On Religion

 

I was baptized a Methodist as a baby, sang in the Episcopal children’s choir, was confirmed in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, converted to Roman Catholicism, joined a Presbyterian church, and completed the circle by joining the North Ontario United Methodist Church.

Being a Christian requires a leap of faith which I have never been able to do.  Being doubtful, I assumed the name Thomas when I became a Catholic.  I accept the Bible as a record of the memory and lore of people of that time, not necessarily accurate, as the writing was done after the fact, and has been translated and interpreted many times since.

I reject the doctrine of original sin and the Adam and Eve story.  Without the concept of original sin there is no need for a savior, least of all for one born of a virgin.  I believe in the doctrine of the “Golden Rule” and find that Christians have been the worst offenders of it over the centuries.  Witness the destruction of the Mayan civilization, the Spanish Inquisition, anti-Semitism, anti-gay, etc. all in the name of Christianity.

I believe there is an unknowable controlling the universe that some identify as “God” or “Allah” or “Father”, they assuming that we humans were created in it’s likeness.  But I believe, because he had no better idea, man created God in his own image. 

 

More from Books

 From “Here All Along” by Sarah Hurwitz:

“We consult the news sources and engage with the social media that confirm our own points of view, and algorithms just keep showing us more of what we like.  As a result, we’re becoming narrower-minded and more convinced of our own unimpeachable rightness.”

“This belief that every single one of us is created in the image of God has been cited as the defining Jewish idea, the beating heart of the entire Jewish enterprise.  And you don’t have to believe in any kind of deity or higher power to appreciate its implications.  Drawing on an ancient Jewish teaching, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg argues that this idea is shorthand for the three fundamental truths, which he deems the ‘three inalienable dignities:

1.    We are each of infinite worth – no one is expendable, and we cannot quantify the value of any human life.

2.    We are all fundamentally equal – no human being is any more important than any other human being.

3.    We are each totally unique – there is no one else like us, and no one is interchangeable with anybody else.”

“Other than monotheism, there is no universally accepted Jewish creed or article of faith defining the Divine.”

“When we stray from our tradition of questioning and wrestling, we can easily slide into extremism, believing that we alone possess the truth and distorting the Divine image to fit our own small purposes.  This is a most unfortunate form of idolatry.”

Some book excerpts

 Books can teach us a lot, if we are willing to learn. I read a lot, and sometimes capture thoughts I find. Here's an excerpt from “Here, There, Everywhere” by William Least Heat-Moon:

“After all, a human life proceeds kaleidoscopically. We accumulate memories often deliberately and always ineluctably, and over time see them form the pieces of who we are. Who remembers his life in wholeness or in its entirety? Shaped by fragments, we are bipedal kaleidoscopes of endlessly shifting arrangements more random than we may wish to admit.”

From "History Matters" by David McCullough - "To be indifferent to history isn't just to be ignorant, it's often to be rude, to show a form of ingratitude." "We are raising generations of young Americans who, by and large, are historically illiterate. And that has to change. There is no better way to understand who we are and why we are the way we are and where we may be heading than by reading history from the hands of good writers. I can't imagine a world without books." (Yet we find some segments of government that want to ban books. GB)

B Charles

 

B Charles

We had become good friends when he died, all too soon, but Rabbi B Charles Herring made a lasting impression on me.  He was just plain Chuck and he helped me over a sticky point in my religious training.  I use the word ‘training’ loosely, since it has been going on over the past 70 or so years, both in formal settings and informal.  In Chuck’s case, very informal;  we used email.  I had been thinking about the Christian doctrine of Original Sin.  It didn’t make sense to me that everyone was born into a state of ‘sinner’ so I asked Chuck about it.  Without giving me specifics, he gave me the opening line of a Jewish morning prayer: My God, the soul that You have placed within me is pure.  In other words, the Jewish religion rejects the concept of Original Sin, and I do too.  But that is the foundation upon which Christianity is based.  So my conclusion is that I am not a Christian.

Music

 

I’m not a Christian (more about this later) but I like their music, whether oratorio, hymn or gospel.  I ran into gospel by tuning into the Gaither Homecoming series on TV.  Bill and Gloria composed quite a few gospel songs, my favorite of which is “God on the Mountain” especially when sung by Lynda Randall.  To give you an idea of the theme, here is a bit of the lyrics:

“For the God on the mountain, is the God in the valley
When things go wrong, He'll make them right
And the God of the good times
Is still God in the bad times
The God of the day is still God in the night.”

Back to Two

 I like this one because of the simplicity of just two colors.

And Further On

 This was a four-color print, and I learned something new.

Moving On Up

 I thought I'd try my hand at a multicolor print, so I read a few articles about the technique and watched some videos, and this is the result:

I used the reduction process.  The lightest color is printed first, in this case it was yellow:

Then the next color was orange, so I had to remove all the areas on the block that were to remain yellow.  This shows the design carved out of the block.

The last color was brown, and this is what was left on the block for the last printing:

So it was an interesting bit of carving and printing.  I printed a set of 5 and added a new skill to my repertoire/

Starting Up Again

 So I bought some equipment (Speedball) and created this linocut, then tried to get a good print.  Here's the result:

The question now is: What to do with it?  Any ideas?

Cycling Back

 In my early days, my art was mostly pencil and colored pencil on plain ordinary writing paper, you know, the kind we had in school.  Then magic markers, a diversion to ceramics, and onto watercolor painting, and finally to pen and ink.  Somewhere along the way I tried my hand at block printing.  This is one result:

I printed it on card stock then used color pencil to finish it.

Here's another:

This was used for a Christmas card cover.  Both were printed with a single water-soluble ink.  It would be years before I cycled back to create another.

Wilder Followup

 It's the end of 2025, a good year full of interesting adventures, one of which was to track down the memorial plaque of Alec Wilder.  Unfortunately, all of the resources I checked had nothing to offer in solving the mystery of the missing plaque.  So it stops here unless someone picks up the initiative.  Assuming I'll be back in Rochester in the new year, I'll check out the place to see whether or not the plaque has been returned.  Happy New Year.

For You Music Fans

 

 After visiting Mt. Hope Cemetery (Rochester, NY) to clean my parent's headstone, we headed for Henderberg Park, bounded by Sycamore Street, Fountain Street and Avon Place.  Why? To pay homage to Cab Calloway and view his memorial plaque.  Cab was born at 14 Sycamore, in case you had forgotten.  So I rushed over to the first plaque I saw to find it wasn't for Cab but for his older sister, Blanche, along with a wire sculpture of her.

 

       

 

The memorial to Cab was a few feet away.

You might remember “Minnie the Moocher” or “Calloway Boogie” as feature tunes from his vast repertoire.

The house has been long gone from the neighborhood, but the memories of the good old days linger on.

    

After the photo stop, we headed for the corner of East Avenue and Westminster Road, the location of a memorial to Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder, another familiar name from the music world.  You may remember him as Alec Wilder, the composer of “I’ll Be Around” or “It’s So Peaceful in the Country” or even “Jazz Waltz for a Friend’ written for Marian McPartland.  We found the park, we found the massive stone, but the metal plaque had disappeared.  Hopefully, it’s out for cleaning or restoration and not to result of vandalism.

We’ll keep watch for news of the plaque.  Time allowing, we will visit Mr. Wilder’s grave in Avon, NY.  If so, we’ll post a photo.

Wordling Along

 Sometime ago I found the New York Times game "Wordle" and have trying to beat the odds ever since.  The object is to find the five-letter word in six tries.  Twice I've hit it on the first guess, and 35 times on the second.  Mostly it takes 4 tries, but I've been skunked, too.   

My daughter in Henrietta and daughter-in-law in Florida share their results with me.  It's a struggle sometimes because the answer can be a word not in my everyday vocabulary.  To date my stats are: 1142 games played; 96% wins; current streak is 10; and best streak is 68.

Try it, you might become addicted, too.

The Journey: Shirley's Leaving

 

   In November 2022, Shirley was diagnosed with an inoperable squamous cancer on the back of her tongue, and so began her leaving.  With surgery not an option, she underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, both unable to stop the growth.  A chemo portal was surgically implanted in her right shoulder and a feeding tube was inserted into her stomach.  Because of the discomfort, the feeding tube was subsequently removed; we were never able to get it to function properly despite many attempts.

   She was able to drink liquids and the pulverized vitamin supplements she needed, even though it was becoming more difficult to swallow.  By the end of August, 2023, she decided the pain was too strong and she signed on to Hospice care.  By September 1^st, she was giving herself morphine by mouth with tranquilizers as needed for anxiety.  I woke up early on the 4^th to hear her breathing, but by 8 o’clock she had left us.

   She wanted no funeral service, just to be cremated.  An obituary in the Rochester, NY paper.  Her ashes to be placed in an urn along with the ashes of our two Corgis, which has been done.  The urn is with me and will contain my ashes at some future time.

This I believe

 

It is impossible to define “soul” as that is part of the unknowable mystery of life.  However, I believe that we receive our soul from our parents at birth and that parts of our soul are disbursed at death to family members, friends and acquaintances.  So our souls continue to grow and accept parts of the souls of others as we age.  That means that we are a part of everyone who has gone before us and we will be a part of everyone who comes after us.  So when you think of me, it’s my soul tapping you on the shoulder and saying “Hiya, how ya doin’?”  And when I think of you, it’s your soul tapping me on the shoulder.

My Apology for Not Writing

 I started reading my old blogs (there was a period when I didn't write anything) and was surprised to find so many positive comments others had made.  And it suddenly occurred to me that I might not have acknowledged them.  I was disappointed to see that I hadn't responded to a distant cousin living in Germany (the Carman line), along with my other followers.  Also the comments from my friends, Rick and Jilda, and I really miss the words from Rick, a gentleman's gentleman, gone too soon.  So from now on, I'll try to do a better job of acknowledging comments.

Living in Florida

    Shirley and I moved from Ontario, New York, to our new home in Scottsdale, Arizona, in mid-1990.  By August 2008, we were residents at Westminster Village, a Continuing Care Retirement Community.  In March 2024, after Shirley's death in September 2023, I moved to Palm Bay, Florida, to live with my son, Mark, and his wife, Karen.  We live on a quiet street with a canal in the back, which ultimately drains into the St. John's River.  Sitting in the screened-in lanai, we can watch Sandhill Cranes, Whistling Ducks, a variety of songbirds, Osprey and Hawks.  Occasionally we hear Owls in the evening from the woods across the canal.

   There's a different lifestyle here than any other place I've lived.  Right now, at the age of 93, I'm barefoot with my shirttails hanging out, unshaven but showered.  Never in my life would I have suspected that I'd be living in such a carefree condition.  And the atmosphere is different.  Instead of the low, low humidity of Arizona, there's a higher amount of humidity to get used to.  Scottsdale, with a temperature of 100° and humidity of 15% is a lot different from Palm Bay, with a temperature of 85° and humidity of 95%, believe me!  But it's all in getting used to, which takes a little time and patience.  Now, after a year of acclimation, I feel like a Floridian, and happy with it.

Autumn Wind

 The Autumn wind swooshes

Roller-coaster fashion

Through, 

Then up and over,

And through again,

Denuding trees of all

Save a few fiery displays.

Uncle Miltie

 Here we are in Palm Bay waiting for Uncle Miltie, well, really Hurricane Milton.  All the outside has been cleared of furniture that might blow away, flower pots are in safe places, water pump in readiness on the patio.  News broadcasts show the path changing slightly as he nears the west coast, somewhat more to the south now, between Sarasota and Venice.  Family over there say they are prepared as well as they can be, or have evacuated to safer territory.  We should experience rain and wind as the force decreases between the west coast and here.  Nothing to do now but wait.

The Old Man

 Today, I let "the old man" in.  I'm referring to that quote of Clint Eastwood's when asked how he keeps on doing the things he does.  He answered, "When I get up in the morning, I don't let the old man in".  Or words to that effect.

Yesterday I had the 4th of a series of 6 BCG treatments for bladder/kidney cancer.  It hit me harder than any of the previous ones.  In 2012 I was diagnosed with "carcinoma in situ" of my bladder.  Fortunately, it was found early and the 6 treatments were successful.  This time we won't know until 6 weeks after the final treatment.  In the meantime, I try to keep the old man out, but he sure is persistent.