Merry Christmas!

 

The image above was the collage I created for my annual Christmas letter this year (2020). Originally, I had a different concept, based on a diagram I had sketched about the relationships between the books I read and other things. But as I started to flesh that out, the idea of the Boggle board popped into my mind out of nowhere. Logically, it is an extension of the Easter greeting texts that my sisters originated.

The multi-window layout specifically reminded me of the virtual meetings conducted this year at work using Zoom (or similar) because of the Covid-19 lockdown/quarantine. The matrix format also reminded me of the technology some choirs used this year during the lockdown to create virtual choirs. Recently I was awed by Canto Católico's "Salve Regina" video (so beautiful, I cried). Overall, I thought the matrix format a good representation of this year (e.g., boxed in).

Screenshot of the Canto Católico "choir."

MX = Portrait of me from my January 1, 2020 blog post.

EX = Early in the lockdown, toilet paper was in short supply and was a significant concern. At one point, toilet paper was considered like a treasure.

RX = Zimba joined us in March. A frustrating and fascinating cat. He chewed up any paper he could find (among other things) but his ability to leap seemed to defy gravity.

RX = A selfie while walking along the Fastrak path. I was especially fascinated by the field of reeds in the wetlands behind me.

Y = A good question.

MM =  My copy of the book Little Women. I read this book and emailed daily summaries and highlights.

EM = Spots, the oldest of Lynn's three kitties. Very fragile but an affectionate and tenacious cat. At one point I thought he was near death but he was miraculously rejuvenated. He and Zimba got along surprisingly well.

RM = The dreaded Corona Virus that dominated 2020.

RM = I am fortunate to live next to an all-purpose trail that is alongside the busway. The path is 4.5 miles and I used it extensively this year. The northern half is almost like a park because it adjacent to undeveloped land. Walking here often inspired me.

MA = One April Saturday the weather was so wonderful that I was compelled to keep walking. I discovered a park with a trail around a small lake. Even outside, one could not escape the commands to "social distance."

EA = This year many people rediscovered bicycling; me too. I rode more this summer than the past 25 years combined. This selfie was taken at the northern end of the Fastrak path. By going back and forth, I could make a 10-mile ride.

RA = Carlton. The dominant of Lynn's three cats (at least until Zimba). He was generally very calm (and lazy?). In this picture, he is supervising my work.  Before Lynn left, he often slept behind the computer monitor while I worked.

RA = Richard and me. He was passing through CT and stopped by that day for a shower and a visit.

MS = My coworkers and I had a reunion (in November) to celebrate the retirement of Tony (who likes to hike). Note our social distancing (and I have my mask in case people get too close).

ES = Selfie while wearing a cloth mask (from Lynn) that makes you invincible against Covid-19 cooties - unless you don't clean it enough and wash your hands and ....

RS = My copy of The Pilgrim's Progress. I finally was able to finish Part One and am progressing through Part Two. Reading Little Women (see above) motivated me to revisit the Bunyon book (among other things).

RS = Selfie where I am wearing a jacket given to me by my sister Amy. It is actually kind of impracticable (bc it is a pullover) but it is appropriate for mild Fall weather plus I enjoy that it has an "R" on the front (sort of like the "S" on the front of Superman's costume).

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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/04/happy-easter.html
https://cantocatolico.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0YWKLNhTvE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/01/welcome-2020.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-holy-saturday.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-kitties-say-hello.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/03/barren-saturday.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/04/corona-virus-massacre.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/04/thus-saith-lord.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/04/painted-rocks-earth-day-easter.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/05/saturday-bike-ride.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/04/my-helpers.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/11/take-hike.html
------------------------------
Written Friday 25 December 2020.

A Dark & Stormy....

Ten years ago, I started this blog with a post quoting Snoopy as he tried to write a novel. And I'm still trying. I'm actually more like Charlie Brown, a blockhead as Lucy would say. Something of a loner, but like Charlie Brown, not really by choice. I often explain that I'm an orphan in a family of 12 kids.

What to write about in order to mark this anniversary? It IS Christmas Eve but you couldn't tell by my mailbox. So far I have received a smattering of cards from mostly co-workers and former colleagues. I have been saying for years that (my) family is dead, gone, finished. That is the only conclusion I can make when so far (as in many previous Christmases) I have received absolutely NO cards, emails, or texts from any of my siblings, my mother and my son to wish me a Merry Christmas. And I've sent them cards. (I could also mention nephews and nieces). Apparently today it is considered acceptable to not bother. The fact is that no one cares any more, or they are too busy posing as pious and holy ones and can't be bothered with others, especially distant relatives like old Rick. HA! Merry F'ing Christmas to you too (as my former mother-in-law Judy would sometime say, God rest her soul).

But not to worry, nothing new, so it's not a shock to me. It'll pass and "tomorrow is another day" (as Margaret Mitchell said). And frankly I don't give a damn (and she wrote that too). 

Behind me in the picture above (captured this evening) is a wall hanging of Hokusai Katsushika's "Great Wave off Kanagawa." It was a birthday present from my pen pal, Satoko, several years ago. It reminds me of her and also the challenges of life and the determination needed to continue; also, there is the sacred Mount Fuji in the background, representing the mysterious divine, distant yet present and watching. One of my colleagues told me that she once visited Japan and tried twice to see Mt Fuji but both times it was enveloped in fog and clouds. So she traveled all that way and never got to see it. And the beat goes on. Tick-tock, thank God.

"The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Hokusai Katsushika

But overall today has not been too bad. I got the important stuff done that I wanted. I got out of the house and to the post office. And I emailed greetings to many coworkers and a surprising number replied back. I suppose they were like me, time off but still monitoring email, because the work is always there. And what a blessing to know so many of these folks. Yeah, I don't have to live with them (but I do have to work with them). I sometimes get to hear parts of their stories, so it can feel like I have a bigger family than my natural born siblings and relatives. I guess it works out in the end.

10 years. Wow.

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Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2010/12/birthing.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mitchell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2020/12/get-back-to-cuckoo.html
----------------------------------
Written Thursday 24 December 2020.

A Leaf in the Tree

 

Spot the kitty?

I just totally LOVE this picture. Every time I look at it, I chuckle. HA!

It is not my tree or my kitty. Rather, one of my co-workers/colleagues/friends, was telling me about her new Christmas tree and snapped this picture of it with her new kitty, Leaf, "hanging out", getting in the Christmas spirit. Beautiful. A blessing for sure.

I printed it and posted it by my door so that my neighbors could also enjoy it as they passed by. I wonder how many will notice the special "Leaf"?

--------------------------
Written Sunday 20 December 2020.

First Snow of the Season

 

View from my window this morning about 10 a.m.

This time the weather forecasters can be credited with a win (not like a week or so ago when the storm missed us and all we got was a bit of slush that melted by afternoon). It snowed overnight and into this morning. Looks like we got about the 12-inches or so that were forecast.

View from my window this afternoon, about 2 p.m.

Thankfully, many of us are working remote (from home) and don't have to travel. So no rush to go outside and shovel out the car. Instead, I can enjoy staying inside, in the warmth, and continue working (but enjoying the view). As you can see from the above pictures, our maintenance staff worked hard to get the sidewalks cleared.

--------------------------------

Written Sunday 20 December 2020.

Back to Bethlehem

 

Happy to be back to Bethlehem.

I almost didn't go this year. My colleague Lee alerted me to a recent news report that there would be no cachet stamping this year and also a good chance of no Bethlehem post mark. Last year I was crushed when I learned that my cards were postmarked "Hartford" rather than "Bethlehem."

Still, I've been traveling to Bethlehem since 1994. (I've made it there several times too).

And so I went again this year, hoping for a miracle...at Bethlehem. Maybe - perhaps - maybe I found one. Time will tell. The sign in the picture below states they will hand cancel the cards. And so I handed my bag of cards to one of the clerks and politely requested the Bethlehem postmark. She responded affirmatively. I've had miracles before at Bethlehem.

One year I drove after a snow storm only to find the post office closed. I put my bag of card in the mailbox with a note requesting the annual cachet. And a few days later I received my card with the annual cachet and Bethlehem postmark. Fantastic! It was a miracle for me.

Another year, I couldn't go on Saturday like I had normally done. So I took a day off and went on a weekday. To my surprise, I met a crippled guy working there that I knew from when I worked at Record Revolution (Parma OH) during college. Imagine that?!! Imagine the chances of running into someone like that years later? Of all places. Bethlehem. Miracles. Why not?

Postscript (Wednesday 16 Dec 2020): Mu prayer was answered in my favor. The card that I mailed to myself on Monday arrived and it had a big, red BETHLEHEM postmark (see pic below).

--------------------------------------

Links:

https://www.wfsb.com/news/holiday-cachet-stamps-are-not-available-this-year-at-bethlehems-post-office/article_5fd4d67a-363e-11eb-af10-17481eeb7192.html
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1260037621515093421/7451828294134190437
----------------------------------------------

Written: Monday 14 December 2020

Updated Sunday 20 December 2020 for postmark

Jericho-Rosary-Guadalupe

 The reports of election fraud have been disturbing. It is one thing to lose because the voters want something else but it another to lose due to manipulation of the process. But this is not some sudden revelation to me-during previous recent presidential elections, I read about ways that voting machines and the process could surreptitiously be manipulated to alter the vote. Also, this year's allowance for mail-in ballots was an open invitation for fraud. 

Since the election, I have been praying for a miracle that would rescue the country from the evils of the fraud. My sister, Mary Lynn, invited me to pray a novena using the Patriotic Rosary-which I did-that concluded on Tuesday December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. During that novena, I heard about another novena that was ongoing that was time to conclude on Saturday, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. An event associated with this was the Jericho March (see the Book of Joshua, Chapter 6). Another event based on prayer and fasting was Project Nineveh (see the Book of Jonah, Chapter 3).

 

Though there wasn't a Jericho march organized for Connecticut, I thought I might go to the State Capitol Building anyway and walk around it 7X while saying the rosary. Perhaps I would run into others who had the same idea. 

The weather turned out to be daunting: cold & drizzling. But I pressed on.

Selfie in front of the Capitol Building at the start of my walk (Noon).

There was no sign of anyone else. However, a bit later, a handful of Trump supporters arrived. They went to the sidewalk and waved flags and shouted at traffic (tilting at windmills?).

North side of the Capitol Building-I started here.

Trump supporters demonstrating at the street in front of the Capitol Building.

View of the gold dome from the NE side.

So after I did my hour walk and seven circuits, before returning to my car, I walked a short distance to the Soldiers and Sailors  Memorial Arch to take a closer look at the BLM mural painted on the street. I am amazed that the city has closed off a regular street in order to allow a political message to be painted. Astonishing.

BLM street mural photo from news.

Selfie at the end of my prayer walk.

View of the Connecticut State Capital Building
looking SW from Bushnell Park.

Postscript: While I felt somewhat triumphant at the end of the walk, the next day I was extremely depressed. I wondered why had I been the only one there to pray. Where were the others? Where were the professing Roman Catholics? So much apathy.

-------------------------------------------
Links:
http://www.patrioticrosary.com/patriotic-rosary.html
https://jerichomarch.org/about/
https://sign.org/articles/project-nineveh-december-12th-202256
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_State_Capitol
--------------------------------------------
Written Friday 25 December 2020.

Get Back to Cuckoo!

No. This is not a description of me (I hope). As part of my rebirth, I pulled my cuckoo clock out of the box, put it up on the wall, and now it is ticking (and tocking) away.

My cuckoo clock back to life.

It has been many years since my cuckoo clock has been a presence in my life. But now it is back. For a long time it was tucked in a box stuck away. Off hand, I don't remember when it was last on the wall or actually in use. There were a couple of reasons for this.

First, during my "marriage" to Lynn, she found the sounds annoying and the clock became a focal point of control. I would wind it up and go to work only to return home to find it silent and still. Then, the music part malfunctioned and it would continually play its waltz until the weight had played itself out. Lynn's mom, Judy, knew a clock repairman whom she thought would fix it. After a year of being in the shop, I asked for the clock back. When it left, it was in the original box with the original instructions. When it returned, it was in a generic box that wasn't the right size and the instructions were missing.*  The music played correctly for a while but then it went back to its old ways and I was done fighting.

So now that Lynn is gone once again and I am wondering who I am and supposed to be, the cuckoo (clock) is back. When I first put it up, it ticked for a few moments but then stopped. But, unlike years ago, we now have the internet to instruct us on just about anything, including troubleshooting your cuckoo clock. And so, after checking a few sites, I nudged the clock so it was a degree or so more level, and tick-tocking continued without interruption.

Close-up view of my cuckoo clock.

My affinity for a cuckoo clock dates back to my childhood. We always had one (and it is still there in my Mom's house). One of my chores as a child was to make sure the clock was wound. The clock was a gift to my parents from my mother's brother when he returned from military duty in (West) Germany in the late 1950s. Uncle Jim passed away earlier this year and my Aunt Denise told me that his military duty in Germany prevented him from attending my parents' wedding; so the cuckoo clock was their wedding present from him.

Years later, when I was beginning my career and starting my own residence, I naturally wanted to outfit my apartment with a cuckoo clock. I bought mine from a clock store in Berea. As usual, I had no idea what I was getting. I only knew it was a cuckoo clock made in Germany and it played music on the hour as well as cuckooing on the hour (the number of the hour) and half hour (one cuckoo).

It is a tremendous satisfaction and comfort to come into the living room and hear the clock steadily ticking away. There is something reassuring about that for me. It's like the heartbeat of life.

There are still some adjustments needed:

1. The clock seems to run a few minutes fast. By the end of the day it is about 3-minutes ahead. I recall that in the past I struggled trying to adjust the speed. This is done by adjusting the leaf on the pendulum.  Right now, I can live with it by letting it go idle for a couple minutes at the start of the day in order to synchronize the time.
2. The number of cuckoos is one behind the actual time. For example at 1 o-clock, it cuckoos 12 times. This requires adjusting the hands of the clock. I remember doing this in the past but right now I am content to live with this minor idiosyncrasy.
3. The music does not play at the top of the hour. As I understand it, there is a special gear that is no longer available that drives the music. In any case, something is in the works that causes the music to play sporadically without warning or apparent cause. Sometimes it goes through several cycles and then mysteriously stops.

For right now, I am very happy to have the cuckoo back and calmly tick-tocking away.

* Typing up this post, prompted me to hunt through my files in hopes of finding the invoice from when I bought the clock. I didn't find that but instead discovered the instructions that I had assumed were lost when the clock went to the repair shop. These instructions indicate that the clock was manufactured in the Black Forest of Germany by Emil Schmeckenbecher.

---------------------------------------
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckoo_clock
https://www.theamericancuckooclockcompany.com/about-our-clocks/troubleshooting-your-cuckoo-clock/
https://www.bavarianclockworks.com/blog/diy-cuckoo-clock-repair-guide/
---------------------------------------
Written Monday 21 December 2020.

The Angelus

 

Framed print of "The Angelus" now hanging in my living room.

My dad's Godfather, Uncle Frank, had this print hanging in his living room over the gas fire place. When I was a wee lad (i.e., Warren Road days), my father would take me with him to visit Uncle Frank. They would talk and I would be bored-Uncle Frank (and Aunt Elizabeth) didn't have any children, so they had no toys for me to play with. So I had been "taught" to politely and obediently sit there (and be seen and not heard).

And so I quietly took in the surroundings. The living room was dominated at the one end by a brick fireplace with natural gas-fueled flames. Above the fireplace was a framed "painting" that I often pondered (because what else was there to do?). For years I assumed that the couple were praying at the grave of their dead child.* When we were young, my dad often took us to the cemeteries where we prayed for the dead relatives. 

Years later, I learned that this "painting" was actually a print of a painting called "The Angelus" by the French painter, Jean-François Millet. I was too young to know the prayers but I was familiar with the Angelus church bells that rang at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. because these bells structured our days (during the time we lived on Warren Road).

After Uncle Frank died, the "painting" went from its place of honor over the fireplace to a storage space in the upstairs eave at our new suburban home on Elmhurst Drive. Apparently, it never occurred to me to question why we didn't hang it in our living room above our fireplace. But by the time we moved to Elmhurst Drive, angelus bells had fallen out of fashion and we were too far from the church to hear them anyway.

This is an image I found online that is more colorful and vivid.
I don't know how accurate it is compared to the original painting.

Years later when I was on my own, I took the "painting." (I don't remember if I asked or merely told or what). I don't know if I ever hung it up, perhaps early after I married Lynn. There was a time when we seemed to collect images of The Angelus (I have a smaller painted copy somewhere that I think we actually displayed).

In any case, hanging the painting was rather daunting because of the bulk of the frame and the weight. It is heavy because the back is a piece of thin wood covered with a thick heavy paper. From the various moves over the years, the frame got rather beaten up, chipped, and dirty. Periodically I considered having the print re-framed but I was afraid that there might be some hidden treasure secretly stashed behind the print and it would be stolen by the frame maker. Another option was to purchase an entirely new framed print and bury the old one behind it; but that seemed dishonest, and a betrayal. Since the divorce (2001) I had intended to hang the picture but procrastinated against acting.

Recently, I down-sized my storage unit and encountered the picture again. I decided I had to display the picture because it a core part of me (although I'm not sure what that exactly means). It is a connection to a past that no longer exists**, a piety that has been discarded and buried. So perhaps hanging it is something of a bit of rebellion on my part. 

The institutional church stole my religion, my faith; Vatican 2 threw it away but I still remember it. There was something about the old ways that was structured and solid and secure. Perhaps it is merely a memory of a childhood, a dream that can't be recaptured. But whatever, the picture/painting/print is back on the wall. It is a call to pause and remember. Remember.

*While researching "The Angelus" painting, I was chagrined to learn that the abstract painter Salvador Dali also believed that the painting was originally about a couple praying at a grave. Apparently there is some evidence this could be true.

**One of the mysteries of life is that there are things we can never know. I never thought to ask about the origin of the picture, how and why Uncle Frank got it and if there was any special significance about it or it was merely a piece of religious art. Both Uncle Frank and my dad are long gone so it is unlikely that I will ever know.

-----------------------------
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angelus_%28painting%29
https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire_id/the-angelus-3048.html?no_cache=1&S=&print=1&no_cache=1&
https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/a/angelus-painting-by-millet.php
https://www.dalipaintings.com/archeological-reminiscence-millets-angelus.jsp
http://www.artinsociety.com/millet-and-the-angelus.html#
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Written Sunday 27 December 2020.