Thanks, Heather.....I’m really pleased that you like this one. It’s made from an island I love, looking west over several other islands on which I have spent meaningful time over the years. I once had an extraordinary experience in the middle ground waters. In the background are the hills just behind us where we live in our little coastal village. From where I stood to make this on that evening, I felt blessed to be on the island with people I love, even as that ever so familiar mountain profile spoke of home. I’ve run my boat through here many, many times and it always has that dual effect on me....a foot in both worlds, if you will. It’s doing it now....
Where is this? Very beautiful, but I can't fully appreciate a landscape unless I know the geographic location--probably the result of having had three cross-country trips by the time I was 8.
Hi: I love the photo posted here by Heather. I went to the gallery but it's not posted yet? Also, I (as a Swan's Island native) noticed the photo of the lighthouse. Do you have other Swan's Island photos? Wesley Staples, cineteach@aol.com
Echoing what a beautiful song this is and such a nice pairing with Peter Ralston’s photo. How about a duet with our other resident singer Bruce Sellers?
Aww...aren't you sweet!! I'm afraid my voice is stilled for the time being. Current problems with my spine are playing the devil with my mobility, so standing and walking unsupported is quite difficult. Trying to sing with this handicap (for vocal technical reasons), plus the fact that I've not sung a note in 14 months (!), means singing is just not in the picture right now. That pains me as it's been my whole life, but life's taken a twist (literally, in my spine!) I didn't foresee, so other things have to get sorted out first. The choir at my church is just today starting back being able to do some singing. That alone gladdens my heart. I don't know when, or if, I'll be able to rejoin them.
I have some other friends/colleagues in Conspirare--were I 20 years younger I'd be singing with them in a minute!-- and they do really excellent work. I adore the Paulus piece and have sung it. It's a hard piece to get through without choking up. The picture HCR posted does conjure up some musical images--Schubert's "Im Abendrot" comes to mind. Thanks, Ellie, for thinking of me! Instead of trying to myself sing, I offer this exquisite version of the Schubert...it always brings a tear to my eye..and Quasthoff absolutely nails the atmosphere of musing on the red sunset of the evening and the feelings it awakens in the heart...the way he does the last line gets to me every time...
The musical world is small. I first sang with Conspirare in 1996 and retired in 2011. It all started for me in 1983 with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale's inaugural season. The opportunities are so numerous now.
From other posts, taking opportunity here to let you know that a group of HCR Substackers has formed to turn great discussion into action, at this time with a focus on voting rights:
Stuart -- you are kind to ask. I come from a musical family -- so singing together, as well as playing piano and guitar, was part of life. We sang grace at every sit-down meal. We sang on long road trips. I'm the only sibling who turned it into a career .... four academic music degrees! I performed with top-level choral ensembles 1983-2011 before returning to my first love of folk singing.
No i haven't had that chance but very much appreciate listening to those who do....home as a child was not very musical. Somehow $y brother produced a child progeny concert pianist and a part-time cellist. My son is a rock musician and composer as well as other outlets for his artistic talents. I'm content with Handel, Mozart, Chopin, Bach, Puccini and Verdi, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and much of the 60s and 70s rock, western and folk greats...they do it much better than I.
I love reading through your eclectic list of musicians to whom you listen! Those are many of my favorites, too, though my list definitely includes Mahler...
Indeed! Premiered on the same 1905 concert as Kindertotenlieder was another cycle setting Rückert poems, including one of my favorites "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen," which was beautifully woven through an exquisite 1989 Belgian film "Le Maitre du Musik." In fact, all of the texted music in the film directly interacts with the narrative. It's a masterful coalescence of the visual and auditory.
Cig, Conspirare is a wonderful choral group and it must have been be a joy to sing together. Both my husband and I love this recording of Stephen’s beautiful piece. My husband John created the role of Lawyer Royal in Stephen’s “Summer” (based on the Wharton novel) and premiered here in the Berkshires. John also sang his “The Long Shadow of Lincoln” for piano, cello, violin and bass-baritone at Cincinnati May Festival. Sadly no YouTubes of either. We were heartbroken when Stephen died. Such a loss.
Lee Cheek - My husband & I are also musicians and are still so heartbroken about Stephen's death. I don't often have time to read Heather's notes, but what a lovely surprise to come here and see all the Paulus lovers! <3
I sang with Conspirare 1996-2011. These days I make transcriptions for them when scores are not available, though I've also written program notes and offered pre-concert lectures. It keeps me involved, though no longer performing. I LOVE being in the audience!!!
It's a quote from Poet/Lyricist: Rabindranath Tagore - "faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark." There are some musical renderings of this quote, also.
Yes! That line immediately came to mind when reading Rabindranath Tagore's "faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark."
Yes. That's what drew me to this one. It's quite different than his usual, and as we try to climb back out of the past fifteen months, it seemed appropriate to have something so traditional... with that unusual twist.
Also, YOU are a gem! I treasure your posts and chats, which have taught me so much since I've started reading, watching and listening. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
I’m sorry Heather that you can’t express how you really feel here. Maybe you need to create a dummy profile, perhaps with a man’s name to further disguise yourself, so you can be an active and unfettered voice. 😉
A beautiful photo, Heather! Please tell Peter Ralston that its title reminds me that it was John Ralston, a young local member of the militia, who was summoned by General Washington at Yellow Springs, PA to show him the way to Warrick Furnace so that he could replenish munitions there. "The Battle of the Clouds" was actually a hurricane that had ruined the munitions of the British and the Continental Army. John Ralston showed him the best way to travel to Warrick Furnace with the wagons.
John Ralston is an ancestor - I’m 99% certain - as we had family there at the time. I’ll look at the family tree today. Thanks for this....”Battle of the Clouds” might make a good title someday!
Happy to help. A bit more about your ancestor, John Ralston. He had sustained a wound in his hand and had return home to heal or receive treatment before joining up again. That means he must have sustained this wound either at the Battle of Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777 or possibly been injured at the Battle of the Clouds in Malvern on Sept. 16th, 1777. By the time he managed to get home (think hurricane, think muddy roads and paths) he wasn't home long before Gen. Washington sent a message to him. He was a pretty young soldier and had no idea why he was being summoned! And so, on Sept. 17th, General Washington had John Ralston stop by his temporary quarters at Yellow Springs so that he could learn from John how he might best find his way to Warwick Furnace. John Ralston led the way. His home and farm are still standing. Still beautiful. On the insistence of General Washington, the Continental Congress established hospitals in 3 barns, and on land provided from Dr. Samuel Kennedy's summer home. The Yellow Springs hospital ruins are still there, and the Penn. Horticultural Society has an herb garden planted there that replicate herbs used to treat the soldiers who were brought there from the Valley Forge Encampment. You can learn more at yellowsprings.org. It's a wonderful place!
Thank you, and perhaps this should be a Sunday evening custom, whenever there is nothing urgent, for you to simply share a photo that speaks to your heart and ours. Rest well, and as always our deepest gratitude to you for all the Letters you have written. You have helped us keep our sanity as well as informing us about how current events are tied to our country's history. So much history have I learned from you that I did not learn in all my years of formal education. (And I have a doctor's degree and started on an MBA.)
Peter Ralston, You raised my heart. Your home is a breathtaking dream. Thank you. Heather, we are on a strange and uncertain journey. You lay a foundation every morning. Thank you. How about a little baseball: “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”– Babe Ruth. A good Sunday to all.
First of all, I share your enthusiasm for Peter's work. I have a slew of his custom prints in my studio which have become reminders of what a true home can look like, i.e., a place of beauty like the iconic environs of Maine he so skillfully documents, but also a place of true democratic community informed by the lessons of history as provided by your Substack endeavor and by the writings of another great American, Lewis Lapham, a man of letters and venerator of the factual historical record like you. "The historical record is mankind's most precious inheritance, telling us that the story painted on the old walls and printed in the old books is also our own," writes Lapham in MONEY AND CLASS IN AMERICA. "It isn't with machines that mankind makes its immortality. We do so with what we've learned on our travels across the frontiers of the millennia, salvaging from the sack of cities and the wreck of empires what we've found to be useful, beautiful, or true." Your letters, Peter's pictures, and Mr. Lapham's books are indispensable aids to navigation as we head for port . . .
Peter has again given us a view of what nature gives us everyday, if we'll just take a moment to "be". Thank you, Heather for this, and for "being" in the moment everyday with us.
A quite peaceful scene, but that isn't the view from much of America. Too many people believe it is and turn backward toward a day when it was. But let's keep our eye on the ball!
Some observers cannot understand why Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsay Graham, House G.O.P. Leader Kevin McCarthy and most other Republican legislators who initially blamed former President Trump for inciting the January 6 invasion of the Capitol eventually changed their tune, minimizing the seriousness of what happened that day, no longer blaming Trump for it and even supporting his “Big Lie” claiming that the election was stolen from him.
Their behavior is easy to explain. Trump’s actions clearly came close to the definition of treason covered in Article Three, Sec. 3, of the Constitution as explained by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1807 in an opinion related to the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr for treason. McConnell, McCarthy, Graham and others believed the former President’s actions were inexcusable. Then, what made them change their minds?
They had forgotten how ignorant and gullible the base which supported, and still supports, Donald John Trump actually is. For a brief moment, they thought that base had a minimum of intelligence. They were wrong. Once they saw that continuing to blame Trump and not swallow his “Big Lie” would just lose them the votes of his base and possibly result In primary challenges, they quickly changed their opinions. It’s as simple as that.
McConnell, McCarthy and Graham underestimated the ignorance and gullibility of Trump’s base. (Democrats often do that, but here we have the G.O.P. leadership doing that.) I do not know how they will react when the news clips of their initially putting the blame for the January 6 insurrection directly on the former president appear in Democratic TV spots during the 2022 elections. Will they claim that they are “fake news” invented by the media?
Good morning, Jacob. Your mind is roaring this morning. Did Trump commit treason or not? Justice and or historians will tell, and I hope that time is not far, far away. For Trump's base, there are fulsome to profane descriptions of 'them'. My mind is relatively quiet this morning. Wanting the sun to warm me in a few hours. I may do a little politics this evening, if the spirit is willing. Salud!
Quite apart from the weekly reminder to lift our eyes from the work and look around, I value these images for the quiet reminder that our varied cultural and artistic heritages also weave us together and teach us about each other.
NYTimes 5/15/21 "G.O.P. Pursues Harsher Penalties for Poll Workers in Voting Crackdown" https://nyti.ms/3ycYsb7
There is a lot of evidence like this that contrary to what Republicans / conservatives say about Democrats or "liberals", they are the advocates of a "Big Brother" police state.
Poll workers have been, where we have voted, nonpartisan volunteers and advocates of voting. I have seen people I know to be registered Democrats or Republicans sitting next to each other, working together to get voters through the polling process quickly, efficiently and effectively to cast their votes.
In those same communities, particularly Rhinebeck, NY where we lived, I found Republican poll watchers who I knew in the community, local Republican Party officials to be trouble makers in their questioning, interference and challenges to anyone they thought or knew to be a Democrat. That activity had been apparent to me for at least 20 years. My father, a lifetime Republican became quite upset when he wanted to vote for John McCain for President. The the New York State Republican Party would not allow McCain into the Republican primary. They permitted only one choice, GW Bush in 2000. We are facing a serious and worsening autocratic political party who will stop at nothing.
My wife is reading a novel about Argentina based on the author's observations during their military dictatorship when people who were identified as "enemies" were "disappeared". The disappeared were professionals, housewives, students, grandparents, etc. With rhetoric, laws and spinning facts on their head that Trump Republicans do, it's not as hard as we think to go from "cancel culture" which Republicans practiced on Liz Cheney, and their denial of their 2020 election loss to disappearing people. Senator Joseph McCarthy practiced his form of cancel culture and disappeared people by making Pete Seeger, a US veteran in WWII, and so many others the "enemy", so called "commies". Words and ideas used by Trump Republicans today. McCarthy's enemy list cost people their jobs, careers and some gave up their lives for writing books, creating films or singing songs like "I Have a Hammer" or "This Land Is My Land".
People who buy into these political autocracies see everyone who is marginalized or disposed of as deserving it. And see themselves as the victims of those family, friends and neighbors who speak out, agreeing with their political party "enemy" labels.
Maine's US Senator Margaret Chase Smith spoke out against Senator McCarthy with almost no support, as Representative Liz Cheney does today. Speaking out in large numbers is what it took to overpower McCarthy's tactics.
What happens in America emboldens those in other nations to do good by others, or to disappear their enemies as Netanyahu is doing by intentionally bombing a news media high rise building and many Palestinian civilians. Netanyahu is still living the anti-media rhetoric of Trump.
Thanks, Heather.....I’m really pleased that you like this one. It’s made from an island I love, looking west over several other islands on which I have spent meaningful time over the years. I once had an extraordinary experience in the middle ground waters. In the background are the hills just behind us where we live in our little coastal village. From where I stood to make this on that evening, I felt blessed to be on the island with people I love, even as that ever so familiar mountain profile spoke of home. I’ve run my boat through here many, many times and it always has that dual effect on me....a foot in both worlds, if you will. It’s doing it now....
Where is this? Very beautiful, but I can't fully appreciate a landscape unless I know the geographic location--probably the result of having had three cross-country trips by the time I was 8.
Hi: I love the photo posted here by Heather. I went to the gallery but it's not posted yet? Also, I (as a Swan's Island native) noticed the photo of the lighthouse. Do you have other Swan's Island photos? Wesley Staples, cineteach@aol.com
A modern choral classic: "The Road Home" by Stephen Paulus (1949-2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbwhSP3ZIq4
--------------------------------------------
Tell me where is the road I can call my own,
That I left, that I lost, so long ago.
All these years I have wondered, oh when will I know,
There's a way, there's a road that will lead me home.
After wind, After rain, when the dark is done,
As I wake from a dream, in the gold of day,
Through the air there's a calling from far away,
There's a voice I can hear that will lead me home.
Rise up, follow me, come away is the call
With (the) love in your heart as the only song
There is no such beauty as where you belong
Rise up, follow me, I will lead you home.
----------------------
As performed by Conspirare on their Grammy-nominated disc "Requiem."
(PS. I sang on this album)
Echoing what a beautiful song this is and such a nice pairing with Peter Ralston’s photo. How about a duet with our other resident singer Bruce Sellers?
🙂🎵
Aww...aren't you sweet!! I'm afraid my voice is stilled for the time being. Current problems with my spine are playing the devil with my mobility, so standing and walking unsupported is quite difficult. Trying to sing with this handicap (for vocal technical reasons), plus the fact that I've not sung a note in 14 months (!), means singing is just not in the picture right now. That pains me as it's been my whole life, but life's taken a twist (literally, in my spine!) I didn't foresee, so other things have to get sorted out first. The choir at my church is just today starting back being able to do some singing. That alone gladdens my heart. I don't know when, or if, I'll be able to rejoin them.
I have some other friends/colleagues in Conspirare--were I 20 years younger I'd be singing with them in a minute!-- and they do really excellent work. I adore the Paulus piece and have sung it. It's a hard piece to get through without choking up. The picture HCR posted does conjure up some musical images--Schubert's "Im Abendrot" comes to mind. Thanks, Ellie, for thinking of me! Instead of trying to myself sing, I offer this exquisite version of the Schubert...it always brings a tear to my eye..and Quasthoff absolutely nails the atmosphere of musing on the red sunset of the evening and the feelings it awakens in the heart...the way he does the last line gets to me every time...
German:
O wie schön ist deine Welt,
Vater, wenn sie golden strahlet!
Wenn dein Glanz herniederfällt,
Und den Staub mit Schimmer malet;
Wenn das Rot, das in der Wolke blinkt,
In mein stilles Fenster sinkt!
Könnt’ ich klagen, könnt’ ich zagen?
Irre sein an dir und mir?
Nein, ich will im Busen tragen
Deinen Himmel schon allhier.
Und dies Herz, eh’ es zusammenbricht,
Trinkt noch Glut und schlürft noch Licht.
In the glow of evening
English translation:
How lovely is your world,
Father, in its golden radiance
when your glory descends
and paints the dust with glitter;
when the red light that shines from the clouds
falls silently upon my window.
Could I complain? Could I be apprehensive?
Could I lose faith in you and in myself?
No, I already bear your heaven
here within my heart.
And this heart, before it breaks,
still drinks in the fire and savours the light.
Oops...forgot to post the link to the performance...look at the photo, look at the text, and listen to Schubert...sublime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qauQ0Q8mfVY
A soothing balm indeed .... thank you!
The musical world is small. I first sang with Conspirare in 1996 and retired in 2011. It all started for me in 1983 with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale's inaugural season. The opportunities are so numerous now.
With hope that you'll one day return to singing!
From other posts, taking opportunity here to let you know that a group of HCR Substackers has formed to turn great discussion into action, at this time with a focus on voting rights:
heathersherd@gmail.com
Beautiful—thank you so much for sharing this!
Tell us more about your singing if you'd like, please.
Stuart -- you are kind to ask. I come from a musical family -- so singing together, as well as playing piano and guitar, was part of life. We sang grace at every sit-down meal. We sang on long road trips. I'm the only sibling who turned it into a career .... four academic music degrees! I performed with top-level choral ensembles 1983-2011 before returning to my first love of folk singing.
Do you sing?? Make music???
No i haven't had that chance but very much appreciate listening to those who do....home as a child was not very musical. Somehow $y brother produced a child progeny concert pianist and a part-time cellist. My son is a rock musician and composer as well as other outlets for his artistic talents. I'm content with Handel, Mozart, Chopin, Bach, Puccini and Verdi, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and much of the 60s and 70s rock, western and folk greats...they do it much better than I.
I love reading through your eclectic list of musicians to whom you listen! Those are many of my favorites, too, though my list definitely includes Mahler...
Mine too. especially his "Songs on the death of children" (Kinder toten lieder)
Indeed! Premiered on the same 1905 concert as Kindertotenlieder was another cycle setting Rückert poems, including one of my favorites "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen," which was beautifully woven through an exquisite 1989 Belgian film "Le Maitre du Musik." In fact, all of the texted music in the film directly interacts with the narrative. It's a masterful coalescence of the visual and auditory.
That was so fitting today.....my mother 94 year old mother passed away last night & this touched me. Thanks for sharing.
I am so sorry for your loss. My mom just turned 95. I will keep you in my heart.
Betsy -- Thank you for sharing such a personal event. May music continue to bring peace and healing to your soul as you mourn. Much love --
So sorry for your loss, Betsy.
Cig, Conspirare is a wonderful choral group and it must have been be a joy to sing together. Both my husband and I love this recording of Stephen’s beautiful piece. My husband John created the role of Lawyer Royal in Stephen’s “Summer” (based on the Wharton novel) and premiered here in the Berkshires. John also sang his “The Long Shadow of Lincoln” for piano, cello, violin and bass-baritone at Cincinnati May Festival. Sadly no YouTubes of either. We were heartbroken when Stephen died. Such a loss.
Lee Cheek - My husband & I are also musicians and are still so heartbroken about Stephen's death. I don't often have time to read Heather's notes, but what a lovely surprise to come here and see all the Paulus lovers! <3
Oh my! Such significant performances are hallmarks to treasure!
Conspirare has been been a part of my life since 1996 -- many joyful memories!
Oh, my, Cig. Every line is sterling. Every voice is angelic. Thank you for sharing. (I won't lie and say I picked you out of the chorus!)
Balm for the soul, especially when paired with such a gorgeous photo. Thank you!
Conspirare is absolutely amazing. I LOVE everything they perform! Do you sing with them?
I sang with Conspirare 1996-2011. These days I make transcriptions for them when scores are not available, though I've also written program notes and offered pre-concert lectures. It keeps me involved, though no longer performing. I LOVE being in the audience!!!
"Hearing the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark."
I’m listening to birdsong as I read those words Lynell— are they from a poem?
It's a quote from Poet/Lyricist: Rabindranath Tagore - "faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark." There are some musical renderings of this quote, also.
That quote so perfectly captures what is Faith. Thank you for sharing this.
What a beautiful line this is....
Thank you Jennifer—lovely words and so appropriate for our times.
My "horse whisperer" invoked it in her latest blog. Works for all of us, I'd say. Thanks to those who captured the origin of it!
Or as Dickenson said, "hope is a thing with feathers"
Yes! That line immediately came to mind when reading Rabindranath Tagore's "faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark."
"...sings when dawn is still dark." I love that line.
Yes I love her poetry— thanks!
Doing that right now!
Hello Christine, it’s Roland. I am replying to an old post of yours, let’s see if you get this message.
Why don’t you subscribe to my substack page? Click on my profile, go to my Substack site, and subscribe. When I get your email, I’ll get back to you.
I would love to speak with you. ❤️❤️
I’m sending a similar message to you on different days, in case some of these HCR days are “thread muted.“
Love,
Roland
The colors...
Yes. That's what drew me to this one. It's quite different than his usual, and as we try to climb back out of the past fifteen months, it seemed appropriate to have something so traditional... with that unusual twist.
Also, YOU are a gem! I treasure your posts and chats, which have taught me so much since I've started reading, watching and listening. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
Home, home from the sea...
Home From the Sea https://g.co/kgs/A8SbPn
Home, home, home from the sea
Angels of mercy, answer our plea
And carry us home, home, home from the[ sea
Carry us safely home from the sea.
On a cold winters night
With a storm at its height
The lifeboat answered the call.
They pitched and they tossed
Till we thought they were lost
As we watched from the harbor wall.
Though the night was pitch black,
There was no turning back,
For someone was waiting out there,
But each volunteer
Had to live with his fear
As they joined in a silent prayer.
Home, home, home from the sea
Angels of mercy, answer our plea
And carry us home, home, home from the[ sea
Carry us safely home from the sea.
As they battled their way
Past the mouth of the bay,
It was blowing like never before.
As they gallantly fought,
Every one of them thought
Of loved ones back on the shore.
Then a flicker of light
And they knew they were right.
There she was on the crest of a wave.
She's an old fishing boat
And she's barely afloat.
Please God, there are souls we can save.
Home, home, home from the sea
Angels of mercy, answer our plea
And carry us home, home, home from the[ sea
Carry us safely home from the sea.
And back in the town
In a street that runs down
To the sea and the harbor wall,
They'd gathered in pairs
At the foot of the stairs
To wait or the radio call.
And just before dawn
When all hope had gone
Came a hush and a faraway sound.
'Twas the coxswain he roared
All survivors on board
Thank God and we're homeward bound.
Home, home, home from the sea
Angels of mercy, answer our plea
And carry us home, home, home from the[ sea
Carry us safely home from the sea.
Those BEAUTIFUL WORDS was Very Emotional!!!!
Thank you for them😊💖
I’m sorry Heather that you can’t express how you really feel here. Maybe you need to create a dummy profile, perhaps with a man’s name to further disguise yourself, so you can be an active and unfettered voice. 😉
Bull shit. The Lady’s Voice will do.
And layers ... reminds of the Hudson River School. Stunning.
A beautiful photo, Heather! Please tell Peter Ralston that its title reminds me that it was John Ralston, a young local member of the militia, who was summoned by General Washington at Yellow Springs, PA to show him the way to Warrick Furnace so that he could replenish munitions there. "The Battle of the Clouds" was actually a hurricane that had ruined the munitions of the British and the Continental Army. John Ralston showed him the best way to travel to Warrick Furnace with the wagons.
John Ralston is an ancestor - I’m 99% certain - as we had family there at the time. I’ll look at the family tree today. Thanks for this....”Battle of the Clouds” might make a good title someday!
Happy to help. A bit more about your ancestor, John Ralston. He had sustained a wound in his hand and had return home to heal or receive treatment before joining up again. That means he must have sustained this wound either at the Battle of Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777 or possibly been injured at the Battle of the Clouds in Malvern on Sept. 16th, 1777. By the time he managed to get home (think hurricane, think muddy roads and paths) he wasn't home long before Gen. Washington sent a message to him. He was a pretty young soldier and had no idea why he was being summoned! And so, on Sept. 17th, General Washington had John Ralston stop by his temporary quarters at Yellow Springs so that he could learn from John how he might best find his way to Warwick Furnace. John Ralston led the way. His home and farm are still standing. Still beautiful. On the insistence of General Washington, the Continental Congress established hospitals in 3 barns, and on land provided from Dr. Samuel Kennedy's summer home. The Yellow Springs hospital ruins are still there, and the Penn. Horticultural Society has an herb garden planted there that replicate herbs used to treat the soldiers who were brought there from the Valley Forge Encampment. You can learn more at yellowsprings.org. It's a wonderful place!
Thank you, and perhaps this should be a Sunday evening custom, whenever there is nothing urgent, for you to simply share a photo that speaks to your heart and ours. Rest well, and as always our deepest gratitude to you for all the Letters you have written. You have helped us keep our sanity as well as informing us about how current events are tied to our country's history. So much history have I learned from you that I did not learn in all my years of formal education. (And I have a doctor's degree and started on an MBA.)
THANK YOU, Dr. Heather! ❤❤❤
Peter Ralston, You raised my heart. Your home is a breathtaking dream. Thank you. Heather, we are on a strange and uncertain journey. You lay a foundation every morning. Thank you. How about a little baseball: “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”– Babe Ruth. A good Sunday to all.
First of all, I share your enthusiasm for Peter's work. I have a slew of his custom prints in my studio which have become reminders of what a true home can look like, i.e., a place of beauty like the iconic environs of Maine he so skillfully documents, but also a place of true democratic community informed by the lessons of history as provided by your Substack endeavor and by the writings of another great American, Lewis Lapham, a man of letters and venerator of the factual historical record like you. "The historical record is mankind's most precious inheritance, telling us that the story painted on the old walls and printed in the old books is also our own," writes Lapham in MONEY AND CLASS IN AMERICA. "It isn't with machines that mankind makes its immortality. We do so with what we've learned on our travels across the frontiers of the millennia, salvaging from the sack of cities and the wreck of empires what we've found to be useful, beautiful, or true." Your letters, Peter's pictures, and Mr. Lapham's books are indispensable aids to navigation as we head for port . . .
"Lapham's Quarterly" is one of the most astute and invigorating journals I receive.
Really? Lewis Lapham still there? Sandy
Sometimes it's good to just look. Enjoy. You don't have to own everything.
Wow...simply gorgeous. Rest well.
Peter has again given us a view of what nature gives us everyday, if we'll just take a moment to "be". Thank you, Heather for this, and for "being" in the moment everyday with us.
A quite peaceful scene, but that isn't the view from much of America. Too many people believe it is and turn backward toward a day when it was. But let's keep our eye on the ball!
Some observers cannot understand why Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsay Graham, House G.O.P. Leader Kevin McCarthy and most other Republican legislators who initially blamed former President Trump for inciting the January 6 invasion of the Capitol eventually changed their tune, minimizing the seriousness of what happened that day, no longer blaming Trump for it and even supporting his “Big Lie” claiming that the election was stolen from him.
Their behavior is easy to explain. Trump’s actions clearly came close to the definition of treason covered in Article Three, Sec. 3, of the Constitution as explained by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1807 in an opinion related to the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr for treason. McConnell, McCarthy, Graham and others believed the former President’s actions were inexcusable. Then, what made them change their minds?
They had forgotten how ignorant and gullible the base which supported, and still supports, Donald John Trump actually is. For a brief moment, they thought that base had a minimum of intelligence. They were wrong. Once they saw that continuing to blame Trump and not swallow his “Big Lie” would just lose them the votes of his base and possibly result In primary challenges, they quickly changed their opinions. It’s as simple as that.
McConnell, McCarthy and Graham underestimated the ignorance and gullibility of Trump’s base. (Democrats often do that, but here we have the G.O.P. leadership doing that.) I do not know how they will react when the news clips of their initially putting the blame for the January 6 insurrection directly on the former president appear in Democratic TV spots during the 2022 elections. Will they claim that they are “fake news” invented by the media?
Good morning, Jacob. Your mind is roaring this morning. Did Trump commit treason or not? Justice and or historians will tell, and I hope that time is not far, far away. For Trump's base, there are fulsome to profane descriptions of 'them'. My mind is relatively quiet this morning. Wanting the sun to warm me in a few hours. I may do a little politics this evening, if the spirit is willing. Salud!
Quite apart from the weekly reminder to lift our eyes from the work and look around, I value these images for the quiet reminder that our varied cultural and artistic heritages also weave us together and teach us about each other.
So calming to the soul. I hope we can find a “way home.” Thank you.
NYTimes 5/15/21 "G.O.P. Pursues Harsher Penalties for Poll Workers in Voting Crackdown" https://nyti.ms/3ycYsb7
There is a lot of evidence like this that contrary to what Republicans / conservatives say about Democrats or "liberals", they are the advocates of a "Big Brother" police state.
Poll workers have been, where we have voted, nonpartisan volunteers and advocates of voting. I have seen people I know to be registered Democrats or Republicans sitting next to each other, working together to get voters through the polling process quickly, efficiently and effectively to cast their votes.
In those same communities, particularly Rhinebeck, NY where we lived, I found Republican poll watchers who I knew in the community, local Republican Party officials to be trouble makers in their questioning, interference and challenges to anyone they thought or knew to be a Democrat. That activity had been apparent to me for at least 20 years. My father, a lifetime Republican became quite upset when he wanted to vote for John McCain for President. The the New York State Republican Party would not allow McCain into the Republican primary. They permitted only one choice, GW Bush in 2000. We are facing a serious and worsening autocratic political party who will stop at nothing.
My wife is reading a novel about Argentina based on the author's observations during their military dictatorship when people who were identified as "enemies" were "disappeared". The disappeared were professionals, housewives, students, grandparents, etc. With rhetoric, laws and spinning facts on their head that Trump Republicans do, it's not as hard as we think to go from "cancel culture" which Republicans practiced on Liz Cheney, and their denial of their 2020 election loss to disappearing people. Senator Joseph McCarthy practiced his form of cancel culture and disappeared people by making Pete Seeger, a US veteran in WWII, and so many others the "enemy", so called "commies". Words and ideas used by Trump Republicans today. McCarthy's enemy list cost people their jobs, careers and some gave up their lives for writing books, creating films or singing songs like "I Have a Hammer" or "This Land Is My Land".
People who buy into these political autocracies see everyone who is marginalized or disposed of as deserving it. And see themselves as the victims of those family, friends and neighbors who speak out, agreeing with their political party "enemy" labels.
Maine's US Senator Margaret Chase Smith spoke out against Senator McCarthy with almost no support, as Representative Liz Cheney does today. Speaking out in large numbers is what it took to overpower McCarthy's tactics.
What happens in America emboldens those in other nations to do good by others, or to disappear their enemies as Netanyahu is doing by intentionally bombing a news media high rise building and many Palestinian civilians. Netanyahu is still living the anti-media rhetoric of Trump.
Our example and voice matters.
Thank you for this goodness and beauty.