Ukelele, bycycle, hello Hannah

Families are so important to all of us. And so when daughter Hannah arrives for a visit of little over a week's stay, we celebrate our love and what binds us together and we marvel at new directions and differences in lifestyles. These can be compatible, they can coalesce, they must coalesce. But the family can still rejoice and savor the differences and how much we mean to each other in our own differences. Maybe I'll fortify myself and articulate and flesh out some of these differences, since our habitual thoughts dwell on those more than not. It's all part of who we are and who God calls us to be. After all, we're "created in God's image"!

a place in time

Here we go, another choir story! Singing Evensong at Christ Church, Lexington was a pretty amazing experience for me. I mean, first of all, the church is a living and breathing sanctuary not only of the the American Episcopal Church but to Ky and American History. There's Henry Clay's memorial plaque mounted on the south wall of the Nave, among others. The choir pews reminded me of my childhood days at St Marks with the stall pews in the chancel just to the West of the altar rail and Altar. Another thrill being part of CCC's choir and soaking in the whole adrenalin rush experience. I had to rein in my emotions and my excitement at the experience as my body and visceral energy tried to take over as we sang the Magnificat. But I somehow got control of myself in the process.
The people were truly friendly and welcoming, so, all in all, it was a uplifting Sunday spent on I-64 and just a block or so from Gratz Park in Lexington! It was just a quaint experience in addition to being musically fulfilling!

sing that Sweet Honey in the Rock Song!

Here we go, again, counting down til Sunday morning and hey, it's the real deal. Can't believe that us whitebread choristers at Christ Church Cathedral on 2nd St. in Louisville will be rocking to "We are...". A fitting anthem with three baptisms including Robert and Raj's child, Raphael. I could feel the emotion and anticipation Wednesday at rehearsal. Robert was pumped! and it was infectious for all of us there. Isn't it amazing what two people in the name of love can do and how all of us present can also enjoy and ride those endorphinal uplifting moments.
I can only share the feelings and joy that I feel but I know that this represents the best we can offer as two or three are gathered together!

walking, dancing, engaging

The Grande Masquerade Damien Center fund-raiser has become a fall tradition and fun event meeting new friends, re-connecting with old friends, and enjoying beautiful sun-splashed weather in downtown Indy once again. The mile plus walk from the Omni to Carl and Jeff's Mass Ave condo began yesterday's event for me. Down Meridian around the East side of Monument Circle and then East on Ohio St to Alabama jagging through the Marsh Market parking lot and finally up Mass Ave to the West Loft Condo. The event this year was at the Marriott just north of Maryland St. Great evening, great fun, mixing with a wonderful group of people and dancing the night away in a mixed group on the dance floor. Shutting the party down at Midnight and returning for short six hour sleep before a 6:00am wakeup and return drive to be back at CCC for Sunday morning's service and singing in the choir, which is the love of my life right now. A good Saturday pm/Sunday am combination any way you reckon it. Watching the sunrise across the southeast sky as I drove south on I-65 was a real treat for me with fall reds, oranges, and a light mist affording me all of the fall color and ambiance that I might desire!

Matthew Shepard, the Laramie Project, and Bob Edwards

Wow, if sensory overload was a possibility it would be here and now. ATL's Laramie Project 10th anniversary performed Monday was a moving and inspirational piece beginning with Matthew's mothers' testimonial. I hope the project continues to be recognized, revised, updated, since ignorance, hate, and insensitivity seem infectious in today's world. The ATL audience was predictably like "singing to the choir", so the task and challenge remain.
Segway to Bob Edwards and "This I believe" session at Bellarmine's Wyatt Hall this past Thursday evening. If Laramie Project left doubts and looked for anwers, the This I Believe segments brought hope and inspiration to the forefront in a world filled with war, ethnic strife, and racism. These issues and more were part of the stories but the overriding theme was one of hope, survival, and looking for a better day. Molly Bingham's opening sentences set the tone for her in person "this I believe" segment when she spoke of sitting in an Abu Gharab prison cubicle and how that experience motivated her initial thoughts.
I am challenged and want to do whatever to facilitate the dialogue and take action when possible. God help us!

insufferable love

There is something in the air and in my heart and mind that perplexes and challenges my senses. We can only hope for a change or a new burst of energy to bring clarity and focus where before there was uncertainty and unrest. Maybe there is a way to move beyond the doldrums or move beyond the angst. There is energy and desire but the focus is lost and uncertain.

hello in there

I'm hearing how I'm over critical or hyper-critical or some such. My mind and soul can get bogged down in all this what-if or we should kind of thinking and credibility goes out the window, so to speak. This line of thinking can cut across all sorts of activities and life experiences, I can tell you. Seeing light at the end of the tunnel. The creative motif used in Looking Glass Alice , a play we recently saw comes to mind. The play begins a seeming conventional stage set and suddenly the apparent mirror set as the stage backstop explodes and there is a small audience sitting in what normally is the back stage setting. Like Alice who discovers and sees and hears things through unsuspecting surreal characters, I need to find the positive, hopeful, regenerating side of this seemingly inbred "hyper-critical" mindset that dwells within me. I'm looking to break that mirror or barrier that follows me and surrounds what others hear as criticism or nay-saying. I'll have to sleep on that!

Choir retreat and apricot bars!

Another "short" weekend after an overnite choir retreat at All Saints' Camp and Conference center. The lakeside lady has a new dress with the buildings "up on the hill" where the "football field" once was located. Now it's a large meadow with a gravel oval driveway leading to new dining room, meeting and residential facilities. The rehearsals took most of the time and beyond meals and worhip time, that was about it. I walked twice down the hill to see Rough River and look inside Marmion hall and the other buildings down the hill. I realize I have more history than anyone else in our group though in recent years I have not been down there much.
Once home, Marilyn surprised me with apricot bars for the first time in many many many years. A big thrill for me reviving a taste bud memory.

the hills from which my help comes

Ah yes, returning to the fall routine with Choir starting up and the sun disappearing over the horizon earlier each evening. My side trip to LA visiting my daughter and the trips up and down Fairfax and on the 217 Local Bus and the 780 Rapid Bus resonate in my head. The faces and the people first waiting to board the bus and then riding to their respective destinations. My imagination wants to invent or discover their story and the whys and wherefores of their journey that day or evening. Finally, Sunday evening the 217 Local arrives at our exit on Hollywood Blvd after the long trek from Third and Fairfax with the bus teeming with people. The crowd pretty much maintained its strangle-hold until we arrived at Highland and Hollywood when a sizable majority of riders disgorged into the sidewalk chaos at that busy intersection. Then it was but another ten blocks or so until we disembarked, walked the four blocks North, past the Scientology headquarters mansion up to Franklin Ave the Prizzi's Piazza Restaurant, our culinary home away from home. It made for a very interesting Sunday evening capping off my first day of visiting and sharing with Kim. Days, hours, and minutes that I will cherish and savor for some time.

Eastern time zone

Another day dedicated to the wonderful people at Southwest Airlines!! O.K. O.K. Early rise in LA and trip via shuttle to LAX. Once again the shuttle trip yielded unanticipated benefits listening to the Bible born-again preacher the driver was playing on his radio. A perfect accompaniment to a trip down La Cienaga through Culver City and then on to La Tiera, Aviation Blvd and then LAX. A very quick trip at 6:00am I can assure you. Trying to stay with the book I am reading, "Blind Man's Bluff", and falling asleep every five to ten minutes, drinking water, coffee, eating little red packages of animal crackers, part of the new Southwest regimen!. The book feeds my vicarious need to relive my navy days. Though my contact with the Submarine Navy was limited to passing submariners on the pier or hearing stories in Subic or Pearl during port stops, the years correspond to my days on the Edson. Mind boggling really and hard to realize how many tiers the US Navy existed yet in my mind everything revolved around life on the Edson and trips back and forth to Westpac. I find it totally fascinating and it certainly raises the consciousness and opens ones eyes.

LA Sunday, hey it's not bad at all. Family day finally after tooling around the Ponderosa laden mountains and foothills at Lake Tahoe. Sort of a quick day and a half or so with Kimmie and Shannon before trekking back across the USA for a return to real days and nights whatever that is. The crowd at "Tart" has died down and the courtyard is pretty quiet. The late afternoon sun is sagging earlier each afternoon and evening as we begin to march down to close out August. Much to enjoy and entertain the mind and soul!

strawberry, raspberry, black and blue berry

Six days since my little encounter with asphalt while atop the bike. No biggie. not then. not now. But this bruise on my left hip and thigh gently remind me of oh yeah, my mortality, my flesh and blood make-up. Use it or lose it seems to fit, since walking and working assist the healing and sitting and riding retard it. Another simple example of how we must utilize and explore what the creator has offered to us in our bodies and in the creation lest we "lose it" so to speak. I find the same for reading and writing, speaking and listening. And then our psychosis can help or hinder in the process, our ego, our hubris, you get the drift. To empower and enable others in the process of pursuing our own dream or using our own talents. That can be a challenge, but certainly one worth holding up and focusing on. Thanks be to God.

Get that paint out of the basement!

Wow, what a wonderful way to spend Friday extended lunch, pulling five gallon pail buckets loaded with old paint cans out of the basement at Urban Spirit's building on N 26th St. in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville. Gallon jugs, quart cans, wet, nasty, in the damp unhealthy confines of the basement. Breathing fresh clean air is a gift from God after standing in the door way to the storage room taking handloads, and passing them up the stairs to Deke. I can' t imagine any more fun thing than to enjoy such an exotic adventure and all on a sunny Friday. I had my Red Hot Roaster's coffee to help sustain me through the project. It was too much fun. A good way to start a weekend here in the River City!!

storm time

Another one of those thunder and lightning polka sort of storms running across the Ohio Valley right her in river city!! These storms have been tracking in from the north and moving off to the south and then East. Wow! The hits just keep on coming, I'm telling you. No harm, no foul this time. I mean maybe 1/2 to 3/4" of rain in 45 minutes or so and now slowly fading off to the southeast. I mean 6" in an hour or so is a tough act to follow! So far nothing but green grass and everything just keeps on growing and growing. Ups! another flash of lightning close by, just when I thought that the focus of the storm had passed us by! You can't take anything for granted, not sure why we humans fall into that trap of taking things for granted. Nothing works that way, really!! For sure this storm has hastened the darkness of the night as it is totally black outside when we would be having twilight and evening shadows about.
I shall not take anything for granted. Sort of a negative back door phrasing that deserves re-stating. Anticipating and celebrating every day and every opportunity is a challenge for me. The whiny negative bent seems to follow me around. Better to watch and prepare for tomorrow's challenges and joys!

"The Way to Love"

The book group selected this short book for our latest perusal. Goodie, I thought, a short easy read! Wrong-Oh! Short, maybe, but it seems every word brings a pause, a thought, a challenge, a need to pray, or think, before launching back into the text. Textually easy to follow, almost like Fr. de Mello is sitting across the room speaking the words in person. Yes, it's that personal; and certainly a challenge to absorb and process. But that's appropriate and, given the subject, the only way one might travel through this small, compact, but weighty little book.

saturday

This Saturday offers another opportunity to enjoy the summer which has for the most part surrounded us with warm sunny days and lower humidity than we experience in the Ohio Valley. Last night's Art Walk with Carlo with Jefe running very late enroute. Many people wandering up and down Market St and a few businesses closed who are normally open and one or two vacant store fronts. But a big crowd and plenty of energy along the way. Wiltshire Pantry had a few different faces working there. Colin was helping out but Tish was enjoying a Friday night off. Susan had returned to Maine to enjoy a final few days of summer there. Can't question here wisdom there..not at all.

Still ruminating about yesterday's foray down to Etown and slow migration up Dixie Highway returning. I was able to see people I hadn't seen before and spoke with Ted about his and Nancy's long road to recovery from Lung Cancer. His story deserves being told and retold, and should inspire any of us who have eluded thus far such a struggle.

create in me

I think the psalmist was on the right track when the words "create in me a clean heart o God" came streaming out of his heart. I think the idea of making this a part of the weekly liturgy often set to music can help quiet the inner soul and bring us round to a better place. Seems like we have been creating blockades to that inner peace and focus of late, particulary in our day to day wanderings in "the church". It's submerged in the 51st Psalm, used often in penitential and Lenten liturgies. I will try to remember and repeat the 10th and 11th verses: "Create in me a clean heart, O God. and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take you holy spirit from me."
But really, those first words of verse 10: "'Create in me a clean heart, O God."

The post mortem from yesterday's storm leaves me thinking about victims. Watching coverage on national news channels showing homes, library, and vehicles under water makes me think of the people who own such or who have suffered losses and are trying to put it together now that the water has returned to it's "normal" level. We really can't take anything for granted especially the tangibles that we so often do take for granted. I remember the family photos of flooding during the "great flood" of '37 when homes and such were under water for weeks rather than a few hours. Many people migrated out of Louisville's west end after that flood even though the Corps of Engineers and Uncle Sam built a rather substantial flood wall to protect against such a massive flood in the future. "BUT" the flood wall offers no protection from the kind of flash flooding Louisville endured yesterday morning for two hours or so mid-morning. But we live for another day.

Recalling a February day in 1961

Early morning lightning and thunderstorms but cooler than usual August day is here. Brief glimpses of life and light. Yesterday's visit to the cemetery to my grandmother's burial sight looms in my memory. I can well recall her burial in November of '82 and my grandfather's as well in February of 1961. Bessie was an incredible woman, mother, grandmother, aunt, great-aunt, who befriended many among her extended family. In 1961 as I watched her face during the long High Mass and funeral for my grandfather,little did I then know how many beloved friends she had among my grandfather's large family. I can remember her telling stories about them and talking in her very quiet (not soft) voice to my Dad about the various family members, there achievements, there perquisities, and laughing(or in her case giggling) with him about the family caricatured and out of the box types. And since the family was so large, there were plenty family folk who could be joked about with their stories or bad habits talked about once again. Later on, occasionally I would get my Dad to share some of these when we'd be together. I wish now that I had nurtured and develooped more of those conversations. Going back to my Grandfather's funeral day, I remember Bessie telling Dad about how Brother Ray had broken down and sobbed at the end of the long day of prayer service. parade to St Agnes, parade to the cemetery, final prayers, and then parade back to Barrett's Funeral Home at the end of the services. It left an indelible memory and many images of people many of whom I knew only by sight.

Monday in the sun

Tooling around this morning after a large coffee from Red Hot Roaster's! Caffeine does wonders. Revisited the St Joe Orphanage bargain store to get a couple of goodies for M's clock making extravaganze. A few small dolls and a vintage westclock bedstand alarm clock. And ofcourse the mandatory purchase of a couple of books. One for me and a Tyco train how-to book for a friend who is a train freak. Much goings on at St Joe's right now getting ready for this weekend's picnic! Driving out of St Joseph Orphanage is a weird dis-orienting thing. I always view Frankfort Ave. from the South side of the street...across from the RR tracks, so approaching from that side has me looking both ways and trying to figure out "where am I". Truly, though, being on the grounds and in the buildings at St. Joe is like going back 50-70 years in history. Better get back to "work".

Got the bike out of the garage, by golly and took it for a quick spin. More of that as the week progresses I would hope. Beautiful day for August 2 in the Ohio Valley or anywhere I guess. Long conversation with Kim recapping some of the goings on of the things on the table. Yes, I feel good about the outcome and the event. Easy Sunday for me with nothing but reading and thinking and talking to Kim for a long chat and Marilyn for a not so long chat. Three women in my life are out West at the moment but I am here...right here in river city!!

daughter's dilemma

A question early on Sunday. Confusion and a feeling of betrayal surface and I grope and search for a way to answer and respond. Start with the feeling and move onto a place of trying to understand and help allay the fears. Her questions are stumbling blocks for her as she moves on her journey. My hope is to clarify and dispel her feeling of alienation at this moment

brace yourself

What and where and why are we here now and in the future! A big horse race, a filly wins, yes a filly, God bless her! Days are short for departure to California and nephew's wedding! Kim and Hannah among the crowd. What fun!