it from being a crime. That is extreme freedom to take a liberty don't you think?

What is a Patriot?...now days? Many definitions exemplified by the actions of those who volunteer to protect and serve our country I'm sure. Knowledge News gives us the example of William Livingston in 1753, a lawyer, militiaman during the American Revolution, New Jersey's first governor and essayist. In the "Independent Relfector"he wrote: "He is a Patriot who prefers the Happiness of the Whole, to his own private advantage...the Public Welfare is his object, whose zeal, chastised by reflection, is calm steady and undaunted..." ie. no narrow partisan, no party propagandist, no pursuer of pork...setting aside personal and local interests. Duty to Country is the highest calling...next to the Duty we owe to a Supreme Being. Livingston goes on to say that Love of Country without action isn't enough. Patriotism requires service --love and labor. Mental labor too. Serving the common good requires deliberation, thinking hours that lead to constructive efforts as opposed to knee-jerk responses. Disagreements are allowed. The common good is no monlithic truth. It is a constant negotiation among the different and often conflicting ideas of the community. Livingston even points to a patriotism of protest, noting that when the country's leaders go wrong, the patriot morns for their vices, and exerts his abilities to work a reformation. Thomas Paine pointed out in 1777..."All we want to know in America is simply this, who is for Independence, and who is not?" For me, this still rings true today. Bob!This is me a year ago. Laguna Life Guard Tower/Flag
You see why we're not known for our photographic expertise.

Snakes on Planes?

2006-06-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

I just heard about this upcoming movie and the impact that "Bloggers", like me(?)might have on it. I can tell you, having recently been on a few airplanes, snakes wouldn't do too well on most of them. Humans, mammalians, most forms of life are struggling on them. Sardines should have it so good. Snakes, being cold blooded, seek warmth. There is a shortage of that on most of the planes we have been on and I don't just mean the "temperature warmth"(that too tho). I mean "service personnel warmth". Yes, "the milk of human kindness", by and large, is missing. I think it has alot to do with the financial crunch that most "carriers" are going through. Air Canada "coach class" was barely able to get up and down the aisles with their skinny little carts twice. They did hit us up for "duty free" gifts both going and coming though.

I truly believe there are "snakes" in other "public areas". We have just experienced another "security breach"/identity theft with our ATM account with Well Fargo. It was about 6 months ago that my card/pin number was stolen and used more that 3 times in the San Francisco area. Now, I just discovered by checking our accounts on-line that it has happened again. This time with my wife's card/pin in Florida. It's almost enough to just stop using "Debit/Credit Card" altogether. My wife rarely if ever even uses her card. I'm guessing that some "hackers" or "electronic thieves" have invented some software that "randomly generates card numbers and pin numbers until they "get lucky". It is both infuriating and scary.

"Snakes" as a symbol kind of carry a "mixed meaning". You have the "Caduceus" from Greek Myth. It is a winged staff with two snakes intertwined around it. Hermes carried one and it is used by the medical profession as their symbol. It probably comes from the ancient practice of "blood-letting". By the way, they don't recommend any of that kind of activity with "snake bites" anymore. No sucking out the venom, no turniquets, just get to the doctor fast without panic. No blood thinners like aspirin either. Which reminds me of a true incident my rheumatologist told me he had recently on a plane. He was inflight to Hawaii and got the call, "Is there a doctor in the house?"...on board?
A lady in first class was having a "heart attack or stroke". He said he reluctantly volunteered fully knowing the "state of letigiousness" and wrongful malpractice suits. He got her calm, and her husband too, only to find out that she had a whole "pharmacy" of pills in her carry-on bag. The husband didn't know which pill was for what and she was too out of it. The airline had an established "on-call" relationship with an "emergency room doctor" in Phoenix. He was finally contacted and his only recommendation (since my doctor had done everything else) was "give her an aspirin". The plane had none, some were found among the passengers and just as he was about to give her two, she "came to" and said, "Absolutely not!" Allergic to them! Can you imagine? Snakes abound!

I used to have a facination with "snakes" as a kid, especially "constrictors". I remember catching gopher snakes in our backlot. When I finished my "practice teaching" my "master-teacher" offered to give me his "pet snake" to start out my new classroom. My new wife put her foot down and said, "Absolutely not! Me or the snake." You see I would've had to keep it through the summer and at the time, we had no garage. No snakes in the house was/is "a rule" for us...so I can see why "no snakes in the airplanes" could be a popular rule also. Maybe it's that whole "Adam and Eve" scenario. Bob!

Director's Choice

2006-06-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here I have a couple of "Choice Directors" to comment about. They have some similarities and some vast differences. Recently they both were doing the same thing..."retiring". Mostly they did it gracefully and without regret. To me this is important. When you leave...do it when you are still "on a roll" and "desireable" so to speak. In my book they both could've gone on for years with few complaints from me. I enjoyed their work, professionally. I didn't really know them personally. With one, I sort of tried to but the other, no way, just admiration.

The first "director" I'm talking about is Garrison Keillor. He actually was more than a director of "Prairie Home Companion" for over 30 years. He was "Prairie Home Companion". I also admire him for writing books, poems etc. His creative imagination carried that "ol' fashioned radio show" every Saturday night for many years for me. His sense of humor, wit and turn of a phrase were unique. He invented so many "characters" ie. "Guy Noir", "Dusty and Lefty" a whole town/community with all it's inhabitants "Lake Woebegon". There was just a "homey feeling" every saturday night curling up by my radio and "visualizing" all his creations. This says nothing about his musical talents and his choice of guest stars each week. His pianist Doworsky(?) had the kind of ad lib talent that you rarely hear. His "sound-effects" man was so perfect and right on most of the time, and if not, quite a laugh. I used to listen to Garrison's "Poem of the Day" on my way to school and it would inspire me to teach poetry.

His recent "director's choice was to produce a movie, CD, DVD that, for me, were less than his best way to "say goodbye" To take the risk of "making visual" what for all those years was "purely audio" and "in everyone's imagination" was venturing alot. To bring in "name stars" ie. Woody Harroldson, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, was nice but not what we needed from him as a "Goodbye". His "regulars" were there but in lesser roles off stage and the "whole back stage story-line" I guess was supposed to take the place of his "final chapter" of "Lake Woebegon" Just didn't cut it for me, not enough "invested" in the "Johnson Sisters". I liked the "Angel of Death" idea and making her one of Guy Noir's effemeral "hot dishes" was perfect. Yes, I will miss P.H.C.(actually have these past few years, living where no radio station comes other than Mexican Mariachi) I will miss Garrison, his wit and creative storytelling...a real inspiration for me over the years.

The second director I'm talking about is Bruce Rogers. He actually was the founding musical director/conductor of the Mountainside Master Chorale for its first 12 years. I had the privelege of singing tenor under his direction for 6 of those 12 years. He just produced his final "director's choice" concert back on June 10th. I was there. The Garrison Theater at the Claremont Colleges was SRO (standing room only). At times, I'm sure, there wasn't a "dry eye" in the crowd. He was/is very popular. He also decided to "step down" while he was still "on a roll". I remember so clearly "auditioning" for him at Mout SAC. It was scary but I knew he needed tenors. I had just come from the Claremont Chorale and was singing baritone. He checked my range and "had faith in me". I honor that and respect his skills as a director. His "talents" were mostly under used at MMC and as the years went on, his fame and importance in the "Choral World" came through his college groups, especially "Sing-copation" He is untouchable in timing, rhythms and getting the music exactly correct. His ablility to inspire his singers could not be touched. He had the "heart" himself.

However, his choir was ever "aging" and "changing" and that was hard to deal with from year to year. In college teaching, each year you get a "new crop" so to speak. He could be very demanding and I think (my opinion) wanted to do more difficult, secular selections. I think the "leadership" of the choir had some different ideas. For all those years, it truly was a "labor of love" on all parts. He was never paid, nor did he ask, what he was worth. The average member volunteered time and at least $100. a year, just to sing under him...I did. I supported the choir for many years after just because I believed in what he/they were trying to do. Choral performing Art is/was the "first art" and is now a "dying art" with very little support compared say to the Philharmonic. I never really got to know Bruce personally. I didn't really try. There was the age difference, and he had "hired me" (auditioned) me. He didn't really let that many get to know him. Oh there was that "inner founding circle", section leaders, those who I considered had more knowledge and responsibility for the "excellence" and goal of the group. Yes, they were the "elite" and that, for me was just fine.

So for me two more "chapters" in my life, happy ones, have closed. Bruce's choice of songs were perfect for me. Many I had sung with him and Kirk and my tenor buddies. My favorites, "Carmina Burana" from my first season and "Dirait-on" from the Istedfod in Wales. His use of "youth" in the virtuoso violinist and drummer was just inspired programming. He stood off to the side as if to say, "this is where you should go". His finally letting Pro have a solo and what a solo! The side of Pro that no one sees on the stage is his "wit and humor" behind the scenes. Bruce was, as he said, "Truly blessed" to have Pro. I spotted the "new director" during intermission and told him what an "awesome tenor/men's section" he was getting. He has quite an act to follow. Good luck to him. He is young and that's what happens if groups are to "renew" themselves. I hope MMC does.Bob