Ithaka Bound

The Beautiful Bench

host — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:10:58 +0000

Lately I’ve come to realize how easy it is to miss beauty and novelty when they occur in familiar places. In unknown places, every little ripple of a wave seems to carry music and poetry simply because one is viewing it for the first time. If a wave rolled in every day, would the novelty wear off? Would the poetry cease?

Yes, it would.

Not long ago, I was walking down a well-traveled street in my neighborhood and I did something I’ve apparently never done before: I looked in a different direction.

While looking in this new direction, I spotted something I’ve never spotted before — a camel bench. Really, the last type of bench I ever would have expected to see.

I moved in closer to get a better look and to read a little bronze plaque attached to the bench:

A gift to the people of Washington DC in memory of the fallen of September 11th 2001. From the Littlewood and the Le Beau families of Sittingbourne, Kent, England

The camel bench raised a lot of questions, like who were the Littlewoods and Le Beaus? Were they diplomats? Had they recently returned from the Wadi Rum desert? Were they descendants of T. E. Lawrence? What inspired them to give us a camel bench?

There were a lot of questions related to the bench, but only one response: thank you.

Brrrrrr

DC Weather Report

Cherry trees bloomed

How to invoke the Muse

host — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:35:42 +0000

How to invoke the muse… this is probably best answered through questioning:

What is a Muse?

In Greek mythology, the Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). They were believed to be the source of all knowledge and provided the inspiration for music, literature, science, history, and the arts.

According to Hesiod:

He is happy whom the Muses love. For though a man has sorrow and grief in his soul, yet when the servant of the Muses sings, at once he forgets his dark thoughts and remembers not his troubles. Such is the holy gift of the Muses to men.

Sounds pretty good, huh?

Which Muse should I invoke?

The answer depends on the work you’re undertaking. These are the nine Muses and their domains:

Clio — history

Urania — astronomy

Melpomene — tragedy

Thalia — comedy

Terpsichore — dance

Calliope — epic poetry

Erato – love poetry

Polyhymnia — songs to the gods

Euterpe — lyric poetry

Personally, apart from Clio, I’ve had very little need to invoke the Muses mentioned above. So following the time-honored tradition of summoning Muses according to artistic need, I’ve added two personal Muses to the nine:

Photila — photography

Artesia — artistry (catch-all)

Feel free to invoke them if you have need.

What is an invocation?

An invocation is a plea, a prayer, a petition for help, inspiration, guidance, and support. It’s a type of conjuring. Traditionally the Muses are invoked at the beginning of a project or work of art.

Do I need a Muse?

You can, of course, try to go it alone, but some help from the Muses couldn’t hurt. Some of the greatest minds that ever walked the earth conjured the Muses for inspiration and help:

Homer — Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns…

Shakespeare – O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention…

Dante — O Muses, O high genius, aid me now! O memory that engraved the things I saw…

If those guys needed a Muse, I figure I need a whole legion of them.

Which invocation should I use?

Taking a cue from the great minds above, invoking the Muse is a personal endeavor, so your invocation should be personal as well. It’s best to start out with a plea begging the Muse for help. Follow this plea with compliments extolling the virtues of the Muse — no one ever turned away from a compliment. Next, summon as much humility as you can and explain why you are unworthy and why you cannot even think of starting your endeavor without help from the Muses — be honest, no one likes a charlatan. Finish up by telling the muse exactly what you need help with and what you wish to accomplish.

This might seem difficult, but I recently came up with two invocations of about seven or eight lines each and I was surprised at how easily they flowed.

Give it a shot. Let me know how it goes.

Is there anything I should beware of?

Whenever one deals with Greek gods or goddesses, there is the risk of insult and the scary repercussions that result from such transgressions.

Case in point: There was once a king of Macedonia who had nine daughters that he named after the nine Muses because he believed them to be their equal. As punishment for his impudence, the the Muses turned the nine sisters into chattering magpies. Cute birds, but still…

Remember to be humble and you should be fine.

Of Gods and Goddesses

The gods only respect those they test first

Pegasus in DC

The Courageous One

host — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:56:24 +0000

If you want to brighten your day, click on this YouTube link to watch a charming short film by Natalia Pardalis and Kalo Anastasis. It was submitted for the Greek American 48 hour Film Festival.

Let’s encourage the filmmakers by giving them a thumbs up.

The Best Laid Plans…

Halloween

Goat finds freedom in an unfree world

Still Blooming

host — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 05:05:58 +0000

First: happy Orthodox Easter. My favorite part of Orthodox Easter is the Easter egg duels. If you’re not familiar with this, go out right now and find an Orthodox family to spend Easter with. They’ll teach you how to duel with eggs. Find an honest family; some competitive types try to gain an advantage by tilting the egg. Come back and report to me how much fun you had.

I have a question: why do Greeks use the Julian calender to celebrate Easter, but revert to the Gregorian calendar for Christmas? Most Orthodox branches stick to the Julian for all holidays. I think it has something to do with moveable feasts but I don’t feel like looking it up. If you know the answer please share.

Second: things are still blooming in Washington DC. About a week after the Yoshino Cherry trees finished blooming, the Kwanzan cherries started. It can only be described as a spectacle. I had to turn the saturation down on my camera because the colors looked too unreal to me. Yes, that’s right: I dialed down reality.

I took these cherry tree photos on the grounds of a church in NW Washington DC. While I was photographing, an elderly man came out of the rectory and said, “The Bishop asks that…XXXXX XXXXX”

I didn’t catch the last part of his sentence so I said, “Hello sir, I’m sorry… would you mind repeating that?”

“The Bishop asks that you not eat the flowers.”

Overall, it was a day of heightened reality.

Admittedly though, that’s the most awesome thing a Bishop has ever asked of me.

Besides the Kwanzan, we have dogwoods in DC — a lovely and delicate four petal flower that seems to float in midair…

Tulips…

Redbuds…

And wisteria, the flower of remembrance. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but that’s how wisteria strikes me.

This is my last flower post for a good long while. Promise…

I love flowers, but I never spend the time needed to edit the photos. I end up posting them straight out of the camera and then I get embarrassed later.

More Snow in DC

In D.C. and Travel Plans

Santarchy