Wine Glass Rack - By Jonathan

Materials:

Pine & Steel
32 feet of 2x2, 16 feet of 1x3, 40 feet of 2x1, box of number 8 2inch screws, box of number 6 1 inch screws, 4 L-plates

Brains & Grit
Sorry, you will have to figure that out on your own.

We have a lovely cedar wardrobe given to us by a dear friend. At the moment we have no need for more clothing storage, but we are however rather short on a glassware repository. So, my Darling Husband decided to construct this wine glass rack to hold our stemmed goblets.

Lest you worry, we did not in any way deconstruct the wardrobe, nothing is bolted to it or puncturing it. This was my only stipulation for the project.

Now we have loaded our glasses, and I am so proud Jonathan. He came up with the design all on his own, adapting the base anchor pieces from a woodworking website, but drafting the plan to construct the rack in the already existing wardrobe, and the top frame as original plans.


Now you can come and enjoy a drink of something delicious from glasses that are stored in cedar. And I will not have to get them out of a box, unwrapping them from packing paper each time you do.


NB: Storage of glassware in wardrobes is not recommended for highest degree of comfort when planning inter-universal travel, but in no way impedes the movement of bodied of appropriate height deprivation when combined with a belief in the improbable.

Flick Pick: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

If you are looking for an exciting adventure and charming romantic, song-and-dance movie in the best tradition of Bollywood, then check out:

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Lover Will Take the Bride)

We very much enjoyed this movie and it got us started on a discussion of the relationship between parents and adult children. (Leave it to us to turn a romantic-adventure movie into a discussion forum.)

Many thanks to Celia for the suggestion.

The Art of Power

The Royal Armory in Madrid, assembled at a time when the Spanish Crown was at the height of its international power, is the oldest and one of the finest and largest armories in the world, imbued with great historical, artistic, and symbolic significance. Armor drawn from the unsurpassed holdings of the Spanish Royal Armory is shown in this exhibition alongside portraits of rulers dressed in the same armor, painted by such masters as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Diego Velázquez, and Alonso Sánchez Coello. Several large and magnificent tapestries from the royal collection also depict the armor in use.

(Armor is a very serious subject with Jonathan!!
And yes, that is a crescent and star on the pennant in the top left corner )

Together, some 75 works illustrate the use of luxurious armor in projecting an image of royal power in Imperial Spain. The exhibition includes several full suits of armor, helmets, shields, and equestrian armor—worn in battle but more often in Renaissance parades, pageants, and jousting tournaments. The works of art on view date from the reigns of the Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I of Austria (1508–1519) and Emperor Charles V (1519–1558), to those of his successors, King Philip II (1556–1598), King Philip III (1598–1621), and King Philip IV (1621–1665). This is the first time that the armor has been exhibited together with the portraits in which it is depicted. ~From the NGA website~

(I find your lack of faith disturbing.)

Click here for a slideshow from the exhibit. The exhibit is in town until November 1, 2009.

Mr. New Mexico - By Cosmo

Page 137 if you are looking at this month's issue.

And he made the news too!

Word of the Day

pukka \PUHK-uh\, adjective:

1. Authentic; genuine.

2. Superior; first-class.

Pukka comes from Hindi pakka, "cooked, ripe," from Sanskrit pakva-, from pacati, "he cooks."

Dogs

...Dorothea, anxiously, also rising and going to the open window, where Monk was looking in, panting and wagging his tail. She leaned her back against the window-frame, and laid her hand on the dog's head; for though, as we know, she was not fond of pets that must be held in the hands or trodden on, she was always attentive to the feelings of dogs, and very polite if she had to decline their advances.

~Dorothea
Middlemarch, by George Eliot

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

The point of this weekend trip was actually to hear a Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra performance at the Forum, but we decided to make a downtown-day of it.

We started by going to the late Mass at Saint Patrick Cathedral. It was a baptismal service, which was especially interesting to me, since half my family is Catholic, and I have been to Catholic weddings, Catholic funerals, and dozens of ordinary Masses, but not a baptism. I must say, the Godparent relationship that is formal in the Catholic and Anglican churches is a very touching one. The Godmother of the baby who was being presented wore a corsage, and this seemed to me to a beautiful detail that symbolized the relationship that this lady and her husband were entering into with the new little one. They were standing with the baby's parents and promising before God to help teach the little girl about the faith that they were bringing her into in the service. The lady and her husband cherish the little girl and her little blossoming faith. It is a solemn thing, but you could boil it down to: when teaching children about God, the more adults involved the merrier. I hope that does not seem frivolous but it struck me that way.

During the Mass the priest gave a very encouraging sermon on the proper arrangement and place of marriage in society. As far as international institutions go, the Catholic church has been the foremost in defending the traditional views of marriage, abortion, euthanasia, family, and community. It was amazing and wonderful to visit this beautiful church and find such a realistic and healthy understanding of man's sin nature, but how marriage should be honoured and maintained despite our fallen nature.

The priest also spoke about the counseling that is available within the Catholic church. They suggest premarrital, marrital, and postmarital counseling. Many other churches have standardized premarrital counseling, but it seems that fewer have regular marrital counseling. The Catholic understanding is that marriage is a sacrament, and divorce is an extreme option and should not be entered into without a great deal of struggle to keep the marriage in tact. They have an established process which they ask couples to complete so as to avoid having to break their sacred vows. Perhaps I am generalizing, but it seems that in other kinds of churches divorce takes the church by surprise. We do live in a sinful world and we should be ready in advance to deal with our own sinful hearts when it comes to marriage. If we do not have things arranged in advance it is not likely that when it comes to a crisis we will be terribly well equipped to deal with that crisis. (I think I sound like Mom.....)

The Catholic church also has established postmarrital counseling. This struck me as a very valuable idea. If you hold marriage in such a place of honour, when it is ended by the death of one of the spouses, the spouse left behind does need to understand that a new system of thinking and living will have to be implemented in their life. Having a system in place which the church can extend to the grieving person might be a help in what would seem the worst time of their life.

I know I speak from my inexperience, and I tend to like things to be well arranged. But I wanted to mention the good things I found at Saint Patrick's. Good practices should be evaluated and copied from all parts of the church. The Catholics might be able to teach us Protestants a thing or two yet! It was so refreshing to see Christ at work in a differnt body, different city, different expression of the faith that we hold in common.

From Mass we walked a few blocks to find the pub. Yes, this is a very good thing to do when you have been to church, have the car parked in a garage for the day, and will be walking over to an enchantingly beautiful theatre for a concert after the meal.



Especially when it is such a fun pub. If you are in Harrisburg and need sustenance and provender, try Molly Brannigans.



The food was fantastic and the company even better. It was wonderful to bask in the friendship of people who have known us for so long and still like us. I am sure you are going to ask how much we had to pay out to be able to make that statement... but really a few Guinnesses later and everyone is very jolly.

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Ceil had us up for the weekend. We had a very restful time, especially watching Auburn beat Tennessee. Before the game we went down to Mechanicsburg and wandered around, checking out the pretty little town. It all seems like something out of a model kit.

We especially liked the gingerbread, Victorian styling on the buildings.

We stopped at a "vintage clothing store" and tried on outrageous items. Ceil pointed out that if it was called a "second-hand store" we would all be grossed out, but since it was "vintage" it was cool. Nevertheless we all appreciated her bottle of hand sanitizer on our way out.

The only way to end a day of frivolity is with Hershey's Ice Cream in a darling little shop with these neat little booths. See the Auburn sweatshirt, we are ready for the game!