Trees of the Ages

One of my more incongruous musical interests is late period Laura Nyro. My 'like' here is odd not only because of her style of music and when she recorded, but also because I'm most interested in her recordings after her ambitious early work. This music (which in my mind is represented by her Smile album and everything after it) lacks the critical acclaim, urban hipster chic, and hit making power she enjoyed in the 60s and early 70s. Instead, this stuff was critically panned, nature-themed, and anti-Top 40.

Nowhere was this more true than on her 1984 album Mother's Spiritual. This is a folkie, pastoral album of piano-based musings on motherhood, feminism, environmental concerns, and keeping your 'special light' on against the cold, cruel world. Not a drum machine or dance song in sight and no flashy videos or fashion statements, yet it came out the same year as Prince's Purple Rain and Madonna's Like a Virgin. You can imagine the indifference it received from the public and, of course, the rock critics of the time weren't up for it at all.

But I love Mother's Spiritual - and Nyro - and I even love her when I do not know (or want to know) where she's coming from, as on a 1993 song she penned ("The Descent of Luna Rose"), which is dedicated to her period. No matter what the rest of the world was doing, Nyro was always doing her thing and - as a result - she's always fresh and original.

But my point to this post is not pour accolades on Nyro. On Mother's Spiritual, she has a song called "Trees of the Ages" which is a meditation on the peace-inducing power of trees (how crunchy is that!). I thought of the song yesterday as Jim and I spent a day in bike riding and then most of the afternoon sitting on the back porch reading, cooking out, and just enjoying the greenery. Specifically, there's a lyric in "Trees of the Ages" that has never fallen out of my head. Nyro sings: "Believe in a tree/Trees know what every/zen master needs to know".

Photo taken while hiking during my 2005 'Pete Retreat'

While I think Nyro was Wiccan and that is likely the slant she was going for in her song, as a Zen Buddhist her words resonate tremendously for me. When I think of what symbolizes a right-minded state, it is very much the sorts of things we usually ascribe to trees. Many large trees grow slowly (patiently, if you want to anthropomorphize them), yet they become tall and strong as a result of this. They are not active, but they are very powerful (ever see the results of a battle between tree roots and a concrete foundation?).

There is also a clarity, simplicity, and serenity about the way trees exist, and I think this is something most people feel about them to varying degrees. While trees are active in only a few ways, they are masters at adapting to and sometimes even in determining the environment around them. They bend in the wind, seek out sunshine, and lose leaves in cold weather, but they last and endure despite not being more active. Although trees are silent, they are never not seen. They also seem to exude life and other creatures rely on them, sometimes instinctively.  Animals use trees as a place to build homes and as a source for food.  We people, have affinity for them because we appreciate their beauty. I think it's safe to say most people, when confronted with the sight of a big tree that has fallen to disease or a storm or the saw, regret it on some level.

Laura was definitely onto something.

Nearing 300

Up to 275 miles after a 21 mile ride today.

We rode north of Wheaton and saw the after effects of a huge storm that blew through the area a few weeks ago. Massive trees uprooted and big branches on the ground. In some places, it looked as if every large tree had branches ripped off at the top. The sound of these trees being torn up must have been really scary to the people living around there.

It Gets Better

The end of this month is the first anniversary of our civil union ceremony. Prior to that we had celebrated our anniversary at the end of August to commemorate the day we met. Last week, I asked Jim which day was our anniversary now? We decided that - while we're happy to finally have the same rights as everyone else - the fact is that the civil union formalized something that had already existed for 15 years. Our anniversary remains the day we have always celebrated it and we plan to celebrate 16 wonderful years together at that time.

Of course...that doesn't mean we can't celebrate twice!

Since I never did post more pictures from the civil union, I thought I'd do so now. As I was choosing these pictures, I found myself thinking about some of the really huge strides that have been made even in the year since we had this ceremony. I have to admit I never thought I'd see such progress in my lifetime. So I have to say how grateful I am to the 'soldiers': the people who risked and dared and stood up for justice and gave our community a voice over the years. These pictures and joy would not exist without them. So thank you! In a small way we gave back with this ceremony, as instead of gifts we asked guests to donate to It Gets Better.

And for any young people out there who are struggling with prejudice and ignorance. It gets better!

Forget flower girls. We had the Bubble Girlz!

Those who stood up for us danced down the aisle to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"

Here come the grooms!

When the ceremony began, I admit I was blown away at what was happening!



 

And while cake is always good...

...the best part was having our friends and family there!

It gets better!

QuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble

The QuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble is one of my favorite groups. They put out some really great classical music, and I am a total groupie. If they had T-shirts, I'd buy one. As it is, I have all their CDs - or at least the ones I'm aware of. 

The first one I purchased was Elisa is the Fayrest Quene, a recording of Elizabethan music written back in the day by various composers. This is a tremendous CD to have if you have any interest in Tudor England or Renaissance music. It is lovingly performed and recorded and, as close as these untrained ears can tell, sounds very authentic. The CD is also beautifully packaged.  I purchased this as a gift for a Tudorphile I know along with Alison Weir's biography on Elizabeth. It made a great one-two punch.

I find myself listening to this CD quite a bit, especially at work. It's wonderful to put on the headphones and shut out the world. Several of the tracks are in my Top 25 played list on my iPod.

Since discovering the QuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble, I've picked up their other two CDs: In Venetia and Moon, Sun, & All Things. These are just as interesting as Elisa is the Fayrest Quene. In Venetia, and the name suggests, is a collection of old Venetian music. Moon, Sun, & All Things is even more non-standard, being Baroque music from Latin America written as long ago as the 1500s but not more recent than the 1700s. Very different than anything else in my collection (although it's questionable if this is truly a CD by the Ensemble since they do not appear on every track).

All of the music by the Ensemble truly evokes the world in comes from, and it's all beautiful recorded. The other thing I like is that each CD is a very different kind of music; it makes each CD of their a whole new sonic adventure. Great stuff!

26 more miles

Brings the cycling total to 254. Better still, I realized my odometer wasn't working because it wasn't snapped quite all the way down. While my mileage for this season still has to be tracked via blog, at least I'm okay to measure it now.

Mumonkan, Koan 22: Kashyapa's "Knock Down the Flagpole"

photo: Professor Gary Lee Todd

Ananda asked Kashyapa, "The World-honored One gave you the golden robe; did he give you anything else?" "Ananda!" cried Kashyapa. "Yes sir!" answered Ananda. "Knock down the flagpole at the gate," said Kashyapa.

Sometimes there are references in koans which, not understood, make it difficult to interpret them. So a little background:

• The World-honored one is the Buddha
• The giving of the golden robe refers to transmission of Zen
• The flagpole - The flag is raised when a master is about to teach
• Koan 6 (The Buddha Holds Out a Flower) describes the transmission of Zen from the Buddha to Kashyapa (called Mahakashyapa in that koan). The picture here is a wooden sculpture of his head from the Tang Dynasty.

Ananda's question is surprising if he is a monk. Zen is not given from a teacher to a student; a person finds it for themselves. There was nothing else to give since nothing at all was given. Kashyapa's response could mean several things. It could be an attempt to illustrate that a master does not need to teach his students overtly for them to find satori. It might even suggest Kashyapa refuses to teach Ananda until he meditates on his own to answer this question for himself. Sekida's notes suggest a third possibility: 'knocking down the flagpole' as striking down what one is striving to learn in order to not be deluded by some imagine purpose.

In any case, this koan once again highlights that satori or Zen is something reached by a person, not given to them by an instructor.

Influx of Input

I have been on fire the last few days: amazon.com, updating the Netflix queue, and reviewing my magazine subscriptions. Here's what's in and what's coming:

• Two new CDs by BT: If The Stars Are Eternal So Are You And I and Nuovo Morceau Subrosa
• Renewed subscription to ArtNews
• New subscription: BOMB - A magazine in which artists, musicians, authors, etc. are interviewed by other artists, musicians, authors, etc.
• Swann's Way, Marcel Proust - Gotta give this guy a try.
• Death in Venice, Thomas Mann - Angst from the early 20th Century
• The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov - Absurdist lit from Russia
• Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Comments about this novel promise that it will make Sartre and Zola look like lighthearted romps
• The Complete Stories, Franz Kafka - I have yet to read "The Metamorphosis"!
• Orpheus - directed by Jean Cocteau (this is coming on the Netflix queue) - Led to this by his connection to Andre Gide.

Lots of stuff for my mind to digest. Oh but I have neglected to mention what's here at our home now from Netflix...ah yes...The Muppets! One must moderate oneself.

Here's Animal! He's always been my favorite!

Topping 200!

Did 30 miles this morning, which takes us to 228 miles for the season. So far!

198 Miles and Rising

Jim and I have stubbornly continued biking, despite the 90+ - and even 100+ - temperatures. We're slowly getting ourselves up the ladder of mileage. Over the past several weeks, we have logged a total of 114 miles. This brings us to 198. Not too shabby for this time of year, but we'll have to keep at it to log a good solid season.

We even biked one day where it ended up getting towards 100, but we usually get out early enough so we can avoid the extreme heat. The problem is that when it doesn't cool down much at night, the morning heat can still be really nasty. On the Fourth of July we only rode 17 miles, but we were exhausted by the end and had run through all of our water. On the way back, we saw a couple of paramedics on the path coming to help a jogger who seemed to have collapsed from heat stroke. Yikes!

On a more positive note, during a ride in Blackwell we saw a baby deer just off the side of the path. We pulled up to take a look, and the baby deer stood still for a while just watching us. I almost got the feeling this little baby had not seen people before the way it just watched us.  Then he started gamboling towards us as if he trusted us! That came to a quick end when Jim saw the mother come out of the brush. She was HUGE! She just watched us and, somehow, it seemed as though she signaled to her baby, because he did a gazelle-like leap away from us to return to her side.

We watched them walk off but, at one point, the mother was coming towards us. I suddenly thought: "Um, that deer could probably kick the crap out of me if it charged and pounded me with it's front legs." But she veered off and they vanished back into the brush.

I'm pretty proud of our perseverance in the face of this inhospitable weather. Makes me want to flex my arms, gnash my teeth, and go "ROOWWWWR!"