Faith

 

Church of Transfiguration at Kizhi, Karelia region (near St Petersburg, Russia) 1714

There'll be noone in the house
Save for twilight. All alone,
Winter's day seen in the space that's
Made by curtains left undrawn.

Only flash-past of the wet white
Snowflake clusters, glimpsed and gone.
Only roofs and snows, and save for
Roofs and snow -- no one at home.

Once more, frost will trace its patterns,
I'll be haunted once again
By my last-year's melancholy,
By that other wintertime.

Once more I'll be troubled by an
Old, unexpiated shame,
And the icy firewood femine
Will press on the window-pane.

But the quiver of intrusion
Through those curtain folds will run
Measuring silence with your footsteps,
Like the future, in you'll come.

You'll appear there in the doorway
Wearing something white and plain,
Something in the very stuff from
Which the snowflakes too are sewn.

Poem by Leonid Pasternak 1890-1957                                           

   

This church is at Izma, Arkhangel Region of  Northeastern Russia built in 1679.  It is on 65°  Northern Latitude; about the same as Fairbanks Alaska or Great Bear Lake in Northern Canada.

Interior of Kondopanga, Karella Region, Church of the Assumption 1774 --  This church may still be in use.   

These Photos and others  were taken by Richard Davies as he roamed the north country of Russia recently.

The churches were built during the reign of Peter the Great who ruled from age 10 in 1682 43 years until 1725.  Seems he was responsible for many improvements in Russia in attempts to modernize; and it is said that he studied incognito in Europe for a few years around the turn of the century attempting to gain knowledge of other cultures' methods and  progress.

I wonder as as to those attending these churches.  They probably led a harsh life as compared to what we enjoy, and badly needed the solace of a warm place to gather and be with others during the long winters ; belief may have been secondary, but necessary.  But just as those raised in poverty and not really realizing it until later life when they could look back and compare,  I suspect that the members of the church considered themselves lucky with a decent growing season, their good health, and their ability to overcome adversity and produce those who would go on to the next section of years of faith and survival.

Lends a new aspect  to me of the term "Godless Communists" ; those I was told we were fighting in Vietnam and Korea to keep our fair and worthy country free.

  But then, any generalization for war seems to be a good generalization for war in a pinch.

Johnie In The Slot

 

A scan of a slide of a photo taken in Korea around 57 years ago.  My dad on the right with his crew chief.  Shirley Mae is my mom.  My girl said that he looked "cocky" in this picture.    I have seen this slide hundreds of times over the years and had never assigned that descriptor; but I guess if you have  a 12 cylinder Rolls-Royce engine five feet in front you cranking out up to 2000 horsepower as you are zizzing through the clouds vibrating to the low drone of the P-51 in flight, you could be cocky too!
Dad died  in March and one of the fellows he flew with in the Air National Guard out of Lambert field in St. Louis (prior to Korea) saw the obituary and sent me a note describing how they would fly acrobatics to stay sharp -- even competing with other Guard units around the area.  He described Phil Houghton as left wing, Bob little at right wing, Walter Stueck as lead, and "Johnie in the slot" while flying the 4-plane diamond formation (John was my dad).

It would seem that would be the hardest position to fly, with the wash from the other planes and all,  causing turbulence.
But I never asked . . .  I should have.


"Death is only a change of condition:  time and space are in you; you are not in time and space"
by Swami Vivekananda  (another perspective)

Maybe so, but I cannot help but think that we are left mostly as memories . . .  and some things we made.

Fly safely my father

Almost Gone

You are only there to help.  Cricket and Gary are up from Texas and Gary is a woodworker -- makes furniture and such from mesquite and cedar wood.  You get the chainsaw to cut a tree in the north woods which has a burl about six feet from the ground , found by ginny previously, growing off of a black oak. Tree is near the size of that shown here but the burl is maybe three-quarters as big. Woodworkers go nuts over these since the woodgrain inside is beautifully swirled and colored.  And any type of tree can grow these  burls since they are the product of some sort of injury or assault to the trees' exterior.
You make a cut to the tree high so as to lessen the cutting necessary to release the burl.  Tree is going to fall to the East I predict, Gary says to the West.  You make the first cut on the West side, then go over to the other side where, after a cut into the tree, the saw is pinched in the cut..  You are too distracted trying to free the saw or turn it off to consider the next move; not realizing that the saw is pinched because the tree is falling the way you predicted!
You feel a strong push from the left (gary), reel to the right but remain standing.  A soundless mass of dark tree lightly brushes by your left shoulder on its way down as if a shadowy hand has brushed a fly from your arm.
You are one  arms-length away from being gone.
You later  try not to think of the bad outcome; or let it flow through once then forget it -- best not to dwell on a messy situation.  As it occurs during meditation, let it pass -- let it flow then let it go.
Just another thought to watch without reaction or tensity.

All you can say later  is:  I had better get a bowl out of this deal . . .

The burl can be cut into a thin veneer and made into a wood-surface upon any type of furniture.
This is called a "bachelors chest" and has the thin burl layer attached to the desktop and drawer fronts.

The First Google

 

Prior to the advent of internet searches, information and tools could be hard to find.  Local library, local stores, telephone book, word of mouth , were all means of obtaining information and tools but could be limited in scope.  This catalog, started by  Stuart Brand in 1968 attempted to include sources for books and pamphlets which may have been at the edges of what was obtainable locally.  Here you may find information on communes, building your own sauna, ordering a parachute, carving a pipe, building a tipi or log home, desert farming, and a book which I may look to see if it is still available called  "The practical cogitator".   There is a running drama on the pages of the catalog called "Divine Right's Trip" which is interesting to read as you peruse the pages, and tends to draw you into the rest of the page which contains summaries and comments on the books presented for sale.  Readers could submit writeups of books or catalogs and would be paid $10 if their presentation was printed in the next supplement.  Between fall of '68 and spring of '71 there were 14 updates/supplements sold to stay current with what was available and add new sources.

I used to collect catalogs and still have a pile of useless ones since they are mostly way out of date (I still get a few sent to me which is odd because the companies now have an on-line presence and need not print them.)

On the cover of the first Whole Earth Catalog was a photo of the whole earth taken from an ATS satellite in November 1967.  It is said to be the first full-earth picture published.  (Eat your words flat-earthers.)

But  we can now search on any topic or item  and get many sources and possibilities for products and reading.  What need for libraries or stores when anything can come in the mail?

I marvel at the possibilities; but  do wonder what exists out there and may not be available by punching keys.

 The first