the other angel

Recently, i posted essays on Lake View Cemetery (a, b). It is a place that can be photographed repeatedly. It is the Who was Who in Cleveland; beyond that, it has had some serious landscaping. One can, rightfully, consider it a sculpture garden.
I have seen people outside the area (Cleve., O.), and outside the country interested in one particular piece: the Haserot bronze angel, created by Herman Matzen, and called by some, 'the Angel of Death Victorious' [i have not yet discovered the source]. Some just call it the 'seated angel', or the 'crying angel'. There is also a Haserot stone woman in the cemetery by Joseph Carabelli. This verdigris vision is right below the Hanna mausoleum. Hanna was the man who bought, and stole the 1896 presidential election for McKinley from Bryan. That mausoleum is marked by a worn rubber mat on the sidewalk leading to it.

The other angel that is popular was sculpted by James Earle Fraser. Fraser did many American historical statues (Franklin, Patton, Lincoln). The buffalo and Indian head nickel was his design. John Milton Hay died in 1905 as the Secretary of State. He had married a daughter of the railroad, and steel mill, magnate, and bridge architect, Amasa Stone of Cleveland. In 1916 Fraser carved a monument of soft, fossil bearing, limestone.

Hay created the 'Open Door Policy' in China. The beginnings of American imperialism, was seriously begun in the administrations of McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt. US troops joined in the quelling of the Boxer Rebellion in China. The US fought Spain for their remaining overseas empire. The Caribbean was becoming an American lake. Hay wrote to Theo. Roosevelt that the Spanish war was “a splendid little war”.
It is an odd, martial angel with a stele quoting James iii. 18, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” The stone is not strong enough to withstand the rain, and snow of Cleveland, and is being washed away. The original, sword shaft has been replaced by concrete cement, and is noticeably different in shade, and texture. The pedestal is of granite and is mostly covered by blue spruce, which greatly adds scenic ornament.

It is a naked, almost, burly Saint Michael. The wings are there, but not prominent when viewed directly. He is helmeted, and is gazing downwards with arms crossed, expressionless. He is more of a gladiatorial guard than Christian angel.

Silly names

Some of us were christened with saints' names, often a middle name we are not fond of. There has been many a schoolboy with the middle name of 'Aloysius', 'Francis', 'Chrysostom' or 'Chrysologus' that he doesn't care to tell the world about. I have a friend whose son chose the name 'Athanasius' for confirmation. It was the fashion, for some, to add this name to their other christian names, and surname, hence: Theodore Michael Athanasius Somebody. Now, some are not enthused with 'Francis', but there are boys named 'Francis Xavier'. When we see the name Francis X. Bushman, or Francis X. _____, there is no other candidate for 'X'. Then, there is the unintentional humor one finds after the fact. Peter and Ignatius are fine, fine, distinguished names; but when his schoolmates find out that Petey's middle name is 'Ignatius', the boy has to live with 'Piggy'.

Well, those are catholic conundrums. Waspish ones are different. Many of us, who have noticeably non-english names have been told how odd sounding they are. No, they are not odd in the language context which they sprung. At some time, the wasps in this country thought what? they were aristocrats? They gave the mother's surname as a first, or second name to the child; seemingly the male child. The resulting conglomerations sound as law firms, 'Parker Willingham Throckmorton'. No, that is an odd name, not Miroslav Stojanovič. There is a current fashion, or has been, for there are many girls in their 20s, and 30s to have first names as 'Parker', 'Madison', 'Tyler', et cetera. I will not go in detail about what black women name their children, if you know, you know. The french, and the danes [amongst others] have laws concerning child naming to stop such absurdities.

The best creator, or compiler, of odd names is Charles Dickens. 'Ebenezer Scrooge', in the KJV Bible (I Sam. vii. 12), 'Stone of help' [Lapis adjutórii] retains an hebraic form as 'Ebenezer'. The more protestant of the english, for a time, scoured the Old Testament for such names. 'Lord Scroop' shows up in Shakespeare's [that is a funny name, as is Dickens] 'Henry V', Henry Scrope, who did exist, and was executed by Henry V. If the english had Scrope, Scrooge is not far travel; Dickens doesn't stop there: Peg Sliderskew, Chevy Slyme, Augustus Snodgrass, Spottletoe, Snagsby, Paul Sweedlepipe, Phil Squod.

At a presidential convention, Jimmy Carter introduced Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Junior as 'Hubert Horatio Hornblower'. I remember laughing. Only Li'l Abner's founder of Dogpatch, Confederate General Jubilation T. Cornpone, is better.

Hinman B. Hurlbut (what could the 'B' be?)

In Cleveland, there is the name 'Thwing', come on say it, stretch it out...let it snap. It is the student centre at Case Western Reserve U. Now, Thwing is a town in the Yorkshire wolds from the time of the Danelaw. In the 19th century Hinman B. Hurlbut owned four banks in Ohio, and a railroad. He, along with others, bequeathed to build an Art Museum for Cleveland. One can walk a staircase [if it is not cordoned off because of construction] and see such names, plus a passel of millionaires from early Standard Oil. I think Dickens *1812, 1870†, was out dickensed, or out hurlbutted, by the parents of Hinman B. Hurlbut *1819, 1884†.

Recipe

imperative of recipere: to take

Perhaps, the oldest form of 'recipe' is a medication prescription. We generally take it as a list of ingredients, and preparation instructions for a meal. For the former, we need to follow exactness for the chemical mixture and portion; for the latter there should be a spirit of liberty, and the practicality of availability, and taste.

Those of a certain age (well, now we have rerun television stations) may remember the slightly befuddled Baldwin sisters on The Waltons. They distilled Papa's recipe, a Blue Ridge 'moonshine'. Posthumous Papa Baldwin was a local judge, and a man respected for his vocation, and learning. He had the first typewriter in the county. He cooked his whiskey before the prohibition dictated by the 18th amendment. The stories run during the time of the good Roosevelt; there was no prohibition, but there were 'revenuers', who eventually would take their still. There is some question whether the conservative old girls realise they are bootleggers. Mama Walton disapproves of their hobby (this is Baptist country), Papa Walton, the store owner Ike Godsey and, others enjoy the recipe, and have affection for the old maids.

Then there is idle talk amongst womenfolk, “That was delicious, I've gotta have the recipe”, or “what's the secret ingredient? ”. If it is a familiar meal, this is just chatter. If anyone think the 'secret' is magical, or meant to be protected; well they have problems.

There are cookbooks, and cooking shows a plenty. A reasonable cook/chef will approve of substitutes. A favorite is the nonchalance of Jacques Pepin, “you can eat it, but i give it to my dogs”, “you can have it with coffee, or champagne”. Options, sometimes icebox foraging, and scrounging; use what you got, or need to use up [before it goes bad], and if you dunna like this, use that. Cooking is an art of necessity, not an exercise of exactitude. And if ethnically, it is new to you, then you generally find out what is the central ingredient, and do what you can, or like with the rest. E.g., guacamole needs avocados, borsch needs beets.

People even older, may remember the original broadcasts of Julia Child. She had a clumsy good humour. Recently, there was an amateur journalist who went through the entire cookbook, and the darling Amy Adams played the part in the movie. Why are there so many recipes of aspic, and who eats it? What, is that french for headcheese?

Now, recently i found on the youtubage a young girl's Drunk Kitchen. She is hilarious, spontaneous, and either carefree or careless. She does make the apt observation, that there is a lot of waiting in cooking. Drinking can fill the gap, and she is not too interested in results. If you smell burning, it is finished. If it tastes bad, put cheese on it. I like it when there's pictures. Ingredients: eggs, champagne

Art Deco meets the New Deal

After World War I, the US suffered twelve years of Republican rule everywhere, and Klan rule some places. The roaring '20s was alive with Prohibition, and the associated criminal activity to provide the public with contraband, and that business network branched into other unlawful, and often seedy enterprises. The racket that was banking, 'lawful' industry, and Wall Street led into the Great Depression that began in the autumn of 1929.

November 1932 saw Franklin Delano Roosevelt win the general election, to the dismay of the bankers and other millionaires. They planned a coup d'état that was made public by Major General Smedley Butler USMC, who refused to overthrow a Democratic government in his own country.

Roosevelt saved America by the creation of the New Deal, the Republicans have never forgiven him. Many programmes were created for relief, recovery, and reform. Republican obstructionism was everywhere, especially in the Supreme Court. Most of the press was Republican, and propagandised against Roosevelt in the editorial pages. After recovery was succeeding, the Republicans hindered and rolled back recovery. A parallel to to-day is quite easy, unfortunately Barack Obama is not as brave or as tenacious as Mr. Roosevelt, and the Republicans are even more stupid, and just as greedy, vicious, and dishonest.

On the near west side of Cleveland, we can still see some of the still bearing fruit of Mr. Roosevelt's New Deal. The Kentucky School (Paul Dunbar temporary) is still up. Its cornerstone reads, '1939'; a product of the Public Works Administration, one of the many new government agencies that saved the US from becoming a third world country.
All over the United States, one can find similar edifices. Toledo, Ohio is proud of their zoo, and there are buildings with such stones there. Such stones can be found on bridges in Lorain, and Hocking counties in Ohio. Ohio has 88 counties, it would be interesting to see how many benefited: hospitals, schools, libraries, water and sewage plants, bridges, post offices, town halls. Ohio was a populous state then, what of thinly populated Republican Utah? 233 buildings by Roosevelt and crew. In some library (perhaps even a library so built) there must be a very large catalog, or listing, of these projects for the entire land. Many are still in use, and the country's population was far less than half of what it is now. Franklin Roosevelt's domestic and economic policies are a highpoint of American history. It is beyond shameful what the anti-Roosevelt party has done to this country in recent years.

John Carmody was an able administrator, who was given a series of top jobs (unlike the promotions of failures that was standard by the unelected president we suffered through in the last decade). Carmody was chief engineer of the Civil Works Administration in 1933. In 1935 he was on the National Labor Relations Board. In 1936 he was deputy administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), administrator of REA in 1937. In June 1939, he headed the Federal Works Agency, which covered the Works Progress Administration, Public Works Administration, Public Roads Administration, and the United States Public Buildings Administration. In 1941 he was given war time positions. Republicans would call him, and all New Dealers, 'communists'.
That was the social, economic, political and practical value of those New Deal expenditures. There was also an artistic one. On the other corner of the Kentucky School alongside West 38th is an allegorical female figure with flowing hair, kneeling amongst plants, holding a tablet, with a river crossing her lap, and the sphere of the earth, and a star behind her. It is a bas-relief on several blocks in a late deco style.
Art deco was not just in grand figures, it was also in little embellishments, sometimes of functional elements. The school that shares the same parking lot, used to be called William Dean Howells, now it is Garret A. Morgan. It too was part of the same New Deal. Here a stylized metal grate is book ended by simple decorating stone.

graveyard bat

adult male large brown bat held by adult small male human
So, instead of hunting hare, we have bat. Bats can get quite upset, and bark in irritation and distress, as did this one. A metroparks naturalist conducted a lesson in Cleveland bats at Lake View cemetery, last night. Nets in the woods caught the flyers. Tri-color (eastern pipistrelle), and large (not really very) brown bats were held captive for a few minutes.

The tri-color was a juvenile, just recently an aviatrix [this was confirmed by an examination of bones in wing], she was captured with her mother. Bats need maternal guidance, for a time. Bats may live long lives, but have a high mortality rate in the initial year. A she-bat generally gives birth to twin pups, one male and one female.

The wing examination, amongst other things, delineates the bones in the hand. The wing membrane is thin, and is easily punctured; but fast healing. Most bats are small and light. They suffer from parasites, and scars from mites are visible in the wing.

A new scourge is the white nose fungus (geomyces destructans), which is killing the bats in eastern north America. In 2004 near Albany, New York it was first seen, and its spreading. It attacks them in hibernation, and has wiped out colonies. The fungus has a similarity to athlete's foot.

US bats are insectivores. Some species gobble moths, some snack beetles, others gnats, mosquitoes and so on. Sonar location focuses the meal in flight. During the presentation, lightning bugs were visible. Kids asked whether bats eat them, the answer, in part, was have you ever tasted a firefly? they are chemically composed to taste terribly.

In Europe, there has been an organised bat night for some years now. It educates the public. Bats are having trouble. Bats fulfill a helpful rôle in nature, to the benefit of man. Folklore, superstition, and bad press has not done them well.

15th European Bat Night will take place on 27-28 August 2011.

not of graveyard rabbits

Now this here--blogosphere has many circles. We all are attracted to certain themes. I do not want to write on just one topic, and this reduces readership. Sure, i would like to be a ‘professional’ writer. I have not received a penny, yet. In the sixth grade, i sent a question to the newspaper. They carried a column in the funny pages. I received a set of encyclopedia, which really helped me the next six years. But, if you know a lot, the less people care. You can hold two concepts in your mind, and people will approve of the one, and disapprove of the other.

Frank Stanton wrote editorials for the Atlanta Constitution. His daddy went to fight for the confederacy. Stanton was also a lyricist. Some poems he wrote in dialect, others were sentimental with regular spelling. He had been included in anthologies. The one poem, The Graveyard Rabbit begins:

In the white moonlight, where the willow waves, He halfway gallops among the graves— A tiny ghost in the gloom and gleam, Content to dwell where the dead men dream

and then, i think, he goes off into unfamiliar superstition and southern? folklore. Well anyway, someone started a circle of web journals called, Graveyard Rabbits. They are solely devoted to gravestones, cemeteries, and genealogical stuff.

Well, a while back, public television had a cemetery programme. About five graveyards were featured, one very near me, Lake View (x,y,z) which sits on the boundary of Cleveland, Ohio. Really, it is a fascinating, and a beautiful place. To-morrow, they are scheduled a bat night. Some years ago in Poland and France there originated this ecological conservancy programme concerning these flying mice. It has spread elsewhere. This is not some creep show. This is serious education about stewardship of nature.

A lot of graveyards go to ruin quickly. Some are so rule bound they follow factory conformity. So there may not be that many interesting ones.
I took this foto of some gravestones in front of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky in the late morning of August 1st, 2011. There were some 90° days, followed by nightly rains, followed by morning mists and fog. Nine in the morning, visibility was near zero, within an hour it had mostly burned away. In this little patch, not pictured, there is a large stone with a listing [on both sides] of unmarked graves. The first thirteen, look to be, irish nuns. A few names later is Zachariah Riney, Lincoln's first teacher.

The critter that seemed to be fond of the stones was the mockingbird. It would make hop flights from one stone to the next. If i had a faster focusing camera, with a good telephoto lens, i could have snapped several; at least one with a tasty insect in his beak.

Trappist, Kentucky sits in Nelson County, the county seat is Bardstown. Only Baltimore was older than Bardstown as an english speaking diocese in the Americas. It just never grew. They moved the seat to Louisville, and the cathedral became a basilica. Kentucky has 120 counties. Nelson, Marion, and Washington sit together as ‘Kentucky’s Holy Land’, they together are less than 75,000 people; but the only catholic majority counties in a state absolutely full of baptists.

blue dragonfly

a blue dragonfly in the bluegrass region

male eastern pondhawk - erythemis cimplicicollis

Not being a bugologist*, my identification might not be valid. But this puppy, supra, is interesting. He is an adult male, the females are green as are immature males. The males develop a pruinescence [in blue grapes a white frosting is pruinose] pigment coming from the cuticle covering the undercoat. Another name is green clearwing for this dragonfly. This bug will attack and eat bugs bigger than himself, including other dragonflies. This photo was taken 30 July 2011, in Nelson County, Kentucky on land belonging to Trappist monks.
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*yes, i know the term is 'entomologist', and 'bugs' are only one order of insects; this ain't a graduate seminar in zoology

Proto-Abbey of the New World

Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky

In 1848 forty-three monks arrived in central Kentucky from the Abbey of Melleray, France; forty-four had left, one was lost at sea. Some trappist monks had been in the area from 1805-09. To-day, there are forty-five monks.

They arrived on 21 December 1848. They state themselves: the next day they prayed seven times, and every day they pray seven times, unto the end.

This praying, and singing is the reciting of the 'Office', the 'Hours'. This is the job of the monks. The canonical requirement of seven is found in the longest of the psalms. In two weeks they sing all the psalms, in addition to other hymns, there are readings, Benediction on Sunday evening, and of course — daily Mass.
Seven times a day I praise you for your just decrees.—Psalm cxviii. 164. (Grail edition)

Perhaps, the best known resident was the spiritual writer, Thomas Merton†1968, Father Louie. The success of his auto-biography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), was a Godsend to the monastery, in both financial support, and increase in numbers to more than 300. Merton was also a poet, and an artist. He wrote on inter-faith dialogue, social and racial justice, and peace issues. Not every one was happy with this, including the government. To-day, there are few monks there who wish to discuss Merton, “he’s just another monk”.

Merton had a difficult relationship with the new abbot, Dom Fox (1948-68). Merton had just made his final vows.
grave of Fr. Louis Merton (center), his abbot (left) R.D. James Fox; people brought chairs while praying/meditating

The current abbot is Fr. Elias Dietz. The last 'hour' [they last from about 15 to 50 minutes] is compline. At its end the abbot gives a night blessing of water to all the monks, and guests. Then begins 'the great silence', which ends at the beginning of the next prayer hour. I find this moment, the most endearing of the monk’s day.
night blessing, after compline, sunday evening 31 July 2011; the great silence has begun

I remember, being hauled out of the hall by the principal, my junior year in high school, and being scolded, with the words, “...you should be a trappist”. The Cistercians of the Strict Observance, O.C.S.O. — the Trappists are not that severe, at least in Kentucky. They talk to the guests. They encourage, but do not enforce silence. [I have been at work, and elsewhere, where the enforcement was much more severe, and mean-spirited—as well.] It is a pleasure not to hear mindless chatter. Some people, reflexively say polite terms in greeting and thanks; even this could be replaced with a smile and a gesture. The silence is supposed to increase the opportunity to hear God.