May Street Tapes - Good Night Prayers. Ojcze nasz, Our Father

Marty converted family audiotape to .mp3 sound files for us. This one is JPZ's recording of Johnny saying his prayers.

First up, from 0:00 to 0:54, is the Our Father. Towards the end we hear his mother's, Eleanor's, voice, as she helps him read, or perhaps recall from memory, ale, meaning "but" - as in "but deliver us from evil."

from the blog of Nikki Prša

The Gospel writers describe, in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11, Christ teaching his followers to pray with him to their mutual divine Father. Hence the name "The Lord's Prayer".

This prayer has been translated into quite a few languages; here we take a look at the Polish.

niebo, neuter noun, "the sky", "heaven";

w niebie, locative case, "in heaven";

niebieski, adjective, "blue", "heavenly", "celestial";   etymology niebo + ski, hence "from or of the sky or the heavens";

król, masculine noun, "crown";

królestwo, neuter noun, "kingdom";

naszym winowajcom, from masculine noun winowajca, "culprit", "wrongdoer", the dative case, hence "forgive of us the wrongdoer-ness".  I suppose. How do normal people spend their time? I spend a lot of time puzzling over little mysteries of this kind.

zły, masculine noun, "evil", "badness", "anger";
złego, the genitive singular, "of or from evil".

So, John, have you any memories of this recording session? Were you reading or reciting?

Which was your first language, English or Polish? Usually there is a very first language in a person's life.

Some years ago we heard a story from friends about a clinical psychology case in which a child did not speak. Clinical detective work revealed that the parents wanted to help their firstborn learn languages, so Mom spoke to the child always in one language, and Dad always in another. Well! The child became convinced that each person had to invent his own language. The project was understandably taking him some time.

Next post, I don't know what to do, so I'll just make a Hail Mary Pass.  Har! Har!

If you are reading this in email, please visit the blog website and let us have your comments in the comment box at the bottom of the post. 

At the website, you can go to the right sidebar and find a long alphabetic list of search terms, called in Blogger "labels". You can search, for example, on "Eleanor" or "Johnny" to retrieve all posts bearing those labels.

This is the second "May Street Tapes" post. The first one is here.

May Street Tapes - The Three Bears

Marty saved audiotape that originated in May Street, on his Dziadzi's, our JPZ's, reel-to-reel tape recorder. Who remembers JPZ's tape recorders, or can find an image of a similar machine? I only recall Marty's reel-to-reel from the 1960s.

Today's sound file is of a recording that must be from the 1950s. John, can you pin down a date range perhaps?

Marty performed some complicated and exacting procedure involving a tape player and some fancy borrowed sound equipment to convert audio signal to digital, and transmitted results to me in .mp3 file format. Thanks, Marty!  Here is presented the first sound file, in which JPZ reads fairy tales to his youngest, Johnny.

Clicking the link below will take you to the SoundCloud site. Email me privately for the password.

May Street Tape - Three Bears by jzdro | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Alternatively, you can listen by clicking the Play icon within the embedded file below.

It starts out with the conclusion of Little Red Riding Hood. Then JPZ proposes to read the next tale, pronouncing the title as Tree Bears. The Polish language has no th sound at all. If Polish is your first language, your baby tongue, you are going to maintain normal speed of your English speech by making a quick substitution for th with either t or d. After all, there's stuff to do, right?

A related idea is suggested when JPZ says here she comes. Polish nouns are marked for gender. You just do not issue a noun from your mouth until you have inflected it properly for gender. No gender specified for the English noun story? Nie ma problem! The Polish equivalent is historia, a feminine noun. So there you go: here she comes.

What an interesting old story. Three this, three that, three times: a 3x3 matrix.

Fascinatingly, the predator species and the prey species change places. First, the bears are vulnerable when their home is invaded. The listener is invited to feel empathy for them, even unto hearing Baby Bear plaintively ask the lassie to stay and play. But at the end Goldilocks runs, and stays away. The take-home message is that bears may be furry and cute and have families like you do, and it is good to be empathetic,  but don't mess with bears.  That is wisdom from the ancestors, all right.

At 4:40, JPZ opens the cabinet of the grandfather clock he made. You can hear him adjusting the hands to a certain hour. Thank you, Marty, for bringing to us the sound of that grandfather clock striking the hour.

From 5:57, JPZ sings the Good Night song!  I understand only about half of it. John, can you come up with a transcription and translation?  Tłumacz and also Wikisłownik  are your friends in this!

Well, family, please comment with your impressions and questions. If you are reading this in email, please go to Gene and Clar's and comment in the comment box at the bottom of the post. Thanks for reading.

Kuchnia: Zupy Szczawiowej

As promised in a previous post, G&C will be covering a wider variety of topics. Today's Cuisine features zupa made from szczaw, sorrel, Rumex acetosa.

The darn stuff is so easy to grow. Find a catalog that offers it, prepare the ground, bung the seeds in, and have patience. Growth is slow compared to that of some of the lettuces, for example, but then you see it is slow to bolt, as well.

A delightful sour taste is the outstanding characteristic of this pot-herb. I’d long used it as a minority leaf in a salad bowl, just for the lemony sour accent. This year, the crop was abundant and I had the time, so I whacked off half a row and brought it in.

                        

The chosen starting point was an online Martha Stewart recipe. At Launch, I hauled out a cauldron, melted butter in it, and added a nice little pile of minced white onion. Those pungent little bits softened up in 5 or 10 minutes while giving up their tear-inducing sulfur compounds.

While that was happening, I cut up sorrel leaves into thin strips. Addition of those strips to the onion was Stage 2. The ratio of leaves to broth was to be 1:2. I had quite a pile of leaves; adding 3 cups at a time, the result was 12 cups of raw, sliced leaf material requiring 24 cups of broth. That used up my leaves, which was a prime object.

It seemed like an outrageous volume of leaf material, but it cooked down to a smaller volume, like spinach and other greens.

At this point, leaf color changed from bright, clean green to dead-turtle-in-a-puddle tint. Can you guess why I was not distressed in the least by this?

  
                           

The reason was the fragrance. Simultaneous with the color change was the release of many volatile fragrance molecules. It was lemon perfume time, all through the kitchen.

All was ready for Stage 3, addition of the broth. This time I had some turkey broth and some beef broth, qs to 24 cups with an aqueous solution of vegetable bouillon paste from a jar.

                          

I added no salt or additional herbs, the object being to see what these things would do.

Generally, soup is very much better a day later, what with flavors melding and all that, but today immediate progress to Stage 4 was a gratifying move. Into each flat soup plate I ladled the sorrel soup and schlagober-ed a goodly blob of crème fraîche.

                           

The soup was a bit salty, probably from the jarred veg base, which I will mix up at 80% of label-directed concentration next time. Stirring the crème fraîche around in it mitigated that defect without masking the delightful lemony sour taste. In fact, the creaminess and the sourness complement each other nicely.

How the stars do align on occasion. Recently I studied a Polish language lesson on the theme of food and dining. The hilarious dialogue was between two people, out for dinner, ordering zupy szczawiowej. And now here it was, the sorrel soup.

When I was a little kid, simpering around with my hair in a pony tail, the relatives took me along on their summer trip to a vacation lodge in Middle-of-Nowhere, Outer Farmworld, run by recent Polish immigrants. Hot cream soup on a 95-degree day thrilled them all but revolted me! Now the stuff is delicious, and we enjoy it on our farm. Perhaps it is the operation of something atavistic.

So, dear friends and relations, what are some of your favorite Polish or Polish-inspired dishes? What brings back fond memories, or engenders the urge to travel to the Old Country? Let us know! You may find that you have fellow food fans among your relatives.

Smacznego!

Ski Down K2? “Nie Ma Problem!”

So this góral named Andrzej Bargiel decided to climb K2 carrying his favorite pair of skis, then ski down. He asked his brother Bartek to bring up the snacks and take the drone footage. His brother said sure.

This was on July 22, 2018; a report made it into the August issue of Polish-American Journal. I was so relaxed and comfortable in my reading chair, despite ink glomming on my fingers from the exercise of turning the pages of the print edition, when this shocking report destroyed the peace of that athletic endeavor.

From the PAJ item:

Andrzej Bargiel, 30, has become the first person to ski down the world’s second-highest  mountain.  With skis in hand, the highlander from Zakopane climbed the 28,251-foot peak and skied back down to base camp intact.

He didn’t  bother with oxygen tanks.

The downhill “run” took him a little over seven hours. When you look at the drone camera footage, you can see that it was seven hours at steepness rating “Ridiculous”.

 Last year, he had attempted the same daredevil feat but had to abandon the bid due to bad weather. . .

There are moments in the footage when cloud obscures everything. What can you do if the cloud settles in for a few days as you sit there on a 45- or 50-degree slope of snow with a crevasse on either side?

. . . Three years ago, Bargiel became the first skier in the world to descend from the nearby 26,295-foot Broad Peak. He has now skied from the summits of five of the 14 highest mountains.

Here is another good compilation of the day’s footage.

The górale of the Tatra Mountains are famed for mountaineering and for the white-wooled sheep they raise. The traditional images are like these:

Nowadays, it’s bye-bye Tatras and hello Karakorums.

It’s a different look.

And there are no sheep to rescue on K2!

Is this nuts?  Of course it is admirable and valuable to pursue excellence and expand its definition. And of course, if someone has skills, he feels compelled to exercise them and perfect them. But suppose you had his talents: would you look around for an application of them that produced immediate practical benefit?  Or would consider it simply a good, even a necessity, to keep up and advance the traditional skills just so one’s descendants can do daring rescue ops on Luna some day? 

What's Ahead for Gene & Clara's

Hi Everybody,

My stars are aligned now in such a way that gives reasonable hopes for taking up the blog again, and sticking with it.

Recently, I've reviewed the list of email addresses for notification of postings and comments. Some of you may receive invitations because I entered an updated email address in a certain little box in Blogger Admin; Blogger automatically extends an invitation to the person at that new address. Please respond if you wish to receive such notifications.

Would someone please send me Kate's email address? Kate should get her own invitation.

Please let me know of any changes desired in this email list.

As always, I have to say that the posts look way better on the webpage compared to an email message. So readers are encouraged to visit eugenezdrojewski@blogspot.com to get the full experience. The sidebar is of interest too, and it can help you use the archives and other features of the site.



Upcoming topics for posts include the following:

1. Further contents of the Photobook, illustrating the scenes related to OSS Team Jackal in China in the early summer of 1945;

2. Chapter-by-chapter summary and review of Mills, Mills, and Brunner, OSS Special Operations in China - the book about Jackal's mission and others in the fight against Imperial Japanese occupation of China;

3.  Marilla - The Experience, as revealed in photos, home movies, sound recordings, and scans;

4. The Baby Boomers of the family;

5. Descendants of the Boomers;

6.  Eclectic topics in other areas, such as cuisine, language study, Polish history, Polish-American history, current events in Poland and Eastern Europe;

7.  Polish movies, art, and literature;

8. Other topics related to family history, for which especially I shall depend on you.

It is easy to post:  I can show you how to do it and authorize you as a poster. It's okay; I still retain plenary powers and can save you from embarrassment, or send you a howler, as indicated. It's all good.

Next up are sound files kindly provided by Marty. Be ready!  I just have to re-learn how to put them up. Some of the things are in Polish, so Polish speakers, get psyched to assist with translation!

Do zobaczenia póżniej!

See you later!

Julianna

January 6, The Feast of the Epiphany, in Art and Song

φαίνω, I appear, I shine.

ἐπί,  upon.

Epiphany is appearance or revelation. The Christian Feastday commemorates the revealing of the Infant Christ to the newly-arrived Magi, and by extension the revelation to the world at large of the Incarnation.

The Magi were Kings in their own lands. They are described by the Gospel writers as traveling to find the King of the Jews and declare fealty to him. The notable thing is that this King of the Jews has no throne, no crown, no army. His is a rule of moral law. That kings kneel before him, as well as non-kings, demonstrates the equality of all men under God. The appeal of this idea is evident.

For many centuries after this event, kings would claim Divine Right: that they were chosen by God to rule men - to be above other men so as to rule them. Finally, in America, we tossed that. No kings. As all are equal in the eyes of God, so shall all be equal under the law. Our Declaration and our Constitution set that up; our battles in our Civil War realized its full meaning for the continental reach of the country.

"Mędrcy świata, Monarchowie" - Mages, (Wise Men) of the World, Monarchs) is a seventeenth-century kolęda for Epiphany. A Polish Army choir puts in a performance, simultaneously proud and reverent, of the first two verses, here.

1. Mędrcy świata, monarchowie,

Gdzie śpiesznie dążycie?

Powiedzcież nam, Trzej Królowie,

Chcecie widzieć Dziecię?

Ono w żłobie, nie ma tronu,

I berła nie dzierży,

A proroctwo Jego zgonu,

Już się w świecie szerzy.

Magi of the world, Monarchs,

Where do you go at such speed?

Tell us, Three Kings,

You wish to see the Child?

It is in a manger, not on a throne,

And bears no scepter,

And prophecy of His death,

Just as death is rife in the world.

Objawienie Pańskie ("Revelation of the Kings") is the Feast of the Epiphany of Christ to the Magi.
On January 6, the tradition is to write in chalk on the doors of the house
the initials of those three Magi,
to commemorate them and ask their blessing in the coming year.

Melchior, the Persian, is the grandfatherly one.
Balthazaar, the Arabian, is of middle age.
Kaspar, a Prince of India, is the youth.

Mosaic, c565, the Basilica at Ravenna.
The kings are always shown to be of three generations.
See their star?

Murillo, C17.
Melchior is kneeling;
Balthazaar stands to the left;
Kaspar stands to the right.
At top left, Murillo shows us
armed soldiers and crossed timbers,
seemingly to foreshadow the death of Christ.
Frankincense and myrrh were substances used
in the treatment for burial of the bodies of kings.

Szymon Czechowicz, of Warsaw, C18,
"Pokłon Trzech Króli."
The arrangement is similar to that of Murillo,
but the prefigurations of death are left out
and the star, the "gwiazda," shines forth instead.

Czechowicz, detail

The crown and scepter of King Melchior he has laid upon the ground.  The image and idea of worldly kings giving homage to a universal God has been the basis, and historically is the means of conveying in art, the concept of equality of man in the eyes of universal moral authority.  From that Judeo-Christian religious concept developed over time and with much sacrifice the religiously-neutral ethical-legal principle of equality before the law.

From a third-century sarcophagus.
Those Phrygian caps they are wearing show up often in
subsequent depictions.

Tissot, C19, "Journey of the Magi."
Or you could say "Podróż Magów."

My new favorite Epiphany art this year (besides this most excellent contemporary tribute) is pre-Raphaelite. Here is a detail of a tapestry by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, commissioned in 1886 for an Oxford college chapel.

Again, three generations, evoking historical time in addition to geographic space: Melchior of Persia; Balthazaar of Arabia; Kaspar of India.

The Wiki entry describes the steps in the creation of this work. Additional tapestries and paintings of this design were produced over a couple of decades, throughout the most active time of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

In the New Year, may the Wise Men visit your house in their humility and benevolence. May no tyrant cross your threshold.

Marilla Christmas

Dad (EJZ), Mom (CAMZ) and Rita Sonnelitter,
c1970.

John (JFZ) and Tye, age 3.

Archanioł Boży Gabryjel

Gabriel, Archangel of God is the first carol in the śpiewnik. Its place in the hymnal is a sign of its importance and popularity for the Season of Advent.

Verse 1 of 5 begins the narrative with an exciting opening.

Archanioł Boży Gabryjel,

Posłan do Panny Maryi.

          

               Archangel of God Gabriel,

               Envoy to Lady Mary.

Z majestatu Trójcy Świętej,

tak sprawował poselstwo k'niej:

               From the majesty of the Holy Trinity,

               Thus delivered the messenger, to her:

Zdrowaś Panno, łaskiś pełna,

Pan jest z Tobą, to rzecz pewna.

          

               Hail Lady, of Grace full,   (i.e., Hail Mary, full of Grace. . .)

               The Lord is with Thee, that thing is true (i.e., for sure!)

These Archangels are a big deal! They are the warriors who fought and defeated Lucifer himself, way back at the beginning. Yet we need not fear them; they're on our side. And so the hymn can be performed in a way that sounds like a comforting folksong:

Verse 2 describes her perfectly understandable reaction:

Panna się wielce zdumiała,
z poselstwa, które słyszała.

          The Lady was very surprised (astounded),

               By the message that she heard.

Pokorniuchno się skłoniła,
jako Panna świątobliwa;

       

               Meekly she bowed,

               Like a sainted Lady;

zasmuciła się z tej mowy,
nic nie rzekła Aniołowi.

        

               She was overcome by this message,

               She said nothing to the Angel.

Here it is again in another key, with a fire in the fireplace and snow falling outside.

Now that we are all steady, we can go on the the big news in Verse 3. This warrior angel has the wisdom to speak with kindness to a mortal woman.

Ale poseł z wysokości,
napełnion Boskiej mądrości,

      

               But the messenger from Above (from on high)

               Full of Divine wisdom,

 rzekł Jej: "Nie bój się, Maryja,
Najszczęśliwszaś Panno miła; -

  

               Said to her: "Do not fear, Mary,

               You are the happiest blessed Lady;

   nalazłaś łaskę u Pana,
oto poczniesz Jego Syna."

     

               You have found grace with the Lord,

               Here you will conceive His Son."

In Verse 4, Gabriel gives particulars.

Jezus nazwiesz imię Jego,
będzie Synem Najwyższego -

               "Jesus you will call the name of Him (i.e., You will call his name Jesus)

               He will be the Son of the Supreme Being - 

wielki z strony człowieczeństwa,
a niezmierny z strony Bóstwa.

               great on the part of humanity (i.e., great among men)

               and immense on the part of the Deity.

Wieczny Syn Ojca wiecznego,
Zbawiciel świata całego."

               Eternal Son of the Eternal Father,

               Savior of the whole world."

               

In Verse 5, we leave the narrative and sing as the Chorus, directly to God. Thus the volume is cranked up for the finale in which the faithful respond to the retelling of the story.

Bogu Ojcu Wszechmocnemu,
Synowi Jego miłemu

               To God the Father Almighty,

               To His Beloved Son

i Duchowi Najświętszemu,
Bogu w Trójcy jedynemu,

               And to the Most Holy Spirit,

               To the Triune God,  (three in one, literally)

dziękujemy w uniżności,
za ten cud Jego miłości.

               We give thanks in humility,

               For this miracle of His love.

Here is La Schola Cantorum performing Archanioł Boży Gabryjel in formal, majestic manner. Notice that the singers sing a verse, then repeat the last four lines of that verse. Up in the choir loft, serene above the rustling, coughing, and tintinabulation, they set the example of professional concentration.

May you all have a hopeful and meaningful Advent season. Pay your debts, forgive people, plan your better future behavior. I know I should. Obyś miał Błogosławiony Adwent!

Dzień Swiętego Mikołaja

The feast day of Saint Nicholas is  December 6, because Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, died on this day in AD 343.  During his lifetime he was beloved for his acts of charity  - in particular, for anonymous charity -  and to this day he is beloved  and imitated in it by Christians all over the world.

See Nicholas sneaking up to the window of the house to toss in pouches of coin, one for each of three distressed young women.  This 1425 painting by Gentile de Fabriano is in the Vatican.  The legend about this event is apparently typical of the kind of thing this man enjoyed doing.

The four weeks of Advent are sombre ones for children:  they mentally review their bad deeds of the past year, make resolutions, and review their catechism, all prior to Christmas Day. Saint Nicolas's feast day is a bit of a breather.  There are the coins in the shoes, and piernicki - gingerbread cookies.

Besides being the favorite of children, this Greek Bishop of ancient times, "Ἅγιος Νικόλαος," is patron saint of sailors.  That is why a ship is often depicted in the crook of his staff.

We've encountered the saint, in one of his many, many later manifestations, previously on Gene and Clara's.

Szczęśliwego Dzień Swiętego Mikołaja!

The War Was in Color