Starting new exercises!

Angelina gave me new exercises to do when I had my session with her yesterday. The first set is called the McKenzie protocol which I think I have done before. The second set are called Puppet arm. The McKenzie Protocol is done on my back on the bed. It involves various leg lifts, stretches, so forth. Puppet Arm I'm doing just with my left arm for now. It involves stretching my arm above my head and bending my elbow, moving the arm and then bringing it back down by my side. It is good to be moving in new ways. Birthday plans are beginning to take shape, but are being affected by the weather. Thursday we're going to have supper with Andy and Robin and hopefully Tom and Kathy can join us. That will be at Panda North. Earlier in the day I'm hoping to get together with John. Unfortunately he's not feeling very well right now so we may have to postpone that. Friday we're going to a wonderful all-Purcell concert by In Stile Moderno at the BMC. I am really looking forward to that. Saturday we're having a supper with the family in Shutesbury, but the forecast is all snow and we may have to put that off. but that's OK. We can do something later. i'm thinking of this as my 90th birthday year! Below are a pictures of the new pavilion that's been erected down at the Guilford church and I'm hoping that maybe in May we can have a little birthday celebration down there.

The new pavilion at the Guilford church

These beautiful creatures came out to wish me Happy Birthday this week!

End of the month

Tomorrow (well, actually today - it's after midnight), will be the last day of February. The first day of Spring is only 3 weeks away! An encouraging word! However, it is snowing at the moment, and we're due to get six to eight înches by tomorrow night. Today I had a session with Angelina - my fourth. We can see some progress, but it's slow. I need to keep up with the at-home exercises. Last week we went to a fañtastic concert by Zara Bode's Little Big Band at the BMC. She does songs from the Big Band era - but with only six back-up musicians: guitar, bass, drums, clarinet, sax and trumpet- all excellent and very tight as a group. Three songs I can remember are "All of Me," "Undecided," and "Goody, Goody."

At the end, as an encore, Zara and her husband, Stefan Amidon , sang a duet, unaccompanied: I Love You Truly. Very touching.

A satisfying event

Thia afternoon we finally were able to present the Reader's Theater version of The Gospel of John, or, as we called it, The Gospel of Johanna, because we took up the suhggestion of Robert Kysar, who is a well-known scholar of Johannine writings and for years was on the faculty of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Alanta, GA. He suggested in his book, John, the Maverick Gospel, that the author of the Fourth Gospel could have been a woman. We had a good congregation that obviously was intent on our reading and moved by it. There is a video of the reading at the end of today's service on YouTube - just search "Guilford Community Church," scroll to February 26th, and push the little red ball at the bottom of the screen ahead. The reading was of "The Voice," version of the Gospel with the added feature of change of gender of key roles. Thus, e.g., "Jesus" became "Yeshua," a woman. God "the Father" became "the Mother, etc. The purpose of this change was to stimulate thought. I called it a "thought experiment," and urged individuals in the the congregation to pay attention to their thoughts and feelings as they listened. It proved to be quite powerful.

Reading the Gospel.

A group portrait of readers after the reading.

A beautiful pavilion

Monday and Tuesday were exciting days at the Guilford Church. A long-awaited post-and-beam pavilion was finally erected next to the church. It is part of a larger plan that is being called the "Guilford Community Park," which will be open to the community and in addition to the pavilion will have a children's playground, a labyrinth, a firepit encircled with benches, a basketball court, and open green space. A large crane was brought in to lift timbers and roof rafters into place, The event attracted a crowd of people - over fifty for sure - and Ellen was part of a group that provided soup, bread, coffee and cookies for everyone. A lot of church people were there but also people from the community we don't usually see. It reminded many of the time back in 1994 when we moved the church. It felt good to be building something that will attract people when so many churches are languishing. Here are some photos, not necessarily in chronological order:

A different Sunday

This morning I led the choir in Dummerston. It was Transfiguration Sunday, and there are very few anthems/hymns that are about the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration story is about Jesus going to a mountain-top with two of his disciples and being "transfigured"-i.e., he is transformed before their eyes into a radiant figure, his clothes and very skin sending forth a brilliant light, as bright as the sun. It is a strange story, which may be why there are not many hymns based on it. I have in my library a rare hymnal, however, which was produced by the Christian Council of Asia, called Sound the Bamboo. It is very interesting because it contains hymns from Korea, India, China, Japan, Indonesia, the Phillipines, etc., which nobody has ever heard of. Even the New Century Hymnal, which made an explicit effort to reflect the diverse musical traditions of the world church, has very few Asian hymns. Sound the Bamboo did not have a hymn about the transfiguration, per se, but it did have one filled with references to light, titled This New Morn, Full of Grace which, with some minor word changes, could serve admirably as a "Transfiguration Hymn," which is what I called it. It was from Korea. Here it is

"Transfiguration Hymn" I played it on my little keyboard and found it charming. I made the few changes that I felt were needed (I print out the tiny words on my computer and paste them into the line) and enlarged the image quite a bit to make it more readable. I sent out the score in advance and also made a audio file of my playing each part on my electric piano. It did not seem to be a difficult hymn to learn. The alto and bass parts were like a drone - sounding the same note over and over. I could see one possible difficulty - in one measure, the rhythm was syncopated in a way our ears are not accustomed to. But I devised a way in my mind that I would teach that. Well, it proved to be a challenge! It actually ended up sounding pretty good - several members of the congregation commented favorably. But the road getting there was very rocky, and I had to deal with a lot of negative comments, which is very unusual. I also was particularly aware this morning of how difficult it is for me to direct, because my arms get very tired because of shoulder pain. I am wondering how much longer I can do this! This afternoon, we were slated to go to the Bergh'a to watch North Carolina play North Carolina State in men's basketball. But the little girls were sick, so we came home and I listened on the radio (I have a great radio app on my phone that gives me all the Tarheels games). That game was a disaster. The "Heels" have now lost five in a row, and their chances of getting into the NCAA tournament in March are getting slim! Last year they were in the championship game with almost the same team - four returning starters! What has happened? They lost Brady Manek to graduation - was he the team spark plug? Who knows? They have had some great games this season, but they are in quite a slump right now.

Fiddler on the Roof

Last night we did something Ellen and I have never done before! We went to a Brattleboro High School Musical production. When John and Betsey were in high school (45+ years ago) Shirley and I went regularly. But I haven't been in the high school auditorium for ages. Nan Tierra spurred us to go; some Guilford Church folks had children in the orchestra. We sat in the front row right in front of two of them: Cara Fischer and Genevieve Redmond, flute and sax. They were good! The musical was Fiddler on the Roof, and the students were fantastic - they poured their hearts into it; it was well-paced, bursting with vitality, and the singing was pretty good to very good, and very well-amplified. Kudos to Al Stockwell, the sound engineer. We really enjoyed it. It was challenging getting in and out, but I did it unaided. My fitness watch says I walked a half-mile yesterday, and most of that was probably in the high school! Here are some shots:

Above: a packed house! Below: Exclaiming over the new sewing machine! ****************
Earlier in the afternoon I had a good session with Angelina. She does amazing work.

Waiting

I'm sitting outside the Gannett medical building waiting for Jerome. He is seeing his primary care physician, Dr. Kaufman. It's raining, and here comes Jerome. LATER. Now I'm waiting outside Rite Aid for Jerome while he gets some prescriptions. Fortunately, I have my phone with me and I can post this blog while I'm waiting. While I was waiting at the hospital, I did Wordle and Quardle, my normal morning word game routine. I got very good scores in both, a 3 in Wordle and a 7 in Quardle, which makes a total score of 10 which I consider very good. When I texted Ellen and told her that score, she replied and said she got a nine for the day a three and a six. Wow!

It's a wet February day. In the 50's. Strange weather.*****************

LATER YET: Now I'm waiting at the Stop and Go lube place to get my oil changed. ....... and now I am inside getting my car serviced.

Going home, I got this nice shot of the house set into the mountain. You get a good view here of the trees leaning into the sunlight.

All kinds of things

We just saw a wonderful movie: Living, starring Bill Nighy. It was just perfect. It is based on a Japanese film by Kurusawa, which in turn was inspired by Tolstoyf's The Death of Ivan Ilytch. It is about Mr. Williams, an older burocrat in the city of London's Public Works Dept., who receives a terminal diagnosis and decides to actually start living! It was set in the early 1950's, and the depiction of the men in the office, including Mr. Williams, is priceless. Reserved is far too weak a term. Almost comatose would be closer. For years a group of three women have been vainly trying to crack the burocracy open to get a vacant lot turned into a playground for children; in his final months, Mr. Williams takes on this project and sees it to completion. But that is just the surface of this very touching film.

Bill Nighy as Mr.Williams in the recent film, Living.*******************************\ But that's just for starters. This evening we had a Hallowell Rehearsal. Earlier, before going to Amherst to see the movie, I took Jerome to a Dr.'s appointment - a dermatologist. Yesterday was a rehearsal for our Readers' Theater presentation of the Gospel of John, or, The Gospel of Johanna, as we are calling it, picking up on Bill Kysar's suggestion that the author of the Gospel could be a woman. We have gone a step further - Jesus has become "Yeshua," a woman, and God the Father is God the Mother, Yeshua is the "Daughter of Humanity," etc. It turned out to be a powerful experience for the group to hear it that way. We'll see what people think next Wednesday. Tomorrow I take Jerome to another Dr. apppointment - his PCP - and I'll see Angelina at 1:30p.m. The days are full!

Jerome's Party

We had a very nice party for Jerome last night - seven of us went to Panda North for dinner, and it was great! Panda North has long been one of our favorite Chinese Restaurants, and it lived up to expectations: the food was fantastic, the servings were generous, the service was excellent, and they even brought out the birthday cake Ellen made, candles burning, and at the right time. The seven were Fred and Patrice, Carole, Kathie, Ellen, me and Jerome. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take pictures until almost everyone had left. I was so wrapped up in the occasion, I forgot I was a photographer. Oh well. I posed a question which proved to be a good conversation starter: I asked everyone to tell where they were and what they were doing the day Jerome was born: February 11, 1955. Jerome himself was in Brooklyn. Patrice was in utero, I think in Connecticut, but everyone else had been born, two were toddlers (in OH and MD?), as I recall, one was ten, Ellen was 13 and in PA, and I was a first-year seminary student in Chicago, and about to be married to Shirley that coming summer. February 11th, I was about to go to Pittsburg, KS for our engagement party. So that was fun. Ellen's cake was a pumpkin cake with cream-cheese frosting. It was delicious and wonderfully moist. I think Jerome had a good time, as did we all.

This is what my platter of food looked like - including the radish made into a rose.

Panda North Restaurant

Carole and Kathie - after Fred and Patrice had taken Jerome home.************************* Today, Sunday, we went to Dummerston church and sang in the choir. We sang Let It Be, by Lennon and McCartney, and I sang a solo on verse one. I sang in my bass register, and one person said I sounded like Leonard Cohen, and another said like Johnny Cash. Not bad. company, I guess - growly old men! And now we're at Katie and Savanna's for the Super Bowl, and we just had fantastic snacks (including wings!), thanks to Ellen.

Katie and Brendon************************************** Everyone here is an Eagle's fan, but the Chiefs just went ahead by 1 point. (They ultimately won). The Chiefs are the only NFL team I have even the slightest connection with. Back in about 1974, or maybe 1975, I went to Kansas City to participate in a Life-Planning workshop led by Richard Bolles, author of What Color is Your Parachute? As a part of that workshop, we were sent into the city to see if we could make contact with local leaders, using our own personal interests as a kind of "bait." The idea is that if you are looking for a job, you go to the city where you want to live, and you try to make contact with people you've never met but who might be in a position to put you in touch with a possible employer, based on common interests. We were naturally sceptical that one could do that, so Bolles gave us an assignment that would make us believers. What were my "interests?" Well, back then, I was an active cross-country skier; in Appleton, WI, I had even led a class in it! That's because it was relatively unknown at that time, and I had not only done it, I had read one of the only books written about it back then, by a Putney, VT neighbor, John Caldwell. Armed with that knowledge, sketchy as it was, I went into Kansas City looking for a cross-country ski place! Asking around, I found a sports store where they sold cross-country skis. I went there and asked who was considered the top Cross-country skier in Kansas City, and I was told that it was the place-kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Jan Stenerude. Stenerude was Norwegian, and he was a ski jumper before he was taken on as a kicker for the Chiefs. So it was no surprise that he was a Nordic skier. I asked where we was and was told that he was practicing with the Chiefs, and I actually was told that I could call the field and they would call him in and I could talk with him. This astonished me, and I felt that Bolles' point had been made, but that I was not an authentic enough Nordic skier myself to justify bringing him in off the field. It could be sort of embarrassing. So I thanked the folks at the store and let it go. But it was pretty clear that if I had pursued it, I probably could have met and talked with Jan Stenerude. I am sure that there are people out there who can't believe I didn't follow up on that.

Jan Stenerude, Chiefs' place-kicker in the 1970's

Happy Birthday, Jerome!

Jerome Holland is 68 today. We'll be taking him out for a birthday dinner treat at Panda North this evening. Some folks from the Guilford Church will be joining us. Ellen will bring a cake. It's been a hard week for him in other ways so maybe this will lift his spirits.

Jerome when he was at Pine Heights.*****************

This week I have been very busy preparing for readers' theater - the bible study group presentation of the Gospel of John on Ash Wednesday. I also had another session with Angelina working on my shoulder. Monday I'm meeting her at Planet Fitness. I had no idea that a monthly membership there costs only $10. I can use the machines there to regain some muscle strength.

A wonderful concert

Today was the first concert in a series at the Guilford Church, and it was wonderful. Rachel Johnson, our fantastic pianist, gave a piano concert. The program was mostly well-known short pieces by Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Debussey, Schumann, Beethoven, Scarlotti, and others - a delightful program. She was joined on one piece by her husband, Dwayne, who plays trumpet, and on another by Connie Green, who plays flute. The church was full. Everyone loved it. On top of that, Ellen put on a beautiful reception afterward. She also did coffeehour at church today, so we left home at 8:00a.m. with the car loaded with food - baked goods mostly - and didn't get home till after 6:00p.m.! Quite a day!

Scenes from today

New oppotunities

Some new things have happened this week - it's amazing how life just keeps on dishing up new experiences. Mnnday evening, Ellen and I started a six-week course offered on Zoom, free of charge, by the Harvard Divinity School. It is called "Religion and the Legacies of Slavery." It is an in-depth look at the way religion has intersected with the history of slavery generally and in the U.S. in particular.

The first session focused on a dimension of that topic of particular interest to me - the Bible, with emphasis on the New Testament. There are slaves all through the New Testament, though you might not know it because often, the Greek word doulos is translated "servant," not "slave." Servanthood can imply voluntary service, but in the New Testament, these were slaves. Jesus frequently encounters slaves, they figure as characters in his parables, they are mentioned by Paul. The Letter of Philemon, is addressed to a slave-owner, and is about his slave, Onesimus. But the NT also uses the term doulos to describe Christians serving God, and even calls Jesus a doulos (Philippians 2). This enriches (some might say complicates) the meaning of the term and the history of slavery and its intersetion with religion. Of course we know that the New Testament has been appealed to both to support and to condemn slavery. We were ably led through this mine-field by Prof. Karen L. King, who joined the HDS faculty in 1997. In 2009, she became the first woman appointed as the Hollis Professor of Divinity, the oldest endowed chair in the United States (1721). She specializes in the history of early Christianity with particular interest in discourses of normativity (orthodoxy and heresy), gender studies, and martyrdom. This course should be an interesting and timely experience.

Prof. Karen L. King. ********************************* The other new thing is a connection with Angelina for body work - a gift from John and Cynthia for Christmas. (From her Website): "Angelina Diega Mantione was born of Sicilian parents and trained as an artist and dancer. Angelina has studied how the body works for most of her life. She is a certified Personal Trainer and Masters level Movement Therapist. Her background as a performer and educator has given her a unique perspective on the process of healing and strengthening the body, mind and spirit. During her twenty-five years in the healing arts, Angelina's work evolved into the East West Body Systems that it is today. An amalgam of hands-on modalities combining acupressure and deep tissue re-organization paired with exercise based in Yoga, Pilates, dance and Movement Therapy. It supports body awareness, emphasizing structural alignment and correct movement patterns. Functional, compassionate access to integrated, skillful movement promotes a joyful way of life. East West Body systems help reduce pain, improve strength and vitality, and develop body wisdom" I visited Angelina today in her little red A-frame in Putney, very reminiscent of the A-frame I built 60 years ago. We went up into her loft studio in the top of the "A" - very like the space where I had my little study back then - and she worked on my shoulder and neck, loosening up tight muscles, unfreezing bones and ligaments with gentle pressure, nothing dramatic or agressive, just creating space for movement. My body responded, it felt good, I think she can help me and I plan to go back. Bible study was very intersting this week - sort of different too. More on that later.