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Check out the new Volkswagen Golf R that visited us last week! We're expecting to see ours arriving sometime before summer. Learn more about the new Golf R, the most powerful Volkswagen sports performance vehicle ever sold in the U.S: www.grautoblog.com/2011/10/07/coming-to-america-2012-volk...
Browse our extensive selection of new and pre-owned Volvo, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz at www.bettenimports.com or come visit us on 28th Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.facebook.com/bettenimports
www.youtube.com/user/bettenimports
(616) 301-2100
5901 28th St SE
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
It took me a lot longer than I had expected to get these pictures up from last weekend, but it's been hard to find time between my job and volunteering. Taking pictures just has not been the most important thing for me at this point, but nevertheless I will continue squeezing the shutter whenever I can. Hopefully, we will all be able to see dramatic transformation of these areas back into their original beauty, but it is clearly a long road ahead.
If you live in the area and wish to help, please contact me and I will send you a list of volunteer centers throughout Miyagi as well as a list of important equipment to bring with you. If you do decide to volunteer, please go with an organized group and bring the necessary equipment. I don't mean to frighten anyone, but I was notified again today that there still are dangerous areas. Don't go alone, please.
Here is a video that I took of the area the same day I took these pictures:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CazswZd454o
The area that these pictures were taken, was utterly obliterated by the tsunami. After a few hours of hauling items back and forth between my friends' destroyed home, I started to get a headache and feel sick from the fumes. In my last post, I also mentioned that I had heard of people setting off explosions and starting fires from trying to light their cigarettes.
We worked amidst pure devastation for about 5 Hours, however we were only able to salvage a handful of their things. Sometimes it was hard to know what was theirs, since the tsunami had swept a whole city worth of belongings through the first floor of their home.
Surprisingly, the four-year-old house was in pretty good shape despite the fact that it was blown back off of its foundation about 200 feet and sat about 10-15 degrees off of level (in the video I said 60 feet, but I meant to say 60 meters. The distance and angle is still a total guess, but you can judge for yourself in the pictures/video). The structure of house was in such good condition, that we were able to walk up to the second floor and salvage most of the dry, smaller items. Their daughter was just given a brand new bed and desk-set as an elementary graduation present, but we unfortunately could not take it out.
The reason we needed to go and salvage what we could as quickly as possible was because the house, although it did not look like it, was sitting in the middle of a road. The city and self defense force had given them only a few more days to clear out before they would have to bulldoze it down.
I asked the family if they had tsunami insurance, but apparently there is no tsunami insurance. They will receive a small amount of money from the government, but it will not even come close to covering the damage they sustained.
The most dumbfounding part of that day for me was not surreal experience of walking through the total destruction of an entire town, but rather the laughing and smiling that came from a family who just lost everything- everything except each other. Items and worldly possessions are of little value against the people we hold dear. I tried to reciprocate the smiles, laughter, and healthy conversation (especially in light of the children), but it wasn't easy fighting off the grim emotions lurking below the surface.
This last weekend, I was able to volunteer for a short time in Downtown Ishinomaki and also take a few more pictures/video The downtown area seems to be getting a lot more attention, and about half of the roads seem traversable. Downtown also felt incredibly safe during the day time due to the dozens of police and military (both Japanese and US) walking the streets and distributing food and water at the camps. I will post those pictures later this week.
I know my website is in shambles right now (I just have not had time), but I'm hoping to have it looking nicer as soon as possible. I've never really sold anything from my website, but I'm going to donate all of the money I earn from ANY of the pictures I sell (not just the quake photos) to Red Cross Japan for at least the next year. Please take it into consideration. Here is my site:
In addition, I contributed many of my pictures to QUAKEBOOK.org, and if you have never heard this organization, PLEASE check them out as well. All of Quakebook's revenue will also go towards the Red Cross Japan.
Lastly, you can contribute directly to Red Cross Japan here:
www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html
Thank you very much for facing this tragedy with us. With cooperation, strength, and perseverance, we can accomplish anything.
Take care,
Carsten Knoche
Coral reef of Belize. We've just came back from our spring break in Sn Pedro, Belize. Expect more underwater pictures in the future.
Just wanted to show off my Jason, Dick and Tim figures. And Bruce with his new clothing. Some credit to SB for the Dick figure.
Area I expecting and new parents meet at the Camp Casey Community Activity Center June 2, 2012, for a Baby Shower. Various garrison activities had boothes where they passed out information. Dads-to-be were given a chance to see what it was like to be pregnant with the "empathy belly". Both parents also got the chance to see who could change their "baby's" diaper and try to guess the flavor of baby food. U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Troth
Watersoluble crayon and pen and ink. I started this on the way out to South Dakota, and finished when I returned.
I didn’t expect much of anything on Amtrak #3 until going through my photo and realizing the last Big Game Sticker unit was leading! I have no idea what it was doing all the way out at DG considering it was mainly used on eastern trains but it was definitely neat to see something I didn’t pay attention to often but wanted to always see!
Edit: I should point out that the same day I did see Amtrak 157 as well. Why is it significant? Well that unit used to be a Big Game Train unit (which I have seen with the sticker) way back then! So I guess I got two for two and a half lol
Brook lies about a quarter mile from the start of Wye Down, I can see it in the spring when I am orchid hunting, but never really thought about what the village was like, or even called.
After looking at John Vigar's book, I realised there were a few churches in east Kent I had missed out, and Brook was one. I dd not read up on it, so did not know what to expect. In fact, it seems of similar construction to Brabourne, with a stocky tower, and inside, sadly locked, the tower has a private chapel built into it.
But what is obvious is the hole in the north side facing the road. This clearly needed further inspection.
You reach the church via a bridge over a stream, presumably after which the village is named, and there is a path leading to the church door, which was unlocked.
On closer inspection, the recess in the north wall lead to a door, and inside the church, there was an oval door. This is a hagioscope (or squint), but I have never seen one in the outside wall of a church before.
Once home, I did some research, and found out about anchorites, people who decided to leave the cares of the world, lived like hermits attached to a church, with a window into the church so to witness the services.
If this wasn't remarkable enough, elsewhere inside the church had been re-ordered in the 1980s so it now resembles a 12th century Norman church, and has a remarkable collection of wall paintings on top of all that.
To call it breathtaking would be an understatement.
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An anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress; adj. anchoritic; from Ancient Greek: ἀναχωρητής, anachōrētḗs, "one who has retired from the world",[2][3] from the verb ἀναχωρέω, anachōréō, signifying "to withdraw", "to retire"[4]) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life. Whilst anchorites are frequently considered to be a type of religious hermit,[5] unlike hermits they were required to take a vow of stability of place, opting instead for permanent enclosure in cells often attached to churches. Also unlike hermits, anchorites were subject to a religious rite of consecration that closely resembled the funeral rite, following which—theoretically, at least—they would be considered dead to the world, a type of living saint. Anchorites had a certain autonomy, as they did not answer to any ecclesiastical authority other than the bishop.[6]
The anchoritic life is one of the earliest forms of Christian monastic living. In the Roman Catholic Church today, it is one of the "Other Forms of Consecrated Life" and governed by the same norms as the consecrated eremitic life.[7] From the 12th to the 16th centuries, female anchorites consistently outnumbered their male equivalents, sometimes by as many as four to one (in the 13th century), dropping eventually to two to one (in the 15th century). The gender of a high number of anchorites, however, is not recorded for these periods.
The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages.[9] Examples of the dwellings of anchorites and anchoresses survive. A large number of these are in England. They tended to be a simple cell (also called anchorhold), built against one of the walls of the local village church.[10] In the Germanic lands, from at least the 10th century, it was customary for the bishop to say the office of the dead as the anchorite entered his cell, to signify the anchorite's death to the world and rebirth to a spiritual life of solitary communion with God and the angels. Sometimes, if the anchorite were walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority. Some anchorites, however, freely moved between their cell and the adjoining church.[11]
Most anchoritic strongholds were small, perhaps no more than 12 to 15 ft (3.7 to 4.6 m) square, with three windows. Viewing the altar, hearing Mass, and receiving Holy Communion was possible through one small, shuttered window in the common wall facing the sanctuary, called a "hagioscope" or "squint". Anchorites would also provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors through this window, as the anchorites gained a reputation for wisdom.[12] Another small window would allow access to those who saw to the anchorite's physical needs, such as food and other necessities. A third window, often facing the street, but covered with translucent cloth, would allow light into the cell.[6]
Anchorites were supposed to remain in their cell in all eventualities. Some were even burned in their cells, which they refused to leave even when pirates or other attackers were looting and burning their towns.[13] They ate frugal meals, spending their days both in contemplative prayer and interceding on behalf of others. Anchorites' bodily waste was managed by means of a chamber pot.[14]
In addition to being the crucial physical location wherein the anchorite could embark on the journey towards union with God and the culmination of spiritual perfection, the anchorhold also provided a spiritual and geographic focus for many of those people from the wider society who came to ask for advice and spiritual guidance. It is clear that, although set apart from the community at large by stone walls and specific spiritual precepts, the anchorite also lay at the very centre of that same community. The anchorhold was clearly also a communal 'womb' from which would emerge an idealized sense of a community's own reborn potential, both as Christians and as human subjects.[8]
An idea of their daily routine can be gleaned from an anchoritic Rule. The most widely known today is the early 13th century text known as Ancrene Wisse.[15] Another, less widely known, example is the rule known as De Institutione Inclusarum written in the 12th century, around 1160–62, by Aelred of Rievaulx for his sister.[16] It is estimated that the daily set devotions detailed in Ancrene Wisse would take some four hours, on top of which anchoresses would listen to services in the church, and engage in their own private prayers and devotional reading.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorite
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Since its re-ordering in 1986 Brook church has shown the visitor what a church interior might have looked like in the twelfth century. The chancel is empty except for the medieval stone altar, discovered a few years ago in the churchyard, and now set on two ragstone pillars. The church is large, for throughout the medieval period it belonged to Christ Church, Canterbury. There is much Norman work to be seen, including the three-stage west tower which contains a purpose-built chapel or `westwerk`. The church has a comprehensive series of thirteenth-century wall paintings, overlain by some fourteenth- and seventeenth-century murals, although the early paintings are not as well preserved as in some other churches. In the north wall of the chancel is a small almond-shaped hagioscope to the exterior. It may have connected to an anchorite's cell, but is more likely to have been associated with the exposition of a relic on the high altar. It is certainly not a low side window as the tower bell would have been used for this purpose.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Brook
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LIES the next parish southward from Wye. It is written in antient records both Broc and Broke, and takes its name from its low situation on the stream which runs through it, baroca in Saxon signifying a rivulet. It seems once to have been accounted a hundred of itself; but at the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in the year 1080, it was reputed to be in the hundred of Wye, as it is now.
The parish is very small, and is but little known, lying out of the way of all traffic and throughfare. It is not more than a mile across each way, and has in it about twenty houses. It lies very low and wet, in a deep miry soil. There is some coppice wood in the southern part of it, about forty-three acres, of which twenty-eighty belong to the dean and chapter of Canterbury. The village is nearly in the centre of the parish, having the church at the north end of it. There is a small hamlet, called Little Bedleston, consisting of only two houses, in the eastern part of the parish, close under the high ridge of hills called Braborne-downs, to the foot of which this parish extends eastward.
BROOKE was given, long before the conquest, by Karlemann, a priest, to the church of Canterbury; but it was wrested from the church in the troublesome times which soon after followed, by reason of the Danish wars, and it continued in lay hands at the accession of the Conqueror; soon after which it appears to have been in the possession of Hugh de Montfort, from whom archbishop Lanfranc recovered Brooke again to his church in the solemn assembly of the whole county, held on this occassion by the king's command, at Pinenden-heath in 1076; and then on the division which the archbishop made of the lands of his church, this manor was allotted by him, among others, to the share of the priory of Christ-church, Canterbury; accordingly it is thus entered among the possessions of it, in the survey of Domesday, under the general title of Terra Monachorum Archiepi, i. e. lands of the monks of the archbishops;
In the hundred of Wi, the archbishop himself holds one manor, which was taxed at one suling, in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and now, for half a suling. The arable land is two carucates. In demesne there is one, and three villeins, with four borderers having two carucates and an half. There is a church, and one mill of two shillings, and two servants, and seven acres of meadow. Wood for the pannage of ten hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth fifty shillings, now four pounds.
This manor was soon after this let to farm, by the monks, to Robert de Rumene, at the above rent, and was allotted de cibo eorum, that is, to the use of their refectory; and the possession of it was confirmed to them both by king Henry I. and II. (fn. 1) King Edward II. in his 10th year, granted to the prior and convent free warren in all their demesne lands in Broke, among other places which they were in possession of at the time of the charter of liberties granted to them by his grandfather Henry III. about which time this manor was valued at 22l. 1s. 10d. In which state it afterwards continued till the dissolution of the priory of Christchurch in the 31st year of Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, where it did not remain long, for the king settled it by his dotation-charter, in his 33d year, on his new-erected dean and chapter of Canterbury, part of whose possessions it still remains.
The demesne lands have been constantly let by the dean and chapter on a beneficial lease, at the yearly rent of 13l. 6s. 8d. in money, and four quarters of wheat. The present lessee is Mr. John Berry, of Newbery, Berkshire; but the manerial rights they retain in their own hands.
A court baron is regularly held for this manor. There are no parochial charities.
BROOKE is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, is but small, consisting of one isle and a chancel, with a low square tower at the west end, in which are two bells. There are no memorials of any account in it.
The church of Brooke has always been accounted an appendage to the manor, and as such passed with it from the priory of Christ-church into the hands of the crown, and from thence to the dean and chapter of Canterbury, who are the present patrons of it. The woods belonging to the dean and chapter here, claim an exemption from paying tithes.
¶This rectory is valued in the king's books at 7l. 7s. 3d. and is of the clear yearly certified value of thirty pounds. In 1588 it was valued at thirty pounds. Communicants ninety-two. In 1640 at sixty pounds. Communicants sixty. There are now only ten communicants. In 1724 it was augmented with the sum of 200l. given by the governors of queen Anne's bounty, on the gift of 100l. from the dean and chapter of Canterbury, and the like sum from Dr. Godolphin, dean of St. Paul's; with which there was purchased a piece of land, containing nine acres, called Great Chequer field, adjoining to the town of Wye.
I expect you didn't know that there are only 2 wind turbines in the world that have a viewing platform. I expect you didn't know one of them happens to be designed by Sir Norman Foster. I also expect you didn't know that that one is in, well, Swaffham. Not the best view in the world, but, you know, its up a wind turbine, and Sir Norman Foster designed it. So there.
Swaffham, Norfolk, UK
This is a photograph from the BHAA K-Club 10KM Road Race and Fun Run 2014 was held at the K-Club Golf and Hotel Resort, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Saturday 12th of April 2013 at 11:00. The race, an annual event, has become famous for it's very fast and flat course which starts and finishes within the grounds of the K-Club. While the weather was dry there was a tough breeze in places which made running conditions a little harder than expected. The road race has gained fame through it's PB potential but the spread of refreshments and catering afterwards are now legendary and are of the highest standard imaginable. Race director Gerry Byrne and a very large team of volunteers, K-Club staff, and local Gardai must be given the highest of compliments for the staging of the event. Well done everyone.
We have an extensive set of photographs on our Flickr Photostream: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157643843402565/
Reading on a Smartphone or tablet? Don't forget to scroll down further to read more about this race and see important Internet links to other information about the race! You can also find out how to access and download these photographs.
All profits from the event are donated to charity with the chosen charity for the race being the Parkinsons Association of Ireland. With stiff competition from a number of Parkruns and other races in the North Leinster area the K-Club 10KM stood out for it's flawless organisation, large field, and epic spread of refreshments afterwards.
Who are the BHAA? The BHAA (Business Houses Athletic Association) is a work place athletic organisation who's aim is to facilitate colleagues to run together in a series of races. They organise a series of properly managed cross country, trail and road races over the year. To learn more about membership, fixtures, etc you can visit their website bhaa.ie/. You do not need to be a member of a company or BHAA organisation to take part in any of their races.
Some useful Internet links
A Garmin GPS Route Trace of the 10KM Route: connect.garmin.com/activity/170211546
Boards.ie Athletics Forum - Thread for the K-Club 10KM 2014 starts here [www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057127743&p...]
BHAA Webpage of the K-Club 10KM 2014: bhaa.ie/events/k-club-2014/
The official website of the K-Club Resort: www.kclub.ie/
The K-Club on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Club
Google Satellite Maps View of Start Finish area and parking at the Palmer Smurfitt Course: maps.google.ie/?ll=53.304845,-6.618029&spn=0.005578,0...
Our set of photographs on Flickr from the BHAA 10KM K-Club 2013 race: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157633288746810/
We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs
We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?
The explaination is very simple.
Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.
ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.
Creative Commons aims to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/
Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?
Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.
We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.
This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
I want to download these pictures to my computer or device?
You can download the photographic image here direct to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. However - look for a symbol with three dots 'ooo' or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.
I want get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?
If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.
I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?
Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.
I want to tell people about these great photographs!
Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets
Part of why I've been quiet lately on Flickr is that I find myself questioning the minimal 'return' on the time invested in uploading, describing, organizing, commenting on pictures, in spite of having visited others' streams and commenting / adding favorites, and adding to groups I think are relevant. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Maybe I'm expecting too much and the chirping crickets are to be expected?
Was spotting at Sky Harbor and noticed an aircraft with a large contrail in the distance. But there were no large aircraft on radar. Turned out to be a C-17 flying over! :)
Dreamer
1
There are few probabilities through
Which dreamers do not pass. . .
The first dream
Is the bright red dream
Of our mother’s heart.
It is her sacrifice
Of something eternal
In herself, for us.
The Arabs say
Blood has flowed
Let us begin again.
The heart is like a cup, or a coffer,
or a cave. It holds the image of the
sun within us. It is a center of illumination
and happiness and wisdom. To dream
of the heart is always to dream of
the importance of love. . .
The second dream is the inauguration
Of the soul. In this dream we are
Confronted by a host of birds. . .
Some were guileless
Like the doves,
Said Odo of Tusculum,
Cunning
Like the partridges.
Some came to the hand
Like the hawks.
Others fled from it
Like the hens,
Some enjoyed the company
Of people
Like swallows,
Others preferred solitude
Like the turtledoves,
But all eventually flew away.
“Living is not necessary, but navigation
is,” said Pompey the Great.
B. 1725, London
Mother devout as gunpowder
Seemingly clairvoyant
Taught her only child
To read by four
Arithmetic and Latin by six
Dies when he is seven.
I am dreaming
I am in the dark
And it is raining
And she is the rain.
To dream that you are in the dark
is a sign of difficulties ahead; if
you fall or hurt yourself you can expect
a change for the worse, but if you
succeed in groping to the light, that
is another matter. . .
Father, master of ships,
Lively in the Mediterranean trade,
Unusual qualities —
Educated in Spain, stern.
I listen to nothing
But the silence
Of my father; the dream
Says
He is the rudder
And the compass.
If, in your dreams, you see your
father and he speaks to you, it is
a sign of coming happiness. If he is
silent, or if he appears to be ill or
dead, then you may expect trouble. . .
Sent to sea at ten,
Acted like a verb in disagreement,
Of course
Bright,
But no eagle —
A mess.
I have vague
Dreams now
Of intelligent flowers.
I cannot say
If their roots
Are in the ground
Or in the air.
By seventeen
A wildflower
In the field of Jesus.
Pious, books, fasting,
Abstinence from meat,
A canon in his meditation
And silence,
But like the weeds
Loved to curse.
Flowers, one of nature’s best dreams.
This foretells great happiness, unless
you throw away the blossoms. . .
1742
A lot more flexible,
Falls in love,
Misses his ship,
A freethinker now,
Less of a thorn
In the side of God.
I dream that I
Am always with her,
A freckle on her wrist,
A flower in her hair,
A ridiculous flying fish —
Sliced
And dressed
And set on the table.
As I told you before,
He missed his ship,
Became a lover
Rather than a Jamaican
Planter,
Father as expected
Furious.
Love is a dream of contraries as far
as sweethearts are concerned. To dream
that you do not succeed in love is a
sign that you will marry and have
a happy life. To dream that you are in
the company of your lover is also fortunate. . .
Late 1743
Kidnapped into the Navy
(What else)
Coming from Mary’s house.
Taken from his own life,
Focused into new pieces.
I dream about my fortune,
A fragrance captured
In a jar,
A freckle without a wrist,
A wisp
Foxlike at the edge
Of the wind.
Fortune is a dream of contraries: the more
fortunate and successful you are in imagination,
the greater will be your real struggles. . .
How do we fit together
When we are not free?
What kind of animal are we?
How many heads do we have?
How many tails?
The sea
Is a strange piece of property
On which to discuss this,
On the hms Hardwick
One month later
Midshipman John Newton:
I have eaten war
Like a cluster
Of delicious fruit.
The ironic juices
Running from my lips
That was my dream.
The reality of war is the dream of it. Beware
of those things that appear so friendly
but have no reason. . .
1774
The Hardwick
Ordered to the East Indies.
First our hero visits Mary again.
(You’re wrong)
Almost misses ship,
Completely misses the point.
Given small boat of men
To go ashore at Plymouth,
Deserts.
My dreams here
Were father, compass,
Fog, leakage,
And ultimately, learning,
With us
Like our laundry.
We are always pulling from our past. Fossils
are the dream of the sickness of someone
you have not met for a long time. When
this happens brew herbs, add honey
and lemon, sip and inhale deeply. . .
Captured like a frog,
Returned, put in irons,
Stripped, flogged, degraded,
Returned to foremast.
This is that point many people would
call a black moment, an unfortunate
color on things. I will not do that. For
black is a contrary at funerals and our
hero has just died a little as we
all tend to from time to time. And even
though that is true I will not do
that either. I will not talk of the great
white moment of death, I will not talk
of the great blue and purple moments
in the prosperity of pain. I will not
talk of the great red or scarlet moments
of quarrels and loss of friends, or
the crimson pleasure of the unexpected,
the mental tints of yellow and orange
that show you should always expect
change, or the feeling of knowing green
because you have been on a long journey.
All the colors are conjurers when our
mysteries are being solved. And if this could
not be his dream then by now it should
be ours. . .
We are not holy
The wind says in the sails
As he works.
It has never been otherwise
Though we live in the most
Devout of stories like litmus paper
Constantly changing color
Just to prove something
Is happening.
The sadness in his dream is a good omen
for the future. It is a quest for lasting joy,
and so is punishment a dream of unexpected
pleasure. . .
Works quietly for weeks.
His silence
Darns a temperate
Healing thread
His eyes
Become an elaborate
Decorative art
Avoiding everyone.
“Every month,” said Cicero
“the moon contemplates
its trajectory
and the shrubs
and animals grow.”
He has done to himself
What is easy.
He must now blossom
Out of his new secrets
Even if joy is ephemeral.
Suddenly
He begins to sing,
Creates songs about fish
And clouds.
Fish are a dream of penetrative motion,
clouds are a dream of appearances always
in a state of change. . .
We must be patient
With the overfecundity
Of his youth.
We must let him
Climb and descend the mast
Like a weapon.
Trade him
To a slaver’s ship
To subdue the threat
To discipline
In his strangely awakening
Joy.
We must let him
Choose his monsters
And the myths
Of his own worth —
The enemy always being
The forces threatening
From within.
Paul said, “We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places. . .”
Suddenly,
Begins to breathe
Different songs
In his six-months’ stay
Along the Sierra Leone coast.
Troublesome songs,
Songs of quick wit
And devastating rhymes
Ridiculing ship’s officers,
Crew loves them,
Becomes a choir.
To dream that you hear other people
singing shows that the difficulties
that will come for you will come through
your dealings with other people. . .
The irate mate
Assuming command
After the death of the captain
Threatens
To put Newton
On a man-o’-war.
The Royal Navy is not an obstacle dream;
it is an elaborate exhibition of the
nuances of living death. . .
Occupation: slave dealer
Place: Sierra Leone
On one of the Plantanes
Features: Short, white male
Name: Clow
Other information: Black wife
Name: sounds like P.I.
John Newton
Bargains his life
Into this extravagant story.
He will become a slave
Because P.I. will hate him.
He will become ill
With fever.
He will be denied
Food,
Denied water,
Tormented by Black slaves
On command,
Put to work
On a lime tree plantation
Enjoying only the scents
And dreaming
Of his earthly desires,
Will master the six books
Of Euclid,
Drawing the diagrams
With a long stick
In the wet sand.
Six is, like two, a particularly ambiguous
number to dream about, but it
establishes equilibrium. It unifies
the triangles of fire and water and
symbolizes the human soul. Six is
the hermaphrodite, a personality integrated
despite its duality.
If this is a story
Of the reasoning of slavery,
Where are we?
What have we been doing
To people,
To the light
From which life emanates?
Slavery is a story
Of procreation,
Of magic religious thinking,
Of the androgynous divinity
Within us.
No story can be this happy
Unless it is married
To something deeply within us.
It is not them
Who have done it to us,
Or us
Who have done it to them.
It is the antagonistic dream
Of unreconciled love.
To dream of erotic love is to dream of
the desire to die in the object of desire, to
dissolve in that which is already
dissolved. The Book of Baruch says erotic
desire and its satisfaction is the key
to the origin of the world. Disappointment
in love and the revenge which follows
in its wake are the roots of all the evil
and selfishness in the world. The whole
of history is the work of love.
2
“The character of the image,” said Shukrâchârya,
“is determined by the relationship between
the worshipper and the worshipped.”
On the beach,
He eats the fruit
Of his own way;
He fills himself
With his own devices;
He continues to draw
In the sand.
Each grain
Is a small,
Precise form
Of salvation
That has occurred,
A god come to earth
In another form,
A private,
Innate sacrifice.
Providence does not tire.
We are ready to go on
With the story.
It has come to this:
When his father dreams
He only sees
The broad face
Of sadness,
The soft grassland
Where only asphodels grow,
And the idea of water
Expanding into tears.
But to dream of sadness is a good
omen, a transportation of suffering to the
spiritual: this dream is like an herb,
a seasoning, a bitter root, medicinal,
something poisonous, but nevertheless
something that eventually withers away.
When you
Come on to squally weather,
When the wind
Is about SW,
When
You sway up the yard
Fix the trysail,
Put people to making
Sennit and swab,
Ask for my son.
Ask the Lamb,
The Beverly, the Golden Lyon,
Ask Job Lewis,
Have you seen my boy?
Have you seen my boy?
One thousand years before Christ, Solomon
said that the way of a ship in the midst
of the sea was too wonderful for him
to understand.
Meanwhile,
Clow: shamed
Into freeing his fellow
White man.
After all
They share the same hair,
The same instinctual life,
The same irrational power.
There is no victim here:
This is a story of love’s
Sadness,
Of the spirit of love’s ferocity
And savage insensibility,
And the name of Jesus
Turned in hymns,
Spewed into the fringes
Of the forest,
Spewed on the deep blue sea.
What dream is this, is that what you said?
My God, this is the dream of the dragon,
the fabulous animal, the amalgam of
aggression, the serpent, the crocodile, the
lion, what we like to think is the
antediluvian nature of love.
John is free now.
John is free to slave,
Free to be reluctant,
To give up profit
and return home.
Ask the master of the Greyhound.
Have you seen my boy?
Have you seen my boy?
To find money in your dream is not fortunate
at all. There will be some sudden advancement
or success, but it will prove
disappointing. Reader, remember this
statement by Virgil, “It will be pleasant
to remember these things hereafter.”
You cannot blame
The sea on a woman.
Unlike the seasons
It has no ribs
Though
It has a crown,
Wears a sheath,
Swings a sickle,
Adores the sun,
And is known
As bareheaded and leafless.
The sea is the emblem
Of the great capricious world;
The naked image of flux
Vibrating between life and death.
There is a dream called “Dire is the tossing
deep the groans; come let us heel, list
and stoop.” And when John heard this
on his way home, it was as if he
had read 2 Kings 10:16, “Come with me
[brother] and see my zeal for the lord.”
For twelve months
The Greyhound
Sought gold,
Ivory, dyer’s wood,
Beeswax,
And Newton sought the Lord.
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea
is too wonderful to understand.
Youth is not innocence.
It is not a militant puzzlement.
It is a methodological initiation
Into the ubiquitous life
Of sin.
For a life without sin
Is no life at all.
And so he wanders on
Like Paul,
So very Christian about it,
At once wretched and delivered.
Thinking with his mind
He is serving God,
But with his flesh
The law of sin.
Call out John Newton.
Call out
To Joshua, Ruth,
Samuel, Obadiah,
Esther, Zechariah,
Luke and Timothy.
The world
Is a masterfully round
Secret
That embraces everything,
And it is time
To reach into the horizon,
Now.
It is time to choose
Your ship,
And the triangle of your life
Upon the salty sea.
As you can see, dreams are without reason,
without solution, without proof, the
unedited version of our love, our aspiration,
our hurt. . . Call out John Newton. Call out. . .
Back home
Offered captaincy of ship.
Refuses.
Sails as first mate
On the Brownlow.
Collects slaves.
Takes them to South Carolina.
He begins to dream of questions: “What
was the mode used in stowing the slaves
in their apartments?”
Returns home,
Marries Mary Cattlett,
Assumes first command,
The Duke of Argyle,
140 tons burthen.
Marriage is the dream of sulfur and
mercury. Some believe it is a most fortunate
omen, a volatile conciliation, a fragile
union. They are right. It is one of the great
uncharted seas of individuation. It is
said, “If you are separated from your
opposite you consume yourself away. . .”
Dead reckoning
Magnetical Amplitude W° 25.30N°
True Amplitude W° 6.30°
Variation 19° in Western
Lattitude per Account 50° 48m
One-third of the slaves will die
In middle passage
Some say fifty million
Started the trip
Some say fifteen.
The dream of questions is a bright necklace
with two ornaments on it: liberty and
love, not truth.
“At noon some small rain. . .
Had an indifferent observation. . .”
“We take the two men-boys
For some shallop rigging,
We do not take
The two fallen-breasted women. . .”
“Dear Mary,
Today, saw
My quondam Black
Mistress P.I. —
I believe
I made her sorry
For her former ill
Treatment of me.”
The trouble with atonement is it is like
a sphinx, several parts human, several
parts bull, dog, lion, dragon, or bird.
When we are dreaming of atonement, no
matter how subtly, we must remember
we are not dreaming of a verb.
“I watch them work
The tie, tackle,
And lower lift.
The boatswain
Speaks to Bredson
About the score
In one of the strops.
Thomas Creed
Sits with his splicing fids;
Tucks the strands
Of the tack cringle.
His fingers are either
Little mystics or snakes.”
When you dream the dream of square-sail
rigging you are dreaming the dream
that the same side is always before
the wind. At the dawn of Swedish history
it was believed Erik Vädderhatt, the
King of the Svear, could turn the wind
and cruise endlessly. Ships are supposed
to be emblems of transcendental joy. . .
“Do the male slaves
Ever dance
Under these circumstances?”
“After every meal
They are made to jump
In their irons;
But I cannot call it dancing.”
“What is the term
That is usually given to it?”
“It is by the slave dealers
Called dancing.”
“Unclewed the sails.
They too in their shackles
Danced in the wind.”
“Dear Mary,
I watched the land wind
Do to the sails
What it does
To our hair.
I dreamed of dancing
With you
Into the cold water,
Our wet clothes
Like nets and entanglements
Around our desire.”
They would call them up
Two by two, equivocal,
Unmasked,
Making it possible
To be classified
Forever:
Pairs of birds,
Pairs of oxen,
Pairs of sheep,
Reptiles, lions,
Elephants, antediluvian,
Carnivorous, herbivorous,
Fabulous, beautiful,
Ugly, strange,
Cocks, locusts, bears,
Foxes, and even flies,
All of them black;
All of them in colonnade
To the gates of hell.
John did baptize
In the wilderness,
Did call out to Judæa
And Jerusalem
Come lay down
Your life
In the River Jordan,
Participate in his death
And his resurrection.
They said
They were refreshing them,
But the shackles still clanged,
And most of them still stank,
And many finding holes
In the netting
Jumped overboard
And baptized themselves
Bobbing in the adoring
Loins of the sea.
“Dear Mary,
The three greatest blessings
Of which human nature is capable
Are undoubtedly religion,
Liberty and love.”
The shape of a ship’s hull is determined by
the materials, methods of construction,
means of propulsion, use, fashion, and
whim. This is a dream of law and
the minute verities of justice, the eighth
enigma of the tarot.
First part fair,
The latter cloudy,
Winds becoming unusual,
Clouds dark, great lightning. . .
I think of what we’ve done,
My own illumination
Before it is too late:
The palm and needle whippings,
The short splice,
Blackwall hitches,
Sheet bends.
Quickly rummage
The rigging details,
The yardarm blocks,
The tackles.
Recall work
On the pintles,
The rudder head.
Have Billinge
Check barricado and stores,
Especially powder and slaves.
On this day
Of the second voyage
Of The African, 1754,
Weighed,
Bound by God’s permission
To St. Christophers,
We are ready for our justice,
To be winnowed like barley
On the threshing floor.
The great dream of the dark, with the
lonely extroverted lamp, the intuitive ship,
and the wind tossing on the innovative sea
should moor somewhere. “Why is this
so?” asked Kuo Hsi. For in our landscapes
and our seascapes are the personalized items
of our consciousness, the coarse grist
of our imagination, the flirtatious metaphors
stirring our ethics, and the boldly stroked
delineations of our unraveling possibilities
and original nature.
Through the night
We were played with
Like kittens.
The slaves spilled
Out nightmares of themselves
And groans.
We will all
Need dawn’s shawl
This morning.
I hope
She is good to us.
Osiris was slain by Set and put
together again by Isis. John will dream
like this, off and on, and then quit the
sea. This is his last voyage. He will
lose no slaves and no crew, and it will
be called a blessing. At a time like
this the Egyptians would build a
monolith to marry the enigmatic tension
between life and death. John will
change his dreams, now, from the menstrual
dreams of the slaver to the menthol dreams
of the minister. Showing the devastating evil
we do, like a storm, is only a stepping-
stone to something else.
Sing brother.
I will become sermons,
He says,
That understand what I’ve done.
Sing
I will become hymns
Bound in the skin
Of what I’ve done.
I will be patient with Cowper,
Inspiring to Wilberforce
And Wordsworth;
I will attract the awakened crowds,
The abolitionist.
I will stand at the altar.
Sing brother
Dressed in black,
Testifying,
Testifying. . .
I dream I will not be forgiving him
for the timeliness of his innocence, for
betrothing the dead to the dead,
but will be lifting
up my hands to an appetite for life
that will take slavers and slaves with me.
I wish
There was no timelessness,
That slavery was over
And so far away
It was an incredibly mysterious
Jungle —
Somewhere else.
An uncharted river
Canopied by extensive moss —
Somewhere else.
A spectacular ragged
Waterfall
Mystically expressed
Over an enormous
Obsidian wall,
But it is right here
In my pouch, today,
Like the acori beads
I have been swimming with
For hours —
Presidential, prime ministerial,
Corporate, grassroots based.
right here,
Racist, imperial, and sexist.
right here,
Woefully spendthrift
And Democratic,
Anally retentive
And Republican,
Militantly inappropriate,
And so good to itself
That it jogs.
Primus St. John, “Dreamer” from Communion: Poems 1976-1998. Copyright © 1999 by Primus St. John. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townshend, WA 98368-0271, coppercanyonpress.org.
Source: Communion: Poems 1976-1998 (Copper Canyon Press, 1999)
Primus St. John's poems often wed personal to public and quotidian to historical. He is as well known for his love poems as for his long poems, notably the epic poem “Dreamer,” written in the voices of the slaves and the captain aboard a slave ship. He has said that he tries “to be as comfortable with anger as [he is] with tenderness,” and this is evidenced by his nuanced handling of the human proclivity for contradiction as well as self-improvement.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Sacred Hunger
For those interested in the history of the slave trade, Barry Unsworth's Sacred Hunger is an excellent and well-researched fictional accounting of the fate of one slaving ship, its owner and the many lives on board.
"Unsworth illuminates the barbaric cruelty of slavery, as well as the subtler habits of politics and character that it creates." (Publisher's Weekly)
Celebrate a baby expected in December with a precious gift themed baby shower. At this time of year, many homes have already decked the halls for the Holidays, making this theme the perfect choice for a party as the hostess will only need to add a few additional accents to decorate. By accenting the space with red bows, one can easily set the stage for an elegant shower that is sure to leave guests all wrapped up in excitement for the little one's arrival. (Tip! We love this idea from Brides.com: Make the table look like a gift-- cover in white tablecloth and accent with a red ribbon bows instead of centerpieces!)
Invitation by Odd Balls -- FineStationery.com
Gift Pile Cake and Bow Tablescape -- Brides.com
Baby Bow Headband -- Etsy Seller Carolina Girl Bowtique
Present the Favors in White Boxes with Red Ribbon -- Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive 365
Red and White Christmas Decor -- Home Trend Design
Red Bow Chair Accent -- Pinterest
When I heard that my cousin and his wife were expecting their first baby, I immediately started to work on another Colour Wheel quilt for the baby.
I finished the quilt early, so *of course* I started making even more stuff for them! The quilt was completed before they released their gift registry, which I noticed contained a lot of light grey items (it's a boy). Well, I kind of like that I made a quilt full of colour and no grey at all, but I thought I'd round out the package with some grey for them. So, here's what I added over the past month:
- two newborn kimono shirts. I made mine out of Nani Iro, Essex yarn dyed linen and Carolyn Friedlander Doe scraps. Instead of using bias binding to finish mine, I lined mine and made them reversible -- hopefully they'll get more use out of them and they'll keep him warm in his first few weeks!
- four pairs of fleece-lined booties. Man, these are cute and tiny!
- and then, with one day before the baby shower, I decided that they should have a giant bag to house the gifts and then put to use when they're out and about. There were a couple of Purl Bee tutorials I considered, but I ended up going with the market tote from Ayumi Mills' Patchwork Please! book -- an oldie that I just love. I added a zipper closure to the front pocket and then added a large pocket panel to the interior, but otherwise followed Ayumi's pattern. I have to admit the fabric pairings are a bit too quiet for me, but hey, better to keep my crazy prints for myself, right?
I dropped off the full bag at the baby shower last weekend, but they didn't open the gifts during the party. Instead, I got a message that night that they were overwhelmed by everything...and that apparently the mom especially loves the bag!