England, Day Four

Yesterday we left behind London and made our way to Witney to stay with Steve's family. As always the company and the food is delightful. For a late dinner yesterday we had a kind of shepherd's pie with spinach and seafood as a filling along with a delicious white Bordeaux. I ordinarily do not like white wine, but this was quite dry and very good.

In the morning I was on my own, so I made immediately for Oxford. There are no words to adequately describe Oxford. As an American I recognize that even our oldest history is quite young, barely four hundred years at the maximum. In Oxford there are pubs that old and all but a few of the college buildings are far older still. I went first to Blackwells bookshop, spending more than two hours purusing their second hand books collection. Last year I had the good fortune to find a copy of "Emulation: A Ritual to Remember" by Colin Dyer. This time, however, though there was only one Masonic title, there were several excellent Russian and Soviet history books. A bonanza for Tandy as it were.

I went right next door to the White Horse and had a ploughman's platter for lunch. Is there any better feeling than sitting in a small English pub reading a book by Dyer, his biography of William Preston? I doubt it. After a delicious lunch, and pint of bitter, I toured the Ashmolean Museum of Science and the Bodleian Library's Milton exhibit. The Milton exhibit rekindled my interest in his and Blake's work. The artistic elements, drawings, woodcuts and typefaces, were all out of the Art Deco and Arts and Crafts period. Very beautiful.

Having spent six hours touring museums and exhibits, Steve was due to meet me in town. I went over to the Kings Arms, very near the Bodlean, and had a pint of fine Cornish Bitter while waiting for him to arrive. Soon enough a huge table of American students appeared and it was momentarily hard to determine which country I was in. I read a bit more of the wonderful Dyer book on Preston, what an interesting man Preston was. I had long held the impression that Preston's dispute regarding the powers of immemorial lodges was based on some important, concrete topic (see Wikipedia), but it turned out to be a somewhat more personal dispute where, perhaps, he made the wrong decision and refused to own up to it. He took the 'passage to Ethiopia' as it were in Masonic terms.

Steve arrived in the midst of my reading about this controversy. Hungry as I could be we went to The Bear for fish and chips, delicious, and then to a few more pubs. We wound up at a pub called "The Cricketer's Arms" in Oxford. A large gray cat wandered in and went up to the patrons looking for a scratch behind the ear. We enjoyed out hand-drawn Old Speckled Hen and relaxed for the remainder of the evening. Then in the words of Pepys: so to bed.

(pictures are at Flickr)

England, Day Six

Steve's parents were eager to show me a quaint English country village, which is how Witney appears to my eyes, so first thing today we were off to Burford. The village was truly beautiful as we sat around having tea at beside the stream running through the village.

Geocache

Nick-nacks museum

lunch of roast beef and yorkshire pudding

England, Day Five

The goal for today was to spend a few hours at the Ashmolean Museum. When I came to England last year the entire museum was closed for repairs and upgrading, so I never had the chance to tour the collection. I rose fairly early, just after seven thirty in the morning, and was due at Steve's parents for breakfast. Suddenly my problems resolved and I had access to work email. After more than an hour reading and responding to email, I suddenly realized it was Saturday. No one would care what I had to say about for several days! I packed up and headed off to meet Steve.

The bus ride was notable for the picture I took of the only toll along the road from Witney to Oxford. The pictures are on Flickr and show the toll being 1p ($0.02 US) per axel. The bridge is only thirty feet long, but that is a pretty inexpensive toll. Once in Oxford, Steve and I spent several hours touring the museum. My favorite household item is a set of six dinner plates with an almost Burma Shave expression on them:

What is A Merry Man



Set him do what he Can



To Entertain his Guests



With wine & Merry Jests



But if his Wife do frown



All merriment Goes Down.

The plates are dated 1738 and are obviously quite humorous. There was also a collection of Beadle's staves or rods. In old Lodge records from the founding in 1717 to the start of the nineteenth century the Tyler was also referred to, occasionally, as the Beadle. Americans best understand this position was the old colonial town crier. The beadle's staff was an important defensive item when walking through the town at all hours. These staves are far more beautiful than the normal painted wood version, and are likely to have been of a more ceremonial nature within Oxford.

For the second day a museum made me late for lunch and it was 2:00pm before we made our way to a pub. FIrst we tried Jude the Obscure in Jericho, but it had stopped serving a few minutes before we arrived. We turned toward St. Giles road and found ourselves at the door of The Royal Oak. It was the penultimate quiet English pub with comfortable chairs and great ale. I had a delicious hand drawn stout, making up or the complete lack of stout, other than Guinness "extra cold," thus far on my trip. Steve and I shared a ploughman's and fisherman' platter and resolved to return soon on Monday for lunch again.

From there we stopped in at the Lamb and Flag then returned to Jude the Obscure. We were both fairly tired, so we were soon back to Witney and to bed.

England, Day Three

Having spent most of the previous day geocaching for work, we elected to get right out and find the spots requested by the family. We were charged to take a photograph of the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park and another at Platform 9 3/4 within King's Cross Station. We rose before 7:00am for another delicious breakfast and headed for the local Tube station.

The morning was crisp and sunny as we walked through Hyde Park for the first photograph. The statue was very near to the Tube station we emerged room, so finding it was a breeze. We wanted to wander the park, but there was more to be done. Back into the Tube and we were soon at King's Cross Station. The platform was easily found and quite accessible. Having captured both of us on film, much to Steve's consternation, we wondered what to do next. Steve convinced me to go the United Grand Lodge of England Library on Great Queen St, Holborn.

It had long been my plan to spend at least a day at the Grand Lodge Library, but the jet lag/late arrival on the first day ruled out Tuesday. Then Wednesday was first recovering and then geocaching. I had all but lost hope of even seeing the Grand Lodge. We skipped right over lunch and went directly to the Holborn Tube station.

We had hoped to tour the facility, but there was some activity going on which prevented their normal tours. We were shown to the library and museum. Impressive does not do it justice. The collection within the museum is quite diverse, but my favorite objects remain the early operative 'tracing boards'. While Steve wandered through the museum I got right down to business, registering as a reader and requesting texts. One of the books I wanted to see had gone missing from the collection, something the library is likely to encounter often as they finish computerizing their entire catalog. This setback and the inapplicability of the first few texts was starting to dim my hopes of finding the ritual text I was seeking. Then I selected one of the titles I had noted down a few months ago, while using the UGLE Library online catalog. The text must have been fairly rare as my request had to be authorized by the Librarian, which it was, and shortly I was reading my eureka text. I will write more about this item later.

Poor Steve wandered around the museum for several hours while I did more research. At 2:00pm we rushed back to the hotel for our luggage, and my Past Master's Jewel, which was stored in the hotel safe. Back to the Tube, off at Victoria Station and the coach to Oxford. The English hierarchy of bus and coach I am finally beginning to understand!

(pictures are at Flickr)

England, Day Two

Probably owing to our commitment not to sleep before 9pm, we actually managed to get a solid twelve hours of sleep. Both Steve and I feel like we are on local time already. We dragged out of bed to what has to be the finest hotel breakfast which could possibly meet our eyes. There were three buffets with cereal and fruit, eggs and accoutrements, and a selection of smoked fish. It was delightful and really filled us up. Furthermore, the Hilton staff were just wonderful keeping the buffet going even though we arrived three minutes before closing. I would certainly stay there again.

Today we spent a lot of time taking the Tube from place to place. Our mission today, from *******, was to drop off a geotag in a cache somewhere in London. We selected the Winchester Geese Cache primarily due to its proximity to a Tube stop and its fascinating history. The site was all it was billed to be. There were ribbons and poems hung on the gate by the hundreds, perhaps more numerous than that. We registered in the cache log and headed back into London to find a nice pub.

The Cloud...How I hate that company. Their web site offered a wonderful deal £9.99 per month with access from cafes and pubs all over England. Their coverage map looked great, so I signed up excitedly before leaving the US. The reality turned out to be quite different. Their coverage map is terribly out of date and once connected the network is dreadfully slow. I had made an appointment to video conference with my wife and daughters at 4:30pm, after their half-day at school. Steve and I wound up twice ordering pints while I settled in to make a connection. Then finding the coverage to be absent or too slow to use, we left our pints hardly half consumed as we headed for another location. I am particular irritated that I had to leave behind one of my favorite English ales: Bishop's Finger.

After finding a coffee shop with the Cloud operating, I had my text chat with the family as the connection was far too slow for video. We returned to our hotel to drop off our bags and seek dinner. After some discussion we elected to have dinner at a little Persian restaurant two blocks west from our hotel. The food was simple, but wonderful. We particularly enjoyed the viciously hot tea and nearly too sweet baklava.

Following dinner we quested for a fine pub to relax in for a few pints. Though we walked all over Kensington nothing suited our fancy until we returned to The Warwick Arms. The comfortable leather chairs and quiet conversation epitomizes the English pub and made our evening complete. It also might have been the hand drawn Fuller's ESB followed by a Bells, but who can tell!

England, Day One

We arrived at 9:30am to a cool, gray skyline with a drip of rain here and there. It looks much like you would expect England to, although last year, thanks to global warming, the weather was gloriously warm and completely precipitation free. We grabbed our bags and made for the exit.

Lucky for me I was traveling with and real Englishman, Steve, who steered me away from the taxi stand, my preference, and onto the London Tube: mind the gap! We took the Tube from Heathrow to Earl's Court and then walked the remaining three blocks to our hotel. The walk was exhausting for me since I had brought toys, more on that later, leaving me in the larger bag with no wheels. The Hilton Olympia looks to be a 1960-1970s era hotel which has been mildly refitted, but is not particularly beautiful. After we dropped our bags off we wandered down Kensington High Street looking for Vodafone, SIM cards, and a pub, ale and lunch.

The young lady at Vodafone, Natalie, was helpful and had us up and running in no time. Steve was given an unlocked Nokia by a fellow at work while I was given a monster Sierra Wireless. My phone was a beast: slow, high power drain, bad cell reception and complicated. Steve lucked out in a a big way. In the end, however, we were able to call each other and numbers within the UK which was the critical goal.

Must of the rest of the day is a complete blur, owing to my being so tired. We had a lunch at a pub off of High Street on Kensington, wandered around a bit and then settled into the warm leather chairs at The Warwick Arms.

Off to England

After some back and forth for forgotten items, Steve and I finally arrived at Concord Trailways in Portland. We both prefer public transportation to driving and the cost to park for two weeks in Boston is outrageous. Since I am going to be in land of Real Ale for an extended stay I fortified myself with a does of Maine's own beverage: Moxie. I like it quite a bit, but it still tastes like Crest and Coke. Cheers!

The attraction bringing us to England, other than the great beauty of the land itself, is the ACCU Conference. The conference is ostensibly about C and C++ programming. It delves much deeper than that into the issues attendant on large scale software development efforts: design and architecture. As a software architect, this information is at the heart of what I do on a daily basis for *******. Last year the sessions covering architectural analysis, team coaching, and software cost estimation were insightful. At the other end of the spectrum there were many sessions which resurrected the important lessons of computer science and applied them to the craft of software development. Few accomplished this task more effectively than Andrei Alexandrescu and John Lakos. Suffice it to say that I find it difficult to choose my schedule as there are so many valuable, overlapping sessions.

Having arrived at Logan Airport in Boston, we learned our flight was delayed. Not by a few minutes, but by three hours! Poor Steve has wretched battery life on his Latitude (hate those machines), so we were continuously tethered to power sources. Why is it that airports never have comfortable seating and power in the same place? The airport WIFI infrastructure was also not particularly great. Though it teased us with promises of flight information, the link always returned us to the front page.

Our flight finally boarded at 11pm and we settled into our slightly dilapidated seats. Apparently our scheduled plane had a problem, leaving us with a model previously headed for retrofit. The staff on board were plenty nice, as always, and we had a relaxing flight to England.

My 50% Camera

While performing my final packing for my two week trip to England for the ACCU Conference next week, I realized my older daughter wandered off with my camera. It is a bulky, unwieldy beast, a Canon A560 or some such, and I had been planning to retire it before heading of to paradise at the end of April. Borrowing my wife's fancy 8mp camera seemed like no big deal to me, but before I knew it we were standing at Office Depot looking at a new model.

I was puzzled by this turn of events because Tandy is our head of finance here at the Ratliff Household and is tight with a buck. Not penurious the way my friend Amos is, but careful nonetheless. I picked out a new Casio Exilim 7.2mp, which I had been eying for at least six months, and walked out of the store with a new camera.

With new toy in hand I had to ask why. The answer was something else. Apparently, Tandy thinks about numbers when she is doing her crazy-early Master's swim program. Recently she realized that we two have been together for more than 50% of my lifetime. No, not 50% of my adult lifespan, the whole shebang! She wanted to buy something special for me to commemorate the event, but as I thought about the kind of forbearance it takes to spend almost nineteen years with me I wondered if I ought to be buying her something! I understand my turn comes around during this summer.

District Meeting

What a day! On Saturday the 17th Masonic District, essentially the Cumberland County region for Maine Freemasonry, had its annual meeting. The Grand Master was in attendance along with more brass than you could count with fingers and toes. Since the event was being held at my Mother Lodge, Deering Lodge No. 183 in Portland, Bro. Chris DiSotto and I ran the dinner. The cooking began at noon and we were able to offer people a choice of prime rib, salmon or an entirely vegetarian pasta dish. Feeding 100 people in a single sitting was a new accomplishment, leaving the entire kitchen crew exhausted by 7:30pm. We were very happy with the results.

The meeting itself was considerably more engaging than I remembered from the past. The District Deputy Grand Master, R.W. Bro. Kenneth Caldwell, ran a fabulous meeting filled with many surprise awards. V.W. Bro. Walter Lamb received the Daniel Carter Beard Award for his work with the Boy Scouts of America. Bro. Chris DiSotto received the Mason of the Year Award from the District. While ordinarily each of the nine lodges recommends a different Brother, this year six of the nine joined together in recommending Bro. DiSotto for his work within the District. It was a moving moment for a good man. Another wonderful Deering Lodge Brother, Bro. Robert Wade, Sr., received a very special award. He was appointed as Assistant Grand Tyler. His son was previously a Grand Steward making for two Grand Officers in one family!

The remarks by the Masters of the District, dignitaries and Grand Master were very interesting. There were two which made a particular impact on me. R.W. Bro. Ray McLellan, Master of Casco Lodge in Yarmouth, is in charge of a very active, community focused lodge. He is having a lot of success at his lodge and brings an "old school" sense of dignity to the office which is a good reminder for we younger Masters. Hopefully we will be able to set up opportunities for him to convey his know-how to officers in the other lodges. While not every lodge should necessarily be so focused on the community, they might be able to use a few of his techniques. The other interesting remarks were by the Grand Master. He noted two important shifts in membership statistics at the Grand Lodge level. First, our average age for new members has dropped from the 40s to the 30s, a great sign for the fraternity. Second, the number of new members is greater than the number of suspensions, for non-payment of dues, for the third consecutive year. These are both very good signs for the Craft and analyzing why their causation will take more time to uncover.

The final news to come from the District Meeting is the appointment of V.W. Bro. Walter Lamb as our new District Deputy Grand Master and yours truly as the new District Education Representative. Our installation will take place on the first Tuesday in May after the Annual Communication of Grand Lodge. I have high hopes that we will make a good team stewarding the District through an exciting time of growth and change. The family tells me that I get no special privileges as a "Very Worshipful" and I still have to do all my chores. Darn!

Hitler Speaks - Documentary about Hitler's Private Videos

It is a rare thing when two of my most significant interests come together with such a sense of wonder. One of the postings on digg today was a documentary about software developed to improve the quality of lip reading even when the individual turns away as much as 100 degrees. The software was amazing and listening to the resulting audio was equally astounding. The video is just over forty-five minutes, so curl up on the couch and watch it:

Many of Hitler's private videos have no audio. For the first time, lip recognition software can find what he said in them. [From Hitler Speaks - Documentary about Hitler's Private Videos]

Morals and Dogma

At long last I have in my hands the most owned and least read book in all of Freemasonry. From the moment you first set eyes on the thing it is clear why this might be considered a magnum opus: it is huge. The first degree I opened to was "Grand Elect Mason," which is my primary obligation in the Scottish Rite as an Officer of the Lodge of Perfection. Far from being impenetrable the second paragraph is completely engaging:

Public opinion is rarely right on any point; and there are and always will be important truths to be substituted in that opinion in the place of many errors and absurd and injurious prejudices. There are few truths that public opinion has not at some time hated and persecuted as heresies; and few errors that have not at some time seemed to it truths radiant from the immediate presence of God.

I think I am going to enjoy this book!

Changing Ritual

Since I mentioned my concerns about the Scottish Rite ritual in passing yesterday, I thought I should provide some valuable context. My specific area of research is the development of Masonic ritual, with a focus on its development here in New England. Freemasons, in modern times, believe their ritual is today as it always has been. This could not be further from the truth. Here in Maine, for instance, the ritual underwent several significant revisions:

• 1820
  
  We lost our use of the Antients Ritual and shifted exclusively to the Moderns (Webb) style.



• 1852-1855
  
  The Grand Lodge of Maine agreed upon an authorized ritual as exemplified by M.W. Bro. John Miller. The ritual style we inherited from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts had been lost when they moved to the Baltimore Ritual in 1844.



• 1874
  
  The Grand Lodge of Maine adopted new lectures as performed by M.W. Bro. Timothy Murray.



• 1894
  
  The Grand Lodge of Maine commissioned a committee to review and publish a new authorized ritual, plain text, for the exclusive use of the Grand Lecturer. This ritual shed a number of very beautiful elements in favor of brevity.



• 19?? (I have not yet reached the 20th century...)
  
  A final revision of the ritual, which I have not yet found, added a number of new elements, included two new exchanges between the Master and Deacons. It also restructured the Master Mason lecture in a way that materially changed the symbolic portion of the lecture.
  

These revisions added a few pieces of valuable coordination in the catechism, but in general shortened some of the more beautiful language. The changes to the Master Mason lecture in particular are disappointing because they brought the Master's Carpet into the exoteric class, rather than leaving it as an independent element. Suddenly all of the very old slides which do not include the Master's Carpet make a lot of sense!

Having learned so much of this history, I dearly wish I could go back and speak with the Past Grand Lecturers and Past Grand Masters and warn them. They firmly believed that they were hewing to a more ancient form of the ritual, but with all of the documents to come to light since 1894 and all of previously secreted manuscript ciphers this assertion appears unfounded. Rather than restore an older ritual, they created a new distinct one. The ceremonies are only mildly less beautiful, yet would that we could prevent those changes from having happened.

With this in mind, I try to pay careful attention to any changes to ritual and attempt to look forward a hundred years to imagine the impact of the change. Any revision which results in a massive shortening of the degree has, in my opinion, a significant risk of being amplified in the future leaving us with but a hint at its ancient beauty. Here in Maine, I have been happy with the openness of our Masonic leaders to talk through such matters and seriously consider the impact before making a change. It appears, in like manner, the Scottish Rite (NMJ) is also open to such conversation. I look forward to gaining more understanding regarding our own process for revising the ritual and sharing my concerns regarding the long term impact of shortening.

Seriously Zerubbabel

For the past three years I have been playing Zerubbabel for the Scottish Rite Valley of Portland. Previously my role was limited to Zerubbabel in his later years, as recorded in the Apocrypha, when he returns to Persia to ask for the help of Darius to ensure the completion of the Second Temple. The role is a lot of fun, but is very serious. You have to play a man so imbued with righteous anger that he is willing to fly off the handle in front of the King and his nobles. Having argued with my share of Developer Kings and Masonic Kings, I find the role a quite natural fit.

This year the part of Zerubbabel in the 15th degree was added to my plate. While I was more than mildly disappointed in the 2005 version of the ritual[1], the role itself was a thrilling experience. This degree takes place at the end of the Babylonian Captivity and revolves around the interactions of Zerubbabel and Cyrus and Zerubbabel and Abazar. In simple terms, Cyrus is the judge and Abazar is the tempter, classical templates there. Considering the intensity of the dialog, I found the passivity of the guards to be quite odd. During the rehearsals this year I kept prodding them to be more forceful until finally they decided to get the better of me. One of my most valued Masonic mentors played the role of Abazar and he too was more than willing to push me around as well. By the end of the play, when the tempted, threatened, and tortured Zerubbabel is brought before King Cyrus, who shouts at him to answer immediately, it did feel real. The guards and I were breathing heavily from our struggle and I was easily able to summon up a sense duress. Rather than the refusal being haughty or noble, it felt more tired as if I would die rather than surrender. That is the young Zerubbabel as I see him now.

Having understood, for the first time, the first degree, the second gained a completely new richness. I see with new eyes the Zerubbabel I had loved for years. Perhaps his words in the first section of the 16th degree sound more petulant to me now than before, but it certainly gives a better insight into how to play that role effectively and clearly. I also heard, for the first time, the ritual music of the 16th, but I will write about that later. Now more than ever I want to study and understand the Scottish Rite Degrees. My thanks go out to R.W. Bros. Jake Caldwell and Jeffry Simonton for getting me into the Scottish Rite. Some days it makes me crazy, but no matter what I still love it.

[1] I would like to add that the Sovereign Grand Commander, Ill. Bro. McNaughton, and his Ritual Committee have been very gracious in engaging in a dialog with me about my concerns. This kind of openness really impresses me about the Scottish Rite.

Guthrie College of the Consistory

An esteemed Brother called me a week ago and asked if I knew about the Guthrie College of the Consistory. As a novice to the Scottish Rite I had no idea what he was talking about. In the wired, multi-tasking world, however, while he spoke to me on the phone I was reading their web site and filling out and application form. The materials arrived on Thursday and I look forward to taking the enclosed examination. Participating in a group effort to study the history, meaning and ritual of the Scottish Rite is of tremendous interest to me at this point in my Masonic career. Are you in the program?

By the way, I still have yet to receive my copy of Morals and Dogma. If I follow the advice I was given (see the comments for Albert Pike), there are going to be a lot of English people staring at me!

Zerubbabel

Here in the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction the primary character in the 15th (Knight of the East) and 16th (Prince of Jerusalem) degrees is Zerubbabel. The role is an exciting one to play as he stands up bravely to kings and nobles alike in the pursuit of his principles. Despite being a prince of the house of David he never, in these moral plays, takes the road of reconciliation , but always steers by his principles regardless of the consequences to him or his people. He is a complicated semi-heroic character and one I can relate to on a personal level (just ask the poor Deputy for Maine).

As always there is a thirst for more knowledge when studying a degree, so the question is where to learn more about Zerubbabel. Thus far I have read Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Sefer Zerubbabel (or the Apocalypse of Zerubbabel). Are there other good texts out there for the story of Zerubabbel?

(update: No soon is this posted than I found Esdras from the Apocrypha and our hero spelled "Zorobabel".)

Albert Pike

At long last, I finally ordered a copy of Morals and Dogma. Having seen so many unopened copies floating around I had intended to wait until a kind soul offered me their copy for free. Unfortunately, having been in the Scottish Rite a few years now, my keen interest in reading Albert Pike's magnum opus has outweighed my patience. I have one other work by Pike, Sepher h'Debarim, and a daunting text it is. I have tried, on several occasions, to really concentrate and read this book. While I did learn a number of interesting things, some of his ideas were then, and are now, called into question by professional scholars, raising as to the validity of his other translations. It is also more of a reference work, to be used when studying the origin and relationship of words used in the Craft and Scottish Rite Degrees. Hopefully, Morals and Dogma will be less impenetrable than the Sepher h'Debarim!

On the topic of Pike and Scottish Rite ritual. I have become quite interested in the history and development of Scottish Rite ritual here in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. These previous ten years have found the Craft ritual in general, and specifically here in Maine, as my primary focus of study. As I ascend through the Yates Lodge of Perfection here in Portland, the Scottish Rite ritual is becoming an item of strong interest. I have been given access to read the most recent versions of the 4th-16th degrees, and as always there are more questions than answers. With any luck I will be able to obtain access to the versions over the last hundred years or so and begin to understand how the degrees have grown and changed.