The Geese Going Over

In the village store someone says,
"I heard the geese go over,"
and there is a moment of silence.
Why this is so moving, I do not know.
But all of us feel it.

~ Gladys Taber ~

A flock of birds appeared in the sky. They flew high above us with no seeming sense of direction, whirling aimlessly as snow. Once the whole flock tumbled toward us, then suddenly swirled and soared into a V formation, rising upward and out of sight. They swooped right out of the sky. How did they know, I marveled, when to stop falling earthward and soar upward? How did the word get to each one when to turn, when to glide, when to flap a wing? How was it that not one of them ever bumped into the other? Where they came from and where they went I could not tell.

from I, Keturah (235)
by Ruth Wolff

~ Click for more autumnal imagery from I, Keturah ~

Thanks Nataliya!

Vocabcident

Uh Oh! Are Cathleen & Ben
on the verge of a snaccident?

This term is a recent addition to my vocabulary,
introduced to me by Ben when he was recovering
from jetlag and sent me the following text:

"Oops, had a napcident and just slept for five hours."

Apparently, one can have not just accidents
but any number of -cidents!
E.g., Impulse Buy = Shopcident!
In the course of writing a lot and typing too quickly, I commit numerous typos, resulting in vocabcidents. For example, I accidentally typed "Sortry" when apologizing to my brother Aaron for clogging up his email with some duplicate messages (a dupliccident?).

In response to my apology, Aaron emailed back:
"Sortry" . . . Does that mean you're sorta sorry??? LOL!!!

*****************

Another time, instead of typing signification,
I accidentally omitted the "a," thus yielding significtion.
I was on the verge of correcting my voccabcident but had second thoughts. After all, signi - fiction sounds like an important genre of fiction that we need more of! My friend Len -- artist, poet, and professor -- responded that I should leave it as is, on the basis that "We always need more words!"

So Significtion it is!

Art & P.E.

One of My Grade School Art Projects ~ 1967

When my kids were little, I loved having the chance
to recreate some of my favorite projects with them.

Ben's Version ~ 30 years later ~ 1997

Many thanks to my friend and former Philly neighbor,
artist Robin Gresham - Chin for reminding me of the
joys of grade school art and physical education.

Awhile back on facebook, Robin
asked a most intriguing question:
"What is your first memory of making art?"

Her prompt yielded so many inspiring revelations
and vivid memories, all so creative and nostalgic!
For me, the moment that came to my mind:

Around age 5 (1962), I asked my mom if
I could have the lint from the dryer screen
to use for creating a snow scene in a shoebox.

I wish I could remember how that project
turned out, but, alas, no evidence survives!

From my earliest days, I enjoyed art class about a thousand
times more than I did P.E. However, I loved Robin's post
about the President's Physical Fitness Test and -- even
better -- my favorite gym class sing-along "Chicken Fat"!

"Chicken Fat" was another one of those memories that I
wanted to re-live with my children because it had given
me so much mirth in my own youth, so in the 1990's we
found it on a CD to play in the car while running errands!

First Place? You've gotta be kidding!
My only memories are of failure and humiliation
I didn't even remember that I had all this "Play Day"
memorabilia -- just happened to come across when
searching through my old notebooks for saved art.

More Childhood Art:

Samhain Triumvirate

Harvest View

Don't Shoot My Pig

"Earing"

All Souls ~ Sam's Goblin

O Christmas Tree

Inscrutable Houses

Art "Stuido"

Cityscape

Watercolor by Ben McCartney, age 8 ~ 1998

Facebook

All Night It Fell

Lafayette ~ West Lafayette Pedestrian Bridge
Photo by Ben McCartney

Photos from Indiana . . .
poem from England:

London Snow (1890)

When we were all asleep the snow came flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;
Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;
Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:
Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;
Hiding difference, making unevenness even,
Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.

All night it fell, and when full inches seven
It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness,
The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven;
And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness
Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare:
The eye marvelled—marvelled at the dazzling whiteness;
The ear hearkened to the stillness of the solemn air;
No sound of wheel rumbling nor of foot falling,
And the busy morning cries came thin and spare.
Then boys I heard, as they went to school, calling,
They gathered up the crystal manna to freeze
Their tongues with tasting, their hands with snowballing;
Or rioted in a drift, plunging up to the knees;
Or peering up from under the white-mossed wonder,
‘O look at the trees!’ they cried, ‘O look at the trees!’

With lessened load a few carts creak and blunder,
Following along the white deserted way,
A country company long dispersed asunder:
When now already the sun, in pale display
Standing by Paul’s high dome, spread forth below
His sparkling beams, and awoke the stir of the day.
For now doors open, and war is waged with the snow;
And trains of sombre men, past tale of number,
Tread long brown paths, as toward their toil they go:
But even for them awhile no cares encumber
Their minds diverted; the daily word is unspoken,
The daily thoughts of labour and sorrow slumber
At the sight of the beauty that greets them, for the charm they have broken.

by Robert Bridges (1844 – 1930)
Britain's Poet Laureate: 1913 - 1930

Another lovely poem by Robert Bridges:
"Noel: Christmas 1913" ~ sung by John Denver

Dissertation

Local Social Forces, Household Finance, and Real Estate
by
William Benedict McCartney
Without Ben's permission, I take the liberty of quoting here from the "Acknowledgements" preceding the body of his dissertation. A genius of both heart and mind, my elder son has written:

"I cannot imagine my life without all the love and encouragement I have received from my family. Kit and Ger have provided everything from copyediting to thoughtful discussions to steadfast emotional support. Grim and Gram have been there for me since my littlest days and always seem so sure that I know what I am talking about that my insecurities fade away. Sam -- with his fierce work ethic and ambition -- is an inspiration, a great source of pride, and a sobering reminder that academics have it so good,

"Finally, Cathleen, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. Your incredible kindness makes every day spent with you a complete joy. Your confidence in me, unconditional warmth, and seemingly boundless patience have made the last three years so much easier. As a completely unfair trade for everything you have done for me, I dedicate this work -- and all the tables in it -- to you."

Cathleen & Ben

Back in the day when Gerry and I completed our dissertations, the "Acknowledgements" page was not offered as an option. My freelance version took the following form (May 1990):

"Writing takes energy -- more energy than you ever think you have. And energy comes from love. It takes a spasm of love to write a poem, and several spasms to write a short story, and hundreds of them to write a novel."

~ Erica Jong, from How to Save Your Own Life

****************

. . . and seventy - ver - million to write a dissertation!"

Ger -

How could I ever have have done it without you?
Thank you for loving me so many spasms high!

XOXO always & very faithfully yours,

Kit

****************

Kit -

I can only do it because of the love you give me.

Ger

Kitti, Ben, Gerry ~ May 12, 2018

They're not laughing now; no, wait, yes they are!

Thanks to Gene Ziegler
for posting one of Gerry's old favorites!

And reappearing for the Easter season
is the favorite Christmas Joke
of born comedian, Gerry McCartney:

"Dad being silly, also threat of decapitation."
New Year's Eve ~ Raleigh, North Carolina
Thanks to Ben for filming, and Cathleen for laughing! In case you miss it, starting right around the 2:25 mark, Gerry says: "I'm going to open a cheese shop in the Holy Land. I'm gonna call it Cheeses of Nazareth" (and I make a brief appearance at 3:30)

P.S.
This was NOT a church service,
even though it was held in a church
-- it was just regular old stand - up comedy,
sponsored by the community as a New Year's Eve event.

P.S.S.
On a more serious note, you can watch:
Gerry's Global Session Video

at the Cisco Global Sales Conference
in the MGM Grand Garden Arena
Las Vegas ~ August 2018

Steeple Bells

Can you see the twinkle lights twisted
around the upper & lower porch railings?

I was planning all along to photograph the railing lights
-- which have been up since Christmas --
and then the Easter snowfall was an added bonus!

A Surprising Easter Evening Snowfall!
(Photos added April 1st ~
Nature's idea of an April Fools prank?)

"Shall we be a people who live in the darkness of denial and / or impotent rage? Or are we willing to step out and take the risk of believing, however humbly and lowly, in Christmas [and Easter] and that the little twinkling lights we see everywhere represent a great light?"

The Rev. Nancy C. Tiederman,
friend, teacher, priest & spiritual advisor
A couple of years ago, I was regretting the misplacement of some long forgotten Easter poems (something about a steeple against an April sky "and I grew small again"; and another one about hearing church bells and the voice of God). Would I ever remember where I had filed them?

Amazingly yes! All three losses were restored to me, along with a bit of hope.

"When I heard
the church bells ring
I thought I heard
the voice of God."

Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)
French-German Theologian & Renaissance Man
quotation found in
Quiet Thoughts: Reflections on the Meaning of Life
by Weaver & Whitley

"He was a rationalist,
but he had to confess that
he liked the ringing of
church bells."

Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904)
Russian playwright and short-story writer
quotation found in
Women, Heroes, and a Frog
by Nina Leen (1909 - 1995)

St. John's Church ~ Lafayette Square ~ Washington DC
Photo from my visit ~ October 2017

No Greater Heights

Eagerly,
I scanned the canvasses
of ancient masters -- drew forth
each hidden secret of their craft,
each principle of line, and form, and hue.

And I grew wise in Art.

Fervently,
I studied works
of great composers -- delved deep in melody
and mood, probed structure and technique.

And I grew wise in Music.

Avidly,
I thumbed through yellowed
manuscripts -- through ragged volumes, thick
with dust, and plied my mind with formulas
and rules.

And I grew wise in Science.

Philosophers and men of wit, I read --
plundered every single source
of knowledge, made captive all the learning
of all time until, I though
I towered in Wisdom over all.

And then I saw a steeple,
against an Easter dawn.

And I was small again.

Bernard S. Patrick (Copyright, 1954, John Deere)
poem found in Easter Ideals, 1964 (Vol 21, No 2)

Steeple of St. Peter's Church ~ Philadelphia
Photograph taken by Ben McCartney ~ February 2018

Cathedral Cherry Blossoms ~ Washington, DC
Photograph taken by Ben McCartney ~ March 2004

A Walk With G'Poppa

Baby Ben with Grandpa Ron & Grandma Rosanne
(AKA Grim & Gram)
Christmas 1991 ~ Crosby, Near Liverpool, England
Also, see dear old Jasper, hiding behind G'poppa?
The above picture was taken just before Grandpa Ron and Ben set out for their Boxing Day walk around Crosby. Ben was 18 months old, enjoying his first trip to England and his first British Christmas. Reflecting later that afternoon, Ron wrote the following poem, put it away in his notebook, and presented it to Ben as a keepsake 18 1/2 years later -- on Ben's 20th birthday, 2 June 2010.

His First Walk

The wild geese fly
The curlew calls
The grey geese gaze
The bird song sounds

These Ben and I saw and heard
On his first walk in the realm of his ancestors
What pride and joy it gave to his grandfather
Who had prayed a day like this would come
A day that he could share with Ben
His first grandson

Grandpa
Christmas 1991

*******************

Gerry and Ben, same trip

24 Years Later ~ Christmas 2015
Ron, looking for coal on Crosby Beach
Photo by Ben

Ron and Sam, walking through the Pine Forest
Ben is there too, but he's behind the camera!

Sam following in G'poppa's Footsteps

Where the Woods Meet the Sea:
Another Afternoon of Reflection for G'poppa (look closely)

SEE ALSO:
Pine Forest Update 2017
Pine Forest Update 2013
Pine Forest Update 2012
Pine Forest Update 2011
Tree of Life
Watching the Boys Grow

Kitti the Magnificent

Best Mother's Day Greeting Ever!
2016 ~ Thanks Ben!

Best Mother's Day Sermon Ever:

"Wow! Those ladies were busy back then!
And so are you!"

Proverbs 31:10-31 ~ PWT (Pastor Will's Translation)

I enjoyed attending church with my mom
on Mother's Day this year (third year in a row!)
and hearing Pastor Will's one - sentence summary
of the Proverbial virtuous woman!

Here is the more lengthy original:
Proverbs 31:10-31 ~ KJV (King James Version)
10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.

14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.

15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.

17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.

18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.

23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.

24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

And now the birthday cards begin ~ Thanks Natasha!

What a Wonderful World

Night Light Globe & Baby Hugg-A-Planet

"I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world"

Sung so beautifully by
Louis Armstrong ~ Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole
My inspiring millennial son Ben McCartney,
featured here in 1991, shortly before his first birthday,
trying to figure out how to make the world a better place!

Insightful Family Discussion about How to Fix the Planet
on my current post

~ What A Wonderful World ~

@ The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker:
A Fortnightly [every 14th & 28th] Literary Blog of
Connection & Coincidence; Custom & Ceremony

His Own Man

On the occasion of Ben's 26th birthday, two favorite photos ~
one of Ben and one of his younger brother Sam,
each on their Spring Break Trips ~ March 2014:

Ben in Istanbul ~ photo by Katie O'Connor

And yet another poem that, in most timely fashion, I encountered for the first time when flying home from North Carolina last week, where we celebrated Gerry's 60th birthday (on May 18th), my 59th (on May 24th), and Ben's 26th (in advance):

Ah, this is the thing that comes to each of us.
The child grows up.
And, according to our own ideas, is practically asunder.

I understand it.
I struggle to celebrate.
I say, with a stiff upper lip familiar to many:

Just look at that curlyhaired child now,
he’s his own man.

from the poem "Percy (Seven)"
by Mary Oliver
in her book Thirst

Sam in Taiwan at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

Summer 1994 ~ Our Own Boys

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELDER SON BENEDICT!

Unplayed Piano

Where's Reggie When You Need Him?"

If All the Unplayed Pianos
If all the unplayed pianos in America—
The antimacassared uprights in old ladies’ parlors
In the storehourses the ones that were rented for vaudeville
The ones where ill fame worsened and finally died
The ones too old for Sunday School helplessly dusty
The ones too damp at the beach and too dry in the mountains
The ones mothers used to play on winter evenings
The ones silenced because of the children growing away—
Resounded suddenly all together from coast to coast:
Untuned joy like a fountain jetted everywhere for a moment:
The whole nation burst to untapped, untrammeled song:
It would make—in short—a most satisfactory occasion,
A phenomenon which the scientists could never explain.

Winfield Townley Scott (1910 - 68)

*************************
I had not really grasped what a privilege it was to live a life where art and music are part of the daily soundtrack until I participated in a college production of In His Steps, by Charles M. Sheldon. Written years before the "WWJD" bracelet, this is the novel in which the "tramp" inspires the citizens of Raymond to ask themselves "What would Jesus do?"

When the homeless man walked onto the stage and implored the audience to realize that many people grow up and "never have a piano or a picture in the house," I had to stop and think. We had not only a nice piano upstairs for practicing our lessons, but another one downstairs as well where we could bang out "Heart and Soul" to our heart's content and stage homemade musicals or re-enactments of our favorites; and both sets of grandparents had pianos that we were allowed to play almost any time we wanted.

After hearing the tramp's plea, I realized that music and painting and cultural literacy did not appear out of nowhere and were not as readily available for everyone as they had always been for me. Like writers Laurie Colwin and Joan Didion, Sheldon reminds us that these civilizing elements ought not to be taken for granted, considering the value they add to our existence.

Even an unplayed piano is better than no piano at all.

*************************

Ben the Anarchist ~ Chicago, Summer 2011
Wandering into public buildings and playing
any unplayed piano until discovered by a security guard.

Ben writes, upon this particular occasion:
"We got to play for 20 minutes before they kicked us off (found us)!"

Imaginary Football

Sam's Philadelphia Eagles Book

Ben's Kansas City Chiefs Book

More about football,
both real and imaginary
from
Andy Griffith, Louis Jenkins, and Sam McCartney
on my current post

~ "Imaginary Football" ~

@ The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker:
A Fortnightly [every 14th & 28th] Literary Blog of
Connection & Coincidence; Custom & Ceremony

Millennials & Music

Thanks to my sons who both went out of their way last month to compile some playlists for their parents' edification and listening pleasure!

Musical recommendations

from Ben ~ "Duets"

and Sam ~ "Forever Young Again"

@The Fortnightly Kitti Carriker:
A Fortnightly [every 14th & 28th] Literary Blog of
Connection & Coincidence; Custom & Ceremony
Whenever I see one of those unkind "anti - Millennials" diatribes* that get posted on facebook from time to time, all I can say is that my kids and their born - in - the - 90s peers are amazing! They did not approach their education with arrogance or entitlement but with energy and perseverance. They are intelligent and intuitive, grasping concepts in leaps and bounds beyond my own generation. They have worked hard for every achievement and have already changed the world for the better and will continue to do so, if all goes according to plan, long after I am gone. They fill me with me hope and optimism for the future of this planet! They keep in touch with their parents and do whatever they can to pull their elders along into the 21st Century! Keep up the good work Millennials!

P.S. November Election 2016
As I said to my friend Evelet (mother of Hunter, Sam's age):
"How we love our smart, smart boys.
They will go to the future and make it a better place!"

Year's End

Currently on my Fortnightly Blog:
A Story About a Snowman

"I remember that winter because it had brought the heaviest snow that I had ever seen. Snow had fallen steadily all night long, and in the morning I woke in a room filled with light and silence. The whole world seemed to be held in a dream-like stillness. It was a magical day, and it was on that day I made the snowman."

Opening narration from The Snowman ~ animated movie
based on the book by Raymond Briggs ~ music by Howard Blake

The Snowman Ben and Sam Built,
with a little inspiration from Auntie Peg!
Photographs by Ben McCartney
December 2002

The Peacemaker's Time

6 year old Ben explains Hanukkah
#philadelphiapublicschools

Light one candle for the wisdom to know
when the peacemaker's time is at hand . . .

Advent Calendar

He will come like last leaf's fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to the bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud's folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.

Rowan Williams (b 1950)
104th Archbishop of Canterbury, 2002 - 2012

IV
Chorus from For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio

He is the Way.
Follow Him through the Land of Unlikeness;
You will see rare beasts, and have unique adventures.

He is the Truth.
Seek Him in the Kingdom of Anxiety;
You will come to a great city that has expected your return for years.

He is the Life.
Love Him in the World of the Flesh;
And at your marriage all its occasions shall dance for joy.

W. H. Auden / see also

Not Used Algebra

Or . . . . maybe you did and you didn't know it!

One day when I was having trouble parallel parking, my little son Ben (age 7 at the time, back in 1997) piped up from the backseat, "Mommy, maybe you just didn't do your math right!"

Now how did he know that parallel parking is a math problem? Of course, it might be geometry rather than algebra! But either way, I think that was the day I realized that Ben was a Boy Genius, though there may have been a few earlier indications!

Also Child Chef!