2/26/23

 Sunday, February 26, 2023

In bed at 9, awake at 3:53, and up at 4:09, dreaming I was somewhere in rural England, looking for a salt lick for some reason & a friendly farm wife invited me in for breakfast, showed me a mummified prehistoric man in a trailer that she called a 'hotel,' others show up, very friendly. Where does that come from, Sigmund?  Sunny skies are expected all day, 26℉ outside, wind from the West at 8 mph, gusts today up to 24 mph, wind chill is 18℉ now, will range between 13 and 33℉ during the day.  Sunrise at 5:32, sunset at 5:37, 11+3.

Multiple Choice God has (a) a penis and scrotum, (b) a vagina and uterus, (c) all of the above, or (d) none of the above.  In his State of the Nation speech, Vladimir Putin chose (a).  " “The Anglican Church is planning to consider the idea of a gender-neutral God,” Putin mourned. “What can you say here? Millions of people in the West understand that they are being led to spiritual destruction.” E. J. Dionne's op-ed in this morning's WaPo.

Latest painting project, Fabiola.  I applied a couple coats of raw umber glaze over yesterday's burnt sienna glaze and the carmin underpainting to soften the redness of the robe.  Also hazarded a touch-up on the chin and nose.  I'm not so disappointed anymore.  The glazes made the whole painting, at least the carmin robe, much less bold.

Thoughts of a Realist Pessimist Cynic Poet.

Original Sin

By: Fernando Pessoa

Who will write the story of what could have been?
That, if someone writes it,
Will be the true history of humanity.

What exists is the real world—not us, just the world.
We are, in reality, what doesn’t exist.

I am who I failed to be...

Pergolesi Stabat Mater.  I watched and listened on YouTube to a performance of this classic while clearing off the desk in my bedroom.  I don't know who the conductor, the soloists, and the chorus are since no credits appeared other than the performance occurred 7 years ago at the Smetana Music Festival.  I tried to find some information on Wikepedia but everything I found was in Czech.  In any event, I discovered my right eye watery while watching the performance, marveling as always at the beauty of the music, but also thinking of all the effort that went into it.  All of the chorus members were 'in uniform,' either in red skirts with black tops or in black skirts with red tops. They all seemed young to me, not just younger than me, but actually youthful.  At one point in the performance, each chorister put on a black wrap, a headpiece of some sort, signifying I suppose the time of Jesus' death, or perhaps the time spent suspended on the cross.  Later, the lights in the church where the performance occurred were dimmed and each chorister picked up a lighted votive candle and placed it in receptacles on what turned out to be a crucifix of the candles, which was raised in the darkened space.  Very dramatic, as was the lighting on the black-draped faces of the singers.  I wondered if the watering of my eye was tearing, as sometimes happens to me when I am fairly overwhelmed by beautiful music, especially performances involving many people working together, perfectly synching, coordinating, contributing to producing the thing of beauty that is the performance.  [The performance also called to mind the Stabat Mater I grew up with at St. Leo's church - 'at the cross her station keeping / stood the mournful mother weeping, . .' , a true Irish dirge.