I forgot to mention that I've got a few new blog posts up:
Harvest Aftermath
Beyond the Valley of When Bloggers Collide
Masonic Parochialism
Shelter from the inclemencies of the weather
Don't rain on our parade
Live at the Apple Harvest!
2008 Apple Harvest Festival - Saturday
No Idiots Allowed!
Fixmaster G in da house!
I need a 25 inch gauge
The phone calls always start off the same way.
"Tom, I know that it's short notice, but. . ."
It's September, so the next round of Ritual Certifications has begun.
In my slice of Connecticut, it's typical for a lodge to have a "move up" night in which the Junior Warden takes the East for an EA degree, and the Senior Warden does so for an FC degree. Typically, I see this happening in the Fall, which presumably allows time for the JW to learn the part and get comfortable. I have seen a few lodges in which the JW always does an EA, and the SW does the FC degrees, but that arrangement bothers me. In the last decade, too many officers find themselves in the South after only a few years; they've barely committed a charge or a lecture to memory. In my opinion, the EA degree is a new brother's first introduction to Masonry, and it sets the tone for the rest of his Masonic life. I know that a lot of my brothers like to see impressive MM degrees, but if the EA isn't awesome, then what is going to motivate your new brother to come back and get involved?
Connecticut is split up into 9 Masonic districts, and each district has periodic meetings, generally the last week of the month on 5 week months to avoid clashing with regular Stated Communications. It's a time for the officers and other interested members to see what's happening in other lodges, and to get to know their counterparts in other lodges. You never know when you'll need help from a sister lodge; a few bodies to help round out an MM degree, perhaps that guy who does such a great job on a Charge, or maybe you need to bring a candidate up because he missed your scheduled degree night. These meetings, the Blue Lodge Councils, are the place to make that happen. 
Some districts have progressive and forward-looking people who manage to plan and organize interesting programs, so as to attract more brothers, and give them something worth traveling for.
Unfortunately, that guy in the 5th district is on vacation. That's why next month, the only interesting thing that's going on is a visit from this particular dummy.
Yes, that's right - On Thursday, September 25th, the 5th District Blue Lodge Council will be held at Unity Lodge No. 148 in New Britain, at which we will be treated to the comedy stylings have the noted author (and fellow blogger) Chris Hodapp.
Dinner will be served at 6:30 pm, and non-dummies who would like to watch the show attend need to contact Bro. Dave Stern to reserve a place. The gig meeting will start around 7:30 pm. We expect quite a few of the purple apron crowd, so plan to be there ahead of time to get a good seat.
Brother Hodapp is actually exceptionally well-read, and can always be counted on for good insights and great stories and observations. He will be promoting his books, among which are Freemasons for Dummies, Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies for Dummies, The Templar Code for Dummies, and Solomon's Builders.
I know that I'll be there; I'm going to bring my big orange book and ask Bro. Hodapp to autograph it for me.
Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry
Despite my taking a bit of a summer vacation, I did want to comment on some of the happenings in Freemasonry that I've seen or read about over the last few months.
First of all, I want to extend my very best wishes to the brothers of the new Grand Orient of the United States of America. On June 27, the GO-USA received a patent from the Grand Orient of France, a document which grants them amity with certain other GO bodies, allowing them to visit Masonically and to work certain rites. The GO-USA will work closely with Le Droit Humain affiliates, the George Washington Union, and the Women's Grand Lodge of Belgium (all of which having their own affiliates in the US). I know that a lot of hard work and organization went into this, and I congratulate Bro. John Slifko, the new Grand Master of the new Grand Orient of the USA. Likewise, my best wishes to Bro. Brandt Smith, their new Grand Secretary, and to Bro. Jeff Peace, the new Grand Secretary of External Affairs. While the GOdF and LDH is not in amity with UGLE Grand Lodges, they and other GOs have worked in parallel toward Masonic ideals. It is my sincere hope that this new venture comes to every success for all of you.
Secondly, anyone reading this blog is probably aware that there have been skirmishes between certain Mainstream Freemasons and those who, for various reasons (justified or not), have taken issue with Mainstream lodges. The untimely death of Br. Theron Dunn precipitated a truce of sorts, and for several months the bickering stopped. Unfortunately, the creation of the GO-USA seems to have renewed the arguing, for reasons which I am unable to fathom. The sniping that was taking place in blogs and message boards is on the upswing, and I'm not just disappointed with the tone of the posts that I've been reading; I'm actually disheartened because with the creation of the GO, I believe that there are fewer reasons for such attacks than before.
(Read the rest of this on The Tao of Masonry)
"[. . . ] and neither are you to suffer your zeal for the institute to lead you into arguments with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it."
From Cectic - The Comic
First, I want to thank my hosts Greg Stewart and Dean Kennedy of Masonic Central for having me as a guest. It was fun, and while I may be modest most of the time, how could I resist when such charming brothers ask not once, but several times for the pleasure of my company?
Second, I imagine that my brothers in Connecticut want to thank Greg and Dean for waiting until July, so that they don't have to listen to me ask "Didja hear my podcast? Huh? Didja? How was it? Was it good? Didja like it? Huh? Didja?" for the rest of the summer. I'm sure that everyone around me hopes that my over-inflated ego will have returned to normal by the time that meetings start again in September.
That said, based on some of the comments and emails that I've received, I thought I should take a moment to clarify some of my comments on certain topics, while I still have my dues card.
There are dozens of masoniphobic web boards, ranging from those run by religious fundamentalists who believe that Freemasons worship some demon, or at least, some entity that is not the One True God© that they, themselves believe in. Other boards are run by people who believe that Freemasons either run, or inexplicably who are the bottom rung on the Illuminati/New World Order hierarchy. I say "inexplicably" because most of the time they keep referencing some mythical "high ranking Freemasons." A few even espouse theories that Masons are somehow connectied with aliens or NASA or are involved in the moon landing hoax. Sometimes you can even see some intermingling of ideologies, which in itself presents some ironic humor. I've declined to point out these boards, mainly because it's pretty easy to find them if you search on terms such as "Freemason Conspiracy" and "Freemason Demon Worship."
(read the rest of this post at The Tao of Masonry)
The morning email from my friend 3M was my first clue.
Yet again high praise for my CT blog brethren. Scottish Rite Journal!
Congrats guys for getting etched in the annals of history.
Not being a subscriber to the SRJ - in fact, not even being a member of the SR, I Googled my way through several links to find that one of their book reviewers must not have had any interesting Masonic tomes this month, and decided to do an article on some of the denizens of cyberspace.
Book Review: The Wind Between the Atoms
written by James T. Tresner II, 33°, Grand Cross, Book Review Editor
I must admit that I have not been a fan of the Internet phenomenon known as “blogs” (from web logs). For one thing, irrational as I know this is, I simply think the word itself is ugly. It does not “ring with a joyful tune upon the ear.” In fact, it sounds distinctly disrespectful. In addition, I have never been enough of a small-d-democrat to be interested in what the uninformed had to say on any topic. I grudgingly admit that everyone is entitled to have an opinion, but I am less willing to grant they have a right to publicly inflict it on others. One only needs watch the talking heads of celebrity experts on any cable news channel or listen to “talk radio” to see what I mean.
I have to admit that I was a bit put off at first; I can't tell you how many people I've talked to in the last couple of years that, upon hearing that I write a blog, have proclaimed similar sentiments about blogging, and it makes me think that they are either short-sighted, or have not bothered to read very many.
Recently, a columnist in a local newspaper wrote almost exactly the same thing as Bro. Tresner, adding that she had no desire to read about the dull aspects of other people's lives, such as, e.g., what they had for breakfast, or to see pictures of their kids, or to hear about their shopping trips. It's the height of irony that she, herself, has a regular weekly column in which she writes about exactly those topics. It's fascinating to think that people who get paid for writing their opinions so often have such a low opinion of those who simply give theirs away.
Fortunately, Bro. Tresner has a good friend who was able to give him a more relevant perspective:
So when I was recently shamed into visiting a Mason’s blog, I was greatly surprised at what was to be found. There was some first-rate writing, and an expression of ideas that stimulate thought. I found that to be true of other blogs as well. There is also a great deal of dross mixed with the gold.
While I'd like to think he was writing specifically about The Tao of Masonry, the fact is that a good number of bloggers really are talented and interesting writers. I read a few years ago that most blogs fail within three to six months, presumably for lack of interest on the part of the writer. That means that those blogs that have crossed that particular bank of the Jordan have done so because the writers have displayed an above-average amount of effort in their craft. They have a dedicated number of readers, they publish with some kind of frequency, and they manage to follow most of the rules of grammar and usage in order to make an article easy to grasp.
I read most blogs through Google Reader, and I catch some of the less-frequently posted blogs through the excellent King Solomon's Lodge Feed Aggregate - a website that collects RSS feeds from dozens of blogs with Masonic content.
And yes, there is dross mixed in with the jewels; even some of the better blogs have the occasional off day. However, with over 100 blogs (by my last count) with some Masonic content, it's natural to expect that a few will not meet one's particular interests.
Rather a bit like those "book" thingies that I keep hearing about.
But since blogs have become the major forum for the exchange of Masonic ideas and debate about modern interpretations of traditional values as well as the forum of most Masonic publishing today, it seemed appropriate to spend a little time alerting you to some of the most interesting. If I omit your favorite, please forgive. There are many, many of them out there.
While I disagree that blogs have become the major forum for discussion - I still believe that web forums are the preferred choice for those interested in the give-and-take of debate - you can't ignore that blogging has grown incredibly in the last decade. Masonic blogs were virtually unheard of just 5 years ago, and have probably doubled in number just in the last year. Much of this is due to the ease of use of the major blogging platforms: Blogger (now owned by Google), WordPress, and TypePad - all of which have had major upgrades in usability, and all of which are free to use for the basic packages. In other words, nobody needs to be a computer geek to blog anymore.
In Connecticut, no less than 5 blogs were started in the past year. I suspect that most of my brothers, having seen my own modest attempts with the cyber-pen, said to themselves "If Tom can do this, anybody can." The result is that the Nutmeg State now has the highest per capita Masonic Blogging Density (MBD), which I expect to double in the next month after a few dozen more Connecticut readers see this post.
(Read the rest of this at The Tao of Masonry)
When I was a new Mason, I remember being disappointed to find that most of the lodges closed for the summer. "Close? What? C'mon, man, I'm just getting fired up!"
By the time I was the Worshipful Master of Friendship Lodge, though, I was thrilled to have that summer break. I guess it's a matter of perspective, huh?
In the last few months, I have seen or participated in almost a dozen degrees, gone to another dozen meetings of various groups, have attended several dinners, awards nights, and other events. June has been particularly eventful, and in the last three weeks I have visited seven out of the eight lodges in my slice of the state. An early heat wave coincided with my need to visit a number of lodges, none of which were air conditioned - an occupational hazard here in New England where many lodges are really just old buildings. Personally, I'll be glad when the end of June comes because I could use a break. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy what I've been doing, and I'm happy to be invited to these events, and I've been pleased that nobody boos, hisses or curses when I enter the room. I'm just looking forward to a little time to recharge the mental batteries.
Read the rest of my post on my blog "The Tao of Masonry."Rick: Excuse me Doug E Fresh...
Doug: Yes?
R: Have you ever seen a show with fellas on the mic
with one minute rhymes that don't come out right?
They bite.
D: They never write.
R: That's not polite!
Am I lyin'?
D: No, you're quite right.
R: Well, tonight on this very mic you're about to hear
Both: We swear, the best darn rappers of the year.
R: So!
D: So!
R: Cheerio!
D: Yell -
R: Scream -
D: Bravo!
B: Also, if you didn't know,
this is called 'The Show.'
Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, "The Show"
So, I just finished rambling on about how I thought that long degrees with lots of information and lectures were a good thing, both for the candidates and for the brothers attending lodge. For the candidates, it's an immersion experience; they are - or should be - awed by the amount of information in the initiatory experience, and although they can't possibly absorb everything, it should at the very least present them with an overview of the teachings of the Craft. And for the older brothers, seeing good ritual work done allows them to gain new perspectives as their own life changes coincide with the various moral teachings available in the various lectures.
I've been to degree ceremonies that have gone on until very late in the evening, usually because of extended dramas or lectures that one doesn't normally get to see in a typical Connecticut lodge. Sometimes the ceremonies go so well that few brothers leave early; nights like that point out that good ritual ceremonies really do have value for everyone, not just the candidates.
Sometimes, however, I find myself at degree ceremonies that last until very late - but not because of the rituals or lectures. Rather, it seems to be a factor of people wanting to make a large production out of the evening, for what are probably the right reasons - but perhaps missing the point in the execution. For degree work, certain situations just seem to cry out for something special: A good friend, a son, a grandson, a favorite nephew, even (as I've seen) a father of a member - especially if that member is the Master - are circumstances that anyone would want to make especially memorable.
But. . . isn't being initiated or raised not memorable enough?
I've been to several degree ceremonies - and they are always the EA or the MM degree - at which there have been several Grand Lodge line officers, Past Grand Masters, several District Deputies, and a number of representatives from the appendant bodies. It's very nice to see such a show of support, and admittedly I was impressed the first few times I'd seen a wide array of Grand Lodge representatives at a degree. But now I'm beginning to wonder what the lodge has in mind when the officers plan on this type of arrangement. I mean, do any of them realize how long it takes to get 7 or more purple aprons out of the room, properly lined up, escorted back into the room, and then formally introduced?
Never mind, that was a rhetorical question.
There really isn't any answer because the more purple aprons there are, the longer it takes to line them up by year, get their names, line them up again by rank, add a couple of names for the guys still sitting in the lodge room, line them up again according to the latest protocol, get the names of the late arrivals, pass the names to the Marshal who has now despaired of matching the names to the correct titles, have them walk back into the room in only the vaguest semblance of order, and then read the hastily scrawled names off of the 3 x 5 index card, after which they will be escorted to the Master's station to shake hands and to be offered a hard, uncomfortable seat in front of the lodge, instead of one of the nice, comfy seats on the sidelines.
The candidates, of course, never get to see any of this. In fact, by the time the candidates actually get to meet the phalanx of officers, they are often too tired or overwhelmed to appreciate the trouble to which the lodge has gone, ostensibly on their behalf. They don't know anything about officers or Grand Lodge officers or protocol until the end of the night, when the Master is compelled to call upon them, the Grand Lodge officers, for closing remarks.
And does anyone realize how long it takes to get 7 or more purple apron types to get through their closing remarks?
Never mind, that was another rhetorical question.
The real point that I'm trying to make is that we, that is, the more experienced Masters, sometimes forget that the initiatory experience is already overwhelming; too often our inviting large numbers of Masonic VIPs who have no connection to the candidates turns what should be a moving and solemn experience into a spectacle. I once overheard an older member at another lodge tell a couple of newly raised MMs how lucky they were to have been part of what he termed "an historic occasion" at their lodge. After he walked away, the new MMs turned to each other and shrugged. "Whatever," they seemed to say; not, I'm sure, because they didn't care, but because they had no context, no frame of reference by which to understand the circumstance of having 2 PGMs, four District officers, and half a dozen poobahs from the local Scottish RIte Valley.
If you are one of those people of the cynical persuasion, you'd begin to think that the reason that lodges have these kinds of spectacles events is to give a big ego boost to the WM. I'm going to stop short of that assumption and instead, charitably suggest that Masters are not thinking in terms of the candidates themselves. Rather, they are thinking in terms of making the degree ceremony an experience interesting enough to draw out the brothers who might otherwise stay home.
And this reasoning I can understand; part of our job success as Master of a lodge is to get the brothers to participate, or at least, to show up. But there are other ways to get them interested:Have a special dinner, say, a cookout or a surf & turf or some other theme night. Have a few visiting brothers do one of the lectures. Have the degree in costume. There are dozens of ways to make a degree night interesting for everyone that would not make it overwhelming for the candidates - or for the 80+ year old members who have to drive home.
Getting back to my original point, I sometimes wonder if having good, well-performed ritual work wouldn't be enough of an incentive to attract the brothers who are the fence-sitters, the people who might come if only they thought it would be worth spending a few hours down at the old lodge. By "good," I mean officers who actually study and rehearse their parts, and who have learned to put some feeling and character into their ritual work, and who can make the quality of the work itself the spectacle, rather than the quantity of the visitors.
Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry
Last night - Sunday, June 15th - was their second show which featured noted Florida Mason Tim Bryce. Bro. Tim is known for his thoughtful newsletters and essays, and last night's podcast shows that he is just as bright an engaging in person.
The Masonic Central blog can be found at this address:
http://masoniccentral.blogspot.com/
where you can also find a calendar listing upcoming segments.
The podcasts can be found on Talkshoe at
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tsc
The live air time is 9 pm Eastern, 6 pm Pacific.
It looks like they've got the next few Sunday nights booked for guests, but you can download the one-hour podcasts and listen to them at your leisure later in the week.
TalkShoe Call Series Badge
Watching an old movie the other day reminded me of a discussion I had a while back with someone who intimated that I did not take my duties – or Masonry, for that matter – seriously. Predictably, he went on to mention some of the things that he, himself would do if he were me; including, not unsurprisingly, making sure that people who didn't abide by the rules would be “dealt with.”
It became apparent that my well-meaning brother was under the a mistaken assumption in which he was confusing the tools that I use in my duties (“levity” and “a relaxed approach”) with my underlying attitude and approach toward them. Obviously, this brother and I hold fundamentally different philosophies as to how the structure of our fraternity works: he seemed to think that just telling people what to do is sufficient, and considered what I do as a District Grand Lecturer something akin to a traveling minstrel show.
See, as the District Grand Lecturer, my duties as assigned are actually pretty light: I just have to administer a test to make sure that the incoming Master is prepared, ritual-wise. However, several lodges have asked me to help them polish their ritual proficiency and floorwork, and so I spend most of my time at rehearsals, giving tips, making suggestions, and (hopefully) inspiring new officers to be better by coaching them along. Not surprisingly, this is exactly how I was taught in my own lodge by some experienced Past Masters. In theory, I could simply read the book to them and say "Okay, that's what you're supposed to know. I'll be back next week to grade you." In practice, I tend to be light-hearted and jokey (where have I heard that before ?), simply because that was the kind of style that inspired me. I figure that if I'm going to join a half-dozen guys walking around a cold lodge room on a rainy evening, then I want to at least make it enjoyable for myself. If the other people get something out of it, then so much the better.
In the aforementioned discussion, I found myself rather surprised to hear the suggestion that lodge officers should be given the ritual book, and have it explained to them that the rules of our Grand Lodge say that they need to follow the instructions. Their testing, as it were, could then be done by some other officer, thereby obviating the need for District Lecturers. I was surprised because, indeed, this is exactly the case as it has been for the past fifty or more years. Connecticut has a published ritual monitor, and it's relatively clear what the Master and officers should be doing. The problem is, some people haven't been doing it. In fact, by my estimation, a hell of a lot of people haven't been doing it properly for quite some years, and many lodges have had several generations of officers pass without seeing proper ritual work modeled for the younger officers, who would then model it for the officers after them.
(the rest of this article can be found on The Tao of Masonry)
I've known my Canadian brother Justa Mason for a few years, and I've learned that you can always depend upon him to present a responsible opposing viewpoint to virtually any situation. Actually, what I've learned is that you simply can't stop him from presenting an opposing viewpoint. On a recent post about our Past Masters MM Degree in which I described the dramatic additions to our Connecticut version of the Hiramic Legend that some lodges have been known to perform, he asked a particularly pertinent question:
I understand; the MM degree is long, and Friendship Lodge adds another dramatic section to the Connecticut version of the Hiramic Legend, which adds to the memory work. In our state, some lodges choose to add sections to the degree that give more background, which helps the candidates to better appreciate the lessons of the story. A number of them add the same section that we do, and one of my lodges, Frederick-Franklin 14, adds yet another section which serves to give even more insight into the character of Hiram Abiff.
Tom, I will opine here all this additional stuff does wonders for the member who can show off his memory skills.. and very little for the candidate.
What value is all this extra ritual if he can't absorb any of it? His mind's on overload to begin with. Shouldn't stuff like this be done on a separate night where he can let it sink in?
What is the reason behind subjecting him to all kinds of optional ritual on a degree night?
That's an excellent point. Most of us assume that if some ritual is good, then more is better, and lots more should be great.
Admittedly, I, myself, have pointed out that our candidates sometimes have a difficult time processing the information presented. I've even made light of it by writing, in a post about ritual:
The lectures and speeches are filled with symbolism and instruction, and those of us who have put the time into learning them know just how difficult it can be to deliver them with meaning.
All this just for the candidates?
You mean those new guys standing there in the front of the room with the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look? Those guys?
Yeah, those guys. Those guys can barely remember what to do with their hands and feet, and we're expecting them to absorb some esoteric lesson, which has often been delivered by people who would have not been allowed speaking parts in the local amateur theater group. On the surface, it does sound like a waste of effort. Why go through the trouble to present such material - done well or not - if the candidates aren't grasping the meaning?
RW Paul (the latest Nutmeg State Mason to start blogging) has another perspective, one which I've heard a number of times:
I am on the side that the extra lectures add value, of course I enjoy ritual and often perform some of the extra parts so my opinion is bias.
I have heard this argument in my district as well. But based on the comments by Grand Lodge that there is a lot lousy ritual being done, I think the lodges that still can perform these eleborate degrees should be proud.
I would much rather sit through extra long well performed degree than a short poorly performed degree.
Connecticut, like most US states, uses some variation of the Preston-Webb lectures in which there is a catechismal section (a Q&A section) and two other sections that elaborate on the symbols and allegories of the respective degrees. Each section can be ten to twenty minutes long, and in my experience generally seem to have been memorized by ol' Brother Joe who retired to Florida a few years ago, so nobody does them anymore. I've seen these sections presented on non-degree nights a few times, but as degree nights typically get a larger turnout, it seems like the energy is better spent having them done when the largest number of people can potentially benefit.
Often, arguments - i.e., debatable points - are presented as a matter of extremes. Paul's last sentence is an example of this, and Justa's entire message does the same thing, albeit more subtly. I believe that there is a position between those extremes, however.
First of all, I firmly believe that lodges can deliver extra ritual that is good and well-performed. I know it's true: I've seen it done. That said, one could argue that if they can do a good long degree, then they should be able to do a good short degree, too. Yup, I've seen that as well. But there are several advantages to a degree ceremony that pulls out all the stops, for both the candidates and for the other lodge members.
As to the candidates, I could point to the importance of total immersion in the initiative experience to create the most overwhelming feelings of awe which may inspire intense thoughts or associations on a deeper level. I suppose that I could also claim that - like the 'shotgun' approach - it's important to throw as much as possible at the candidates in hopes that something will stick. Personally, I think that it's rare for most lodges to get motivated enough to perform sections of a degree ceremony on off-nights, especially sections that require a certain amount of dramatic talent. It's easier to present the material when all of the candidates happen to be in the room. Just the preparation for a degree ceremony tends to inspire the lodge members who are actually rehearsing the parts; I think that it would be difficult for some of them to "get psyched" enough to do inspiring work as a program after a regular stated communication.
But there's something else that we miss: Yes, the candidates will miss some things with a longer degree. Hell, they're going to miss things with a short degree. But later on they are going to be watching that same degree performed on someone else, and then they'll have the opportunity to catch a few things that they'd missed.
And why do we assumed that the ritual ceremony is all for the new guys? What about the regular brothers? I've noticed that degree nights have a much larger turnout than regular business meetings. Wouldn't it be nice if the older members had the opportunity to hear that rarely-done piece of ritual? Most of them might miss it if it were done as a "program" in a regular business meeting.
Let me repeat something that I wrote over a year ago in the post referenced above:
Our fraternity has some of the most morally instructive and spiritually inspiring ceremonies, all of which are delivered from memory at no small personal effort. When did we lose the motivation, the initiative to do it for ourselves?
I'm at the age where I attend almost as many funerals as I do weddings; but for each occasion I have lately discovered that during the ceremony I suddenly "hear" something new. Yes, I may have seen the ceremony and heard the same words a dozen times, but each time I hear something that I never noticed before. Why? Maybe a minister or rabbi delivers a line with more or less emphasis, or maybe because of where I am in my own life's journey some passage that I've heard countless times before will strike me with a new insight. Who hasn't been sitting at a wedding and suddenly turned to their partner upon hearing a line that reminds you of your love? Who hasn't been to a funeral and been suddenly reminded of your own mortality? That is the purpose of ritual and ceremony - not only to instruct the new members, but to remind us - the old members - of our previous instruction.
Give this some thought: When did our ritual become less inspiring? When did our degrees become merely a pastime between dinner and desserts? When did you stop noticing something "new" in a lecture?
How many of us have substituted listening for hearing?
If the "extra" instruction is presented well - and not just once every several years - then it benefits everyone, new brothers and experienced members alike.
Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry
Add my name to the list of fellow bloggers and Masons who are saddened by the untimely death of WB Theron Dunn, author of Beacon of Masonic Light, and prolific contributor to a number of other web forums, message boards, and online publications. Add my name as well to the list of those who occasionally disagreed with his perspectives, but managed to do so in a fraternal manner. Our disagreements never prevented Brother Theron from emailing some joke, a Masonic inspiration, or a funny video. I'd like to think that Bro. Theron believes - believed - as I do: that our agreements are far more important than our disagreements, and that our appreciation for the fraternity is the basis for our mutual respect. May the Great Architect of the Universe grant some peace of mind to his grieving family and friends.
I was thinking, understandably, of Bro. Dunn's death in the context of the dramas of our own fraternity. The Hiramic legends in the 3rd degree deal with the tragedy of death. But what is it that makes death a tragedy? reflecting upon this question, I thought about the death of my grandmother a few months ago. I wrote
"She was 95 years old. She died peacefully in her sleep, in a warm room surrounded by trashy romance novels, jigsaw puzzles, and loving family members. We should all be so fortunate."
Maybe our connotation of "tragedy" is the concept of "unfinished business." While there are certainly some people who are still vital and active in their mid-nineties, my grandmother certainly fit the definition one thinks of when hearing the phrase "lived a full life." She was a nurse during WWII, she raised 4 children, and then had an active social life. She lived to see grand-children, and even great-grand-children. She'd never been sky-diving or hiking in the Himalayas, but she didn't seem to have any regrets.
Our unrealized potential, the things that we will never have the chance to do boggles the mind. I may be reacting to Bro. Theron's death out of a certain sympathy, as he and I were of a similar age; perhaps I'm saddened because I realize that I, myself, will probably not be able to accomplish many of the things that I've dreamed of. And perhaps this is why the death of a child or young adult affects us so deeply; the unrealized potential in all of us is tragic, but the younger one's life, the more potential we see. We say that we are saddened by the loss of life, but maybe what we are really saddened by is the loss of potential realization - the songs that will never be written, the stories that will never be told, and the work that will never be completed.
I have always thought about the tale of Hiram Abiff as some kind of Death allegory, but now I'm seeing it as a metaphor that points out the unfortunate - and inevitable - inability of all of us to fulfill our dreams. This doesn't necessarily mean that we should always feel sad, though. We all work on our own spiritual buildings, and none of them will ever be complete. But ultimately we will all need to lay down our tools, if indeed, those tools do not simply fall from our own nerveless grasp. Maybe the story of Hiram should remind us that it's not the completion of the building that is important, but the fact that we've started it at all.
"[. . .] whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons, that must have remained at a perpetual distance."
There is supposedly an old Chinese saying (are there ever any new Chinese sayings?) that runs something like: "If you save somebody's life, you are responsible for them forever." I left my friend 3M of Northeastern Corner in the fraternal care of Bros. Eric, Kevin and Kyle some concerned brothers of Friendship Lodge who wish to remain anonymous, on the night before the Grand Lodge Annual Communication. While his life was not in danger, his reputation certainly skated on some thin ice as a result of several incidents involving car batteries, kitchen utensils, a visiting dwarf-tossing team, and a large luggage rack. I was informed of this the next morning by Bro. Kyle, who, with the aid of a cattle prod and the aforementioned luggage cart, was able to minister to the needs of our brother who was led astray. For valor above and beyond all reasonable expectations, not to mention courage in the face of violations of several safety reglations, Bro. Kyle not only wins the Mason of the Month award, but now would seem to be responsible for 3M's reputation for quite some time to come.
Proving that he did not learn to leave well enough alone, 3M invited us halfway across the state, down to St. John's No. 6 in New Jersey Norwalk on Thursday, May 1st, where he would be sitting in the East for the first time to confer an EA degree. So, Thursday night saw Bros. Kyle, Eric and Kevin the anonymous brothers barreling down the Merritt Parkway in their officer's tuxedos, as Kevin and Kyle had offered to sit in as Stewards. Yours truly followed up about 20 minutes later, having come right from work. The photo of 3M and I shows that while I was smart enough to remember to bring my tuxedo with me, I had forgotten the black bow tie, so I wore a festive blue one that I'd had in my pocket. I had also forgotten my apron case, which my traveling brothers graciously picked up for me.
More embarrassingly, though, was that I had forgotten to bring a white shirt. I probably could have gotten away with wearing the grey work shirt if I'd remembered the black bow tie. Fortunately, it's not as if I have an important position where people would notice that kind of thing about me.
3M assumed the East with only a few minor newbie fluffs, and my counterpart in District 1, VW Bro. Lem and I commented several times on how well he was doing. Most of the other chairs were filled by PMs of St. John's, and the several younger officers that filled in the Junior officers chairs did admirable work. They initiated three candidates, all younger men (which, from my perspective, is anyone under 45). 3M graciously allowed Bro. Kyle to deliver the long-form apron presentation lecture, and Bros. Eric and Kevin to perform the first section lecture in the Friendship Lodge "walk around" style. Afterwards, we were treated to a rarely seen second section lecture by WB Paul Chapin from Federal 17. I was able to sit on the sidelines and simply observe, which is a rare occurrence for me lately. It also assured 3M that I would not spoil his EA degree by accidentally delivering something from an MM or FC degree.
Owing to the long drive ahead, we didn't hang around long after the meeting . . . much. A few cold refreshments and cigars did manage to make the rounds, though, and a few of us had a great time ribbing - and congratulating - 3M as we developed an impromptu tailgate party.
More to the point, though, is this: A month ago, except for me, nobody in Friendship Lodge knew 3M. A month later, he now has several friends and acquaintances - some of whom were willing to give up a night in which they could have been doing almost anything else, to drive halfway across the state just to cheer him on. As I walked to my car, I watched half a dozen younger officers and new Masons chatting away, trading stories and jokes, and making promises to get together again soon.
And that is one of the beautiful things about our fraternity: the ability to remove that "perpetual distance" which separates men.
It has been at least a dozen years since Friendship Lodge hosted its own "Lodge at Table," and even though the members are regular visitors (and helpers!) at other functions, WM Jim Sinclair decided that this was going to be the year that we would have our own.
WM Jim wanted to have some kind of theme to the dinner. Being proud of his Italian ancestry, he wanted to make that part of the theme, but having Italian food? Gosh, don't Masons already eat enough macaroni and cheese or ziti with sauce? The answer soon became obvious: A Roman theme! And what better to reinforce the theme idea than to ask guests to dress for dinner... in togas ?
So the past week found a dozen different Masons wrestling with old bedsheets and bits of fabric, while the esteemed WB Richie took care of the menu. Ceasar probably didn't eat pasta, but it's quite possible that he ate freshly prepared vegetables, eggs, olives, chicken, lamb, pork, cheese and fruit. Oh, and in veritas, he would have had vino as well.
 |
| Roman Table Lodge Click to see the online photo album |
When I got there, the food was cooked, and WB Richie was preparing the dishes in his typical artistic fashion. I found the rest of the officers upstairs trying to get dressed, assisted by several wives and girlfriends who had shown up earlier to help in the kitchen. I'm happy to see that in some ways Friendship is becoming a nice hang-out spot for the brothers, and glad that their partners feel at home when they come down.
I noticed that it seemed to take much longer to dress the officers in sheets than it does to dress them in tuxedos. More ironic, too, because there is a hell of a lot less material in a sheet. On the other hand, most of the brethren managed to be fairly well wrapped. Interestingly, both WB Jim and I dressed alike, the both of us wearing tunics with purple togas draped around it. I didn't actually use a sheet, my outfit was the result of a half hour at the local fabric store and another few minutes of my wife working up a few stitches on her sewing machine. I was amazed at the number of "toga party" hits I found when web searching, and was able to find quite a few tips on wearing togas - almost none of which worked perfectly.
And let me tell you - it's dang near impossible to drive in one of those things.
Anyway, visiting brothers from Sequin-Level Lodge showed up to join the festivities, so we closed the doors and opened the lodge for the first of what we hope are many more Table Lodge functions.
- Mood:
tired
It was really only five years ago that I was the new guy, the young Mason attending Grand Lodge - or more correctly, the reunion and hospitality suites the night before Grand Lodge session. I'd taken the afternoon off from work and we'd spent the time prepping tons of food and drink for the wandering brothers. Several of the older, more experienced brothers took me around to visit some of the other rooms and introduce me to the brothers from other districts; I met a lot of nice people during the first year, and remembered most of them over the next several years. Grand Lodge is sometimes like the get-togethers you have at weddings and funerals: it's the one time a year you might have to catch up on news and gossip. And I don't know when it happened, but I'm no longer a new Mason. Last night Sunday night, it was my turn to be the older guy and take one of the new brothers around, and to explain how and why things work.
Yesterday Sunday evening, while most of the lodge parties were just getting underway, I met up with several other of the Connecticut Freemason bloggers. This was the end result of six months of emails and phone calls which began "Hey, we should all get together for dinner some night and talk about blogging." After half a dozen missed opportunities, we managed to agree to meet the night before GL at the restaurant in the hotel. Fueled by the vapors of distilled grain, I had several hours of conversation with 3M of Northeastern Corner, the esteemed Traveling Man of Movable Jewel, and the Very Worshipful Charles Tirrell of Masonic Renaissance. We were missing MF (Metaphysical Freemason), whose father-in-law had to be taken to the hospital that morning. The pressures of work, family, geography, and of course our Masonly duties made scheduling one night a much more difficult task than you would have thought.
I've spent a little bit of time in and after meetings with both VW Brother Charles and with MJ, but this was the first time we'd been able to hang out without any particular agenda. And none of us have been able to spend much time with 3M, mainly because his district is down in New York (well, it seems that way anyhow). A pleasant and thoughtful young man, 3M was only raised a couple of years ago, making him the newbie. Nobody else from his lodge was able to make the trip up.
VW Charles brought up some officers from his own lodge, also younger Masons, and we spent a pleasant couple of hours having drinks and sandwiches, and just getting to know a little about each other. All of us being Connecticut Masons, we had the opportunity to discuss not just blogging and internet Masonry, but also topics concerning local, district and state events. Table conversation ranged from praising (and poking) other well-known bloggers and some of the recent topics, internet Masonry and how it can be better utilized to the benefit of the Craft (we're in favor of more of it), District Blue Lodge Council meetings (some people find them to be a waste of time), the state of ritual (to some degree), and some of the items up for discussion at Grand Lodge (oh yeah, there's a session).
After a dinner of sandwiches and frits (the French word for "fries," I was informed), we retired upstairs to VW Charles' room, where 3M treated us to some finely crafted hand-rolled cigars, which we enjoyed out on the balcony - smoking being prohibited in the hotel rooms. While enjoying the aroma, not to mention the invigorating New England air, we continued our discussions. The non-blogging junior officers lost interest, and retired to the warmth of the room, where they kept themselves occupied with a Wii, iPods, laptops, and various other electronic gear.
As Charles mentioned in his own post on this subject, we found it surprising that with Connecticut being such a small state, the four of us had managed to develop notably differing ideas and opinions about Freemasonry. This wasn't so obvious when discussing our ideas for how to improve the quality of meetings and Masonic education, but was more noticeable when we discussed our positions on those states which have yet to fully recognize the Prince Hall jurisdictions, and how our UGLE-related fraternity intersects with orders that have long since split off: La Droit Humain, Grand Orientes, and Co-Masonry. Fortunately, real Masons manage to subdue their passions when discussing such potentially divisive subjects, and we soon veered off those topics to discuss the proposed legislation and some of the rumors that had been making the rounds. We also traded stories about some of the lodges that we've seen that are doing it wrong (and some that are doing it right), and kicked around some of our own ideas for what could make for better lodges.
Charles is a very progressive-minded brother who has a number of great ideas for lodges on his own site, including utilizing Pay Pal or similar services to collect dues money. We also thought that the dreaded dues increases would hurt less if we allowed the members to pay in monthly or quarterly installments; we noted that most dues are, um, due right around the holidays - just when people are already ticked about paying bills. Perhaps a subscription service might be a better way to go for some of the brethren. We also discussed having some of the brothers "pay" in service, rather than in coinage; some brothers could agree to a certain number of hours doing maintenance, cleaning, repairs, etc., in exchange for some abatement on dues. We also - and I hope he doesn't mind my mentioning it here - tossed around the idea of recording video interviews with notable brothers; not necessarily the oldest or famous, but brothers with an interesting perspective on the fraternity. Any Connecticut brothers with video editing experience who are interested in lending some help might want to contact VW Bro Charles.
Eventually we had to go home - at least, some of us did. TM wandered off to his car, and I took 3M for a tour around the hotel to meet the members of Friendship Lodge. A couple of brothers were at the room, and others appeared as we were having a drink. I left 3M in the fraternal care of our SW Eric, who promised to look after him, and I left for home around midnight. Since 3M was staying overnight, I was reasonably certain that he wouldn't get into much trouble. I later found that natural supposition to be erroneous, but that's a topic for another article.
The four of us got together out of curiosity - indeed, we've been trying to find some way to get together for months, but just haven't been able to get our schedules together. When we decided to meet, it was because we thought that we had two things in common: Freemasonry, and a desire to share our experiences and perspectives via this medium. There are five of us who blog about the Craft, not counting the few people who mention Freemasonry on their MySpace and LiveJournal pages. While it doesn't sound like very many, it does, in fact, make up a significant portion of the Craft-bloggers extant on the internet; more impressive when you consider the size of our state. In an age in which internet communication is becoming more utilized by new and potential members, I'm glad that such a great group of brothers has been able to spread some light through this new medium, and I'm sure that all of us look forward to doing this in the future.
- Mood:
cold
Well, we pulled it off.
On Saturday, March 29, a dozen and half officers from the eight different lodges of District 5 managed to put together a very nice FC degree in the auditorium of the Masonic Health Care Center in Wallingford.
Anyone who has ever seen the bedlam which accompanies a normal degree rehearsal can only imagine what our single rehearsal was like the week before the degree. Well, that's not fair - since half the people didn't show up, the confusion in the temple wasn't anything like it could have been, I'm sure.
On Saturday morning, several of the brothers met at Friendship and piled the officer's stations, jewels, aprons, and the movable set of stairs into RWB Gary Arseneau's and Senior Steward Kyle Charette's pickup trucks. WB Ted Hasty, the poor guy who coordinated this event was already at the auditorium, moving the chairs and rearranging the room. By 10:45 am, everything was in position.
Which was perfect timing for my arrival at 10:55.
Apparently, WB Ted was a bit antsy about the event, and got there very early just to make sure that things were going to work out. He's obviously my Bizarro world twin: he shows up as early as I tend to show up late. Oh, and I think that Ted has a reaction to the red kryptonite.
After the room was set up we were treated to lunch in the MHA cafeteria. I declined, owing to a traumatic lunchroom incident in my childhood involving spaghetti, soy meatloaf, and canned wildebeest - the details of which are best left to the imagination. But shortly afterwards, several of us took a small tour of the Ashlar Village facility, just up the hill from the hospital. Ashlar Village is a small community having a mixture of independent and assisted living buildings. We took a look into the newly remodeled main building. "Newly remodeled" is perhaps not the best term, and for the last several years it seems to be under a new plan called "constant remodeling." I think that the facility changes every month. One of the highlights, though, was the small lodge room that has been built on one of the basement areas. It hasn't been used for any official purpose, however as you can see from the pictures it's had some unofficial uses. 
By the time we got back, other people started showing up: officers from other lodges, several interested onlookers, and eventually, a few brothers from the hospital itself. Personally, I was a little disappointed at the turnout - only eight brothers from the hospital and nearby Ashlar Village ended up visiting. But that disappointment was mitigated by learning that one brother had not been to a lodge in over 40 years, and another had been hoping to see a degree for several years, but had no way to travel. Four of our guests were in wheelchairs, one had a walker, and another had a cane. One brother happened to pass by me heading down the hall and called out "What part are you doing, sonny?" I slowed down to talk to him and keep him company on the walk down. After assuring him that I really did not need to borrow his ritual book (why do some of the old timers read the books while following the degree? Self-appointed quality control inspectors?) he told me not to walk with him because he was shuffling along rather slowly and he didn't want to hold me up. "I'm pretty sure I'll make it by one-thirty!" he called after me as he inched along the hallway.
 |
| Click here to see the rest of the photos |
The degree itself was a pleasant affair, made interesting because we had one candidate from Sequin-Level and one from Unity. Being a Fellowcraft degree, Friendship brought along their stairs. Yes, we have a set of spiral stairs that appear to have been built in the 50s; they disassemble for storage, so we were able to fit them into the back of a pickup and haul them down. Some of the visitors who had never been to Friendship spent some time testing them for strength; but we've never had a problem. I fear, however, that we'll need to make some minor repairs, simply because age and knocking around in a closet every few months is taking it's toll on them.
The officers performed admirably and the candidates had a very nice degree, made even more memorable by the fact that parts were done by officers from eight different lodges. Even the "Staircase Lecture" was broken up into several parts to allow the lodges to take a more active role.
On the way home, most of us wondered why we didn't do this kind of thing every year. By the time several of us had driven back to Friendship to help unload the furniture, we'd resolved to have another District degree for the residents of the hospital for next year.
For those 19 readers that I have in Connecticut, there will be a Fellowcraft Degree at the Masonic Hospital in Wallingford on Saturday, March 29 at 1:00 pm in the auditorium.
The purpose of the degree will be to allow Masonicare residents who can not normally get out to attend a degree. The various lodges from the 5th District will have different officers take the chairs, and we expect that several candidates from the 5th District will be passed.
We drew names positions out of a hat at a recent Blue Lodge Council (our periodic District meetings), and came up with this mix of positions:
Worshipful Master: Valley Lodge# 36
Senior Warden: Sequin-Level #140
Junior Warden: Unity #148
Senior Deacon: Friendship #33
Junior Deacon: Frederick-Franklin #14
Senior Steward: Silas Deane #147
Junior Steward: Village #29
Chaplain: Evening Star #101
Charge: That egotistical District Lecturer.
Several of the lectures are going to be split up amongst various other officers in order to have a good representation of the lodges in the 5th District. The degree is being coordinated by the already overworked Ted Hasty, the Associate Grand Marshal for the northern part of our district. Anyone who remembers that all lodges have their own little quirks and "traditions" can well imagine the amount of aspirin that WB Ted is going to need in order to coordinate (and accommodate) eight separate lodges.
Some of us will be showing up at the hospital at 10:00 am in order to transform the auditorium into something that resembles a lodge room. Hope to see you there!
Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry
- Mood:
amused
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur because of all the family visiting, people to transport to and from airports, phone calls, and the assorted arrangements that one makes when a family member dies.
I visited my grandmother at the hospice section of the hospital where she had been checked in. She was tired, but alert; we joked about the advances in hospital technology since she had been a nurse in the 1940s. She offered me a cookie, and after an hour or so decided that she wanted to take a nap. Less than a week later she was moved to a nursing home. My wife and I drove out to visit, but she was sleeping. I stayed away for the next few days, having come down with one of those flus that's been making the rounds. Three days later, she passed away.
She was 95 years old. She died peacefully in her sleep, in a warm room surrounded by trashy romance novels, jigsaw puzzles, and loving family members. We should all be so fortunate.
But that's not what I'm writing about.
The funeral was almost a week later. In any group of people in which I am present, you'd come out pretty well if you had bet on me to be the one person who wasn't following the directions. I pulled into the visitor's parking at the funeral home, which means that I never signed in for the automobile procession, had my name logged in, etc. As it happens, this allowed me to be the first to leave the funeral home and head for the church, several blocks away. I took a turn, drove halfway down the block and something out of the corner of my eye made me slam on the brakes.
If you were the soccer mom in the minivan behind me, I'm really sorry about that.
I had happened to catch sight of the familiar square and compasses on a sign as I drove down the street; I was surprised because I hadn't known that there was a lodge in this town. Just a few weeks earlier I had been at a lodge in the next town, in a huge, old building. This lodge, just across the river, was a complete contrast. A small, unassuming building in a residential neighborhood, with the S&C prominently displayed. I'll have to stop in sometime.
But that's not what I'm writing about, either.
I pulled into a side parking lot of the church, and waited in the cold for the hearse to show up. After the family had gathered, we opened the back of the car and brought the casket out to trolley and wheeled it through the outer doors of the church and waited while the other family members filed past the casket and into the pews. We then wheeled the casket up toward the sanctuary.
It has been some years since I've been to a Roman Catholic service, probably since before I joined the fraternity. The church was done in the architecture more common after the 1960s - open and airy, almost giving the impression that the services were taking place outdoors. But it was the imagery on the crucifix - an ornate cross carried by one of the assistants - that caught my eye.
The crucifixes that I remember seeing when I was younger tended to be thin strips of wood, supporting a small sculpture of the crucified Jesus. This version was made of wide sections, with Jesus painted in the typical crucified manner: arms outstretched, head hanging down, blood on his side.
But that's not what caught my eye. I had never seen - or at least, had never noticed - imagery around a crucifix. This one had at the bottom (under the picture of the cross itself) a skull atop what appeared to be a small pile of bones. While Connecticut Masonry does not use the skull and coffin in the ritual, it's certainly familiar to any Mason who has seen pictures from other jurisdictions.
Looking up, I saw on the left side of the cross-piece a stylized picture of a crescent moon. This was matched on the opposite side by a stylized picture of the sun, complete with a number of radiant streamers. Both of these pictures would have been immediately recognizable to any Mason in Connecticut who has ever carried a Deacon's staff. The likeness was unmistakable.
But there's more.
At the very top of the cross was a large equilateral triangle. Inside the triangle was a dove, poised head downward. The wings, however, were partially outstretched and bisected the upper sides of the triangle, passing, or perhaps, breaking through the sides. The wings angled upward in such a way that if you had drawn a line from wingtip to the head and up to the other wingtip, you would have an angle approximating 90º.
Just to make sure I wasn't imagining things, at some point in the service I leaned over to my 12 year old daughter. "Check out the symbols around the cross by the casket," I whispered.
It took her about three seconds. "That's a Mason thing, isn't it?" she whispered back.
Okay, so it wasn't just my imagination - the setup had vaguely Masonic undertones.
As I listened to the priest describe the significance of the white shroud, the flowers, and the various other items around the area, my mind drifted off to wonder how our two organizations managed to develop the symbols that they did, and why we had similar - though not necessarily identical - explanations for them. It led me to wonder if the semiotics - the underlying symbology itself - wasn't based on some deeper or older meanings, meanings of which we may be currently unaware. Or perhaps, meaninngs which have passed the threshold of awareness because they are such a basic part of our cultural memes.
But that's not really what I'm writing about.
Driving from the church to the cemetery, we passed a well-known local landmark; a statue of one of our Revolutionary War heroes mounted on a horse with one foot raised. I reflected on the folklore which suggests that one foot raised means that the subject was wounded in battle, while two legs off the ground meant that he was killed in battle.
The service at the cemetery was very brief, perhaps owing to the raw, damp weather and the forecast of snow. Several of the family members tossed rose petals into the grave.
My sister rode with me on the way back home, and we passed another well-known local statue of a famous area resident who had lived until a ripe, old age in a nearby city. He was on a horse with both legs off the ground.
But that's not what I'm writing about.
My sister stayed with us overnight in order to better catch an early flight out. Although we had eaten in the afternoon, we decided to have a little snack. She put some bread into our new Italian-designed toaster-broiler-convection oven. She spent some minutes fumbling with the buttons, until I showed her the combination that would work: the one that looked like a stylized sliced section of a loaf and the other one that had wavy lines, presumably to represent heat. Very easy to follow, if you know what you're looking for.
Sis doesn't get out to Connecticut all that often, so we spent some time chatting, trying to catch up with each other's lives. She's less active with her church than she used to be, but has been spending a lot of time building up her side business as a photographer. I, of course, have been working a lot and when I'm not with my family, I'm usually doing something in my capacity as the District Grand Lecturer, which I explained was the guy in the area that tried to help the lodges in my area maintain the integrity of our ancient ceremonies that we have performed since time immemorial. I went on to explain that each ceremony has specific significance to it and teaches certain lessons in morality and natural philosophy. I also explained that while most states are similar in ritual, other countries have ceremonies and forms that are virtually unrecognizable to us - although, of course, we're all still brothers... and in some cases, even sisters.
At that point I had to stop explaining so we could get some pizza.
But that's not what I'm trying to write about.
The next day I dropped her off at the airport. On the way, I noticed the sign for the local Machinists and Aerospace
Workers Union. There's something familiar about it, isn't there?
Anyway, I continued on my way to work, put in a full day, and then headed down to lodge right from the office. Just as I was pulling into the parking lot, a light blinked on in the dashboard of my new truck. I'd never seen this light before, and had no idea what it meant. I parked the car and opened up the manual in the glove box to see if I could figure out what it was, but I couldn't find it.
I hope it wasn't anything important.
- Mood:
indescribable
Syndicate
Be counted!
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
tom_accuosti- Tom Accuosti
- The Tao of Masonry