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"The Turtle Journal"
Quotes of the Week: Victorious Spirit, Flame through the impudence of irresolute souls. Burn out egoism. Ignite the compassion, That self-sacrifice...the life-stream of Mankind Wells up as the source of spirit rebirth. -Verse by Rudolf Steiner II The next two contributions come from Danny and Shai of the South End in Boston. A Legend About Turtles An English philosopher was visiting India, and was introduced to a holy man. The philosopher asked the Holy Man the nature of the world, and the old man replied, "Oh the world is a great big ball that sits on the great flat back of the Great World Turtle." The Englishman of course asked "What does the turtle stand on?" The seer replied "Why on the back of an even larger turtle of course!" Then the Englishman asked "and what does THIS turtle stand on?" The old man shook his head and sweetly smiled and said "it is no use my son, it is turtles all the way down!"Yertle the Turtle by Dr. SeussOn the far-away island of Sala-ma-Sond, Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond. A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat. The water was warm. There was plenty to eat. The turtles had everything turtles might need. And they were all happy. Quite happy indeed. They were... until Yertle, the
king of them all, Just a part of his throne. And this plain little turtle Then Yertle the Turtle was perched up so high, Turtle Jokes of the Week "An elephant was wandering through the forest one day, when he came across a turtle, fast asleep beside a river. He ambled over to him, then kicked him so hard the turtle landed on the other side of the river! A passing wombat said to the elephant, " Jeez mate, that was a bit rough! " The elephant replied, "That turtle took a nip out of my trunk 30 years ago. " " Wow! " says wombat, " Good memory. " " Yep, " says elephant, " turtle recall. "
And from Erin Jasch (age 6) in Chicago: "What did the turtle say to the shy turtle?" "I think its time to come out of your shell."
"A Peep from Gin" Happy Easter and Passover everyone! Humble apologies to friends whose calls and loving deeds I haven’t returned. In Academy Awards style, I’ve been working behind the scenes the last couple of weeks here at Turtle Headquarters, doing production, editing and directing work. Our current challenges are causing us to need so much information, make many changes so quickly. Quick! Find an accessible living location! Find and fund a van that’s accessible. Legal advice – what’s to expect in health care? To sell or rent our place? Quick! Find a way to work with, in the mega-system of MGH (like MGM) to coordinate care and help for Bob so we don’t have to wait...til June. Care that makes sense and considers the entire human being. Where you don’t find it – rewrite the script – ask for it, demand it, reshape the system to remember the bigger screen; it’s people we’re treating here – not just an illness, not just research. Find or search for answers and in them, the comfort and relief they can give in the face of so much uncertainty. Quick! Cut the plans for dinner! What?! That’s ridiculous! Dinner goes back into the script. Trying to take care of ourselves on the fly.
Our latest rewrite, like any work in progress, takes us back again to Mass. General this Tuesday, 3-26, to meet Dr. Anthony Amato and Dr. Brown – with the hope that the former will be able to coordinate more of Bob’s care. More tests are in store and we hope more answers that can help us plan and direct our lives. Love to everyone! xxxGin PS: Love you Russell!
"Opus 1: Paris Turtle"
When I was about seven or eight my mom and I were driving home after a vacation at a Unitarian-Universalist church camp in Minnesota ("up north" –in Wisconsin terms). It was real hot and unusually dry for a Mid-western summer. In the center of this two-lane highway out in the middle of nowhere, we saw a turtle, about the size of a football. We stopped. Mom pulled the car over so that I could take a closer look at this curious sight (and so not to run over it). The turtle, a little scared now, did not move for about five minutes. After that small bit of eternity, he headed –slowly- towards us (opposite from the direction he was originally ambling). I took that as a sign that he was ready to come home with us and immediately went to work on my mom. Since it was not near any water and not much greenery that we could see, it wasn’t too difficult to convince Mom into taking him home. He was my first pet –well if you don’t count the fish in the aquarium... Any guesses what we named him? Or does anyone remember? Georg –Georg Shorty- (though he was definitely not tiny) in honor of the great conductor in Chicago, whom I had recently seen at my first orchestra concert and whom I thought was named "Shorty"! (Our new Georg had a European way about him also, as you shall hear. -On a tangent: this makes me think of "Julius Squeezer" –maybe John B. will want to write a little about him for the TJ someday...). There were two funny things about Georg that I would like to tell you about. Later that year, in the fall, the season that Mom was really getting into her French-mode –she hosted a French supper club once a month with Madame Berteau, and while she was preparing her French classes- out came le Tour Eiffel. This little tower, about the size of me at the time, was made of tiny pieces of metal and plastic that all had to be glued together, very precisely. It was a fun project that took us only two or three months to put together! And who do you think liked to visit everyday as we worked n it? None other than our Georg. When it was all finished, he used to sit right under the Tour Eiffel for hours. Somehow, it must have reminded him of his former life in France (why not? -I used that as my excuse when I wanted "French fries" for dinner... "but Mom, I’m French!"...). Somewhere I have a picture of Georg under the Eiffel Tower, as proud as could be, just as if he were singing the Marseillaise! One day Georg disappeared. He didn’t show up the next day or the next or the next. He was gone. We lived in a third floor apartment and we never heard him clunk down the stairs, so it was a big mystery. Where did he go? Did he suddenly take wings? Maybe he found his big turtle pond in the sky...that’s what I thought for quite a while, but we would have seen some trace of him, somewhere. Fall turned to winter and winter turned to spring and still no sign of Georg. Then one Spring morning, our neighbors down stairs said they heard a strange noise above their ceiling. They wondered if my mom was pacing around at all hours of the day and night, wearing high heals. No. Mom hated wearing high heals any time, she certainly wouldn’t pace around the apartment in them. We had a kind of a trap-door attic enclosure in the closet off my bedroom. Mom asked me to crawl in and snoop around in it to see if there was some kind of undesirable animal. I was a bit afraid, but worked myself up to the challenge. (I felt like a turtle myself, trying to move in that small space!) To my astonishment, I found Georg, clomping about looking for something to eat. He had been hibernating there all winter long and now was ready to go exploring again. The next time we went up to Minnesota in the ensuing summer, we took Georg with us and left him near his old stomping grounds. Only this time it was closer to a good wet Turtle Pond.
Poetry Corner Starting this issue, we’d like to include a poetry section. The following are two of Bob’s. The first was inspired a few years ago by a drive through the New York Catskills. The second is from our visit to New Mexico last year.
Two Haiku
Great Mountain Silence Lowly desert scrub
How’s Bob Doing? -From the Turtle’s Mouth A Contrast in Life’s Daily Events and Attitude I. A Difficult Beginning -Sunday After I take my vitamins and pills and drink lots of water (which I keep upstairs now) I hobble down stairs, when I am awake and strong enough, because I do not want to risk falling. Too far, too scary. It is troubling. I guess if I spend more time meditating, breathing, and practicing Feldenkrais movements and now Curative Eurythmy exercises, it will be better. I have to learn how to be patient and enjoy what I can do. I pray, but not every day, almost every day. I see my mom’s face and Nava’s and Daniel’s and I ask them for help. Many times a day I see my mom or remember something about how she moved or did something. It give’s me comfort to see her, to remember her. I often feel trapped into a certain prison-like attitude more than being limited physically. It is this that is the hardest work. (I hate to use the word negative, because it seems shallow –of course there are negative feelings and attitudes...otherwise I might as well be a Saint!). The task: to work through the difficult and limiting mind-set that presents itself to me. I present it, I’m not saying it is anyone else’s fault -not even God’s. I know that God has given me more than I can ever truly appreciate (maybe this is a test for me to learn how much I can appreciate, learn how much I already have –Gin for instance!!!) It is also a time for me to learn what I can still do for myself. How I can stand up for myself, even if I am losing the ability to stand. And today, Sunday, I’ll go to church. Yes. Before I thought I wouldn’t be up for it, but if I don’t go, it is a lost opportunity to pray, to be whole for an hour.II. Wednesday’s Spring Concert It was a great event. Many who have been with the school longer than I have said it was the best orchestra concert ever. It was a good test of my energies and showed me that I can still teach and put music and students together, working toward a big event. I organized most of it with help from others. I have always enjoyed doing these kinds of events and hosting them. Nothing changed there. I still enjoyed it but had to monitor myself more carefully. One of the things that Gin was worried about was my steadiness as I conducted and moved about on stage. Paul, the building manager, built a bar to go across the stage behind me, to protect me from falling. We figured if Seiji –of the BSO- can have one why couldn’t I? And I had a stool to sit on –I use it regularly for teaching now. I did discover that I was less steady than I realized and that the cane isn’t really enough support. (The next day I fell coming out of MGH –thankfully it did not happen at the concert!) I felt I was pacing myself in preparing for the concert and asked many people for help with various tasks –setting up, moving stands and chairs, getting my music so I did not have to climb stairs, etc. Yet, I was exhausted afterwards, as the falling incident the next day illustrated. (I did not hurt myself, only felt embarrassed and weak from it.)The concert was a great success personally for me because I was able to continue to be every bit as involved in making music with my students as I have done in the past. It is such a great reward to see and hear them doing well and showing that they are happy about it and proud of themselves. As most of you know, making music is one of the greatest joys for me, so it really lifted my spirits that I could still do it. The students exceeded their own expectations and mine. It was hard work in the making, but well worth every bit of it. For much of the actual concert I was able to sit back and enjoy the music and the performers, as others of my colleagues conducted or as in a couple of cases, the students carried the show themselves. (This was new for me, because I usually have been helping organize backstage maneuvers and to keep students together and quiet while they wait their turn to go on stage. But this time, I asked others to do that part.) We will repeat part of the concert for the elementary school Monday morning for our weekly assembly. (Yikes, that’s early tomorrow!) Many families were not there because we just happened to have a snowstorm (one of only two this year!) hours before and during the concert. But the show did go on! Turtle took the day!
Events of the Week & A Report on Our Support Group Meeting Don’t forget Gin’s Birthday, Monday, April 1 (No Foolin’!) ~LOVE & HELP IS ALL AROUND~
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