Memorial Day 2013

Music appropriate for the day - the great Eric Bogle's "No Man's Land", reaction to the death of a WWI soldier and a rumination on the nature of war and the governments that declare it.

War is sometimes necessary, but there's nothing glorious about it whatsoever. As General William Tecumseh Sherman is famous for telling some new recruits in 1879: "There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all Hell." However, most wars aren't necessary at all, but rather the result of greed, aggression, or failed foreign policy - avoidable, except that those who declared them had a vested interest in waging war. Someone somewhere (I forget who now) said that if the old men who declare war had to fight in them we'd have world peace tomorrow. Another quote about war, this time about the causes, come from Baha'i leader 'Abdu'l-Baha on a visit to Paris in 1912: "Land belongs not to one people, but to all people. This earth is not man's home, but his tomb. It is for their tombs these men are fighting."

And those who suffer are the ones sent to fight for somebody else's cause. As Eric Bogle says in "No Man's Land":

And I can't help but wonder, now Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you 'The Cause?'
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.

And again, as John McCutcheon writes in his own song "Christmas in the Trenches":

The ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame,
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

So today we pay respects to the young men and women who were sent to do somebody else's dirty work. We pray long and hard that humanity will come to its senses and start to see war as a last resort and not as a standard foreign policy tool. And we pray that those now in harm's way in another part of the world come home safe and sound.

Photo © 2009 and text © 2010 by A. Roy Hilbinger; lyrics to "No Man's Land" © 1976 by Eric Bogle; lyrics to "Christmas in the Trenches" © 1984 by John McCutcheon.

Scenes from the Down Time

I was without a computer for two weeks, and you know I was going crazy! But even though I couldn't download shots taken anywhere, the camera was still busy during my down time. I took a lot of shots, and you can see the entire web album here, but here are some of the best of the lot: some Columbine growing along Neff Ave.; Mallard ducklings in the Dykeman Springs wetlands; Dame's Rocket growing along the Dykeman Walking Trail; and the Dykeman Walking Trail meandering into the woods.

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Out On Errands

Just a single day off today, so I had to take shots on my way to the grocery store. I will admit to a certain degree of ambling on the way. Still, there were only three that passed quality control (web album here): a Painted Turtle in the Dykeman Springs Wetlands swamp; a mama Mallard and her ducklings on the north duck pond; and a Song Sparrow singing alongside the Dykeman Walking Trail. Enjoy!

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Out in the Country

I went walking in farm country southwest of Shippensburg today to catch the gradual greening of the land. On both sides of Rt. 11, with views of South Mountain and Blue Mountain, farms, barns, railroad tracks, silos; you name it, I got it. Ten photos passed quality control, and you can see all of them in their home Picasa web album. I include four of them below: a driveway to nowhere on Old Scotland Rd.; the view from the railroad crossing on Mt. Rock Rd.; a farm on Mt. Rock Rd.; and a panoramic view from Clearfield Rd. Enjoy!

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Ahhhhhhhhh!

Yes indeed! That's me relaxing with a pint of fine ale in the Archie Bunker chair after a particularly stressful weekend. Spring has arrived and business in the garden center at the Shippensburg Lowe's has ramped up dramatically. Naturally, being a big box store, we're drastically understaffed to keep up with both customer service and restocking. Hence the Archie Bunker chair and the beer today. And the lunch that went with that beer below:

Yeah, I tend to avoid the pre-cut ham usually available; I buy a chunk of ham and slice it myself with a knife, not a machine. I like thick slices. Supper this evening follows in the same hedonistic footsteps: broiled salmon, roasted baby red potatoes, and steamed broccoli, washed down with a nice Pinot Grigio. Easy to cook, easy to eat, and eminently tasty! I enjoy my relaxation.

Today also happens to be Earth Day. Now I normally don't tend to celebrate the day here since most of my posts tend to deal with the glory and sacredness of Mama Gaia. But I just happened to take some pictures in my wanderings today that are appropriate to the celebration of the wonders of creation: a female Red-winged Blackbird eying me warily; some Painted Turtles doing same; a Rainbow Trout swimming in the north duck pond of the Dykeman Springs wetlands; and a mating pair of Mallards on the same pond. Enjoy!

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Local Color

Spring has finally come to Central PA. Today was errands day for me, so while the laundry was washing and on the walk to the grocery store I took pictures of Spring springing up around us. Ten shots passed quality control, and you can view the whole web album here. Here are some shots to get you interested: a new addition to the gazebo park across the street from me; McLean House in full bloom; Apple blossoms on the Dykeman Walking Trail; and a Canada Goose floating amidst reflections on the north duck pond in the Dykeman Springs wetlands. In the web album there are also shots of the creek - both in the Dykeman wetlands and at King St. - some ducks, lots of green, and lots of colorful blooms. Enjoy!

Now go see the rest!

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

An Important Space Flight Anniversary

On this day, April 12, in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to launch into space. Twenty years later on the same date, the first NASA shuttle launch occurred. So this is a pretty important date in the history of space flight. Since it's been raining today and I didn't go out to  take pictures, I thought I'd post a celebration of space flight.

Of course, being me, that means this celebration will consist of music videos, specifically of contemporary music at least nominally referring to space flight. So get ready to blast off into outer space with the likes of David Bowie, Elton John, and Pink Floyd.

When thinking about this anniversary this morning, the first tune to pop into my head was David Bowie's "Space Oddity". Who in my generation can forget that image of Major Tom drifting off into space?

 

Then there's Elton John's "Rocket Man", based on a Ray Bradbury short story describing a Mars-bound astronaut's thoughts about leaving his family to do his job. Heavy stuff for a pop ballad!

 

 Then there's Pink Floyd. What can I say? Syd Barrett may have been over-the-top unstable, but man did he have a creative imagination!

 

Billy Thorpe was an English/Australian musician who with his band The Aztecs practically invented the Aussie pub rock scene. After the Aztecs broke up he came to the US in 1976 and pursued a career as a TV producer and soundtrack composer. One of the first things he released here in the US was his inimitable Children of the Sun space opera. This is the title song of that album.

 

I love The Police! "Walking On the Moon" is one of the songs only nominally related to space flight. The original video of the song involved The Police walking and playing around Cape Canaveral, as well as incorporating NASA film clips of launching rockets, etc. Unfortunately YouTube doesn't have that video. So you'll just have to make do with the song.

 

One last entry. In 1994 Thomas Dolby (and I'm a HUGE fan of his music) got involved with the Mind's Eye project, which teamed computer animators and musicians together to create short movies (Jan Hammer was another musician involved in the project). Dolby's movie was called The Gate to the Mind's Eye,  and the tune you're about to hear is called "N.E.O" (Near Earth Object). Featured in this tune is the voice of Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, an Italian astrophysicist who was also trained as an opera singer and who pioneered techniques to convert radio waves from space objects into sound. She made an album of the results, but that wasn't involved in this clip; this is all Mr. Dolby's music!

 

And that's my space flight celebration. Enjoy!

Scenes from the Macro-World: Early Spring

When I went out the door this morning for a walk, all I could think was: "Well there you are!" Yes, faithful reader, Spring has finally arrived in Central PA. On my way to the grocery store I passed through the Dykeman Springs Wetlands park via the Dykeman Walking Trail. I took a decent amount of photos, but the following two macro shots are so much better than the rest that I felt they were the only ones worth posting. They're really tiny flowers; the white ones are Chickweed and the blue ones are Corn Speedwell. Yes, I did my patented belly crawl to get these; this may have been the first time I did that here in Shippensburg. I don't think I had an audience this time, as I often did in Newport. In any case, enjoy!

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Easter Morning Walk

It's Easter, but we still haven't got much of a Spring going here as yet; the trees are still bare, the grass is still brown, and not much is blooming but some brave early blooms of the Narcissus family. Today was sorta chilly, and I came in from my walk when it started up with a cold rain. It's still raining.

Still, I wandered out looking for things that would catch my eye. I went up to Spring Hill Cemetery, then wandered back to King St. and wandered for a bit in the area behind King St. These things caught my eye (and you can view them as a web album or slide show here): some brave Daffodils blooming along W. King St.; two views of South Mountain from the cemetery; the graves of two young sons of the unfortunate Moses and Margaret Cope, one aged 6 years and the other 17; an old wrought iron fence by the library on W. King; an old mill converted to apartments along Branch Creek on W. King; and the window sign on the Longhorn Country Dance Club on N. Fayette St. I hope you find these sights as interesting as I did.

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Oops, She Did It Again!

Yup, Mama Gaia has done it again! Here we are with more snow after the snow season is supposed to be done with. I went for a walk over to the Dykeman Walking Trail and the Dykeman Springs Wetlands this morning. Fourteen shots passed quality control; obviously I'm not going to post all of them here, so if you want to see the whole bit, click here to visit the web album. Here are a few to whet your appetite.

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Note: Please excuse the word verification on the comments. Unfortunately I've been being overrun by comment spam recently, so I've had to take appropriate action.

Spring - Blooms & Bach

Yesterday (March 20) was the Vernal Equinox. However, there's no real sign of Spring around. It was cold and blustery yesterday, and today was even colder if somewhat less blustery. Remember that photo of the Daffodils springing up in the woods from a couple of weeks ago? Well, they're still the same; they've gotten no nearer to actually blooming in those two weeks. And according to the weather picture, we may not get any real Springlike conditions until April. 

I knew before I headed out yesterday that there wouldn't be much in the way of Spring to capture, so I went looking for good black and white shots that emphasized the lack thereof. The two pictures below are the best of the bunch.

 

The other event occurring this time of year happens today - J.S. Bach's birthday. And as longtime readers of this blog know, I'm a faithful annual celebrator. This year I have two treats for you: the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048, with the Orchestra Mozart conducted by Claudio Abbado; and Leopold Stokowski's brilliant orchestral setting of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 from the Disney movie Fantasia.

Photos © 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Sunday Morning Service

On Sunday morning I go to church...

... and sit in a pew...

... to contemplate the sacred.

Photos & text © 2013 and video created 2007 by A. Roy Hilbinger

Winter's Last Hurrah?

We got a storm this past Wednesday, March 6. I got some photos on the way to work that morning, but this is the first chance I've had to post them; work, tiredness after work, and then illness yesterday got in the way. But now here they are! This weekend we're up in the mid 50s (around 12º to 13º C), and Wednesday's snow is all gone. But I'm wondering how much of a last hurrah it really was; they're getting another blizzard out in Colorado and the Plains states. March is such a tricky month!

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger

It's Still Winter, But...

... there are signs of Spring emerging. I went on a walk through the Dykeman Springs wetlands this morning; the temps aren't getting out of the 30s (-1º - 4º C) today, but still there were signs. Like Daffodils shooting up above ground along the Walking Trail, and Mallards pairing up for the Spring mating. The planet is tilting back again.

© 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger