SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL

“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.” - Ernest Holmes
 
“Spiegel im Spiegel” is a piece of music written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, just prior to his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style of composition, wherein a melodic voice, operating over diatonic scales, and tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany each other.
 
The piece was originally written for a single piano and violin - though the violin has often been replaced with either a cello or a viola. Versions also exist for double bass, clarinet, horn, flute and percussion. The piece is an example of minimal music.
 
The piece is in F major in 6/4 time, with the piano playing rising crotchet triads and the second instrument playing slow scales, alternately rising and falling, of increasing length, which all end on the note A (the mediant of F). The piano’s left hand also plays notes, syncopated with the violin (or other instrument).
 
“Spiegel im Spiegel” in German means “mirror in the mirror” referring to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors: The tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth. The English word for this phenomenon is “enfilade”.

COUSCOUS

“In Morocco, it’s possible to see the Atlantic and the Mediterranean at the same time.” - Tahar Ben Jelloun
 
For Food Friday today, an exotic dish that conjures up the Kasbah and evokes visions of tall minarets and the call of the muezzin. Shady courtyards and delicious smells, the pattern of shadows on brightly coloured walls and the strains of plaintive music played on the oud.
 
Moroccan Chicken
 
Ingredients
50 g pine nuts
500 g chicken breast or thigh fillet, cut into 2 cm dice
1/4 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground mild paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 cup sultanas
1 cup (250mL) chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander or flat-leaf parsley
1 lemon, juiced
 
2 cups couscous
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups water or chicken stock
Thick natural yoghurt, to serve

Method
Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add pinenuts, stirring constantly, until just starting to colour. Transfer pinenuts to a plate.

Place seasoned flour in a large bowl, add chicken and toss to coat. Add one tablespoon of oil to the frypan, increase heat to high and cook half the chicken until golden. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate. Repeat with another tablespoon of oil and remaining chicken.

Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in pan. Add onions, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or until golden and softened. Add cooked chicken to frypan with spices, sultanas and one cup of stock. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 5-10 minutes until heated through and thickened. Just before serving, stir in pine nuts, coriander and lemon juice.

To prepare couscous, bring 2 cups of stock or water to the boil in a small saucepan, stir in couscous and olive oil and turn off heat. Leave for 5 minutes, then use a fork to separate the couscous grains.

Serve chicken with couscous and yoghurt.
 
This post is part of the  Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

FASTING

“A fast is not a hunger strike. Fasting submits to God’s commands. A hunger strike makes God submit to our demands.” - Edwin Louis Cole
 

Today is the first day of the Orthodox “Little Lent”, that is, the period of fasting that accompanies the Christmas Advent period. Fasting in the Orthodox Church does not mean not eating at all, but is rather the abstention from certain foods (and often, from other distractions, such as television, parties, non-liturgical music, etc). Complete abstention from food and drink is also practiced, with Orthodox Christians eating and drinking nothing after Vespers on the day preceding a day on which the Divine Liturgy is celebrated until the eucharist itself is over.
 

In contrast to some other religions that emphasise absolute fasting periods or forbid the consumption of certain animals or their products, no food is marked as forbidden in Orthodox thought, following the belief that all things are “made new” in Christ. Orthodox Christians also justify this by citing the dream that St Peter related of being told to eat even those animals deemed unclean in Jewish dietary laws. Fasting is regarded as a spiritual discipline and training for the devout person. It is a self-imposed restriction, an obedience to one’s spiritual father, and a liberation from one’s habits so as to remove ourselves from the tyranny of those habits, to allow us to rule our body rather than be ruled by it.
 

The basic rule of fasting, as it is practiced in monasteries, is that Wednesdays and Fridays are “strict fast” days, meaning that meat, dairy, fish, alcoholic beverages, and oil are not allowed. Most monks and nuns refrain from eating meat every day in any case, unless they are ill. In addition to the food group restriction, the amount of food eaten is also reduced so as to purposefully reduce the body’s energy level, with the idea of making it easier to pray by quietening and focussing the mind. The money saved by eating less can be used to practice the virtue of compassion, by giving alms to the poor and needy.
 

There are also various extended fasting periods throughout the year, the most important, of course, being Lent. Lent, often called the “Great Lent” in Orthodox practice, in opposition to “Little Lent” (as the Nativity Fast is sometimes called) begins forty-seven days before Easter Day, forty-seven because the week immediately preceding Easter is counted as Holy Week, a thing unto itself. During the Great Lent, the strict fast applies every day and in keeping with the penitential character of the season, there is also a “eucharistic fast” throughout it, during which the Divine Liturgy is not served (remembering that Saturday and Sunday don’t count).
 

The fast is not always so strict, however. Even in Lent, if there’s a big feast day that happens to fall during Lent (eg. the Feast of the Annunciation) the fast is relaxed to allow consumption of fish, wine, and oil.  During Bright Week (the week following Easter), in the twelve days after Christmas, and the week between the feast of Pentecost and the feast of All Saints, and the week prior to Meatfare Sunday, fasting is not prescribed at all, even on Wednesdays or Fridays. Some conditions preclude fasting: Pregnant women and nursing mothers, small children, the elderly, the sick. Some of the fasts themselves are simply relaxed ones, also.
 

The Orthodox strict fasts are:

Great Lent - beginning and ending varies as it is based on the date of Easter, which is a movable feast
Holy Week - week immediately before Easter
Dormition Fast - lasts from the first of August to the fourteenth of August, just before the Dormition of the Virgin on August 15

The Orthodox moderate fasts are:

Nativity Fast (“Little Lent”) - 15 November to 24 December
Ss. Peter and Paul Fast - beginning is variable since it starts on All Saints, which is based on the date of Easter, but it ends on 29 June

In addition, Mondays are sometimes kept as an additional fast day during the year, refraining from eating flesh meats in honour of the Angels or “Fleshless Ones”. Monday is liturgically devoted to the remembrance of angels. All that has been said thus far has been mainly for those under monastic rule. For lay Orthodox Christians, the standard is the same, but can vary widely by parish practice. Generally, decisions on fasting are made by the person involved and his or her spiritual advisor, who is usually the parish priest, but not always. It is for them together to decide what would be helpful and appropriate for any individual.

WORLD DIABETES DAY 2012

“No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.” - Maimonides
 

November 14 is World Diabetes Day. The World Diabetes Day campaign is led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and its member associations. It engages millions of people worldwide in diabetes advocacy and awareness. World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes now poses. World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2007 with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.
 

World Diabetes Day is a campaign that features a new theme chosen by the International Diabetes Federation periodically, to address issues facing the global diabetes community. While the themed campaigns last the whole year, the day itself is celebrated on November 14, to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea, which led to the discovery of insulin in 1922. Diabetes Education and Prevention is the World Diabetes Day theme for the period 2009-2013.
 

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that significantly affects the health of Australians. It may lead to a range of complications, which can cause disability, and reduce people’s quality of life and life expectancy. Diabetes is responsible for an enormous public health and social burden, and is one of the top 10 causes of death in Australia.

Diabetes is a long-term (chronic) condition in which the body loses its ability to control the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Insulin is a hormone produced by special cells in the pancreas that helps the body to convert glucose from food into energy. People with diabetes either don’t have enough insulin or their body cannot use insulin effectively, so glucose stays in the blood instead of being turned into energy, causing blood sugar levels to become high. Different insulin abnormalities cause different types of diabetes. Four main types of diabetes exist: Type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes and other forms of diabetes.
 

4% of Australians have diabetes. That’s around 898,000 people. This rate has risen from 1.5% in 1989.Between 2000 and 2009, 222,544 people in Australia began using insulin to treat their diabetes. 1 in 20 pregnancies are affected by diabetes. That was 44,000 women between 2005 and 2007. The proportion of people with diabetes in the Indigenous population compared to the proportion of people with diabetes in the non-Indigenous population 3 to 1.  Over half of adult Australians are overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for developing diabetes. 3 in 5 of people with diabetes also have cardiovascular disease. $990 million was spent on treating diabetes in 2004–2005, which is 1.9% of all health expenditure.
 

The World Diabetes Day logo is the blue circle - the global symbol for diabetes ,which was developed as part of the Unite for Diabetes awareness campaign. The logo was adopted in 2007 to mark the passage of the United Nations World Diabetes Day Resolution. The significance of the blue circle symbol is overwhelmingly positive. Across cultures, the circle symbolises life and health. The colour blue reflects the sky that unites all nations and is the colour of the United Nations flag. The blue circle signifies the unity of the global diabetes community in response to the diabetes pandemic.

REMEMBRANCE DAY

“There was never a good war or a bad peace.” - Benjamin Franklin
 
Remembrance Day here is commemorated on November 11 each year in Australia. This is because the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918, which signalled the end of World War One. At 11 a.m. on 11th November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. Initially, when WWI ended, the day was known as Armistice Day but was renamed Remembrance Day after WWII. In the USA the day is known as Veterans’ Day.
 
Each year Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11 a.m. on 11th November, in memory of all those men and women who have died or suffered in all wars, conflicts and peace operations. This is a simple yet very effective way of remembering the massive loss of life and immense suffering that humankind has been subjected to in all of the various armed conflicts that have blotted recorded history.
 
Magpie Tales this week has provided a prompt (Verdun, 1917 by Felix Vallotton) in harmony with this day of Remembrance. Here is my contribution.
 
The Rabbit, III
 
Run, run, run
Rabbit run!
The gun spits out death.
A flash, a bang, an echo
And the pungent smell
Of gunpowder...
 
Bang, bang, bang
All stops in mid-jump. 
One, two, three
And inside me
My noontime meal
Turns to poison.
 
Kill, kill, kill
Blood, death, terror
In the falling evening.
Life is death
Love is life
Death is love.
 
Eyes, eyes, eyes
Hard eyes, soft eyes.
Love is hard, sharp, jagged glass
Death is soft, yielding velvet
Life is soft, hard, sharp,
Smooth, tender but unbending.
Life is death
Hard, sharp like broken glass
Soft, smooth like velvet.

MOVIE MONDAY - YOU AGAIN

“I had a hard time with bullying. I ate lunch in the bathroom.” - Julianne Hough
 

Sometimes one wants to sit in front of the TV and watch junk food for the brain. Something light and non-challenging in terms of content, storyline, acting and meaning. Just for those days when one’s brain hurts and needs a bit of a respite from the deep and meaningful… Hollywood, of course, is well-suited to producing a host of such films and they are quite popular with viewers who are on the scrounge for easily consumed, predigested pap that satisfies one’s sweet tooth of the brain.
 

We watched such a film at the weekend as we were tired and had had a challenging previous couple of days. The film was mildly amusing, virtually non-offensive, adhered to standard type-casting, very light-on and was something one could watch while concentrating on various other things too. It was the 2010 Andy Fickman feature “You Again” starring Kristen Bell, Odette Annable, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Wolk, Betty White and Sigourney Weaver. It was written by Moe Jelline, better know as the writer of the TV sitcom “Love and Marriage” of 1996.

The plot revolves around Marni (Bell) a geeky, ugly kind of teenager that boys aren’t interested in and easy prey for the taunts and torments of the mean girls. Her arch nemesis is the popular and beautiful Joanna (Annable), the head cheerleader. Fast-forward several years, when Marni has become a successful woman with a good job in PR. She goes back home for her brother Will’s (Wolk) wedding and to her horror discovers that her brother is about to marry Joanna. When they meet she wants Joanna to apologise to her for the way she treated her in High School, but Joanna pretends she doesn’t even remember Marni. Marni tells her mother, Gail (Curtis) about the situation with Joanna, but Gail tells her to leave the past alone. However, when Gail learns that Joanna’s aunt Mona (Weaver) is her old friend from High School, Ramona, she changes tune. It turns out that the relationship between Gail and Ramona wasn’t all that rosy either. When Marni learns that Joanna really does remember her, she sets out to expose her true bitchy colours to her brother. But things will get a little more complex…

Now that I have written the summary I realise how even more inconsequential this movie was, but like junk food, so easily consumed. Although the film is hardly a romantic comedy, it is a chick flick in that it has a strong female cast that does its best with the material it has been handed. Betty White as “Granny Bunny” tries her best to get laughs, but the material she has is quite weak. Weaver and Curtis that are quite accomplished actresses and have obviously done this film in order to pay the bills. They try their best to do what they can with the often childish plot and lines.

The moral of the story is based on bullying and the terrible effects it has on people, but unfortunately this was trivialized and sugar-coated and the fluff got in the way of making a point about the lives that can be destroyed by bullying. Watch the film at your peril, but as I said, sometimes only mindless pap will do…

ART SUNDAY - HOGARTH

“Women marry men hoping they will change. Men marry women hoping they will not. So each is inevitably disappointed.” - Albert Einstein
 
William Hogarth (born Nov. 10, 1697, London, England—died Oct. 26, 1764, London) was the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad and best known for his moral and satirical engravings and paintings, eg, “A Rake’s Progress” (eight scenes, begun 1732). His attempts to build a reputation as a history painter and portraitist, however, met with financial disappointment, and his aesthetic theories had more influence in Romantic literature than in painting.
 
Hogarth is unquestionably one of the greatest English artists and a man of remarkably individual character and thought. He was one of the first the great innovators in English art. On one hand, he was the first to paint themes from Shakespeare, Milton and the theatre, and the founder of a wholly original genre of moral history, which became known as “Hogarthian”. On the other hand, he investigated the aesthetic principles of his art, which resulted in his book “The Analysis of Beauty”(1753).
 
William Hogarth was the fifth child of Richard Hogarth, a schoolmaster and classical scholar from the north of England who had come to London in the mid-1680s. His father’s premature death in 1718 affected Hogarth’s early life, his training and forced him to earn money. In February 1713, Hogarth began his apprenticeship to a plate engraver, Ellis Gamble, who was a distant relation. By April 1720, he set up an independent business as an engraver. His first works included a number of commissions for small, etched cards and bookplates, and in 1721 he produced two inventive engraved allegories.
 
With topical prints such as “The South Sea Scheme” and “The Lottery”, which aroused considerable attention, he started his black-and-white satires which made him so widely known in Britain and abroad. His first success as a painter was in the ‘conversational pieces’, in which figure informal groups of family and friends surrounded by customary things from their everyday life. He was not the inventor of the genre, and had many contemporary rivals, but his pictures are marked with his own individuality: “The Fishing Party” (c.1730), “The Wedding of Stephen Bechingham and Mary Cox” (c.1730).
 
In 1729, he married a daughter of his painting teacher Sir James Thornhill. The scene from “The Beggar’s Opera”, which was the picture of an actual stage, brought him great success,  and at about 1730, he was commissioned for several versions. The result of this accomplishment was the idea of his own ‘theatre’: The creation of ‘pictorial dramas’ which were to reach the wider public through the means of engraving. The first successful series “The Harlot’s Progress”, of which only the engravings now exist (the originals were burnt in 1755), was immediately followed by the tremendous verve of “The Rake’s Progress”; the masterpiece of the story series “The Marriage a la Mode” followed, after an interval of twelve years.
 
Hogarth’ satires were serious moral and social satires, besides being good paintings. In 1735, he opened his own academy in St. Martyn's Lane. In portraiture, Hogarth displays a great variety and originality such as in portraits of “George Arnold” (c.1740), “Mary Edwards” (1742) and “Bishop Benjamin Hoadly” (1743). The charm of childhood, the ability to compose a vivid group, a delightful delicacy of color appear in “The Graham Children” (1742). The portrait heads of his servants are penetrating studies of character: “Hogarth’s Servants”. (c.1750). The painting of “Captain Thomas Coram” (1740), the philanthropic sea captain who took a leading part in the foundation of the Foundling Hospital, adapts the formality of the ceremonial portrait to a democratic level. The painter’s character is reflected faithfully in his forthright “Self-Portrait with Pug-Dog” (1745).
 
The quality of Hogarth as an artist is seen to advantage in his sketches and one sketch in particular, the famous “The Shrimp Girl” (c.1740-1743) quickly executed with a limited range of colour, stands alone in his work, taking its place among the masterpieces of the world in its harmony of form and content, its freshness and vitality. Hogarth died in 1764 in London and is buried in Chiswick cemetery.
 
In 1743–1745, William Hogarth painted the six pictures of “Marriage à-la-mode” (National Gallery, London), a pointed skewering of upper class 18th century society. This moralistic warning shows the disastrous results of an ill-considered marriage for money and satirises patronage and aesthetics. This is regarded by many as his finest project, certainly the best example of his serially-planned story cycles. A sort of “soap opera painting series”… In the first of the series, Hogarth shows an arranged marriage between the son of bankrupt Earl Squanderfield and the daughter of a wealthy but miserly city merchant. The son looks indifferent while the merchant’s daughter is distraught and has to be consoled by the lawyer Silvertongue. Even the faces on the walls appear to have misgivings.
 
In the second, called "The Tête-a-Tête" (shown above), there are signs that the marriage has already begun to break down. The husband and wife appear uninterested in one another, amidst evidence of their separate overindulgences the night before. The Viscount has had a night of debauchery (and the patch on his neck is a sign of syphilis), while the Viscountess has had a night of gambling on the card tables (but with whom?) Her pose is rather unladylike and her contentment may suggest that she was indeed in the arms of her lover. A distraught steward with a handful of unpaid bills walks off to the left, his eyes turned heavenward, knowing full well these won’t be paid in a hurry. The servant in the other room looks befuddled and is clearly not well supervised or directed.
 
The third in the series shows the Viscount visiting a quack with a young prostitute. The viscount, unhappy with the mercury pills meant to cure his syphilis, demands a refund while the young prostitute next to him dabs an open sore on her mouth, an early sign of syphilis.
 
In the fourth, the old Earl has died and the son is now the new Earl and his wife, the Countess. As was the very height of fashion at the time, the Countess is holding a “Toilette’, or reception, in her bedroom. The lawyer Silvertongue from the first painting is reclining next to the Countess, suggesting the existence of an affair. This point is furthered by the child in front of the pair, pointing to the horns on the statue of Actaeon, a symbol of cuckoldry. Paintings in the background include the biblical story of Lot and his daughters, Jupiter and Io, and the rape of Ganymede.
 
Next, the new Earl catches his wife in a bagnio with her lover, the lawyer, and is fatally wounded by the lawyer. As she begs forgiveness from the stricken man, the murderer in his nightshirt makes a hasty exit through the window. A picture of a woman with a squirrel on her hand hanging behind the countess contains lewd undertones.
 
Finally the Countess poisons herself in her grief and poverty-stricken widowhood, after her lover is hanged at Tyburn for murdering her husband. An old woman carrying her baby allows the child to give her a kiss, but the mark on her cheek and the caliper on her leg suggest that disease has been passed onto the next generation…

SONG SATURDAY - PEGGY ZINA

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” - Charles Dickens

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens
 
A Saturday the first of a few where the pleasure of the happy routine is to be disrupted. Parting is such sweet sorrow…
 
Here is Peggy Zina, singing the Greek song “Σου Χρωστάω Ακόμα ένα Κλάμμα” (I still Owe you Some Tears).

I still owe you some tears,
Things don't end just like that.
If you are not here,
How can happiness be mine?
I still must cry over you,
That’s how love always is.
If you are not here,
What life can I have after you?

FOOD FRIDAY - THREE DIPS

“Cooking is about passion, so it may look slightly temperamental in a way that it’s too assertive to the naked eye.” - Gordon Ramsay
 

A dip, or dipping sauce, is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavour or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, cut-up raw vegetables, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, and falafel. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically put, dipped, or added into the dipping sauce (hence the name). Dips are commonly used for finger foods, appetisers, and other easily held foods. Here are recipes for a popular trio of Middle Eastern dips.
 

Hummus Dip
Ingredients
 

1 and 1/2 cups chick peas
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon tahini
5 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons olive oil
Sumac powder to garnish (optional)
 

Method
Soak chick peas overnight and simmer in water for 2 hours or until soft (if the chick peas have not been pre-soaked they take longer to cook). Drain chick peas and reserve cooking liquid. Blend chick peas, garlic, tahini and lemon juice in food processor or blender adding as much reserved cooking liquid as needed to form a smooth, thick dip. Continue to blend lowly and add the olive oil little by little so that it is incorporated into the dip. Put into a serving bowl and sprinkle sumac powder on top (optional).

Baba Ganoush Dip
Ingredients
 

1 large eggplant
salt to taste
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon tahini
2 tablespoons lemon juice
olive oil for frying
parsley to garnish (optional)
 

Method

Cut the eggplant into slices around 1 cm thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and let sit for 30 minutes (the salt draws out the bitterness of the eggplant). Wash off salt with water and dry well with a towel. Fry until soft.
Blend eggplant with garlic, tahini, and lemon juice. Put in a serving bowl and garnish with finely chopped parsley (optional).
 

Spicy Carrot Dip
Ingredients
 

5 large or 10 small carrots
2 or more cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground caraway
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons vinegar
Mild smoked paprika powder to garnish (optional)
 

Method
Dice carrots and boil for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash with a fork. Add garlic, spices, oil and vinegar. Mix and chill, garnishing by sprinkling paprika powder on top (optional).

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

ST NECTARIOS OF AEGINA

“Miracles are not impossible from a logical standpoint, and right reason does not deny them. Natural laws do not have the claim to be the only ones, nor are they threatened with being overturned by the appearance of other laws, supernatural ones, which also are conducive to the development and furtherance of creation… Miracles are a consequence of the Creator’s love for His creatures.” – St Nectarios

Saint Nectarios of Aegina (1846–1920), Metropolitan of Pentapolis and Wonderworker of Aegina, was officially recognised as a Saint by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1961. His Feast Day is celebrated every year on 9 November. The saint is one of the most widely known and loved of Greek Orthodox Saints and his name (meaning “sweet as nectar”) is a popular name for boys (Nectários) and girls (Nectaría) in Greece.

St. Nectarios was born on 1 October 1846 in Selymbria in Eastern Thrace to a poor but pious family, his parents being Dimos and Maria Kephalas. His given name was Anastasios Kephalas. At the age of 14, he moved to Constantinople (Istanbul) to work and also further his education as he loved learning. In 1866, at age 20, he moved to the island of Chios to take up a teaching post.

As he had long wished to take a monastic life, on November 7, 1876 he became a monk, at age 30, in the Monastery of Nea Moni. Three years later he was ordained a Deacon, taking the name Nectarios. He graduated from the University of Athens in 1885. During his years as a student of the University of Athens he wrote many books, pamphlets, and Bible commentaries.

Following his graduation he went to Alexandria, Egypt, where he was ordained a priest and served faithfully the Church of Saint Nicholas in Cairo. In recognition of his piety and brilliance as a preacher, as well as his administrative ability, he was consecrated Metropolitan bishop of Pentapolis (an ancient diocese in Cyrenaica, in what is now Libya) by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Sophronios in 1889.

He served as a Bishop in Cairo for one year, and because of his immense popularity with the people he was greatly envied by his peers. Internal squabbling in the church and this envy amongst the clergy resulted in lies being made up about him and false accusations regarding his activities were brought before the Patriarch. As a result, Patriarch Sophronios refused to listen to what St. Nectarios had to say in his own defence. He was sent away from Egypt without trial or any explanation whatsoever.

After his dismissal, he returned to Greece in 1891, and spent several years as a preacher (1891–1894). He was then appointed director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School for the education of priests in Athens, where his service was exemplary for fifteen years. He developed many courses of study, and wrote numerous books, all while preaching widely throughout Athens.

In 1904 at the request of several nuns, he established a nunnery for them on the island of Aegina, in the Saronic Gulf close to Athens. The nunnery was named Holy Trinity Convent. Nectarios ordained two women as deaconesses in 1911. Up to the 1950s, a few Greek Orthodox nuns also became monastic deaconesses. In 1986, Christodoulos, then the metropolitan of Demetrias, later to become archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, ordained a woman deacon in accordance with the “ritual of St. Nectarios” (the ancient Byzantine text St. Nectarios had used).

In December 1908, at the age of 62, St. Nectarios resigned from his post as school director and withdrew to the Holy Trinity Convent on Aegina, where he lived out the rest of his life as a monk. He wrote, published, preached, and heard confessions from those who came from near and far to seek out his spiritual guidance. While at the convent, he also tended the gardens, carried stones, and helped with the construction of the monastery buildings that were built with his own funds. Next to the original convent in Aegina a grand church dedicated to St Nectarios has been built. The church is still in the process of being completed.

St. Nectarios died on the evening of 9 November 1920 (O.S. 8 November) at the age of 74, following hospitalisation for prostate cancer. His body was taken to the Holy Trinity Convent, where he was buried by his best friend St Savvas of Kalymnos, who later painted the first icon of St. Nectarios. The funeral of St. Nectarios was attended by multitudes of people from all parts of Greece and Egypt. His anathema in Cairo was not lifted by the Alexandrian Patriarchate until 1998.

Many people regarded St. Nectarios as a Saint during his lifetime because of his devoutness, his humility, his purity, his writings, as well as the miracles he performed. St. Nectarios also had the gift of prescience. The relics of St. Nectarios were removed from the grave on 2 September 1953. Official recognition of Nectarios as a Saint by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople took place on 20 April 1961. Thousands of miracles have been attributed to his intercession.

OBAMA RE-ELECTED USA PRESIDENT

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” - Plato
 

The day started out this morning with a walk along the Yarra River, quite early before I got to work. It had just rained and the atmosphere was clear with the air crisp and cool. As the sun was coming up through the clouds it illuminated the city high-rise buildings and made their glass and steel façades glitter. Their reflections in the quiet waters of the river were distorted by its gentle flow and the gulls flew about calling to each other with their cacophonous squawks. An occasional team of rowers flitted by quickly as their collected efforts made their boat glide through the water with ease.
 

I felt exhilarated and extremely lucky to be able to take this leisurely stroll along the river bank. A wonderful city, a comfortable existence, a peaceful place to live in. I had a job to go to, family to wait for me when I got home later tonight. It made me feel so thankful for my secure and enjoyable lifestyle, all of those things that we often take for granted if we live in such a place. How many people around the world can enjoy half, a quarter, a tenth a hundredth of these simple pleasures?
 

As the world situation becomes ever more volatile, as the financial crisis claims more and more victims, as the developing countries face enormous problems, as world populations move around the globe to find a better life for themselves, how easy it is to ignore it all and stay cossetted in our own cosy situation, oblivious to all else around us…
 

The haves can choose to pay no heed to the have-nots, at their peril. The rich can disregard the poor for a time. The secure can close their eyes to the insecurity of the dispossessed and the deprived. The comfortable may shut their ears to the cries of help of the uncomfortable. However, as the inequities grow greater, as the disparity between the wealthy and the indigent deepens, as the rift between the haves and the have-nots becomes wider, there is the risk of a reaction.
 

Crisis will often prompt people to desperate acts. Revolution as a means of righting social wrongs has in the past been a major force in upsetting the status quo. Comfortable existences cannot be maintained forever by simply ignoring the plight of the have-nots. Can constructive social changes prevent the violent resolution of inequity? Can socially-informed policies of governments around the world act in a way that the rights of all people are defended? Cannot the rich share part of their wealth so that the bulk of it is not wrested from them forcefully?
 

The re-election of President Barack Obama in the USA will usher in a presidency that will be surely more challenging in its second term than it was in its first. The people of the world, not only of the USA, have raised their expectations and the multitude of problems Obama’s country faces not only internally, but also in its external involvements will make for a time is wrought with tough decisions, difficult tasks, confronting policies and controversial actions.
 

Obama has to perform exceptionally well in order to make even some of his pre-election promises good. It will be a massive task and he will need a supportive and united team in order to make the impossible possible. He has had a reputation for being a little bit of a lone wolf. Will he in this new term of office be able to become more of a team player? Jilted Republicans will ensure that his office is not a pleasant one and his every decision will be challenged. I hope that things go well. I hope that the USA recovers and that by regaining a position of strength it can influence the rest of the world into a better shape than it is currently…

MELBOURNE CUP 2012

“A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up to and outpace.” Ovid
 

Australians certainly love sport and although renowned for our egalitarianism, we are fond of “the sport of kings” - horse racing. One can find horse racing events around the nation on almost every day of the year. Of course, there is a lively wagering that goes on in association with these events too. Although I am not a gambler I do take part in the yearly flutter that comes with the Melbourne Cup in the form of the office sweepstakes where I hand over my two-dollar coin as I bid goodbye to it - I haven't won once! Anyway, that's the extent of my gambling…
 

The Melbourne Cup is the horse race of all Australian horse races. Every year when this race is run around 3:00 pm, it literally stops the entire nation. Melbourne Cup Day is fixed on the first Tuesday in November and although it is a public holiday only in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, Australians all over the nation are glued to their television screens or listen on the radio (or on the internet too, nowadays, I suppose) to watch this historic race.
 

The race is held over a distance of 3,200 meters, the traditional two-mile cup distance, for horses three years and older and is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world. It is held in Flemington Racecourse, located in Flemington, one of Melbourne's inner city suburbs, which is named after a butcher who lived there in the 19th century. I certainly hope he didn't sell horse meat - that would be grand irony!
 

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. There were 17 starters and the prize was 170 pounds and a hand-beaten gold watch (this was the trophy given before the traditional Loving Cup which the Melbourne Cup is known for). “Archer”, the first Cup-winning horse, had been walked to Melbourne from its stable in Nowra, New South Wales, a distance of about 800km. “Archer” won again the following year to a prize of 810 gold sovereigns (£810) and a gold watch. “Archer” went on to win the race the following year once more, making him one of the five horses to win the event more than once.
 

The Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club merged to form the Victoria Racing Club in 1864. The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) had taken charge of the proceedings since then. The Melbourne Cup saw even more promise and popularity under the auspices of the VRC. By 1865, Cup Day was declared a half-day holiday. By 1877 it was declared a whole day holiday to allow patrons to crowd the Flemington racecourse. The Cup was first held on the first Tuesday of November in 1875. It then too adopted the four-day format, which later evolved to today's well-attended Carnival. From then until now the Melbourne Cup was growing to a locally and internationally supported event.
 

The Flemington racetrack is the most popular course in Australia and the home of the organisers of the VRC. The whole field has a capacity of 120,000. Spectators who cannot get into Flemington watch from the television panels outside of the field. The pear-shaped track has a back straight of six furlongs. The final straight to the finishing post measures 450 metres long. The length of the home stretch has decided Melbourne Cup races throughout history.
 

“Green Moon” passed the winning post to take the 2012 Melbourne Cup. Sitting atop the flying six-year-old stallion was jockey Brett Prebble. “Americain”, the favourite, did not even rate a place - as is often usual with favourites! Prebble said on his win:  “It's a lifelong dream. That was super, he was outstanding. He's a machine, you can take him anywhere in the world and he's a high class animal. What can you say, I won a Melbourne Cup.”
 

The Spring Racing Carnival, but especially the Melbourne Cup and the Oaks Day races run the Thursday two days after the Cup, is a glamour fashion event also. Many people simply attend to be seen in their best finery. Women compete furiously for winning the fashion stakes and every year it is amazing to see what they balance on top of their heads in the form of some type of headgear: Caps, hats, fascinators, berets, shades, turbans, titfers, headdresses of every kind, from the sublime to the ridiculous (mostly the latter)!
 

This year, Charles the Prince of Wales and his Consort the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, graced the Melbourne Cup with their presence. The royal couple met some of the jockeys who rode in the Melbourne Cup and they will stay in Melbourne for a total of three days, as part of their Australasian tour.

EXTREMELY CLOSE & INCREDIBLY LOUD

“I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you.” - Colin Raye
 

We watched the 2011 Stephen Daldry film “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”  starring Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow and Viola Davis. It was an adaptation of the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer with a screenplay by Eric Roth. It is a long and (for many people) painful movie as it involves the events of NYC on 9/11 and uses its events as a backdrop to its action. Some people have actually found this offensive. We didn’t feel offended by it, and although the references are painful and troubling, there is a moving and strong point made by the film about terrorist acts and their impact on ordinary people.
 

Oskar (Thomas Horn), is a troubled young boy with an autistic-type disorder who is trying to cope with the loss of his father (Tom Hanks). Oskar has a difficult relationship with his mother (Sandra Bullock) and often lashes out at her, and has a great deal of difficulty relating to the world. A year after his father’s death, he discovers a mysterious key in his father’s things and embarks on a search to find the lock the key opens. Oskar treats this quest like a mystery expedition, similar to what he and his father undertook in the past. He gets to meet tens of different people, some close to him some very distant and he gets to discover how to control his fears and cope with the enormity of his loss.
 

The film is offbeat, centring as it does on young Oskar, with whom some people will find difficulty to identify with. However, it is easy to view the film if one sees it more as a film about father-son relationships than as a comment on 9/11 (which it nevertheless is). Oskar’s father had a troubled relationship with his father and hence the perfect relationship that he worked hard to develop with Oskar. Oskar’s relationship with his father – his hero – was what underlies the immense and heart-breaking loss he feels. Oskar’s relationship with his grandfather and the way that he feels betrayed by it adds to his problems, although it is this relationship that catalyses Oskar’s final understanding and acceptance of the past.
 

All the actors performed extremely well in this movie, but it is young Thomas Horn and Max von Sydow that deserve the laurels for their performance. Viola Davis has an excellent supporting role and Sandra Bullock plays competently, although her absence during most of the film is noticeable (and ultimately explained). John Goodman has a cameo appearance, and I do believe he is maturing into a fine character actor. The New York setting is both apt and poignant, although this film is bound rub salt into the wounds of many people who were personally affected by the 9/11 tragedy. One can understand this, and one can expect a mass of emotions to surface, one can see why some people have responded extremely negatively to this film.
 

Some of the criticism levelled at the film is that it was one that was “Oscar-baiting” – i.e. it was made specifically to attract an Oscar for Best Picture. This is feel is slightly insulting to the film-makers as there is no rhyme nor reason to what the Academy will select as Best Picture and there have been many lemons that have got an Oscar and countless worthy movies that got no awards whatsoever. References to the Holocaust and to Oskar’s condition have also been found by some to be troublesome.
 

It is a challenging film to watch, a trifle too long and it does contain themes that many people will find confronting. Nevertheless we watched it with unflagging interest, we were emotionally involved and the film was poignant and touching in places, but balanced by scenes of sheer joy and joie-de-vivre. Young Oskar was a perfect depiction of a troubled child who is coping not only with a range of psychological disorders but also with the burden of an immense personal loss due to a senseless act of violence and terrorism. The way that he finally manages to cope with these issues and the way that he re-establishes his closest relationships at the end of the movie is the point of the film.

ART SUNDAY - MATISSE

“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.” - John Ruskin

For Art Sunday today, Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (born December 31, 1869, Le Cateau, Picardy, France and died November 3, 1954, Nice). Matisse is the artist often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. He was the leader of the Fauvist movement, which developed around 1900, and as its champion, he pursued the expressiveness of colour throughout his career. His subjects were largely domestic or figurative, and a distinct Mediterranean verve presides in the treatment. His use of flat colour and rich ornament make for highly decorative canvasses that evoke strong emotional responses in the viewer.

The artist’s parents were in the grain business, and Matisse displayed little interest in art until he was 20 years old. From 1882 to 1887 he attended the secondary school in Saint-Quentin; after a year of legal studies in Paris, he returned to Saint-Quentin and became a clerk in a law office. He began to sit in on an early-morning drawing class at the local École Quentin-Latour, and, in 1890, while recovering from a severe attack of appendicitis, he began to paint, at first copying the coloured reproductions in a box of oils his mother had given him. Soon he was decorating the home of his grandparents at Le Cateau. In 1891 he abandoned the law and returned to Paris to become a professional artist.

Although at this period he had, in his own words, “hair like Absalom’s”, he was far from being a typical Left Bank bohemian art student. “I plunged head down into work,” he said later, “on the principle I had heard, all my young life, expressed by the words ‘Hurry up!' Like my parents, I hurried up in my work, pushed by I don’t know what, by a force which today I perceive as being foreign to my life as a normal man”. This 19th-century gospel of work, derived from a middle class, northern French upbringing, was to mark his entire career, and soon it was accompanied by a thoroughly bourgeois appearance—gold-rimmed spectacles; short, carefully trimmed beard; plump, feline body; conservative clothes—which was odd for a leading member of the Parisian avant-garde.

He studied at the Academie Julian under the traditionalist Bouguereau and Moreau. Inspired by the works of the time, namely by post-impressionism, he always focussed on the importance and ability of colour to speak to the painter and the viewer. He often used pointillist techniques at the turn of the century. Initially he painted still-lifes and landscapes in a traditional style, at which he achieved reasonable proficiency. Matisse was influenced by the works of earlier masters such as Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Nicolas Poussin, and Antoine Watteau, as well as by modern artists such as Édouard Manet, and by Japanese art. Chardin was one of Matisse’s most admired painters; as an art student he made copies of four Chardin paintings in the Louvre.

He then moved to the French Riviera to work with a group of artists who became known as the Fauves or Wild Beasts for their flat, distinct work using symmetric lines that were to be expressive and non-detailed. Following this stint, he moved to Montparnasse. He then moved and lived outside of Nice so he could be close to the Riviera. Throughout World War I, he lived there painting.

After the war, his paintings revealed a return to something concrete, subdued, and physical in nature – something quite common in artistic circles of the day as artists also searched for answers to a war that had taken so much and so many.

It was Matisse’s travels to Spain, Germany, Russia, and Africa that would affect the painter’s work. By 1920, he had become a world-renowned artist and was commissioned by several prominent figures to complete murals, sculptures, and to give presentations. In his art, he fought against technology and vied for a return to something simpler and more expressive. Islamic art in particular influenced him to concentrate on the decorative elements rather than human figures.

During the last years of his life, he was a rather solitary man who was separated from his wife and whose grownup children were scattered. After 1941, when he underwent an operation for an intestinal disorder, he was bedridden much of the time; after 1950 he suffered from asthma and heart trouble. Cared for by a faithful Russian woman who had been one of his models in the early 1930s, he lived in a large studio in the Old Hôtel Regina at Cimiez, overlooking Nice. Often he was obliged to work on his mural-sized projects from a studio bed with the aid of a crayon attached to a long pole. But there are no signs of flagging creative energy or of sadness in his final achievements; on the contrary, these works are among the most daring, most accomplished, and most serenely optimistic of his entire career.

Matisse’s art has a vital force and persists into a personal world into which Matisse draws all his viewers. He was always attracted to the beautiful and produced some of the most powerful beauty ever painted. He was a man of anxious temperament, a man of peasant fears, well concealed. Matisse coaxed his nervous tension into serenity. He spoke of his art as being like “a good armchair” – a ludicrously inept comparison for such a brilliant man – but his art was a respite, a reprieve, a comfort to him.

The painting above is “The Lute” and it was painted in 1943. Strong colours and vibrant decorative elements are the backdrop for the woman playing the lute. That such a painting was created during the world war can be seen as a gesture of resistance and quiet struggle. The artist is influenced by the carnage and the upheaval, the red in the canvas perhaps symbolising the bloody battlegrounds of the war. The woman playing the lute and the plants luxuriantly burgeoning forth are a quiet confidence that humanity will survive and art will redeem the atrocities of the war. Having been through the horrors of WWI, Matisse could only look on WWII with forbearance and knew that once again the human spirit would overcome the savagery.

PARTING

“They who go Feel not the pain of parting; it is they Who stay behind that suffer” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For music Saturday today, a beautiful aria from George Friedrich Handel’s opera “Rodelinda”. It is the aria “Dove Sei?” (Where are you?).

“Rodelinda, regina de’ Longobardi” (HWV 19) is an opera seria in three acts composed for the first Royal Academy of Music by George Friederich Handel. The libretto is by Nicola Francesco Haym, and was based on an earlier libretto by Antonio Salvi set by Giacomo Antonio Perti in 1710. Salvi’s libretto originated with Pierre Corneille's play “Pertharite, roi des Lombards” (1653), based on the history of Perctarit, king of the Lombards in the 7th century.
 
Dove sei, amato bene?
Vieni, l'alma a consolar!
Sono oppresso da' tormenti
ed i crudeli miei lamenti
sol con te posso sopportar...

Where are you, my dear loved one?
Come and console my soul.
I am oppressed with sorrow
And my cruel lament
I can only bear with you near me…



The painting is “Parting” by Jean-Michel Ruyten.

SOUL CAKES

“You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” - C.S. Lewis

The old English custom of “soul-caking”, or “souling”, originated in pre-Reformation days, when singers went about on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 1 and November 2), to beg for cakes in remembrance of the dead. The “soulers”, as the singers were called, droned out their ditties repeatedly, tonelessly, without pause or variation. Doubtlessly, Shakespeare was familiar with the whining songs because Speed, in Two Gentlemen of Verona, observes tartly that one of the “special marks” of a man in love is “to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas”.
 
Soul Cakes
Ingredients

1 cup butter

3 and 3/4 cups sifted flour
1 cup fine sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground dried ginger
A couple of threads of saffron (soaked in the milk for several hours)
1 teaspoon allspice
2 eggs
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
4 -6 tablespoons milk
Icing sugar, to sprinkle on top

Method

Preheat oven to 175°C.
Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or a large fork.
Blend in the sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and allspice; beat eggs, vinegar, and saffron milk together.
Mix with the flour mixture until a stiff dough is formed.
Knead thoroughly and roll out 1/4-inch thick.
Cut into 7 cm rounds and place on greased baking sheets. Prick several times with a fork, mark crosswise and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar while still warm.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday

ALL SAINTS' DAY

“Men are admitted into Heaven not because they have curbed and governed their passions or have no passions, but because they have cultivated their understandings. The treasures of Heaven are not negations of passion, but realities of intellect, from which all the passions emanate uncurbed in their eternal glory. The fool shall not enter into Heaven let him be ever so holy.” - William Blake
 
All Saints’ Day is a Solemnity celebrated on the first of November by the Catholics and to a more limited extent by the Anglicans. It is instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Pope Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of saints’ feasts during the year.
 
In the early days of Christianity, the faithful were accustomed to solemnise the anniversary of a martyr’s death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast, as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (397 AD) to the bishops of the province of Pontus.
 
As it was common for groups of martyrs to have suffered the same dire fate on the same day, it was natural to commemorate them in a group. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephraim the Syrian (373 AD), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407 AD).
 
At first only martyrs and St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonisation was established; still, as early as 411 AD there is in the Chaldean Calendar a “Commemoratio Confessorum” for the Friday after Easter. In the West Pope Boniface IV, on the 13 May, 609 AD, consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary.
 
Pope Gregory III (731-741 AD) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for their commemoration on 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on May 1. Pope Gregory IV (827-844 AD) extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84 AD).
 
All Catholics are obliged to attend mass on this day, being one of the major feasts of the Roman Catholic faith. In England the festival was known as All Hallows, hence the name of the preceding day, Halloween.  The Christian feast has melded with the Celtic feast of Samhain, the pagan of New Year festival when crops were blessed, stored fruits and grains were hallowed and the dead were remembered.

            All the gods of this world were worshipped on this day
            From sunrise to sunset.
 

            When All Saints’ comes on Wednesday,
            The men of all the earth will be under affliction.
 

Children born on All Hallowstide were sure to have the second sight and all November’s children were lucky, beloved and fortunate in their life:

            November’s child is born to bless
            He’s like a song of thankfulness.
 

A couplet from An Early Calendar of English Flowers remarks upon the scarcity of flowers at this time:

            Save mushrooms, and the fungus race,
            That grow till All-Hallow-tide takes place.
 

The weather on this day should be observed as it gives an indication of what lies ahead:

            If ducks do slide at Hallowentide
            At Christmas they will swim;
            If ducks do swim at Hallowentide
            At Christmas they will slide.
 

As the next day is All Souls’ Day, “soul cakes” were made on this night for distribution to the poor.  The recipients of these cakes prayed for the souls of the departed, interceding on their behalf.  The returning, visiting souls of the dead on this day were thought to somehow be able to partake of these “soul cakes”.

OCTOBER RENDEZVOUS

“I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain; What a wonderful feeling, I'm happy again.” Arthur Freed
 
Magpie Tales has given us inspiration in the form of a rainy embrace this week. My response was immediate and literal.
 
October Rendezvous
 
The rain fell all night long,
And gray dawn was wet
Making of the streets, steel mirrors,
And of the gutters, rivulets.
 
As raindrops fell and fell
I feared you wouldn’t come;
As clock hands crawled
And dark eddies swirled in my mind.
 
The street deserted, all taking cover,
Even the cars sparse, on the road;
I watch and wait, mindful of the rain
Saturating me to the core.
 
As raindrops fall and fall
I fear you will not come;
As clock hands stop
And frozen rain soaks my heart.
 
A lone umbrella in the distance,
Approaching, and a familiar footstep
Making me watch alert, the dawning sun
Of expectation lights my darkness.
 
As raindrops vanish in mid-fall,
I clasp you to my breast and we kiss;
Umbrella now redundant,
As our love shields us from all outside it.

LEADERSHIP VS AUTHORITY

“I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” - Benjamin Disraeli
 

I am away from home at an intensive residential workshop for my work for several days, so this means that almost all of my waking time is being taken up by all sorts of activities, both work-related but also team-building, social ones. At least it is in a very beautiful location about 45 or so minutes away from the city, far away enough to immerse oneself totally in the activities and workshop, but at the same time near enough to mean that can get here easily, a leisurely drive against the traffic at peak time. The facilities are world standard and the complex is huge.
 

The first day has been quite good with a lot of interesting experiences, not the least of which was an extended discussion of leadership versus authority. A leader of course is a person whose personality, communication skills, knowledge and experience helps him or her to guide a group of people in a direction the leader believes is the desirable and “right” way to go. On the other hand a person with authority uses their position of power to tell a group of people which direction to take. The key difference is in the power of the person that determines the course his or her followers take.
 

Leaders are trusted for their judgment and respected for their expertise, integrity and in some ways their charismatic gift. They tend to be followed because of the influence they are able to exert without telling their followers what to do. If people follow them, it is because people agree with the way the leader presents a certain course of action as the “right” one, and not because the leader holds a certain position of authority. For example, Mahatma Gandhi for most of his life did not hold any official position to lead the Indian freedom struggle.
 

A figure of authority wields power because of the position he or she holds. Authority rarely provides a scope for feedback, constructive criticism or opinions of the people on whom it is exercised. Acceptance of orders given by the person in power is generally the way the authoritarian model operates on. Authoritarianism is in most Western countries a questionable manner of governing, or running a company or even the way in which a family operates. Formal authority and power emerging from it, might not always be able to influence people in the desired manner as in times of crisis and difficulties people may view it as coercion. Sole use of authority to direct and discipline free-thinking adults rarely works. Such heavy-handed authority is unlikely to make people change their attitudes and behaviours. Exercising authority may not exploit the talent of one's followers and it often limits the approaches to arrive at innovative solutions for issues and problems.
 

Good leaders provide multiple ways in which their followers may communicate with them, and opportunities for feedback. Leadership tends to create followers out of free will and choice without forcing them to accept anything without questioning it. Leadership provides a better approach of striving for desired goals, sharing the work required for achieving these goals and also for involving followers in teamwork that builds rapport amongst the team, thus creating long term fruitful relationships. A leader inspires followers through example and provides a fertile ground for self-development of the followers, thus empowering them to become leaders themselves. Good leadership encourages people to look beyond the obvious and think innovatively and sometimes emerge with radical solutions.
 

I look forward to the rest of my time here as it will help me develop my skills and enrich the repertoire of ways that I lead my team and engage with them in order to make them work effectively with me in achieving our goals.

SONG SATURDAY - SOLVEIG'S SONG

“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” - Kahlil Gibran

This morning it looked as Winter had returned once again with gray skies, showers and a chilly edge in the air. Nevertheless, we went out as I had an appointment with my optometrist for an eye examination and then the usual Saturday morning chores and the shopping. In the evening, a cosy dinner in, beautiful music and pleasant conversation…

Here is Edvard Grieg’s “Solveig’s Song” sung by Anna Yuryevna Netrebko (born 18 September 1971). She is a Russian operatic soprano, now holding dual Russian and Austrian citizenship and currently residing in Vienna. She has been nicknamed “La Bellissima” by fans.

Solveig’s Song is sung by Solveig in the fourth act of Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” Op. 23 was written as incidental music for inclusion in Henrik Ibsen’s play. It premiered along with the play on 24 February 1876 in Christiania (now Oslo). Later, in 1888 and 1891, Grieg extracted eight movements to make two four-movement suites: Suite No. 1, Op. 46, and Suite No. 2, Op. 55.

Solveig’s Song

The winter may pass and the spring disappear
The spring disappear
The summer too will vanish and then the year
And then the year
But this I know for certain: you'll come back again
You'll come back again
And even as I promised you'll find me waiting then
You'll find me waiting then
Oh-oh-oh...

God help you when wand'ring your way all alone
Your way all alone
God grant to you his strength as you'll kneel at his throne
As you'll kneel at his throne
If you are in heaven now waiting for me
In heaven for me
And we shall meet again love and never parted be
And never parted be!
Oh-oh-oh...