Beauty in Unexpected Places

Old photograph of a Victorian Gentleman, from the
Victorian Parlour at Failte Irish Pub, in Mississauga
[Photo by KPA]

It seems appropriate to commemorate Larry Auster's second year of his death at Failte Irish Pub, here in Mississauga.

I had a 1/2 pint of Harp, which he told me was his favorite Irish beer. I posted on Irish beer and poetry, and Larry, here.

And here's a post I wrote in April 2013 (just about a year ago).

Larry's New York: Beauty in Unexpected Places

The first time I met Larry was in 2009, when I went to New York to participate in an event for the Danish Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. I went with a group from Canada called the International Free Press Society. Larry knew about my trip to New York, and he and I met separately. He gave me a spot to meet in the middle of Manhattan, a small diner called The Red Flame. He had never met me before, but I had my blog up with my photo for a couple of years by then. He politely came up to me and asked "Are you Kidist?" rather than make a rude assumption. He ordered a hamburger, which I found out is a favorite of his, while I had a chicken salad. He was impressed with my dietary choice, and it was one of the best chicken salads I've had.

After lunch, we walked for many blocks up Fifth Avenue, with Larry pointing out various New York landmarks and spots. He was especially keen to show me Rockefeller Center, which clearly still surprised him even though he was a long-time resident of New York. The Christmas tree and decorations were up, and skaters were pirouetting beneath us.

We kept walking down Fifth Avenue and at some point we found a beautiful courtyard interior. I cannot find the name of this place, but New York is filled with such unique surprises. We got some refreshments, to take a break and to enjoy this interior. I ordered a diet coke, and Larry talked about ordering a whisky. But he was too polite to do so, and we sat drinking diet cokes together.

We met again almost two years later, in 2011. Larry planned a VFR Christmas dinner for his readers and friends. The group met at an Irish pub/restaurant in mid-town Manhattan called Kennedy's. I was honored to have been included in this list, and made every effort to attend. I was able to attend, and at the same time spend a few days in New York.

This time, our cultural visit was to the Metropolitan Museum. Laura Wood, from The Thinking Housewife also came. The attraction was the annual Christmas Tree with a Neapolitan Baroque Crèche. We looked at the figurines with amazement. How could such small sculptures be crafted so perfectly? We looked for Baby Jesus, and found his tiny, perfect form. After the visit, which included rushing through various exhibits in the museum, we went down to have a snack in the restaurant/cafeteria. Larry said he liked coming there for a meal. I agreed that the food was of high quality. I suspect it was also the cultural environment that Larry liked, when he went just for a meal to the museum.

I traveled again to New York in August 2012. I stayed about a week. This time, I went to try and get some sponsorship for my book project. I also did my usual rounds of shopping and museum viewing. I telephoned Larry to say I was in New York (I had emailed him about my trip), and he suggested we meet at the lovely Straus Park, which is near his home, as well as near where I was staying. I had bought my (computer/portable) tablet then, and Larry, with his perennial curiosity, wanted to look up more about the Park, while we sat on the bench in front of the statue "Memory."

According to this site, on the background of the Park:
In 1912, the City named this park after the Strauses, who had lived in a frame house at 27-47 Broadway, near 105th Street. Public subscriptions of $20,000 were raised to commission this monument. The work consists of a granite curved exedra, a central bronze reclining female figure of Memory (for which the celebrated model Audrey Munson posed), and a reflecting pool. The monument was dedicated three years to the day after the Titanic sank.
We nonetheless had cheerful things to talk about. I told Larry I went to Macy's earlier in the morning, and he asked me what I'd bought. It was a pink polka dot blouse which, I proudly told him, I'd gotten for half price on sale. Larry was in tune with clothing and fashion, and would notice small things like hats, bracelets and the patterns and colors of dresses, which he wasn't shy about commenting. I showed him a catalog of Carolina Herrera's evening gowns whose flagship store in mid-town Manhattan I'd also visited. He had some very clear preferences, and didn't like the low cut, "one-sleeve" evening gowns, and said it spoilt otherwise beautiful dresses. I agreed with him, that all this skin exposure was diminishing the beauty of the dresses, and the beauty of women.

My museum trip this time around was to the Cloisters. I had read about them in my tourist guide, and in an article a while back in some magazine, and was intrigued by them. I've written about them here. Larry was not so well by then, and I told him the trip is long. We'd have to take an uptown bus all the way to Washington Heights, then change buses to take us to the Cloisters. Once there, we would have to do a shortish walk on cobbled stones to get to the museum. He was hesitant, and I made the decision. "Let's go," I said. "We can always take the bus back, or catch a cab, if it is too difficult." We made it. It was a lovely trip. The Cloisters feel like a remote, hill-top castle. Even though they are technically in New York City, they feel like they're miles (geographically and culturally) away from the city. One lovely spot of repose is by the compound's walls, with a view of the Hudson River and the George Washington Bridge.

Larry lived off Riverside Drive, which has a beautiful path by the Hudson River. We walked along the drive to view the various luxury homes, with their elegant mouldings and brickwork, and to experience some of the natural paths that are part of New York. There was a cool breeze coming from the river, a welcome respite from the hot August sun.

Recently, in December, I was in New York once again, and once again I attended a Christmas dinner for friends and readers of VFR. We met again at Kennedy's. Larry was weaker this time, and I think the dinner tired him. But he was good company. I met with him a couple of times after the dinner. This time, our cultural visit was to the Morgan Library and Museum, which houses Pierpont Morgan's collections (later expanded by his son J. P. Morgan) of books, manuscripts, sculpture and paintings in mid-town Manhattan. It is an eclectic and interesting place. Once again, I had gone earlier, and suggested to Larry that this would be a good place to visit. There were seats all around the museum for resting, and it is not overwhelmingly big. Larry seemed to acquire energy from somewhere, because we stayed viewing the collections longer than I thought we would.

Larry always liked to experience things, staying a little longer at an especially beautiful spot, or walking down an interesting curve in a path, or spending time before a sculpture or a painting. New York is a haven for beauty in unexpected places. Even the subways and buses were places for this unexpected beauty. In order to take his mind off his ill-health, Larry would recite poetry he had memorized. During one subway ride, he recited poems by W. B. Yeats to me. He said reciting these poems (aloud or silently) refreshed him and helped him to absorb his attention and put him in a calm state. He posted many poems by Yeats at View From the Right. I read and studied these poems over the years, and grew to know and to somewhat understand them.

One of the most enchanting places we visited was the Plaza Hotel near Central Park. I had visited it earlier and again told Larry we should go there just for coffee (a meal would just be too expensive). We entered the lovely lobby and went into the Palm Court. It was late afternoon, and the staff was closing down (tea can only be served for so long, after all). Larry asked if we could just sit at the edge for a little while, and the staff obliged. We also dared to walk around to view the "marble caryatids representing the Four Seasons on the westwall." The wait staff patiently left us alone. Covering the Palm Court is a spectacular, restored art deco stained glass ceiling, which gave a regal and grand air to our brief stay.

We went downstairs to the "food court" for a quick snack. For some reason Hamentash, a Jewish delicacy traditionally eaten during Purim, was available. Larry suggested I try one with apricot filling. It was a dry, sweet pastry, and the apricot gave it a distinct and sophisticated taste. So we did get our tea (or coffee) at the Plaza after all.

Later that week, we had dinner at West 107 on Broadway, where I had one of the best pork chop meals. There was enough left over to take home. Rather than have dessert, Larry suggested that we go to his neighborhood restaurant, The Broadway Restaurant (which is really a diner), for hot chocolate. It was a real treat, with whipped cream piled on top of the rich chocolate drink.

My last visit with Larry was at a hamburger meal in a restaurant called Toast, where we went after our visit to the Morgan Library. "Cook it rare" he told the waiter. He educated me on the best way to eat this American tradition: "I don't know how people eat the dried up, over-cooked hamburgers that has become normal fare. The meat has to be moist, and to do that, you need very good meat, and you cannot over cook it." And it was the best hamburger I have eaten.

At Toast, Larry decided to have a glass of his beloved whisky. He was very particular about the kind he wanted. The brand he chose he said was lighter and more delicate. I ordered the house wine, to keep him company, and to enjoy a glass. It was a lovely fruity, light wine. Larry picked up my glass and said he just wanted to smell it. He did so with relish. This episode encouraged me to write (and research) about wine. Here is the article I posted which I titled The God of Wine.

I could tell that Larry loved New York; the old, original, artistic New York. His neighborhood gave him a lot of pleasure, and almost every corner was for discovering. I think he enjoyed my company, and was happy to show me his New York. And he was protective. If we went too long without a break, he would suggest a snack or a meal, and he would more often than not pick up the tab. He put me in a taxi one late evening, and paid the driver the fare before I had time to protest.

Back in Canada, I received notice from a group of VFR readers that they were planning an intercessory prayer for Larry. I went to my favorite Irish pub in my neighborhood, Failte's, to toast Larry with my favorite beer, Harp. I emailed Larry photos I had taken of the interior of the pub, and that I had gone there to have a glass of Harp in his name. He wrote back that Harp was his favorite Irish beer. I found that uncanny, and a sign that I had done the right thing, and perhaps these prayers would make a difference.

If we had more time, I am sure he'd have found many places to discover, and to rediscover. And a few more things in common.

He wrote to me in an email in mid-January (2013): "There is something appealing about your semi flow-of-associations writing. Not everything needs to be big and important. What you provide is a feeling of your life, of yourself."

I hope with this account, I have provided a feeling for Larry's life, as I understood it and as I experienced it.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

May Perpetual Light Shine on Lawrence Auster

May Perpetual Light Shine on Lawrence Auster
By: Laura Wood (The Thinking Housewife)
Sunday, March 29, 2015


The tomb of the Count of Urgell at The Cloisters Museum

“JOURNEY” is a much abused and over-used word. So much so that it is almost impossible to use it today without conjuring a New-Agey binge of self worship. But, on the second anniversary of the death of the formidable writer Lawrence Auster, I am drawn to think of his journey.

He was born in New Jersey in 1949. He was born at the right time and at the wrong time. He was constantly at odds with his surroundings. He had a happy childhood, he said, but then plainly didn’t quite fit in anywhere. Hence he was on a constant journey. He left Columbia University after a year and went to Colorado. Later, after graduating from the University of Colorado with a degree in English, he discarded the idea of becoming an academic despite his love of English literature and his obvious skill in analyzing it. He thought being a professor would destroy his love of literature. He returned to New York, a wayfarer still.

For awhile he attended law school in New York and objected to the whole mentality of it. He felt law could be practiced in such a way that it wasn’t so careerist. In other words, the true end and object of legal studies should be justice, not the career.

He deplored the impersonal quality of modern life, which is why he left Columbia as an undergraduate and one reason he could never find a career. He wrote in his journal that he would love to work in some family business that had been run for generations. In other words, he would love to work in some business that wasn’t motivated just by business, but by the preservation of a small, human society.

He decried the lack of manners he saw everywhere, absurdly and unreasonably expecting civility and gentlemanliness in a 21st century city. At the same time, he could be rude himself in that aggressive, New York way.

He was walking down a street in New York one day, when like a bolt of lightning it struck him that European America was dying and being replaced by a modern, polyglot Tower of Babel. He journeyed through poverty, loneliness, lacerating self-criticism and the self-disgust any reasonable person in our world would feel for writing about one of the most sensitive of topics: Race in America. His objection to modern racial egalitarianism flowed naturally from his objection to the impersonal qualities of modern life. Destroy a man’s people, perpetuate the myth of rootlessness, and modern man is truly alone. He is even alienated from God. Mr. Auster was his own harshest critic at times and did not delight in the hard truths. His many readers at his website View from the Right would say he was born at the right time.

“This was the height of Western Civilization!” he said once, with outspread arms on a visit to The Cloisters, the famous museum of medieval art on the Hudson. So you see: He really was an outsider. He admired the tombs of the ancient knights, with their effigies of warriors at rest. He said that the art of no other age expressed the same vivid sense of transcendence.

A child of the sixties, he journeyed theologically, through his childhood as a Jew, astrology, the works of the Indian guru, Meher Baba; Anglicanism and finally, on Palm Sunday two years ago, with an Easter lily on his hospital tray, he formally converted to Roman Catholicism, a few days before he died and after much serious consideration of the issue. He said it was the most important day of his life. I like to think that he was formally initiated into that society of knights, his warrior qualities finding their most appropriate setting.

I hope you will join with me today, on Palm Sunday, which marks the entry of that most miraculous God-Man and Jew into Jerusalem, in praying for the eternal rest of Lawrence Auster. His journey is over. Let us be glad that he never fit into this world. Let us be thankful that it was always alien to him, as it should be to all of us. Let us pray for him and imagine him in heaven, poor no more, but with a golden and bejeweled sword always by his side.

[Note: Friends of Lawrence Auster will be gathering soon for a visit to his grave and lunch to commemorate the second anniversary of his death. This will take place near the cemetery where he is buried in suburban Philadelphia. If you would like to join us, please let me know.]
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Palm Sunday

Giotto di Bondone - known commonly as Giotto (c. 1266 – 1337)
Christ Entering Jerusalem. 1304-1306
78 x 72 inches
Fresco: Capella degli Scrovegni, Padua, Italy
(Here is a view of the chapel's interior)

Image posted at Tiberge's Galliawatch

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Prepare the Way, and Be Ready

In the Algonquin where the Round Table met
[Image Source]

I sent the following email to my "roundtable" friends in New York:

Dear Friends,

While wishing you Bon Apetit, I send you my posting "The Existential Crossroad" at my blog Reclaiming Beauty which I think relates to Jim's analogy of liberalism bursting its bubble.

I think we are already seeing the cracks, or the bubble hitting some brick wall, or nail, to continue with the analogy.

My business is in observing visual cues. I found both Obama's and Hillary's expressions revelatory these few days, where I say:

"I listened to Obama's and Clinton's various speeches and interviews these past few weeks, and one thing that struck me was how tired they looked."

I think Clinton and Obama, the world leaders of liberalism, are exhausted. I don't know why that is explicitly, but existentially, I think they are tired of the lies and the failed promises that they presented to Americans as expedient paths for establishing their ideological changes. Whatever they say is now such a stretch from the truth that this burden, or this conflict, is showing in their very bodies.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, started with the humility of a sincere person. He put himself, and his political life, on the line by coming to the US to literally beg Americans to stop the devil's pact with Iran. Yet look at him as he presents his position, which I describe as "forceful, strong and convinced." And finally, he won at the Israeli elections, despite the odds.

I don't know how much of a bubble this is bursting, but I think, in unexpected ways, the truth is beginning to come out of the cracks, and liberalism's promises are showing up as the failures they are.

But I take this a step further and write that this is more than political, but existential:

...we are now at an existential crossroad. Obama's and Clinton's inner conflict, their deal with the Devil, can be seen in the way they present themselves (or the Devil projects himself in them), Netanyahu's visit to America, his subsequent win, against all odds, at the Israeli elections, are the signs we should be paying attention to. We are faced with the consequences otherwise.

So it is not enough to merely observe. We have to react, and act, as well. I think that is where our "round table" can garner its force and strength, and its ideas. The challenge is to prepare the way, and to be ready for the burst.

Kidist

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Derek Hough is Back

The talented, handsome, charismatic, and nice guy Derek Hough is back on Dancing With the Stars. He was debating whether to come back or not, but I think his overwhelming popularity (tweets, likes, blogs - like mine - and so on) persuaded him to give it one more chance.

His sister, Julianne Hough, is the judge, but she has also danced and won two trophies during her time as a pefromer on the show.

I have posted Hough's video above with his partner Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin. His choreography is reminiscent of Fosse's, although less idiosyncratic, which the crazy Italian judge recognized last season.

I've blogged about Derek several times: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

The Existential Crossroad

I listened to Obama's and Clinton's various speeches and interviews these past few weeks, and one thing that struck me was how tired they looked.

I got the photo of Obama from a video screenshot of Obama sending a "message" to Iran. The speech was subtitled in Persian and posted on Whitehouse.gov, the White House's main website! Obama gave the message on March 19th from the White House. He is wishing the Iranians a "Happy New Year." The video has Persian translations scrolling underneath. Here is the video. Amazing! A message for a "Happy New Year" to a country which publicly says it wants to destroy America, and of course Israel! Obama sent his message with a cozy backdrop of a side table with flowers and a pretty lamp, while sitting next to the American flag.

I will say here (repeat what others have already written) that Obama is essentially an anti-Semite. It starts from his desire to undermine, if not destroy, Israel, by supporting those who wish to destroy Israel. Below are writers who have written about this.

Mark Levin states in an interview: "anti-semitism reeks from your [Obama's] administration."

The Jerusalem Post recently posted the article titled: "Fundamentally Freund Is Obama Stirring Up Anti-Semitism."

Ben Shapiro at Breitbart News discusses "The Antisemitism of the Obama Administration."

Lauri B. Regan at The American Thinker has an article titled: "President Obama and Naked, Blind Anti-Semitism"

And in a less dramatic manner, Elliott Abrams at the National Review Online writes: "Obama Tries to Invent Whatever Excuse He Can to Break with Israel."

The recent impassioned accusation which Obama has been receiving is that he is "America's first Anti-American President." Many writers are saying similar things, including, for example Bob Barr at Townhall.com in his article: "America’s First Anti-Exceptionalism President." And David Horowitz at his Truth Revolt site has the article: "Obama An Anti-Semitic, Anti-American President."

The screenshot of Clinton's image is from her United Nations press conference on March 10 (here is the video). The UN has always vacillated between supporting Israel, or supporting Israel's enemies, and Clinton was either opportunistic or covertly showing her disdain for Israel by choosing this venue during these contentious times.

Still, both Clinton and Obama are trying to project conciliatory, if not friendly, images (peacefully united, personally approachable).

Netanyahu went directly to the United States Congress. The background in his photograph is clearly of Congress, and the image is found at this site.

Netanyahu has it right. Congress is the platform from which these American leaders should have given their important messages. And I think it is appropriate that world leaders wishing to communicate important messages with Americans, as did Netanyahu, should use this forum.

Despite his many hours of travel and his stressful presence as a foreign leader, Netanyahu looks forceful, strong and convinced. I wrote about this a few weeks ago here. And here is the video of Netanyahu's full speech.

Both Clinton and Obama used locations through which they tried to soften their messages. Obama sits in the cozy background of a living room set-up, and Clinton goes to a body that appears to "unite" the world with words of peace. Whereas Netanyahu goes to the politically difficult, if not hostile, environment of the United States Congress. But, he is the most honest. None of these messages can be softened. Netanyahu dealt with his in that forthright manner.

What a difference.

I realized just as I was about to post this entry that Obama sent this New Year's message to Iran during the dark days of Lent. This introspective time, "a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation of the celebration of Easter," was when Obama decided to "observe" another holiday, foreign both in national and Christian terms, to betray his own country and make a pact with the Devil.

I've written here that we are now at an existential crossroad. Obama's and Clinton's inner conflict, their deal with the Devil, can be seen in the way they present themselves (or the Devil projects himself in them). Netanyahu's visit to America, his subsequent win, against all odds, at the Israeli elections, are the signs we should be paying attention to. We are faced with the consequences otherwise.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Tip of an Irish Hat, And a Happy St. Patrick's!

An Irish Hat
[Photo By: KPA]

I went early to my local Irish pub, Failte's, thinking it would be quiet, and there would be just the decorations. I was wrong. However strange it may sound, there was a St. Patrick's party for children (in a pub) at this particular Failte's. I went in the back and watched the merriment.

The place was a little cheesyly decorated, cardboard hats, glittery leprechauns, and green beer. But why not? Festivals are hard to come by these days where everything is political correctly sterilized. St. Patrick's hasn't got that "inclusive" poison yet. All the patrons were refreshingly Irish-looking, and the music wonderfully Irish (as far as I could tell).

"I'm not Irish," I told the waitress. "But can you still get me a hat and some lucky clover?"

I now have a hat, and a necklace of sparkly beads with a large three-leaf piece of luck. I'll hang on to the luck of the Irish!

I also asked for a "small" (I think that means a 1/2 pint) of Harp beer.

On a more serious note, here is a post of mine on Failte, my humble take on the Irish, Yeats' poetry, and memories of Larry Auster and his serious work to keep his beloved America from turning into a Babylon.

I posted this poem, posted by Larry at the View From the Right:

THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE

THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine and fifty swans.

The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold,
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

This is the illustration he posted at the end of the poem, in his entry "Update":



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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

A Desk With a Thousand Views

This is what I see as I sit at my desk. I put up this collage a few weeks ago while I was getting an article ready. The blank, greyish brown wall was too empty and too dark, and I needed some kind of stimulation as I wrote down my ideas.

I came up with this, first by putting the mustard yellow wrapping paper as a background.

This is not the full collage. I have had to crop it to get the images as clear as possible. I have several other design drawings, a large card of a Tiffany window from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the middle window here), my drawing of a mourning dove, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Les Grands Boulevards, which I saw at The National Gallery of Canada's Renoir Landscapes exhibition in Ottawa in 2007, amongst others.

I thought too many images would be a distraction - blank wall/paper and all that. But, it is actually helpful, and it is a comfort zone where I can calm down and think, with all these familiar, and beautiful, things around.

Here are the images:

1. Swan design from Well-Patterned.
2. Iris gift wrap paper from Longwood Gardens gift shop.
3. Cards from a photograph I took of the Cloisters, in New York.
4. Program from the exhibition Guilded New York at the Museum of the City of New York, showing Cornelia Ward Hall and Her Children. I visited the exhibition last year.
5. A print of my photograph of ferns, from my "plants from the Allan Gardens Conservatory" series.
6. Oak leaf from St. Peter and St. Paul Cemetery, near Philadelphia.
7. Balloons for 4th of July near Wall Street in New York. I took this photograph over ten years ago. I did a google image search "wall street balloons for fourth of july" with or without quotes, and mine is the first that comes up.
8. Patience at the New York Public Library, New York. I couldn't find a postcard of her companion Fortitude. I've used the library on a couple of occasions. I have a library card, which I got as a non-resident.
9. The Palm Court in the Plaza Hotel. Again, this is a postcard, although I have taken several photographs of that beautiful interior.
10. Card from the Frick Collection's Precision and Splendor exhibition. I bought the card when I visited the exhibition, which is a detail of the 18th century Gilt-Bronze and Enamel Mantel Regulator Clock.
11. Woman at Table with Parrot and Lamp at the exhibition A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America in the American Folk Art Museum, in New York.
12. A postcard, framed, of a photograph of hydrangeas I bought at a sidewalk display at the Central Park mall. The photographer, Diane Dua, has a website.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

The Lenten Rose

Lenten Rose

Common Name: Lenten Rose, Hellebore
Botanical Name: Helleborus
Type: Perennial
Soil Preference: Will grow in moist to wet soils. Prefers a well-drained soil with a pH of neutral.
Light Requirements: Partial Sun, Partial Shade, Full Shade
Attributes: Deer resistant, rabbit resistant, likes moist soils, good for naturalizing, rock garden plant
Pests: None serious
Diseases: Root rot, leaf spot
Good Companion Plants: Astilbe, Bleeding Heart, Columbine, Coral Bells, Corydalis, Japanese Painted Fern, Foamflower, Forget-Me-Not, Wild Ginger, Lungwort, Hosta
Care: Do not move often, as these plants are slow to re-establish. Seeds can be collected in late spring or early summer.
Planting Instructions: Perennials
[Source: Dayton Nurseries]

More information on growing requirements:

A great plant for the woodland environment. It dislikes summer heat, so avoid afternoon sun. Once established, do not move as they are slow to re-establish. Blooms late winter or very early spring.
[Source: Dayton Nurseries]

Cold Hardiness for the Lenten Rose: USDA zone: 4-8


[Image Source: Hartmann's Plant Company]

Tips for Successful Lenten Roses

- pH should be about 7
- The Lenten Rose plants are cold hardy in USDA zones 4-8
- Expect your plant to grow about 18" tall and 18" wide.
- If the evergreen leaves begin to look like they are dying, simply cut them off before the flower stalks begin to stretch.
[Source: Hubpages: [An] open community of passionate people - writers, explorers, knowledge seekers, conversation starters.]

Title: Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis)
Artist: Paul Jones
Nationality: Australian
Publication: Flora Magnifica, 1976
Image Source: Panteek Antique Prints

More information on the book Flora Magnifica:

Title: Flora magnifica
Author/Artist: Jones, Paul, (1921-)
Text By: Wilfrid Blunt (1901-1987)
Published: London, Tryon Galery, 1976
Printer: Curwen Press
Physical Description: 75 pages; Colored illustrations
[Source: National Library of Australia]

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

The Astonishing Arrogance of Obama's "We"

[T]he single most powerful word in our democracy is the word “We.” We The People. We Shall Overcome. Yes We Can. It is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.

(Excerpt from President Obama's speech on March 7, 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights march that took place on on March 7, 1965)

Extraordinary.

It's odd that no journalist, or humble blogger, has picked up on this repetitive "we" other than Jeannie DeAngelis at the American Thinker, and then only briefly. I did two days of google searches in all possible combinations to try to find this "we" scrutinized, but to no avail.

Here is what DeAngelis wrote:

Before suggesting that “Yes We Can” belonged in the same context as “We the People… [and]… We Shall Overcome,” the Mt. Rushmore hopeful mocked those who revere an iconic American identity when he said that America is “Not stock photos or airbrushed history or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others."

Obama equates his failed "Yes We Can" presidency with the Constitution's "We the People," and Civil Rights' era "We shall overcome."

This is extraordinary because it came right after Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel had come to the United States, brave through his humility, to plead America for assistance against a force that is ready to annihilate him and his people, and without a doubt the rest of the world, if given the chance. I have to conclude that there is deep-seated anti-Semitism in Obama, which manifests itself at crucial, existential moments.

How can people not see this huge, glaring, hypocrisy, where the annihilation of Jews is less important than the freedom of blacks? How can people follow a president who behaves in this manner?

Perhaps Americans are indeed smart and they will wait him out, find as many ways to stall his maneuvers, and quietly rid themselves of this president.

But maybe they simply don't know what to do.

But, the time for wavering is over. This astonishingly arrogant president tells us clearly time and time again his intentions, and he has started to transform these intentions into policies, mainly because Americans are unable, and unwilling, to challenge him with the truth.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Another Purim

I wrote of the Jewish holiday Purim last year which I've re-posted below. At the very end of the post, I write:

I'm not sure how the greeting goes, but I will just say: Happy Purim!

This year, it is with a very different mood that Purim is celebrated, at least in Israel. It is not one where one wishes "Happy Purim" but rather where one waits for these terrible days to play themselves out.

Prime Minister Netanyahu made a humbling, brave visit to America to ask America's leaders to stop the deal with Iran. Here is the transcript of his speech.

And below is the video of his forty-five minute speech, which shows his grave and strong voice, demanding attention from the audience.



Here is what I found to be the most significant part of his speech:

Tomorrow night, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we'll read the Book of Esther. We'll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies.

The plot was foiled. Our people were saved.

Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei spews the oldest hatred, the oldest hatred of anti-Semitism with the newest technology. He tweets that Israel must be annihilated -- he tweets. You know, in Iran, there isn't exactly free Internet. But he tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed.

For those who believe that Iran threatens the Jewish state, but not the Jewish people, listen to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Iran's chief terrorist proxy. He said: If all the Jews gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of chasing them down around the world.

But Iran's regime is not merely a Jewish problem, any more than the Nazi regime was merely a Jewish problem. The 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis were but a fraction of the 60 million people killed in World War II. So, too, Iran's regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also the peace of the entire world. To understand just how dangerous Iran would be with nuclear weapons, we must fully understand the nature of the regime.

That is all he had to say to make his point, but he is in secular, even with some atheistic, company, and had to go on with a political message.

I listened to the full speech. I found his strength, his poetic moments, his realistic presentation of the problem, and his actions to prevent this apocalyptic event extraordinary. I don't think any leader had come to another country to plead his case, to ask for help, to save the world. I don't think any of this is exaggerated or over-played. It is every bit as serious as he says, and as I felt.

Part of that significance is that this event occurred very close to the Purim holiday (on the eve of the holiday, to be exact).

I wrote a post on Esther last year, and it was mostly a post of Rembrandt's paintings of the holiday and of the personalities, where I said:

The Jewish holiday of Purim ended last week. It commemorates:

...the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire where a plot had been formed to destroy them...

Netanyahu came during that holiday, as fate (as God) would have it, and remind the world of another time when the formidable Persians controlled the fate of Jews. This contemporary Persians would not show any of the goodwill their ancestors granted Esther. Their annihilation of the Jews will be swift and merciless. Now, they have a new god, their Allah, who will sanction their behavour.

It is apt that I write about Larry Auster in this piece of spiritual battle. I link to him below (here is the piece) saying how I met him several times in New York, but the last time I met him, we went down to the Plaza's food court where he suggested that I try the hamentashen, and with the apricot filling, although I went in August which is not the time of the Purim holiday. I remember having the dry cake, with a crust like a shortbread, and the sweet apricot filling, trying to figure out what it tasted like. Larry was watching me curiously as I tried this biscuit for the first time, something which he was so familiar with. And, in a metaphorical sense, he was one of the few then fighting the existential and spiritual battle which took so many so long to understand.

Now here we are, with the leader of the Jewish people, outlining for us the stark reality that was becoming so apparent to him then.

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Below is my post from last year, including the paintings by Rembrandt.

Rembrandt's Esther

The Jewish holiday of Purim ended last week. It commemorates:

...the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire where a plot had been formed to destroy them...

According to the Book of Esther, Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus...planned to kill all the Jews in the empire, but his plans were foiled by Mordecai and his cousin and adopted daughter Esther who had risen to become Queen of Persia. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing [more here].

Rembrandt painted a series of paintings depicting Esther. Below are what I think it is a complete list:



Haman and Ahasuerus at the banquet with Esther


Haman Prepares to Honour Mordecai


Haman Begging Esther for Mercy


Esther is Introduced to Ahasuerus


Esther before Ahasuerus


Esther with the Decree of Destruction


Esther Preparing to Intercede with Assuerus

More paintings of Esther by various artists can be found: here, here, here and here.

A special holiday cake called hamentashen is served for this holiday. I mention my first encounter with hamentashen in my post Kidist's Best of New York City (Best Hotel Bakery Item: The Hamentashen at the Plaza Hotel - apricot filling), which I discuss more here.



I'm not sure how the greeting goes, but I will just say: Happy Purim!

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Getting Ready for St. Patrick's

Photo By: KPA

My local Irish pub, Failte's, is getting ready for St. Patrick's Day. I know this holiday has been trivialized, and it has generally become a drinking day. But there is something important in remembering these days. As Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving lose their significance with the commercialization and "fun" that has become the way we participate in these sacred holidays, it also adds to the human element of festivities. I think we can have both, the serious and the festive. The important thing is to remember what these holidays are about, then we can drink the beers, or open the gifts, as we put up the glitter and lights.

I watched the busy staff put up these glittery green decorations. "This looks ugly," said one woman, at the dangling Irish elves. "It's nice," I said. I think she was trying to put some gravitas into the situation. But, you can hardly do that in a pub, and may as well make it look festive as people drink their Harp beer, or eat their Danny Boy's Shepard Pie.

Here are some photos I took of the place. It was "designed in Dublin by O’Brien’s Irish pubs, Failte comprises 6,000+ sq ft and includes authentic handcrafted furniture and antique pieces of genuine Irish bric-a-brac," according to its website. It is a lovely place.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Title Change: Are Black Americans Serious About Separation?

I changed the title of my previous post from A New Black Nation to Are Black Americans Serious About Separation? I made this change since I don't think there will ever be a "new black nation" chipped off America because the American nation wouldn't allow it and blacks wouldn't seriously want it. But, there is a small group of Americans which is considering separating from all these grievous groups - blacks, Hispanics, liberals, and the large array of immigrants who identify themselves as non-whites. Rather than giving blacks, and these other groups, their own nation, they are considering siphoning off their own.

I don't know how this will work out. But it is becoming more of a reality than a few years ago.

Addendum:

I initially wrote A New Black Nation (whose title I changed as I indicated above) referring to this post by Laura Wood at The Thinking Housewife. The discussion has grown there with a comments on a separate black nation.

Laura writes:

You write:

Black re-settlement in Africa is out of the question.

Of course, it is out of the question today and anytime in the near future, just as a separate black nation in North America is out of the question today and anytime in the near future. But you can’t predict the future. You can’t forecast what kind of changes there might be. It is not out of the question because it is physically possible. To work for any such goal now would be patently ridiculous.

I think that as I wrote above, blacks wouldn't seriously want a separate black nation, or if they did, they would demand all kinds of conditions in order to gain as much benefit from the white America as they could.

I think David J., who is a black American commenting at Laura's post, is a clear example of that, although he is civilized and thoughtful with how he expresses it. But, it is strange to find someone expect to stay within the white culture while talking of "my people" as a separate and irreconcilable group. His praise of white culture may be genuine, but his support for unity is opportunistic.

I say this based on my observations of blacks who declare, antagonistically, that they have very little in common with white America, yet expect all the benefits of white America to be passed on to them.

This is similar to what is happening in Quebec, which has talked about separation from Canada for decades, which has come close to separation from Canada at least on two turbulent occasions. But at the moment of decision, it always opts to stay with Canada. And with each return to "unity" comes a list of conditions that benefits Quebec culturally and financially, giving it the best of all worlds.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat