Cuyahoga Falls

Lake Anna Barberton has a pair of white swan (Abra & Cadabra). A graveyard in Cuyahoga Falls has a pond of fowl, including a pair of black swan. I wonder whether this counts as a 'life bird' on a birder's list.

Cuyahoga Falls is Akron's largest suburb. It was named for the falls that had been here. The dam has created a lake, which has engulfed much of the old falls. This is in Gorge Summit (Akron) Metropark.

Gorge Akron Metropark has boulders and ledges of Sharon conglomerate, some called puddingstone. Conglomerate is like concrete, where lime cement has pieces and chunks of harder rocks embedded, and sandstone. A few of the boulders have many little cavities, like pockmarks--mini potholes.

2018 Miscellany #2

Often during Saturday and Sunday mornings there is very little traffic downtown (unless there is a marathon or biking event, and then it's all detours). There is still some stuff to see. The city of Cleveland is doing its damnest to eliminate on street parking. Parking meters are covered up and verboten (parking is free on weekends), other open spots have also become verboten, even on streets that have little traffic on weekdays. On the way to the library, these two people were employed and incognito:

  underneath the spiral staircase in the new library building

Apollo's fire children concert Joseph Gascho harpsichordist

I was having a conversation about picture taking, i said that light is the most important. The best light is in the morning before coffee time (for reference, i was on a job once, and someone asked "when's coffee?"; someone answered, "at 9.30, like its been for the last fifty years in this local"). This morning the light was good on St. Colman. My friend said, "the angle", he had seen some of my fotos.

the ice cross up and melting

 
Usually, i would have the angle showing Vladimir's first, but Good Shepherd Methodist still has some of its Christmas stuff up.

 Above the 'A' and 'C' of Peace, and on the far right, drips can be seen.

 

The Baptism of Jesus is January 6th, well on the old calendar that was yesterday. To-day it is sunny, and it was in the low 40s when i went by St. Vladimir's (Parma), which has a southern exposure. They put up an ice cross for the holiday, to-day it was melting at a noticeable drip.

Revisiting Nativity of Mary Cleveland

Just recently, i visited Nativity of Mary Cleveland [click], [click]. In a short time it has gotten worse. The scrappers and vandals made progress in three weeks of mostly arctic weather. When they attack, to destroy, it can be done quickly.

 When this this was a Catholic church this is the mural work that was done during a 1958 remodel.

 This "artwork" is from the new year.

 The plastic tops of the spray paint cans are conveniently in reach.

 

  The pews are neither floating or cantilevered, the sides have been taken.

 

This cupola has all is copper sheathing gone. There are fotos of the atomic bombings in Japan, where the metal skeleton is all that remains from the dome of a (if i remember correctly, i could search) church.

 There is little copper to steal on the other cupola.

2018 Miscellany #1

Sunday, we were in arctic chill. A warm spot in town is Rockefeller Greenhouse. The sun was causing the snow to slide down the glassy roof, and snow and clouds overlapped in view.

 Orange tree in fruit, in Cleveland, the middle of January.

A few feet away were some garish ornaments saved from an old railroad station.

 Old St. Mary Romanian Orthodox is part of Cleveland Public Theatre.

Nativity of Mary has a very strong balcony/choir floor, but the building can not stand for long.

St. Casimir had a Christmas Pageant (Jaselka) performed by children form Polish school.

On a cold and snowy Monday went to the early show at the pictures. They had a pretty good crowd, people applauded during the movie. Meryl Streep's Katharine Graham reminded me of her Florence Foster Jenkins role. Tom Hanks chewed a little scenery. The best actor, i thought, was Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bagdikian, “Ben, I might have something”, and “It’s just...government secrets”. The movie begins in the jungle of war in Viet Nam, and ends in the Watergate break-in. In between is the publication of the Ellsberg papers [and Graham's leadership in maintaining the paper in business]. It hit Ben Bradlee...“the lies...the lies...”. 

Some have this as the best movie of the year. I thought Dunkirk was better, but this may be the most important movie of the year.  “The only way to protect the right to publish is to publish”. “70% (of the reason we stayed in Viet Nam) was to avoid the humiliation of an American defeat.”

There were a few fun points. [unfortunately, i am not sure of the wording] “Well if you were a reporter, and not a novelist, when would it be ready?”. The girl who delivers the shoe box is the director's daughter, “Are you somebody important?”.

“I have the best words”

On some journal posts [click], i wrote about words (language, semantics) and their relation to truth and reality. Accuracy, and honesty are important. What passes on local television as speech is dumbed down into advertising language to tease (the use of some words are nearly always wrong: “even”, “unthinkable”). Now we have another problem in quotation and translation. Donald, contrary to his stated “I have the best words”, certainly does not. His speech is middling elementary school. It is also publicly crude. His latest bon mot would not have been printable. Other men holding his current office, would use this language in private. When the Nixon tapes came out, the transcript was full of “expletive[s] deleted”. At the time, i had to go to the dictionary for “expletive”.  American journalism is almost forced to quote Trump verbatim. Non-English speaking countries are having to use equivalent terms: “agujeros de mierda”, “pays de merde”, “drecksloch”, “Bongoland”.  BUT, everyone knew this before the election.

3 Kings

Matthew begins the second chapter of his Gospel, "When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.  Saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to adore him."  This is one of the epiphanies. The name and number of the wise men are not given by Matthew. Tradition has three: Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, and their holy day is the 6th of January. This afternoon Saint Casimir had a Pasterka(Shepherds) Mass for the greater Cleveland Polish community. Three men of the parish stood in for the kings. Pasterka Mass is usually Christmas Eve, by having one on Epiphany Sunday the three kings can join the pageantry.