The Fine Line

This morning  - at 5:45 a.m. - I saw a woman riding a unicycle and wearing a head lamp.  A unicycle.  In the dark.  On uneven terrain.  Didn't she know that she could fall and hurt herself?  As I jogged past her I thought a lot about her.  Was she brave? Was she adventurous?  Or was she just plain crazy?

Probably all of the above.

Seeing her made me think about who these unicyclists are and what makes them tick.  I searched the internet and found lots of unicycle sites, unicyclist communities, unicycle clubs, and even something called the Arizona Muni Weekend 2015.

Come to think of it, we are all like the unicyclist.

We are all part brave, part adventurous, and just plain crazy.

There really is a very fine line...

It's Not About The Miles

This is a photo of my friend.  A real friend.  Seriously, the real kind.

He would be quite mad if he knew I posted this.

But the good thing about friends is that they are resilient and forgiving.  He'll get over his irritation pretty quickly.  He's a very kind man and has a lot of practice forgiving me.

I have known my friend since 1994.  We became buddies through running.  We are not fast, but we have endurance.  The good thing about running slowly is that you are together longer.

By a conservative estimate, we have run together about 280 days per year for twenty years.  Typically 3 miles per day except for Fridays and Sundays when we go 6.  Sometimes we skip in bad weather or when we have nagging injuries.  That's becoming more frequent these days.

Nonetheless, I estimate that we have run about 22,500 miles together.  That's New York to L.A. seven times.  Since we average about 9:30 minutes per mile, that's about 212,800 minutes or 3,600 hours we've been together.  Or 147 days.  Or 12.25 months.  Or, put another way, over a year. A year of "together-time" on the trails and roads around Fort Worth.

It's not about the miles.  It is about time and about conversations.  Since we run at a conversational pace, we talk.  Always talk.  About life.

Over the years we have talked about births and deaths.  Hiring and firing.  Sadness and gladness.  Trips.  Children.  Wives.  Aging.  Schools.  Deployment.  New York and California.  Texas and Massachusetts.  The Yankees and the Rangers.  Basketball.  Football.  Lots of football.  Falcons and Trojans and Barons and Keydets and Bison.

By the way, he is not Derek Jeter.

He's my friend.

The Harrow Speech

Not less we praise in darker days
The leader of our nation,
And Churchill's name shall win acclaim
From each new generation.
For you have power in danger's hour
Our freedom to defend, Sir!
Though long the fight we know that right
Will triumph in the end, Sir!

Many of you know that I am very fond of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

One of Churchill's greatest speeches was delivered at Harrow School on October 29, 1941.  Harrow, Churchill's alma mater, is an English boarding school founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Elizabeth I.  He had been invited back to sing the old songs of his youth as well as address the boys.

The historical context is important.

The Second World War raged in October 1941.  These were some of the darkest days in British history.  Hitler's armies occupied western Europe, Scandinavia, much of the Balkans and North Africa, and the invasion of the Soviet Union had commenced the previous June. Though the United States was providing vast amounts of war materiel through the Lend-Lease program,  D-Day was still almost three years away.

To many Britons it seemed that the world would soon come to an end.  It's very difficult for us today to comprehend or appreciate how desperate it seemed.

Yet through it all, with a spirit of profound optimism, Churchill spoke to the boys of Harrow.  He uttered words that will always be remembered:

"Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days—the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race."

For those who wish to listen to the speech, we are fortunate to have it.  I feel certain it will inspire you as it has me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydi_KGXA9lk

 

The Little Things, Pt. 1

This morning I stopped at a local convenience store to get a cup of coffee and top off my tank.

As I walked inside the cashier said, "That will be $11.02, Sir."

I handed him $12.00 cash.

He looked me directly in the eye, smiled a wide, toothy grin, and handed me my change.  A crisp $1.00 bill.  Now that's courtesy.

The little things.  They really do make a difference.

The little things.

This week, commit yourself to the little things.  But also commit yourself to noticing the little things.  Makes the day (and the week and the month and the life) just a little bit better.

Free Range

We were the great free rangers...the free rangers of legend.

Or at least we felt that way.

We felt that way last weekend while walking the grasslands and mountains of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southern Oklahoma.

Ten students.  Three teachers.  59,000 acres.  Cold nights.  Warm days.  Camp fires.  S'mores.  Tall tales.  Fresh air.

The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is one of my favorite places.  It was established in 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt and conservationist William Temple Hornaday in order to reintroduce buffalo to the plains and save them from extinction.

One of my favorite writers, N. Scott Momaday, was born in 1934 just a few miles north of the refuge on the banks of Rainy Mountain Creek.   Momaday was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn and received the National Medal for the Arts in 2007 for his work that celebrated and preserved Native American oral and art tradition.

Though we only spent three days in the Wichitas, we experienced American bison (Bison bison), Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni), whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus), coyotes (Canis latrans), Blacktail Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus, a Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus), Mississippi kites (Ictinia mississippiensis), Canada geese (Branta canadensis), a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea), and a very agitated Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus).

If you haven't been there, I recommend it.  I think it's the most exotic outdoor experience within three hours of Fort Worth.  Take Hwy 287 to Wichita Falls, head north on interstate 44, then head west on OK Hwy 49.

Three hours, door to door.

You too can range freely...

Sweet Sounds

Several months ago I introduced you to one of my mentors, the late Colonel Thomas Blythe Gentry, VMI Class of 1944.  Not only did he teach several of my English classes, but he also served as adviser to the Timmins Music Society, a social and educational club that promotes the understanding and appreciation of classical music.  He advised the Society since its founding in 1951.

Just the other day I found a crumpled and stained piece of paper that I haven't seen in many years.  It is a playlist of classical music that Colonel Gentry typed for me in 1987 and gave to me as a "starter kit."  He thought it would help me appreciate the music.

I treasure this list but have never shared it with anyone.

However, I think it's time.  Colonel Gentry would want you to enjoy the music.  I haven't changed a word.  Perhaps you could work through it at your own pace.

THE GENTRY LIST

Bach

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 - Suite No. 3 in D Major - Magnificat (chorus and orchestra) - Organ music: Fugue in G Minor (Little), Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Barber

Adagio for Strings

Beethoven

Overtures: "Coriolan," "Leonore No. 3," "Egmont" - Sonatas (piano): No. 14 in C Minor ("Moonlight"), No. 23 in F Minor ("Appassionata") - Concerto No. 5 in E Flat - Symphonies: No. 5 in C Minor, No. 6 in F

Berlioz

Harold in Italy (viola and orchestra) - Overtures: "Roman Carnival," "Benvenuto Cellini" - Romeo and Juliet (excerpts) - Symphonie Fantastique

Bizet

L'Arlesienne, Suites 1 and 2 - Carmen (opera) selections

Borodin

Quartet No. 2 in D

Brahms

Academic Festival Overture - Hungarian Dances - Concerto (violin) in D - Variations on a theme by Haydn - Trio in E Flat for Horn, Violin, Piano

Britten

Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Chabrier

"Espana"

Chopin

Preludes (selections) - Polonaises (selections, particularly "Military")

Copland

Ballets: "Appalachian Spring," " Billy the Kid," "Rodeo," " El Salon Mexico"

Debussy

"Claire de lune" (either piano or orchestra) - Iberia (orchestra) - Nocturnes (particularly "Fetes") - Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune ("The Afternoon of a Faun")

Delius

Brigg Fair - Walk to the Paradise Garden

Donizetti

Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera) excerpts, particularly the sextet

Dvorak

Quartet No. 6 in F ("American") - Slavonic Dances - Symphony No. 5 in E Minor ("New World")

Enesco

Roumanian Rhapsodies No. 1 and No. 2

de Falla

"El Amor Brujo" - "La Vida Breve" (dance)

Frank

Sonata in A for Violin and Piano

Gershwin

"American in Paris" - Porgy and Bess (opera) selections

Glinka

Overture "Russlan and Ludmilla"

Grieg

Concerto in A Minor (piano and orchestra) - Peer Gynt (excerpts)

Handel

Messiah (oratorio) excerpts - Water Music Suite

Haydn

Concerto in E Flat for Trumpet - Quartet in C,  Op. 33,  No. 3 ("Bird") - Symphonies: No. 94 in G ("Surprise"), No. 100 in G ("Military")

Kodaly

"Harry Janos" Suite

Liszt

Hungarian Rhapsodies - Les Preludes (orchestra)

Mahler

Youth's Magic Horn (songs in German)

Mendelssohn

Concerto in E Minor (violin) - Midsummer Night's Dream - Symphony No. 4 in A ("Italian")

Mozart

Requiem - Concerto No. 4, K. 495 for Horn - Concerto No. 27 in B Flat, K. 595 (piano) - Overtures: "Marriage of Figaro," " Cosi fan tutti" - Serenade No. 10 in B Flat for 13 Wind Instruments - Serenade in G, K. 525 "Eine Kleine Nachtmusil" - Symphony No. 29 in A, K. 201 - Piano Concerto No. 9

Offenbach

Gaite Parisienne

Poulenc

Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Strings, and Tympani

Prokofiev

Alexander Nevsky - Lieutenant Kije Suite - Love for Three Oranges Suite

Puccini

Madame Butterfly (opera)

 Rachmaninoff

Concerto No. 2 in C Minor - Rhapsody of a theme of Paganini

Ravel

Bolero - Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2 - Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) - La Valse

Resphighi

Fountains of Rome

Rimsky-Korsakov

Capriccio Espagnol - Russian Easter Overture - Scheherazade

Rossini

Overtures: "William Tell," "Barber of Seville," "Semiramide"

Saint-Saens

Danse Macabre - Introduction to Rondo Capriccioso - Samson and Delila (opera) selection

Sarasate

Zigeunerweisen (violin)

Schubert

Quintet in A ("Trout") - Rosamunde: Incidental Music - Symphony No. 8 in B Minor ("Unfinished")

Sibelius

Finlandia - Swan of Tuonela - Valse Triste

Smetana

Bartered Bride Dances - The Moldau (orchestra)

Strauss, Johann

Die Fledermaus selections

Strauss, Richard

Don Juan (orchestra) - Rosendavalier suite - Til Eulenspeigel (orchestra)

Stravinsky

Le Baiser de la Fee (The Fairy Firebird Suite) - L'histoire du Soldat Suite (The Soldier's Tale) - Petrouchka Suite

Suppe

Overtures: "Poet and Peasant," "Light Cavalry"

Tchaikovsky

Capriccio Italien (orchestra) - Concerto in D Flat Minor (piano) - Concerto in D (piano) - Nutcracker Suite - Overture 1812 - Romeo and Juliet Overture - Swan Lake (excerpts) - Symphony No. 6 in B Minor ("Pathetique")

Vaughan Williams

Fantasia on a theme of Tallis

Verdi

Operas: Aida (excerpts), Rigoletto (excerpts), La Traviata (excerpts), La Trovatore (excerpts)

Wagner

Lohengrin Preludes to Acts I & III - Die Meistersinger Prelude - Tannhauser Overture and Venusberg Music - Die Walkure Ride of the Valkyries and Magic Fire Music

Weber

Invitation to the Dance - Overtures: Die Freischutz, Eurvanthe

Along the Banks of Alamo Creek

 



The old timers claim that Alamo Creek was once a Comanche war trail.

I don't know if it was.  I suspect so.

What I do know is that along its dry banks lived Gilberto Luna, one of the legendary personalities of the Big Bend country.

Luna lived in a hut - called a jacal - which he built by applying mud plaster to latticework walls of cane grass and ocotillo.  You can see it for yourself north of Santa Elena Canyon on a caliche thoroughfare now known as the Old Maverick Road.  I saw it last week for the fifteenth time while backpacking in Big Bend National Park with my son Robert.

Luna built the jacal sometime around 1890.  He farmed on Alamo Creek, which produced enough seasonal water to grow vegetables.  He made a living selling produce and goats to the workers of the nearby Terlingua cinnabar mine.

Some say Luna lived to the ripe old age of 108.

He died in 1947 in Fort Stockton.

According to an early park superintendent, he outlived eleven wives and fathered thirty children.

That's right.  108.  Eleven wives.  Thirty children.  In his jacal.

Along the banks of Alamo Creek.



Gilberto Luna