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A trip to the Argo Gold Mine in Idaho Springs.
Yearly Archives: 2016
Lectio Divina
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Interesting intersection of past and present yesterday. In my Christian days, I explored many different forms of spiritual practice, including a Benedictine form called lectio divina. Turns out a Rabbi is teaching a version of lectio to other rabbis for use, in particular, with Torah study. Bonnie, a rabbi in training who attends Beth Evergreen, modified it to use in our Mussar study.
She read short passages three times, emphasizing different words each time and we all listened silently. She then gave us a brief time and introduced two questions about the passage. The idea was to react to the feelings generated, not the intellectual content. This is congruent with what I know of lectio in which language, often as little as one word, functions as a mantra rather than a message.
I found myself slipping into a comfortable place, going inside, considering my inner journey. It felt good. I hope we use the process more.
Kate has had her second Hebrew lesson. We plan to attend at least some of the high holy day services, beginning with Erev Rosh Hashanah, the first service of the Jewish new year.
Tractor Beams!
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Friend Tom Crane found this. Those of us who were Buck Rogers fans, or read Asimov and Heinlen early on, those of us who followed Star Trek in its many permutations have been so damned lucky: computers, satellites, walks on the moon, mars exploration, a human-made object leaving the solar system, discoveries of exoplanets and gravity waves and the Higgs Boson, quantum computers and now. Ta-dah. Tractor beams.
Tractor beams? Honestly, this one always seemed a long step beyond possible, so it amazes me as much or more than all the other wonders we’ve seen. This stuff keeps the 13-year-old nerd alive in me. And I like that.
“To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek series premiere, NYU physics professor (and sci-fi fan) David Grier leads a tour of his lab—the birthplace of the real-life tractor beam. In this video, Grier explains how the technology works and how it could find practical use in everything from environmental science to—yes—space exploration.” Published on Aug 31, 2016
Meta
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Standing Rock Pipeline. This reminds me, on a much larger scale, of the occupation of Wounded Knee back in 1973. Wounded Knee had the ever-present danger of violence. Radical veterans of the Vietnam War had brought their rifles and placed themselves between the Federal Marshals and the A.I.M. folks in Wounded Knee.
The action in 1973 involved only a few individuals, most of the Lakota and Anishinabe tribes. Today 280 plus tribes have come together with two messages: 1. Water is life. 2. Water and oil don’t mix. These are incredibly important ideas, simple yet profound.
It may turn out though that there is a meta-message here that is even more important. 280 communities, 280 nations, 280 tribes and their disparate traditions, customs and histories have come together to speak with one voice. This could change the politics of Indian Country forever. I hope it will.
Jackhammer Day
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Yesterday was jackhammer day. Gonzalez and Eduardo deconstructed our downstairs bathroom, leaving the studs, drains and electrical. Looks very small. In addition to removing the former tile, the jackhammer work also prepares the way for an adequate slope for shower drainage. The drainage will be achieved by a fixture all along the far side of the shower, a tiny metal ditch that slopes toward the drain.
Kate had Bailey Patchworkers for most of the day and I spent the day up in the loft with the dogs, so the jackhammering didn’t bother us. This will be worth it, but remodeling is never easy since by definition it has to take place where you live.
I rented my car yesterday. Now I have to find a reasonably priced place to stay. There are plenty of options, though most of them are not located where I want to be. A task for today. Later, a trip to the library for audio books, one of the fun parts of a long drive.
Still hitting my marks for Superior Wolf. I’m at right at 40,000 words, almost half way. I’m feeling very good about it so far. I’ll continue working on it on the road.
Fog, Bath and Beyond
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The clouds are at 8,800 feet this morning. We’re surrounded by and inside them. A foggy start to the day.
Bear Creek Design starts work today on our redesigned bathroom. It’s an aging in place design with a zero entry shower. With no bathtub and no rail for a shower door we will be able to use this shower with a walker if we ever need to. Also, less likely to trip. We don’t need it now, but when we do, it will already be done.
Kate gets a new crown today. I asked how many that made for her now and she said, “More than sit on monarchs in Europe.” That Kate.
In the latest divorce news wrangling over specifics has produced: zilch. If Jon and Jen can’t agree through their lawyers, then they will have to go to court on Friday. A judge will decide what will be in the temporary orders. Temporary orders cover things like custody, decision-making authority, sale of the house. The final divorce decree has been rescheduled, now probably sometime in November. This whole process began formally in May.
Harbingers
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Black Mountain, which is covered in lodgepole pine and actually green as a result, has small gold flecks this morning. Those few aspen groves on its slopes have begun to turn, as have more and more aspens between here and Evergreen, but not those on our property. Too, Orion appeared in the southern sky a week or so ago, the early morning southern sky. On Shadow Mountain Orion and the changing of the aspens are true harbingers of autumn.
The splashy colors of a Minnesota fall, when the remnants of the Big Woods flash their deciduous glory, are absent here, but Denverites flock to the mountains anyhow, going on “color” tours. The transformations of the Great Wheel, in all temperate latitudes, stimulate celebrations, holidays, ad hoc personal adventures.
Autumn, with its temperature changes, plant senescence, calm blue skies, the ongoing harvest and the beginning of school is one of my favorite seasonal transitions. Cooler weather increases my intellectual and spiritual energy, underscoring for me the upcoming holiday of St. Michael the Archangel on September 29th. I think it was Rudolf Steiner who referred to Michaelmas as the springtime of the soul. I know it was Tom Crane who introduced me to the idea.
I will be lucky enough to be in Minnesota in a week and a half. I’ll get a chance to visit that Midwestern fall, get pictures for the folks here in Colorado.
Living Consciously
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Two great quotes yesterday. One from our mussar group: I never saw a U-Haul trailer behind a hearse. The second from a comment on a NYT article on the meaning of life: You say No Matter, I say Never Mind.
Mussar. It’s September, the days are cooling down and years of Septembers have me getting ready to accelerate my study. This year a focus will be mussar.
Mussar is defined here by Rabbi Ira Stone, of the Mussar Leadership Program: “The most accurate translation of the word mussar into English is “discipline,” defined in all three ways we use the word in English. Mussar defines a discrete area of study, like the discipline of physics. It describes a practice, as in “it takes discipline to practice piano every day.” It also describes the act of correcting behavior, as in “you must discipline the child.””
In our study of the Way of the Just, begun yesterday at Congregation Beth Evergreen (CBE) and led by Rabbi Jamie Arnold, we talked about the purpose of life. Rabbi Jamie offered what he said was a traditional Jewish perspective: Experience happiness fully. Experience sadness fully. And in the times between be content. Works for me.
It feels good to have some anchors in Evergreen now. Our work with Bear Creek Design will introduce us to the contractors who do work for them. Kate’s study of Hebrew and our mutual study of mussar has begun to open up relationships at CBE for CBE. This means Evergreen is no longer a destination only for restaurants and shopping, but also for community.
Clever Bear
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Things to think about in bear country. How did he get in there?
Printmaking and a Dead Elk
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Spent another evening at Montview Elementary with Jon, Ruth and Gabe. We ate a light supper of foods selected at King Sooper (grocery store chain here), then began to make more prints. Ruth has gotten into the spirit of found objects used as surfaces for print making. She bought some things at Goodwill to print: a leaf shaped metal serving dish and a small metal kitchen utensil that looks surprisingly like a giraffe when inked. I printed another spoon, gray-white this time. Gabe made wheeled objects with something like tinker-toys.
The whole divorce matter, which moves like boulders pressed underneath a glacier, slowly and with a lot of friction, has begun to move into more hopeful territory. But the pace. Lawyers love proposals and counter proposals. Sometimes it feels like the lawyers have oppositional defiance disorder. If you say yes, I say no. If you say up, I say down. Very frustrating. Not to mention expensive. Still, the glimmers of a positive solution appeared yesterday.
After the printmaking, Jen picked up Ruth and Gabe. I headed over to I-70, turned onto it going west and drove into this amazing sunset. The mountain silhouette in the evenings often looks like a Potemkin village, a prop set against the backdrop of a falling sun. This night it was something.
Kate was in Evergreen at the Beau Thai restaurant, waiting on me for a ride home. She had completed her first class in an 18 week Hebrew class at Beth Evergreen. After I picked her up, we got on the familiar Colorado 74, one of two main highways, 73 and 74, that intersect in Evergreen. At the base of a long hill there were three fire trucks and a police car parked in the middle of the road.
The elk crossing sign had been flashing yellow as we descended. This is the month of the rut so elk behavior is not as predictable as at other times. When we moved around the nearest fire engine, a yellow and chrome vehicle from Evergreen Fire, I looked to my left and saw two black helmeted, yellow uniformed fire fighters bent over, pulling. They had a large elk doe by the feet and were dragging her away from a Toyota Rav4 that had hit her. Shattered safety glass dotted her path across the highway.
Sad.