The Alhambra -Seen from the Generalife

The focal point of our "Andalucian Odyssey" trip to Morocco and Spain in January 2011 was to be the Alhambra (al-Hamra' in Arabic). This fabled, mystical city was the center of the Nasrid Empire during Islamic rule in the Iberian peninsula. The gardens are watered through aqueducts that bring snow-melt down from the Sierra Nevada, to the south-east of the city. We had read the descriptions on-line of the Alhambra, and the passages in Philippa Gregory's "The Constant Princes" that show what the Infanta - the Princess Catalina (Catherine) who was betrothed to Prince Arthur of England - experienced during her parents' capture of the city from the Moors. Doug had also read "Tales of the Alhambra" by Washington Irving which describe his experiences living there in the 1800s, and which relate many of the tales (whether real or mythical) that he learned during his sojourn.

We spent the day wandering around the beautiful gardens, courts and rooms of the Alhambra - the Court of the Lions was under renovation (much to our disappointment) - the Court of the Myrtles, the Lindaraha, the Queen's Dressing Room, and the Princesses Tower. Then across a small valley to the Generalife, the pleasure gardens that the rulers retired to when wishing to escape the pressures of daily political life. As in every other garden throughout the Alhambra complex, running water kept up a ceaseless bubble that relaxed and soothed the spirit.

Leaving the palace complex, we descended a path through the quiet "Alhambra Gardens" and out through the Pomegranate Gate, and back into the city with its bustling traffic and frantic sellers, students, and businessmen hurrying along with their petty, unseeing affairs. In the meantime, however, our eyes had been opened, and our souls washed by the calmness and quiet of a by-gone era, an era that lives on in one small spot on earth, and now, also, in our own hearts and minds.

The Rock of Gibraltar

On January 15, 2011, Vivian and Doug went to Gibraltar. We decided to climb the Rock. At first this seemed to be quite daunting; however, when we looked at the cost of the cable car ride (26Euro, each) or the guided bus tour (25Euro, each), we decided we could do it on foot, and save over 100US$.

In all, we spent 5 hours climbing up, and 2 coming down. In the meantime, we had the freedom to stay as long as we wished at any spot that attracted us, and even saw things that the tour would not have allowed us to see.

It is no exaggeration to say that this was the high point (yes, pun intended) of our trip. Not only was it physically invigoration, but spiritually rewarding as well.

Of course, we did stop at the usual touristic points, and they were of interest. The views, however, and the scenery and vegetation are what most impressed us, and will remain the most vivid memory of this climb.

Mushrooms - Fresh and Organic

Doug and Todd Harvesting Mushrooms

Fresh Mushrooms, Organic and safe to eat - this is part of the blessing that Crystal Ridge offers. Along with squash, herbs, and - next year - apples, we may be able to Market "CROP" (Crystal Ridge Organic Produce) to neighbors and friends.

Crystal Ridge Spirit

Doug Enjoys reading - Su Shu the "Four Classics"

Crystal Ridge inspires spiritual inquiry. The "Four Books" Su Shu of the Chinese Classics allow Doug and Vivian to discover new interaction between human, nature, and spirit amid the magical surroundings.
The "Four Books" include the following:
The Great Learning
Doctrine of the Mean
The Confucian (Kong Tzu) Analects
The Sayings of Mencius (Meng Tzu)

Although most of the sayings, comments, and philosophy are related to Confucius, they all relate to the Dao De - the "Way of Power" Classic that was composed by Lao Tzu about 500 years BC.
When we are not working around the house, or on the land, in the garden, we enjoy reading.

View from Crystal Ridge, over the lake, with fall foliage.
The changing seasons each have their blessings.

This past year has seen us busy completing exterior work on the house - a stone front wall and stone pavers on the porch and stairs. With the help of our carpenter-friend, Todd, we have used both native stones and composit commercial stones.

February and Libraries

March 16, 2010,

Do you rue the loss of February?
Has the Library been buried?

American English is one of the fastest changing languages in the world. Unlike French, with its Academie, or British English, with its prestigious universities of Oxford and Cambridge, US English has no official organization that decides what "proper" English should be.

The closest thing to an arbiter of language in the US is national network and cable news. When Murrow, Cronkite or Brokaw spoke, they gave a level of authority to what was considered the "best form" of American English.

But, with the loss of these national Titans, and with the proliferation of 24-hours-a-day cable news and its ever-changing faces, there is no longer any nationally recognized paragon of "prescriptive English" - as opposed to "descriptive English" - that we can reliably refer to.

So, we come to the questions of February and the library.

February is almost everywhere now pronounced as "feb-YOU-ary" rather than "feb-RU-ary."

Likewise, now if you wish to borrow a book, you more often say you are going the the "li-BURY" rather than to the "lib-RARE-y."

It is not just in pronunciation, however, that US English as become less prescriptive. For many years i taught English to non-native speakers - both as a foreign language overseas, as well as a second language in the United States.

One of the most important lessons was on the distinction between "lie" and "lay," between "rise" and "raise," and between "sit" and "set."
"The papers lie on the table," vs. "I lay the papers on the table."
"I rise every morning," vs. "I raise my head every morning."
"The books sit on the shelf," vs. "I set the books on the shelf."

This distinction between "intransitive" and "transitive" verbs is only one area in which grammar keeps a distinction between words, while practice blurs the difference.

The distinction between "I" and "me" and between "he" and "him" or "she" and "her" also seems to have vanished in public usage, and the "subject" and "object" pronouns have been melded into complete interchangeability.
"He and I went," vs. what is often heard, "Him and me went."
"They will bring her and me," vs. what is heard, "Them will bring her and I."

One more: there is the sticky issue of using "a little" or "a few."
"there was a little rain," and "There were a few drops of rain."

When I was a child, my father was a stickler for "proper" English usage. I remember, at the age of about five, hearing him lecturing on the distinction between "I did," and "I have done."

He was a strong advocate of "prescriptive" English: the exact adherence to the "rules." He often explained that his interest in the rules of language was no doubt due to his having been brought up in an age (the early 1900s) when schools routinely taught Latin. As Latin was considered a "dead language," its rules were immutable, and were thus applied to English grammar as an ideal of what language should be.

Due to the current shift in US English usage, it is often only university students who are now expected to follow English language rules when they suddenly become aware of them at the time they are given copies of either Kate Turabian or the "Chicago Manual of Style" to prepare their theses or dissertations.

It is interesting to note that, as English is now becoming (if it has not already become) the principal language of international communication, it is this very flexibility that makes it so adaptive and so applicable across cultures and fields of study or endeavor.

The old saying that, "The Americans and the British are divided by a common language," is not only truer now that it ever has been, but the saying is perhaps the best future for this very assimilative, adaptive, and flexible language.

So whatever you say is the shortest month, or wherever you go to borrow your books, you can be sure that whomever you speak with (oops! I almost wrote "whoever") will still understand - although not always approve of - what you are saying.

Ken Follett - "The Pillars of the Earth"

Can a cathedral be the inspirational hero of a novel? Perhaps, if not the hero itself, it can be the setting that frames the lives of several heroes.

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth chronicles the lives of three generations of men and women who helped build a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge in 12^th century England, during the first 100 years following the Norman Conquest.

Tom, the skilled, but unemployed master builder, penniless and starving with his family wandering the countryside looking for work, obtains the commission to build the cathedral.

Aliana, the daughter of an earl who is dispossessed of his estates during the Anarchy - the civil war that raged between King Stephen and his challenger for the throne, King Henry the Second – survives rape and inspires others by her fierce independence.

Jack, a precocious but wild boy who grows up as an outlaw in the forests, becomes the master builder and continues the cathedral following the killing of Tom.

Ellen, the beautiful, wild woman of the forest (Jack’s mother) whom the monks believe is a witch, holds the other characters together despite her disdain for all ecclesiastic rules.

Phillip, the Prior of Kingsbridge Monastery, ties all of the characters together, and, if anyone, is the central hero.

Nathaniel, Tom’s son, is abandoned when his mother dies during childbirth, starving by the side of the road. He is rescued by Prior Phillip and eventually becomes Prior of Kingsbridge when Phillip is elevated to Bishop.

Although these individuals all exhibit a deep love for humanity – each in a unique way – they appear real through their individual weaknesses and foibles as they struggle against the lawlessness of the Anarchy in which royal, civil, and ecclesiastic leaders wield unrestrained power while contesting each other for total control over the lives of the ordinary citizenry.

The characters interact with various points in history, including the battle in Lincoln, the struggle between King Henry II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Becket’s murder.

Through all their trials and triumphs – the Cathedral is eventually built, and Aliana is restored to her father’s property – the characters in this novel have the unique ability to create an atmosphere which inspires the reader’s spirit as well as entertains the mind.

More information about Ken Follett and “The Pillars of the Earth” may be found on his web site at www.ken-follett.com/