Author: jcalberta

Desiderata / Les Crane / 1971

It’s certain that good number of people have committed this
inspired treatise of enlightened wisdom to memory.
I’m not one of them –
though certain passages do often spring to mind.

“And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”

Desiderata

by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

— Max Ehrmann, 1927

Max Ehrmann of Terre Haute, Indiana started writing the work in 1921,[citation needed] but he did not assign it a title. He registered for his U.S. copyright in 1927 using the poem’s first phrase as its title. The April 5, 1933 issue of Michigan Tradesman magazine published the full, original text on its cover, crediting Ehrmann as its author. In 1933, he distributed the poem in the form of a Christmas card,[1] now officially titled “Desiderata.”
(Wikipedia)

A very good series.

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
A translation?/interpretation
by Edward FitzGerald (1859).

I have only memorized this first quatrain of Fitzgerald’s wonderful translation/interpretation of Khayyám’s epic and sublime poem.

A vast amount of the World’s Greatest Literture
lies uncreated in the English Language.
In fact, a unfathonable amount of such great literature was created before the English language (as we know it) even existed.
And in dialects now lost to us.

Therefore, unless we can speak every language and dialect ever created we can’t access a massive amount of Art/Literature.
Even then, it would be possible to encompass only a small amount of it.
However, there have been valiant attempts to bring such works
into our own Language and Culture.
– even as this meets the problems of interpretation.

Omar Khayyám

Below: just 3 of FitzGerald several attempts
to interpret just the first quatrain:

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultán’s Turret in a Noose of Light.
FitzGerald, Stanza I, 1st ed.

“Wake ! For the Sun behind yon Eastern height
Has chased the Session of the Stars from Night ;
And, to the field of Heav’n ascending, strikes
The Sultan’s Turret with a Shaft of Light.
FitzGerald, Stanza I, 2nd ed

WAKE! For the Sun, who scatter’d into flight
The Stars before him from the Field of Night,
Drives Night along with them from Heav’n, and strikes
The Sultan’s Turret with a Shaft of Light.
FitzGerald, Stanza I, 5th ed

FitzGerald probably worked, reworked, refined, and re-edited
Khayyám sublime epic poem until the day he died.
And then was still unlikely content.
Even as we sense what was likely
‘a labour of love’on his part

“He’s not really dead, as long as we remember him.”
– Dr. McCoy, (Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, 1982)

Though I once knocked my sister out with the ‘Vulcan neck pinch‘
(that’s my story and I’m sticking to it),
I never considered myself a Trekkie –(Star Trek Super Fan),
cuz I could never do the Vulcan Salute/Greeting.
(I’m also lousy at Mind Melding).

Below are most of the places I’ve lived in Southern Alberta:
Except Vulcan.

So I’ve always considered myself to be an Albertan.
And I know Big Town and Small Town, Alberta.
Which brings us to Vulcan, Alberta which under ordinary circumstances
would be considered to be your typical small Alberta Prairie Farm town.
BUT nothing ever seems to have been ‘Typical’ about Vulcan.
Firstly, it’s unusual name:
“Vulcan was named by a surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway back in 1915 for the Roman god of fire—all of the streets throughout the town were originally named for gods and goddesses …
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vulcan#:~:text=Vulcan%20was%20named%20by%20a,who%20mostly%20work%20in%20farming.
Also …
Wikipedia says:
“Vulcan once had nine grain elevators, more than any other location west of Winnipeg, Manitoba, making it the largest grain
shipping point at that time.”

I remember locomotives like this below.

There are 57,200 farms in Alberta.

Next: Part 3 …

Space … the final frontier / Leonard Nimoy / Spock

A while back Don Osterag was talking about
Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and Star Trek.
https://donostertag.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/qa-with-nimoy-in-iowa/comment-page-1/#respond

This interested me because Nimoy had visited the small Alberta town of Vulcan in 2010 in response to an invitation from locals who had proclaimed Vulcan as the “Official Star Trek Capital of Canada” – 
Vulcan being Spock‘s home planet in the Star Trek TV show.

Being the good sport that he was, Leonard came up.
To say that this was a BIG DEAL for Vulcan (population about 2000)
would be an understatement.

Nimoy demonstrated his generous and affable nature.

In all this, Rose and determined to visit Vulcan
this summer and enjoy our time there.
So we did …

Next:
Vulcan Visit / Part 2

Lately we’ve been getting very direct warning about how tenuous our survival and existence is – and how dependent we are upon many resources outside of our personal control.
First, our whole communtications systems in this area
went down for 24 hours.
The only thing we had was Radio.
No phone, no TV, no computer, no WiFi …
– no way to find out what was going on.
The next thing was a major City water pipe broke –
forcing water consumption restrictions for a month.
Then we had an electrical storms that knocked out
electricity in some areas.
Now, yesterday, the town of Jasper was devastated
by a forest fires that swept into Jasper National Park.

Still on the grid ?
– dependent upon resources outside of your control?

Think about it.

How much food do you have around?

I went out on our front steps yesterday evening and took these pics:

Forest fires in Alberta.
We don’t worry too much about them out here on the Prairie –
and wouldn’t even know they were happening –
if it wasn’t for the smoke.

HOWEVER, most of Canada is FOREST.
Check any map.
So this is a big problem.
AND NOW in the age of Climate Change
it’s amplified. Considerably.

Almost like living on another planet.

Feel the heat.

I’d heard this was cancelled.
Guess they changed their mind.

Frankly, I enjoyed Season 1.

INVICTUS by William Ernest Henley

Possibly the most memorized poem in the English Language?
Certain to be on the Literature circulum of most schools.
Powerful, uplifting, inspiring …
and short.

Click to enlarge.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved these guys.
I listened to the Lone Ranger on Radio 
in those Thilling days of Yesteryear … the early 50’s.
… long ago.
But not forgotten.

Next: Clue Number 2 !!!

Edgar Albert Guest

BURT LANCASTER

KIRK DOUGLAS

JAMES STEWART

GLENN FORD

Next  …
No. 5

I haven’t been posting much lately.
Sorry about that.
I’m just too much of a perfectionist
to just throw something up on the board.
BUT …

Here’s stuff I’m working on:

“To B or not to B”

Why B Westerns don’t have to be B.

Greatest Western Movie Songs

My next
Top 10 Favorite Western Star of all time …

and other stuff …

Hang in there.

(I’m trying)

It’s Rose’s Garden.
Gardening is a Rose’s passion – so I don’t interfere.
I only ask her to plant Poppys and Nasturtiums.
Poppys is easy – they pop up by themselves.
Nasturtiums are Annuals though and you gotta plant ’em.

Below:
some of Rose’s Poppys in bright sunlight.

Mini Libraries are another thing we like.

We put books in and take ‘me out.
I look for Louis L’Amour Westerns and the Classics like
The Three Musketeers and Gulliver’s Travels …
especially if they are illustrated.

Carburn Park

Rose and I go out somewhere pretty well every day.
Just to get some exercise.
Carburn Park is one of our favorite places to go here in Calgary.

It’s big – has nice pathways, flowers, wildlife,
and lots of water.

Gooslings Ahoy!

A small flotilla …

… time for a break …

The Bow River is running high right now.
It’s still ‘run off’ in the nearby Rocky Mountains.

Alberta Roses … our Provincial Flower.

A nice day for a short hike.

Next …
The Ol’ Water Hole !

“Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.”
– Jack Palance

Monte Walsh … a real maverick

MFW: Monte Walsh seemed to get decent promotion – lots of excellent posters –  and boasts a stellar cast …
yet somehow seemed to slip under the fence?
But I believe this is one Western that will age well and eventually earn it’s rightful place at the bar.

I’d say this is a Western Classic.

MFW: “100%” from critcs and “57%” from viewers ??
That’s a pretty large canyon.
But I liked it.

“When we get through… you’re gonna want to take a nap, sit on the porch and wait for the mares to come callin’.”

To Justice.

Cheers.!