Monthly Archives: May 2016

Thursday Folderol

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Rain, cloudy days, rain, cloudy days, rain: that’s been the pattern this week. Mostly quiet rain, but with a few thunderstorms thrown in for good measure.

I mentioned earlier this week that Aunt Sue liked her cats. Later I remembered that I scanned a slide of my Uncle Ken made by my father in the late ’50s, with the cat Ken and Sue had at the time. I don’t remember that cat, but I heard about him.

KenAdolphlate50sThey named him Adolf, for reasons that should be all too obvious. As for Ken, he seems to have been in his Dali period.

Not long ago I received an email from the principal of Schleswig-Holstein High, who takes a schoolmarmish view of the what we used to call “senioritis” (inflammation of the senior, I guess) and the upcoming graduation ceremonies that Lilly will be a part of.

“The last days of school should be no different in decorum than any other regular day of school,” the principal said. “Parking lot celebrations and other disruptions on the last days of school or on graduation rehearsal day cannot be tolerated. Students participating in these activities will be subject to penalties of suspension… and loss of senior brunch and commencement privileges.

“Parents, please support this position! I do not want to have to deny these privileges to your child. Please note that during the ceremony use of air horns or other devices will not be tolerated and participants will be escorted from the building. I hope that all celebrations outside of school are fun and safe.”

I’ll go along with him about air horns. I don’t want one going off in my ear. Here are my other thoughts about graduation decorum, schooled as I was by the Class of ’78.

A circular in the mail recently reminded me that Harold’s Chicken has come to my part of the world. This is good news.

Harold'sWhen I worked nearby, I used to visit the downtown Harold’s locations, and back in the ’80s, my friend Rich first took me to a Harold’s in Hyde Park, Chicago. (Harold’s been chasing that chicken a long time.) Even Rich, whose culinary standards are pretty high, enjoyed Harold’s fast-food chicken. My standards are lower, and I was an instant convert. One bite indeed. We’ll be going to #41 soon.

Bilingual JWs at the Door

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Awake! (Japanese)A couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses showed up at the door not long ago, one an English speaker, one Japanese. Whatever else you can say about them, they do their research. They left a copies of Awake! in both English and Japanese. The cover of the Japanese edition, published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, is posted here.

The headline says: Is the Bible Just a Good Book?

The JW were in the news — the real estate news — recently for selling JW HQ in Brooklyn for very big bucks, about $700 million. That kind of mammon will not only buy a fine new HQ in upstate New York, where real estate is cheaper, but probably a lot more granular data mining on behalf of propagating the doctrine. Seems like something of a hard sell to me. Blood transfusions don’t come up all that often for most people (fortunately), but no Christmas? Wonder when they get around to telling potential converts about that.

I showed the magazine to Yuriko. She shrugged.

Greener and Greener

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The greening of northern Illinois happens every spring, but I never get tired of it. Here are a few views on Saturday of the Poplar Creek Forest Preserve, a place we’ve been going for some years.

There are expanses of grass at the forest preserve.
Poplar Creek Forest PreserveAlong with thickets.
Poplar Creek Forest PreserveThe blooming dogwood.
Poplar Creek Forest PreserveAnd the eagerly exploring dog, mostly exploring with her nose.
Poplar Creek Forest PreserveProvided, of course, you take the dog out for a special-treat walk among the May greenery.

The More Common Kind of Transit

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Transit of Mercury, eh? A few news sites were pumping up today’s transit as a “rare” celestial event, but something that occurs 13 or 14 times per century here on Earth doesn’t merit that adjective. The next one’s going to be in 2019, for crying out loud. A transit of Venus, now that’s rare in human terms.

Besides, Mercury’s annoyingly hard to spot in the sky under normal circumstances. Is it ever known to hang so bright in the morning or evening sky like Venus? Glimmer red-orange like Mars? Appear as a bright white dot late in the evening like Jupiter or even the dimmer Saturn? No, it hides in the glare of the Sun.

Even so, I might have taken my eclipse shades out — the ones I used during the transit of Venus, without harm to my retinas — and looked for it this morning, but for one thing here on my part of Earth: completely overcast skies. Ah, well. I’m glad that didn’t happen back in ’12 and I hope it doesn’t happen for the solar eclipse next year.

Curiosity observed a transit of Mercury on Mars about two years ago, the first time any kind of transit has been observed from anywhere other than Earth (by earthlings, I should add), and something I didn’t know until now. That should have been bigger news than today’s garden-variety transit. Also, should there be observers on Mars — people or machines — in 2084, a transit of Earth will be visible from that planet.

Here’s a take on the transit of Mercury I saw in Lileks, in the comments section of all places. Then again, his comments section tends to be a cut above the norm.

RIP, Sue Arnn

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I am sad to report that Sue Arnn, my mother’s sister and my Aunt Sue since the day I was born, has died in San Antonio at age 83.

It occurred to me after receiving the news that I don’t have that many pictures of her. Most of them are at my mother’s house. But I have a few, including one of my mother and Sue when they were very young, ca. 1935. Sue’s the little sister in the picture.
Sue & Jo Ann ca 1935Here she is with her husband Ken (d. 2002) and her son Ralph (b. 1963) in Denton, Tex., in August 1967, just before they returned to where they lived at the time, South Dakota.
Ken Sue Ralph 1967In March 2007, we met Sue for lunch — also in Denton — and here she is with Ann and Lilly, her grandnieces. Sue also had three granddaughters.
Ann, Lilly, Great Aunt SueIndependent-minded Sue did many things: graduated from Alamo Heights High School (30 years before I did); attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College, later known as Texas State University, from which her grandnephew Dees graduated many years later; taught school in Alaska, where no other member of our family has ever been; won local elections for a school board in Oklahoma, where she lived for many years, eventually chairing the board; read vociferously (in the 1980s she asked me to get a book for her in the UK that wasn’t available stateside in those pre-Amazon days, and I did); ran a bookstore; was an ardent Democrat in a highly Republican place; hosted exchange students, including some Japanese ones; had a taste for plain-speaking (as did Ken), dirty jokes and gag gifts — she once gave my mother two small planter figurines, a male with a long cactus for a phallus, and a female with two round cacti for mammaries; belonged to the Episcopal church; fancied cats but had dogs, too (I barely remember that dachshund); and probably much more I don’t know about.

I last saw her in October. I’m glad we were able to visit her a number of times these last few years. RIP, Aunt Sue.

I’ve Been Around for a Long, Long Year

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Merriam-Webster has an interesting feature on its web site, “Trending Now,” referring to words in the online version of the dictionary whose look-up rates have increased. The other day I noticed that “Lucifer” was No. 1 (with a bullet? Maybe a pitchfork).

The dictionary explains that, “Lucifer rose up from the depths of the dictionary on April 29th, 2016, (spiking approximately 7700% over the previous day’s lookups) on the heels of news reports that former Speaker of the House John Boehner had referred to Senator Ted Cruz as ‘Lucifer in the flesh’ while speaking at Stanford University earlier in the week.”

You’d think that Lucifer would be a fairly familiar name. One of the classics. It’s not like Boehner called him the Beelzebub of the Stump or Astaroth in a Suit and Tie. Maybe people were investigating the nuances. Sure they were. Anyway, the dictionary continued: “Lucifer has been in the English language for a very long time, and has not solely carried the meaning of ‘Satan.’ The word comes from a Latin root — lucifer, in Latin, means ‘light-bearing’ — and has also been used by poets to refer to Venus, the morning star.

“Although it is possible that Boehner was making a muted classical reference, and intended to characterize Cruz as a bearer of light, this seems unlikely, as he in the same talk referred to the senator by another turn of phrase which is incompatible with this imagery.”

Heh-heh. Not a bad turn of insult, Mr. Boehner, delivered (as it turned out) toward the end of a dying campaign. Whatever the merits of either of those politicos, modern American politics needs more clever invective, like we had in the 19th century. We have plenty of invective now, of course, but especially during this campaign season, it’s as dumbed down as can be.

The DuPage Society of Model Engineers’ Labor of Love, in the Basement

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In the basement of the DuPage County Historical Museum is something you don’t see in too many local museums. Or too many places, though the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has an enormous one: a model railroad display. The DuPage County model railroad isn’t as large as Science and Industry’s, but it’s plenty big enough: over 2,000 feet of HO track and train cars, and seemingly countless model buildings and vehicles and trees and people and animals, all visible at closer and further range behind a series of windows.

The DuPage Society of Model Engineers created the display 50 years ago as a clear labor of love, and it was ready for the public to see when the museum opened in 1967. I read that a model of this size and complexity isn’t ever really complete, so I imagine there have been a lot of changes over the years as enthusiasts come and go. Members of the society are on hand on the 3rd and 5th Saturdays of the month to oversee its operation, so we got to see three middle-aged gentlemen operating the display, including replacing one of the trains on the track when it derailed.

Supposedly the display highlights some of DuPage County’s railroads and landmarks, but it’s really a blend of actual places (such as the Adams Library) and more fanciful re-creations of the American landscape between about 1900 and 1950. Three HO scale trains were running, one freight train and two interurbans. One of the interurbans featured a sleek art deco engine and cars, something like the Pioneer Zephyr, though not quite the same (the actual Pioneer Zephyr, long since retired, is at Science and Industry).

“That an Amtrak train?” Yuriko asked.

“No, Amtrak doesn’t have that much style,” I answered.

We also saw, in no particular order, train yards, train sheds, a roundabout, water tanks, depots, stations, small factories, storage sheds, bridges, stores, houses, churches, cars, trucks, signs, horses, dogs, cats and tiny figures of people doing innumerable things: walking, riding bikes and motorcycles, working, playing, lying around, even hang gliding. There was a biker gang and a haunted house in the style of 1313 Mockingbird Ln. If I’d looked longer, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were hobos.

The detail was incredible. Beside many of the tracks were extra ties or random pieces of lumber. The coal yards seemed to sport little lumps of coal. Inside a sewing machine shop were two customers and a sewing machine with the minuscule letters SINGER on it. As I mentioned, most of the display evokes the first half of the 20th century, so horse and buggies were in one place, and chrome-heavy cars another. The billboard and window ads were mostly period as well. My own favorite: a sign for Carter’s Little Liver Pills.

The DuPage County Historical Museum

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The DuPage County Historical Museum is housed in the former Adams Memorial Library at the corner of Main St. and Wesley St. in Wheaton, Ill. It’s a handsome structure, done in what’s known as the Richardsonian Romanesque style, and easy to admire on a clear day, though we didn’t have that luxury on Saturday.

The library was named in honor of Marilla Phipps Adams, the wife of John Quincy Adams, a New Englander who prospered in 19th-century DuPage County. Apparently he was a somewhat distant cousin of the president of the same name, but in any case he gave the money to build the library.

Charles Sumner Frost (1856-1931) designed the building, which was completed in 1891. Frost is better known for designing Navy Pier in Chicago, but also did a lot of railroad stations and terminals and depots, including the old Chicago and North Western Terminal (1911), which didn’t survive the 20th century. More about his work on the Adams Library is here.

The library went to a new building in the mid-1960s, and its old building became a museum in 1967. It isn’t a particularly large museum, but it has a nice collection, with rooms for a permanent display and a temporary display on the first floor, plus more in the basement and two items on the second floor.

The first-floor rooms covered DuPage County history (in the permanent gallery) and a history of wedding gowns and other traditions (temporary gallery). I enjoy local history displays of this kind, with their photos and documents and household items and ephemera of various sorts. I was particularly taken by some of the photos in the permanent exhibit, such as members of the Wheaton High School basketball team posed for a portrait taken in 1907.

Though it’s not a favorite movie of mine, the faces in the photo reminded me of lines from Dead Poets Society, as the teacher ruminates to his class on a similarly old portrait picture.

“They’re not that different from you, are they? Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you.

“Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you.”

The second floor of museum is a large, well-appointed room with a small stage. There are only two artifacts on that floor, but they’re good ones. Hanging high on the wall is the 36th Illinois Infantry Regiment National Colors, which was taken with the boys in blue to Pea Ridge, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville, among other places.

“Made of painted silk, this flag was brought back to Springfield after the war,” the museum’s web site says. “Recently professionally conserved with intensive cleaning and precise repair of the fabric, the restoration of the flag has ensured that it will be an educational tool for generations to come… The National Colors will remain at the DuPage County Historical Museum through July 2018, on loan from the Illinois State Military Museum.”

Also on loan from the Illinois State Military Museum is the 8th Illinois Cavalry Guidon. The museum notes that, “beginning in early 1862, the 8th Illinois was stationed in Washington D.C. and attached to the Army of the Potomac, fighting in their first battle at Williamsburg. The unit also fought in a number of engagements, including Mechanicsville (Seven Days Battle), Hanover Court House, Seven Pines, Brandy Station, Middleburg, Upperville, and Gettysburg.” More on the flags, along with pictures of them, is here.

A Short Visit to Wheaton

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Rain again Sunday night, to add to the slosh on the ground left by Saturday’s downpours. No doubt about it, the weekend was wet. Here’s the view of the water from my car on Saturday, as I waited in a shopping center parking lot.

April 30, 2016Wheaton’s a prosperous suburb and the county seat of DuPage County, Ill., and easily accessible from where we live by surface streets. We used to go there with some frequency to visit the small but pleasant Cosley Zoo, which is operated by the Wheaton Park District, especially before recessionary pressures (apparently) inspired a new admission fee for non-Wheatonites, ca. 2010. These days there’s less demand among the younger residents of the house, who aren’t so young any more, for zoo visits.

We’d mulled going further afield on Saturday, but the persistent rain and cool temps nixed the idea of any outdoor destinations, so we headed to Wheaton. Not to the zoo, but to see the DuPage County Historical Museum, which we’ve passed by but never visited.

But first things first: lunch. I’m happy to report that the diminutive Mai Thai Cafe at Main St. and Wesley St. is still in business, and still services good Thai food at popular prices. Spicier than some other North American Thai joints, too, enough that there’s a sign posted at the restaurant warning customers to think twice about ordering the spiciest versions of its dishes.

Not far to the west on Wesley St., in Wheaton’s pleasant shopping district, we spotted a post-accident scene of the kind that makes you wonder, how did that happen, exactly? (Like this one.)

Wesley St. Wheaton April 30, 2016The car on the sidewalk’s clearly been smacked from behind, but it doesn’t look like it plowed through any of the planters on the sidewalk to get there. Maybe it jumped onto the sidewalk just so, narrowly missing the planters. Or did it back up onto the sidewalk somehow? If so, why, after being rear-ended? I didn’t inspect the scene closely, so I’m certainly missing an essential piece of the puzzle.

I took the shot from about a half block away, under an awning, because it was raining. Three or four other people were taking pictures from there as well. That’s the early 21st century for you: an era of easy photography that often doesn’t clarify anything.

The Noah Bell on My Nightstand

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Ted Striker: Mayday! Mayday!

Steve McCroskey: What the hell is that?

Johnny: Why, that’s the Russian New Year. We can have a parade and serve hot hors d’oeuvres…

April ended with heavy rains and chilly air. May Day passed under gray skies, with equally chilly air. Yet the grass is long, buds are everywhere, and birds are noisy in their pursuit of making baby birds.

Sometime in the spring of 1986 (probably), I bought a noah bell at a Wicca gift shop in Austin. Strictly speaking, I don’t think Wicca had anything to do with the store, which was stocked with crystals and incense and other esoteric-flavored knickknacks, but that’s how I referred to it later. Maybe that’s gross insensitivity to Wicca, but even my enlightened Austin friends got a chuckle out of the description. Things were different in the ’80s, I guess.

In our time, naturally, one doesn’t even have to go out to find Wicca supplies.

Thirty years later, this is my noah bell.

noah bellThis is what it sounds like, struck with a stainless steel spoon: Noah bell rung three times.

Interestingly enough, it sounds about the same when struck with a plastic pen. Note that there’s no clapper. There used to be one, which was made of wood, but it disappeared sometime over the last three decades. It wasn’t made of copper, so I know it wasn’t stolen.

My bell is about 4¾ inches (12.5 cm) tall, not counting the ring on top, and 3 to 3½ inches (up to 9 cm) in diameter, since it’s more oval than circular. A smaller noah bell with a clapper sounds like this.

I still have the large tag that came with my noah bell, because of course I do.

Noah Bell FrontSo it’s not just a noah bell, but a Maharani brand noah bell. A maharani is the wife of a maharajah, so I suppose that’s like naming your brand Queen or Empress.

Noah Bell BackOLD INDIAN BELIEF needs to be all caps? That’s told of other bells as well, and I have to wonder what kind of lily-livered devil or evil spirit would be scared off by the sound of a bell. Don’t they cover that in evil spirit training? Then again, I ring it around here sometimes, and we’re not bothered by evil spirits that I know of.

The company that imports these bells from India is called Maharani Imports. According to its web site, “Maharani Imports specializes in whimsically themed wind chimes and mobiles made with recycled iron, handmade fused glass beads, and Noah Bells all assembled together in Mumbai. We also have many costume and semi-precious necklaces, earrings, and bracelets…

“We are based outside of Dallas in a small rural town called Bartonville. The company has been in that location since 1980 and we are located on a 30 acre ranch property with many rescued animals. Namely we have about 6 donkeys and 9 llamas, which we welcome you to come visit by appointment if you are nearby!”

Bartonville’s just south of Denton, and I’m not so sure that it’s particularly rural any more. But I can see how the good folks at Maharani Imports might have discovered Austin early as a solid market for their products. My own noah bell now spends most of its time on the nightstand near my bed, along with a lamp, a stack of books, a small statue of Lincoln, and some other bibelots.