Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved. - unknown
2005, September 25
Myth and Man
From Reflections by Idries Shah, June 1924 - November, 1996
Myth and Man
Man is a myth maker.
Myth, when manipulated by unregenerates, is an even more effective man-maker.
Man (as he imagines himself to be), in general, is a possiblity, not a fact.
For most people, the sort of man whom they imagine to exist, or assume themselves to be, does not yet exist.
2005, September 14
Road Trip - Arrival
Arrived safe and sound in Maine on Monday.
She arrived safe on Sept 12 after a two week trip across the country. Five days were lost with car trouble, a crushed fuel filter had to be replaced over the holiday weekend and she got a tank of gas with a lot of water in it. Apparently this is a common problem in Indiana and Ohio where the humidity is 88 per cent on 90 degree days. So she not only moved but learned a lot about the car.
She got a lot of long distance help over the telephone from our wonderful mechanic here in the Bay area, even though he knows she was moving and probably won't be a customer any more. I am so thankful he was able to give her helpful suggestions.
Her cat was safe, and so happy to land in permanent quarters. Now comes the unpacking and settling in, another adventure in itself.
2005, September 07
Lord Hear my Deepest Longing
Lord Hear my Deepest Longing (Herzlich tut mich verlangen)
This chorale melody is attributed to Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612), 1601. Bach used the melody in the following eleven settings.
| BWV 135.6 | A four part chorale. | BWV 161.6 | A four part chorale. |
| BWV 244.15 | A four part chorale from St. Matthew Passion. | ||
| BWV 244.17 | Another four part chorale from St. Matthew Passion. | ||
| BWV 244.44 | Another four part chorale from St. Matthew Passion. | ||
| BWV 244.54 | Another four part chorale from St. Matthew Passion. | ||
| BWV 244.62 | Another four part chorale from St. Matthew Passion. | ||
| BWV 248.5 | A four part chorale from the Christmas Oratorio. | ||
| BWV 248.64 | Another four part chorale from the Christmas Oratorio. | ||
| BWV 270 | A four part chorale. | ||
| BWV 271 | Another four part chorale. |
MP3 files of these chorales are available. If you want one, leave me a note in a comment with your email address and I will send it. Unfortunately, the files are too large to put them on my ftp server for general distribution.
Some names under which this chorale is known:
Herzlich tut mich verlangen
Lord Hear my Deepest Longing
Discussions from the Bach Cantatas website:
Discussions from the Emmanuel Music website:
2005, September 03
Road Trip
I-80 across the US
For the past two weeks I have been busy helping to plan a trip from San Francisco to Maine. This has taken all available time so I have not kept up with posting. I hope to return soon.
This is the first long drive for my daughter, and she did not have a true idea of the magnitude of the undertaking. But she is beginning to appreciate the actual size of the country. In a time when we can get from SF to NY in less than a working day, it is easy to forget how large the country is. Driving at night, through a seemingly endless, seemingly empty land, brings home the real size of the US.
She is driving at night because she has her cat with her and it is too hot in the daytime for his safety. She does get to see parts of the country where she is stopped for the day for sleeping. People have ranged from very helpful to very unhelpful, human nature everywhere. She loved Utah with its canyons and colors, and Wyoming with its open sky and cold mornings.
But she will especially love getting to her destination, home in Maine.
2005, August 11
Century Plant
Agave americana this year and last year
Last year
This year
2005, August 06
Once upon a time
An old short story, Margaret Greentree 1985
It was a nice day, late summer merging into fall. The sun was hot and bright; shadows were cut out, black with hard edges. The wide blue sky of Kansas made a limitless world. Someone was cutting grass. The odor of the new cut grass lay over the day.
The little girl was outside the small aluminum trailer where she lived with her father, mother and new baby brother. Her white-blond hair bounced around barretts, curling, not well controlled. She was just over four, sturdy, and strong with bony knees and elbows. She played ball, bouncing it off the fence next door. Her blue and white pin-striped shorts bounced with her body.
Ring ring ring a laryo
Ring ring ring a laryo
went the solitary ball game. Suddenly she spied Art, the young fellow next door lying under his car, legs out on the sidewalk.
"What are you doing?" she asked, running up to the car.
"Fixing the motor so's it'll run."
"Oh" she said, sitting down on the sidewalk and hugging her knees.
"Guess what."
"What?" said Art.
"I have a baby brother. He's mine. I carry him sometimes. Yesterday I helped with his bath."
"Is that right?" said Art.
Just then the trailer door opened and a small red-haired woman stepped down.
"All right, Hank. I'll be right back." she said.
"Mama, can I go?" called the little girl, running up to her.
"No, you stay and help daddy with the baby. I'm just going to the store and I'll be right back."
The red-haired woman walked on down the block and the child ran back over to Art.
"I have to go and get a drink. Bye. See you later."
She skipped to the trailer step, stopped for a minute to hitch up her shorts and went in.
Coming in out of the sun, it was dark inside and cool. She peeked at the baby and glanced at the tall thin young man sitting at the small counter where they ate.
"Hi" she said, reaching for the water glass.
He had not always been with them. He had been away for a long time in a place called France. Then they hadn't lived in the trailer, mama and the little girl, they had lived with grandma and grandpa and all the aunts and uncles. The big house was always full of open friendly people, grown-ups who were always there with the child and who knew everything that happened. When daddy came to live with them they moved into the trailer and then baby brother had come along.
It was dark and quiet inside the trailer. The tall man sat very quietly in the chair by the counter.
"Come here" he said.
"What--" she said as he took her head in his hands. Suddenly something was filling her mouth, a part of him, like a hand but not a hand. She couldn't breathe and choked but couldn't even choke. It was very slippery; she cried with no sound and no breath. He held her very tight. The thing shrank back and went away and he was shaking with sobbing as he kept holding her very close and not letting her breathe. He held on to her very tightly until he was quiet. He loosened up on her and set her back; she choked to get her breath.
His white face hung there, up in front of her. His face was very white and his voice shook as he held a knife in front of her eyes and said "You must not tell. If you tell, I'll cut you up. The knife is very sharp."
Unprepared for the sudden violence, she looked at him bewildered, her face blank with astonishment. Tell? Of course she couldn't tell. She was dazed, it went so fast and she had no words to know what had happened, how could she tell? But everything had always been known, mama would know, just as mama knew everything.
The days passed, mama didn't know. Something was wrong. In the dark of night the child curled up around a dull center on her bed on her small shelf. An incomprehensible thing had happened, so disconnected with anything she knew, with getting up and getting dressed, with eating and taking naps, that soon it seemed not to have happened.
The days passed, the sun grew weaker and the child more listless but no one saw. Mama did not know, so the secret could not exist. No one saw, so what had happened must be invisible. She withdrew. Her face seemed to her to have blurred, her features to have lost definition. The secret became a daydream and was forgotten.
2005, August 03
Bolinas Lagoon 1997
Sunset on the lagoon at one end of Point Reyes, separated from the mainland by the San Andreas fault.
Because there are many habitats in a very small space, Point Reyes is a prime birding spot. In the winter, the peak of birding, you can go there and hear many languages in a day. People come from all over the world. Here are some websites with more information.
2005, July 29
Add a virtual cat
A kitty on our website makes it more like home.
In line with adding cats, here is a new member of the household.
| adopt your own virtual pet! |
Thanks Karan
