Stories

Six Words: Abbey, Location, Neighborhood, Sticky, Appear, Basin

You have probably heard of St. Francis of Assisi. A number of years ago, my wife Denise and I visited Assisi in Italy. There is a street that people stroll and that has some shops and at least one church. We stayed in a hotel on that street. Occasionally you see a monk, I think a Benedictine monk, in his robe walking along the street. There must be an abbey somewhere in the neighborhood. The street follows the slope of a hill and at the end of the street, atop the hill, is the Basilica of St. Francis. A long, wide staircase leads up to the Basilica. The Basilica is huge. It was consecrated in 1253. Inside are marvelous frescoes by Giotto and others depicting the life of St. Francis, and perhaps how he actually appeared during his lifetime. It is dim inside. I’m sure there is a basin in there somewhere, after all, it is a Catholic church, but if I saw it I don’t remember it.

I can’t say how it affects others, but for me, it was a place that had a special feeling of reverence. That feeling of reverence sticks with me still. I’ve been in many temples, synagogues, churches and mosques, but there was something unique about the way I felt in that location. I’ve tried to think of other locations where I’ve had that feeling of reverence. There aren’t many. The ones that I do think of are Yad Vashem, which is the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, and the memorial room that you find within any Holocaust museum.

If you left our hotel and turned to the left you went to the Basilica. But if you turned to the right, you came to a fantastic gelato shop.

Six Words: Late, Frighten, Flu, Advocate, Timber, Flatware

The people in the area say it sounded like a tornado, or perhaps like a waterfall. Indeed, several small lakes and ponds suddenly appeared across a surprisingly wide area. To say folks were frightened would be an understatement. Neighbors speculated on the cause. Some advocated that it was a sign from heaven, although no one could agree on what the sign might mean. Others advocated that it was an effect of climate change. In both cases, some feared that it was too late to do anything about it.

And then Paul Bunyan strode into town, along with Babe, his blue ox. Paul apologized in case his sneezing had frightened anyone. He explained that he was recovering from the flu and he knew that his sneezes could be a little loud and forceful. But he was better now and said that he should get back to work.

With that, he strode into the woods, carrying his mighty ax over his shoulder as if it were a piece of flatware. Soon afterwards, the folks heard the call of “timber” and the sound of a tree falling, and they knew that Paul would be OK. But they weren’t sure that anyone who wasn’t there would believe this story. Do you?

Six Words: Cheese, Engage, Union, Particle, Leaflet, Pilot

Whether it’s The Love Boat, or the Pequod in Moby Dick, the Titanic, the African Queen or a more typical river or ocean cruise, the Captains of ships get a lot of attention. But there are unsung masters of the sea that those captains depend on – the men or women that board the big ships when the maneuvering is critical and there is little room for error. They’re called pilots and when they’re aboard ship and on the bridge, the safety of the ship – and its passengers – is in their hands.

I had the opportunity to be the photographer for the wedding of a pilot and the man she was engaged to. Before their union was official, we took some pre-ceremony photos. The backdrop for the photos was a scene painted on particle board, so in the photos there is a beautiful ocean view behind them. You know, of course, that I did ask them to say “cheese” as I took a series of photos.

When I began editing the photos, I discovered a problem that we hadn’t noticed during the photo-shoot. Small leaflets had been falling from the nearby trees and a few were visible in the photos. I thought about making up a story to say that Noah’s dove was bringing back leaves and that the leaflets were a sign from heaven. But I didn’t. Instead, it was easy to Photoshop the leaves out of the pictures. Pilots aren’t the only ones that can prevent disasters – and like pilots, photographers may also be unsung heroes.

Six Words: Thin, Ideal, Decorate, Agile, Relative, Float

When you think of a ski resort, most people don’t think of Israel, but you could. Mount Hermon, Har Hermon in Hebrew, is at the northern end of the Golan. Snow melt from Mount Hermon forms the headwaters of the Jordan River. The river flows into the Sea of Galilee, called Lake Kinneret in Israel, and then to the Dead Sea – the lowest place on the surface of the earth!

In places, the Jordan river has enough volume to swim, but in many places it is thin and shallow. We drove across it in a jeep but could easily have walked across. I started to sing “Just a going over Jordan”, but no one joined me and I ignored the strange looks I got.

If Mount Heron is the head of the River Jordan, I guess you could call the Dead Sea its foot. If you’ve been to Israel, chances are you’ve been to the Dead Sea. And if you’ve been there, ideally you had a chance to float in it. You don’t want to shave or cut yourself for at least a day before you go into the waters of the Dead Sea. The salt will sting anywhere that your skin is raw. It’s not the time to worry about your bikini line.

When you first learned to swim, you probably tried floating first, maybe on your stomach, and also on your back. It was challenging in the beginning. Not so in the Dead Sea. In the Dead Sea you cannot help but float on your back. You can’t sink and you don’t want to get the extremely salty water in your eyes, so you won’t swim or float on your stomach. It takes no agility. You just lean back and you’re floating – high, with your tummy and any other parts that bulge sticking up out of the water. You’ll want a relative or friend to take your picture.

Some people decorate themselves with mud from the Dead Sea. The minerals are supposed to be good for the skin. But it is hard to wash off and very hard to get it out of a bathing suit. You’d certainly be bringing a bit of Israel home with you. It’s much easier to simply buy a bottle or jar of Ahava skin care products. They’re made from Dead Sea minerals and Ahava is Hebrew for love.

One final thought. The water level in the Dead Sea has fallen drastically over the last several decades. From 2004 to 2016 it has fallen 16 meters! That is 52 feet! It is currently falling by about a meter a year. There is a proposal by Israel to desalinate Red Sea water and pipe it to the Dead Sea, but that will take the cooperation of Jordan and of the Palestinian Authority, which is complicated. A lot of ahava, of love, is going to be needed to make that happen.

Six Words: Trolley, Button, Spring, Available, Support, Patent

When I was in elementary school in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, we lived near Armitage Avenue. There were two types of trolley car in the city, as well as the famous “El”, the elevated and subway system in Chicago. The more modern trolley cars, the Green Hornets, were introduced during my boyhood. The old red trolley cars that ran on Armitage Avenue since before I was born were still running during my boyhood.

Armitage Avenue was a major street, with automobile traffic and the street cars. You needed to be careful when you crossed it, and it was a long time before I was allowed to ever cross it by myself. For the very brave and very foolish, you could put a penny, if one was available, on the trolley car rail. You had to place it just right so that it wouldn’t fall into the crevice that was part of the rail system, and you had to time it just right, so that a car wouldn’t run over your penny and move it before a street car came. You had to dash out to the track and spring back to safety without getting hit.

If you timed it just right, with friends supporting you and egging you on, the street car would run over your penny and make it flatter than a button. Now that I think about it, pennies are already flatter than many buttons, but you get the idea. We didn’t have a patent on the idea, and I’m sure it happened elsewhere in Chicago and it will probably still happen where ever there are trolley cars. But will there continue to be pennies?

Six Words: Predator, Employ, Metal, Beginning, Farewell, Uniform

When you go on safari, the most memorable moments are likely to be when you are on a game drive. Before beginning the drive you check to be sure you haven’t forgotten anything. You’ll probably need to apply sunscreen and maybe bug spray. Have your binoculars and a camera, a hat, and some water. Then you climb into the vehicle and off you go. Your ranger/driver has an amazing ability to find their way around the dirt roads and they do just as well off-road. Some places also employ trackers to ride on the vehicles. The rangers employ radios to stay in touch with other rangers, letting each other know when they have an interesting sighting, but they don’t speak to each other in English. In the Kruger National Park area of South Africa the language is usually Xitsonga. In Tanzania it is probably Swahili. In Botswana it is Tswana. The Rangers/Guides speak in the local language so that if they think we’re on our way to see a leopard but the leopard has moved away by the time we get there, we aren’t disappointed because we don’t know what we missed.

Various types of antelope become common, giraffes are graceful, elephants are always amazing, but everyone wants to see the predators. Although the animals are completely wild, they do become accustomed to the metal animal-like vehicles that have four round “feet” that never leave the ground and that can travel very fast and so they usually leave the vehicles alone. Game drives are always unique. They’re never uniform.

Alas, eventually, there is always a time to say farewell. But every time, each day leaves us with a sense of awe and reverence for what we’ve seen and photographed.

Six Words: Jewel, Report, Inquiry, Waist, Grant, Plead

When I would see someone, always a girl, with a jewel in her belly button I always wondered how it was fastened on. I’d never pleaded with anyone to report a secret technique, but it was a mystery. Recently I was granted my wish. Wish is too strong a word, really, just curiosity. Regardless, I was glad to discover the answer, although I was shocked.

I’m used to the idea of pierced ears, the kinds of jewelry that is displayed in those pierced ears, and the little clamps behind the ear that hold the earrings in place. My surprise was discovering the same technique is used with belly button jewels! It happened at the mall.

A couple of young women were wearing tops that didn’t come down to their waists, and shorts that didn’t come up to their waists. In other words, their waists were bare, in front, on the sides, and in back. My surprise, as I walked behind them, was seeing clamps on their backs at their waistlines. They were skin colored or transparent and sometimes colorful, but there was something definitely there. Some people may have thought they were tattoos. But that’s when I realized that the belly button jewels work just like earrings. The posts go all the way through from front to back and the clamps hold them in place. Now I wonder if having those holes drilled tickles, like when you tickle a baby’s tummy? And I’m wondering if the jewels you see on some women’s foreheads are fastened on in the same way.

I’m so glad that these were our words this week, because I’m sure many of you wondered the same thing and this gave me a chance to share my research and discovery.

Six Words: Pile, Knife, Foster, Strap, Concern, Future

You can make a big impression if you make Bananas Foster for guests. You’ll need some slightly under ripe bananas. Don’t be concerned about using greenish bananas. They’ll soften when they cook and they will still hold their shape. You’ll need unsalted butter, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla extract, kosher salt, and a little dark rum. Vanilla ice cream would be good too, but you won’t need any blackstrap molasses.

Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the bananas in half lengthwise and then crosswise. Place the bananas on a baking sheet. Don’t pile them up. Do a bunch of other stuff and serve.

I can loan any of you almost all of the ingredients today and I’m looking forward to your invitation in the near future.

Six Words: Effort, Heal, Strange, Loan, Jam, Continental

If he hadn’t accepted the loan of a gun from the stranger, and if the gun hadn’t jammed, and if he had put more effort into healing his differences with the other employees at the Continental hotel, perhaps he’d still be alive today.

Six Words: Copper, Secure, Faint, Mark, Ecstasy, Routine

Was there a candy store near your elementary school? Were you allowed to go into the store by yourself? Did you buy Lik-M-Aid and candy buttons on long strips of paper? Sen Sen too? Did you like Bazooka Bubblegum or did you choose the other brand?

Those were the days when ecstasy was having some small, round pieces of copper that feature a bust of Lincoln and the years they were minted stamped on them, and under the year a faint letter marking where each was minted. Those trips to the candy store never became routine. When you put a piece of that candy or gum in your mouth you felt secure – unless, of course, you weren’t supposed to go to the candy store alone in the first place.