Another catch-up time

Well, once again, a lot of time has gone by and I have not kept this blog up to date. This time, it has been nine days since my last post, which was about Althea McBean's memorial service. That was on October 21st, and now it is the 30th. The day before Halloween. Althea's service was at 1:00p.m., as I recall, and later that afternoon of the 21st, we went down to Northhampton, because Tamar was home - she is now attending Brandeis University, but comes home some weekends - and we were invited for dinner and ice cream at Herrell's afterward. We had a very lovely meal at the Feinland's - enchiladas, rice and beans, kale salad, slaw. Here is my plate - and Tamar!

Supper was just Julie, Jerry, Tamar, Ellen and myself. Max is in Boulder and Ben is in Philadelphia. Tamar gave us a pretty full run-down of her courses. We heard quite a bit about her Cultural Anthropology course, and even more about a course on "The Tale of Genji." Here is a quote from Brandeis: "Often called "the world's first novel," the Tale of Genji has captivated readers with its narrative of love, rivalry, friendship, and loss for centuries. The class explores what has given the text its prominent place in Japanese and world literature." How did Tamar end up in this course? It is really unusual for a freshman to take this specialzed a course - at least it was in my day - but the world of college has changed a lot. Tamar had studied Japanese at Smith during high school. We think her interest in Japan was sparked by animated movies, which are her favorites, and Japanese "anime" is a big part of the animated film world. The course at Brandeis is JAPN 165A and is taught by Matthew Fraleigh. I looked up Matthew Fraleigh and found that he is a well-published scholar in the unusual field of Japanese scholarship in Chinese literature. One of his books is Plucking Chrysanthemums: Narushima Ryūhoku and Sinitic Literary Traditions in Modern Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016. You can find videos of him giving a lecture on YouTube. So Tamar is working with a very interesting professor and I can't help but wonder if this interest might lead to further study. Maybe she will go to Japan!

Matthew Fraleigh, Associate Professor of East Asian Literature and Culture and chair of the Program in East Asian Studies, Brandeis University. ************************** Just for fun, here is a quote from Wikipedia about the "Tale of Genji": "The Tale of Genji (源氏物語, Genji monogatari, pronounced [ɡeɲdʑi monoɡaꜜtaɾi]), also known as Genji Monogatari is a classic work of Japanese literature written in the early 11th century by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu. The original manuscript, created around the peak of the Heian period, no longer exists. It was made in "concertina" or orihon style:[1] several sheets of paper pasted together and folded alternately in one direction then the other. The work is a unique depiction of the lifestyles of high courtiers during the Heian period. It is written in archaic language and a poetic and complex style that make it unreadable without specialized study.[2] It was not until the early 20th century that Genji was translated into modern Japanese by the poet Akiko Yosano. The first English translation of Genji was attempted in 1882 by Suematsu Kencho, but was of poor quality and left incomplete. The work recounts the life of Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji", who is the son of an ancient Japanese emperor (known to readers as Emperor Kiritsubo) and a low-ranking concubine called Kiritsubo Consort. For political reasons, the emperor removes Genji from the line of succession, demoting him to a commoner by giving him the surname Minamoto, and he pursues a career as an imperial officer. The tale concentrates on Genji's romantic life and describes the customs of the aristocratic society of the time. It may be the world's first novel,[3] the first psychological novel, and the first novel still to be considered a classic particularly in the context of Japanese literature." LATER; It is worth noting that "The Tale of Genji," written 1000 years ago, was writtenby a woman, Murasaki Shikibu. It is particularly effective in communicating the inner thoughts and perspectives of its female characters, of which there are many. It is also disturbing in the way it portrays casual male sexual violence against women, which is still a real issue today in Japanese society. STILL LATER: Continuing to Catch Up: Sunday morning we went to church in Dummerston, where I was leading the choir. The anthem was called "Mist and Darkness." It was originally a hymn that I had found in a little church camp hymnal I had acquired decades ago. The tune is an old Japanese folk melody (it was a total coincidence that we sang a Japanese folk tune in church the morning after my learning about "The Tale of Genji!). The lyrics of the hymn are based on the wandering of the people of Israel in the desert after their escape from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. Shawn Bracebridge's text for the morning was all about the ark of the covenant that accompanied the people during their wanderings, and since there are not many anthems about the ark of the covenant, I created a verse about the ark and set it into this hymn, where it found its natural context. Then I created an arrangement of the hymn, with soloists, all men and all women-groups and SATB four-part harmony - i.e., I made the hymn an anthem. Here are the lyrics: 1. Mist and darkness all around, dark clouds over head; Doubting how to find the path which our feet should tread. Guide our wand'ring weary steps, guard us in our road. Through the trackless wilderness, O our Lord and God. 2.By Thy cloudy pillar, Lord, lead us day by day; By thy pillar bright of fire, nightly show our way. Thus thy chosen flock of old, knew the way they trod; Make us thus to know our way, O our Lord and God. 3. They encountered you at thine ark, where your Presence dwelt; There they met your mercy seat; there thy grace they felt. May our church be for us an ark; in your living Word; May we know your heav'nly grace; O our God and Lord. 4. When we come to Jordan's banks, and death draweth near; Fill our hearts with peace and hope; Drive away all fear. That we may the bliss obtain promised in thy word; Bring us to the heavenly shore; O our God and Lord. The anthem went very well - the choir is sounding good these days. Sunday afternoon there was an OSHER lecture at Next Stage in Putney we could have gone to, but didn't. I'm usually sort of tired after leading the choir - it is a physical act! - so we enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening at home. There is good TV on PBS Sunday evenings. Monday was just another quiet day, I think. I'm sure that part of the day, at least, I was preparing for Bible Study on the "Parables of Jesus," which would continue the following Sunday, October 29th. The topic of the parables is proving to be challenging, and so I made use of an uninterrupted day, like Monday often is, to do some reading and thinking about parables. I have been working hard in particular on a book by John Dominic Crossan, In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus, which is very interesting, but sort of tough sleding.

John Dominic Crossan

Errands

Friday - it's raining – a good time to do errands. First I went to the Church Office in Dummerston and made copies of the anthem for Sunday which we will rehearse tonight at seven; and then I went to the church and put the copies in the three-ring binders for the choir. Then I came home and got Ellen and we came down to Walgreens to drop off a prescription, then went to Staples to get printer paper and I went to Planet Fitness which is right next to Staples and I put in twenty minutes on the bike and the arm pedal. The arm-pedal really stretches out my right arm and that seems to help my shoulder. Angelina recommended it, and I think she was right. After Planet Fitness, we came back to Walgreens and picked up the prescription. We came home, rested a bit, had supper, and came up to the church for a choir rehearsal. We rehearsed "Mist and Darkness" for Sunday morning and "Goin' Home' for Althea McBean's funeral on Saturday. LATER: It's Saturday, and I'm at the church, waiting for Althea's service to begin.

Althea McBean (1926-2023) Later Still It is now after Althea's service, which was lovely. I saw many people there I had not seen for decades: Althea's childen, the children of Dave and Phyllis Baldwin, who were close friends of the McBeans and our family; and many others. It waa quite a homecoming. And I totally forgot to whip out my phone and take pictures! Oh well! Our anthem, Goin' Home, based on Dvorak's 9th symphony, went very well. Another great piece to add to our repertoire. We are about to go to Northhampton and will have supper with Julie and Jerry, and Tamar will be home from Brandeis and we'lll get to hear about her college experience.

Persistence pays

Today we had a date to meet Mary Anderson at Dot's restaurant in Wilmington, Vermont at 11:30a.m. We picked up Anne Janeway at her house in Marlboro and got to Wilmington just a little before 11:30, but we got a call from Mary saying that she had gotten there early and that Dot's was closed on Wednesday. We had thought it was closed only Monday and Tuesday. So we went to Dot's of Dover, which we did once before under the same circumstances. But when we got there, it was closed, period! What to do? I remembered a place in Wilmington called the Cup and Saucer. It would do in a pinch. It was open, but it only had counter seating, no tables. (There was a table, but the waitress said it would be considered "overcrowding" if we used it!). Sitting side-by-side at the counter meant it would be really hard to converse, especially since Anne is a little hard of hearing. Mary talked to a biker who was just leaving the Cup and Saucer, and he said there was a place back in town, called the Maple Leaf Tavern. So we went back there, and it was open, but it was really just a bar. So that was four strikes so far. We went down the street to another place that was a lunch room, but when we checked it out, it was closed on Wednesday. Then we went east of town to a pizza place I remembered, but when we got there, it was out of business. Six strikes! There was still one street back in town we hadn't checked out. So we went back, and by golly, there was an open restaurant serving lunch. It was called The Anchor. It specialized in seafood, which was ok. We went in, got a table for four and menus. Yay! It worked out ok except that a table of six young men came in behind us and they were very noisy. So conversing got difficult - we had to shout in order for Anne to understand what we were saying. But we got a good lunch, and heard a little bit about Mary's son Mark's wedding which had taken place earlier in the summer in Paris. Mark and Jen were married in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower right by the Seine River. I had been invited to officiate, but declined because I just didn't feel up for traveling to Paris. I felt badly declining, because I had officiated at Mary and John's wedding, and also at the wedding of their daughter, Erica and her husband, Tom. But I was younger and in much better shape back then. It was good to hear that it was a lovely wedding. Mark and Jen also have a baby - Carter - and we saw pictures of him on her phone. A very cute little boy!! Mary had to leave for a 2-o-clock appointment, so she had to get a take-home container for her unfinished lunch - we spent so much time finding an open and suitable restaurant, we didn't have a lot of time to eat. We made plans to get together at her place in Bennington in November - it will be quiet there!

Ellen and Anne talking by the car outside The Anchor.

The Anchor entrance. (I know, it says "Exit," but that sign is for the alley, not the stairs.)

A lot of catching-up to do!

Well, it has been 11 days since my last post. I'm not sure just how that much time managed to whizz by without my finding a moment to make a blog post! So it's "catch-up time!" The last post was just after taking Katie and Chrstian to the airport on Tuesday, October 3rd, for their flight home to St. Louis. We got back from the airport just in time to get to a River SIngers rehearsal. Wednesday, I remember we sort of took a deep breath - it was the first "free" day in a long time - and we just took it easy. I don't really remember what I actually did that day. Well, looking more carefully, that was actually the day I posted the blog about Katie and Chriatian - so that's one thing I did. Thursday, I think I went to the Planet Fitness gym - the first time for quite a while - and spent a little time biking. I also had a session with Angelina, and she really did some good work on my right arm and shoulder. I think I also dropped by to see Jerome briefly. But I think that was also Ellen's first day helping set up for the big Book Sale at the Guilford Church - so what I did was sort of built around that, because I do not drive any more. Friday the 6th, we had an appointment at Richmond's to have exhaust and brake work done on the Subaru. Ellen also put in time at the book sale set-up. I remember while she was working on books, I was off to the side in a Sunday School area working on my computer. I think that computer work was all related to Bible Study. The work on the Subaru was pricey! They had some problems getting the right parts for the exhaust system, as I recall. The total bill was close to $1000. Friday was also the anniversary of our friend, John Nissen's, death, and we called Mary, his widow, to plan a chance to get together, which we will be doing this coming Wednesday. Saturday was the day of the Book Sale - which was unexpectedly very successful - it brought in close to $2000. Other years it has been under $1000. Ellen helped out a bit in the morning and I stayed at home and worked on preparing materials for Bible Study on "The Parables of Jesus," which began this morning after church. I am doing two sessions - one after church, in-person, on Sunday, and one Thursday afternoom at 4:30p.m., via Zoom. It will meet every other week. Sunday the 8th, we went to the Guilford Church - Dunham Rowley, one of our lay leaders, led the service - and in the afternoon we went up to Marlboro for a Bach concert put on by the Brattleboro Music Center. It was a kind of echo of the old fall New England Bach Festival which happened every "Columbus Day weekend," as it was called back then - now Indigenous People's Day - and it was wonderful. It included the Bach Cantata for bass soloist, Ich Habe Genug,", featuring Randall Scarlotta as bass soloist, and also the Concerto for Oboe and Violin by Bach, which Ellen had played (as oboeist) back in her youth. It was a beautiful fall day and we enjoyed the concert very much.

The BMC Bach Concert.************************ Monday was a holiday and we didn't go anywhere - just enjoyed being at home with no agenda. Tuesday I think Ellen went to Eliza's and did some knitting, I stayed home and worked on Bible, and in the evening we had a special River Singers rehearsal led by John Harrison, founder and leader of the Montpelier Gospel Choir. We are doing two of his songs in our concert this season and he came down to teach them to us - something he has done several times in previous years. The rwo songs turned out to be fun to sing - very syncopated.

John Harrison******************************************* On Wednesday, I had an appointment with my PCP, Dr. Alexandra Van Dyck, and we went over a lot of things. She ordered some blood work just as a routine check-up, but basically, I'm doing fairly well, considering. In the evening we had our friend, Calvin Farwell, over for supper - something we had not done for a long time. We had a really good visit with him. Thuraday, we had the Subaru Impreza oil-undercoated at Brattleboro Auto Body - a place we had never been before. They were very nice and got the job done in a little over an hour. Later that day we drove to Grandma Miller's bakery, which involved driving over gravel roads, which is supposed to be good to do after oil under-coating, but it's been so wet, the roads were not very dusty. Friday there was nothing special but I spent the day on last-minute Bible Study prep, because I knew Saturday was going to be a full day. And it was: a memorial service at 11a.m. for Mary Lila Gregg, at the Guilford Church, and a Jazz Trio concert in the evening at the Brattleboro Jazz Center, a place we had never been to before, even though it has been there for years. Both the memorial service and the jazz trio were wondeerful. Mary Lila was 93 years old, but she was a real cut-up, an adventurous, funny, outgoing woman about whom her three daughters and a granddaughter told hilarious and moving stories. Mary Lila had left instructions for everyone to wear bright colors to her memorial - she wanted a party! - and she also wanted lots of sweets - she loved desserts! I saw a lot of Guilford old-timers at the reception following the service (for which Ellen had done a ton of baking - all those sweets!)

Pat and Tucky Houghton, old-time Guilford folks at Mary Lila's reception.*********************** Cyrus Chestnut, the pianist in the jazz trio, was fantastic - very reminiscent of Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner, and the bass player and perussionist were great musicians also. We took Jerome with us - he was the one who urged us to go - and we all enjoyed it very much. The house was packed, The Vermont Jazz Center is located in an old shoe factory building on Cotton Mill Hill - getting in and out of the building was challenging, but I managed it.

Top: Eugene Umman, head of the Brattleboro Jazz Center Next down: Cyrus Chestnut, jazz pianist extraordinaire. Next down: Cyrus and bassist, Herman Burney Bottom: Percussionist, Kelton Norris****************** Then today was church followed by Bible Study. Church service was led by Paula Marks, a layperson in the congregation. The theme was "accepting the darkness," and the choir sang a very appropriate anthem - a new one for us. For Bible study, Ellen provided soup and corn bread. We had over 10 people there, and I think everyone felt it was a good session. The topic is "The Parables of Jesus." I'll have more to say about that in future posts. I got a recording of the session - about an hour-and-a-half, using a recorder John lent me, and it picked up voices very well. However, it is a huge file - almost a gigabite - so I can't just send it to people as an attachment in an email. I know there is a way to share a big file like that on Google Drive, but I don't know how to do that. I'll have to get help. That brings us up to today. Tomorrow is open, Tuesday is River Singers, Wednesday we are meeting Mary Anderson-Nissen for lunch in Wilmington and bringing Anne Janeway with us, Thursday I have a Zoom Bible study session, and next weekend is full - a memorial service for Althea McBean in Dummerston on Saturday and I'm leading choir in Dummerston on Sunday. I can't complain that I have nothing to do! ,

Katie and Christian have been here

Sunday afternoon at about 2:45, Katie and Christian arrived from Whitefield, NH, where Katie had been Maid of Honor in the wedding of her friend, Emily. She said it had been a beautiful wedding and all had gone well. We returned the car to Enterprise and later, back at the house, John and Cynthia joined us and stayed for for supper. We took full advantage of the three soups left over from Saturday night, supplemented by freshly-made borscht and gluten-free cornbread. Savanna was fresh in our minds, and Cynthia provided great entertainment finding and playing recordings of feminist bands Savanna played bass in back in the '70s when she was Pat Ouellette: The New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Band and the New Harmony Sisterhood Band based in Cambridge, where she and Katie met.

On Monday, Katie and Christian spent some time down at the West River in the middle of the day and J&C once again joined us for supper and this time we had a very interesting time first watching videos of an unusual old Finnish stringed instrument called a "jouhikko" like one Cynthia just acquired and then videos of an Eco Village called Dancing Rabbit in Rutledge, MO, up on the Iowa border about 3 hours north of St. Louis where K&C live. The DR website had extensive bio sketches of residents which were fascinating. It's a unique and very interesting place. Tuesday we took K&C back to Bradley Field for their flight home to St. louis, and got home in time to get to our River Singers rehearsal. By the time we got home, we were exhausted, but we still watched "Unforgotten" on PBS Masterpiece.

Some earlier photos of Savanna

Krystal put together a slide show of Savanna's life for the reception and those photos were sitting on the counter at the supper Saturday evening and I took some pictures of the pictures.

Top: Savanna and Katie with Brendon. Next down: "Adoption day" - c. 1997. l. to r.= Unknown, Krystal, Savanna, Jim, Ellen, Tye (then Erica), Katie. Next down: Savanna and Katie with the girls. Bottom: Elizabeth (Katie and Ellen's mother) with Erica and Savanna.

A lovely service

Savanna's memorial service was lovely and in some ways unique. Brendon started it off singing two songs: "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire" and "I Am Willing," by Holly Near. Not your usual memorial service repertoire! The choir sang "Garai Pano" which we learned back in 2007 (I think) at the Turtle Dove singing camp in Ireland. Ellen spoke movingly about Savanna's courage in the face of pain and suffering. Several other friends spoke also. Pastor Vickie gave a a eulogy. I read a little-known passage from "The Wisdom of Solomon," - 1:12-15. I related it to Savanna's attitude toward death, and read it twice, in two different translations - NRSV and NIV. That went over well! The reception was a smashing success - an amplitude of food! Krystal made a wonderful slide show of photos from Savanna's life that played on a TV screen dUring the reception, and Tye created a crossword puzzle about Savanna's life that people worked on - including John and Cynthia! (Savanna was a big crossword puzzle fan). After the reception, family went back to Shutesbury and we had a lovely supper prepared by Ellen and Julie. I think Savanna would have loved it all!

Top: After the service. Middle: Pastor Vickie. Bottom: John and Cynthia working on the crossword puzzle, with Jim Tolles.