Tuesday, November 9, 2010

This is hard!

Sorry I've been away for so long. I promise I will still blog about my learnings from the sabbatical. It just takes a while to process so much information.

In the meantime, I've been back to work for a little more than a week now. I'm not sleeping as soundly. My breathing is punctuated by heavy sighs. I'm seeking out calming music in my iTunes. Tonight I bought a bottle of Arizona RxStress tea. This is not an easy transition. I am trying hard to use some of the tools and skills I learned at Iona - exercises with a labyrinth, praying while holding prayer ropes or stones (I have a stone from the beach at St. Columba's Bay on Iona, one from our renewal of the baptismal covenant in Israel, and one that a friend gave me that says "Hope" that I use in rotation, depending on my mood.). I am trying to remember that it is not my church but Jesus' church, and so to listen to him on what to do, instead of fretting and sweating and stewing about it myself. I've been down that road, and I know where it leads.

So I can say it is good to be back among the people of CPC, but I am not quite ready to say it's good to be back. In fact, it's really hard. But I'm taking my friend Kenneth's advice that someone gave him when he returned from his sabbatical: Take it easy at first, and promise not to quit for the first thirty days.

Prayers are always welcome.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Sabbatical 2010: Trip to Staffa Isle



Not everything about a week at Iona has spiritual significance, at least not obviously. So a trip to the bizarre and beautiful island of Staffa is just a cool thing to do. Then again, it's hard to separate the sacred-spiritual out of anything when you are at Iona, and Staffa itself makes you wonder, "How did God manage to get it to look like this?" See what you think -- click the pic.

Sabbatical 2010: Iona, Scotland



The sacred Isle of Iona is considered to be a "thin place," a boundary between two realms (like earth, water, sky, deeps, etc.) where the veil between the physical and spiritual realms is thin enough to give a glimpse from one to the other. There has been a Christian witness at Iona since St. Columba arrived in the 6th c. I arrived on 25 September 2010. The pic above will let you glimpse my album. Just click to punch through the veil.

Sabbatical 2010: Oban and Mull - on the Iona trail



Getting to Iona is no small task. From Glasgow it takes a 3-hour train or bus ride (I took the train) to Oban, a 45-minute ferry ride to Craignure on the Isle of Mull, a 45-minute bus ride across Mull, and another ferry ride to Iona. It's almost an all-day journey, even if you don't miss the ferry in Oban. Your journey to see my pictures of will be much easier. Just click the pic.

Sabbatical 2010: Glasgow, Scotland, Coming and Going



Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was the home of such luminaries as Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Dr. David Livingstone, and Craig Ferguson. The first three have statues. Craig may have to wait. Any way, to see some of the wonders of this grand old city, click the pic.

Sabbatical 2010: Alloa, Scotland



This set is from Alloa (pronounced AL'-lo-wa), apparently the home of some ancestors 400 years ago. Somehow I thought it would still be a medieval village. Click the pic to see how that turned out.

Sabbatical 2010: Edinburgh, Scotland



I'd love to come up with something witty about the Edinburgh album, but I was really moved being in that ancient city and particularly in St. Giles High Kirk. Molly took some really beautiful pictures in there. So, nothing clever on this one. Just click the pic to see.

Sabbatical 2010: St. Andrews, Scotland



St. Andrews, Scotland, the Royal and Ancient home of Golf. Also the site of suffering and martyrdom during the Protestant Reformation. Hmmm. Suffering. Protestants. Golf. There must be some connection.... See what you can make of it all. Click above to see the album.

Sabbatical 2010: Loch Ness, Scotland



Next on Hidden Mysteries of the Sabbatical: Loch Ness. Join our search for the legendary... Oh forget it. It was raining so hard we could barely see the loch, let alone any monsters. But click on the pic above to see the album. Maybe you can make something out in the fog.

Sabbatical 2010: Dornoch, Scotland



Rap on the entrance of the big church: Dornoch Cathedral. Or just click the beautiful picture here to see the album.

Sabbatical 2010: Cullen, Scotland



See pics from the sea village of Cullen, which starts with a "C"! "C"lick the "sea" in the pic. See?

Sabbatical 2010: A Flight from Belfast to Aberdeen



I think this little album is intriguing. Aerial photography of the trip from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Aberdeen, Scotland. The picture above will act as your boarding pass and your ticket. Click it.

Sabbatical 2010: Northern Ireland - County Armagh



Continue to explore Northern Ireland with Dad, Clare, George, and me, as we head to County Armagh, where records say Joseph and Rosanna Douthett come from. This picture is a port key. (Click it.)

Sabbatical 2010: Northern Ireland - County Londonderry



Here is the next album from the UK, our tour of County Londonderry, particularly the city of Coleraine, and the beautiful north coast. Click the pic.

Sabbatical 2010: Northern Ireland - County Down



I've posted all my UK pictures, finally! Some even have captions. This is the first bunch from County Down, Northern Ireland. Click the pic to see the album.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pictures are going up, slowly but surely

It's taking a very long time to sort, process, and upload all the pictures I took in my sabbatical travels. I've finally selected to post them on Picasa, because they had a lot of space for cheap, and it's related to one of my email accounts and to this blog site. They don't make it easy, though, as I can only upload five pictures at a time. Plus, if I look at the browser the wrong way, it forgets what folder I have been working from on every other picture and starts me back at my documents folder. This is very annoying and doubles the time it takes to do the job. On other sites I can upload a whole folder at a single go. One gets what one pays for, apparently.

I don't know what that has to say about the quality of the pictures, because you get to see them for free. But for what they are worth, you can start seeing them, divided by excursion, at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rev.david.douthett
The various albums are generally in date order, starting with the most recent. While I haven't yet captioned the pictures, I have included captions for the albums, and there is a map function so you can find where these things were happening (although I'm not sure how that works). I recommend starting at the beginning and working forward, but that's really up to you.

Please enjoy, and your comments are welcome! This part of the project should be finished pretty soon, and I will turn my attention to reflection and interpretation, which I hope will be insightful for all of us, so stay subscribed!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

I'm back!

Hey readers! I know it's been a long time since I've posted. Internet connections were hard to come by in both Cullen and Iona. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on! I think I'll write them in present tense as if on the date I would have written them, but I'll change the post date. So the next bunch of posts will actually appear before this one. Hope that isn't too confusing. You might want to look down the list and back into September to make sure you haven't missed anything. Point is to get the posts online. It has been an excellent journey, and it will take a while to get all the retro posts and pics up. Thanks for sticking with it! Here we go.....

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A chance to jot some notes on Iona

I wonder what I was going to write yesterday. It was a VERY full day, so no surprise I didn't get anything down.

Breakfast, worship, chores, session, lunch, trip to Staffa, set for dinner, dinner, clean up from dinner, session ("What Is Healing"), worship, cielidh (sp?). I skipped the last - the Scottish barn dance - because I was spent. I REALLY wanted to go to it, but it had just been too much.

Today was full, but not that full. No sessions, for one thing. I had been wanting to take the full off-road pilgrimage around the island today, but I didn't have the right shoes and I was running out of steam. So yesterday I decided not to push it. I went on the on-road pilgrimage, and it was enough. The weather was "low clouds" (read: rain), high winds, threatening. The journey went from the Abbey to Martyrs' Bay to the crossroads to Columba's Bay. Then lunch, and back to the Machair for tea and "flapjack" - granola bars - with the off-roaders. On to the Hill of Angels, the Village Bench, and through the village to end at St. Orin's Chapel. It was enough. Very interesting really.

It's now getting near time for the healing service tonight, so remind me to tell you about all the spots on the pilgrimage, about walking the labyrinth, about worship here, and about what hasn't happened as I might have expected.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

On the bus across Mull

Spectacular scenery on Mull: steep, high hills or what I could call blunted mountains -- not quite craggy but not quite rounded -- with deep crevices and a stream in the midst of the valley.

The man next to me (from Ireland) pointed out the old road, running beside the current road and the stream, walked by pilgrims in years past and present, rather than taking the bus. He called this area "hugely uninhabited." Heh! It kind of looks like Wyoming, maybe?

My thoughts from NM about glimpses of things that are just on the edge of perception return here. First there were glimpses of mountains and the glen, now of the sea on the coast. Similar experience on the train up from Glasgow.

The scenery is real Scottish Field stuff, especially as we are going through at about the "golden hour."

Now a broad bay with rocky coast. Bunted mountains give way to more stratified, terraced hillsides. [Getting hungry. Have only had a pastry, cup of soup, some bread, and a chocolate bar today.]

Now the flattening coast begins to break up into islands. More houses and a few villages appear among the rock outcrops, somewhat like Galilee. Clouds are moving in as the sun sinks lower.

Iona bound

Made the train this morning from Glasgow to Oban but missed the ferry to Mull. Had to wait for the 4:00 one. Gracefully it is a beautiful day. Waiting in the departure lounge now. Oban is charming and beautiful. Hope I make the other connections, or unhappiness will aboond. More later as Internet is available. Stay subscribed.

More training

On the train from Glasgow to Oban. Scenery is beautiful! Small mountains, large lachs, blue sky and sunshine. Trees just starting to turn in places or lots of evergreens. Some streams and a few ravines, but more open prairies (?) or rolling hills. Looks like Missouri, maybe, sometimes.

Need to get cash exchanged in Oban, which may be challenging, since I have just a little time to make the ferry for Mull, but it's the last chance.

Wonder what folks do for a living up here. Not as many sheep.....

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

What's the difference, Part 2

ScotRail is a very pleasant experience so far. Molly and I are on the train from Leuchars to Edinburgh. Ticket man was friendly and helpful. Train was right on time. It is quite comfortable and mostly clean. Also not very expensive -- less than £30 for two return (round trip) tickets. Again, why not, USA?

What's the difference?

I've been really impressed by the energy consciousness and awareness of sustainability here in the UK. All the power outlets have switches, from the lamps to the fridge to the cooker to the shower. When you're done you switch it off. No vampire charges -- good for conservation, good for the wallet. I'm thinking to retrofit our house that way.

Also, the food shopping experience is quite different. Ian was complaining that supermarkets are ruining food shopping. He wasn't talking about SuperWalmart or Wegmans, but stores like Martins or Food Lion. But for now there are still butchers and bakers and fishmongers and such in most towns. Really good food from real people. Why not? Why can't we do that any more? Convenience -- FEH! Efficiency --FEH! A Jedi craves not these things. Unfortunately, most Americans are not Jedi.

Is factory-produced food shipped across the country or the world so much better for the economy that we accept all the engineering and chemicals and tastelessness and all? Maybe. Wealth vs. Health, again.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

On Scotland, briefly

The Scottish landscape is remarkably like parts of the US. Rolling hills with wide grain fields, high hills/low mountains in the distance, plenty of trees along the road. The houses mostly look quite old, though, and old-fashioned. Mostly of stone with high-pitched roofs. Not many are two stories, virtually none are more than that, city of Aberdeen notwithstanding. And sooooo many sheeeep!

Oh geez! Oh man!

On the way to St. Andrews Have now pretty much mastered day-to-day driving (except for the fine points of roundabout etiquette). Made it down through Aberdeen.

Next a new motor terror: NOT DRIVING! Dad took over just out of A-city, his first go at UK driving w/stick shift in 7-26 years. Feeling very exposed and vulnerable in the passenger seat, butt clenched right the way along. Just to add to the fun, a car just about 1/4 mile ahead of us went out of control, swerved off on the right, then shot off the  road left into a field, right in front of a big lorry! God save us!

I feel kind of like when going out with the kids for their first time driving. I think it's coming back to him, though. I think.

Breathe.....

Checking in

Internet has been hard to come by. Cullen is grand. Dornoch Cathedral worship was marvelous, and Rev. Susan Brown delightful. Going to St. Andrews today to see about the Reformation a bit, then Edinburgh tomorrow, hopefully for more of the same. Friday it's off to Glasgow and Iona on Saturday for a week. Posts may continue to be spotty. Sorry about that. Scotland is fabulous and not unlike home in many ways. Got to go now. Stay subscribed!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Under the shiny emerald surface

Today I had opportunity to talk with a local fellow and talk turned to the politics of Ireland and the Troubles. I won't reveal his identity because first, I haven't asked him if I could blog what we talked about, and second, I don't want to cause any problem for him with people who may not know his stories. I get the impression that his experiences might be common to many here, but nevertheless I will refer to him as "Joe."

I came in on a conversation in progress wherein Joe was saying that since Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA, has joined the political process in Northern Ireland they have become increasingly popular and powerful. The inevitable result, as Joe sees it, is that they will eventually win a majority in the parliament and be able to name the prime minister (if I understand correctly, that is of Northern Ireland). These are the Irish nationalists who have been fighting for centuries to remove the British power and influence from Ireland. The party that has been in power these many years are the (I think) unionist, that is loyalists to the Crown of England. They see that this change is likely to happen and say that this is a democracy, and if that is what the people want, then so be it. Joe figures this shift will happen in the next election in just a couple years.

If and when this shift takes place, Joe figures that the first thing they will do is to pass laws to remove the visual signs of British loyalty from the North, such as the Union Jack and images of the Queen. They would not be able to directly legislate the removal of the British, but they could call for a referendum of the whole of Ireland, both North and Republic. If 70% vote to support the nationalists, then Ireland would be out of the Union of Great Britain (if I understood correctly) and be a step away from being a united country again.

However, Joe said that if the nationalists do take power, then the underground resistance of the unionist forces will take the role of insurgent terrorists, filled by the IRA against the unionists these many years. Eventually, they will likely win either enough sympathy or enough political clout to once again take power. If not, then the Troubles will be back, just with roles reversed. To this point Joe said there isn't really peace in Ireland now - just a lack of open, large-scale violence.

As to the previous violence, Joe said several members of his mum's family were killed or wounded randomly by bombs and guns of the terrorists/insurgents/freedom fighters/doodoo heads (my words there, not his). She was hard set against the IRA as a result and essentially suppressed any intention of her children to get involved with the politics of violence. Nevertheless, Joe recounted three stories of times in his working career when that violence came to him. Once he was going out on a late-night trouble-shooting call for work, and when he got to the site he tripped over something. It turned out to be what we now hear referred to as an IED - improvised explosive devise! He had hit the trigger and pulled the top off the bomb, but it didn't explode. Another time he was driving through a certain place on his way home, and someone was standing in the road and flagged him down. He rolled down his window and suddenly found he had the someone's gun pressed to the side of his head! "Who are you? Where are you going?" the man demanded. "I'm just going home!" said Joe, and eventually he was allowed to proceed. In the third, he and some coworkers were out early on a job site looking it over before the project began to see where things needed to go and what needed to happen before the day's traffic began. Suddenly, they became aware that there were four lads standing around them with guns, again demanding to know who they were and what their business was. It turns out he and his coworkers had happened upon the local IRA office!

Joe had many other stories and insights that I won't relate here. This was the sort of conversation that changes one's understanding of a place and its people, and a good reason for people to travel abroad. I've known about the "situation" in Ireland all my life, but to hear this man describe these scenes of horror and violence in what we would consider an otherwise quiet, normal middle-class life personalizes it, humanizes it, makes it real and accessible in ways that I'm not sure are fully welcome. It means I have to care what happens here. It is the same sort of experience I had several times in Israel, and really the two situations are in many ways parallel.

O God of all the nations, O Prince of peace, O Spirit of communion,
Look with favor, mercy, and compassion on Your children here in the two Irelands.
Grant that they may lay aside, not ignore, but by choice lay aside
hatred, bitterness, thirst for vengeance and for power, 
and all other hardness of heart that leads to separation and violence.
By the supernatural power of the cross and the empty grave of Christ,
may all who claim Christ seek and experience Your forgiveness and reconciliation,
so it will become the way of life and the mark of all Your children.
Convict the hearts of sinners. Protect the lives of the innocent.
Pour out Your peace that passes all understanding
in the places where understanding is so hard to find.
O bless Your children with peace.


And Lord, forgive me
for my complacency
for my indifference
for my prejudices
for my participation in the ways 
that lead others away from You.
In Christ, through Christ, for Christ,
Amen.

More of the same

More pics at my gallery, this time from Wednesday's adventures driving up through Antrim and Co. Derry to Coleraine where some Douthetts are believed to have come from Aberdeen in the late 1600s or early 1700s. Then across some of the north coast. Fantastic scenery! Got lost on the way home in the last 10 miles - go figure. A good day with lots of driving. I'm getting better!

George is coming with us to Armagh this morning. This is the area the Joseph and Rosanne Douthett are said to have come from to America with family, including Benjamin, in tow. No records on this side to confirm it, so we'll go as tourists. Drove through the town of Armoy last night, near Coleraine. Is that what he said instead of Armagh? Guess we'll never know. For today, it's Armagh.

Off for breakfast -- egg, bangers, blood pudding, mushrooms, tomato, pancake, and more. Food's been great!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Pics from Ireland

Breakfast is ready and waiting, so I can't take time to write, but here are some 150,000 words' worth of pictures.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Emerald Isle

The bus ride up to NI was very pleasant. Comfortable seats, not at all crowded. Got a few zzzs on the way. In the meantime the scenery was lovely. As soon as I figure out how to get some pictures dl'd I'll post them. 

Around Dublin the landscape is very green and pretty flat. Reminded me of Ohio, actually. Lots of fields broken up by hedgerows. Sheep, cattle, people driving on the wrong side, etc. Further to the north and into the Ulster the land remained green but got hillier. More like western Maryland and central PA. We had all been snoozing a bit, but Dad first noticed we were in the North, because there were Union Jacks flying and the signs were only in English, no Gaelic. Sheep, cattle, and reverse drivers also continued.

We were dropped off in Hillsborough, a lovely, quaint town with lots of wee shops and some pretty steep hills, oddly enough. (I think the name comes from the town founders, the Hill family, but whatever.) We were in front of the Parish Church, which looks old and well kept. Unfortunately, we had no idea where to meet the fellow from the car hire. Also unfortunately, my phone was not getting any signal at all. Dad's was, though, so we called. Apparently, we got off the bus sooner than they expected, but it was only a few miles difference, and the young man was soon there. I only happened to notice a car sitting across the street with a wee, green Enterprise sticker, or we might all be standing about there still. At any rate, we got loaded into the car and made our way up to the car hire office. Did all the paper work, got a map to get back, and then it was up to me.

Jacob and I were talking about his driving on the way into church yesterday. I referred to him as a novice to which he took some offense. I told him I just meant he was in training and not licensed yet. He allowed as how that was okay, though he still thought he was a little higher up the ladder.

I felt like a total beginner today! Everything is wrong about driving on the left! Wrong seat. Wrong side for the gear shift. Wrong way traffic coming the wrong way. Fortunately the pedals are "correct." Also, the signs are all weird - numbers in big red circles for speed limits. I'm glad I thought to ask if it was MPH or KmPH - in the North it's MPH.

Driving was a brand new experience this way. What I usually do without a second thought required my full attention and a lot of concentration. I felt like I was aiming more than steering. Only ran over one curb to the left and only made Dad and Clare yell once that I was too close on that side, so I guess I'm doing alright, but I'm taking big, deep breaths before I start and when I park. Oh, yeah, had to parallel park on the right side of the road, which is to say, against oncoming traffic, when we went for dinner. THAT was fun, let me tell you! Deep breath.... and one more..... okay.

The weather has been overcast from this morning and raining since this afternoon. Really strong wind this afternoon to go with it, although there was mostly sleeping through that. Temperature has been hovering around 18C, down to 17 tonight at dinner time. C x 9/5 +32 = F.

For dinner we went to a pub and restaurant called the Parson's Nose. Lovely bar with a few tables and coal fireplace downstairs. Several rooms with old woodwork and such for dinner upstairs. Dad and I had venison and leeks in a pie, with seasonal vegetables and "champ" - mashed potatoes with green onions. All very tasty! Clare had fish -- cod, I think -- on a bed of risotto with butternut squash. Looked yummy, too. All had a pint of Belfast Lager, which I found to be clean and flavorful, especially compared to American lagers. Speaking of which, Bud was on the menu. Really can't imagine why the land that gives us Guinness would even offer Bud, but it's a strange world.

Technologically, I am challenged here. I decided not to bring the 17" lappie. Got too much stuff as it is already. I am thankful that Dad brought his MacBook, though, on which I am writing this entry. My iPod doesn't pick up the wifi signal here at the guest house, so that's a bummer. As I mentioned, my global phone that I am renting for this trip especially also doesn't pick up any signal. Dad's identical phone works just fine. Hurrumph. Emailed Verizon about that to see what's up. So for now, it's a camera. I guess I'll just have to work through the DTs without my digital fix.

Tomorrow, we will meet George H. who lives not far from here. He and his wife Irene were in Butler a few years back looking for Douthett relatives and were directed to Dad at the store! He took them to several of the sites we went to see a couple weeks ago, like the Brownsdale cemetery and the old family farm. Now they get to return the favor. George has been doing some research here. He found a house that belonged to our Anderson family, from which they emigrated in about 1833 in Derryboy, down the road in Co. Down. So we'll have lunch with George, plan what we might see, go see what we might, then have a meal with Irene when she is off from work. Sounds like a great start to the Irish ground campaign. Hoping for better weather, but not counting on it. Looks like rain on and off for the next couple of days. It is what it is.

Just watched a BBC weather video about the latest hurricane in the Atlantic, Igor, pronounced "EYE-gor"as in Marty Feldman's character from Young Frankenstein. I lolled.

Enough for now. Stay subscribed for pictures and more updates!

I'm here!

Landed in Ireland on time, but not well rested. USAirways was a mess at BWI. Weather and who knows what turned my 20-minute flight(!!!) to Philly into an hour and a half. I had a long hike to the international gates. The seats on the plane over were comfortable mostly, except too short in the wheelbase. So spent the night with restless legs. Uffta. The meals were small but tasty enough.i remember Lufthansa being much more comfortable and pleasant. Customs was a breeze.

The good part is we're in Ireland, baby! Just waiting on the bus to take us north.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

In the beginning

M42, the Orion Nebula, has a special place in my heart and my catalog of deep sky objects. Back in 2003 Dad got me a little telescpe for Christmas, the Meade ETX-60AT. This is very similar to the 90mm scope I got recently and brought to NMS, only 1/3 smaller and with full tracking and GOTO. It was a great first scope, and I still have it and use it.

Any way, I took it out one fine, clear winter's night not long after. By "out," I mean to the driveway in the back yard of our home in Dayton. By "in Dayton" I mean in the city under the orange skies. Nevertheless when I turned that little scope on M42 in Orion what I saw made me literally gasp! I had never seen anything in the natural world, apart from my wife and children, that was as beautiful as this! This large, bright, wispy, delicate cloud, with a hint of green color, lit up across the lightyears of night by those tiny, bright stars.... well, I just had no idea anything like this could exist in the night, to be seen by small me with my small scope on small earth. God must truly love us and want us to be happy!

I was hooked.

In New Mexico, it is incredibly beautiful. My sketch does it no justice. This was the last object I observed at NMS, which should be enough to fuel my astropassion for a some time to come. I'm still hooked.
My sketch of M42-Orion Nebula, seen in 25" Dob with 55 mm plossl e.p. Dobs flip and reverse images.
I inverted the color and fiddled with the image a bit in PS-Elements3.


M42 photo. I borrowed this from http://homepage.mac.com/andjames/Page204.htm.
I also turned 90º CCW and flipped it vertically so it would line up for comparison.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

More to come, Getting ready to go

I have many more things I want to blog about the New Mexico trip, which was really wonderful, but now it's time to pack for Ireland and Scotland. I've never gone anywhere for three weeks before, and I guess technically, I'm going on three sub-trips, so I'm still not going anywhere for three weeks, but you know what I mean. Never been away from home for three weeks. I swing back and forth between "Oh, I don't have to take much" and "OMG, how will I be able to fit everything I need?" As usual, the truth probably exists in the middle somewhere.

Just want to give a quick shout-out to WGIII, my Dad, who has been super helpful in preparing for all this and has ended up doing a fair bit of the reservations and such that I intended to do. So just for that he deserves thanks and praise. But also, and more so, for all his support all my life long, in my ministry, and for getting me started on the roads of astronomy, family history, and faith in Christ. I am really glad we're getting to make this trip together.

Okay. Posts may be more sporadic over this stretch of the trip, as I have no idea what the internet situation will be in the various stages. I'm guessing good in Ireland, good luck in Cullen, Scotland, good again in brief stops in Glasgow, and what-are you crazy? in Iona. So posts may come in clumps. Will do my best to keep you informed, though, if you do your best to stay subscribed.

Here's to flying internationally on 9/12 and not the day before.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

More pictures

I have posted some more pictures at my gallery, "New Mexico Skies." There you can see previously posted pics of the grounds, followed by various pictures of telescopes I have used here, me with said telescopes, sketches of things I've seen through said telescopes, and a couple dinners I fixed. Why the dinners? Just to show off. They were delicious, thanks for asking!

My plan is to load some of the pictures of sketches here with photos of the same objects so you can marvel at my skills. Or not. The point of sketching at the eyepiece for me is not so much to reproduce what God has made much better, but to take the time to look, really observe, meditate upon, even, said divine handiwork. After a couple of nights of seeing so many objects that I can hardly remember them all, a slower, more thoughtful pace was a welcome change. So you'll have to stay subscribed to get all my insights.

Time for one more dinner. Have to get rid of ground beef, chicken, spaghetti and sauce, a potato, half an onion, leftover zucchini, and a peach. MMmmmmmight not happen. I'll let you know. Watch for pictures.

JMI Reverse Binoculars

Here are my inexpert comments and experiences of the JMI 6" Reverse Binoculars, which I used on 05Sept2010 at New Mexico Skies, Mayhill, NM.

This instrument ... or these binoculars... (singular or plural?)... make for an interesting night of observing! The odd thing is they are aimed over your shoulders, so you look down into the eyepieces. This doesn't really take long to get used to, though. Also, you "steer" the rig with handle bars, which is kind of fun.

The instrument was mounted for me but not aligned. The alignment process is not difficult but is best performed with two people. Since the instrument is a basically pair of Newtonian reflectors, they sometimes need to be collimated (aligning all the mirrors). This was the case this night, but unlike my experiences of trying to collimate my own Newts, this was relatively painless and aided greatly by being done by pushing a couple buttons. Focusing is also relatively easy and need only be done once for the night -- assuming there is only one observer, that is. At any rate, focusing is also done by push-button, and so is changing the distance between the eyepieces. Push buttons make it fun. Yeah, I'm easily amused.

I was expecting a pretty strong 3-D effect, but that didn't really play out. There was a sense of it a few times, like with the Lagoon Nebula and some other larger targets, but generally the views were not unlike a regular telescope.

The quality of the views optically was probably not equal to the CPC 11 from the previous night, but good nevertheless -- generally bright and clear. Objects started going out of focus or getting streaky toward the edges. This wasn't really a problem, but more finicky viewers might take offense. I'm not sure if that is a function of the instrument or the eyepieces or the combination of the two, to be honest. There is only one set of eyepieces (20 mm), which meant not having to refocus all the time, which would be a pain. I would have liked to have had more magnification for some targets, but the 20 mms  provided a good experience with generally enough magnification and enough field of view for most objects.

The two great benefits of the binoculars that I found were that eye fatigue was greatly reduced and that images were better than a single 6" scope could provide. Since you don't have to close one eye or split your vision between two different views, my eyes didn't get tired at all, and I had none of those episodes when I just have to look away at something else for a while that usually set upon me. Also, after looking at a few objects with one eye, then the other, then both, I was amazed how very much better the binocular image was! The brain does a wonderful job using both sets of data to improve the single image. This made using the binoculars well worth the experience.

The computer with the digital setting circles took a bit of getting used to, but proved to be very useful ultimately. It's a Sky Commander. The mount is alt-az (that is altitude and azimuth, which is sort of like aiming a cannon -- swing it around, tilt it up or down), and there is no motor drive, so it's like a Dobsonian with two tubes. The computer has a wide variety of catalogs, most of which I've never heard of. I used the Messier mostly with occasional NGC entries. The NDS catalog took me a while to figure out -- Named Deep Sky! Ah! Then it was very useful.

The mount was quite solid, and wind gusts didn't upset things much or for long. The handle bars were kind of loose at first, which introduced too much play in locating objects, but once I figured out how to tighten them it was much better. There was still some play, though, and the azimuth movement was not particularly smooth. Without a tracking drive, that made constantly recentering the object (which must be done without a tracking drive) a bit more annoying than it needed to be. This might be a matter of some fine adjustment that one would do on a permanently mounted instrument, whereas this one gets put away when not in use.

Despite the difficulties, I had a good and satisfying night out, enjoying many objects (see "A List, Part 2, or Another List"). I don't know that I'm sold out on big binocs yet, but there are definitely some advantages:
  • Better views per inch of aperture
  • No eye fatigue
  • Although there is still some awkward standing for middle-low objects if you don't have an observing stool, there is much less neck-craining.
 So if someone offered me my choice of a CPC 11 or the 6" reverse binocs, I'd probably take the 11, although I'd have to think about it for a little bit. If someone offered me the 6" binocs straight up, I wouldn't hesitate to take them. ... er, it. Whatever.

What's up next? The Big Dob -- 25" of light-grabbing goodness! Stay subscribed!

Not an early night....

Monday ended up not being an early night, for those who were wondering. Neither was Tuesday. Went to bed about 6:00 a.m. on .. well, Tuesday, and 6:30 on Wednesday (I think that's today). So, that's the way it goes when you want to see the night sky. Ain't gonna see it during regular business hours!

Monday, SpikeTV was running a marathon of all six Star Wars movies. They had been running them in blocks over the weekend, so I had seen most of the prequels. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was on about dinner time, so I watched it. Unfortunately, Spike is commercial-bloated, so the movie wasn't over until 11:00. Well, since I didn't have anything rented it was no big deal. I went out with my little 90 mm scope and binoculars and sketch pad after the movie. The sky was spectacular, as it has been since I got here (first night clouding over not withstanding). Since I had viewed so very many targets the night before, I was content to just look at the sky.

I wanted to capture something of the majesty of the Milky Way, and so attempted a sketch. It's pretty rough, and I may try to clean it up later, but here it is, for what it's worth.

As you can see it is blocky for one thing and mostly dark for another. That is one of the contradictions of this thing. In this section of sky, any way, the Milky Way is defined more by the dark dust lane that blocks our view of the galactic core than by the light of that core. (Oh, if you are trying to figure out where this is, the middle star at top is Altair in Aquila and Cygnus is on the right edge.) Now, it seems to me that if that dust lane weren't there, the center of the galaxy would be so bright that it would blot out much of the rest of the sky like the Moon does and our interest in and knowledge of the universe might be greatly reduced. We need that dark stripe to see the other faint (almost typed "faith" -- force of habit) objects that are so inspiring. Hmm... Maybe typing "faith" would have been just as appropriate. Hmm.... Bet that will preach....

As it happened, there was also a minor meteor shower peaking that night, so after doing the sketch, I stretched out on a picnic table and just watched. Now, any time you go out and can see a fair number of stars, if wait long enough you will see shooting stars. They happen all the time. If you happen to be in a place like this, you don't have to wait long to see one. So whether I was actually seeing a shower or not, I can't say. There were more than I have seen the other nights, but the other nights I've been looking through telescopes. That's like looking at the sky through a drinking straw. You only see a tiny bit of sky at a time. This night, looking up constantly, there were meteors aplenty! The shower was supposed to be radiating from Perseus, in the northeast sky at the time I was looking. Many more of the meteors I saw were radiating from Pegasus. As far as I know there wasn't a shower scheduled there, and Pegasus was at the zenith -- straight up -- so that is probably why they seemed to be coming from there. It was beautiful to see.

But you know, at my age you can only lie on a picnic table in the cold for so long before even the glory of the night sky can't compete with not lying on a picnic table. I came to the library and worked on email and facebook, and before you could say Zubenelgenubi, it was 5:00.

Okay, next, my experience of the JMI reverse binoculars. Stay subscribed!

Monday, September 6, 2010

An interesting approach...

Here is a picture I took of the moon at about 5:00 this morning as it was rising. I held my Canon A560 up to one eyepiece of the JMI 6" binocs, using a +1 setting on exposure, I think. I enhanced the contrast and brightness and fixed a few hot pixels in Photoshop. The real thing looked better than this, but it's about dinner time, and I'm hungry, and this is as good as it gets right now.

Just so you know, I don't have any big equipment rented for tonight, so it may be an early evening. We'll see. Stay subscribed to find out what happens.

A List, Part 2, or Another List

Here is the list, again in no particular order and generally without comment, of objects I observed and did not study on 05Sept2010 at New Mexico Skies, using the JMI 6-inch binoculars. For objects repeated from List, Part 1, I will dispense with identifications of the name or type of object.
  1. M51
  2. M101
  3. M103
  4. Double Cluster
  5. M31
  6. M32
  7. M110
  8. M33
  9. M36
  10. M37
  11. M38
  12. M45
  13. M42-43
  14. M81-82
  15. M13
  16. M4
  17. M6
  18. M7
  19. M8
  20. M20
  21. M16
  22. M17
  23. M18
  24. M22
  25. M27
  26. M57
  27. M55
  28. M54
  29. Eps Lyr
  30. Albireo
  31. Neptune
  32. Uranus
  33. Jupiter
  34. Mirfak and surrounding stars in Perseus
  35. M77 - Galaxy
  36. NGC 936 - Galaxy
  37. Blanco 1 Open Cluster
  38. Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy (sorta saw it)
  39. NGC 1316 - Fornax A Galaxy
  40. NGC 1317 - Galaxy
  41. NGC 1326 - Galaxy
  42. NGC 1499 - California Nebula (I think I saw it)
  43. M35 - Open cluster
  44. NGC 2158 - Open cluster
  45. M78 - Nebula
  46. Hyades - Open cluster
  47. NGC 1977-1981 - Open cluster and nebula
  48. NGC 2392 - Eskimo Neb (planetary)
  49. NGC 2247 - Cone Neb (saw the associated cluster, any way)
  50. NGC 2244 - Rosette Neb (same as Cone - saw the cluster)
  51. M40 - Double star
  52. Xi Ursa Majori - Double star (Alcor and Mizar, which is itself a double!)
  53. NGC 4088, 4085, 4026 - Galaxies
  54. NGC 5846, 5850, 5838, 5813 - Galaxies
  55. Grus Quintet - NGC 7590, 7599, 7582, 7552, 7531 - Galaxies
  56. NGC 6960, 6995 - Veil Neb (2 parts)
  57. Zeta Lyae - Double star
  58. Alpha Geminorum - Castor - Double star
  59. M11 - Wild Duck Cluster (open)
  60. M24 - Star cloud
  61. NGC 6712 - Glob
  62. B86, NGC 6520 - Dark nebula and open cluster
  63. Jupiter's moon Europa reappearing from behind the planet at 11:25 p.m.(!!!)
  64. Jupiter's moon Io disappearing behind the planet at 1:43 a.m. (!!!)
  65. Zodiacal light (!!!)
  66. The moon - 13% illumination, waning crescent
I think that's it. I was out from 8:45 p.m. until about 5:00 a.m. You can see a lot of stuff with that much time and this much sky. Stay subscribed for more on the JMI binocs, and maybe some comments on all these objects.

CPC 11

Here are my inexpert comments on the scope I used on 04Sept2010 at New Mexico Skies.

The Celestron CPC 11 Schmidt-Cassegrain is a wonderful telescope! Mounted on a concrete pier, it is rock solid. It was a breezy and gusty night when I was using it, and while the wind played with it a bit, the scope recovered very quickly.

The computer controller was easy to learn and easy to use. I am used to the Meade version, which is similar, so it took a little unlearning there, but it wasn't long before I felt very comfortable with the controls. The scope is permanently mounted, but Lynn led me through the alignment process, which was also very easy. Once aligned, the GOTO function was spot on most of the night. It started to miss a little bit late, but with the addition of another alignment star, which was also very easy, it regained its earlier spot-on-ness. The tracking was also excellent. I suspect it would be very adequate to basic astrophotography, although I can't really speak to that. For my purposes, though, it was perfect. There was no slippage in either RA or Dec, so objects stayed centered with no outside help. This is a remarkable difference for someone who doesn't have a tracking scope, let me tell you! Also, the tracking was essentially silent. No humming or clicking or anything to let you know it was doing its job.

Again, I am no expert on optics, but the views were bright, clear, and sharp, once I learned how to focus a Schmidt-Cass. It has a knob for moving the primary mirror and a two-speed focuser for the eyepiece. I'm used to one knob. Anyway, images were in focus pretty much across the entire field of view, right to the edges.

====Geek Break! ====================================
The CPC 11 is an f/10, for those who know what that is. For those who don't, that means the focal length (basically, how far it is from is from where light first enters the scope to the eyepiece) is ten times the aperture (the diameter of the primary mirror or lens). So, if I did the math right, the 11" aperture is basically 280 mm, and the focal length is then 2800 mm. To find the magnification of a particular eyepiece, divide the scope focal length by the eyepiece focal length. I was using the following eyepieces, provided by NMS, with respective magnifications.
  • 40 mm = 70 X
  • 38 mm = 73.7 X
  • 30 mm = 93.3 X
  • 20 mm = 140 X
  • 15 mm = 186.7 X
====End Geek Break! ====================================

The optical performance was equally good as far as I could tell at all magnifications.

All in all the CPC 11 made for a great night of observing! The only complaint I have is that I don't have one.

A List, Part 1

Here, in no particular order and without comment, is a list of objects I observed (although generally didn't study at length) at New Mexico Skies, using the Celestron CPC 11" Schmidt-Cass on 04Sept2010:
  1. M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy
  2. M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy
  3. M81 and M82 - Bode's Galaxies (aka Nebulae)
  4. M8 - Lagoon Neb
  5. M20 - Trifid Neb
  6. M55 - Globular cluster
  7. M22 - Globular cluster
  8. M70, M69, M54, M28 - various small globular clusters
  9. M26 - Open cluster
  10. M7 - Open cluster
  11. M6 - Butterfly Cluster (open)
  12. M17 - Swan Neb
  13. M16 - Eagle Neb
  14. Jupiter
  15. Neptune
  16. Uranus
  17. M31 - Great Andromeda Galaxy
  18. M32 - Dwarf satellite galaxy of Andromeda
  19. M110 - Dwarf satellite galaxy of Andromeda
  20. M33 - Triangulum Galaxy
  21. M13 - Hercules Cluster (glob)
  22. M92 - Glob
  23. M27 - Dumbbell Neb (planetary)
  24. M76 - Little Dumbbell Neb (planetary)
  25. M103 - Open cluster
  26. M36 - "
  27. M37 - "
  28. M38 - "
  29. M45 - Pleiades (open)
  30. M42-43 - Orion Neb
  31. M1 Crab Neb (supernova remnant)
  32. M57 Ring Neb (planetary)
  33. Epsilon Lyrae - Double double star
  34. Albireo - Double star
  35. Alpha Capricorni - Double star
  36. Beta Capricorni - Double
  37. NGC 7662 - Blue Snowball Neb (planetary)
  38. NGC 884 and 869 - Double Cluster (open and open)
  39. NGC 1097 - Galaxy
  40. NGC 6960 - Veil Neb (supernova remnant?)
  41. NGC 7635 - Bubble Neb (planetary -- didn't really see anything there)
Not bad for a night's outing. The moon came up (about 24% illuminated, waning crescent) a little after 3:00 a.m., so I called it quits. Stay subscribed for more adventures, lists, and maybe some commentary.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Day 2 Odds and Ends

I stayed up late on Thursday night, my first night here at NMS, watching the many more than four channels on the satellite tv, and by so doing, trying to get on a nocturnal schedule. It seems to have worked, as I didn't get up until 1:00 pm. When I finally did rise, it was a beautiful day! A bit chilly, but I can go with that. We are at 8600 feet. (Remind me to tell you about the drive up here sometime.)

After some food and coffee, I took a stroll down through the domes to see them in daylight. It's really cool, so I took lots of pics. You can find them at my me.com gallery "New Mexico Skies", along with others I've taken since.

I fixed three meals yesterday. Due to my now altered schedule, they were at unusual hours, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner, nevertheless. They don't fix food here, so you have to bring your own groceries. I bought food for the week at a Super Walmart in Alamagordo for $50, which is about half what I expected. I found that I really don't know how to shop for one, so it was a challenge. And no, it's not just macky cheese and hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. I had a good dinner -- pork cubed steaks and baked potato. Don't tell Molly, but I did the day's dishes before going out to play for the evening. Also before going out, I did the evening prayer service from the Book of Common Worship. It was an odd juxtaposition, because most of the prayers and praise spoke of Christ as the welcome Light who will dispel the darkness and protect us from the night, while I was eager to get out into the night's darkness where it could show me the glory of God. Sometimes we forget that God also dwells in the darkness.

I took my recently purchased, secondhand Meade ETX 90mm scope out to observe. The sky immediately looked less impressive than the previous night. It turns out the humidity was very high, lots of water vapor in the air, which cuts down the transparency of the atmosphere. It was still better than a good night at home, and I was still just struck by the beauty and expanse of sky here. The scope was fine, but so small compared to what was all around me. Plus, I found myself looking at things I always look at, wracked by indecision in the face of such vast possibilities. I was starting to stress about it all and go kind of negative, so I turned my thoughts to prayer for guidance. At once I had a sense that said, "Don't be adversarial about it! Just be open to what comes." So that's what I did.

Some stuff I saw with the ETX 90
  • M7, open cluster in Scorpius, just above the tail whip
  • M6, open cluster called the Butterfly, right next to M7
  • M23, another smaller open cluster in Sagittarius, in a rich part of the Milky Way
  • M20, the Trifid Nebula, a reflection nebula of gas, lit up by hot stars (not from Hollywood)
  • M8, the Lagoon Nebula, another reflection nebula with an open cluster
  • M22, the globular cluster I mentioned in my last post - big and bright with no bright core
  • Jupiter, hard to get a clear focus because of the humidity
  • M32, a satellite galaxy to the great Andromeda Galaxy
  • M31, Andromeda
  • M110, the other "easily" seen satellite galaxy to M31
    • (By the way, out here almost all of these are naked eye objects -- that is, you can find them with no instruments at all! That doesn't happen at home. Only M32 and M110 were not at least a little bit visible with the naked eye. Pretty sweet, even with the lower transparency!)
I was trying to find M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, which I had found in my binocs the night before. When I couldn't find it in my finder scope, I thought, hmmm... My books and papers and equipment cases have been getting pretty damp already. You don't suppose.... so I looked at the objective lenses of the finder and the scope.

DEW!! Well, no wonder things weren't as magnificent as I was expecting. I decided that was probably it for the ETX for the night. I could take it inside somewhere and let it warm up and dry off and try again, but to be honest, that was going to be more work than it was worth. So I just sat and looked for a long time. I used one of my guide books to relearn where stuff was that I hadn't seen for a while or could never see at home. Then, as I was getting pretty chilled, I packed up the scope, went home, put on more pants, got the binocs, and went back out. After all, it was only 12:30!

Oddly enough, it was actually much more satisfying to be looking with binocs than the 90mm. Don't know why. I guess some of the things just look better at lower magnification (like M31 in this case). Maybe it was that I could sit or lie down or stand or do whatever was comfortable instead of bending over to look in the eyepiece of the scope, which hurts the back and strains the legs and gets wobbly sometimes. Ultimately, I saw many more objects and stayed out until 3:30. That's when the moon rose. It was just a sliver of waning crescent, but it diluted the sky from end to end. Amazing how bright it was!

There were a great many shooting stars over the course of the night, too. Most were hard to catch, of course, and I caught them out of the corner of my eye. By the time I turned to look they were gone. (I did see one through my binocs, though! Just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time and -- ZIP! Sweeeet.)

Any way, it occurred to me that there are many things out here that are just on the edge of perception:
  • shooting stars
  • M objects
  • whatever was rustling around in the shrubbery behind me
  • lightning
  • the guy on the big scope down there
  • the passing of time
  • the motion of the worlds and stars
  • God's purpose and plan, and my place in it.
There were a few others that were pretty profound, but I didn't get them jotted down in time, and now they are gone. Perhaps they will come back, or maybe they will also remain on the edge of perception.

Tonight, I get to play with the Celestron CPC(!!) 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, one of the smaller big scopes you can rent here. It's the same design as my 90mm but about three times bigger. There was a big storm that took about three hours to go past this afternoon, but when I came in to the library here, it was pretty well cleared off, so I am hopeful for a good night. Now it's time to get this published and get some dinner.

Go check those pictures, and stay subscribed!

Friday, September 3, 2010

My God! It's full of stars!

I'm writing this from the library of New Mexico Skies, the astronomy retreat I've been imagining for over a year now, in Mayhill, NM. Last night I stayed in Baltimore with my dear friend from seminary (and since), Rev. Dr. Kenneth Kovacs, who was kind enough to let me crash at his place and then take me to BWI airport this morning. Twelve hours later and by way of Houston, El Paso, and the Walmart in Alamogordo, I arrived here.

I'm staying in a cabin that is a converted RV. It's small, but really very nice and quite adequate to my needs. Well, after I got settled in, had a bite to eat, and flipped through the tv channels (it's satellite, so they get more than 4!), I decided I'd check out the night sky.

Oh. My. God!

It is just spectacular! I don't even know where to begin to describe it. (Mr. Woods, my expository writing teacher from high school would not be pleased.) The Milky Way arches gloriously over head, every bit fulfilling it's name. Not only are the star fields in it vastly brighter than the best nights at home, but the dark clouds of gas and dust the block the deepest and brightest parts of the galaxy from our view are clear and distinct. And that was facing  north, toward the faint part! I got to a place where I could see to the south, toward Sagittarius. Oh. My. God! I've just never seen anything like it. I had my binoculars with me, and looked at M22, a globular star cluster, and it just popped out in the sky, not as an obscure fuzzy blob, but crisp and clear and giving the impression that it's actually a 3-D object.

I meandered toward the observing field, looking up almost the whole way. I probably swallowed a few bugs because my mouth was just hanging open. I was laughing and almost weeping as I went along. The observing area is about the size of a football field with about a dozen and a half observatory domes. Most of these are enabled for remote use through the internet, but some house equipment for local use.

Let me stop for a minute and say that the weather forecast for tonight was clear early, then clouds and wind and storms. As I meandered I noticed a dark patch creeping across the Milky Way that wasn't there before. Yes, it was a cloud. Now the thing that made me laugh about this, well, the two things, are that it always gets cloudy when I threaten to observe, but more to the point this time, the cloud was black! Clouds are never black back home at night. They are gray or orange or pink. This one was black. You know what that means? NO LIGHTS SHINING UP ON THE CLOUDS FROM UNDERNEATH!

Okay, so any way, I sat down and gawked some more that the sky. The most amazing thing I saw was the Andromeda Galaxy. This is the most distant object that can be seen with the naked eye, at something like 2.3 million lightyears. I've seen it at home before, naked eye even, and with my binocs. Tonight with those same binocs it was jaw-dropping. It's HUGE! The halo extends forever, almost a full field of view, which is like 5 degrees, which is like 10 times the apparent width of a full moon! The core was bright and clear, and if I didn't know better, I'd say I could almost make out some spiral structure -- with my binoculars! I can't do that with my 8" telescope at home.

By this time the clouds had made it almost halfway across the sky. Eventually, they covered everything. So my first night observing came to an abrupt end, but I am still satisfied. This sky must be like the one under which Abraham stood when God said, "Count the stars if you can -- I promise you will have that many descendants!" I am always drawn into God's presence and compelled to give God praise when I am under the night sky, and I tell you, God is good!

Can't wait to see what happens the rest of the week. It's supposed to be good weather. Soli Deo gloria!

Stay subscribed!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Finally

Had an interesting experience last night. I was downstairs on my computer, pounding away at the family tree. Molly called down that she was going to bed. I yelled up, "Good night!" then thought, "Hmm. She's been going to bed a lot later than this lately. I wonder why she is going to bed so early ... " Then I realized it was Saturday night, and she had to lead worship in the morning! Oh yeah!

I guess I'm finally on sabbatical.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Soli Deo Gloria

Went to worship at Saint Andrews United Presbyterian Church, my home church where I was baptized, raised in faith, confirmed, and ordained. I was a little anxious coming back, as I haven't been back for four or five years, and I figured I'd have to remember a lot of folks I grew up with but haven't seen forever. Otherwise, I was looking forward to it, and especially to hear Pastor Merry preach. I think the only time I've heard her was at Bill's memorial service.

Well, no worries on either account. There were only a few of the old timers there that knew me, both a relief and a sadness. As Dad said, most of them are gone now -- to their reward, that is. Also, Merry wasn't preaching. For one thing, she has had a couple unexpected eye surgeries and isn't supposed to be reading a lot. For another, it was the morning for the youth mission trip group to lead worship and report on their experience. Oh well.

As it turned out, the youth did a really fine job leading worship! The theme for their work week was "More or Less," with specifics each day, like More Courage - Less Fear, More Love  - Less Ego, More Jesus - Less Me. The girls who spoke about their experiences (they were all girls -- the one boy on the trip wasn't there for worship) did so with enthusiasm, confidence, and apparent faith. It was very encouraging. Unfortunately, the music for the service was an epic failure. They planned three worship choruses, the music for which was on a CD that decided not to play on the church sound system at worship time. With no accompanying music and songs that were unknown to most present, there was not much singing at all. Too bad. A couple of the songs were ones Meredith and I know from LOGOS Conference. She wrote me a note early in the service that we should sing with "obnoxious enthusiasm," but when it came to it our enthusiasm was consumed by the larger silence. Nevertheless, may God be praised in heaven and earth! Amen.

After the service, I was surprised that there really were so very few people I recognized in a fairly small crowd at that. I don't know if that was the usual size worshiping congregation or if they were away for the summer or if they were avoiding the youth-led service (NEVER understood why people do that), but in a town the size of Leesburg with five or six Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations and a few other Presbyterian flavors thrown in, I was sad. When I was a kid it was hard to find a seat in that church. Of course, the split in 197X put an end to that, but still I found myself wondering if Presbyterians really are done, if our era is past. Regardless of that larger pattern in society, as long as a congregation can put the kind of light-of-Christ experience into a group of teenagers that was demonstrated in this worship service, there is still hope.

Lord Jesus, use your faithful people, whatever their denomination, to work your will in the world. Amen.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Finding the Old Ones

I've been plugging away at the family tree stuff pretty heavily, mostly at www.ancestry.com. They make it pretty easy, and really, they must have some pretty amazing software running that site. As soon as you put a person on your tree, the site scans all the other member trees and all the records they have access to and it makes suggestions of data and connections to other family members based on what it finds. So if you find a good vein, you can go back several generations in half an hour or so. That's just what I've been able to do in a couple cases. Here are some of my findings.

My maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, never said much about her father Sheridan. So little, in fact, that all we knew about him was his name, and his wife and kids. Thus it has been for, oh, eighty years or so, I guess. But last night, I found Sheridan and his parents, siblings, and grandparents. It turns out that he was a teacher at some sort of residential school or institution at the age of 25. Another 25-year-old teacher there was Anna, whom he eventually married. This showed up on a data sheet from the 1900 Federal Census. It shows a fellow listed as "Head" (of household?), his daughter, various servants, Sheridan and Anna as teachers, then a long list of children from 7-17 years who are described as "inmate"! As it happens, Sheridan and Anna got married in 1900 -- a workplace romance, apparently!

As for Anna, her paternal grandfather's middle name was Ross, and his mother's maiden name was Ross. This caught my attention a bit. You see, a few years back we were planning a Kirkin' of the Tartan service at CPC, and I wanted to get a tartan stole for the event. Problem was we never knew what clan we were associated with. We knew we had some Andersons in the mix, so that was a possibility. I dug around some and found a subclan called "Duthie" connected to Clan Ross. It turned out that the Andersons were also associated with Ross. The Ross tartan was a handsome green pattern, which would make for a good stole that could be used most of the year. So I got Clan Ross tartan for my stole. Now here I find some Rosses in the family line. Followed them back another three generations, and found John, who was born in 1685 in Scotland! Well, his father, John, was born in 1658 in Angus, Scotland, and died at the Battle of Boyne in Londonderry, Ireland -- where we expect to find some Douthetts! And his wife was born in Aberdeen, near where we will be staying Scotland. All four of their parents were born in Scotland as well, as were at least a couple of the grands, going back to 1608. So picking Clan Ross seems to have been a good guess! By the way, in the 1845 or so, William Parsons, the third Earl of Rosse set up the largest telescope in the world (which held that title for 100 years) in, if I'm reading this right, Armagh, N. Ireland, where it is said Joseph Douthett came from. These are the things that make this process a lot of fun!

My paternal great-grandmother was Sarah, and she married WG. Last night I followed Sarah's mother's side - the Pierce family. There were a variety of spellings, but I'll try to get back to that later. Four generations of Pierces back (most of them named John), there is a wife named Maria Delamater, born in New York State in 1696. Her grandfather was Claude de la Maister. It turns out Claude was born in 1620 in France, was a Protestant, and fled in the Huguenot persecutions. He went to Canterbury, England, for a short time, then to Amsterdam for a while where he met his wife, Hester DuBois, whose father was French but who was herself born in Canterbury, then moved to Holland. It was Claude and Hester who made the trip to New York. Their son Johannes married Ruth Waldron, whose parents were both from Holland. So, I guess I've got some Dutch. Explains a few things, even if it is from four-hundred years ago.

This is also interesting, because I had found some stuff earlier (which I thought I had blogged, but I guess not) that the Douthetts had come from France, where they were, yes, Huguenots! They scattered to Canada and Wales during the persecutions, going from Wales to England and Scotland, then on to Ireland and America. So it seems to me I have three hundred fifty years of Protestant heritage behind me. I'm afraid the woman I talked with last week at St. James is going to be disappointed.

There are still plenty of slots to fill on the family tree, and I still have hopes of finding the missing link from Joseph to Ireland. Nevertheless, I think there will be plenty of stuff to look up and look at, now knowingly, in Ireland and Scotland. So stay subscribed!

Monday, August 9, 2010

One Bread, One Body?

I had the pleasure of choosing where to worship this morning. I've never been to the big new Catholic church, St. James the Greater, just up the road before, and I've wanted to see the inside of it since they finished it a couple years ago. So off I went for 11:00 mass.

Now, I've been to masses before, so I kind of know the drill. Nevertheless, I was a little anxious, as most first-time visitors surely are. So when I went in I looked for a friendly looking usher, found one (!), and said, "I'm new at this. Is there anything I should know?"

She looked pleased for an opportunity to be helpful. "Oh, are you a Protestant?"

"Yes, I am!" says I.

"I'm a convert!" she said. "Just don't freak out by how many times we get up and down and up and down. This service is also a little noisy, because, unlike Protestants, we bring our children to church."

"...." I said, biting my tongue.

She continued, undaunted, "Some of the kids get a little loud, and some of them I'd just like to POP sometimes! But over all, it's good to have them here. Now are you exploring Catholicism?"

"No, I'm just on vacation."

"Oh, well, that's wonderful that you can be with us. We have a visiting priest today. You can sit anywhere, and enjoy the mass!"

In spite of the slam about Protestants and children, I went into the sanctuary feeling lighthearted and oddly welcome. The sanctuary is really quite beautiful. It has a contemporary feel without the experimentation of a lot of modern church architecture. It's a large sanctuary, and it was quite, quite full. The walls are painted in a sort of greenish khaki with tan trim, which gives it all a warm, homey feel. The pews are a rich cherry-looking wood, and relatively comfortable. There is, of course, an enormous crucifix on the front wall, with statues of St. Peter to his right and St. James to his left. There is a ring of three fish on the ceiling over the center of the transept, the meaning of which I should know, but it seemed a bit out of place. I think it is trinitarian and recalling the multiplication of food, but whatever. There are two tiers of windows. The upper ones are clear, the lower are stained glass representations of the various biblical stories, OT on the left, NT on the right. After the service I found that there are four sets of statues with candles and kneelers in the four outer corners of the transept. The choir loft / balcony is in the back with a huge, 3-manual Allen organ, which was played ably during the mass. There is a very large representation of the Annunciation on the back wall.

The service itself was like most masses I've been to and not unlike our own liturgy in many regards. Different elements are more or less emphasized than in our service, but the order is pretty much the same. There were two men leading the mass, both in green and gold liturgical garb -- forget what they call the poncho-like robes. The older man was the visiting priest who had been the parish priest for St. James some fifteen years ago, as it turns out. He was soft spoken and not well miked, so he was hard to hear (especially with all those noisy children -- they really weren't that bad). The younger man, it turns out, was a deacon -- a layman who can serve in virtually every way as a priest except for officiating the eucharist. I learned this later along with the fact that he is married and has two children. He was a much better speaker and much easier to hear. He led most of the prayers and did a really good job.

As for the older priest's homily, well, Catholic priests have a reputation for not being very good preachers, and this fellow didn't disappoint, I'm afraid. For the life of me, I don't know what his point was. There was stuff about the covenant with Abram, and looking at the stars of the sky (I got the impression that the priest has a love of the night sky!), and a good bit about freedom -- for physically enslaved Israel and for modern people enslaved by sin (and maybe bad doctrine?), but I couldn't really find the connection or what God's part in it all is supposed to be. And it was hard to hear him, to boot. I did get the impression he wants us all to be free, though, so I'm good with that.

The woman who was the cantor for the responses and the Psalm and all was very good and had a beautiful voice. I saw her as she was walking out after the service and noticed she was wearing a lace scarf over her hair. I had noticed earlier that several other older women around sanctuary were wearing such scarves, too. I was a little surprised at that at first, but I was particularly surprised by the cantor, as she was a younger woman, probably in her early 30s. I am not familiar with this being a regular practice in Catholic churches. There weren't many who were doing it, so I wouldn't call it widespread, but there were enough to catch my attention.

I found myself singing the responses more robustly than a lot of the people around me. Thought that was interesting since I didn't know most of them. Just sayin'.

I knew going in I wouldn't be taking communion, which I don't really agree with or appreciate, but I am willing to abide by their custom. In the front of the missal (the seasonal book of liturgy and prayers in the pews), it explains a bit about this practice of what we call closed communion, who can and can't partake, and so on. It suggests that those who are not taking communion should pray for the unity of Church and of all God's people. So I did that. While the many and various divisions within Christendom will probably never even come to consensus on what "the unity of the Church" means, I prayed for it nonetheless, and for God's blessing on the congregation and mission of St. James. I have, in the past, often felt smug and arrogant about my own faith tradition when attending mass. Today, by the grace of Christ, I was able to get past that. That felt good.

After the service and after I had meandered around admiring the sanctuary, I was making my way out, wondering if I might see the usher with whom I had spoken. She was in fact in the narthex, talking with some children. When she saw me she came straight to me and asked if I had had any questions. I told her no. We introduced ourselves, and she asked again if I was just starting to explore Catholicism. I told her, no, I am actually a Presbyterian minister. Surprisingly, this did not slow her fervor for getting me what I needed to pursue my conversion to Catholicism! Among the points she made were that their previous priest was also a convert, that I should read Scott Hahn's books about his journey from Protestantism to Catholicism, how his exploration of the early church fathers' writings pointed to Catholic practice and doctrine rather than things Protestant, that there is a particular program on one of the Catholic cable networks about converting, and a few other stories about her own journey from having attended Baptist and Presbyterian (PCA) churches but having come to understand that Christ is in the Eucharist and submitting to the authority of the Church she was led to convert. I tried a couple times to assure her I was really fine with being Presbyterian, but she seemed to know differently. "When you're ready, read some of Hahn's books, if you are looking for some answers." Trying to remain gracious, I thanked her. We wished each other well, and I made my get away. It was fascinating to find someone who was so zealous and evangelical for the Catholic faith. She obviously had sincere motives and was wanting nothing but to help me on my way, even though she might not have taken the time to discern where my way seems to be going.

All in all, I had a very pleasant experience of worship, even though there were many points where I might otherwise have found myself feeling alienated, frustrated, or even insulted. I think what I appreciated most was the sincerity of faith I felt from this one woman and in the atmosphere of the congregation. The desire to have an experience of God's presence, to share that experience with others and pass it along to others (either children or pre-converts), to participate in the mystery of Christian community, these are things we share, and I believe they only come from Christ by grace. As many things as we all do in our churches to turn people off, Jesus still is inherently attractive, making us one body in him.

Thanks be to God!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

I went viral!

Don't know how many people this affected yet, but when I got on my email this afternoon I found my auto-reply message propagating itself at a prodigious rate in one of the yahoogroups I belong to (one about astronomy sketches, as it happens)! Obviously, I misset the rules somehow, and it was looping back on itself. A little later I got an email from one of my blog subscribers wondering why I had just sent him 16 of the same message. (This is, I think, unrelated to the fact that he subscribes to my blog - just one of those happy accidents.) Any way, after the first episode I turned off the auto-reply. At least I think I did. But I don't know if it was widespread through my address book or anyone in my inbox or just random victims. My apologies to any and all.

It's a little like what happened to Craig Ferguson, host of CBS's Late Late Show, and one of my favorite personalities. He opened his show the other night explaining that when he gets angry with someone, he writes them a nasty email on his phone, explaining just exactly what he thinks of them at the moment, and then saves it as a draft and never sends it. It gets it out of his system and he moves on. Not a bad strategy, really. Except.... Something happened that day that was unexpected, and he got a call from his stage director asking what the ... um.. fuss was all about? Craig asked what he meant, and director guy said, this email you just sent me? Craig checked his phone, and ALL the draft messages had been sent. "I just spent a year's wages on flowers today!" he said mournfully.

I don't think I'm quite in that condition, but I can imagine a few people thinking I'm rubbing it in a little that I'm not working for the next three month. Sigh. One of the odd side-effects of this process.

Be that as it may, stay subscribed!

Friday, August 6, 2010

This is hard work!

Well, since going off the clock I've been mostly sitting at my computer, not unlike spending time at the office. I've been working on:
  • flight arrangements for New Mexico, 
  • car rental for same, 
  • flight arrangements for me to and from UK, 
  • flight arrangements for Molly to and from UK, 
  • travel for Dad, Clare, and me from Dublin to Belfast, 
  • flight arrangements for Dad, Clare, and me from Belfast to Scotland, 
  • car rental for Belfast, 
  • housing accommodations for N. Ireland, 
  • and making sure we have phones that work over there.
I know some of you might think I should have had that done a long time ago. Well, I didn't. But now most of it is done, so whatever. It's been crazy trying to figure it all out, though. Dad and Clare are coming from Pittsburgh, Molly and I from DC, but with three different itineraries. Dad and Clare and I are going over together, but not coming back together. Molly is coming later and leaving earlier, but I had to get us all to Aberdeen at about the same time. Then there's the whole public transit stuff. Phew! It's exhausting.

Besides that, I've been doing genealogical research on www.ancestry.com, looking for Douthetts as far back as we can go. So far I haven't gotten past Joseph Douthett, the first of our line we know of who came from Ireland. He apparently was born in Armagh, N. Ireland, in 1745, got married to Rosanna Rea and had some babies there before coming across. Son Benjamin was apparently born in 1765, also in Armagh, so they didn't come over until after that, any way. Records have Joseph and family coming to Butler Co. PA in 1799 or 1800 from Washington Co. PA. I haven't found any evidence of him in Washington Co., although I did find some reference to some Douthetts in Washington Township of Allegany Co. about that time.

I found also a family history for a different branch of Douthetts wherein the author outlines a broader history of the name going back to the Renaissance! Unfortunately, there is no source material or reference to follow up and prove it. Still, very exciting. In fact, it's been so exciting, I was up until 3:00 two nights running, following various links and lines and whatnot all.

So all in all there is progress in the preparations, but the relaxing? That still needs some work.

Will try to write again tomorrow. In the mean time, stay subscribed!

Monday, August 2, 2010

So it begins...

Well, I was not thrilled with my sermon this morning -- my last until November! -- but it was okay. I sort of started in the wrong place, as I thought about it later, and then the whole thing was sideways. It had sounded so much better last night and in the shower this morning. Oh well.

Any way, at 11:27 pm, I've got just about a half hour until the sabbatical starts officially I guess. We had a good worship service and a good crowd. It was nice to see so many people there at once and many who we haven't seen for some time. I am confident that Leslianne will do a great job at CPC. Then the Church Life committee put together a wonderful reception after the service with cakes and shrimp and punch and fresh fruit and all manner of goodies. Lots of good wishes from many dear people. Barry introduced and welcomed Leslianne and offered a farewell blessing to me. Very nice!

Had a meeting after all the festivities -- an appropriate way to go out. Then, I found it hard to get everything together and get out of the office this afternoon. This leave-taking really is challenging. I feel like I'm leaving so much undone and so many people that I should have contacted. If you are one of those or are close to one, I ask for your grace and forgiveness. I'm also just so used to being at the church, doing.... churchy things. Maybe the anxiety I feel about leaving is a good indication that it's a really good idea for me to leave for a while! It reminds me (and the congregation) that ministry is God's work first, and who does it is secondary.

Okay. It's now after midnight. Heeeeeeeeere weeeeee GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Time Never Asks What's Become of Us

Counting down the days now. That would be on the close order of nine, by the way.

Just before going to Radford for the LOGOS Conference last week, I got an email from the folks at New Mexico Skies that they were heading for Australia at the end of the week, and any reservations would be delayed after Friday, the 16th, as they would be leaving early that day. I remembered this on my way to choir at 6:30 pm on Thursday, the 15th. Of course. I called the folks at NMS and got hold of Lynn. She was finishing her supper and had packed away the computer and much of the paperwork, but she was able to take my reservation, after I finally made some decisions about the dates, September 2 - 9. Also reserved three of the big scopes, the 25-inch Dob, the 6-inch binoculars, and the 11-inch Celestron. She seems like a very nice lady, and clearly a strong, no-nonsense, Western sort.

The accommodations sound a little rustic, but reasonable. The one-bedroom cabin I'll be getting sounds like a converted RV, if I understood Lynn correctly. She asked if I were a large person, as there are a few tight fits, like the front door and the toilet being between the shower and the sink. I allowed as how I'm only about 10 pounds overweight and oughtta be able to fit. She said she tells everyone in careful detail, because she has had some people who have shown up who couldn't fit through the door! Mercy!

I also got my reservations set for Iona, September 25 to October 1. Took a few attempts to get the deposit on the bank card as it was an international transaction. Meanwhile, been working with Dad on getting the rest of the UK trip nailed down. We've got it figured to fly into Dublin, drive north to Derryboy, Armagh, and Londonderry, three likely sites for finding evidence of our ancestors. After a few days poking around the Emerald Isle, we'll fly to Aberdeen, Scotland, and base our Scottish activitites out of Cullen on the northeast coast. The flights are pretty wicked expensive at this point. I wish I knew what the trend is between here and mid-September.

Okay, well, I'm getting tired. We've still got VBS tomorrow, and I'm catching a cold. Jacob and Molly already have it. Meredith is working hard to avoid it, as she has a party planned for Sunday. Gotta get the pool cleaned up before then. So until next time, stay subscribed!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Real Deal?

One of the things I have been working on over the past couple years is a greater sense of authenticity, that is that my inner world of thoughts and feelings is reflected in my words and actions, and vice versa. For someone like me who is a strong introvert in an extroverted profession, this can be a real challenge. Writing a blog for the congregation to read comes right up against that struggle. How authentic ought one to be on the internet? How honest is honest enough and how much is too much when journaling about private experiences for a public audience? I guess we'll find out as this experiment chugs along.

I want very much for this sabbatical to be a time of renewal in me, in my spirit. Over the twenty years of my ministry I have had a lot of youthful idealism and enthusiasm threshed out of me. To be honest, in the last couple of years it has been hard, really hard for me to generate and maintain much energy for my work. As I write this blog about my sabbatical experience, it is likely that I will reveal some of the holes in my soul, and that's a little scary. I hope that such revelations will come as I describe the ways those holes are being filled, but who knows? So does being authentic mean being completely honest and open about those sorts of things? I don't know. It would be a lot safer just to log the activities without comment, but that might also be pretty boring, and as I have suggested, it might be less than honest and authentic.

Well, if you find what I am writing to be appropriate, insightful, even helpful, I'd love to know that. If you find that it is Too Much Information and inappropriate, I'd like to hear about that, too.

Right now, I am authentically tired, so we'll have to take all this up again some other time.

Keep it real!
--D2--

Sunday, June 27, 2010

LOS LINKS!!!

This is driving me nuts already. Everything depends on everything else, and it all costs more and takes longer. It's a total crap shoot with the airlines as far as finding a cheap flight anywhere. If you find one that's not too expensive it ends up going through three different cities that add tariffs so as to double the price. It's insane. Of course, you know how much I like any MicroSoft product, right? Well, I thought I'd try their Bing search engine for the price trend indicator.

Me: Any flights from any of the Washington airports to anywhere in Scotland?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: How about to Ireland?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: How about if we just say BWI to Glasgow?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: But I just found some on Expedia!
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: Okay, how about Dulles to Glasgow?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: Not even the ones I found on Travelocity?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: I did check the box for "Include nearby airports?"
Bing: Yes, you did indeed!
Me: Well, do any of the nearby airports have anything to get me from anywhere within 150 miles of DC to within 150 miles of Glasgow?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: What if I went from BWI to Belfast and home from Glasgow to BWI?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: Right, you're done, Bing! Go take Filomena to a movie or something!

I really don't like making travel arrangements.

Well, nothing happens outside the time and providence of God, and God has brought me this far in the process, so I can only assume something will come together. God is good that way.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Getting in the habit before I get out of the collar

Welcome to my sabbatical blog! As we have been planning this experience of renewal for me and for the Catoctin Presbyterian congregation, it seemed like a good idea for me to start a blog where folks could keep up with my adventures, and this is going to be it. The sabbatical doesn't start for another five weeks or so, but I want to get in the blogging habit, as it says above there, so it won't be boring and sucky for anyone who wanders by, and so I won't have to pull an all-nighter on day 87 out of 90, trying to catch up. I'll be putting the blog address in the church newsletter and will pass it along to the webmaster at the church site, www.catoctin.org, so people will be able to find it.

The three month sabbatical will be from August 2 - October 31, 2010. In that time I am planning a week or so trip to New Mexico Skies, a resort in the mountainous terrain of southeast New Mexico designed for amateur (and maybe professional) astronomers, one of which I am whom. They have a half-dozen or so big telescopes to rent for general observing plus four super special scopes in domed observatories for astrophotography and more serious observers. You can also bring your own equipment, although I don't know that I will. We'll see about that later. The other destination of note is the Iona Community on an island on the west coast of Scotland, where I am planning to spend a week in worship, reflection, and community living and learning. In between, my Dad and I, hopefully with our significant others, will tour around Ireland and Scotland. My hope is to find some evidence of the Douthett family having been in either country. I've found some things on the interwebs that give some ideas of where to look, but many of the records in the appropriate period appear to have been destroyed in church fires and such. Any way, this is also the home turf of the Presbyterians, so we'll look at some of the important Reformation sites, too.

So that's where I got the catchy name for the blog, "A Pastor Looks Up and Back." Up in the sky. Back in history. (Clever, no? Fine, you try to come up with an original blog title that isn't being used, especially when it's dinner time.)

The interesting thing about all this travel is that, even though I have three months available, circumstances dictate all the time away from home has to be in a five-week window from the last few days of August to the first few days of October. So, I'll have a month to prepare, a month to GOGOGOGO, and a month to recover.

I think I can cope with that.

Time to go home for dinner (I was serious!). More soon. As my brother always used to say, "Stay subscribed!"