My Cup Runneth Over (Musings of an Unspecialized Generalist)

Order in the universe fascinates me. Watching Jeopardy a while back, I learned something that I probably should have known long ago. When a double rainbow appears the second bow is a mirror image of the first--the colors are in reversed order. I mentioned my newly acquired knowledge to several others; some knew it, but nobody seemed to think that it was as profound as I did. (Where was I when this bit of knowledge was passed out?) So, the pattern of the first or main bow’s top half-ring is  red, descending to orange, yellow, green, blue and finally to indigo, and that is just reversed in the second, upper, bow. Every time two rainbows occur, that will be true. I find this fascinating and indicative of something greater. There is, of course a rational explanation to this meteorological wonder. It’s just a matter of reflection, refraction, and dispersion of light in water droplets as well as prismatic mirroring. Beyond being fascinating, however, this truth is beautifu...

Singing the song Ancient Words, “long preserved for our walk in this world...,” in worship this morning excited something I have had rumbling around in my mind for  weeks, or maybe even years. Then, going to Applebee's for lunch, and hearing the host say,   “Here's your guys's menus.” and, being addressed or referred to as “guys” every time the waitress came to check on us, ignited a sleeping volcano in my mind. A line from Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado came to mind--“The Thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.” Yes, I gave our waitress a fair tip; she had served us well. She, along with the host, had also inspired resolve within me to put the random rumblings of my mind into written form--thus, this blog; and I foist it upon my friends. When I was a high school English teacher, I would often dismiss my classes with the admonition “Watch your language.” Yes, it was a double entendre. I wa...

 My friend the artist,  Bear Claw Jack, gave me an unusual piece of a tree--an American Elm burl. Jack usually transforms such pieces into turtles, but this one was for me. (I promised him a pen from it, but that wasn't part of his giving it to me.) I have long admired burls on trees; there is a huge one on a tree on Jefferson Road that I have ogled for many years, but I have never had one. I have seen many beautiful things made from burls; but now I could make some really unusual pen bodies and who knows, maybe something else. I felt like a desecrator when I put this treasure on my table saw to cut right through its center; but I did it anyway. I had never seen anything quite like these segments of the heart of the burl. I then sawed some ¾ inch pieces to turn into pen bodies.The next step, drilling and gluing in the tubes completed, I turned one piece down on my lathe and the result was amazing. The beautifully unique was now the uniquely beautiful. I pressed the...