Ilana and Charl

Ilana's back home after going to the ALA conference in San Francisco.  A late meeting made it hard for her to fly home so she went to visit my brother and stayed overnight.

There's a lot of small restaurants around him.  So they ate at a Japanese place.  She put this picture up of herself with her uncle for 'blog fodder'. 

Why not?

Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed

There were some surprises to the San Francisco Pride parade.  I joked to Dennis, where is Pit Bull Pride?  People often Teddy accuse of pit bull heritage.  He doesn't know.  He's about the sweetest boy ever.  Dennis calls him "Whiney Baby."  Dennis says you missed it, there was a Pit Bull rescue group in the Pride Parade. Ideal family pet, he said.

But the Pink Pistols guy got a very short interview.  This is a gay gun ownership group.  As soon as the guy said what his group was about, he got cut off pretty quick.  He said something very quick about ownership rights for recreational use.

He's got a point, armed gays don't get bashed.  I guess if you're packing and you want some gun violence....

Pride

Dennis and I had a quiet day; I found the San Francisco Pride parade on a webcast and we enjoyed having that on.  So corporate though, tons of companies (Apple, Safesay, Intel) with big contingents of marchers.  They didn't really have a message, just marched in the parade. Ilana was in the middle of it.  She was trying to get her Business Librarian committee work done at ALA at the Moscone Center right on Market Street.

The librarians were marching.  Some suggested that they all go together to the Parade which was right outside.  But Ilana had been waiting all year to have these meetings and she didn't want to give them up.

I did capture some good pictures.  But still, this one, on the front of the paper impressed me most.  The White House lit with the pride colors.  Cool.

The Pride festivities got a huge boost with the Supreme Court decision.  But, I don't believe that means that any same gender couple can automatically marry immediately in those 34 states.  But that decision sets the stage. 

Of course, it's good news for our family as it strengthens marriage.

I think back to my Women's Study class of last summer taught by a transgender man.  He opposed the idea of so many resources going into gay marriage.  The message was 'we're just like you.' which is very powerful.  But he sniffed at it, "But we're not like you.  Don't pretend we are." he said.

A quiet day is good.

It HAS been a good week

For all of us knee jerk liberals (and I count myself as one).

So I couldn't resist,Facebook's little thing to impose a rainbow on your profile picture.  Fun, why not?  Of course,then I would have to find that picture again to put it back.  Unless Facebook is going to make some little process to put it back.

Whatever, if that's my only problem.

So the Pride celebrations are just going to be nuts both in Seattle and San Francisco.  Ilana is at the ALA conference in San Francisco at the Moscone Center right on Market Street.  And the hotels are on the other side of Market Street.  Apparently the Pride parade runs 12 hours tomorrow right down Market Street.

May we all live in interesting times

Today, for example, I went down to Wallingford to work on a big Parent Group project at 9:30 am.  I moved a team meeting so I could spend two hours doing that.  When we got all the stuff together, there was a ton of materials.  There were only 4 of us working and I worked hard and diligently but when I left, though we had made a dent, it was NOT done.

Then to the team meeting.

Yesterday Megan asked me to sell popsicles at the Shoreline Farmers Market for a few hours in the afternoon.  I pressured Dennis to go with me, actually a good thing because I probably couldn't have done it myself.  So we did that from 1-3.

And it's still 91 degrees out which is Very Hot in Seattle.

Yes, I would call that busy.  Of course went out for burritos.

Good thoughts for Naomi who will be moving tomorrow in Phoenix.

Reflections of Charl

Charl just sent me this picture.  I thought it was a pretty good picture.  Until I thought about it,  He said he took it when he was taking the building pictures.  Could that be a reflection of himself in the glass of those office buildings?

I'm voting for that.  It's just a little off to have somebody else taking the shot.  He often works alone anyway.

Naches to Lee

My friend's son was interviewed on a San Diego television station about recent advances towards an AIDS vaccine.  A Ph.D. don't you know?  I tried to figure out how to embed it but couldn't quite figure in out.  But well-spoken.  And a proud mama!

It's 86 degrees here and that's considered Very Hot.

More thoughts about memorial services

The other day, I wrote about a memorial service we attended for somebody very dear.  He belonged to a parenting group where I am also a member.  He was active in in the group for seven years and served on the board.  Over 30 members of the group attended.  I had written that somehow I had felt that we were left out.  Another member who I saw the next day said the same thing.

But yet another member I saw today pointed out that this was just the way that Don would have wanted.  Our group is relentlessly private and confidential.  "Who you see and what is said here remains here."  Lots of the time we work behind the scenes.  Kind of like AA.  You might be really involved but nobody outside needs to know and you're not to name anybody unless purposely asked.  Very sensitive information.

Yes, I thought, I understand.  I agree.

And the 30 plus people there, we all knew how close we were to Don.  And how close he was to each of us.  And really it didn't have to be acknowledged publicly. Because we all knew.

That's what counts.

Father's Day

Susanna called and said she wanted to organize a Father's Day barbecue at our house.  Fine but we don't have a barbecue.  No problem, Dave (Megan's dad) would bring one.  Danny and Jessica came, also their friend Erin.  And Megan, of course.  Plus we had four dogs.

Ended up Dave didn't bring the barbecue but he brought some ribs he cooked at home.  Others brought a lot of food.  Susanna, first thing, announced she was going to rake our yard because they wanted to play this game.  So she did.  OK, so our landscape theme is packed dirt.  But look...the lower left hand corner, there's a few grassies.  I can't even grow dandelions.  The problem lies with the big trees.  Can you believe that, when we moved in, we had a thick well established lawn back there.  But, it made a great playing surface for that game, whatever it was.  All of the young adults played.

Shirra, our elderly border collie, in the foreground, had a wonderful time.  She has so much better traction in the back yard.  She paced around, visiting people and hanging out with everybody the entire time.  The other dog in the picture is Hammy, Susanna and Megan's dog.

Fun time.

Don's memorial

We went to Don's memorial today.  Met his children and grandchildren who I've heard so much about.  A trio played piano, violin, cello.  Some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.  Heavenly and celestial, I thought.  Many people spoke about his career as a musician, conductor and advocate for orchestras.  The picture displayed were all about that.  So were the speakers except a niece and nephew. And one son.

What felt so peculiar that many Changes people were there, probably about 30.  Many of us came.  But that part of his life was not mentioned.  Maybe it's too private.  But my involvement with Don was not trivial nor discounted.  I've known Don and Meryl for seven years.  And pretty closely.  I've seen them a lot, listened to them, shared with them..  Sometimes sobbed with them, we've all gotten through tough times.  As I said, I have a hole in my heart from his absence.  When I heard, I thought what would Don want me to do?  Immediately I knew the answer, take care of Meryl.  and I will, to the best of my ability.  He meant a lot to many people.  When I saw him, he always hugged me and I felt he was very happy to see me.  I was fond of him and he was of me.  Yes, he may have made many people feel that way but it doesn't take away from the authenticity.

So somehow I felt that we were missing from the memorial. Though we were there in force to honor Don.  Fiercely, I might add.

Afterwrd we went out with Mark and Teru.  Fun!  And spur of the moment.

Crown reunion picture

A picture from the April/May trip.  Our first stop was Santa Cruz to help give a UCSC reuntion party.  UCSC's 50th anniversary.  We heard about parties (alums from different years) happening all over town.  Us '74 Crownies. we were fortunate to have the party at JJ's house.  She's got the house for the party, no question.  OK, it was my idea.

Here, some people dropped by the day before, just to talk about arrangements, we eventually had about 15 people.  Barry, JJ and Laura.  Nice picture. can you feel how happy we are to be together again.  Barry and I had been planning the party for months and, truly, I can't think of a nicer person to work with.  All three of these people have been successful in research and academic pursuits.  I'm just the later bloomer.  I think somebody brought a picture book from the early 1970s and we're having a great time looking at the pictures.

We don't have to do this every time or even every year but when you've been in a special place at a special time, why lose those people?  Crown College UCSC 1970, it had it's wonder.  Interesting that we all say that we knew it at the time.

Lynne W is not in this pic, have I put a picture up of her?  That made it extra special.

Had some crazy turns of the cornerstone deposit project, a fascinating story has landed in my lap.  And it happens right here in Seattle.  I'll write about that another time.

As we have exited out of being the family with four kids into the adult world, some weekends have been quiet.  But not this weekend.  But a lot of it is parent group stuff.  Plus our anniversary, 39 years.  Team meetings tonight and tomorrow morning, Don T's memorial Saturday afternoon (sad, but necessary, omm), then Dennis and I go out for brunch, then a not complicated moveout that has already been called off twice.  Then a Father's Day barbecue at our house.  Except we don't have a barbecue.  According to Susanna, she's in with Danny and Dave, Megan's dad is coming with a barbecue and they're doing all the food.   So we'll see, the stores are open.

What's happening on my street

Resurfacing!  New asphalt or tar or whatever it is.  I don't remember them ever doing it and we've lived here since 1987.  It's pointless to ask them about the schedule.  They'll tell you one thing that do something else.  Because the tar is set early in the day, I'll probably be able to get out later.

See that backhoe?  Easy to see how our mailboxes and our utility canister got knocked down.  Those mailboxes have been repaired so many times.

All rather exciting.  Both pictures are taken from my front yard.  Even have that rolling thing in my driveway.

I've always thought that all of that surface was wasteful.  We should have a garden in the middle.  But it's not like I'm going to do that in this lifetime.

Sun bathing season has opened!

Mid June in Seattle and summer is now a possibility.  You know what that means, time for Teddy and Starbaby to work on their sun bathing.  Here's some shots taken on three consecutive days this week.  They're committed, have been for years.  Make no mistake, Starbaby sets the whole thing up.  Tedd just goes along because Starbaby is the boss of him (everybody is).

Danny's birthday last week

Here's the crew for our dinner at the trendy taiwanese dumpling place.  Quite tasty.  We didn't have to wait quite as long as we did the night after xmas.  But we did have to wait about 45 minutes on a Monday evening in June.  I enjoyed it; definitely pricier than our regular noodle house.

Happy Brithday Danny.  You can see the ring on Megan's finger.  I showed Danny the baby picture I had put on my blog "Just so you don't put it on Facebook," he muttered.

People definitely did not dressed up; that's ok with me.  Wish Ilana, Matt and Naomi were here but they're off seeking their fortune in other states. 

Susanna, Danny, Jessica, Megan

Demolition of that building

Yesterday, Dennis and I went down to the site of the former and present buildings of Temple De Hirsch Sinai in the Capital Hill neighborhood.  Today, poking around, I found some photos from special collection of the demolition of the old temple.  Taken by Art Siegal from UW Special Collections website

This is one of the earliest shots which show most of the whole building. The front part is still there.  I'm still wondering if they paid any attention to the cornerstone.

Reading Neil Harris' life cycle book, people living in buildings years later lose track of the cornerstone.  Dennis points out that really nobody at Mishkan Israel seem to care about the cornerstone of their oldbuilding.  People have other things to be concerned about.

Ruins of the old temple

Today, Dennis and I had a bonus lunch at La Raza.  Juan gave me gift certificate for the Changes auction.

Then we went downtown to Temple De Hirsch Sinai to take a look around.  I can see the letterboxing has really prepared us for this work.  They had built a temple with a cornerstone ceremony in 1907.  Then, on the same block they built some more buildings culminating with their major temple built in 1960 seating 1000 people.  They must have owned the whole block.  In Capital Hill, a very nice neighborhood.

So I wondered, where is this cornerstone from the first temple.  I wanted to go down there and poke around, show a little effort before asking questions.  Beautiful day today.  Somehow everything that we had scheduled got cancelled.  When we got there, we were surprised to find that the front part of the building including the steps and columns had been spared.  They still stood though the rest of the building was gone.  I felt that they were still considering the site as consecrated land.  So, my feeling is that the cornerstone with the materials in it are still there.  We looked and looked but could not find it.  Definitely gives me a starting point.

We agreed, that this building was much smaller than the Mishkan Israel building of 1896 in New Haven,.  We walked around the whole block looking for some other cornerstone looking things.  We found something suspicious in the locked parking lot.

Art at the Senior Center

This evening, Dennis and I went to a community event for the Northshore Senior Day Center where my friend Karen works.

Karen of my writing group, formerly known as the Inner Circle, now known as the Poker Group.  No, we don't play poker.  She runs an art class for the attendees at the day center.  She worked very hard to make this exhibit featured in one of the rooms.  She said the artists were very impressed at seeing their artwork displayed.

I know that she arranged all of this herself.  I made a contribution to purchase art supplies.

But here's the artist herself!

Those darn cornerstones

What truly are the intentions of the cornerstone layers?  They all seem to have the silver trowel.  They all get current events, lists and activities dumped into the metal boxes that are put in hollowed part of the actual stone.  This Connecticut high school recovered their original box had been put in the cornerstone of their old building in 1884.  They knocked it down in 1968.  However, nobody could really remember where it was.  They had the workmen look out for it.  The stone itself got bulldozed but the box survived.

This what was in it:

Contents of the cornerstone are: a copy of the Holy Bible, the report of the State Board of Education, the school laws of Connecticut, the names of the teachers off all of the public and private schools in the vicinity, a United States silver dollar of 1884, a copy of the the Connecticut Courant dated Oct 29, 1764 (the first paper printed in Connecticut), also two copies of the paper dated April 17 and 18, 1884, the Saugatuck Journal of 1828, the Westport Advertiser of October and November 1867, the Westporter (the town paper) of March 25, 18756 and of April 19, 1884..  An almanac printed in 1789, a copy of the program at the laying of the cornerstone, a report of the activities of the cornerstone committee, a biographical sketch of Horace Staples, a list of the fire companies of the town, the by-laws of the Compo (fire) Engine company, the bylaws of the Temple Lodge, the names of the architects who drew the plans of the building, the names of the workmen employed in laying the foundation.

A report of the 17^th regiment, a Fairfield paper dated August 1883, a list of the officers and members of the Westport band, the names of the singers and speakers of the occasion, copies of each of the New York papers of that day, a dollar bill of 1860 of the old Saugatuck bank, passbook No. 1374 of the Westport bank, a photograph of Horace Staples, the Bridgeport Standard dated February 27, 1884, copy of the Boston News Letter (the first paper in American dated April 17, 1704, the Connecticut Almanac of 1884, the names of all the churches and clergy in the vicinity.

How big was the box anyway?  So much stuff?  What we they thinking?  Seriously what are they doing?  Are they expecting to teach some lessons to some dystopian future?  Little green men in space ships?  Do they want to validate their own civic activities and community to some future generation who may have forgotten all about them?

It's not a time capsule because there's no plan to recover it at a particular date.  And, as far as I can tell, there's no  recovery plan at all.  The only ay you can get it is to knock the building down or get things down to the foundation.

Neil Harris in his book looks at this rigorously.  But his buildings almost become sentient, not sure if I'm ready to go that far.

The picture above was a 1956 cornerstone laying on an alumni building at North Carolina State.  White men presiding.  But look there's always a silver trowel involved.

American Jewish Archives

I've been corresponding (by email and phone) with a senior archivist at the American Jewish Archives.  I am giving them some of my work so others can use it.  Of course, I talk up Maier Zunder's scrapbook, send him some images.  They're interested.  Wanted 'the scans'.  Um, I am realizing that we really indulged in amateur archivism.  There aren't any scans; we took photos.  With my brother's tripod at a table in the center area of the Ethnic Heritage Center.  The images include our gloved fingers and sometimes rulers used to keep the documents flat.  Sometimes took more than one image of a page if articles were folded up or there was some document with more than one page.  Dennis concatenated the images into two big .pdf files which we put on a DVD for Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven.  And then the paper version in a binder with the German translations interspersed.

I called the archivist, he said he would like the paper version (!).  Surprised me.  I can do it, I can make a copy of the binder I have and make a copy for him.

Hmmm, they have some research fellowships and they consider independent scholars. Could be something for the future.  It could happen.

A picture of their reading room in Cincinnati.

Susanna's proposal

Susanna and Megan are going to get married!  Details still unknown.  But she, along with some photographer and videographer made this video of the excitement.  As Megan told me last night, apparently everybody knew about but her!  Susanna said their friends who were shooting the action walked around the beach surreptitiously staying with other groups of people so Megan wouldn't see them.  Funny!

I think that I posted the one she made two years ago that was so cute.  This one is even better.  Understandably popsicle sticks played a big role.  But they're kind of hard to read to view it full screen.

A talent!  Megan and her team are working VERY hard making popsicles to deliver to the VIP tents for the US Open.

Hmmm... the framing doesn't seem to work too well.  Here's the direct link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB8fmPCUxjs

Happy Birthday Danny!

Danny is 33 years old today.  He's married, has his own home, he's doing good!  Soon, we'll be taking him out to dinner.  Along with my daughter in law Jessica.  And Susanna  Megan may be too busy making popsicles.  Big time popsicle season.

But, in his honor, I will post a picture when he's young, ok it's a baby picture.  How old is he here?  Seven months, eight months?  I don't remember.  My kids didn't walk early except for Susanna who was outta here!  I always liked this ducky picture.  Pretty cute!  Now he's all grown up!!!

We're going to that trendy taiwanese place that Susanna also wanted for her birthday.  Din Tai Fung at University Village.  It was crazy crowded there last holiday season.  Danny thinks it won't be too bad, Monday night.  Plus the weather's really good so people will be out.

I did like the series of pictures I put up a number of months ago with Danny and Ben as three year olds playing together and then Ben being best man at Danny's wedding.

Encouraging news

Above picture was taken on May 1, 2015 at Mishkan Israel in New Haven during the reception following the keynote speech, part of Friday night services of History Weekend.  The main organizers.  Rabbi Brockman of the congregation with his hands outstretched, Shari Rabin, the Yale graduate student who organized and moderated the panel, off to a faculty position at College of Charleston, and Gary Zola with the red hair.  He's the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archive and faculty member at Hebrew Union College.  He gave the Keynote Speech.  The special guest.

I spoke with Gary Zola during the reception.  Introduced myself, told him what I was working on.  He immediately asked me to submit my work to the American Jewish Archive.  Sure, yeah, ok.  My sister knew him from years ago and she had mentioned that he was very approachable.  Enjoyed his speech.  My part in the panel was the next day.

So, last week, I remembered and organized my materials, my papers, .pdf of the devotional exercise paper, mentioned the short scrapbook piece, the cornerstone project which rabbi tried to head off.  What the heck, I sent it off.  I knew I would get some kind of reply....or not.  Lots of people I write ignore me.

Last night I got the most encouraging validating reply from him, referring me to some papers and requesting the editor of their journal and the senior archivist to be sure to be in contact and help me.  He ended "I most definitely want to encourage you." 

Wow, I'm still stunned and thrilled with his gracious response.  Wow, I'm reading everything he sent and maybe the American Jewish Archives journal might be home for the Maier Zunder paper.  Anyway this is a most surprising and encouraging development.

Congratulations Susanna and Megan!

I knew that Susanna had the ring and she was going to 'pop the question' when they went on a trip to Canon Beach.  And she said yes!  So now we'll wait and see about what they decide to do.  But they look pretty darn happy in this picture.

I'm totally pleased.  Megan has been part of our family for a long time and she's a great counterpart to the high spirited Susanna.

Everybody here wants to get married in the summer.  But Megan's popsicle business, Seattle Pops, is really going strong.  It's seasonal around here.  Summer is so busy with the farmer's markets and the other summer activities.  I know they sold 20K popsicles their first year and all parts of the business are much stronger this year.  Good weather helps!  Plus they are in bigger events (how about the US Open), in some restaurants and grocery stores.

Susanna's pretty busy with her occupational therapist job

Another building ritual

Yesterday as I was thinking and working on consecrating buildings and cornerstones, this picture popped up in the Oregon Softball Twitter feed.  Which has nothing to do with my research projects.

But here's another building rite, a ground-breaking.  In this case for Sanders Stadium for Oregon Softball.  Purely ceremonial like cornerstone laying.  And with ceremonial objects; those shovels definitely decorative.  Don't recognize anybody in picture, maybe that's Oregon Coach Mike White in the middle.  Where's Becky Sisley?  Shouldn't she be there? 

In the twitter feed, there's a comment by AD Rob Mullens "We've fantasized about this day for a long time."  Really?  Not sure I believe that.  It seemed that the athletic department was fine with letting the women's softball team play in substandard facilities for years.  It wasn't that long ago before I got them to get rid of the port-a-potties.  There seemed to be no urgency at all to make a major move to improve Howe Field.

For the 1895 cornerstone laying for Mishkan Israel, they gave out ceremonial silver trowels to mark the occasion.  Don't know where any of those might be.  That also implies a mason's influence.

Howe Field is really all gone, they've left that small press box structure.

Cornerstones and Masons

This is a portion of a picture that I posted recently talking about the cornerstone laying of Temple De Hirsch in 1901.  Check out the symbol on the side of the stone.  Yup, it's a masonic symbol.  Freemasonry can produce a lot of controversy especially among people not familiar with the order.  My father, grandfather, great great grandfather and other relatives (even Maier Zunder) have all been members of masonic lodges at some time in their lives.  As an early adolescent I was a member of Job's daughters, loved all that great ritual.

The Masons had their roots as masons, bricklayers, it's a very old order.  But apparently, one thing they do (and maybe still do) is to do cornerstone laying ceremonies of public and religious buildings.  Even George Washington conducted a masonic cornerstone laying on the Capital though the box is unfound and contents unknown (according to Time Magazine).  So the masonic symbol really didn't have much to do with the fact that this building (which never was built at that location) was to be a Jewish synagogue as much as they may have participated in the ceremony.

Reading Jarvis "Time Capsules: A Cultural History", I realize that the boxes put into cornerstones are not time capsules because time capsules have specified dates in the future where they will be opened.  Not so with cornerstone layings.  Maybe more related to relics buried when building churches to consecrate the site.

Turns out there's one associated with Denny Hall, the oldest building at the University of Washington.  The original site of the university was in downtown Seattle.  When the current site was being developed, the contents of the cornerstone in the original building from 1861 was recovered and deposited in the current building.

So it all becomes more complicated.

Trail Ride

When we were in Arizona, Dennis and Naomi went for a hike.  In the middle of the afternoon in May.  Maybe a bit much but they enjoyed it.  Here's Naomi at that same desert park on a trail ride.  On horses!

I'm prepared to admit, but only sort of, that the desert can be beautiful.  It looks like a good time on the horses.  They weren't on their own; they guy at the front is leading them.  Naomi's the one with the turquoise shirt.