Notes - Chaucer's friend, Edward / Dad and Dachau

        You are ready for the trip to the Honda dealer for a change in brake fluid and a check over before the Maine trip. You are waiting on the car so you can get some work done and past the time while doing it. You continue to be embarrassed by the posting yesterday but the world has seen worse in terms of bloodlines and the Living survive just as well if not better. The problem is that you consider the bloodlines mostly fiction and that the only true bloodline markers are in the DNA. You would rather be related to a friend of Chaucer’s than royals only you forget that Chaucer’s friend you were remembering you were not related to was Edward III.

         That’s true, I did forget it was Edward. The imagination is in making history more alive to me, that I have a ‘connection’ with all historic times. Everyone living has these connections. You would think this would drive a personal interest but it doesn’t seem to.

         Time to change, orndorff. Later, dude. Post. – Amorella.

          Late afternoon. The six year old Honda is in good shape for the trip. You and Carol spent time picking out new shutters, ended up with a newer version of what you already have in forest green, same color for the front door. You also have been looking at stone for the countertops and backsplash. You have new lighting to buy for the downstairs toilet and sink; you have decided to keep the mirror.

         I had the dates for Henne Zu Ohrndorf wrong yesterday, he was born in 1560 and died 12 June 1612 in Hof Ohrndorf, Freudenberg. I have a tendency to want to zip through these but I can too easily lose my detailing focus. Writing (supposed) facts means a slower writing process.

         Some other older family names from the orndorff grandmothers’ families, the oldest Jacob Hertzeller (a1600-a1665; Germany); Jacob Frey, (a1621-a1685) Gundetseil, Canton, Zurich, Switzerland and died in Altheim, Alace, Germany. His son Heinrich settled in what became Germantown, arriving there about 1680, even before William Penn (according to Aunt Floy Orndorff-Gray in letters she obtained).

         A reminder that I have a good bit of German blood in me too. Dad always thought we had some Jewish blood too because several times when he was in Germany after the war Germans thought he was a rabbi. Dad was an agnostic after the war. I’m sure helping to liberate Dachau, didn’t help any theological bent he may have had. As much of a gutsy hunter and fisherman that he was (Hemingway-like) he never could bring himself to tell me about how it was at that camp. I still have the black and white photos. I thought he took them but found he did not when a few years ago I took to donate them to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. The Army gave the photos (copies of original photos) to the liberators to take home to show how it was, I suppose if they did not have the words for the description. I think Dad was not so heartlessly masculine-minded as he liked to let on.

         Your opinion, boy, but you are entitled to it. Enough on the Dead tonight. Post. – Amorella.

Notes - another form of reference / Days of the long Dead

         Mid-afternoon. You found the earliest Schick (your mother’s great, great grandfather) was Andreas Schick born about 1810 in Hessen, Germany; he died 28 April 1870 in Westerville, Ohio. The earliest Freeman (your mother’s great grandfather) was Charles Freeman; born 25 March 1811 in Morris City, New Jersey and died 26 April 1891 in Delaware (City), Ohio. His wife, Elizabeth Closson was born 8 April 1818 in Ohio; she died 12 November 1892 in Delaware, Ohio. They had twelve children which you listed. The son, Charles, was your mother’s great grandfather.

         I felt it was important to at least list them in this separate Freeman/Schick branch. So many children; four died within the first year or so. The names and dates give me renewed perspective and pause. I knew the great aunts personally; I have not written their names in years. The size of the Place of the Dead must be overwhelming, or it would be if human beings were only nouns.

         Yes. This is why a noun is not accurate when you speak of the species as groups and individuals. You have to think in another form of reference. Later, dude. Post. – Amorella.

        Yesterday. The earliest ancestor on the Orndorff side is Henne Zu Ohrndorf born about 1600 in Hof Ohrndorf, Freudenberg; he died in December 1662 also in Hof Ohrndorf, Freudenberg. His spouse was Margaretha Schneider; born 4 December 1617 in Bushen, Nassau- Siegan. She died 1 January 1672, also in Bushchen, Nassau- Siegan. Her father was Jacob Schneider who was born about 1590 and died about 1650.

         I decided to look up Nassau-Siegan on Wikipedia, this is what I found, that adds an interest to those times and what Mararetha might have witnessed.

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The name Siegen comes from the possibly Celtic river name Sieg. It is, however, unclear whether there is any relation between this name and the Celtic-Germanic Sicambri (Ger. Sugambrer) people, who in pre-Christian times lived in parts of North Rhine-Westphalia. The first documentary mention of the place called Sigena dates from 1079. The city's history is markedly shaped by mining, which locally began as far back as La Tène times. Bearing witness to this longtime industry are the many mines that can be found within city limits.

In 1224, Siegen is mentioned as a newly built town whose ownership was shared by the Count of Nassau, Heinrich the Rich, and Engelbert II of Berg, Archbishop of Cologne after the latter transferred one half of the ownership to the former. Moreover, there is proof that the Oberes Schloss ("upper stately home") was already standing at this time. On 19 October 1303, the town was granted Soester Stadtrecht, or Soest town rights. The town remained under the two overlords' joint ownership until 1 February 1381, only then passing fully into Nassau hands.

In the 16th century, the town of Siegen bore a formidable defensive look. It was surrounded by mighty walls with 16 towers and three town gates, and was home to a great castle. The town was stricken several times by townwide fires. Documents record such fires in 1592, and from 10 to 20 April 1695. -- Wikipeda

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         If I remember right the Sicambri tribes trace back to ancient Troy, at least in legend. The area of Henne’s Freudenberg according to Wikipedia:

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The town of Freudenberg in its current form came into being through municipal reform on 1 January 1969. Into it the seventeen formerly self-standing municipalities of Alchen, Bottenberg, Bühl, Büschergrund, Dirlenbach, Freudenberg, Heisberg, Hohenhain, Lindenberg, Mausbach, Niederheuslingen, Niederholzklau, Niederndorf, Oberfischbach, Oberheuslingen, Oberholzklau and Plittershagen were merged into one.

The oldest constituent communities are most likely the two that were both mentioned in documents in the 11th century, namely Plittershagen and Oberholzklau in 1079. Freudenberg is known to have been an Amt and court seat as of the early 15th century. The village and the castle of Freudenberg had their first documentary mention in 1389.

The castle was founded over the Weibe Valley together with a settlement by the Counts of Nassau as a corner post of their domain. Count Johann IV of Nassau, Vianden and Diez gave the Freudenberg townsfolk their "freedom rights" on 7 November 1456. This was a kind of minimal town rights, but the document bestowing this distinction upon the town is taken as evidence of town rights being granted Freudenberg. Documents give clues that Freudenberg was established quite early on as a "Flecken", or market town. The historic town core is even still called Alter Flecken (alt means "old"; –er is a grammatical inflection).

In 1540, both the castle and the town were heavily damaged by a fire. On William the Rich’s orders, there came into being about the mid 16th century new building works. The market town was given a new town wall with four gates. In the northwest, the Hohenhainer Tor was built, in the northeast the Weihertor, in the southeast the Braastor and in the southwest the Schultor (Tor means "gate"). However, owing to yet another town fire on 9 August 1666, the town was once again laid waste. Prince Johann Morilz von Nassau-Siegen built the town anew, using much the same layout, planned in 1540, as had stood before the fire. The castle, however, was not restored, and to this day, all that can be seen of it are a few wall remains. -- Wikipedia

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         This is good stuff, a personalized history that covers more than a set of great grandparents. Why do people think history is so boring? Human beings are hardly boring when you look at them as a species, well, that’s my opinion.

         These little insights add dimensions to the books and blog alike. Since you are on the orndorffs, go to the earliest of the Hubball’s, your oldest line and we can see what went on back in those days – one bloodline of hundreds that are traceable by many of European descent. – Amorella.

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Hugo Hubold, born abt 1040 at Ipsley, Warwickshire; he died about 1105 at Ipsley. Hist title was Lord of Ipsley Mannour, Warwickshire, England.

The first recorded Hubold as Lord of the Mannour at Ipsley. Recorded in K. William’s Domesday book of 1068. A facsimile of the Hubold references in the Domesday book is in the Walter Hubbell book. Dugdale mentions him as ancestors of the Hubands of Warwickshire and Derbyshire.His records of holding land at Ipsley, Warwickshire, England before the Norman conquest. This same land was in the possession of his descendents at Ipsley in the direct male line, passing to the eldest son of each succeeding generation until November 10th, 1730, when the direct male line became extinct. This Hugo Hubbald was the founder of the Hubball Family in England and the Hubbell Family in America. p. 185, History of the Hubbell Family by Walter Hubbell, The Scientific Press, Robert Drummond and Company, Brooklin, N.Y. 1915.

The surname Hubbald is often found in the ancient records as Hubaldus, Hubaud, Huband, and Hubant in Norman French; and even as Ubald in Saxon during the time of Edward the Confessor (1004-1066). Hugo held land in Bedfordshire of Osbern, son of Richard in 1086. They also had land at Twyford, Derbyshire and at Stoke, in Surrey Co. A monk named Hubald (or Hucbald) was a poet and wrote music in a monastery in the 10th century.

“Facsimile of a record of his land in Bedfordshire as well as his full name, ‘Hugo Hubald: Eeslei.’ Domesday Book or The Great Survey of England of William the Conqueror, A.D. MLXXXVI.” Photozincographed, by Command of Her Majesty Queen Victory, at the Ordinance Survey Office, Southhampton - Col. Sir H. James, Director. Copy is from the British Museum. The Tower. London, made for this work in 1914. p. 4. . . .

This Hugh, who also appears to have held other lands according to Domesday records, seems to have been the ancestor of the later Hubands of Warwickshire. From this Hugh descended William Hubold (sometimes written Hubaut) who was living in the reign of King Stephen in 1140 and Hugh Hubold, his son, who held the Manor of Ipsley in 1189.

In 1236, one Sir Henry Hubald is recorded as being taxed for “one knight’s fee” inIplsey, and this same gentleman was one of those involved in “The Barons’ War” helping in the siege of Kenilworth Castle against the King in 1245. As a result of this action, his manor of Ipsley and his other lands were seized. However, this treason was purged by a decree known as the “Dictum de Kenilworth” and in 1261 he was made a Commissioner for GAOL Delivery at Warwick, a position in which he was still to be found in 1269,1270 and 1271. He also established the right to hold a Court Leet at Ipsley.

His son and heir became Sir John Hubald of Ipsley who married Margaret, the daughter of Sir William Lucie of Charlecoate in Warwickshire. They appear to have had five sons: John, who served in the wars in Brittany; William, who served in those in Gascoigne; and also Thomas, Robert and Geoffrey.

In 1342, John Hubald was employed with others in the service of King Edward III in Wales for which he had special letters of protection, and three years later, he became a member of the commission raised to inquire what “persons were seized of lands in Warwickshire, from the yearly value of £ 5 to £ 1000 and to certify the same.” The following year, he received a military summons to attend the King in the French wars and was given the responsibility for providing arms, horses and archers from Warwickshire. At this time, the stone church was nearing completion and it was dedicated to St. Peter in 1348. The oldest of the church bells was cast circa 1340.It is 2 feet 7 - 3/4 inches in diameter and weighs 6 hundredweights. It is known as the Royal Bell since it has a coin of the reign of King Edward III cast into it.

This John Hubald was succeeded at his death by his eldest son, also called John Hubald, who, in 1356, was one of the knights of the shire in the parliament held at Westminster. He, in turn, was succeeded by Thomas Hubald, who, in 1379 in the reign of King Richard II was recorded as being a commissioner responsible for assessing a subsidy for Warwickshire.He was the father of Richard Hubald, who ranked amongst the persons of note in Warwickshire in 1434 in the reign of King Henry VI. He appears to have made “oath for observance of certain articles concluded in the parliament then holden”. His coat of arms is described simply as “sable, three leopards’ faces.”

A Thomas Hubaud has been recorded during the reign of King Edward IV in 1461 although little is known of him, and he was followed by Richard Hubaud who flourished in the time of King Henry VII. He married Anne, the daughter of Thomas Burdet of Arrow, Alcester. Their son, John Huband, of whom mention was found in 1530 was succeeded by Nicholas Huband Esquire, who married Dorothy Danvers, daughter of Sir John Danvers of Calthorpe and Waterstock in Oxfordshire. Dorothy was co-heiress with her two sisters, Ann and Elizabeth to their father’s estate. Anne married Reginald Digby, Esquire of Coleshill, Warwickshire, and Elizabeth married Sir Thomas Cave of Stanford.

There is evidence of Nicholas and Dorothy Huband to be found in St. Peter’s Church. On the north side of the chancel can be found an incised alabaster slab which once formed part of their tomb. This shows an effigy of the Knight and his lady with the small effigies of their fifteen children, eight sons, and seven daughters, along the bottom edge. Between the heads of Nicholas and Dorothy is an angular shaped shield showing the arms of Huband. The effigy of Nicholas represents him in armour, bare-headed, with his hair combed straight down and cut round in the peculiar fashion introduced towards the end of the fifteenth century. The armour consists of a breastplate with a short skirt of taces to which are attached angular shaped tuiles which cover the upper part of the thighs. The shoulders and arms are also protected. The hands are bare and joined on the breast. A plain narrow belt, buckled in front, crosses the body diagonally from the right hip to the left side where the sword is suspended. His feet rest on a couchant and collared dog. Dorothy appears on the left side of her husband wearing an angular shaped headdress after the fashion introduced towards the close of the fifteenth century, Her dress consists of a high bodied robe, tied in front, which gradually opens down the skirts revealing a petticoat. The sleeves are puffed at the shoulders and hang in what was known as “demi-cannon” sleeves. These are ornamented and finish at the wrist in ruffles. There is a turn down collarat the neck. Her shoes are broad toed but her feet do not rest on the dog. Her hands, too, are joined on the breast. The effigies of the children show the males clad in long gowns and the females in headdresses and gowns similar to that of their mother, The inscription, now sadly partially eroded, was recorded by Sir William Dugdale and Dr. Thomas in their book “Antiquities of Warwickshire.”

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         At one time the above inspired the romance of writing an historical fiction in my head. I was also excited to find further evidence “Sir John Hubald of Ipsley who married Margaret, the daughter of Sir William Lucie of Charlecoate in Warwickshire.”

         The Lucie Family:

His Royal Highness William's (Charles & Diana's son) 28th great grandfather.

Sir William de Lucy, born 1089 in England; died in 1179. He was married to Lady Cecilla, born about 1122 in England and died about 1185 in England.

The de Lucy (of Luce) family were of Norman French origin and took their surname from Luce, Maine in France, but their ancestors could well have been of Viking origin  (The Vikings invaded Normandy before they invaded England). They became one of the most powerful families in the north of England in 13th and 14th centuries.

William the Conquerer invaded England from Normandy in France in 1066 and in 1067 appointed Gospatric as Earl of Northumberland. He led the northern nobles in a revolt against King William and in 1069, the King laid waste to the northeast of England  Gospatric was ousted as Earl of Northumberland in 1072 and was given lands in Dunbar in Scotland by the King of Scotland. He was also Lord of Allerdale in Cumberland in England. It was the start of over 500 years of fighting between the Scots and the English. 

King Henry of England died in 1135 and in 1138, William Fitz Duncan, (William, son of Duncan, grandson of Duncan II, King of Scotland, and Great, Great Grandson of Gospatric, Earl of Northumberland) fighting on behalf of his uncle David, King of Scotland, was at the head of an expedition which marched through his own inheritance in Cumberland, and that of his wife in Cumberland to Craven in Yorkshire, then in possession of the English. . . .

In 1174 Reginald (Reynold) de Lucy (b.1137-1189), son of Sir William de Lucy (1089-1179), a kinsman of Richard de Lucy, Chief Justiciar of England, married Amabil (Annabelle, b 1150), daughter of William fitz Duncan (William, son of Duncan). She was descended from Gospatric I, the Earl of Northumberland (1067-1072). Her grandfather was Duncan II, King of Scots, and her father was William Fitz Duncan, Lord of the Barony of Allerdale.  She was from the “House of Gospatric” which was founded by Crinan the Abbot of Dunkeld, and Bethune the heiress of Scotland (c.1000 A.D.) who were also the ancestors of the Washington family of whom, George Washington, First President of the United States of America is the most famous descendent.

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         I’m not sure where the above information comes from though I originally found it online. A more accurate view perhaps comes from Wikipedia:

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de Lucy or de Luci is the surname of an old Norman noble family originating from Luce in Normandy, one of the great baronial Anglo-Norman families which became rooted in England after the Norman conquest.. The first records are about Adrian de Luci (born about 1064 in Lucé, Normandy, France) who went into England after William the Conqueror. The rise of this family might have been due to Henry I of England, though there aren't historical proofs that all de Lucys belonged to same family. The family name is Latin, Lucy, Luci, Lucé derive from Lucius, meaning "light", but like most Normans or Anglo-Normans, the origins are probably Viking (Norsemen). - Wikipedia

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         Under the circumstances you are a bit embarrassed by the original information which was taken from someone else’s genealogy. However, it is interesting that the de Luci’s were probably Viking, yet DNA-wise you have no Viking blood, at least none from the Viking invasions. The DNA was from your father’s side, Hubbell married Margaret so it would not show up in any case. The Hubbell line is through your great, great, great grandmother Selina Philena Hubbell, born 7 December 1839, Morrow County, Ohio and died 13 May 1913 in Delaware County, Ohio. Her husband was Robert Francis Orndorff, born 19 April 1832 in Virginia; he was a cabinet maker and died in 1922 in Delaware County, Ohio. Here is one of your sources:

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Robert met Selina while learning cabinet making from Selina’s father, Harvey Sherman Hubbell. The marriage took place before the Civil War. According to family letters they were always thought of as a loving couple. Robert was quite handsome, always sporting a beard -- his hair was brown. Selina had dark brown, almost black hair and dark brown eyes.

The above is taken from a paper on the histories of the Orndorff and Hubbell families written by David L. Johnson, Christmas, 1998.

And,

Both she and Robert are in the Hubbell Family History on page 328. Their children were: Idolia B, Harvey S., Howard S. (great-grandfather), Orville W., and Mary E. (Mamie). Mamie married Franklin Johnson.

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         I think this is a bit much, Amorella. No one cares about this stuff. Most don’t even care about it even if it is their own family genealogy.

          It is important to show your imaginary shadow life. Grandson Owen may want to know what made his grandpa tick. Genealogy is a part of it.

         The excitement came, as I have mentioned before, from teaching British literature all those years assuming my oldest blood was German and Viking and it wasn’t, it was in the Isles. I had made an Isle's connection without consciously realizing it. That’s how I see it.

         Post. Enough for today. – Amorella. 

Notes - Gear Work Noted / an existing multidimensional 'being'

         Chores, breakfast, the paper; then weights, exercises and a nap. Minutes after noon, and Carol is readying to go give blood; afterwards, you are looking forward to the usual good steak lunch at Longhorn’s.

         Do you see how you are, boy, anxious about the book, about working on chapter eight even though you have nothing in your head. – Amorella.

         That’s the reason, Amorella. Nothing is going on and it bothers me.

         Non-writing bothers you because it is not a necessity, it is a want. The genealogy is not a necessity either. Working on a task gives you a sense of personal worth and dignity; words hold more weight in your mind but not in your heart and in your soul these days. Teaching literature gave you a sense of worth for yourself and your sense of community to your students. You used to lecture on wants and needs and the differences and now you are in the middle of the lecture for yourself rather than students.

         How desperately terrible it must be for those out of work. 

         You see the writing on the wall and there is not a word up there, son. – Amorella.

         I do not feel good internalizing and churning this over and over.

         It is not your call, boy. Never was, never will be. Book five is titled The Mark for a reason; as is the last book, six, titled The Roost. All are your commentary on your time alive, another dimension, so to speak. Sometimes your mind needs to be disassembled and reconstructed so you can at least understand the gear work. Title this “Gear Work Noted” and take a break. Post. – Amorella.

         Lunch was as tasty as usual, home and you want to finish up the Freeman side which you have more material on from Ann Clymer Peat, great, great granddaughter of Philip Freeman and her booklet, “The Freeman Family in Genoa Township, Delaware County, Ohio.”

         There is much here, Amorella. I could do a Freeman Family tree by itself and include everyone. She did a lot of work and it seems worthy of creating.

         Why don’t you include the Schick’s on the same tree as there are a lot on that line also in Delaware and Franklin Counties in Ohio. You will feel better as you already have a separate line of the Orndorff’s and Bookman’s. That way you can include your second cousin, Bob Short and third cousin, David.

         It will be more just to everyone to do that and they could be supplements to Owen’s genealogy.

         Respect for your ancestors fits in directly with the books and blog, orndorff. Common themes of respect and dignity for the entire species from your heartansoulanmind are values that help put you in this personal circumstantial position in the first place. – Amorella.

         You watched a Masterpiece Theatre production and had a snack for supper. You picked up more information from Sharon McKeen Rapp, your niece, and from Wendy Ernsberger Williams, your cousin. The family seems happy you are doing the update and you are happy to oblige.

         No one else seems to have the time but everyone I have asked so far has contributed to the update. Like tonight I found out that Uncle Ernie’s parents both graduated from Otterbein, he in chemistry and she in music. This was rare at the time (early 1900’s) as only one of my grandparents had a high school degree.

         Earlier today I seemed not to have the ‘right’ interest in the writing or the genealogy. I know they are not necessities, but when my enthusiasm is up (as it is now) both projects seem worthy of spending the time on them. How is that?

         Back to the heartansoulanmind, orndorff. People sometimes say, “Your heart isn’t in it,” and this not necessarily true though it may feel true. Your heart is preoccupied with something else. Sometimes the mind is preoccupied. Human beings have a sense of this but they may not be able to articulate what the preoccupation is or was. To some this may seem blasphemous to equate each person with a trinity of being, but that is how I see it in terms of an explanation you can understand, not necessarily know as a fact. For the Living, of course, the body/brain is a fourth state of being, four in one for the Living in the book and three in one state of being for the Dead. 

           You are almost always attempting to grasp the basic human condition because it is important to you to know who you are. Surely others can relate to this. The books and blog are an explanation to yourself. Being is not a noun except for the legalities. Being is a conditional verb. This sounds simple to grasp and it is, but in the modern scientific world it is not so easy to fully accept mentally because a noun is a person. A pronoun “I” is more accurate. People are pronouns, if you will, with the antecedent, ‘being’ actually a verb in usage. A human being is a quantum-like entanglement of physics and otherwise; an existing multidimensional creature (as you can observe in your books and blog). You can take this to heart, but your mind, which should know better, has trouble accepting what your soul completes. Good night, old man. Post. – Amorella. 

Notes - allocation of retirement & time / family historians

        Up earlier, had breakfast, read most of the Sunday paper, and have finished your walk in the Rose Hill Cemetery and are sitting in the car in the southeast corner of Deerfield Township’s gravelawn waiting for Carol to finish her much longer walk. Carol is coming up the lane now. – Amorella.

         You stopped by McD’s for a diet Coke, Carol had a vanilla iced coffee – you sat, chatted and watched the cars go by on Mason-Montgomery Road.

         Observing the variety of vehicles and the colors, etc., is a simple pleasure, I am not sure why we enjoy it, but we do. Retired people passing the time, I guess; anyway the cost is less than three dollar for the drinks and the rest is free. We have a house painting and construction contractor coming out around noon to give an estimate on outside trim painting and toilets and a redo of the downstairs powder room. So, something might get done eventually. I ought to ask about type of composite stone for the countertops and for a new sink, etc. too as it has been a year and we have done nothing so far. I wonder how often other people go through this process?

         You were thinking about adding photographs of the people in the genealogy. Why not? You have lots of photos in the basement – you have been meaning to scan them for more than ten years now. Another ten years might be too late, boy. Kim will be appreciative. – Amorella.

         The photos had crossed my mind but I was going to wait until I got everything else done and in place. I guess I could do it as I work along. I am concerned that it might take too much of my time.

         Orndorff, you forget what you are capable of as far as dividing your time is concerned. You have been doing your exercises and walking now it is time to get that brain of yours better functioning. You can do the books, blog and genealogy and you will feel better in the process. True, you are older, boy, but you are not dead yet. Post. – Amorella.

         Dusk. I am already ready for bed. Chores and errands. Plus, kind relatives have been sending me updated information on their sons and daughters and their sons and daughters (of Owen’s generation. The information is not complete but putting in education is more difficult than I imagined as I started with the name of the high school. I need to go to the basement and find records of Carol and my great aunts and uncles I have decided to not go much further back than that as far as the ‘fuller’ family as concerned. Grandma Schick (born 1889) left high school after the tenth grade but she passed the “Boxer Exam” which was the equivalent of a high school diploma in those days. I never heard of the Boxer Exam.  Grandfather Schick quit at the end of eighth grade to help support his mother. Never knew that before either. But, at least I am getting this down. Once my Aunt Ruthie dies few will know any tidbits of the family.

         Now you can pretend you are the family historian as it is easier for you to pretend than live in the real world. – Amorella.

         I’ll tell you what, Amorella, I will go to the basement and do my research in the family files, much of it gleaned by the real family historians. This is a ‘pretending’ of sorts. I am building a little on the work of those of my grandparents generation who had to work to get the material. Writing letters, going to cemeteries, looking up actual county records. I am not a real family historian and the pretending to be one only makes it more fun. I know who and what I am.

         Arrogant, that is what you are at the moment, boy. All for tonight. Post. – Amorella.
 

Notes - Battleground / in the heart of humankind /

        Mid-morning and you just finished you shortened walk at Pine Hill while Carol moves on to another mile or so around the loop. You still cannot get over seeing the eaglet in the front yard. Majestic bird, much more so in the wild. He gave you side views as well as looked at you directly with those sharp brown eyes. No wonder, you think, they are a bird of folklore.

         He didn’t have a white top yet, but when Tim called to hear my news he had me describe the bird as specifically as I could and then confirmed that it was indeed an eagle. He said their territory is so vast that we may never see him again. That makes the sighting even more important to me. A bit of good luck. We see groundhogs and other similar creatures but this summer we saw a minx come over to that large Ash tree (sixty to seventy feet high). (We have seen minx over here at Pine Hill.) Our property to the north is between ten and thirty yards from the wooded bottom land (sixty to a hundred and fifty yards wide) of Muddy Creek which is the reason for the nature traffic to begin with. Muddy Creek is one of the few creeks that flows north to the Little Miami River which then flows south to the Ohio.

         Home. You had breakfast and read the paper. Carol is watering the new tree from last fall and reading the rest of the paper. Time for a nap on the living room floor.

         Mid-afternoon. You had lunch at Smash Burgers once again. Then over to Aegean Bath Supplies in Tri-County area to see Toto toilets and other materials for a redo of the downstairs powder room. After that a special treat, the old DQ on Rt. 42 in Pisgah. Your first Dairy Queens of the summer. Presently, you are sitting in the car in the parking lot of Kroger’s on Tylersville before heading home.

         Back to the heartansoulanmind hypothesis.

         First, I have a question. It would seem, all things considered, that the soul, at least as I think of it as immortal-like, would be the best ‘bank’, so to speak, to bet on as it would innately ‘know or at least understand’ more than the heart and soul. Soul-brothers sounds better than heart-brothers which sounds better than mind-brothers for instance.

         Let me get into the hypothesis first, orndorff. Perhaps with some patience on your part, you will see where I am going with this. – Amorella.

         It bothers me, for reasons unknown, that this hypothesis goes further than the books and blog. It makes me uneasy to spout a real hypothesis. I don’t even know how to explain it. Carol was asking about the blog at lunch when I told her the blog service said I might be eligible for advertising (which I am not going to do), that I had just enough hits for this. (I am content and grateful for the readership as it is.) She asked what I was doing presently and I told her about the hypothesis concept coming from a question asked by (Doug) John and Nancy Goss. I didn’t know how to go about responding so we moved to generalities about the blog and a new subject quickly came up (grandson Owen probably) and that was that.

         The previous paragraph shows by example how your mind flits in and out of different subjects and even ‘mood tense’ if you will. You constantly interrupt your focus of thought. One point to another and soon you are off in another mental world from where you began. Here’s the way it is, old man. You taught world literature, mainly British literature for thirty-five years and what was important were the words of the authors. You were the ‘Betweener’ for the students. Do you see this? You hoped to facilitate the learning of literature through your heartanmindscape, not your soul. 

           The soul is usually as a thing or a container to be filled or emptied – if the heart and/or the mind rattles the soul, so be it; generally it is a one-way street. However, in making seemingly important decisions, the soul responds, as important (existential-like) decisions affect/effect the soul, its weight (so to speak) its enlightenment and/or its sorrow. Many times the inner confusion of a person (let’s say over love) is between the heart and the mind, not the soul. The mind and heart have separate levels (of personal value importance) to the individual. Sorting these out to put them on a single page can be difficult, sometimes nearly impossible in real life. You can see example of this in every great piece of dramatic theatre ever created. It is through these kinds of tests that one finds out who she or he really is. The battlefield has to be crossed and surrendered to. Something is always surrendered even if one thinks (and legitimately is) a winner of the battle. Enough for now. Post. – Amorella. 

          Later. I can see the battlefield easily enough in the grand scope of literature and theatre, but what about the mind and the soul, as Doug asked. It would seem there could be a profound relationship between the two.

         You see this in your own life through two major works, Paradise Lost and Hamlet; through Milton and the writer of the Shakespeare plays and sonnets. With the mind in hand the soul’s shell opens into a roof shell covered stage, on whose boards the mind can openly dance. Who, What, Where, When, and Why are the walls of such a stage. Science is the set’s construction where the unknown is confronted by reason and intuition and where mysteries great and small can be solved or at least may be partially or fully resolved to the satisfaction of both the mind and soul.  With such thoughts in mind no angelic-like soul fears to tread to any question conceived by or within the heart of humankind. I will return to the original thought, the hypothesis, but you are more comfortable in the confines of softer paragraphical briefings. Post. – Amorella. 

Notes - under-rooting Emerson / hypothesis / the eaglet /

       Shortly after noon. Chores as well as mowing the lawn. Fortunately, it was shady, though quite humid, when you mowed the front and southeast side (beyond the driveway). Only the north side is left to do and it will soon be in full shade. Kim sent you more ‘family’ information on Paul’s known aunts and uncles so you can at least get their names down. His parents are on a special Korean language directed tour of Europe and won’t return for a few weeks.

         I will work on that. I sent out for more information on birthdays and such on our side of the family. Cousins have families that now have families. I have not thought about how all this is continually at work, it is like a bio-chemical piece of machinery. I mean normally one thinks of having sex and having babies, but this is constant and has been, of course. I keep thinking of the species itself having an unconscious constantly regulating the flow and tides of new while the old are constantly dying off; that the species has its own sense of life that has different parameters than we individuals within it. I wonder if a species directed consciousness would have a different understanding of what we see as reality (through our individual and collective selves) – a holistic biological consciousness?

         The concept might even play into the rebellion is some way as the holistic sense of consciousness might realize the physical death is survivable as it is in the books of fiction. It could again, raise the sense of human consciousness to a level between what we know and what we might imagine.

         This sounds like an added ‘species only’ dimension of human reality. – Amorella.

         It is interesting to think and speculate on. I think of Emerson’s ‘collective unconsciousness’ but this would be an off-shoot or ‘under-root’ of Emerson. I’ll have to check it out. Right now though, we are off to lunch.


         Post, as you have the time. - Amorella. 


         Late afternoon. You are at the Barnes and Noble on Fields-Ertel working on the genealogy while waiting on Carol. You stopped for fresh picked corn north of town on the way home and brought some home for you and the King’s next door to the southeast. The lawn still has to be finished but you are waiting until after the national NBC news to do so. Doug and Nancy sent you a note:

** **

Dick, It is curious that the mind is not the brain but uses the brain. Nancy says mind over matter (brain)? So what is the mind/soul?

Doug and Nancy

** **

         You want to respond to this in relationship to the books and blog but you also feel there is a hypothesis that can be derived from the Merlyn fictions of ‘heartansoulanmind’. I agree with you, so later tonight after supper and the work is done we can work on it. First, though, let’s define hypothesis. From the American-Oxford:

** **

Hypothesis: noun ( pl. hypotheses)

a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation: professional astronomers attacked him for popularizing an unconfirmed hypothesis.

Philosophy a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.

** **

         The limited evidence is that we have and have had in most languages for a very long time, the words heart and soul and mind. The mind, in this case, like the heart and soul, are composed of  an intensity of feeling and/or intellect as well as intuition, but these human elements do not appear have a physical base. One cannot measure heart or soul or mind other than to say it appears to be within the individual or it does not. Here, we will assume the base is built into humanity and that evidence of all three can be seen in peoples’ behaviors, that is, the general behavior of the human species.

         Post. I will continue this later. – Amorella.

         After supper when you were about to mow the lawn you saw an eaglet soar in and land on King’s roof. A minute later the bird landed in the middle of your front yard. You stayed quiet hiding behind the Ash tree and shrubs. You could see him easily – some twenty inches long with the body about six or seven inches in diameter, and his off-white feathered legs and feet about five inches below his brown feathered body. The beak was definitely an eagle’s and he swallowed once, you assume he had just eaten a mouse as he had come flying in from slightly above the back yard.

         Most cool. I wished I had had my camera or even phone so I could have called Carol to take a picture, but I didn’t. Over the almost twenty years we have had black snakes, brown-green-yellow garter snakes, mallards, Canadian geese, owls, a pack of five coyotes, deer, red fox, red tail hawks, regular hawks, interesting migrating birds to/from Canada, and assorted other critters I cannot remember. First time for an eaglet – a big bird, bigger than a hawk, and still an eaglet. Merlyn would have liked to see all these creatures I am sure. I’m sure he did in real life.

         It is your natural inclination to lean everything toward the Merlyn books, almost as if to demonstrate you are mostly fiction yourself, but you are not, boy. You’re real enough, and a legal citizen of the United States. However, this very tendency helps you to better come to grips with what you consider the unseen reality of the heart and soul and mind. Dusk has come and almost gone. You are still pumped up about the eaglet. Perhaps later tonight or tomorrow morning we can continue to respond to Doug and Nancy’s question on the mind/soul. In the hypothesis though I am including the heart also. The three are rarely in balance, that is, equal in weight of consciousness. People can become legitimately confused when they do not know themselves well enough. That is no excuse though, not for any self-educated adult human being. Post. - Amorella

         Sometimes you are not very polite, Amorella. People are free, they do not have to work on being self-educated. It is not against the law. Not being self-educated does not make anyone stupid. It is not on a diploma. People are free to think or not to think or to do what they wish to do (as long as it is legal). This hypothesis is not in reference to the books or blog. The inference is rather offensive to me in this present context.

          I will continue tomorrow. Post. - Amorella.