“A Stick and a Rock”

PRENOTE: Today is Beethoven’s birthday.  Thanks to Molly for this.  Molly: Celebrate with this (or other) rendition of the 4th movement of his 9th Symphony!

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This morning I awoke with one of those unfinished dreams: I was at a conference somewhere and the leader had given us an assignment, to come to the closing session with a stick and a rock.  We were in a country environment, but I wasn’t finding either.   I woke up….

Normally dreams don’t stick, but this one did, and at coffee I kept thinking about the unfound stick and rock, and what the instructors plans were for the upcoming discussion…what did this dream mean?

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I’ve started a list and as Christmas (and very cold weather) approaches I offer some thought starters.

My first thought was remembering son Tom’s little canoe, which I watched him whittle out of a small stick in the Quetico Wilderness in 1992.  I asked about the project.  It was for his daughter Lindsay’s 6th birthday, he said.

So far as I know, she still has the keepsake, now 30 years old.

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Then I remembered an event, and resulting Christmas card:

It was the snowman I saw at the Pond made famous by Henry David Thoreau, Walden, in the winter of 2000.  Some unknown person or persons adding to an already pleasant winter day in Concord MA.

Snowman at Walden Pond Concord MA 2000

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Then came a card this year, the most recent of several, from Joe Stickler, retired Science Professor at Valley City State University, whose brainchild is the very interesting Medicine Wheel and map of the Universe adjacent to I-94 at Valley City ND.  Many years of student and community volunteer work have gone into this great project, this bed of rocks.  If you happen by there, stop.  You won’t regret it.

Medicine Wheel park Valley City ND

Of course, I don’t know if the above were the stuff of my dream last night, but they could well have been.

I have one other memory to add, which is in a file I know I have, somewhere here, but cannot put my hands on it at this moment.

Some years ago, my cousin Jim Pinkney, then a professor at East Carolina University at  Greenville NC, wrote a short essay about the Mandavilla, as it thrived in the shade of their house.   The musing had almost a spiritual cast to it, about the plants strategies for thriving.  When I find the file, I will add it here.  It was memorable enough to keep in a file of its own.  (There are lots of internet references to Mandavilla, if you wish.).  Jim died in 2009; he left this gift behind.

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You’ve heard the proverb: “sticks and stones may break my bones”….

Here, I presented four positive ‘sticks and stones’ and I know there are many others that could be on my list, and doubtless on yours as well.  It’s all a matter of perspective.  What does a story like this mean to you?

May this season and the coming year be especially meaningful for you and yours.

Merry Christmas.

Here, preparing for the coldest week of the year so far….

Earlier related posts Dec 7, 10 and 14.

COMMENTS (more at end of post)

from Fred: Didn’t know it was Ludvig’s birthday. I prefer the Third Symphony for the celebration.

from Claude: I think you’d find this 19 page monograph of interest.