June 29, 2008
San Antonio
Traveling for work again. Arrived in San Antonio today. After checking in to conference, went to Rosario's for lunch--highly recommended if you're stopping by San Antonio. After lunch went on the mission trail--Concepcion, San José, San Juan, and San Francisco del Espada. This last is most interesting. Within the mission Church there is a stature of San Francisco (supposedly Assisi) dressed in wildly inappropriate golden garments and looking a lot like someone from China, with something that looks like a black lace halo on his head. In addition, the Saint is standing on a skull. The name means something like Saint Francis of the Sword. (The del Espada may refer to the patronage of a family that helped to build the mission.)
San Antonio is a wonderful, bright, friendly city. There isn't all that much to do within the city and so it becomes a perfect place for relaxation amidst some beautiful scenery.
Once I return home and have some of my other devices, I'll try to post some pictures of these wonder missions.
Dinner at Rudy's (of course)--absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever, but the really excellent food more than makes up for it.
Tomorrow perhaps more.
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March 26, 2008
Boston
Enjoying a trip to Boston. Arrived at 1:30 or so at the hotel and by 2:00 was out heading for the common and walking the freedom trail. Oh and now my feet are paying for it. Before going to the green, however, I stopped in to pick up the next major read after the truly exquisite Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Next up: Henry James's Portrait of a Lady. The version I got, an inexpensive paperback, unfortunately reproduces the New York Edition. I would prefer to read it unredacted, but beggars can't be choosers.
Walked from the Common to Breed's Hill and back, taking in all the sites and the smells of Boston. (The North End at dinner time--I can't begin to tell you about THAT olfactory experience.) Had Curried Pineapple Shrimp for dinner and may enjoy a dessert in my room--I don't really know yet.
Among the many marvels I have seen (some for the second time)--the grave of "Hester Prynne," the grave of John Winthrop, the Graves of John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin's Parents, Samuel Sewall, Paul Revere Mother Goose (yes, THAT Mother Goose), Samuel Adams and the victims of the Boston Massacre. Saw the North Church tower belfry arch from both sides of the water and reveled in the magnificent surroundings near Breed's ("Bunker") Hill.
I hope the business trip will allow for a little more time to see Quincy Massachusetts. If so, I will have visited houses and/or offices of the first six presidents of the United States. I find that unbelievably cool!
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March 17, 2008
No Coincidence-More Faulknerian Ruminations
Synchronicty, not coincidence.
Reading The Sound and the Fury and what should transpire other than a trip to Boston. Why is this remarkable? Well, I can't really tell you straight out without giving away much of the book; however, suffice to say that one of the main characters has something critical and large happen to him in Boston.
So, reading The Sound and the Fury during Holy Week when it occurs during Holy Week, and visiting Boston, the site of one of the main events of the book. Wow! What a tremendous experience.
I have more to share on this. But now a delightful little tidbit. Arrived in Boston, walked down to the commons, stopped in a small used book shop near Emerson College and happened to pick up a first edition of The Collected Short Stories of William Faulkner for less than it would cost me to pick up a paperback edition. Oh, how wonderful to be back in a city where literacy is valued, perhaps even treasured.
One last point--the soaps and lotions and shampoos in this hotel are all verbena-scented. I have to come to the chilly late-winter north to smell "The Odor of Verbena." If the significance of that is not clear, google the phrase in quotation marks.
May God bless all who read this during this Holy Week. Indeed, may He bless anyone who reads this every--so few are my readers, I can afford to cast my blessings far abroad.
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March 10, 2008
Shopping Anecdote
Yesterday I went out shopping for clothes--a chore that I consider far more onerous than cleaning out gutters, but hélas, I cannot ask my wife to do so because my entire wardrobe would be red. (I'm told that I look good in red--which would be remarkable considering I don't look good in anything at all--I don't know why red would improve on nature.)
Anyway, we went into this trendy urban department store place. You know the kind, patchwork shorts and oodles of orange or fuschia or this season's color, whatever it may be. Walking in past the cosmetics counter we were greeted by this woman whose hair reminded me of the Gary Oldham do in The Fifth Element but was shaggier. The bangs were like a shiny black paint and the hair on the sides looked kind of matte black. The overall effect was such that I thought, "Woman, you really need to do somehting with that hair." Then I realized, much to my horror, that she had already done something with it and this was the result!
Ah fashion, I'll never get it.
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February 6, 2008
NYC
Spent yesterday getting to Queens, NYC.
Got here and the person I was to meet on business was already here. He called shortly thereafter and we got together and walked down the street to have some dim sum for lunch.
After a brief afternoon business meeting, one of our other colleagues drove us into the city. Dropped us off near the Natural History Museum. From that venue we walked to 42nd street via Columbus Circle, took the subway to the village and wandered around until we got hungry. Overall, a really excellent way to spend the evening. The person I was with was a New York native and was really able to show me some of the amazing sights of NYC. I am very grateful.
Back this evening, hopefully to continue update tomorrow. Right now-- 5:45, off to the first meeting of the day.
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January 23, 2008
Jury Duty Today
So, depending on how it goes, there may be a lot of opportunity for posting. If so, I have a number of things I wanted to share from my reading of As I Lay Dying--some humor, some observations in the hope that a better acquainted reader might help some fundamental understandings.
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November 9, 2007
St. Augustine, the City
Spent some time yesterday visiting a Carmelite Community in St. Augustine. That was a wonderful experience. They meet in a house near the Mission of Nombre de Dios the site of which was where the first Mass was offered in the United States in 1565. In addition, the shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is there as well, and a number of other interesting buildings and memorials.
But overall, St. Augustine is a sad little city. It has a beautiful, small historical district, that is so overrun by commercial interests that it is hard to identify anything at all historical about the place. You walk by houses that are hundreds of years old and discover that they've been converted to sales areas for new age relics or bikinis or lingerie.
The Castillo de San Marcos, as a National Park site, is well maintained, well kept (as much as a building almost four hundred years old composed of local coquina can be. It marks a high point of any visit to the city. It overlooks Mantanzas bay and the Bridge of Lions which is under reconstruction now. But as for the rest, it's hard to believe that you're walking through an area of any great vintage--the concerns and the obvious plights--homeless, drug-addled, just plain vicious, are so evident and so numerous, that one is left with the sad recognition that this most historic of cities is in desperate need of God's mercy and help. It was more than a little sad.
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November 5, 2007
What Is Home?
I have a curious experience every time I go to Virginia. If I'm driving, I count the states Northward on my journey as steps back into time (even though, technically speaking, I live in the state with the oldest continuously populated city in the Continental United States.) I note other things as well--the way Florida flora only gradually is replaced by more northern species so the net effect is that Georgia and South Carolina are more like Florida, and North Carolina and Virginia like more temperate states. I also note how drab (in comparison only) North Carolina is. It probably isn't drab at all, and that is part of my point. When I cross the border between NC and VA, no matter where it is that I cross it, the heavens open up and a choir of angels sings and light becomes light.
In short, for reasons I can't begin to fathom, Virginia is home. I wasn't born there, I did spend ten formative years there, but so did I in New York, Columbus, Ohio, and other places. Virginia has no claim geographically, chronologically, or otherwise to being home. And yet, it is.
I love Florida. If I can't live in Virginia, Florida is a fine second place, there is no other place I've lived outside of Virginia that I would return to. But Virginia is home. As much as I dislike some aspects of it--winter cold and D.C. traffic, and a certain surliness amongst people who are supposed to help you and a dampening (in the Northern Part of the state) of the tradition of Southern Hospitality and courtesy--still and all, Virginia is home. When I have to leave, it is deeply wrenching--worse, in some ways, than leaving family and friends. l
This time we drove throught a part of Virginia that wasn't even intimately familiar. My home was Northern Virginia and I was acquainted with most of Virginia down through tidewater. This time I drove up through Roanoke and the valley and ridge region. The autumn colors were magnificent. We stopped at natural bridge and the sense of home even there was profound. Even the rocks, folded, tilted, occasionally deformed by the processes that raised the Appalachians, even the rocks spoke of home and reminded me that I belonged in some deep, indeed unfathonable, way.
Have any of the rest of you had similar sorts of experiences with places? Have you happened upon any explanation of the phenomenon (outside of the concept of reincarnation, which I'm not particularly interested in considering at the present time)? I'd love to hear if this is a shared experience or merely the peculiarity of one individual.
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July 29, 2007
Austin Trip
Will be spending about a week in Austin starting today. Business trip, so there won't be much time for seeing the sites (but I've been often enough that it isn't much of an issue). However, this time I'd like to make a trip out to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center.
I'm not a fan of Johnson and his presidency. I don't much care for Lyndon and his brand of Texas politics, that strike me as being up there with Huey Long and his Louisiana group; however, I've always admired Lady Bird. First, she put up with Lyndon and stood by him for all those years, but second, she was a prominent figure who didn't spend her time being purposely prominent. And what time she was in the public eye, she used to advance the cause of a return to natural beauty before that was the mantra of the mindless pantheist. A return to natural beauty is important for the restoration of balance within us as well. The wildflower research center is one of those endeavors that promotes the good of Earth without pushing it in your face. I know that even the parking lots of the hotels that I stayed in in Texas were filled with Bluebonnets and dozens of other gorgeous wildflowers. And I think it is due in large part to her influence.
As the great lady passed away just a short while ago, I'd like to make this small trip to honor her work and memory and to see some of the marvels of Texas. Hope I'm not disappoint because of the unseasonably heavy rains they've been experiencing.
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May 2, 2007
Goodform
Please e-mail me. The address I have on file does not work any more.
Thanks.
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May 1, 2007
Desk Set
It is, perhaps, a sad state of affairs when I am reduced to describing my environment at work, and yet it is a sort of paean. In a matter of days I shall relocate in my building and not take all of this marvelous stuff. More than that, it amuses me to do so this morning, and there is the side benefit that I am writing.
I have the walls of my office environment plastered with imagery of some of my favorite things. But right now, I'm going to focus attention on the wall I most often see, let's call it "the calendar" wall. On it there are four different calendars, two showing dates, two outdated, but with favorite imagery, so hung so that the date does not show. Between these phalanxes of calendars is a reproduction of an 18th century map of St. Augustine.
The two calendars nearest me are "live." And I actually wrote this for the one I will describe in a moment. The second calendar in line is my annual "Surfing" or "Waves" calendar. It is surfing this year, and since surfing involves waves, the focus is, of course the water. The month of May shows a huge wave, looks bigger than pipeline, smaller than Waimea, with a surfer "in flight" out of the curl behind him. Gorgeous.
The first calendar, the jewel in the crown, was a Christmas gift from Samuel. It's called "Nuns Having Fun" and features black and white pictures of Nuns in recreational activities. Last month had nuns in traditional habits with those sort of large "winged" hats--six of them--crammed into a small car traveling somewhere with the caption--"Okay, so who forgot the St. Christopher statue." This month is equally delightful, a young nun on a rope and wood plank swing at the forward height of arc. It's caption, of course, "Nearer, my God, to Thee."
There is something innocent, charming, and ultimately elevating about these simple pictures. When I'm feeling a little down at work, I look at this calendar and it is an immediate perk-up.
The other two calendars are from favorite venues. One is a Mount Vernon calendar, this month showing a view of the windows in the great hall--banquet/guest area. The other is a calendar of views from Williamsburg showing a small house with brick chimney and some gorgeous flowers in the front garden.
Which, in this rambling, stream of consciousness post, reminds me that were it not for the need for focusing on Samuel's dance classes, we would be traveling shortly to Jamestown for the four-hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Susan B. Constant on what was to become known as Jamestown Island. This even occurs on Samuel's Birthday and the Queen shall be there to celebrate. All of which is made so much more meaningful to me by the fact that I have been able to find three ancestors in that original colony (actually probably from the secondary landings, I've been too lazy to really research it), one of those ancestors was the famous John Rolfe himself.
Ah well, have rambled enough. Hope I can ramble my way into something sensible next time.
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February 14, 2007
A New Metric
The old miles/gallon metric on the efficiency of automobiles has not proven satisfactory to me in analyzing how my present vehicle is serving me. So I've thought of a "new" metric that in the face of rising gas prices makes more sense to me--miles/dollar (Or in the case of ultra-inefficient vehicles dollars/mile).
In this new metric my present vehicle delivers on the order of 24-25 miles/dollar. A comparison--my old vehicle delivered approximately 8-9 miles/dollar. A significant improvement.
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February 4, 2007
All Is Well
I apologize.
I've been so frantic about friends that I've not posted myself. After checking with all and sundry in my region, I find that everyone has reported in okay. In Orlando we were hardly touched at all--as is common with these kinds of things. The main event took place about thirty or forty miles north of the city proper near an area called The Villages.
Thanks to all who have written. Prayers are solicited for those who did not fare so well.
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December 5, 2006
Yesterday, My Birthday
So we went to the Magic Kingdom and saw the revamped Pirates of the Carribean featuring Jack Sparrow at least three times, Barbossa once, and Davy Jones in that new mist-projection technology. Also while there discovered that they'd done a complete revamp of "It's a small world," new paint, some new animatronics, etc. It's a favorite of Linda's and after I'd finished with a few things (Haunted Mansion, Pirates) we did requests.
Afterwards went home and got ready to go out and see an abbreviated Messiah in a very small theatre. Of course it was wonderful because we were practically sitting in the musician's laps. I've seen on performance of the complete Messiah and found it a trifle much for one sitting at the time. We had Samuel with us and while he enjoyed it, he said, "Not as much as the Operas, but it was good." Interesting--an eight-year-old Critic.
May not post much today, but thought this might be of some interest.
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November 15, 2006
Carnival of the Animals
Two incidents from Ordinary Orlando Life.
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
As I set out for work this morning I pulled up to the traffic light that marks the exit to my community. Across the street I saw an animal that was momentarily obscured by traffic and then I saw it again--an enormous black cockerel.
Now, I don't live in farmland--all my life I've been a true suburban boy. But here I am looking at an enormous chicken crossing the road. And with all my bad brain, I thought about the possibilities. Was someone, against all association rules, raising chickens in their back yards? Was this a family pet (also prohibited by association rules)? Or more darkly, was this perhaps an escapee from a house where Santeria is practiced. (Living here in Florida it is not beyond the realm of possibility. In fact, while we're a little north for it, I'd say that it certainly is a possibility.)
See You Later Alligator
Same day, fifteen or so minutes later, I'm pulling into the parking garage at work and the radio announcer comes on with a bulletin. "For the first time in more than a hundred years an alligator has been found in Lake Eola." Well, you might wonder, so what?
Lake Eola is a largish fountain/lake that is smack-dab in the middle of downtown Orlando. There isn't much in the way of alligator nurseries anywhere nearby, so to find an alligator in the Lake suggests that this guy had a little ways to go to plop himself in the middle of Orlando's showplace, theater, center of city.
Of course, when the convention center was being built not more than a few blocks from where I work, they pulled a huge gator--17 or 19 feet out of the swamp they were clearing. So it just goes to show you can't keep a good gator. . . well, seems you can't keep it anywhere at all because it's just going to go.
One related anecdote. When we were at KSC (Kennedy Space Center) we were tooling around on the tour and the bus driver pointed out these peculiar outward sloping chain link fences. He noted that these were built this way because gators could climb a straight fence and too many employees had come out to their cars at night to find that a gator had taken residence under their cars. (KSC is on Merritt Island with is a National Wildlife refuge.)
I think Saint-Saëns included chickens, but I don't think alligators were part of his carnival. So we've added one.
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September 1, 2006
Anniversary
Today marks 22 years!
As I said to someone yesterday, sometimes it seems like 5, sometimes like 50, but always worth it.
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August 3, 2006
You Know Things Are Bad When. . .
I don't know what it was about yesterday.
On the way home I was stopped at a traffic light where there was a woman claiming to be a homeless veteran holding up a sign asking for money. It was a gorgeous day, even if 95-96 degrees and I was driving, as usual, with my windows down. (I live in Florida so I can ENJOY the weather, not hide from it--if I wanted it to be 76 year-round I'd move to San Diego.) I didn't have any money--nothing smaller than a fifty in my wallet or in my car and I didn't do what I usually do in such circumstance--roll up my window. (I need to remember to carry a stock of small bills for just this kind of thing--problem is if I carry small denominations I just fritter the money away.)
I must have been looking sheepish/guilty and/or tired/weary. (How's that--three word pairs in a row? To quote a one-time hero, "I meant to do that.") She said to me, "Honey, you got to smile--it just cain't be that bad."
That did, in fact, make me smile. She continued collecting money, and I must have returned to whatever ruminations I was in because she was back and said. 'Come on, smile. What's that pink ball doing on your antenna?" (We have a pink Minnie Mouse/Cinderella's Castle ornament on the antenna--Linda's Idea--used to be stars and stripes Mickey.) And of course the silliness of the antenna bob made me smile again along with embarrassment at being offered encouragement by one who certainly had no reason to be encouraged, God love her.
So I got a lesson on smiling and wonder what it was I must have looked like to that woman on the corner. What a wonderful, humbling experience--to get a lesson on life from one who lives much closer to the bone.
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July 26, 2006
Habemus Canem and The Eye
My Latin is dreadful; however, my new dog is wonderful. A stray found by another, named Lucky (Sam has decided to keep the name), a delightful and sweet companion. A bit of a shock going from alone to caring for a baby. But that's okay. Linda and Sam back soon.
later this evening: The Eye another Korean suspense film. Heard it was licensed by Tom Cruise and associates to be made into another dreadful American rehash. Let's see what they're hashing up.
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July 5, 2006
Another pristine stretch of sand, arcing out between Naples and Fort Myers. From this beach Fort Myers and Sanibel are clearly visible. Even more clearly visible, our friend Limulus polyphemus, sand dollars, coconuts, and clouds. An osprey's nest, roseate spoonbills and Scissortail Kites.
From this beach a long spit of shallow beach leads out into the channel. Walking there it is only knee deep, but in the waters two huge fish--sea bass or groupers--suggest that other large, less friendly fish might also find their way between the spit and the beach.
Walking back, a live whelk, and six or seven species of sea-bird. All on this lonely, lovely island.
And a gift from the sea
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July 4, 2006
Proud to Be an American
A great egret--distinguishable sometimes by the size and with some certainty in the adults by having black feet as opposed to yellow feet for the Snowy Egret--struts his stuff in the back-island wash. Beautiful birds, intent on their courses, unconcerned about their intersection with humanity because they can end the conversation with a single flight.
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Door into Everywhere
There are places, quiet places ringed around with time. Still standing, still. Quiet backwaters of places that are hidden just out of sight. A thousand cars pass before even one person notices a cream-colored building and says, "What do you suppose that is?"
And what that is opens the door to the past where those who made the buildings and peace that surrounds live still, working, living, loving, moving forward, carrying on their shoulders the quiet they have built--building a barrier so that the highway does not intrude even when one stands close.
The still pool that is the Koreshan Unity with its Planetary House, its rectiliniator, and its Fort-Myers-beach triumph which showed the world how turned in upon itself it was--how really very closed the universe is calms and cools. Inviting the weary traveler to "jest set a spell" and see what time has fashioned.
And looking into the house where the Planetary Court ruled, serene, matronly, ordering all things in the community and directing its work, its recreation, its contribution to the world at large--a door into everywhere opening in a field--opening up the treasures of the past and quieting the dread of the day. The gift of peace and slow silence. The still of the night in the brightness of day. The slow bell tolls to call to dinner and each ring moves out to be quickly muffled in the vast green and in the buildings still standing, still breathing the past and distilling it into the present. The still of time, the door into everywhere.
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Tigertail Beach
South of Marco Island, the coast of Florida sheers off, like unraveling satin, with threads of islands that form a myriad of inlets, rivulets, aits, and channels overarched by the ever present white and red mangrove saplings. The water can be dyed tea-brown by the leaves of these mangroves, and the slender bean-like seeds wash up on the shores of many of the southern beaches.
Long endangered, to these waters have returned small numbers of the American Salt Water Crocodile, the least aggressive, most reclusive members of the crocodile family. Among the intertwined branches of the canopy one finds the nesting sites of the brown pelican. And in the shallows between the islands, anhingas, herons, egrets, woodstorks, and many other kinds of birds. Facing oceanward, some beaches accumulate the fine white sands that the currents bring, and these are, in turn, populated by waving lines of sea oats and other dune grasses that anchor the islands in place.
Standing on the shore of this beach, on the inlet behind the barrier, and looking east one can see the high rise resorts that bring visitors and their money to Marco Island. Behind these towers the puffy, inimitably beautiful clouds of the Florida sky, tinged with grey as if booding over this coastline.
Pass through the shallow channel and climb over the barrier island, following the path made by many feet--the single path--to find the ocean, ice-green, strangely translucent in comparison to the tannic waters of the mangrove swamp. In these shallows, shells of whelks, conchs, clams, snails, schools of fish smaller than tadpoles flash and turn as one.
The gentle waves lap as though the shore bordered a lake rather than the ocean. The water is warm and cool. Light dancing surface-ice green waters are transformed to fathomless depths with the passing of the clouds.
This is the envoie. Beyond this the ocean to the west, and to the south, the accumulation of that tattered fabric that is the coast of Florida, lovely, fragile, changeable, glorious--as different each moment as only time and tide can be.
Nursery to the young of birds, fish, shrimp, and sea turtle, the estuary that is the wealth of the sea, here exposed to the ancient rhythms of the sea and adjusting to the newer rhythms of human life. Holding breath, in anticipation of the worst, or in hope for the best--whatever the cause--breathlessly beautiful.
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June 25, 2006
Sacramento
Two weeks from today I will be flying out to Sacramento for a business trip before a portion of the California governmental bureaucracy. I'm not thrilled with the prospect. But as with all of my business trips, I have tried to plan to arrive the day before the action in enough time to allow me to acquire a small taste of the town as it were. So, I'll arrive on Sunday afternoon, about 2:00 I think and I'll have from the time I check-in until the time I retire to tour, meet-and-greet, get dinner, etc.
Are there are suggestions from those of you closer to the place as to what one might want to try to take in of Sacramento on a Sunday afternoon? There is a possibility that some time may be free on the other days of the trip as well, so don't exclude things that might be seen during the week. Also, if you life in the area and would like to meet, drop me a line and I we can see what can be planned.
If God is willing and in a merciful mood, this will be my only trip out there under such circumstances--as such, it is likely to be my only trip to the lovely capitol. So I'd be most pleased to hear any "must sees," "must dos," or "must eats." Thanks.
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May 2, 2006
Things You Probably Don't Care About--A Conversion Story
I wrote what follows to someone who had asked me to talk a bit about my faith journey. I don't know if it will serve much purpose for all here, but it may give some insight into the oddities you find from time to time. And it needs supplementation both anteriorly and posteriorly--which may happen in time.
I think I may have told you that I was raised Baptist up to a certain age when my parents stopped going to Church. They may have stopped going, but I longed to go. I continued to believe in God. In the woods behind the houses in our Neighborhood there was a Church. I often thought about sneaking out of the house on a Sunday morning and going there--but I never did so. I don't know why--perhaps because I considered my own parent's lack of activity in the matter an indication of how life was to be. I often wonder what might have happened if I had expressed this hidden interest. Unfortunately I did not.
I have several other things I could tell you about the earliest period, but I suspect it is the secondary period you are more interested in. When I started to go to college, I had a freedom to explore that was not possible to me at home. Curiously, unlike those around me, my freedom took the form of exploring faith and options in faith. I lived, at that time, near the city of Washington D.C., and the diversity around me was astounding. I started by going to a Methodist Church. The first time I went I found it locked and I thought that was rather odd, but it was what it was and I eventually spoke to the pastor. Mysteriously, the locked door of the church said to me enough about the view of faith that I determined not to go there again. It seemed to me that one should never be locked away from God. In my naive conception of faith and God, I equated the building, in some ways, with the presence of God. Obviously, there is some truth to this, but not the substantive truth of the reality of God. Nevertheless, I look back upon this episode and see in it the working of the Holy Spirit. This was not the place to which I was called.
About this time I began to look at Buddhism as a possibility. It had a certain appeal both from point of view of exotic and that it was "always" open. One needn't go to a temple to pray (and so I found it was for Christianity and other faiths as well.) My chief difficulty with Buddhism is that everything depended upon me, and I am so weak and so disinclined to act upon anything myself that I knew if samadhi and nirvana depended upon my own efforts, I simply would never make it there. Nevertheless, I learned some important things from Buddhism; things that stay with me to this day and aid from time to time in prayer.
Next I looked at Judaism. I had always loved the Jewish people because I was raised in my early school-years in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. From my earliest years I remember marking the year with the High Holy Days in September and October, the Passover in the spring, Purim, and other holidays. Because I am the way I am, I had determined that were I to become Jewish nothing less than strict orthodoxy would suffice. There is no point in going half-way to the stars. You end up in the middle of nowhere. If I were to observe the faith, it would be the faith of Abraham and the fathers in its fullness to the best of my ability to live it out.
Once again, it simply proved too difficult. I could not manage it myself. The halacha, to which I was introduced by a very kind Rabbi as a sort of preliminary was made up of 617 separate and individual regulations which were to be observed in their fullness. The difficulty with this is that those individual laws were amplified, explained and examined in literally hundreds and hundreds of tractates and midrash. In addition, much of the instruction required learning a new language. So despite the beauty and magnificence of the old Faith, I was simply not cut out for observing it. Once again, in retrospect, I see this as the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
I dabbled for a while in other things. I dropped by a Hindu temple a few times. And while the art and ceremony were intriguing, I simply didn't get it. I couldn't understand where everything was coming from.
Finally, I wound up meeting for a while with a group of Baha'i. I loved them dearly. Their home-church was a magnificent thing. In addition, the foods they ate after a fast were wonderful--dolmades, and couscous-like stuff, stuffed dates and fresh figs, baklava, and all sorts of good things (in the initial writing of this I forgot hummus, tabbouleh, and baba ganoush). And I liked the syncretism of the faith--all revelations are true and equal. But as I explored it more, while all faiths were true and equal, it repeatedly came to me that this was not, in fact, what they lived. If all were true and equal, then there would be no need to live the Baha'i way. It turns out that in this true and equal, some are more equal than others; and the Baha'i, which recognized the validity of all, was in fact, higher than all the rest, the final revelation, adding to what the Prophet had had revealed to him.
Thus endeth part one and if popular acclaim requires it, it may be continued. Don't count on it though.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 1:51 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
April 19, 2006
The Momentous Event: TSO
Monday I took a half-day off from work and drove over to the Space Coast with Linda and Samuel to spend a little time at KSC and the Astronaut Hall of Fame before meeting TSO and his lovely ladywife for dinner.
KSC and the Hall of Fame were, as usual, a revelation. Sam had a great time, going on the G simulator and the Mission to Mars rover, as well as meeting a real Space Shuttle Commander and Pilot.
We met at a very popular local eatery in Titusville called Dixie Crossroads. After wrangling with the menu and letting Sam spill over for a while the waitress came to take the order. Once she had described the differences between red shrimp, white shrimp, boat-run shrimp, and rock shrimp, everyone was set and knew what they wanted. Although one of us changed his mind frequently.
During and after these comestibles preparation proceedings, Linda took on the usual duty of the female spouse in this particular matrimonial situation, building the bridges of cordiality which her somewhat more reclusive spouse would normally cross. In this particular case, it wasn't at all necessary for her spouse, but it paved the way to a lovely evening.
I have given up trying to imagine what the various people on blogs look like. There is no conceivable way to do so absent a picture, and very often the picture are most deceiving.
The meeting was, as with all blogging meetings, a most delightful occasion. TSO and his lovely wife are delightful dinner companions, and we much regretted the end of dinner which meant our departure. Linda said over and over again how much she had enjoyed the occasion and had wished for a prolongation thereof. But alas, being unfamiliar with the surroundings, we could not come up with a place to retire to that might provide for such and with a little one in tow, it made for other difficulties (such as prolapsed bed times any way.)
As readers of this blog are aware TSO is among my very favorite blog-authors--he comes frequently mentioned. Meeting him in person, far from being a disappointment, was in fact an even greater delight. And so, as with each blogger I have met, reading the blog will now come with the enhanced pleasure of knowing the person behind the pixels.
At this point I've been able to meet with several bloggers and blog-associates--Tom of Disputations, Fr. Jim of Dappled things, The not-too-present Kathy of the late lamented Gospel Minefield, Therese of occasional visit to comment boxes, Peony of Pansy and Peony fame, the Summa Mamas, Julie D., and now TSO. I had a near miss with Dylan on a visit to Boston a few years back.
And my next major appearance will probably be in Sacramento this summer. I think there is a blogger or two in the area, but I'm a bit uncertain as to the geography and location of the two I think of most prominently in that part of California.
Curiously, although we live in the same city and even occasionally attend the same Church, I've yet to meet Mr. Luse. And I missed out on a meeting about two years ago with the redoubtable Alicia of Fructus Ventris.
Meeting favorite bloggers is a wonderful way to spend time when one is far from home without resources. The first opportunity to meet with TSO evaporated from a trip to his homeland due to complications from Hurricane Charlie--it's a very long story. So this oft-delayed meeting was a much-anticipated event and a delight in every way.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:10 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
February 27, 2006
Naples, FL
I probably shouldn't write this seeing as I don't want any more people going down to Naples and driving up the real estate prices, but here I go. Naples has become for me a destination of sorts. During the winter season one of my relatives from Ohio lives down there and a very good friend puts my whole family up for our stay. We've stayed with him twice, and so far as I can discern, he doesn't seem to be too disoriented by our stays. (A couple days with Samuel, especially when you're used to living alone, can be something of a trial.)
I love Naples because of all the interesting things nearby--first and foremost--the ocean. I have always loved the ocean, and down near Naples, it begins to have that turquoise cast that is really predominant in the Keys, and perhaps much of the Caribbean. But also within easy reach of Naples are two different "swamps"--Corkscrew Swamp (which as an Audobon preserve is nearly perfect with a lengthy boardwalk and a fine interpretative center; and the Everglades. There are places of historical interest close-by and lots of shopping and other recreation.
This weekend I spent four days in this demi-paradise. It was a bit chilly, getting down to sixty at night and peaking at, perhaps, 80 for the entire time. Also, the ocean water temp (which is really important) was only about 69-70. We went to the beach twice and had lunch with the relative I mentioned after visiting the residence.
Any way, just wanted to say a word or two about my absence and to reiterate how much I wish I were there right now. With the building of Ave Maria (the official groundbreaking of which was just last week) much will, undoubtedly, change. Those who live near college towns will know what I mean when I say, not necessarily for the better. But it will bring new life and new attention to the town and I expect that there will be many fine educational offerings. Although, there will always be the swamp-buggy competition and the "ferries" to Key West.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 3:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 23, 2006
Adoption Day!
Today we celebrate adoption day by going to the beach and visiting with some friends and perhaps a relative or two, if we can get hold of them.
Please remember us in your prayers today.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:09 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
December 23, 2005
Floor Show at Johnny Rockets
And other events seasonal and otherwise.
Lunch today--we were out shopping for a couple of last-minute things. A new Johnny Rockets had opened in this center. We like the retro feel and the food is DEFINITELY the comfort-food variety. We decided to stop in.
Well, there it is--like juke-box controllers in each of the booths, waiters in aprons and little soldier-like hats. One of the few places you can get a cherry coke that is a real cherry coke, etc. You all know the attraction or detraction (depending on how you view it).
But absolutely unique to this one--or a new corporate initiative--every now and again, either in cue with certain songs or at regularly intervals, the wait-staff, the managers, and everyone who is not cooking or handling customers breaks into a dance routine. While I was there it happened twice--once to Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," and once to Donna Summers's "The Last Dance." And you know, I have to admit, it raised a real smile on my face. There was such an obvious enjoyment in the staff and in the patrons. And of course Sam was bouncing along to the music and asked to join the entire wait-staff.
On another event--last Sunday hauled our bodies down to what passes for a downtown here in our sunny city to see the Rockettes. The last time I recall doing this I was about Sam's age and I saw them at Radio City Music Hall along with the premier of "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." That was quite a trek from where we lived at the time.
And, I'm pleased to say, that even the touring show was quite wonderful--everything you may have heard rumored about the act and more. Slow motion falling soldiers and regimented "step-step-kick-step-kick-step" to quote Roger DeBris. A very nice, pardon the pun, kickoff to the upcoming season.
And to all of my visitors, I hope and pray for something that will raise a smile on your faces today and remind you of the event we are about to celebrate. May the excitement in the air enter your hearts and transform the way you look at the world.
Merry Christmas--a bit early, but who knows when I will return?
Posted by Steven Riddle at 2:33 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
December 6, 2005
The Marvels of Technology
The birthday celebration continued last night with the first official "Christmas" activity of the season. We went to the MGM studios and saw the annual Christmas display--yes, complete with Nativity for the Disney nay-sayers among you--and even Christmas Carols that mention God and all sorts of stuff. (You'd be surprised at how much God shows up in Disney Parks around Christmas time--oh yes, it's still largely secular, but Disney is business savvy enough to know not to offend it largely Disney-neutral pro-religion clientele.)
Afterwards, we raced to the other side of the park to see one of the nighttime shows which we have not seen ever before. This was one of the marvels of technology. In the course of this show I'd seen things I had never seen before--for example, movies projected on the back side of a fan-like spray of water. I wasn't sure if I was seeing them on the reverse side of a CO2 cloud or water, but then determined that for the consistency of image and appearance, it had to be on a fine fan-like mist.
The show was amazing and fun and capped off a fine evening of enjoyment. Boy thought it splendid and scary, and Linda, a bit winded from our cross-park sprint, said that it was worth it.
You know, there are so many things to thank God for. Yes, even these moments of levity, these light entertainments. No, they aren't the end-all be-all of life, but they add highlights to it. They remind us of things beyond ourselves and put us squarely in God's courts again in a pleasant and hopeful way. There is too much of the daily grind that seems directed toward wearing down any possibility of hope, any fragment, wisp, or trace of trust. These things do not reestablish trust or hope necessarily, but they are small gifts, tokens along the way--one way the Father says, "I love you." And they are one way we can understand that message in the churn of daily life.
God is where you look for Him, in every situation, in every place, in every moment. Indeed, because He dwells within us, He is present to us always. We need merely take the opportunities to be present to Him and thank Him for the many graces and blessings that come to us because of Him.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 5, 2005
Deepest Thanks and Appreciation
Today I have so much to be thankful for it's hard to know where to start.
Let me start by giving thanks for each person who took time to wish me well on my birthday celebration. I deeply appreciate it.
Second, Julie D. at Happy Catholic informed me that I have been nominated in the category of "Best Religious Blog" in some sort of blog awards. I mention this, not so much to encourage you to vote early and vote often, but more to express my deep appreciation for the kindness shown by whoever it was that nominated this blog. That the news arrived to me on my birthday was an exceptionally nice present. This is one of those cases where the nomination is enough in itself. Thank you, whoever you were who did the nomination. And thank you to those who even thought of it. You are all most generous and kind.
Third, I have the joy of this day--an exceptionally heady, wonderful, full-bodied joy that pervades the season and the day. It is God's utterly unmerited gift to me.
So to all at St. Blogs--thank you. You are the best extended family anyone could hope for.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 4, 2005
My Birthday Celebration
Today--
Saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I found most profoundly disturbing in a very good way.
Received four movies including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Christmas in Connecticut, Death on the Nile, and my favorite of the series, Evil Under the Sun--could there possibly be a better match-up than Diana Rigg and Maggie Smith? For that matter, except for Angela Lansbury, is there anyone to compare with Maggie Smith no matter what she sets her mind to?
Have a book yet to open.
Broke the Advent Fast to have a near-feast for dinner at a local sea-food restaurant. (But then, it is Sunday, a good day for breaking fast regardless.)
Blessed all day by a real sense of God's abiding presence.
Not much more to report. Perhaps more tomorrow. God bless you all. May the real joy of the Holy Spirit be with you in this season of waiting.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 7:55 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
October 30, 2005
A Request for Prayers
I don't know if I made a point about this before, but even if so, it never hurts to renew a request for prayer.
I have recently volunteered, and ultimately been accepted, to take on pro tem the duties of both the Regional Coordinator AND the Regional Formation Director. As to the latter, I feel that the requirements of the duties fall well within my skill set. As to the former, administration is not something that comes to me naturally. I will need a lot of help, both corporal and in the realm of prayer. I'd greatly appreciate it if you would remember me and more particularly my duties and responsibiities in this capacity in your prayer. I am not a particularly capable leader where the every-day issues and messy adherence to regulations is called for. Nevertheless, I know without doubt that with God's help I can do enough to keep our region moving forward.
So, please just remember my region and pray that I might be able to act for the good of the entire Carmelite community until such time as God raises up for us a capable leader.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 25, 2005
Did I Happen to Mention. . .
Took Samuel to his first church-driven CCD program meeting (he'd been getting home-schooled, but until recently the diocese had a requirement that to receive communion children had to attend Church-sponsored CCD--thought it was still in place--signed him up--it isn't.). As I had to be there anyway, I figured I would volunteer. Signed the sheet and five minutes later was whisked away into the fourth grade class to serve as teacher-helper. (I suppose I shouldn't mention that I am ambivalent about this policy as I thought they would at least do fingerprinting, etc. as is common here when serving with either children or the elderly. But didn't really want to go through that hassle either.)
So now I'll help out the fourth-grade teacher. Next year I may be teaching CCD. Anyway, the program is so weak that it won't damage Samuel's education and we'll continue with what we have been doing at home. So next year I'll probably teach grade 3. Not bad for a person used to working with Grade 6 and above. (Predominantly college freshmen, sophmores, and 1st year grad. students). Pray for me!
Posted by Steven Riddle at 11:29 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 22, 2005
Buy A Friend A Book
It is with a cheerful and smiling self-aggrandizement that I point out that the next BAFAB opportunity is the first week of October, and TSO has recently pointed out that mine is not the largest private library that he is aware of (Alas). It strikes me that one should be able to rely upon one's friends to redress these gross maladjustments of the celestial sphere.
So those so inclined can hie thee to Amazon and see if they can figure out how to find my wish list and purchase one, two, three, or all six-hundred and eighty-nine items on it. (exaggerating of course--I'm fairly certain there are not more than 100 at the present time.)
But wait! There's more! If you act right now, you can go to this page and get fabulously wonderful stickers to put on your blog site and to lead others straight to your amazon wish-list!
Posted by Steven Riddle at 5:43 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 12, 2005
Linda's Birthday
Soliciting prayers for a good, happy, healthy, fun day of home-schooling and whatever it is we decide to do this afternoon.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 12:11 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 5, 2005
Four States, Some Ponies, and a Shrine
WV, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia today. Went out to Pennsylvania to take Sam and his cousin to the miniature horse farm a couple of miles away from Gettysburg. Later passed through that most dismal of memorials (the area here is filled with them--Harper's Ferry, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg, all within a few miles of one another). Sobering and deadening in many ways. I don't handle WBS sites very well.
However, it was worth it because our route home took us through Emmitsburg, Maryland--a lovely small town nestled in the green hills of central/western Maryland. There, of course, is the shrine of the first American-Born saint--Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton.
The shrine itself is enormous and stirring. There is a basilica that holds the remains of mother Seton in a side altar. There is a retreat center and I think a home for aged Sisters of Charity. But also present are two important houses--the Stone House where she attempted to start the first schools in the area. She was ultimately prevented by the pervasive anti-Catholic sentiment that still knows little surcease. Also present is the so-called "White House" in which Mother Seton died.
These houses are wonderful because they are both early-American homes and the houses of a great American Saint. God blessed the country greatly with a Saint of the caliber of Mother Seton. Many who followed her had her as first example. I think most particularly of St. Katherine Drexel, who continued the work begun by Mother Seton in helping the disenfranchised and the underprivileged.
The grounds are quiet and make for a nice, leisurely, meditative walk. For those who live in the DC area, and who have not visited, I would recommend a day trip during the weekend. I was with my protestant in-laws and arrived too-late at any rate, but I was not able to attend a Mass at the Shrine. Even the drive to the shrine is beautiful. Of course, traffic around D.C. being what it is there are traffic jams even out here where corn fields stretch to the very edge of the country roads that wind through the wide green expanses. It isn't difficult to picture yourself in the times of Mother Seton. It also isn't hard to think about her becoming one of the first Americans--she was about two years old when on July 2, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed, creating a new nation that had yet to win that independence.
Any way, it was a beautiful end to a wonderful day. When I get the chance I'm going to post a couple of pictures from the trip--both the shrine and the pony farm. I also bought a couple of books about Mother Seton that include generous selections from her own writings. I hope to share some of those soon. The trip moved me greatly althought I honestly didn't really expect it. God blesses us in all the things we do to honor Him.
He blesses me also in the people who stop by here each day to read. Thank you so much for your generosity. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:03 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 28, 2005
Another Shocking Revelation of My Inadequacy
First, this is not by way of criticism or slight to anyone who may differ from this opinion. Indeed, I find it one of my great burdens. But let's just say I don't get the idea of a "beach book."
I don't quite understand the concept of going to a beach book in hand. And when I come back from a beach after ten or twelve hours of walking the entire strand, dodging sharks, and collecting whatever might be collectable, I'm in no state whatsoever to read a book. In the entire time I spent on vacation, I brought about twelve books to read--I ended up reading perhaps a couple of chapters of one of them.
I am, in fact, exceedingly pleased by an observation made by my host with regard to my approach to the beach. He said (and I paraphrase most of it), "I've noticed there are different styles of going to the beach. Some go and sit and sun. Some savor the beach, letting it come to them. You devour the beach."
Now there is truth here. The day we went to the beach when it wasn't stormy and the beach was our only destination, I walked from Delmore-Wiggins pass (a turtle beach) to the North Side of Downtown Naples and back. I don't know how far that is, but my guess is about eight-to-ten miles. My goal would be to walk from Naples to Venice. However, as that would entail swimming several rather large, probably bull-shark infested rivers, I rather think I'll keep it down to between large tidal rivers.
But back to the point. I love the beach. I go with the intent of sitting and absorbing and just being there, but the beach calls to me. Like Prufrock, "I hear the mermaids singing each to each," unlike Prufrock I do not care that they do not sing to me--it is sufficient to be privileged to overhear the conversation meant only for them.
But then we must keep in mind that Steven has, among his friends, a reputation for being robo-tourist. I just read MamaT's description of her first few days of vacation and thought back to my time in San Francisco. And I had written a long description here of it; however, it would seem to detract from that wonderful entry i cited above. Suffice to say that I am known for my ability to take in the sites in a given location. Thus, it should come as no surprise that my recreation at a beach is to walk as far as I possibly can in either direction from where I start. The idea of sitting with a book seems somehow contrary to my notion of a beach--and that, I admit, is my failing. I guess when I take a vacation, I take a vacation from me and my driving impulses as well as from a location. I was amazed at how very little I read (only the directions to and descriptions of the places we were going or just had been.)
Posted by Steven Riddle at 10:30 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
July 23, 2005
One Last Image
In a private communication one reader was surprised at how much I had liked Key West and how poetic I had waxed over it. Well, this little photo will give you a sense of why. That was the view from my hotel room. Three days after Dennis and sea and sky have returned to where they started. In other pictures the swirls of sea and sky reflect one another with the same apparent flatness. I cannot say enough about the water and its color. As soon as I can reasonably well capture it, I will likely substitute it for my background on this site. Problem has been that there has been no good way to capture it well.
Well, good night all.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 6:45 PM | Comments (2)
For Julie, by Request--but not the Spiny Lizard
Sorry. Not the spiny lizard, but I thought you might prefer one in focus. I'm still sorting through the spiny lizard photos with some hope that I might find one that isn't all blurred out.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 6:40 PM | Comments (1)
And some Flora and Scenes from the Desert
My Javelina pictures did not come out as well as I would have liked and the Coyotes were downright dreadful. Got a lot of great spiny lizards, but figured you might enjoy these more.
And the lovely San Xavier del Bac, presently undergoing restoration.
And to RC if he happens to drop by--I promise never, never, never to do this again. For one thing it is entirely too much effort--but I'll work really hard to reduce server strain.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 5:14 PM | Comments (3)
A Sample of the Flora and Fauna of My Trip
The flower above and the friend below were both experiences to be savored at Corkscrew Swamp--an Audubon preserve.
Said friend is heralded by this plant--appropriately enough called Alligator flag. Throughout the swamp we found them with these regular, even perforations. They were so perfect that it seemed unlikely to be caused by a browsing insect. I thought perhaps they functioned like the slits in banana leaves. Alas, I know too little about this mystery to help you resolve it.
And the friend below brought to me courtesy of a short side-trip to Estero, Florida--the Koreshan Settlement.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 4:31 PM | Comments (0)
Why I Love the Dry Tortugas
And yes, for many reasons, this is likely to be the best picture you see of me on this site.
The view of Fort Jefferson--the place of incarceration of Dr. Samuel Mudd, unjustly railroaded into prison for setting John Wilkes Booth's leg and released after helping tend a yellow fever epidemic in the Fort. Certainly the acts of a traitorous coward.
What you can see without ever entering the water. (From the moat walk around the fort.)
Posted by Steven Riddle at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2005
Thunderstorm over the Santa Catalina Mountains
My hotel room here looks out over the Santa Catalina Mountains, a golf course, and some desert set-pieces that punctuate the artificial (and irresponisible) green.
Last night I watched as the heavens played out a magnificent thunderstorm--lightning as I have never seen it before, even though I live in the lightning capital of the world. Huge jagged bolts that tore apart the night sky and light up the mountains in glorious silhouette. Unimaginably beautiful--to see a saguaro highlighted against the sky. Beautiful.
This morning I walked around seeing what the desert had to offer for the waking person. Rabbits, lizards, and a few other fast-moving ground things. But most wonder of all--a cactus wren in its nest and an unidentified owl high in the tree. La Paloma (the name of the resort) certainly has a home here as well.
Please join me in giving great thanks for all that the Lord has shared with me on these two trips. They have been utlimately restorativeo--to the point where tomorrow or the next day I may be writing about the categorical imperative or the Discourse on Method. Yes, my brain has recovered, ever so little.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 8:29 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 18, 2005
Blogging from Tucson
From the wonders of Manatees, Dolphins, Leatherbacks, Hawksbills, loons, alligators, tricolor herons. . .
From the turquoise of water that is beyond the description of water, water never meant to look like heaven and promising the gates thereof,
From bridges spanning mangrove islands filled with yet more gators, salt-water crocodiles, and a panoply of birds and animals you cannot begin to imagine. . .
from black bears and Flordia panther, from ghost orchid and spider lily and alligator glad,
To Saguaro, ocotillo, barrel cactus, and desert palms,
road runner, coyote, javelina, rattlesnake, and best of all (and I'm not joking her because I love them) scorpions,
from the humid to the dry.
In a single day I return from the wealth of Florida and emerge into the wealth of the desert. The sere beauty, the austere and lovely surroundings that allow for no miscalculation, no mistake.
I'm hoping that during this brief stay I will be able to take in San Xavier del Bac--aka "The White Dove of the Desert."
God is very, very good indeed and He has blessed me beyond blessing with the riches He has showered on me in the last few days. More later, but now, to enjoy the desert sunset--sure to be completely different from tht of the ocean, but enchanting, beautiful, wonderful all the same.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 8:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 15, 2005
The Vacation Winds Down
All I can say is that it is a good thing that the Keys were the last point of my agenda rather than the first. I would never have escaped from them--never found my way anywhere else. I did not expect to like them as much as I did, and yet, there it is. Nearly everything else pales in comparison, as lovely as it all was. I'm suffering from Keys withdrawal.
The pace of Island life was so subdued and so Caribbean--I don't do night life so I didn't really see Key West at its worst--in fact, I saw nothing that put me off overmuch, and certainly nothing that was as bad as the Ocean was good. There is nothing like the sight of turquoise waters broken by the deep blue of channels and the occasional brown of a shoal or coral reef. Nothing like seeing parrotfish and angelfish swimming free. Nothing at all like the Dry Tortugas. While I was there I met a volunteer in the gift shop and asked him about the living arrangements for volunteers. I didn't think that they would come in with an early boat and go out in the evening. And I was right. They live on the island for thirty day stretches. Suddenly I saw myself as a gift-shop volunteer on Garden Key--somehow don't think they'd put up my whole family though.
And Key West, while magnificent and displayed for tourists in a way unmatched by any other key, was simply the jewel in the Crown. Bahia Honda, a long key with a gorgeous beach and a magnificent view of the Flagler bridges was our last stop on the way out. We only spent a couple of minutes, but it was once again gorgeous beyond words.
My host has been extremely patient and kind. We have schedules that work well together to give each of us a lot of private time. He gets up along about 4:00 am and I get up about 7:00 and follow that with an hour or so of hemming and hawing, prayer and prep for the day. He goes to bed along about 8:30 (or earlier) and I go to bed along about midnight or 1:00 am. Again, open spaces of free time for both of us.
This vacation has been a blessing, a deep and wonderful blessing. And in the course of it I have seen a great many things, most particularly those recounted here. But Key West overwhelmed me. I would like to go back and go parasailing (a desire I have never before in my entire life felt). It's odd, I have no longing to live there. I don't know that I would like to live there all the time. But as a rejuvenating charge, they simply can't be beat. Next time it will be with the family.
(Oh, and the major impediment against these things--the very frightening prospect of a hundred-mile-long bridge is not even remotely a reality. There are only two fairly long stretches of bridge. So, I suspect that I will return as soon and as often as is feasible. These are a taste of paradise on Earth.)
Posted by Steven Riddle at 1:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
"As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean"
Preliminary post on the Dry Tortugas.
Just returned and rocking, endlessy rocking, compensating for ship motion. It's amazing what six hours on a boat will do to you--even if they are spread across two three-hour spaces. I haven't had time to absorb the trip yet, but suffice to say that it is paradise within paradise. If the Keys are wonderful and beautiful, the Dry Tortugas are that and more as there are far fewer people--flying fish, parrot fish, tarpons, dolphins, sea-turtles, frigate birds and boobies--but only the people who arrived on the boat.
We did not opt to camp out and I now think that might have been a mistake. I think about seeing the Milky Way from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico--Okay not the middle, but well nigh the last little spot of land east of the Yucatan.
And the sea is turquoise--perfect turquoise--the water still slightly turbid from the churning Dennis gave them, the silt and clay still settling, but not dense enough to both the local life.
And the fort itself--the prisonhouse of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd--one of those accused in the "conspiracy" to assassinate Lincoln. Tried and convicted during a suspension of proper legal procedings that passed for law at the time. Pardoned upon helping the garrison when a Yellow Fever Epidemic broke out.
The shopkeeper there was a volunteer. He said that he worked a thirty day shift and lived on the Island during the time. What an opportunity! I'd love to do something like that. Every night the moon, the stars, the dolphin, and the sea=turtles. All of nature cries out to God in praise, and the cries are the loudest I have ever heard in this subtropical haven. (Yes, not heaven).
I'll think about this some more and hopefull come up with something better to say. But don't count on it because words fail in the face of such glorious beauty and majresty. I will try regardless.
Tomorrow leaving Key West, which I have come to love. I wouldn't be able to live here--there is a weirdness here that is merely trying and tired--there is an attempt at energy and night-life that is merely dissolute. There are boutiques and shops that do business as though one were in a third-world country.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 7:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2005
Key West
Nine o'clock and the sun is still westering over Key West. The sky is painted with the red, yellow, and orange clouds and split by rays of the deep turquoise blue tht seems to radiate out of the west, a final glowing sky to fight the shadow that encroaches. The Harbor Lights wink on and the silhouette of a man in a row boat works across the bight as does the shadow of a bird in flight that cannot yet be identified.
Key West is recovering from Dennis. Piles of debris line the streets and many of the parks are not open until Wednesday. We had to postpone our trip to the Dry Tortugas by a day, but it buys us a day on the island.
We may spend part of the day tomorrow visiting Bahia Honda a few keys up. We will probably walk by Hemingway's house (we can't really go in as we are both deathly allergic to cats and the polydactylate cats still wander and (I'm told) aromatize the premises.) We will then probably take in a tourist trap or two--such as the pirate museum. We might also visit the beach hear. Already have visited Southernmost point, Southernmost house (with a real widow's walk) and Southernmost Hotel.
Key West is the land of cultivated, calculated wierdness. Needless to say we will not partake of the Duval Street Drawl, nor shall we be in attendance on her royal highness Sushi, the local drag queen. We will try to visit Fort Zachary Taylor--I'm told the largest masonry structure in the United States. And we may try to take in a few more keys or museums. (There's a fossil coral reef on one of the keys.)
Any way, pray for continued good weather at least for the duration of this trip and pray Emily away from habitations. I'm already dreadfully tired of this hurricane season. Having four in one season can do that to a person.
Hope to fill you in on more details tomorrow.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 9:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Key West and Environs
Well, today we embark for Key West. I'll be able to give a first-hand report about any damage from Dennis--although Key West is really built to weather the storm so I don't anticipate much, if anything.
If all goes well and the tours are still being conducted I'll be visiting the Dry Tortugas tomorrow. After returning we'll tour the Everglades Park including the small town of Flamingo on the very tip of Florida looking out across the ocean toward the Keys--so, if fortunate I'll have several views of the Keys.
Also I need to write about Day 8 which included the Caribbean Gardens Zoo and The Collier County Museum. And Day 9 which was our trip to the Beach during the height of Dennis. Finally Day 10 which was a trip to the Naples pier in the not-quite-aftermath of Dennis.
Please pray for those who faced the wrath of Dennis yesterday and who will be receiving the remainder of the storm over the coming days. While they won't have a hurricane, they will have the fall out which can precipitate floods and other very ill effects.
Hope all is well in blogland--have only had time to visit a few places during vacation. Regular rounds start up again after. I'm able to do this much because of the disparate schedules of me and my host. I tend to be a late-night person, he an early morning person. Thus our mutual functional period covers our various activities and we part ways long about 7:00-9:30 depending upon his tolerances. It's really a wonderful way to vacation--plenty of "alone" time and plenty of time with my friend--well-balanced.
Posted by Steven Riddle at 6:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack