Saturday, December 16, 2006

Another Hebron, Another King

In this final segment of the series documenting my trip to Cincinnati, I'll cover the beginning & end.



Imagine my surprise when plans for the trip came together earlier this year & I discovered that I could catch flight number 484 from L.A. to Cincinnati! And this was shortly before I had the opportunity to convert my Redondo mailbox to 484!

For those of you who have flown into Cincinnati (CVG), you know that the airport is not only not located in Cincinnati, it's not even located in Ohio! It's in Kentucky! When its official abbreviation was named "CVG" in 1974, the nearest large city was Covington; hence, the "C" in "CVG" does not stand for "Cincinnati" as most travelers think (while being perplexed for an explanation of "VG", or why "CIN" wasn't chosen). But since then, its own town--Hebron--has developed quite a bit:





After landing in the afternoon, I immediately drove to the Skirball Museum on the campus of Hebrew Union College. I had been told that they did not have any LMLK handles, but I wanted to see all that they did have, & compare it to the Skirball here in L.A.

I was not disappointed by the exhibit, but was very disappointed that I did not bring batteries for my camera! All I can say is that it was far better than the one here. Whereas ours contains a significant emphasis on modern Judaica, Cincinnati's emphasizes ancient Judaism with artifacts from the Holy Land & surrounding Levantine cultures. Their displays featured material from Rabbi Nelson Glueck's collection including the original full-size painting of him used for the cover of Time magazine (vol. 82 #24, Dec. 13th, 1963), which was later featured on the cover of BAR (vol. 12 #5, Sep/Oct 1986):



I wasn't aware that Rabbi Glueck, past president of Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College, had delivered the benediction at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration.

I returned later that evening to do a few hours of LMLK research at HUC's Klau Library, & with the wealth of material available, I could only make a small dent into my list of material (which I still have not had a chance to absorb/process). I've been very grateful for their sending of rare books on loan to the L.A. branch (Frances-Henry) during my research for LMLK vol. 1.

The place I stayed at during the week was Heavenly! It's about as close to being in paradise as I can imagine! Before leaving, I took some pictures of the property--memories I'll treasure forever! It was on a Saturday morning as the fog began to dissipate; these first 5 show a 180-degree sweep near the entrance:









Cool late-summer mornings are amazing! From far away the grass seems to have ugly, whitish blemishes in a few spots...



...however, upon close inspection I observed that some arachnidan engineers had been hard at work the previous evening doing what their creator designed them to do, & the dew glistened as diamonds upon their magnificent handiwork:



I love walking through forests...















...but sometimes it's good to step back from the forest to gain a new perspective...



...and cut paths in places others avoid:



I've learned to accept the fact that I may not be able to achieve everything I want to in this life, but I'm having tons of fun with my small accomplishments:



No matter where I go, there will always be greener grass, but I've found great joy in shades less colorful:



And I'm no longer intimidated by what may be over the next obstacle:



I'll continue to have fun leaving tracks on my way there:



I've learned not to fear the ever-present shades of darkness & mistakes I've made...



...but to benefit from them when I keep my eyes on things of greater magnitude:







Notice the obscure little black blob at the bottom-center of this photo:



From a distance, it doesn't seem very important, but when studied close up...



...it's fairly easy to find anomalies that don't match what we've been taught:



We tend to keep these things near the marshy regions of our minds:





But even in the murky regions there's something interesting awaiting discovery. Can you see it?



Sometimes it helps when a friend points you in the right direction:



Another 8-legged engineer, only this one is upside-down, & seems to like it that way this time of day; & who am I to judge those viewing things from a different position?



I've also learned that when the water I normally drink isn't flowing, the water I've already received continues to reflect new things that others can benefit from:











Projects, like knowledge, take time to grow along the path of life...









...and we just need to keep crossing bridges in our journey from dark areas to Light...







...and keep trusting the One who can see it all from an even greater distance...



...for an even greater purpose...



...since the beginning:



A couple of months after I left, a "very old" king came to town & began roaming these same trails!



"There are no royal roads to knowledge, & we can only advance to new & important truths along the rugged path of experience, guided by cautious induction."--Joseph Henry in the Smithsonian Annual Report for 1856 (p. 36), in whose honor the unit of "henry" was named for the physical property of electric inductance.

Song of the week: "In Paradisum" by Sarah Brightman (click the song title to visit Amazon; click here for a 27-second sample; 360kb).
G.M. Grena

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