Year End 2019

Year End 2019

What, already? Yes. It’s time to say goodbye to another year that was filled with activities at home and away. Life has been pretty good. I have been busy with community volunteering, trips, a class reunion, plays, and other events. Much of all the activity included family members and Pete, my boyfriend. I am thankful for all of them. A congenial family and an enjoyable male companion are this year’s happy blessings.

In February, much to my unhappy surprise, I sprained my knee in the Madison snow without even falling down. I twisted my knee as I took a shortcut over a large, packed snowbank left by a plow, and pain lasted for four and a half months. A Google source said that a sprain will heal in a month or six weeks; even my doctor thought so. Maybe that is the case for babies, but some old people heal gradually. I continued with daily life as much as possible, but now I know I am mortal. Also healed.

Pete and I took a trip to Virginia in June. We spent four enjoyable days visiting the homes of three of our Presidents, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. We spent the most time in the Jefferson environment at Monticello, and the rest of the time at the estates of Madison and Monroe. They all lived in the mountain area near Charlottesville,Virginia. Road Scholar provided local experts who gave talks to our group. We also spent some time looking at the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded.

Another tour took Pete and me to Minneapolis in August. We took time for an overnight visit to Pete’s sister Phyllis and her family in northern Minnesota at the start of the trip and some time with my daughter Elizabeth (Libby) in suburban Minneapolis at the end of it. During the tour with Road Scholar we visited Minnehaha Falls, the big waterfall in Minnehaha Park; the well-known Guthrie Theatre, two art museums, and other sights. At the Guthrie we saw all the backstage things that professional theater requires, including costumes made as needed, sets needing assembly, and various props that filled large rooms. We saw the stage area, too, and later we saw the performance of Guys and Dolls. And for me no trip to Minneapolis was compete without Sunday brunch at Hell’s Kitchen with Libby.

During the year Pete and I saw many plays. The best was Hamilton.  We saw it in Chicago in April with a group of seniors, and in Madison in November, and we loved it. It’s the biggest play of the year, in my opinion. We saw MacBeth at American Players Theatre in Spring Green with Pete’s family. We saw Guys and Dolls in Minneapolis. We saw other plays in Madison, where drama seems to flourish.

I attended my 60-year class reunion of Sturgeon Bay High School in October. A large crowd of classmates with spouses and dates filled the Lodge at Leatham Smith. We enjoyed seeing people whom we had not seen in many years as well as some we have known over time. A list of deceased class members was read; it appears that about half of the class has left this world. I was glad to have time to talk with many of the people who came to the reunion of the class of 1959.

Once again this year I took several trips to Washington Island in Door County. Daughter Sarah and I were there for the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.  Grandchildren Laura and Ian came with us. I was there other times for several days at a time, enjoying the woods, the lakeshore and the hassle-free rural environment. I stay in a cabin at the island campground whenever I go there.

Back in Madison I have been doing volunteer work mostly at the Madison Senior Center and the Meadowridge branch library. Also, I exhibited some of my art work in the Wisconsin Regional Art Program and at the senior center. The Friends of the Madison Public Library gave me some recognition for volunteering more than ten years.

As mom and grandma, I enjoyed the family’s musical concerts with Ian’s school concerts and John, Sarah and Laura’s instrumental performances. John and Sherry gave me supper approximately once a week so I wouldn’t have to eat alone but could enjoy their company. It’s good to have them living nearby. I flew to Maryland for a few days with Mary and Gareth, and drove to Minneapolis (not on tour) to be with Libby. Dori, Steve and Robbie came to Madison for holidays when the noisy (adult) kids all talked together simultaneously and seemed to love it. It’s very good and very talkative when the family gets together.

I am still active at St. Dunstan’s Church. When the church went through renovation, I stored the church’s lending library in my home basement for several months. No borrowing happened but the books were safe and accounted for while the church got its facelift. Did I mention that I am the church’s librarian?

May we all survive another year of chaotic politics with the Trump administration and joys and concerns at home. Life is good.

John Bell at the Island Forum

I didn’t know much about John Bell but he turned out to be a very engaging and sometimes funny speaker on what he called the “Bayble.” That’s Scottish for Bible. Bell lives in Scotland and is well known in Europe and North America for his music. I only knew that at our church we have sung some music that he wrote. The conference that I attended for several days was about music by example but not by topic. More than two hundred clergy and lay people were there for the annual Island Forum at Washington Island.

John Bell’s fashion statement was colorful, not color matched very well, and barefoot. He definitely was not dressed as a conventional speaker. That was okay, although I didn’t expect our speaker to appear in rolled up green jeans.

Bell said that his job is lay education and he is scripture centered. His topics for each day were (1) the Bible and stories; (2) what to tell the children and retelling the story; (3) imagination; (4) women and the bible.

Tuesday.

Memorable things that Bell said included reminding all the pastors of some church history, that the Bible is full of diversity of stories covering spiritual nourishment, story, poetry, biography, parable and more. It wasn’t written in a day; some writers of scripture didn’t know about other writers. God’s people speak in different ways, not apart from each other. He pointed out that apartheid in South Africa has its origin in a narrow reading of scripture that endorsed it. Bell had good things to say about Nelson Mandela, who brought people together. Differences and diversity are part of God’s invention, he said.

Wednesday.

The second day was about stories and children. What we tell the children will stay with them all their lives. He used the song, “Jesus Loves Me This I know,” which the group sang slowly in four parts, as probably only a hall full of clergy would do. His point was that this song is the experience of faith and that God is love. It’s about relationship and affection of the person who teaches the song. Childhood hymns show childhood faith. He also had other examples.

Bell talked about today’s people being spiritual but not religious, a buzzword for people who are not in one faith tradition. He said it is about people being disappointed in conventional faith. The notion of God has moved from everywhere present to God being little engaged but slightly helping in the world, like a moralistic therapeutic session. These people have little connection with the God of the Bible, Torah and Koran. However, Bell points out that the best revelations should enlarge us as the voice of God who has spoken; today’s children with no faith traditions don’t know what God sounds like.

There are true stories and truth stories. True stories are facts that can be verified. Truth stories are what is meant to convey, like parables, which convey the nature of God and God’s kingdom. Bell talked about the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall as a truth story. We are guests in the garden; someone else owns it so it should be used according to the rules. The garden is a place of wonder. The role of humanity is to be moved by this wonder. The fruit that the people should not eat is a restriction, not a test; some knowledge is too much for us to bear, beyond our comprehension. The story is not about the temptress Eve persuading Adam to eat the fruit. Adam is passive in the story, but they eat it together and receive the knowledge.

Bell talked about (1) Abraham and Sarah, our ancestors. Sarah names her child Isaac, which means laughter. The old people now enable God to do his thing and renew the church, as Abraham and Sarah did as old people. He mentioned (2) the Ten Commandments, which are seen as divine restrictions, but what is common in them is that they are meant to liberate, not limit people. The commandment about the Sabbath has meaning for everyone. God took a rest; he wants people to see rest as necessary for human life. It’s a sabbath from ensnaring routines and includes land, servants and work animals. Bell spoke about the Heroes in Judges and the miracles of Jesus. Love demands that we treat people differently.

Thursday.

Imagination came on the third day. We extol it in children but are suspicious of it in adolescents. The story of David slaying Goliath was an example. Bell said that the adult in the group set young David up in armor that made it impossible for him to move effectively, so David got rid of the adult suggestion and took out his sling, with which he was proficient in killing animals that menaced his flock of sheep, and killed the giant.  Then Bell said he once asked some teenagers about how Jesus managed to feed a crowd with five loaves and two fishes, and they gave the imaginative answer that when the basket came around, the people added to the food supply and put something into it so everyone got fed. That is Godly imagination. Bell said that imagination is a gift that can be used for good and that is what the Incarnation is about.

He said that God uses intellectual, emotional, imaginative accents in scripture. The lion lying down with the lamb gives a picture of God’s intention. Imagination is a picture of the “not yet.” Imagination might release some parts of scripture. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is often seen only as twenty years old, when imagination can tell more. Other stories about Mary and other women can be enlarged by use of imagination. We unlock and see deeper with imagination. The voice of prophecy in the Church is what is ahead.

Friday.

Women were the subject of the final day. Bell said that men and women read Bible texts in different ways. For example, it was said that in the Fall in Genesis, woman was made from the man’s rib and therefore dependent on man, which isn’t something that I as a woman would endorse. Rather, Bell said that Adam and Eve were meant for partnership. The snake speaks to Eve while Adam is quiet and accepts the apple, and then he accuses God for giving him a dumb partner.

Another example is in Exodus, where the midwives were commanded to kill the Jewish boy babies and they went against cruel male authority and Moses was born. Baby Moses in the basket gets adopted by Pharoah’s daughter, and he grows up to midwife the Hebrews into the promised land. Bell gave other examples of women whose stories are little known because, Bell said, our church lectionaries were put together by men. He said that the women stood up to cruel male authority because God called them to do it. Their stories don’t get told today.

Bell said that Jesus treated women as not inferior, that their faith, generosity and hospitality were recognized by Jesus while in the background the men resented Jesus talking to women and interacting with them. Female witness is indispensable. The Song of Mary, the Magnificat, shows us that when Mary magnifies or praises God, it makes God bigger for us. Then He who is mighty magnifies us. A small God means limited discipleship, and a big God does not.

Altogether it was a worthwhile conference.

Camping Journal

Day 1. Sunday.  I arrived at the Washington Island Campground at about 4:00 pm. The camp office was staffed by the manager’s daughter, about ten years old. Her business acumen is still developing. I told her which unit I had reserved, and she believed me. She said she didn’t know how to use the credit card device, so I said I would pay later. She was okay with that. It’s a very trusting environment. If this girl becomes President some day, it will revolutionize the way Washington works.

Camping has various degrees of simplicity. I had chosen medium, a cabin measuring about ten by fifteen feet. It provides more amenities than a tent: electricity, a water faucet, a roof to keep out the rain, dorm size refrigerator, small microwave oven, and fewer amenities than a popup camper or RV.  The rest room is down the path.  

I wanted simplicity, but brought with me a cell phone and laptop computer. I see this as a compromise with nature. As Thoreau once said, paraphrased, “We don’t ride the train. The train rides us.”

For supper I cooked canned beef stew on the electric burner I brought with me, and ate raw green beans on the side. No campfire. No toasted marshmallows. Afterward, I compromised with simplicity again and watched a DVD on my laptop computer, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Then I went to bed in my sleeping bag on the bed with foam mattress that came with the cabin. Windows were open. It was dark and quiet.

Day 2. Monday.  I have neighbors in the two cabins next to mine, two pickup truckloads of people including many children. The adults speak a language that is not English, French or Spanish. The kids speak very good English. They have filled their picnic tables with dishes and food and left it there with no apparent concern about wildlife joining the party.

I took the Karfi ferry to Rock Island, with a boatload of people, and stayed there until 3:00. I love Rock Island. The state owns all of it except the coast guard lighthouse at the north end. It has a primitive campground, where people bring in everything they need, including food. I walked to the lighthouse (uphill most of the way) and once again took in the current docent’s tour. Docents change weekly, and they don’t work with scripts. This docent said that some of the tour guides might make up some facts about the lighthouse. That makes it very interesting.

I walked back to the boathouse and ate lunch, which included raw carrots and cucumber, plus a container of Atkins diet drink. Then I enjoyed some time at the beach, which is better than any of the beaches on Washington Island. Today it was calm and the water was about as warm as Lake Michigan gets. Plenty of people were there on the sand beach and in the water. Some nearby people offered me a glass of wine. People here are nice.

Back on Washington Island, I drove to the local bakery and used its wi-fi while eating cherry pie. Hardly anyone was there. The person on duty said everyone was at the beach because it was hot. Hot for this place is in the eighties. After another canned meal with veggies at the campground, I watched another DVD in the evening, Founding Brothers, based on the book by Joseph Ellis. Camping alone results in some activites that might not happen with other people, such as watching movies. There is no one to argue with.

Day 3. Tuesday.  One good thing about being out in the woods is that nothing much matters. I can sleep as late as I want to without the cat waking me for breakfast. It was another warm day. I went for a walk in the morning. Relaxation is happening. I don’t care about life back home. It feels good.

I went to a local beach for a while and listened to distant thunder before finally leaving. The lake water there was fouled with dead and dying vegetation, the reason for which is not within the scope of this document.  I went back to the bakery for more wi-fi and pie. The rain poured down while I was there. After it stopped, I returned to the campground, which was dry. A few drops of rain came down for a while. More canned food and fresh veggies for supper. More neighbors arrived near me.

I have been enjoying a book today, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy, by Chris Hayes, who is one of the commentators on MSNBC. It is about corruption and failure of our American institutions. He is a very bright person. He says that the US has replaced European and East coast aristocracy with meritocracy, which is based on people gaining power and prestige through their merits. He also says that the deck is stacked so that the people at the top, with the most “merit” stay at the top, and people with less opportunities or brain power stay at the bottom, and the gap is widening. He points out that education is a big factor in this scenario. Exclusive private schools set up the people who will have the control. Needless to say, this is not democracy. I am less than halfway through the book. While on the road, I listened to a parallel audiobook, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success. From the first half of this, I gleaned that success in life can be attributed to when a person was born relative to social changes, and some other things. I will hear the remainder on the way home.

Today wasn’t filled with activity. The kids in the bilingual party have been riding their bikes around the campground and enjoying the man made lake. I notice that the campers here prefer amenities to simplicity. The end of the campground that is set aside for tents is nearly empty. Some cabin and RV sites are occupied. This campground must make its money on weekends.

Day 4. Wednesday.  It’s time to go home. Checkout time is 11:00. Goodbye to the woods and not caring. Goodbye to the ten year old girl who check me in and will some day be President. She also cleans the outhouse and drives around in a golf cart. Hello to the other world.

Island Report

I am vacationing at Washington Island. It’s great to be able to stay as long as I want to. The weather has been warm with occasional clouds. Somewhat like life. The lake water is several inches higher than it has been for several years, almost up to the shore. Some of us remember where the shore ought to be. Thanks to Gordon’s North Star Realty for the photo of the cottage.

I arrived Friday in time to take myself out for fish at Karly’s. I greeted Tim on behalf of Eddy. I visited with Ray and Barbara Hansen after finishing my dinner, and met one of their sons. Until now I had met only Dan. One thing about Washington Island is that everyone knows everyone.

Saturday I mowed the lawn. The grass was a foot high over the plumbing mound. I wished that Danny had mowed it last weekend when he was here. The old push power mower isn’t very efficient in high grass. It also gives new meaning to the words Heavy Metal. I’m not very efficient in tall grass, either. I am thinking that I should get a weed whacker for some not very level areas.

Sunday I went to the Lutheran Church and then had lunch with Phyllis Ellefson and Peg Sullivan at K.K. Fiske. Phyllis and Peg eat lunch every Sunday and invited me to come with them. The sermon was a Powerpoint report on the parish’s trip to New Orleans, where the attendees helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity. Those people who sweat here when it gets up to eighty degrees were very hot there where it was in the nineties and very humid.

Sunday afternoon I visited the Art and Nature Center, viewed the annual art exhibit, and visited with Laura Waldron, who told me about her daughter’s eating disorder. Their list of programs for kids isn’t created yet.

Of course I have been walking. The daisies, columbine, orange and yellow hawkweed and buttercups are blooming. A few wild strawberries are ready to eat, but most aren’t ripe yet. Spring came late this year. I found two stalks of wild asparagus. That seems to be late also. The poison ivy is doing well. The insects are thriving, also, especially the mosquitoes. Four deer were observed today.

Tonight Bread and Water, the restaurant across the road from Mann’s Store, is having a Thai dinner, and I plan to take part. They had one last Monday and ran out of food, so their suggestion is to get there early.

That’s Washington Island, a very enjoyable and talkative place. I have decided to return home Wednesday instead of Tuesday. Sometime soon I will report on my six day bus trip to South Dakota, which was earlier in June.