Tag Archives: Blog

A Tribute to Uncle Jim

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James Niedrist    4/26/1930-10/8/2022 My Uncle Jim died today.  I am sad as I write this, but he was clearly ready to leave this plane and rejoin his beloved Norma on the Other Side.  He was always my favorite uncle and … Continue reading →

Favorite Fall Is in the Air!

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In my last post I wrote about spring and summer (“Summer is icumen in”).  Perhaps it is appropriate that I focus on fall and winter for this blog!  I should call this post “Winter is icumen in.”  Today is the … Continue reading →

Summer is icumen in

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You may be wondering about this title. It is the opening line from one of my favorite medieval English poems from the 13th century. Many of you already know that I am a bit strange, but perhaps you didn’t also know that in years past I was also a medieval scholar. One of my great joys in life was seeing an early manuscript of this poem in the British Museum. Looking at that old manuscript, written around 800 years ago, reminds us of our common human heritage and bond.

This little poem is about the annual renewal of life and hope. It seems to be an apt thought for this blog. For too long now. I have neglected my writings, so it is also time for me to experience a bit of a renewal. My Muse is once again calling me to devote more time to writing. It is far too easy to allow ourselves to be diverted from our chosen paths by the superficial things in life. We get lost in the I’ll get to it tomorrow syndrome.

After the long, hard winter, spring has finally blossomed, and the poet is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the warm days of summer.  The words below look a bit strange, but if you read them aloud, you will quickly get the gist of the meaning.                   

                  Summer is icumen in
                  Lhude sing! Cuccu.
                  Groweth sed and bloweth med
                  And springth the wude nu--
                  Sing!  Cuccu
                                                                  
                        Medieval English Lyrics, ed. by RT Davis

As you can readily observe, spelling and punctuation were a bit optional in the 13th century.  Of course, I fear spelling and punctuation are still a bit optional for too many people today!      

Life was tough in those days for the average person.  The late Middle Ages was that difficult time before the birth of the Renaissance.  Wealthy nobility and landlords owned all the lands.  The Church held sway over virtually every aspect of life.  The fear of demons, hellfire, and damnation ran rampant throughout society.  The various trade guilds marked the slight emergence of a middle class within the old feudal system.  Imagine a life with no cell phones, selfies, Starbucks, or McDonalds!  A good meal probably consisted of some boiled onions and turnips.  I’m not a big fan of fast food, but I think I’ll take a Big Mac and a latte!

So, did you figure out the little verse?  Summer is coming, so it must be spring.  Sing loud, Cuckoo!  The seed is growing and the meadows are in bloom.  The trees are leafing out.  Sing, Cuckoo!  Cuckoos spend the winters in Africa, and arrive back in the UK in early spring.  Our unknown poet is regaling in the many signs of spring. 

I gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Medieval Woodcuts Clipart Collection (www.godecookery.com) for allowing non-commercial use of their amazing collection of medieval woodcuts.  Visit their website to see more pictures of life in medieval England.

Wishing you a happy springtime every day of your life.  No matter the season, let your life be filled with the joys of spring!

                Sing, Cuckoo, sing!                   

Clutter and Procrastination

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Clutter and procrastination.  Procrastination and clutter.  One leads to the other in a never-ending loop, sort of like a mobius circle.  As we move forward into another new year, I have one over-riding resolution.  I am once and for all … Continue reading →

Favorite Pro-Choice or Pro-Life?

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Those of you who know me know that I am definitely a conservative and not afraid to tackle controversial types of issues! With that disclaimer out of the way, I have to say that I am very much Pro-Life. Do I think that Roe versus Wade should be turned over? No, I really don’t. That could create a much worse situation than what we currently have. We certainly don’t want to return to the era of back alley abortions. There are certainly situations where I can understand that a woman might opt for an abortion, such as fetal demise in utero or congenital anomalies incompatible with life. What I object to is the routine use of abortion as an accepted means of birth control. 

Let’s look at a couple of scenarios. We have a young mother-to-be just starting her 24th week of pregnancy. She and her husband are so excited. They’ve just decorated the nursery and recently learned the sex of their baby. To her dismay, she begins having contractions, and it soon becomes apparent that this little one is not going to wait another 16 weeks to make his arrival! He arrives weighing a scant 1000 grams and easily fits into the palm of your hand. He is quickly admitted into the NICU, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which will be his home for the next several months. Unlike many of the other nursing units in a hospital, the NICU is a quiet place, with lights dimmed and where everyone speaks in hushed tones. The new little arrival is soon safely ensconced in an isolette in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment with many tubes and monitors all around his tiny little body. All external stimulation is kept to a minimum.

Mom visits every day to monitor the progress of her precious little one. She carefully pumps breast milk several times a day to provide her own special nutrients to the infant. He is too young to even have a suckling response, so he receives this vital Mother’s milk via a feeding tube. Imagine her excitement when he is finally big enough to come out of his little womb-like environment for a few all too brief moments, and she can at last hold him in her arms! In several months, he is finally the size of a normal full-term infant, and Mom and Dad get to take him home. Most of these little preemies grow into normal children and adults and are able to lead a full life without any lingering effects from their early arrival into the world. Many NICU’s hold an annual Celebration of Life where all of their “Graduates” return for a big gathering! They may range in age from toddlers to elementary age children to high schoolers. What a tribute to the capabilities of modern medicine!

Meanwhile across town another pregnant young woman glances at her watch and hurries to her own appointment with fate. She too is almost 24 weeks pregnant, but for her there is no eager anticipation, only an eagerness to be rid of this unwanted burden on her life. She has been reassured that this is not a viable baby, only a growing cluster of tissue. She hurries into the waiting room and is admitted. She is given sedation, some anesthesia, and soon leaves the facility, no longer pregnant.

I do think that Planned Parenthood should change its name to Unplanned Parenthood. Planned parenthood implies that a pregnancy is wanted and desired. Last I heard, despite the plethora of gender “choices” we continue to hear about, most of which I cannot fathom, the creation of new life still takes a biologic male and a biologic female, a sperm and an ovum. A pregnancy should not just be the result of a careless moment. If Planned Parenthood put half of the energy into teaching about responsible birth control methods that it puts into promoting its abortion mills, much of the problem would be resolved. There are also so many couples out there with empty arms who would welcome the chance to give a loving home to these unwanted little ones.

You have to wonder about the values of a society where in one instance we joyously spend thousands and thousand of dollars to save a cherished little life and in another instance we cancel out a similar little life without a second thought.

About twenty years ago I worked with an excellent Perinatologist. A Perinatologist is a physician who has done a four-year residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology followed by a three-year Fellowship in Perinatology. These physicians take care of high-risk mothers and fetuses during the period of pregnancy and birth. This doctor and I became good friends. One day she sadly and bitterly told me her story. Early in medical school she had become pregnant and had chosen to have an abortion. She finished medical school, her internship, and her OB-GYN residency. During that time period she married, and she and her husband very much wanted to have a baby, but sadly she was never able to conceive again. She said that her own inability to have a baby was what pushed her into the field of Perinatology. I certainly don’t know why she was never able to have a second pregnancy. I’m sure being a part of the medical community, she got excellent care during her own abortion all those years ago.

I do think we are all born with a little touch of the divine in us, what you might call the God Spark. I can only trust that all of these lost little ones are indeed returned to their Father above. William Wordsworth said it so much better than I ever could in “Intimations of Immortality,”

But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2018

A Gentle Soul

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A couple months ago I told you about our painful loss of our little Mandy. Last week we relived that pain once again with having to help our Caley over the Rainbow Bridge. For the first time in many years, … Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, America

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  Today is a great day to reflect a bit on this incredible nation of ours.  For many people today is just a day off from work, a time to light the grill, chug a few beers, and maybe watch … Continue reading →

The Demise of the King’s English

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OK, I admit it; I am a grammar snob, a spelling snob, a pronunciation snob, and a vocabulary snob. A couple of years ago I did a short blog about some of my pet peeves. My top choice then was the constant misuse of its and it’s, closely followed by the butchering of the first person pronoun! For some reason people just don’t seem to understand when to use I, me, or myself. “John and myself went to the store.” “The snow fell on John and myself.” I fear a false sense of humility scares people away from using I or me; perhaps they think myself is more modest? Sadly, I still continue to be irked by those two instance of misuse. I could also get into the correct use of those pesky past participles, but that might be an entire blog in itself.

I also find that the headlines along the bottom of the screen during newscasts are fraught with errors. Those little banners used to done with a device called a character generator; no doubt they are all computer generated today. The spelling errors are amazing. I am not sure whether the stations have an undereducated bunch of journalism interns doing them or if perhaps they are letting a fourth grade Boy Scout troop do them (with apologies to the Scouts!). I also get weary with all the crazy governmental abbreviations such as POTUS, FLOTUS, SCOTUS, SOTU, and so on. I would prefer to see them written out in full, but I can accept that space is limited. Could they just refer to the President or the First Lady? I think we know that they are referring to the US President or First Lady.

I would never presume to say that I never make mistakes, but I do keep a Webster’s College Dictionary, a Super Thesaurus, and Brian’s Common Errors in English Usage right there on my desk to double-check myself from time to time. (Note the proper use of myself in this instance!). Since I am somewhat of a language nerd, I even have to use proper punctuation and spelling on my text messages. You won’t see me using U R for you are, etc.

Whatever you do, don’t trust the spelling and grammar checks on Microsoft and Apple! I’d like to have most of those little computer geeks in English class for a few weeks or months. Even Word Press which is what this blog is written with, can drive me crazy from time to time. When you are ready to post a blog, Word Press does an automatic spell check and “sort” of a grammar check. My favorite is “complex expression.” Well, I’m not trying to write at a fourth or fifth grade level. Then there is “passive voice.” Certainly we don’t want to use the passive voice too often, but there are times where it is warranted. The list goes on!

When our sons were still in school, they would often bring home notes from their teachers. In all honesty, I never knew whether to reply to the note or grab my red pen and correct it. No wonder many young people don’t have good language skills; their teachers don’t either. Just as we teach our children not to talk with their mouth full or to keep their elbows off the table during meals, we also need to help them learn proper language skills. On a side note, I am pleased to say that both our sons do have excellent written and spoken language skills; of course, they never had a chance to do otherwise I suppose!

I think that the rise and fall of civilizations and languages may well go hand in hand. When Rome fell, ultimately so did Latin as a spoken and written language. Except for a few misguided souls like me, most people didn’t study Latin for years or read Virgil’s Aeneid in the original Latin. As civilizations became more advanced, language went from the rudimentary, “Me want food” or “Fire hot,” to Plato’s Dialogues and the magical words of Shakespeare.

When we look at the English language, we see the evolution from the old Germanic based Anglo-Saxon; think of the epic poem Beowulf in its original form. Unless you too have had the pain of studying Old English, you probably couldn’t read a word of it! From there we find Middle English; think of the wonderful lyrics of Geoffrey Chaucer. While you might not get everything, you could probably get the gist of it. Spelling was pretty freeform in those days as well!

In early Modern English, you find the wonderful works of Shakespeare and Marlow and some of my favorites, the Cavalier Poets! I suspect that in terms of the evolution of the English language, we may have peaked in the late 19th and early 20th century and be on the downward spiral now. Of course, the British look askance at American English usage, and the Americans haven’t figured out why the British can’t spell “Department of Defence” properly!

The rise of all of our electronic devices and toys probably contributes to a decline in language skills as well, and don’t even get me started on not teaching cursive writing in schools! When I was in the doctorate program in English at a major US University, the chairman of the English Department, who looked like a character out of a Dickens novel, wrote only with a black fountain pen in an almost perfect-looking calligraphy sort of script. The poor man is probably rolling in his grave over the inability of young people even to write the King’s English, let alone use it properly!

As you can probably surmise, I love language and words. Few things are more satisfying than actually expressing your thoughts and creativity with the written word. I hope everyone can share in the enjoyment of the written word at some point. Now, I must wrap up this little discourse. My four-legged red-haired assistant is telling me that it is time to switch from writing to opening a can of dogfood!

©Eclectic Grandma, 2018

A Few More Museums!

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Last week I talked a bit about my favorite “Big Four” of museums in the world, the British Museum, the Louvre, the Egyptian Museum, and the Vatican Museum. Today I want to revisit some lesser known, but still great museums in Egypt, Paris, Kuwait, London, and Washington, DC. How’s that for a variety of locales?

I suspect that most of you have not had the opportunity to visit Kuwait, so I’ll start with the Tareq Rajab Museum of Islāmic Art in Kuwait.

Night View of Tareq Rajab Museum

Tareq was the first Minister of Kuwait. He and his British born wife, Jehan Welborne, amassed one of the largest collections of Persian and Islāmic art in the world, including gold, silver, pearls, armor, early editions of the Koran, and many, many other artifacts. This privately owned museum houses this outstanding collection. An interesting note is that during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the staff hastily packed up and or hid the various artifacts. Part of the museum is underground, in a series of climate controlled rooms. The stairs leading down to these underground rooms were filled in with dirt and covered over with rubbish, leaving the Iraqi Army unaware of the treasures that lay beneath their very feet. After the war was over, the stairs were dug out, and everything was restored to its proper place and display.

Interior View Tareq Rajab Museum

While we are looking at the Middle East, I have to also mention the Roman-Grecco Museum in Alexandria, Egypt. You probably know of Alexandria through its two most famous citizens, Alexander the Great, who conquered Egypt and founded it, and the Pharaoh Cleopatra, best known for seducing both Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony! Even today in Alexandria it is not at all uncommon to see people with red hair and blue or green eyes, reminding us of that long ago Macedonian army. While not as grand and huge as the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Roman-Grecco Museum has a wonderful collection of well displayed artifacts from the Pharaonic, Roman, and Greek eras in Egyptian history. The gardens have multiple busts of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. There are also many images of Cleopatra throughout the Museum. Despite her reputation as a femme fatale, she was not thought to have been overly beautiful, but she apparently had quite a way with men!

Roman-Grecco Museum, Alexandria, Egypt

Close to the Museum there is an old Roman amphitheater and baths. I have to mention this site as we thoroughly enjoyed getting to see it. You can just wander around these ruins on your own. The whole site would be an OSHA nightmare here in the US, no railings or safety measures anywhere!

Roman Amphitheater

One of the interesting things for me was noting that all of the seats were numbered (in Roman numerals but of course!) so that everyone knew where his assigned seat was, just like going to the theater today!

Those of you who know me well know that I love the medieval and Elizabethan periods, so my next two selections should not come as a surprise.

Musee du Moyen Age, Paris

In Paris the Musée du Moyen Age, also known as the Musée du Cluny, houses a wonderful collection of medieval art, jewelry, stained glass, and tapestries. The building itself was built in the 15th Century and was originally part of the Abbey du Cluny. A nice side benefit of visiting here is that it is off the beaten path so not nearly as overrun with tourists as the Louvre and some of the other more famous sites! Another favorite of mine from the Middle Ages has to be the Tower of London. As you can probably gather, I am definitely a history and literature buff.

The Tower of London houses the collection of the Royal Jewels as well as the Royal Armoury.

Tower of London

It is not a museum per se but houses other museums within it. When I stood in the spot where Ann Boleyn had been beheaded, I had chills. On a lighter note, when we visited the Royal Armory within the Tower complex, there was a full suit of armor that had belonged to Henry VIII. Now Henry was a large man, both tall and heavy. The suit of armor had what was the Elizabethans politely called a cod piece or else he wanted to, umm, enhance his manhood, so to speak. There were two little boys about 10 or 11 looking at the armor.  They were speaking in a foreign language, an eastern European one I think, and were pointing and giggling.  You didn’t have to speak the language to understand full well what they were saying!

Henry VIII’s Armor

As I look as my “Big Four” and my “Minor Four,” I am sad to say that I really haven’t included any US museums on my list of favorites. We in the US do have the various museums in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and I hope every American gets to see all of these. Over the years I have visited all of them, but I have to say that they don’t excite me quite like some of the others do.  I do think the Air and Space Museum is certainly worth a visit as is the Holocaust Museum. The National Portrait Gallery is most impressive, but I have to admit that art galleries are not my very favorite.  I prefer the more historical types of museums, especially if they have lots of old artifacts and mummies!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2018

Great Museums of the World

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I am really fortunate to have been able to visit some of the world’s greatest museums.  The “Big Four” that come to mind for me are the British Museum in London, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Louvre in Paris, and the Vatican Museum in Rome.  I would have to rank these four as the top museums in the world, although I realize that not everyone may concur with my opinion.  Let me comment briefly on each of them in ascending order of my own personal favorites.

The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

The Vatican Museum is truly amazing!  If you have the opportunity to visit there, it is well worth it to pay a little extra for a private tour guide.  The crowds are horrendous!   I must admit that there may have been a few too many tapestries for my taste, but still an interesting visit.  Perhaps my favorite stop on the whole tour was the renowned Sistine Chapel, with its famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo from 1508 to 1512.  I can certainly see why it took him four long and tortuous years to complete it.  I probably shouldn’t say this, but I somehow expected the Chapel to be a little larger and grander than it was, but I guess that is often the case.  Our guide, who had a wicked sense of humor, did tell us that one of the figures descending into Hell on one of the panels depicted a particular Cardinal that Michelangelo disliked.  My favorite panel is the famous one known as “The Creation of Adam,” which shows the hand of God reaching down to Adam.

The Glass Pyramid at the Louvre

Next on my little museum tour is the Louvre in Paris.  This is the largest art museum in the world.  For our visit to the Louvre, we didn’t go the tour guide route; we opted to go by ourselves, armed with a detailed map and a list of the key items that we really wanted to see.  You could easily spend days and days in the Louvre, but since we didn’t have that much time, we just made the most of it.  I suspect everyone is familiar with the iconic glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre.  Underneath that pyramid is the central starting point for the various wings of the huge Louvre Palace.  Like the Vatican, it was packed with tourists of all nationalities.

We managed to see our list of the most famous pieces, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.  Probably everyone has seen her famous smile.  The actual painting is really quite small; my husband remarked that he expected it to be larger.  It actually only measures about 30″ by 21″, so not a huge painting.  When we saw the Mona Lisa, there were what seemed like thousands of Japanese tourists there, all armed with selfie sticks and taking endless selfies of themselves standing next to the Mona Lisa.  Now that was the picture I should have taken–that sea of selfie sticks!

Mona Lisa Enjoying the Selfies

Moving on from Paris, my next favorite museum is the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, more properly called the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.  I have always had a deep interest in archaeology and ancient Egypt.  We visited the Museum in the early 2000’s.  Sadly, it was broken into during the Egyptian uprisings in 2011 with some damage to artifacts and some thefts.  I have to admit that I am glad that we got to see it when we did; I don’t know if I would choose to return to Egypt these days!  Probably everyone has seen the movie, “The Mummy” with the great exterior shots of the Egyptian Museum.  That is exactly what it looks like.

When we visited, the crowds were primarily focused on the King Tutankhamun exhibits and the room with the royal mummies and disregarded most of the rest of the museum.   Once you got away from the crowds and found some of the older displays, you pretty well had the whole place to yourself.  I don’t think some of the display cabinets had been opened or dusted since the items were originally put in them.  Faded placards written on old typewriters and handwritten captions in French and English revealed much of the French and British presence in Egypt in earlier centuries.

Exterior of the Egyptian Museum

In one case we saw a well-preserved hunting dog; his hair looked as if he were still alive.  Except for the King Tut and the Royal Mummies exhibits, the building was not air-conditioned and was open to Cairo’s horribly polluted air.  At one point I started to take a picture of some old stone sarcophagi, and a museum guard told me not to take picture due to my flash.  As if the flash on my camera could be any worse than all the automobile exhaust pollution pouring in through the open windows!  The sad thing with the Egyptian Museum is that so many of the artifacts are not on display or even catalogued for that matter.  I can only hope that the present leadership in Egypt can somehow appreciate and preserve the wonderful ancient treasures of their country.

Now for my number one favorite museum!  It has to be the British Museum in London.  This outstanding museum has a bit of everything, from the famed Rosetta Stone to the Elgin Marbles.  It has an amazing collection of Egyptian artifacts as well the Elgin Marble from the Parthenon in Greece and numerous Roman objects and old Viking relics from the Sutton Hoo excavations.  The entire collection reflects what a world power the British Empire was for so many years. At one point I used to think it was sad that the treasures from so many countries ended up in museums in England or France.  Then having seen the lack of preservation and regard in some of these locales, I think it is a blessing that these artifacts are being so carefully preserved and cared for outside of their native countries.

Being of English and Scottish heritage myself as well as a student of English literature for many, many years, I also loved seeing the original manuscripts and folios of so many famous works of literature that I have loved through the years. There you have it, my top four museums to visit and enjoy!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2018