Cafe Vienna

The past few days have been full of snow, wind, and drifts, and so we have taken time to review our photo albums and recall past trips and experiences. Our visit to Vienna in 2000 is a particularly fond memory.

"Cafe Terrace at Night," Vincent van Gogh, 1888

Cafe Vienna
(Tune from "Adult All-in-One Course-Level 1"

Soft and quiet, in the moonlight,
With the starlight above us;
Sitting with you, by the candles,
All around us is music.
When you listen, you can hear it,
Soaring high, signing deeply;
In your eyes, Dear, shines the love-light
That forever is clear.

Let's go dancing, let's go prancing,
Through the streets of the city;
Let's go singing, let's go ringing,
Let's run gaily through the town.
Glockenspiels chime, carolers all rhyme,
In traditional cadence;
Let us join voice and shout in glee,
With the immortal tunes.

Mozart's house, where in the attic,
He wrote spirit-filled sonnets;
In the park, by Ludwig's statue,
Let our hearts sing their praises,
By the Danube, Opera Platz,
There are mem'ries so precious;
But the best, Dear, is right here, Dear:
You, and Cafe Vienna,

Lyrics (c) Doug Ewing
04 December 2009

This tune, and these lyrics, recall our one-day visit to Vienna on November 27, 2000, during which we literally "ran through the town," in order to see as much as possible. The places mentioned are still fresh and vivid in our memory. The painting by van Gogh particularly inspires our feelings.

Alpine Melody Lyrics

Crystal Ridge in Fall

Music that moves us needs lyrics to complement it.
As Vivian practices the piano, I write lyrics. You may listen to the tune for "Alpine Melody" by searching in YouTube.

Alpine Melody
(Tune from "Adult All-in-One Course - Level 1)


Yodels echo, 'tween the hills,
Lea and dale - stream and vale;
Let's go hiking, singing clear,
Alpine melodies.

Morning fog cloaks beast and man,
In embrace - mystery;
Tinkling cow bells pierce the dawn,
Cow herds trudge along.

Deer and vixen scurry past,
To their lairs - there to fast
'Till at noontime to emerge,
Foraging anew.

You and I enjoy this scene,
Stand in awe - calm - serene;
Then we wend our trail once more,
Humming Alpine tunes.

Lyrics (c) Doug Ewing
17 January 2010

At Crystal Ridge - our 15-acre retreat in the Catskill Mountains - we see scenes that inspire such thoughts. The fog and clear air evoke images of the European Alps.

Human Resiliance

15 January 2010
With all of my continuing concern for individuals around the world who are frustrated by governments and constrained by occupations, I can not help paying attention to the massive suffering taking place in Haiti.
This morning on CNN, there was a news clip that showed Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who was reporting on the medical aspects of the devastation, caring for a 15-day-old baby with a head wound.
Immediately my mind returned to a time 50 years ago when I had witnessed a doctor caring for a newborn in the tiny village of Idna just outside Hebron in Palestine. The baby had been delivered with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, and as the World Council of Churches doctor was in the village for the weekly "Clinic Day," relatives had summoned him to care for the mother and her newborn.
This was one of the life-changing moments as I, a naive 23-year-old, stood outside the door of the house and experienced for the first time in my life the strength that exists in the frail collection of plasma and electrical impulses that we call our human existence.
Today, seeing the care that Dr. Gupta gave to the baby in Haiti, and watching the following CNN report about the US grad student who was studying in Haiti and had lost her leg, confirmed to me - again - that hope is not a cliche, but a real and tangible part of our cosmic essence. (DE)

Bird in Grand Central Terminal

14 January 2010
Last night upon entering Grand Central Terminal, I noticed a bird, probably a pigeon, flying around the long entry passage. I then composed the following on the train going home.

Bird in Grand Central Terminal

He flutters 'round these teeming halls,
'Mid glaring lights and marble walls,
No exit is there for his plight,
No ledge for rest from weary flight.

What is this cave where, captive held,
A strange location gives no ease
From flapping wing and soaring route
To find an out, in vain pursuit.

Below him, on the trampled floor,
We, likewise, wend at homeward hour,
And blindly follow well worn ways:
Our daily flights, our routine paths.

What cause doth make us both, as one -
The bird above, and man below?
Until each finds, by chance, the way
To freedom from a fruitless flapping.

But lest our lives be futile toil,

Let's blessings find in fertile soil;

So, like the bird, we give our all
To spend our lives as spirit-led.

Not mere subsisting - flesh and blood -
To stumble blind, in endless rut,
But aiming past our earthly cells
To live, in essence, for our goals.

(c) Doug Ewing
13 January 2010

A New Visitor in Our Home

12 January 2010
Last night we welcomed a new visitor to our home.
We have been hosting international visitors and interns for more than5 years. Over this time, we have made many new friends and learned about distant countries and cultures - some of which we have been able to visit ourselves.
Currently, we have with us individuals from France, India, Japan, Philippines, Switzerland, and Florida.
FLORIDA??!! Yes, and in this bitter winter weather, Florida may seem like a foreign nation.
In total, we have had guests from over 60 different countries, as well as many US states. They come as IBM or PepsiCo interns, UN Mission employees, airline company executives, physical therapists, or tennis instructors.
Truly a variegated amalgam, suited to our own eclectic tastes. We look forward to welcoming many more.

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown

Vivian and I just finished reading Dan Brown's latest Robert Langdon thriller, the Lost Symbol.
I did not enjoy it as much as the DaVinci Code, or even his earlier Angels and Demons.
For the first 4/5th or so of the book it was the expected "pot boiler," but after the character Mal'akh dies, it became ONLY an investigation on the spirituality of human nature.
Of course, we are very interested in the spirituality and philosophical aspects of Brown's writing and we continued to be spell-bound as he unravels the hidden nature of the universe.
However, as a literary work, I feel that the book was not well-crafted. In a well-crafted novel, I would expect ALL elements of the story to continue in full suspense up to the denuement, and then come quickly to the end.
Nevertheless, because we are interested in the spiritual or philosophic aspects of the books we read, we were not disappointed. But we feel that readers who want only the physical adventure may be.
Doug

Introduction to FuEwingBlog

8 January 2010.
This is my initial blog. We are Doug Ewing and Vivian Fu. Our interests are eclectic, and we will be blogging about any number of topics which interest us. We hope that you will find interest in one, or more, of the topics which we will discuss. Some of these topics are:
- Spirituality - either through established religions, or other, spiritual or philosophic avenues. One example would be the writings of Depak Chopra.
- Middle East Peace - Isreal-Palestine Relations, the people and their aspirations.
- Historical Novels - Tudor England, Revolutionary or Civil War America.
- Adventure Novels - such as from Dan Brown, which ties back to our interest in spirituality and the verbal or artifact symbols associated with the stories.
Underlying these interests, and the people we meet while pursuing these interests, is the quotation from Gandhi, "Peace is not the goal, it is the way."