Another Big Bird

I've posted a number of pictures of "my" Bald Eagle across the little lake from my apartment. In the last week we had another big, feathered friend.

A Great Blue Heron also likes to hang around here. I don't know if he was catching anything, but he was lurking.

Then the other evening he decided to head up into the tree. Thanks to zoom lenses and digital editing I could get this close-up silhouette of the Big Bird sitting surveying his domain.

Over The Dam

A few weeks ago I decided to play with water pictures at Whitewater State Park. There's this dam that makes the swimming area at the beach with a neat set of rocks and a stone bridge. I took a bunch of different pictures to see what I could come up with.

This first one is purposely under-exposed (no, really. I did it on purpose.) 

I wanted to see the deep colors with the white water and how they would interplay. 

I had to do some post-processing to brighten the non-water areas, but it is quite a bridge and sight.

This one I set the exposure much more slowly to get that interesting effect of moving water looking like a curtain of water coming over the rocks.












Moving in a little closer got the effect just about right.

"To trace the history of a river or a raindrop…is also to trace the history of the soul, the history of the mind descending and arising in the body. In both, we constantly seek and stumble upon divinity, which like feeding the lake, and the spring becoming a waterfall, feeds, spills, falls, and feeds itself all over again."

--Gretel Ehrlich - from Islands, The Universe, Home, 1991

Going up on the bridge I looked down and set the shutter speed higher to get the water in stop-motion.


These two pictures are of the same spot but with the different shutter speeds. The amazing differences one can pick out from just a few shots and camera tricks makes it a never-ending journey into the wonders around us.

It Hasn't Happened Before.... (An Extended Thought)

Yesterday, following Hurricane Irene I posted about the people who stayed in their homes, thumbing their noses at the forecasts, potentially putting themselves and others (ie, rescue workers) in harm's way. These are the people who were bold enough to say:

I've lived here all my life. This has never happened before, so why should I believe it's going to happen now?

Well, I have heard this thought so many times over the years to explain denial and an unwillingness to believe what is right in front of a person's eyes.

• I've never had an accident while driving under the influence.
• Those weather men are wrong 75% of the time.
• Nothing is going to happen to me.
• That tree is solid, it's still standing after many storms.
• Why, when I was a kid, the blizzards we had make this look tame.

On and on they go about many things. One day I finally got fed up and figured the perfect answer.

I am glad to know that. I have lived my entire life and I haven't died. I guess that means I'm not going to. It hasn't happened yet.

Yes, I know I am a smart aleck. But when someone tells me that the amount of snow we had in December was a record- that means it never happened before- but it just did. If there was never a storm like that in history, how can you remember worse ones. They never existed.

It becomes time to accept reality at some point and see that what is happening is a unique and unusual event. (Thank God!) Give thanks that we lived through it, that it wasn't worse than it was. Give our condolences to those who have been seriously affected and work to help them get back on their feet. But don't think this was like something we had in the past.

Let's just hope it doesn't happen again very soon. I don't want to live through that kind of thing more than once in my lifetime.

It's Never Happened Before So It's Not Going to Happen

Well, Irene is gone, but most certainly not forgotten. One of the wonders of the Internet for me is the ability to watch TV online from other places. I spent some time last evening doing that with TV in Virgina, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania/New Jersey, and New York City. To see the incredible number of rain records set; to hear them talk about record river levels in some places; to watch reporters try to stand up and do a stand-up in the wind- it was quite an evening.

I remember a decade or so ago a "gale of November," a lot like that which sank the Edmund Fitzgerald, went through the Upper Midwest. For several days we had gale force winds constantly blowing us around. Which means they weren't even half of Irene's sustained winds. I remember standing and trying to fill my gas tank while bracing against the car. I had difficulty walking across the parking lot to go in and pay. Sustained winds of up to 40 mph.

I thought then about the power of wind in a hurricane. Even a Category 1 with winds from 75 - 90 miles an hour would be exponentially greater than the ones we had in the November gale. Add all that rain, mix in the storm surge and blowing debris and you have quite a mess on your hands.

Fortunately not all of the pieces stayed together in Irene. Some of the areas began to clear out a little more quickly. The winds died a little. Storm surge wasn't quite as high. But there are MILLIONS of people without electricity. There are millions of people in flooded areas. It is a disaster.

But it did happen. Not like some of the people I saw being interviewed last night said.

Well, we've lived here for 30 years and it has never happened before. It won't happen now.

In some of those places, no, it didn't. But the toll is still to be told. Just because where you were wasn't as bad as forecast, you can't wait until it's on top of you to get out of the way. You wouldn't do that hoping an onrushing truck barreling down the hill will stop in time. Why do it with the amazing power of a hurricane?

Monday Morning Emergency Management "Experts" will be sure to tell us what went wrong. I am glad that so much went right- even the weakening of the storm "just enough" to avert an even greater catastrophe.

Several for Fun

So, sitting around with little to do but continue recuperating from my surgery and the Twins continuing to lose, I decided to just play around a little with Paint Shop Pro and some of my Target Field pictures from this past season. (How quickly we are ready to call it "past.")  I have never spent a lot of time playing with the different effects of PSP so, in spite of well over a decade of using the various versions of the program, I am a novice at this.

I know that these are not my "artistic ability" but rather the programs. Give me a chance and some extra time and I have no idea what I will discover.

 Just some layers and colors with merge features and the skyline gets a whole new look.

I don't know what I did for sure on this one. It's semi-surrealism sure fits this years Twins season. At least in my befuddled mind.

I will be going to one more game and will probably still be doing some posts and pictures before that. But that's enough for tonight.

Mesmerizing In A Different Way

NOAA GOES East late Friday EDT

 
The day before yesterday I posted that awesome video of dancers doing a Bob Fosse choreographed routine to Sing, Sing, Sing. I called it "mesmerizing."


Today I have been mesmerized by the incredible power of Hurricane Irene. It is not even a "major" hurricane and it is becoming historic. No, I don't think this is media hype. I have been a weather watcher for 40 years and while there have been big storms with big damage, this one has a lot of differences. At any given point along the NE coast millions of people are within the range of being impacted by:

• Wind
• Rain
• Tornadoes
• Serious flooding
• Even more serious beach erosion

New York City, for the first time in history, is evacuating and shutting down the transit system. Right there in direct or indirect ways over 8 million people are being affected.

No, this is not an over-reaction. We have not seen a storm like this hit an area like this in decades. Even Katrina was not impacting the Gulf Coast like Irene is. It has size, intensity, and lots and lots of people in its way.

So why are we mesmerized? It almost seems like a cliche to say that we can't believe this can happen in the modern world. Katrina, with thousands hunkered down in a football stadium, felt like a fluke. You know- if the levees had held it wouldn't have been as bad. It's hard to remember Andrew where mile upon mile upon mile of homes and businesses disappeared.

In spite of all our modern powers, when faced with something like Irene we are as poor and naked as we have ever been. We are weak, powerless human beings. At least today we have the technology to know long enough ahead that it's going to hit- and the ability to run away far more quickly than when we needed horse and buggy. There will not be a lot of loss of life although any loss is tragic. We will hear the "It wasn't all that bad" survivors who "toughed it out." We will hear cries of "Hype!" if in any given place it isn't as bad as expected.

But let's admit it. Let's stand in awe of the power of the world around us. No matter how strong we think we are, we are still tiny in the face of the storm, let along the power of the cosmos beyond.  Is that hype? Maybe. But it is hype that can keep us aware of our place and lead us to the humbling position of accepting what we cannot change.

They Continue to Show Up

It has become standard for me to look out the front window of our apartment each morning to check for the Bald Eagles. There they were again on Tuesday. I suppose if I lived somewhere like that place in Alaska where they are everywhere, it might become a little much to see them. But since I saw my first one in the wild about 22 years ago, they never fail to inspire me.


From Wikipedia:

The Bald Eagle is a sacred bird in some North American cultures, and its feathers, like those of the Golden Eagle, are central to many religious and spiritual customs among Native Americans. Eagles are considered spiritual messengers between gods and humans by some cultures.... The Lakota, for instance, give an eagle feather as a symbol of honor to person who achieves a task. ... The Pawnee considered eagles as symbols of fertility because their nests are built high off the ground and because they fiercely protect their young. The Kwakwaka'wakw scattered eagle down to welcome important guests. The Choctaw explained that the Bald Eagle, who has direct contact with the upper world of the sun, is a symbol of peace.

I do not find it spiritually insignificant that I grew up in northern Pennsylvania along the Bald Eagle Mountain. Although the Bald Eagle has returned, I never saw any as I was growing up.

Mesmerizing

While finding the videos for yesterday's post on Lieber and Stoller I accidentally came across one of the most amazing dance videos on You Tube. Perhaps even the greatest choreography and dance of all time. It is from the musical revue- Fosse. It is nothing short of mesmerizing- music, dance, vision, talent.

I can see why there are those religious groups that would want to ban dancing. Dance, when so intimately woven with the music is so powerfully sensual in all the meanings of that word, and gets to s spiritual place untouched by anything else. Even watching on a computer screen takes you places you didn't know could be visited so easily.

The full version (i.e. the whole thing in one video) has embedding disconnected. Here's the link for that if you want it.

Sing, Sing, Sing (Full Version)

But here are the two parts. The first is what we normally think of as the whole "Sing, Sing, Sing" number from the Benny Goodman Big Band. The trumpet and clarinet leads make you cry in joy. The drummer keeps the Gene Krupa beat alive and pounding forward.

The choreography works magic with the music. If you watch carefully you will see the very notes come to life in these amazing talents. You cry in joy at how it all fits together. It is an amazing experience that I would love to live!

Part 1



Then, just when you think you've heard (and seen) it all, it goes on....
Sensuality is brought to life in music that you hadn't heard it in before. Then the tap dancing takes over- a far cry from Oly Waugh's School of Dance 50 years ago. (Now I wish I had kept that going.)

Part 2



Then go back and do it again in small screen to see the overall motion.

I am awed!

In Memoriam: Jerry Lieber (1933 - 2011)

Jerry Leiber was the lyricist of the amazing songwriting duo of Leiber and Stoller. Name Doesn't ring a bell? Try:

• Kansas City
• Charlie Brown
• Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots
• Drip Drop
• Stand By Me
• Spanish Harlem 
• Fools Fall in Love
• On Broadway
• Love Potion #9
• Poison Ivy
• Hound Dog
• Yakety Yak
• Jailhouse Rock

Not a loser on that list. Not bad for two white kids from the Baltimore (Lieber) and Long Island (Stoller.)

Here's the Beatles' take on one of the early hits:



In the late 90s a Broadway show was made of their songs, Smokey Joe's Cafe (which I saw on Broadway). Here are two songs from that show (though not the Broadway show itself.)




And, in my humble opinion, Lieber and Stoller's greatest singe hit, as performed by Playing for Change- a fitting tribute.

A Genius of Radio

Jean Shepherd.

Shep

Best known for writing and narrating A Christmas Story, but in reality an outstanding genius of storytelling in the 50s, 60s, and 70s on WOR radio in New York. His name has come up in two recent memoirs I have been reading bringing back many an evening with the transistor radio beneath my pillow, waiting for the trumpet fanfare of the Bahn Frei Polka to begin.



He also did several different PBS series whose clips are to be found on (you got it) You Tube. He could be off the wall but was able to utilize his radio voice and delivery along with video to make some interesting points. Here is on that sees the George Washington Bridge in all its artistic glory.

Slow- But Sure

It is now 5 days since my back surgery. I am slowly but surely on the right road. This is the first time I have felt able to sit at the computer long enough to do some reflecting, so here goes.

• You don't know what you don't know- and one of the things you don't know is how the future will be different from the past. Just because a prior surgery of similar kind went "easy" doesn't mean the next one will. Fortunately it wasn't bad this time around, just a lot more painful than the previous one. I had to be in the hospital two nights this time, but they also did learn from before and I was more comfortable while still in more pain.
• You don't know what you don't know until you know it. Like, while still under the influence of the pain meds you are not aware that anything is different. To you, you seem somewhat okay. Then you are not on so many pain meds and you realize you have no idea what you are talking about.

It happened on the phone earlier today. I was listening then speaking and found myself saying inane things. Brief statements indicating I was listening, but not able to process much more than the basics. I mentioned this to the person I was talking to and his comment was simply, "You should have heard yourself the other day." I didn't even know it.

At least today I am less foggy enough to know I am in the fog still. (Yes, that makes sense to me at the moment.

• You know what you know as soon as you know it. In this case, the first time they got me up to walk I knew that my legs were better. Yes, I was in pain from the incision, but the weakness in my legs was clearly gone. I could feel the strength there- after all I could do a 30-mile bike ride - I must have some leg strength built up.
• You know what you know as soon as you know it. Like when you have been sitting at the computer desk too long and the strength is beginning to fade.

So, for all the prayers and support- thank you. It is still a ways to go before I'm able to feel normal, but it has certainly been a god start.

Music To Make You Shiver and Smile

Ramblin' Jack Elliot is an American folk music treasure. A legend at age 41 in 1971 he appeared on the Johnny Cash Show with the style that sounded old even then. Old, wise, and soulful.

Randy Scruggs was the 17-year old son of a legend in that same appearance with Elliot. He showed incredible banjo-picking skill as Norman Blake at 23 showed his flat-picking ability.

Only one word needed:

Enjoy!

For Your Listening Pleasure

No one does it any better than Jimmy Martin.



(For V.)

A change of pace, but a bonus for today!

Tonight in Williamsport, PA

I grew up just down the road (or up-the-river) from Williamsport, PA, the home of Little League Baseball. I even worked for one of the local radio stations one summer and had the great pleasure of helping do color-commentary for one of the consolation games our station sent overseas to the Armed Forces Network.


Well just down the road (or up-the-river) in the other direction from my hometown is Lock Haven. And this year, for the first time since 1969, a local team from the area back there in the West Branch Susquehanna Valley is in the Little League World Series. The Keystone Little League starts play at 8:00 (EDT) tonight against the team from La Grange, KY. Since it is local, they have had to move the game to the bigger stadium to accommodate the expected crowd. (It will also be on ESPN.)

Just thought I would share the old hometown news.

Go Keystone.

Home

Came home this morning from hospital. Pain ranges from a low of 1-2 to a high of 8. Keep it moving slowly. Thanks for all your prayers. Not being real coherent so will wait for more in a day or two.

Little Droplets

Since I was scheduled for surgery yesterday, I spent some good time over at Whitewater State Park on Sunday. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't too nature-deprived going into surgery. I am sure my mental and physical health depended on it.

As I was walking along I became aware of the many little drops of water that were still hanging around on the plants. It had been a foggy morning and the sun hadn't hit parts of the ground area yet.



So I just started looking around and taking pictures. Using Paint Shop Pro I then did some zooming and cropping and came up with this set of pictures.

Sometimes the water is like a lens, other times it is a decoration, and still others, like a gem hidden deep within the very fabric of the plant or grass. Some of them take on more meaning when cropped and contrasted with the surroundings. Some just stand out.

In the end it was a time of renewal and exploration for me. I never get tired of walking the same paths and using that camera lens to dig into areas I might never have seen.

Did it help get me ready for surgery? Mentally, I am sure it did. But since this is being written and posted the day before the surgery, well, I will have to wait until I get back here and get a post ready for tomorrow.

I hope I never become nature-deprived. What a dull and colorless life that would be.

Watching Security in Action

The President was in our area yesterday and I was in the area where the President was to be traveling. I went up to the Cannon Falls area to have lunch with a friend, heading up the same highway that Obama would be traveling down. As I was going north I began to notice that there were State Troopers and MN Department of Transportation trucks beginning to show up at the crossroads and turnarounds. This was about 10:45 or so, more than a hour before the President was to be in Cannon Falls and at least three hours before he would be traveling by.

I began to think about the incredible amounts of security that go into a trip like this. Not just the normal Secret Service protection, but what is planned to make the route safe where the President is to be. I was glad I was getting off that road before Cannon Falls.

I didn't think much about the trip back home, partly because I had no idea how long the Town Hall Meeting itself was to last. So, getting to the Hwy. 52 intersection I noticed the police car sitting there waiting. I turned onto southbound 52 and was soon aware that the President was still somewhere behind me.

Every cross road and turnaround had some kind of vehicle at it or in it. State Police, Sheriffs, Mn DOT trucks, fire engines, ambulances. Every overpass had official vehicles waiting at each end, no doubt to block cross-traffic. This continued all the way down to Rochester where I got off.I called ahead and had my wife meet me on the east side of the highway since we had to be downtown by 2:30 and, knowing my luck, the cross streets could well be blocked when I needed to get across.

Later on the news I saw the big black bus heading through our area. I realized that all that sitting and waiting by the police and others was for just that quick minute when the bus went rumbling past, escort ahead and behind. The reasons for such security are obvious, of course. We have all watched enough shows like "24" or "NCIS" to know that terrorists will try anything. But to see it in action and think about the possible consequences if such security weren't in place, was actually quite sobering.

I wish it weren't so. To live with those threats is not a comfortable way to live. Most of the time we don't even have to think about that. But I am glad the security process is there and that it is as thorough as it is.

Number 600 From a Genuine Star

Congratulations to Twins slugger Jim Thome who tonight hit home runs 599 and 600 in a win against the Detroit Tigers. Everyone says he is a class act. I believe it.

Picture taken at last week's game against the Boston Red Sox.
That stance is pure Thome getting ready to bat.

From MLB.com:

Thome became just the eighth player to reach the historic 600 home run club. He joins Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa as the only players with the distinction.

Thome, 40, has been one of the game's best sluggers throughout his 21-year big league career, topping 30 homers in 12 different seasons. Thome's hit 40 homers or more in six different seasons, including a career-best 52 homers in 2002.

Add it all up, and he's been one of the most prolific home run hitters of his era, and hasn't ceased to amaze his coaching staff or teammates.

They Are There....

And I Am Not

New York that is. Staten Island. Battery Park. Broadway. Statue of Liberty.

You know the place. The city so nice they named it twice.

Our church's mission team left yesterday for a week in the Big Apple to learn, grow, experience, and share. They will be assisting a local group in a big annual clothing distribution. I have been guiding the development of this trip since last fall. Mission trips are my passion. New York is one of my favorite places to go.

Why?

Because in New York you see all you need to see about the needs of your own community. You just see it through a great big magnifying glass. It's right there in your face, especially if you are from out of town and not become blinded by the familiar of the streets. The awareness raising there is second to none. And it is right here in the USA.

This would have been my sixth or seventh New York mission over the past 40 years. I have gone other places at home and abroad, but this was a new opportunity with a new group. But things didn't work out the way I had planned. As I have written here before things began to go south with my back a couple months ago. I tried to push it off. i tried to convince myself that it was going to be okay. Even when I went to see the surgeon I convinced him (and myself) that the surgery could wait until the end of September. All my travels and plans would be done then.

MY travels. MY plans.

As I have heard around the recovery community more than once:

If you want to make God laugh, tell God YOUR plans.

Then I had a moment of clarity. I can't walk that much without going VERY slowly. Have you ever tried to go slowly in New York? While leading 11 other people? Into subways and through Times Square?

Me neither, and this wasn't a time to start. Then I realized that there were some subtle but not positive changes happening. What if I am in the middle of the trip and the back really goes out? How would that feel? How would that help the mission? So I gritted my teeth and scheduled the surgery for tomorrow.

And stayed home as the crew left yesterday.

I know they don't need me to have a great experience. New York is the experience. Mission and service is the adventure. Not me. They know me. I have done my part. It was time to let go and let God do with them what God has had planned all along.

Having said all that, tomorrow is my surgery date. If all goes as planned- and as it did last time- I should be home by Wednesday afternoon. I probably won't be able to give you a report until Thursday, so I have a couple posts already to go for the next two days, at least. I am feeling good about the plans and grateful that my difficulties aren't getting in the way of the group who had worked so hard to go on this trip.

Talk to you again soon.

Stay Away From This Dude

Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Any regular visitors here know of my love of taking pictures. I was doing some of that earlier today at Whitewater State Park and have at least several posts of pictures.

But I came across Live Science and their best birds of prey photos. This is one of a Ferruginous Hawk. We don't have those in this part of the world, but it is quite a picture.

A 50-Year Memory: The Wall Begins

Berlin Wall, 1970

August 13 – Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

Miracles?

A friend of mine used to say that he doesn't believe in miracles, he depends on them. I think the American poet Walt Whitman would go even further than that.

Miracles" by Walt Whitman:


Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of
the water,

Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night
with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer
forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so
quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with
the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—
the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

Where are the miracles you are watching today.

A 45-Year Memory: Foot in Mouth; Attempted Correction

August 11 - John Lennon holds a press conference in Chicago, Illinois to apologize for his remarks the previous March. "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I'm sorry I opened my mouth. I'm not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I was not knocking it. I was not saying we are greater or better."

For Your Thinking Pleasure

These two quotes seemed to go together for me. But don't ask me why.

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
-Dorothy Parker

"There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it."
-George Bernard Shaw

Unrealistic Expectations

We were never promised fairness.

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian."

- Dennis Wholey

Or maybe fairness is the fact that we are all in this boat together with equal chances of getting out alive.


(Steve Earle's cover of Hank Williams' last song)

A Musician's Memory

I gather this is a few years old, but it just got around to me.

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.

Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokey Pokey" died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started.

(Yes, it is a joke!)

How to Meditate-

- or I had never thought of it that way before.

Pastor Wife had a great line in the sermon this morning.

How do you do meditation?
Use the same skills you use to worry.

Of course! The same ability to "stay stuck" on an issue and let it run around in your brain is what you use to meditate. Staying stuck on an idea- only now a positive idea- and letting it work its way into your unconscious is what meditation is on many levels. We can be so good at staying stuck on the negatives, why not use it to stay focused on the positives?

Makes a lot of sense to me!

Even With All The Noise

The Bald Eagle I have had along the lake near our apartment hasn't been around in a long time. I don't think I have seen him since last fall. But last Monday following a thunderstorm as the sky was clearing I looked across the lake and there he was.


The bulldozers were hard at work on the new apartment building next to the lake outside our balcony. But the Bald Eagle just sat there in all his splendor!

A 45-Year Memory: An Icon is Begun

August 5: Groundbreaking takes place for the World Trade Center.

A 50-Year Memory: Coming of Age

Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah are Jewish coming of age rituals. According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach 13 years of age. ...In addition to being considered responsible for their actions from a religious perspective, B'nai mitzvah may be counted towards a prayer quorum (Hebrew: Minyan) and may lead prayer and other religious services for the community. The age of B'nai Mitzvah was selected because it roughly coincides with physical puberty. Prior to a child reaching Bar or Bat Mitzvah, the child's parents hold the responsibility for the child's adherence to Jewish law and tradition. After this age, children bear their own responsibility for Jewish ritual law, tradition, and ethics and are privileged to participate in all areas of Jewish community life.

The Bar Mitzvah ceremony involves the young man or woman being called to read the Torah, a Haftarah portion, or both at a Shabbat or other service (Thursday morning, Monday morning or a festival) when the Torah is read, and it may also involve giving a d'var Torah, a discussion of that week's Torah portion.
--Wikipedia

The Circle Continues

Our bloom is gone. We are the fruit thereof.
--Wallace Stevens

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
--William Wordsworth

In Birthdays Today

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 - Poet

Louis Armstrong 1901 - Musician, singer

Raoul Wallenberg 1912 - Sweedish humanitarian during World War II

Herb Ellis 1921 - Musician

Richard Belzer 1944 - Actor, comedian

pmPilgrim

Barack Hussein Obama 1961 - 44th President of the United States

Roger Clemens 1962 - Baseball player

Jeff Gordon 1971 - Race car driver

On This Date

In Music History:

1963, The Beatles played their last ever performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The Beatles, whose fee for their first performance at the Cavern had been £5, received a fee of £300 for this performance.

1963, The Beach Boys released ‘Surfer Girl’, the first song Brian Wilson ever wrote and the first one he produced.

1968, The Doors started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hello I Love You', the group's second US No.1. A No.15 hit in the UK. The group had 8 top 40 US hits from 67-71.

1968, The two day Newport Pop Festival took place in Costa Mesa, California with Alice Cooper, Canned Heat, Chambers Brothers, Charles Lloyd Quartet, Country Joe and the Fish, Electric Flag, James Cotton Blues Band, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sonny & Cher, Steppenwolf and Tiny Tim. Over 100,000 fans attended the festival.
--Link

In History:

1492 - Christopher Columbus left Palos, Spain with three ships. The voyage would lead him to what is now known as the Americas. He reached the Bahamas on October 12.

1933 - The Mickey Mouse Watch was introduced for the price of $2.75.

1936 - Jesse Owens won the first of his four Olympic gold medals.

1943 - Gen. George S. Patton verbally abused and slapped a private. Later, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered him to apologize for the incident.
--Link

The First Fear

It has always been reported that the greatest fear people have is public speaking. Never having been cursed with that particular fear I had never thought much about what might be one of those basic primal fears. There are a number of possibilities of course...

1) Fear of being eaten alive by predators;
2) Fear of the dark;
3) Fear of death.

But Sunday morning my Pastor Wife preached on fear, which is an important subject since there are, allegedly, 366 instances of "Fear not!" in the Bible. It seems to be the single most important "command" from heavenly messengers of all types.

But then she went back to the first moment when a human being, facing the creator, was afraid. It goes back to the scene in the Garden after the encounter with the serpent and the apple. Adam hides when God comes roaming through the Garden. When God asks why Adam is afraid, Adam responds with all seeming innocence...

I was naked and therefore afraid.

Being naked.

If, as I believe, the Biblical record gives us a glimpse into the ancient human psyche and its very primitive if not primal responses, perhaps the fear of being seen naked is one of those first and foremost fears.

Being naked leaves us vulnerable. It leaves us unprotected and possibly even unprotectable. It leaves us open to all our humanity being displayed for all to see. Psychologically it is therefore a potentially disastrous possibility.

Perhaps the underlying symbolism is the very act of being born. And dying.

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart." -Job 1:21 (NIV)

the very fact that Adam knows he is naked is important. He has now come into knowledge of good and evil. He knows he is naked. He knows that before the great and awesome God he is nothing. That is new. That is the loss of innocence and the beginning of fear.

So he hid.

Like all of us when faced with what we perceive as our shame. But it is not the shame- why would he feel that? It is the fear. It is perhaps the fear of punishment NOW KNOWING he has disobeyed. But beneath that and deeper than that he now knows he is vulnerable. There is a God and Adam isn't Him.

Maybe all the other fears branch from this basic human awareness of being ultimately vulnerable. Powerless. Maybe fear could have a different result if we stopped thinking we are in charge and allow life to be life. Sure, easier said than done, but it is worth a shot.

A 30-Year Memory: And They Even Had Music Videos

August 1 – MTV (Music Television) is launched on cable television in the United States.

And, as you may know, here is the first video aired.




I want THAT MTV.