Rediscovering Kierkegaard

We will be starting a new course from Swarthmore in January. It is called "Uncanny Voyages" and will be led by Phil Weinstein. The first reading assignment is Søren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. Ellen has never read Kierkegaard, but this assignment brings me back to a very important part of my life. My first memory of Kierkegaard actually goes back to when I was six years old! I was walking down the sidewalk in our neihborhood with my dad in Minneapolis, and ahead of us was an older man coming out of his house. My dad said, "That is Professor Swensen, the translator of Kierkegaard." Well, that is what I think he said - all I remember is learning that a neighbor had a connection with someone named Kierkegaard, who must have been someone important. I of course knew norhing of Kierkegaard as a six-year-old, and only later did I learn that David Swensen was indeed the person who had "discovered" a book by Kierkegaard in a Minneapolis bookstore, written in Danish, taken it home, read it, and immediately became a fan and tried to lay his hands on as many books by Kierkegaard as he could find. At that time, the early 1900's, Kierkegaard was esentially unknown in the U.S. Swensen made him known, and translated several of his works. It was only in seminary that I actually read Kierkegaard, and when I met Shirley, Thanksgiving weekend, the fall of my first year at CTS, we discovered we had Kierkegaard in common - she had read him at Wellesley, and had been much affected by his thought. I was impressed! Kierkegaard became an important part of our faith, and figured prominently in Shirley's ordination paper. I owe to K my love of paradox, and while I make no pretense to really understand his thought, I feel he has shaped my understanding of what it means to be a Christian in a significant way. So, we have dug out Kierkegaard. Quite literally - a few years ago I boxed up a bunch of books, and my library of Kierkegaard was in a box in the storeroom. Among them - the book we are assigned to read, Fear and Trembling. Reading Kierkegaard is tough sleding, and to help us I have started reading aloud to Ellen an overview of his life and thought by Perry LeFevre, who was one of my teachers at CTS and the author of The Prayers of Kierkegaard, which includes an introduction to Kierkegaard which is clear and intelligible. I'll be very interested to see what Phil Weinstein and the class make of Kierkegaard!

My library of books by or about Kierkegaard. For some reason, I have two copies of Purity of Heart. My favorite of all his works is Works of Love, which I used to own, but which I gave to someone years ago, so we ordered it yesterday and it will come next Tuesday. I am excited to get back into Kierkegaard! This week I have gone to the pool twice - I now have purchased a 3-month membership. Katie and Savanna are coming for a visit this afternoon and tonight we will attend the annual "First Night" concert by the Amidons and friends online (they will be doing it at the BMC and a few hardy souls will be there in person). Tomorrow we are going to Northhampton to see Max and meet his friend Maison (pronounced Mason), and in the evening we are going to a silent movie with live organ acccompaniment with John and Cynthia - that will be at the Baptist Church (now called Epsilon Spires) where there is one of the grand old Estey pipe organs.

Christmas with John and Cynthia

We had Christmas with John and Cynthia yesterday. I went to the pool in the morning, bought a 3-month membership, and had a good workout. I came home, had a snack, vacuumed, mopped, and just as I was finishing they arrived. Ellen had made great hors-doevres, including home-made gluten-free crackers, which were delicious! The newly repaired fireplace was cozy, we talked, snacked, exchanged presents, opened gifts from other family, had a tasty supper of roasted root veggies with kale and solyanka (potato, cabbage and cheese casserole). Our gifts included food items, a game, Cranium, and socks. Also a date for a silent movie on New Years Day, and a Koren cartoon book. I gave warm socks, CDs I had made, and a book, The Unlikely Farmer, by George Kempton, a friend going back to Dummerston days in the 1950s. One gift I gave Ellen generated a lot of interest: a box of "Crotchety Cards." This is something new I invented: from the "Instructions" -- "Crotchety Cards are a new invention designed to provide a positive intervention when I seem to be in a crotchety mood. They are a way of my giving permission for you to intervene by selecting a card that seems appropriate at that moment, to, in effect, change the mood. You will give me the card, and I will both immed-iately know that I have been crotchety, and will enter into the new dynamic created by the card. The cards are not a mandate, they make a suggestion and are a mood-changer. I hope you will be willing to give them a try! Your loving husband....." Here are some cards: ggg Crotchety Cards A trip to Allen Brothers for donuts ggg ggg Crotchety Cards A trip to Ocean State Job Lots for whatever ggg ggg Crotchety Cards A trip to Ogunquit to walk on the beach ggg

These cardsheets were cut up into individual cards and put into a little box.

Card box************************* Ellen really liked this idea! I was very pleased. I think it will make a difference.

Our cozy supper

Christmas Eve

COVID changed the plan for Christmas Eve. Dummerston and Guilford both decided not to have congregations present and streamed the service. Jim and Mary decided not to come to our place for Christmas Eve and went directly to Katie & Savanna's. Dummerston had no choir. Mary Westbrook and a cellist friend provided music, Shawn spoke and that was it. In Guilford at the 11pm service, there was a small choir that Ellen and I were both in, and we both read scripture. Pastor Elisa led the service, Dwayne Johnson played trumpet, Rachael Johnson played piano. It was a lovely service, despite the absence of a congregation, and we were glad to be there. It's on YouTube.

The choir singing at Guilford

Reading John 1:1-4

Change in plans

Well, it isn't COVID affecting us today, it's the old fashioned reason - weather! It is freezing rain today, and we checked every online resource, and also talked with Zach and every indication was that it was really bad and we would be crazy to try to drive anywhere today. So we didn't. That was this morning at about 11:00a.m. Now it is almost 3 p.m.and we are wondering if we might make it. Ellen is talking with Katie - I think we might try it. We'll see! LATER We did it! Ellen tried out the driveway and it was fine. It was above freezing, so we gave it a try. No problem - the roads were fine. It obviously was very icy earlier but there had been both melting and road treatment in the meantime. So we made it fine and are in time for dinner! Amazing. The Feinlands are here, Tye and B, Jim and Mary, and of course Katie and Savanna, and Brendon. Ellen is so happy to be with her family and she was able to deliver the plum pudding, the stollen and the basket we made up for gift exchange. Yay!

Here we are!************************************* More photos:

Max with Theo and "B"

Buffet

Jerry and Max We had the drawing for baskets and we got the Feinland basket.

I've got my eye on the bottle of kombucha! And then we had figgy pudding:

AFTER EATING we played "fictionary dictionary" and seven of us played: Mary, Tye, Ellen, Jim, Savanna, Katie and myself (thw Feinlands had left by then). The words we got were shahi, rohun, epulary, septarium, primstaff, kirpan, and croodle. You got one point for anyone who voted for your made-up definition, you got a point if you voted for the right definition, and if you were the one who found the word and no one voted for the real definition, you got a point. Mary attracted the most points for her fake definitions, and won with a total of 12 points. I had five points, gained mostly from someone voting for my fake definition. By the time we were ready to leave, the weather app said it was freezing rain again back home, so we spent the night with K&S (we had brought stuff in case). We got up early and made it to the Guilford Church by 8:30a.m. - early for choir practice. Another service with a small choir and no congregation. It was essentially a carol-sing - we did two carols as anthems, Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming and the Ralph Vaughn-WIlliams setting of O Little Town of Bethlehem, and sang about six-seven other carols, as the congregation. Ellen read the prayers of the people. After church we went by the Davis' briefly - they are quarentined because Emma tested positive (she is not feeling very sick) - we waved from a distance. We had no trouble getting up our driveway, and had a quiet afternoon at home. John and Cynthia are coming tomorrow.

The choir this morning singing Lo, How a Rose.

Ellen, reading the prayers of the people

Test and tree

I started the day early today - we got an email from Mary Cay Brass saying that free COVID self-tests were being given out in Dummerston at the Motor Vehicle Department office on Route 5. I dashed into clothes and left without breakfast - but I was too late. They were all out almost minutes after opening. They said that they would be given out at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital starting at 2p.m. So I came home, had breakfast, and we went to Elysian Hills to find a Christmas Tree. They had a nice one, small but nice, for $48, which was cheaper than the $60 one we saw a couple of days ago and decided against. So we got it and brought it home. But not before I went to Walgreens to get a prescription filled, and to Staples to get card stock, paper and blank CDs. I'm making CDs as gifts this year and was running out of materials. I got down to Brattleboro Hospital at 1:20p.m., well before the 2p.m. opening, but I could see no evidence of a place to line up. A woman in a pickup said it was actually off Canal Street at the place where they have been doing COVID testing, so I followed her. Things got a little crazy as suddenly everyone was cramming into that spot, but I stuck close behind her and by golly, at 20 minutes before two, I was having two test kits handed to me through the car window - two per vehicle was the rule. Who knows whether the people who came at 2p.m. got any! But I was happy - we can now test before our Christmas gathering, and I can share one kit with John if he needs one. Later,I put up the tree and put on lights. It looks nice!

Elysian Hills Tree Farm

Our tree

Test kits

Christmas Cheer

We spread some Christmas Cheer today. I met Jerome at his home and asked him what would be most helpful to him. His car is not working and he needed food, but doesn't have the strength to walk to the Market 32 supermarket which is near his place and lug home bags of groceries uphill. So i drove him to the store, gave him some $$ and he went in and did some shopping and I drove him back home. This was very helpful to him. Ellen also had made a little plate of cookies for him. He was very grateful! I came home, we had a bite to eat, and then Ellen and I went to two nursing homes and did a sing for the residents: Bradley House and Holton Memorial Home. This was organized by Robin Davis, whose dad is in Bradley House. It was a small group led by Mary Cay Brass and Andy Davis, and in adddition to Mary Cay, Andy, Robin, Ellen and myself, included Tom Goldschmidt, Beth Spicer, and probably a couple of others. I (of course) did not remember to bring my phone, so I got no photos :( . Too bad, because we were in some interesting spaces.At Bradley House, we had to check in, have our temp. taken and be fully vaccinated. We wore masks while we sang. None of the residents were wearing masks, however. At Holton, they knew we had been checked out at Bradley, so it was simpler. But we did wear masks throughout. Our repertoire was drawn from the pieces we had learned for our December 14th Christmas sing with River SIngers. At Bradley we sang in the dining room; at Holton, we were in a special activiies room. I would guess maybe fifteen residents attended at Bradley, and about a dozen at Holton. Everyone was very appreciative. So this was a special day. When we got home, I did Centering Prayer on Zoom while Ellen did some errands. This evening, J.E. called from Salem, OR and did Facetime with Ellen, and now Ellen is at the Hannaford's market delivering some cookies to a store manager who has been particularly kind to her. A good day!

Bradley House

Holton Home

Cozy!!

I think I've mentioned before that the fireplace insert has not been working since summertime. Someone from our propane supplier said that the burner was defective and needed to be replaced. They ordered parts and the parts were delayed. Yesterday, a repair man came from Friends of the Sun, which is where we bought the stove in the first place - this was an appointment we made months ago for a cleaning - he looked at it and said,

"There's no problem with the burner," and he took it apart, saw that it needed a new thermal coupler and needed some cleaning, he did all that and it's working just fine and boy is it ever cozy! ************************************************* Later: We watched a Christmas Celtic Sojourn virtual concert from Boston. It featured Moira Smiley and Windborne (Lynn Mahoney, Will Rowan, Lauren Breunig) all of whom we know. It was great.

Moira Smiley

Lynn, Lauren and Will from Windborne

Meet Elliot, finally!

I think I have mentioned in previous posts that we have two new baby boys in our neighborhood. Followers of this blog met Riley Grover a few days ago. Yesterday, we finally met Elliot Perkins, who was born three days before Riley, if I'm not mistaken. So these are six-month-old, very robust baby boys! Elliot's parents, Phil and Ashley, live in the house at the bottom of our driveway which has been under reconstruction for the last year or so. It was formerly the home of "Jake" Jaquith, a former teacher of math at Brattleboro Middle School. After living alone in the house for years, Jake had to go into a nursing home, and died earlier this year. Phil and Ashley had to basically gut the house and rebuild it; plus they added a wing. It is a work in progress, and now they have Elliot! And Phil works nights as a policeman in Springfield! So they have their hands full! But they seem to be enjoying it, and the house will be lovely when it's all done. More power to them! Just before going to see them, I drove down to check the mail and discovered a tree down over the road, blocking the road. Not a big tree, but I couldn't budge it, and I no longer have a chain saw. I called Zach, and he called Phil, who immediately came up and cleared it! Good neighbors! We are so fortunate!

Phil, Ashley and Elliot Perkins.

Close-up of Elliot. ***************************++++++++++++ Both Elliot and Riley will be walking before long, and before we know it, they'll be running up the driveway!

It’s snowing!

Well, we may be getting some serious snow. It's supposed to snow until tomorrow morning, and we could get several inches. I just mailed a whole bunch of things for Christmas, so I got that done just in time. This afternoon, we're going to Eliza's house and watch a Tar Heels basketball game. Ellen is preparing supper that we will take with us. I guess it will be snowing the whole time we are there! Fortunately, they have decided to live-stream church tomorrow. COVID is on the rise. No end in sight!

Let it snow!******************************** LATER It didn't snow that much. We just got a couple of inches. i'm not complaining! The Tarheels made a miserable showing on Saturday☹

Hallowell rehearsal

Last night, we finally had a chance to get to a Hallowell rehearsal. They have been going on for sometime, but we haven't been able to go because they were on Thursday nights and we had our Swarthmore short story class on Thursday night. But now that's over so last night we went to the rehearsal. It was really wonderful to be there with that group. They are a little different from our usual rehearsals before the pandemic. They are held in a larger space - the Westminister-West church (where we hold River Singers rehearsals) and with smaller groups. There are over 40 people in Hallowell, and that is considered too many to have in one space at the same time. We are also all wearing masks while we sing. That is not ideal, but we are sort of getting used to it. It has been quite a while since we have sung some of our repertoire, and it felt just a little unfamiliar. Mary Cay Brass, our Director, said we needed to get our nose out of our books and look up more. We got back into the flow again pretty quickly. It was very satisfying. Only time will tell whether we can continue these rehearsals, given the Omicron variant and the sharp rise in Covid cases in Vermont. You do have to be fully vaccinated to come to these rehearsals. But vaccination is no longer a guarantee that you will not get Covid.

Scenes from our rehearsal. I was sitting next to two of my former physicians. (Middle photo). Dr. Burt Tepfer was my cardiologist, and beyond him, Dr. Walter Slowinski, who was my PCP for a time. Both retired. I miss them.

Got a lot done

We just accompished a lot! First of all, I had an appointment this morning with Dr. Brickley. He looked at my foot and said that I have had cellulitis, and that he thinks the infection is healed, but it will take a couple of weeks for the redness to fade. So I need to keep an eye on it. Everything else was fine. Then I stopped at the People's United Bank branch in Newfane on the way back - a branch I had never set foot in, in all these many years I have driven by it. It is very old fashioned - the way banks used to look:

People's United Bank in Newfane *************************************** The reason I stopped by is that I had a good talk yesterday with Katie amd she needs some financial help in helping pay for special fees connected to a new job she has found - she will be working at a cannabis nursery, actually working with plants, and this is a highly regulated business and she needs a number of things to qualify that cost money. She is working temporarily for Door Dash and Grub Hub: food delivery businesses. They pay pretty well, but she still needs help. So I was looking into transferring funds from my bank account to hers. I found out that this would require a wire transfer, which costs $30. But if we did it from Ellen's Bank of America account into Katie's BofA account, it would be free. But that involved a trip to Keene, the closest BofA branch. So that is what we did. We went to Keene after lunch. Ellen stopped at Michael's, we did our business at BofA - that went smoothly - and then since we were in New Hampshire, we went up to Walpole to return some things at Ocean State Job Lots, and similarly at Vermont Country Store. That all went well, and we could check a few items off our To Do list. This is going to be a completely new kind of work for Katie, and also a 4-day work week. So sha will consistently have 3-day weekends, which makes a visit to Vermont possible - fly out Thursday evening and return Sunday afternoon. That was exciting news. The down side of all this is that I missed all three on-line events today - the zoom session of retired clergy this morning, the noon CTS "Reflections" event and the afternoon Centering Prayer zoom session. It's too bad to have missed all that, but I feel good about what we got done.

Got to the pool again!

Today was my fifth trip to the pool in eight days. Not too bad. Today I did a little more than I have in any previous visit. I'm getting close to pre-panndemic levels of exercise at the pool. My free ten-day membership ends Wednesday. I'll probably opt for a three-month membership. That will take me about to the Spring Equinox. We'll see how the world looks then.

Entrance to the pool

A lovely afternoon

Things worked out well today! We had a nice little lunch after church back at the house and then went next door to our neighbors, Zach and Kelly Grover, and delivered a gift for their new baby, Riley - now six months old! - and got a chance to see Riley for the first time and get caught up on neighborhood news, which we are sort of ignorant of. Zach and Kelly really have their hands full, but seem to be thriving. Kelly takes Riley to work every day - but as he gets older, that will not be possible - he won't stay still. Zach is buying out his dad's share of the family business and will be 100% in charge! At some point, Kelly will quit her job at Cersosimo's and work 100% for Zach as bookkeeper. We are fortunate to have them next door and to have Zach handy to take care of the road and other things.

Riley asleep in his cradle, which moves in a rotating fashion to keep him happy

Zach, Riley and Kelly***************************************** After the Grovers, we went to the Brattleboro Music Center for a concert by the Brattleboro Camerata, a newly-formed group which is having its inaugeral concert. It specializes in Early and Renaissance music - today's concert included Palestrina, Josquin, Morales, Lusitano, Vulpius, Praetorius, di Lasso and de Victoria. It is led by the Concert Choir director, Jonathan Harvey, and includes 4 people we know well - Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, Patty Meyer, and Emma Schneider (Arthus Davis' partner). It was a lovely concert, despite the fact that all the singers were masked. Everyone who entered had to show their vaccination csrd, and of course the audience was all masked as well. So it was probably not a super-spreader event. What a time we are living in!

The Brattleboro Music Center

Jonathan Harvey - I would have a live picture of the concert but they didn't permit photography. However, it will eventually be online and I can get a picture there. ***************************************** It's sort of amazing that we have both the Brattleboro School of Dance and the Brattleboro Music Center in this little town!

Cookies Galore!

This has been cookie week! Ellen has been busy Thursday, Friday and Saturday making dough and baking cookies - over 700 in all. She and Robin have created 36 platters of cookies to sell for the Guilford Church Bazaar - normally an in-person thing but in this COVID time you order ahead and pick-up today! They are going fast as I write.

A platter of cookies - a work of art!

Robin and Ellen making platters

Cookies at our house waiting to be taken to the church

All set to be given to the folks who bought them!

At church

This morning we picked up Calvin and brought him to the Guilford Church Choir rehearsal - he is unable to drive anymore and we have offered to take him when needed. So we are hanging out while the choir rehearses.

Andy leading the choir downstairs

Andy leading choir rehearsal upstairs. Today, we will take Calvin home after church; Ellen may need to hang around to help deliver cookies, so I may end up taking Calvin home and then coming back to get Ellen. This afternoon we may be able to fit in a visit to our neigbbors, Zach and Kelley Grover, to take a gift to their new baby, Riley, and see him for the first time. But at 4p.m. we are due at a concert by the Camarata Choir at the BMC - a new small a cappella group led by Jonathan Harvey who also leads the Brattleboro Concert Choir, which we used to sing in regularly but are not doing this year. But we want to hear what this group is doing. Last night we had heavy winds, and when we came out this morning, the driveway was covered with little branches. But fortunately, there were no tornadoes such as they had yesterday in Kentucky - incredible devastation there in Western Kentucky, not far from where I used to live, in Morganfield, in 1945, when my father was a Chaplain at Camp Breckenridge.

Amazing ballet performance

last night we attended a performance of The Nutcracker at Greenhoe Theater on the campus of Landmark College in Putney (formerly Windham College). it was my first time at a Brattleboro School of Dance performance (I am ashamed to admit this), and I was amazed that a small town like Brattleboro could mount a production that a city of 200,000 would be proud of. The sets, the costumes, the choreography, the skill of the dancers, were all outstanding. It was also a community event involving scores of dancers from age 4 to 80+. Four or five of the dancers had a connection with the Guilford Church, especially Mariam Diallo, who in September received the Shirley Harris Crockett Award - in part because of her involvement in dance. She is the reason I finally got to a BSD performance! Thank you, Mariam! She appeared in four scenes - she was a cadet in a scene with the Nutcracker, she was in the Chinese scene, the Waltz of the Flowers, and the Finale. I sat next to Mary Alice Amidon, whose grandson, Desmond, who is 6 years old, was in several scenes with other children. It was all delightful!

Greenhoe Theater before the show (The theater is named for Joe Greenhoe, Eliza Greenhoe Bergh's father. He was head of the theater department at Windham College back in the 1960s-70's).

The opening scene of The Nutcracker.

Mariam Diallo in the Chinese scene

Miriam in Waltz of the Flowers

Send in the Clowns!

Finale

Back at the pool

I did not go to the pool yesterday because I just didn't feel up to it, but I am here today, and I did more on the machines and in the hot tub today than I have to date. So each day is a bit more. Gradually building up some stamina - I hope! I beat the rush today - no one here in the dressing room when I came, but now that I'm leaving, there's been quite a gang. Tonight we are going to the ballet! That's right. The Brattleboro School of Dance is putting on its annual The Nutcracker ballet performance. Should be fun!

A scene from a BSD performance of The Nutcracker

Stepping back

I got up very early this morning after a not very good nights sleep so that I could have the car to the Subaru dealership by 7:30. They mounted my snow tires and balanced wheels, they replaced the rear brake pads, they put in a couple of headlights, etc. At first I waited in the lounge, but when they decided to fix the brakes, which is a 2 1/2 hour job, I took a courtesy car so I could go home. I had a snack so I could take my pills, and not long after taking the pills I broke out in a cold sweat. Went to bed and got warm. Dozed. Woke up, had lunch, felt better. Subaru called - car was ready. So we have the car, and are now searching for a cook pot for Afghan refugees arriving next week. Turns out nobody sells sauce pans around here! Not even our faithful Brown & Roberts Hardware store! So in desperation we are headed here:

Walmart is in Hinsdale, NH - across the river. Ellen found a pan - not a great pan but adequate.

Crossing the Connecticut River