Stone Hill Launch Times

December 1996

A Wade in the Water publication by Raggedy Ann Morris

ann@stonehill.org
ph: 813/677-6347
P.O. Box 2076, Riverview, FL 33568
Web pages: http://www.stonehill.org and http://www.milieux.com
NOTES FROM ANNIE'S ATTIC OR WHAT I DID ON MY AUTUMN VACATION
   If you have never been to Washington D.C., you ought to consider it for a future vacation. I have been there three times and have not seen and done all there is to do. Some things have changed and some have stayed the same since my first trip twenty years ago. The Metro now provides excellent transportation all over the city and to many outlying areas. The Air and Space Museum, which is just one of the many museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is now in a beautiful, HUGE, building rather than the tiny one that used to house it. There are just as many steps leading to the entrance of the Capitol and you still see lots of men in trench coats with brief cases walking around the Capitol Hill section who look like characters from "The X-Files."
   Being an avid museum hound and a power shopper too, I spent most of my time in the city going to the various Smithsonian museums and hunting for Christmas treats for friends and family in the museum gift shops. However, before taking up temporary residence in a Washington hotel, Kendall and I visited with Chrissy Orsini and Geoff Brophy at their home on Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland. Many of you will remember Chrissy and Geoff from their Stone Hill days here in the Tampa area. Chrissy is now Lieutenant Orsini, an Air Force nurse. She and Geoff are expecting their first child in February.
   Chrissy and Geoff are great tour guides. They showed us some parts of the D.C. area we would not likely have thought to visit as well as a couple we have seen and liked before.
   We visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This is a most impressive building. It's a massive structure and is very castle-like in outward appearance. The interior is lavishly adorned with countless mosaics depicting various religious figures and events. I am a Catholic but not very good at it and I am not sure if such a church would inspire me to worship or be a distraction from pious thinking. I think this shrine is as much a monument to the craftsmanship and artistry of man as it is to the religious event to which it is dedicated.
   We only had about half an afternoon at the National Zoo but what we had the chance to see there was quite interesting. There is a wonderful sea life exhibit with a tank full of anemone that I loved. There were all kinds and colors of them. It was almost impossible to believe such creatures were real, or at least that they were from this planet. They are so strange and beautiful.
   We also got to see prairie dogs. I have only seen them on TV before. They are fat and furry, make a funny chirping sound, and they actually kiss to communicate friendship with each other. Prairie dogs are just too cute.
   Currently, there is an Orangutan Language Project at the National Zoo. The exhibit that goes along with the study was extremely interesting to me. They are not teaching the orangutans sign language as has been done in many primate language projects. They are using a symbolic printed language. They have geometric symbols in place of the alphabet but the words they represent are ordinary English words. They have groups of symbols for nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, the names of the staff who work in the project, and the names of the orangutans. There are plans to add words as the orangutans gain skill in using the current ones. I hope there is news in some of the science magazines on the progress of this project.
   Geoff is a guitar man and we had to make a pilgrimage to the American History Museum to see the new exhibit paying homage to the electric guitar. The day we were there was either opening day or very close to it as there were reporters all over the place and it was very crowded. There were guitars that had been owned by famous players such as Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry, experimental ones that are not likely to been seen on TV or in concert, highly decorated ones (a white one with Celtic knot work was especially lovely), and plenty of the models you have seen your favorite rock stars use. There were several guitar makers there to talk about how they create the instruments. This was a fun exhibit and I am glad I got to see it. I went back the next week and took another look when it was not so crowded. The Celtic guitar is still my favorite one.
   One of things the travel books tell you is to see some of the neighborhoods of D.C. as well as what is known as the mall area, where the museums are. Chrissy and Geoff took us to the Adams Morgan district. This is a bohemian sort of place. There are ethnic restaurants of almost any type you can imagine. We had dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. Ethiopian meals are an earthy experience where you eat with your fingers. You are given a thin, vaguely circular, and very soft, elastic bread with which you pinch and pick up your food to eat it. The bread has an interesting kind of sour taste. The food is highly seasoned but not necessarily hot. If you are curious about it and you live in the Tampa area, there is an Ethiopian restaurant in Tampa you can try.
   Kendall was in Washington to go to the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting. He had to go be a science guy from Saturday night till the next Thursday, so I was on my own during the days. I went with him to the public Decade of the Brain lecture on Saturday night but found the speaker had not made his topic truly accessible to the layman. I had to admit to zoning out during much of it.
   Okay, I know this is pretty tacky but I had to do this. I spent most of Sunday at a giant shopping mall. It's called Pentagon City. You are out of D.C. and into Virginia I believe. It's odd to be in an area where so many different states are so close together. From where I live in Florida, nothing is close. Pentagon City is four stories high. It's got super cool architecture and was tastefully decorated for Christmas. I shopped a lot but bought nothing more than some food and drink in the food court. The best store in the place is THE MUSEUM SHOP. It's got many of the items you find in the museum gift shops in D.C. I wanted to be in the real museum shops to buy though.
   On Sunday, after meeting Kendall at the convention center, we joined some other people for a trip to Bethesda, Maryland to eat dinner. The restaurant was called The Gulf Coast and specialized in sea food. You can imagine that this amused me, living near the Gulf Coast of Florida as I do. A couple of our dinner companions were to be dinner companions for the rest of our time in D.C. Irene Solomon and Chris Wilson were Kendall's friends before the trip and I think I do not misspeak in saying they are now my friends too. Chris knows all the same weird Monty Python jokes we do and he reads SF. How bad could he be, right? Irene is a cat person and has a great sense of humor, so how bad could she be either? They are great people to go to dinner with as they are up for dining adventures. One night we went to a Burmese restaurant (Kendall and I went to it three years ago too), a Spanish restaurant, and a sports bar. No, we did not do this all in one night. You know what? There was no bad food. People tell you New Orleans is the place for food lovers but there is every bit as much, if not more, to recommend the D.C. area.
   Monday morning, I struck out bright and early to find the Longworth Building. It's the office building where my congressman, for whom I did not vote, has his office. Even if I did not vote for him, I knew that I could get passes to go on the VIP White House tour from his staff. I called ahead of going and got reservations for tour on November 21 and I had to go pick up the tickets. This is a tip for you. Do this thing if you are ever going to D.C. Any of the congresspeople can give you passes for several tours that you do not get by just walking in places. You can see the House and Senate Galleries and the National Archives as well as the White House. There may be more but those are the tours I have taken. This trip, I only wanted to go on the White House tour again. I was hoping to see the dining room I did not get to see last time because it was being set up for a luncheon President Clinton was having with Itzak Rabin.
   On my way to the Longworth Building, I passed one office building that had a big banner over its door proclaiming, "House Republicans are here to stay!" This does not bring any joy to my heart but it was amusing that they were gloating so openly as to have a banner on the building.
   After that, I visited the Library of Congress where I saw an exhibit of cartoons by Jules Pheiffer and a great exhibit about mapmaking. If you do not have a member card, you can forget the reading rooms of the library but they have some neat exhibits for casual visitors. Not to miss out on monetary gain, they have a nice gift shop with a lot of interesting items.
   The Folger Shakespeare Library is one of my favorite places. To be able to read in the library you must be working on a Ph.D. or be on staff there, or have been a docent for ten years, but you can see exhibits in the main hall and the gift shop is particularly dangerous if you are interested in the Tudor period or Renaissance times. The main hall currently houses an exhibit on printing and etching. You can see the theater and get a glimpse of the reading room, as well as visit an Elizabethan herb garden and see the room where Mrs. Folger, one of the library's founders, worked.
   During the rest of the week, I visited the Air and Space Museum, the new Museum of the American Indian, the National Portrait Gallery (where I did not get in trouble as I did last time and if you don't know about that, I'll have to tell you sometime), The Natural History Museum, went on the White House tour (did see the dining room missed on the earlier trip), and much more.
   It was pretty darn cold to a southerner like me in D.C. but I never did get any snow. Okay, there were flurries when we got into the airport and some was on the roof of Chrissy and Geoff's house but I couldn't see the flurries and the stuff on the roof was so thin it looked just like the frost we get here, so I consider myself still a snow virgin.
   That's what I did on my autumn vacation.

A STONE'S THROW AWAY   The Stone Hill holiday dinner will be at the Olive Garden in Brandon at 6 p.m. on December 22. Everyone is encouraged to come out and have a fine old time with us. You can get a fancy meal and use up a goodly portion of your life savings or you can be frugal and have a meal of soup, salad, breadsticks for a modest sum. The main thing is to be with friends for an evening of holiday cheer.
   Mike Lo Bue sent me information concerning the January Stone Hill meeting at his house. I just need to add that there will be maps to Mike's house available at the December meeting. If you are not going to be at the December meeting and would like a map, just call me and I will be glad to mail you one. Mike's address is 1006 Fern St. and his phone is 238-9470.
   Mike's message to you: The January STONE HILL meeting will be held at Michael Lo Bue's house in Tampa on Sunday January 12th starting at 1 p.m. Bring food. Parking is plentiful along the street and the next door neighbor's yard (1004). There is a PUBLIX just around the corner on Nebraska, FYI.
   Your children are more than welcome, as always, but the house is by no means child proof. (With our group it's usually the children who have to supervise the adults!) There will be TWISTER & HOOLA HOOPS outside in the fenced back yard. please bring whatever else you think they may enjoy playing with. Also bring something for the kids too. Do not forget the Trivial Pursuit!!!
   There will be 3 computers, Amiga 1000, Power Mac 7100 and a TRS 80 Model 4p to use if those are of any interest to you. We will also have internet access. You movie buffs may wish to bring your LD's or VHS' to view in the home theater. As for you party folks, there will be an open bar in the back room lounge with plenty of virgin daiquiris (strawberry / banana / orange juice), usually someone brings beer etc. (subject to key deposit) Come & Enjoy!!!

THE SPRING THAW CAUSED A LOT O' BABIES DECEMBER BIRTHDAY LIST    We could start a club with this group:

Adrain Barton -- the 6th               David Polk -- the 15th 
Dawn Jaekel -- the 7th                 Jack Haldeman -- the 18th
Raggedy Ann Morris -- the 8th        Karen Shaub -- the 22nd  
Brian Culver -- the 11th               Denise Hillyard -- the 24th
Linda Bennett -- the 13th              Wade Warren -- the 28th 
Jacque Trimble -- the 15th           Sandy Shriver -- the 29th
FILKER'S FOLLY     None of you has sent me any of your songs lately, so I am carrying out my threat to print my own.

FENCER'S SONG
tune: "The Lumberjack Song" by Monty Python
lyrics: Raggedy Ann Morris
(to be performed by the Peacock Alley Light Opera Company)
Verse one:
I'm a fencer and I'm okay.
I attack all night and retreat all day.
I wear a mask, a leather glove,
A jacket and lame'.
In my dreams, I'm d'Artagnan,
The hero of the day.

Chorus:
He's a fencer and he's okay.
He attacks all night and retreats all day.
He wears a mask, a leather glove,
A jacket and lame'.
In his dreams, he's d'Artagnan,
The hero of the day.

Verse two:
I'm a fencer and I'm okay.
I feint all night and deceive all day.
I parry four and circle six.
I have a master plan --
To be the greatest fencer
To come from Salle Duran.

Chorus:
He's a fencer and he's okay.
He feints all night and deceives all day.
He parries four and circles six.
He has a master plan --
To be the greatest fencer
To come from Salle Duran.

Verse three:
I'm a fencer and I'm okay.
I lunge all night and I ache all day.
My knees are shot. My feet are numb.
In traction I should be.
Bear the pain to get the gain.
Endorphins are the key.

Chorus:
He's a fencer and he's okay.
He lunges all night and aches all day.
His knees are shot. His feet are numb.
In traction he should be.
His doctors think he's crazy
And frankly, so do we!

   You can guess that this is not an entirely autobiographical piece since I am not a "he." Also, I am not so deluded as to even dream of being the greatest fencer to come from Salle Duran. That will have to be the place of someone who is more athletically able than I. However, I can have lunge legs and sore knees with the best of them.

MORRIS' MINI MOVIE REVIEWS   "First Contact," the newest "Star Trek" movie is one of the best of the series. We are not supposed to like the Borg much but they are interesting villains. I think it was a wise choice to use them in this movie. You find out more about them and you see that they are not invincible. They have not reached their goal of perfection through the melding of man and machine.
   There are a lot of in-jokes in the movie but they should not be a distraction for those who are not like me and know more about "Star Trek" than they want to admit.
   I give this one my recommendation. It's worth night time prices.
   "The Duelist" is a movie I checked out from Salle Duran's film library (shelf). I would not have thought to mention it this time if several of us had a discussion about it before members training yesterday (Nov.30). It's an interesting movie for more than one reason. It's a good costume piece for those of us who like that sort of thing. It has the one of the Carradine brothers who is actually a good actor -- Keith Carradine. A very young Harvey Keitel is one of its stars well. There is sword fighting, good dialog, and a strong plot.
   I hate to do this (anyone who knows me well, knows I have no love for being wrong or having to admit to it) but I have to concede a point about this movie to a friend with whom I disagreed. I was wrong. I admit it. OUCH! The movie is not about being competitive to the point of stupidity as I had said it was. Rather, it is about honor as it was conceived of in a different time and culture than ours: using competition as a means of satisfying one's need to feel he has honor: It is also about taking this desire to satisfy one's sense of honor to a point where one actually lessons the quality of his life in his pursuit of that satisfaction. It is a thought provoking movie. For that reason alone, it's one I think is good.
   "Space Jam" is total fluff but it you are a Warner Brothers cartoon freak, you have to see this thing. It's really cute and there are a lot "in" jokes. There is one pretty rude scene that involves Daffy Duck and a Warner Brothers logo that is affixed to his nether region. I was surprised by that one. Other than that scene, which I doubt most kids would really get the drift of anyway, it's a family movie. The old Warner Brothers cartoons were like that anyway. I know I get things now from them that went over my head as a child. This is a good movie to chill out with on an afternoon when you need a cheering up.

A FEW HOLIDAY THOUGHTS    One of the items I bought for myself while on vacation was a book about Christmas. I am one of those people who are a bit sappy over the holidays, especially Christmas, so each year, I try to find some interesting items for this paper to celebrate the holiday. If you are one who celebrates a holiday other than Christmas, please just bear with me. This is the one I grew up on and so it's the one I am comfortable with. I do wish all of you who celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa good cheer and a bright new year but I will pass right on by political correctness and forge ahead with this year's Christmas tidbits.
   "Boxing Day" -- I bet some of you are like me and have seen "Boxing Day" marked on the date December 26 for years but never knew what it meant. According to the Everything Christmas Book from Adams press, it comes from the practice of taking the money from the alms boxes in churches and distributing it to the poor the day after Christmas. Now we all know that Boxing Day has nothing to do with Mike Tyson.

CHRISTMAS COOK'S CORNER    This recipe appeared in the October 1992 issue of S.H.L.T. but I have been asked for it enough times and had to hunt through my notebook of Stone Hill papers too many times to find it for someone not to take this opportunity to give it out again.
   You do not eat this one. You make it and use if for Christmas ornaments. It's very easy and if you have kids, it's fun to make a family project out of it.

CINNAMON APPLE DECORATIONS 
 
1 cup cinnamon 
1 tablespoon l cloves 
1 tablespoon nutmeg 
2/3 cup applesauce 
2 tablespoons white glue 
 
	Combine all ingredients to form a stiff dough. Roll it out to 1/4" thickness  
and cut out shapes with your favorite cookie cutters. (If the dough is too stiff,  
you can add a little more glue.) Make holes to put a string through to hang the  
decorations with a skewer or toothpick. Lay decorations on waxed paper lined  
cookie sheets to dry. Let dry for 3 or 4 days, turning over at least once a day. 
(I like to turn them more often as that seems to make them dry more evenly  
but once a day will do.) After they are completely dry, you can use acrylic  
paints or glue sparkly things on them to jazz them up. Be sure not to cover the  
surface entirely with paint as that will cover these ornaments wonderful smell.  
These keep well over the years. I have some that I made in '92 that still have  
their fragrance.

TWO CHRISTMAS POEMS

BIRD OF DAWNING
by William Shakespeare

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; Then no planets strike,
No fairy tales, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is that time.

--"Hamlet," act one, scene one

   In the past few years, I have not noticed much mistletoe around at Christmas time. Perhaps in our time of political correctness and the fear of being called down for sexual harassment, its use has fallen into ill repute. How sad, if that is so. When stood under with the right person, mistletoe is quite a delightful bit of vegetation.
    Here is a poem that extols the virtues of mistletoe.

MISTLETOE
by Walter De La Mare

Sitting under the mistletoe,
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Someone came and kissed me there.

Tired I was, my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air,
Lips unseen--and kissed me there.

   Here are a couple of Christmas traditions of which you may have been unaware.

 SANTA CLAUSE IN FRANCE   In France Santa Clause is known as P'ere Noel and in some provinces is seen walking about in a long red robe, carrying a basket of goodies, to take care of good children. Along with him is P'ere Fouettard (Father Whipper) who wears a long, ugly black robe and who takes care of bad children. You would not want to be on the "naughty list" in France.

 LOS SEISES or THE DANCE OF SIX     In Spain, the Christmas season begins with the Feast of the Immac late Conception on December 8. One of the features of this feast is Los Seises, the Dance of Six. It is an ancient dance that was performed by six boys who danced around an altar that represented Christ's birth. Although the dance is still known today as Los Seises, it is now performed by ten boys. The reason for the change is not given, so if anyone can tell me about it, please do.

TILL NEXT TIME, TAKE CARE AND HAVE HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Email the STONE HILL SF ASSOCIATION AT:ann@stonehill.org
Snail mail to: P.O. Box 2076, Riverview, FL 33569

Return to Milieux Home Page
Return to the Stone Hill info page
Stone Hill Home Page