Saturday, June 24, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
Blogging in Russian
Well, that last post was my first attempt to blog something in Russian. The character set doesn't work right inside the blog. When I paste that into a web page I can view it. Not sure what the problem is - but I've read that at least some people are able to blog in alternate character sets.
Anyway, I attempted to invent a new Russian word (all you slavophiles will appreciate it) "blogopisat" = to blog - I've appended the word blog to the word for write. But my new word ?????????? will probably never catch on because I can't seem to display it.
Meanwhile: while searching for prayers in Russian (it turns out that Slavonic is more of a foreign language to my new Russian-speaking daughter than English is) I came across this really cool web site:
http://www.nordrus.ru/foto/index.php?section=6
It is actually an Orthodox summer camp for Children in Russia! Hoorah, that they have such a thing now! God bless the Motherland!
Anyway, that's what life's been all about lately, speaking in Russian. For some reason I don't get a head ache like I do when my wife is trying to make me speak Russian. Xenia doesn't find herself as frustrated either.
We are learning all sorts of new words (or at least I am) plus we are discovering ways in which the Belorussians pronounce their Russian words completely different from the way the Russians do. Also: learned a few strictly Belorussian words.
Regards!
Basil
a.k.a. ????
?.?.?. ????
Well, that last post was my first attempt to blog something in Russian. The character set doesn't work right inside the blog. When I paste that into a web page I can view it. Not sure what the problem is - but I've read that at least some people are able to blog in alternate character sets.
Anyway, I attempted to invent a new Russian word (all you slavophiles will appreciate it) "blogopisat" = to blog - I've appended the word blog to the word for write. But my new word ?????????? will probably never catch on because I can't seem to display it.
Meanwhile: while searching for prayers in Russian (it turns out that Slavonic is more of a foreign language to my new Russian-speaking daughter than English is) I came across this really cool web site:
http://www.nordrus.ru/foto/index.php?section=6
It is actually an Orthodox summer camp for Children in Russia! Hoorah, that they have such a thing now! God bless the Motherland!
Anyway, that's what life's been all about lately, speaking in Russian. For some reason I don't get a head ache like I do when my wife is trying to make me speak Russian. Xenia doesn't find herself as frustrated either.
We are learning all sorts of new words (or at least I am) plus we are discovering ways in which the Belorussians pronounce their Russian words completely different from the way the Russians do. Also: learned a few strictly Belorussian words.
Regards!
Basil
a.k.a. ????
?.?.?. ????
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Basilsprig
Being one who is fond of multiple meanings behind words and phrases I have great fun with names. Particularly names for things that are my own, or names that point to myself, and my own view of the world.
Many people know me by Kevin. They are mostly relatives and co-workers, and institutions and organizations. Many people also know me by Basil. They are mostly friends, brothers and sisters, from Church. Some people know me by both. Some people know me by other names, and they are mostly writers, and editors - people in the fiction industry. But they are a fairly insignificant lot of people by and large. Most know me by Basil or Kevin.
Kevin is an interesting name: it means "kind one." There was also a famous Kevin, a holy man in the Orthodox Church, at a time before the Roman Catholic Church romanicized England, when the Christian Church in England still had a distinctly local flavor. Some refer to him as a Catholic Saint, some refer to him as a Anglican Saint, but I prefer to think of him as an Orthodox Saint: because he lived his holy life in a time when the Church of England was a local Church, just as the Christian Church is in every place - something that the Orthodox today still prize highly in their Ecclesiology.
When I became an Orthodox Christian, I could have chosen St. Kevin as a patron (someone to whom I look for inspiration and someone who, like a guardian angel, will watch over and pray for me). There is much to like about him. But, instead, I chose to add another name:
Basil
There are many good reasons I chose the name Basil. For one thing, one of the greatest saints in the Orthodox Church (St. Basil The Great) and one of the most unusual saints in the Orthodox Church (St. Basil the Blessed) had this name. What's more, one of the wierdest, and coolest Churches on the planet is named after St. Basil the Holy Fool. For another thing, I knew from my Greek that basil derives from the Greek word for king. And, third, basil is a delicious and fragrant herb.
What's not to like about such a name!
So, I felt like a miracle had happened when I discovered that the domains basilsprig.com and basilsprig.org were available, and registered them both several years ago. Here you can go to snatch up a sprig of basil at any time. My random thoughts, my musings, my photos. I keep some things well rooted there and established so you can refer back to them at any time. I keep other things there, enshrouded in mist.
One such things is this notion I've presented: growing green from the cross. It is all about St. Helen's (my wife's patron, by the way) discovery of the cross of Christ, and the legend associated with it: that the King's Herb (basil) was growing from that cross.
There are many other legends and traditions associated with the Holy Cross of Christ. (How can it not be Holy when it has had the blood of God himself splattered on it?) I will not debate them. But they are "pious legends" - that is, they are legends that tell truths that inspires us, help us in some way, and may benefit our spiritual growth (if we are willing). They do this whether they are just stories, or historical fact: so it matters not, their historical accuracy.
That's what basilsprig is all about. I hope you will come to enjoy it. Put a bit in your tea, or in your salad, or just bask in the sunshine along with the king's herb.
Being one who is fond of multiple meanings behind words and phrases I have great fun with names. Particularly names for things that are my own, or names that point to myself, and my own view of the world.
Many people know me by Kevin. They are mostly relatives and co-workers, and institutions and organizations. Many people also know me by Basil. They are mostly friends, brothers and sisters, from Church. Some people know me by both. Some people know me by other names, and they are mostly writers, and editors - people in the fiction industry. But they are a fairly insignificant lot of people by and large. Most know me by Basil or Kevin.
Kevin is an interesting name: it means "kind one." There was also a famous Kevin, a holy man in the Orthodox Church, at a time before the Roman Catholic Church romanicized England, when the Christian Church in England still had a distinctly local flavor. Some refer to him as a Catholic Saint, some refer to him as a Anglican Saint, but I prefer to think of him as an Orthodox Saint: because he lived his holy life in a time when the Church of England was a local Church, just as the Christian Church is in every place - something that the Orthodox today still prize highly in their Ecclesiology.
When I became an Orthodox Christian, I could have chosen St. Kevin as a patron (someone to whom I look for inspiration and someone who, like a guardian angel, will watch over and pray for me). There is much to like about him. But, instead, I chose to add another name:
Basil
There are many good reasons I chose the name Basil. For one thing, one of the greatest saints in the Orthodox Church (St. Basil The Great) and one of the most unusual saints in the Orthodox Church (St. Basil the Blessed) had this name. What's more, one of the wierdest, and coolest Churches on the planet is named after St. Basil the Holy Fool. For another thing, I knew from my Greek that basil derives from the Greek word for king. And, third, basil is a delicious and fragrant herb.
What's not to like about such a name!
So, I felt like a miracle had happened when I discovered that the domains basilsprig.com and basilsprig.org were available, and registered them both several years ago. Here you can go to snatch up a sprig of basil at any time. My random thoughts, my musings, my photos. I keep some things well rooted there and established so you can refer back to them at any time. I keep other things there, enshrouded in mist.
One such things is this notion I've presented: growing green from the cross. It is all about St. Helen's (my wife's patron, by the way) discovery of the cross of Christ, and the legend associated with it: that the King's Herb (basil) was growing from that cross.
There are many other legends and traditions associated with the Holy Cross of Christ. (How can it not be Holy when it has had the blood of God himself splattered on it?) I will not debate them. But they are "pious legends" - that is, they are legends that tell truths that inspires us, help us in some way, and may benefit our spiritual growth (if we are willing). They do this whether they are just stories, or historical fact: so it matters not, their historical accuracy.
That's what basilsprig is all about. I hope you will come to enjoy it. Put a bit in your tea, or in your salad, or just bask in the sunshine along with the king's herb.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Friday, June 02, 2006
Why am I in Lubbock TX?
I'm here for a family reunion of sorts, although it is most decidedly not a family reunion. Two of my aunts and uncles, one from Dallas, and the other from southern Georgia, are having their 50th wedding anniversary this June. Their kids decided to thrown them a party-to-beat-all-parties.
First, they sent them to a mountain resort for a few days in New Mexico. To follow that up, they've been sent here to Lubbock, to a very nice hotel to stay for three nights and enjoy two parties - one each day. Friday is the family BBQ at one of their churches. Saturday is a formal ball at the hotel.
The "kids" (my cousins - six in number plus spouses for a total of 11 - with 17 children between them) decided to invite everyone in the family - plus the personal friends of each family. It turns out that most of my cousins and all of my aunts and uncles except for perhaps 2, are present.
One of my aunts is in the Islands north of Scottland visiting distant family at the moment and I don't think she'll be here.
To put it all together, I'll have cousins from Georgia, Texas, California, and more (I don't even know where yet) many of whom I've never met, and the rest whom I haven't seen since I was 11 or in some cases in my early 20s.
Last night I got acquainted with my cousin Tim and his family. He has two boys and a girl age 9 who is blond and and about the same size as Xenia. I showed them photos of my family and Libby swears that Xenia has her nose. So, it goes, there is a "family nose" shared by my daughter and he second cousin. :)
I also met his brother Peter and his sister Sonya for the first time. They each have families, some here and some on their way. 10 kids between them.
So, it turns out that my daughter, who has been distraught that she has no cousins, actually has 17 second cousins - and at least two of them (Libby and one other) are little girls aproximately the same age as Xenia. Xenia was very pleased to hear about this - but of course, sad that she isn't here.
It turns out that the kids in Texas and Georgia are out of school already. They start school in August, however, so there's that.
Well, I'm going to go for now. I expect some family will be down for breakfast sometime soon. I'm currently in the hotel lobby, a vast indoor courtyard wiht exotic shrubbery, fountains, a stream and pond - eating breakfast at the deluxe Continental Breakfast bar.
Cheers!
Basil - Kevin
I'm here for a family reunion of sorts, although it is most decidedly not a family reunion. Two of my aunts and uncles, one from Dallas, and the other from southern Georgia, are having their 50th wedding anniversary this June. Their kids decided to thrown them a party-to-beat-all-parties.
First, they sent them to a mountain resort for a few days in New Mexico. To follow that up, they've been sent here to Lubbock, to a very nice hotel to stay for three nights and enjoy two parties - one each day. Friday is the family BBQ at one of their churches. Saturday is a formal ball at the hotel.
The "kids" (my cousins - six in number plus spouses for a total of 11 - with 17 children between them) decided to invite everyone in the family - plus the personal friends of each family. It turns out that most of my cousins and all of my aunts and uncles except for perhaps 2, are present.
One of my aunts is in the Islands north of Scottland visiting distant family at the moment and I don't think she'll be here.
To put it all together, I'll have cousins from Georgia, Texas, California, and more (I don't even know where yet) many of whom I've never met, and the rest whom I haven't seen since I was 11 or in some cases in my early 20s.
Last night I got acquainted with my cousin Tim and his family. He has two boys and a girl age 9 who is blond and and about the same size as Xenia. I showed them photos of my family and Libby swears that Xenia has her nose. So, it goes, there is a "family nose" shared by my daughter and he second cousin. :)
I also met his brother Peter and his sister Sonya for the first time. They each have families, some here and some on their way. 10 kids between them.
So, it turns out that my daughter, who has been distraught that she has no cousins, actually has 17 second cousins - and at least two of them (Libby and one other) are little girls aproximately the same age as Xenia. Xenia was very pleased to hear about this - but of course, sad that she isn't here.
It turns out that the kids in Texas and Georgia are out of school already. They start school in August, however, so there's that.
Well, I'm going to go for now. I expect some family will be down for breakfast sometime soon. I'm currently in the hotel lobby, a vast indoor courtyard wiht exotic shrubbery, fountains, a stream and pond - eating breakfast at the deluxe Continental Breakfast bar.
Cheers!
Basil - Kevin
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