The Rebel

This past Monday, February 20, 2023, the wife and I participated in another water color painting class. This time we painted roosters. Generally, the instructions had us using Antwerp Blue, Paynes Gray, Quinacridone Gold and Windsor Red. The first image was the completed rooster on the instruction sheet. Much of the rooster was to be blue in color, and the wife did not like the idea of painting a blue rooster, so my red-haired Rebel used more of a earth-tone color motif.

Final rooster on the instruction sheet

The red-haired rebels rooster is really quite nice, with well accomplished tail feathers, waddle, comb, not to mention the main body and the way the colors turned out using the salt technique. For part of the breast of the bird, you scatter some salt on a damp, but not too wet or too dry water color on the paper and it crystallizes giving a pattern to the water color. It is really quite interesting. 

The Rebel's rooster

My rooster, on the other hand, lacks refinement and detail. No matter how light I tried to paint, I could not get the feather technique correct. Look at my initials compared to my wife's, both done with the same sized small brush. However, I did receive a compliment of sorts from the instructor on my use of salt as she wondered if I have water colored much before. One look at my tail feathers would have given the answer. But, the salt technique on my rooster I think was enhanced by accident. When you desire to not have a hard edge to a water color, you wet the surface. I used the brush and water to wet the surface. Of course, part of it I wetted too much, so I took the edge of a paper towel and put it on the paper to let it soak up some of the water with the paint. I think this allowed channels to form and which gave part of that salt appearance, but seemingly with more a channel appearance. 

Author's rooster

My wife was the most rebellious person in the class doing a completely different color rooster than prescribed by the instructions. Although it looks more like roosters I have seen, because I don't know if I have ever seen a blue rooster. Water color painting can be forgiving with the right techniques and delicacy of hand. The more water, the less harsh the color and the more it spreads. Even though my wife was the rebel she was also the teacher's pet, getting many compliments on her use of color and her techniques. The instructor appreciated her rebelliousness. I would have done a different color, but, I lacked the confidence to approach on what colors to use. I even used the wrong blue for a while and that is why parts of my rooster has a hint of green.

My channel technique, above the legs

What I do know, is the more I do this, the more my appreciation for artists grows. For example, the red-haired Rebel knows what she is doing. Technique is one thing, and it certainly helps, but an eye for color is just as important, if not more important, in this method as technique. If the colors don't work, I don't think a painting can be saved by technique as it is the colors that first catches the eye. 

Showing more detail of the red-haired Rebel's rooster

A Village Burned

Historical events are often viewed through a present time lens. This makes some sense, as it is the time with which we are engaged. While much of history took place in time with differing values, or cultures, it can still be instructive. From about 1618 to 1648 Central Europe was involved in what we know as the Thirty Years War. I have many lines of ancestors from Bohemia, but research into one line shows the effect of this war on a village they would come to inhabit a century later. This is the story of the burned village of Hlavatce and how Viet Jodl, my 6th great grandfather, came to acquire a holding (to be known as house #8) in Hlavatce in 1720.  

Stable Cadastre Map of Hlavatce, ~1835

The Thirty Years War started when two newly assigned regents of the Austro-Hungarian Empire arrived in Prague and were promptly thrown out the upper floor windows of the Hradčany Castle by Bohemian protestants (this incident is known as the defenestration of Prague). This started what is known today as the Thirty Years War, a mainly religious war that took its name from its length. As with many wars, this resulted in depopulation and migrancy. The US is worried about balloons flying in the atmosphere, and here Hapsburg regents who were to be the Crown's representatives in  Bohemia were thrown out a castle window, or maybe each got their own window. It is reported that both regents survived the 96 foot fall without serious injury. Interestingly, many of the power lords of Bohemia at the time were protestant and it was under their control that the second serfdom commenced in the 16th century, and then continued through the Thirty Years War and until partial emancipation of the serfs in the late 18th century and the final emancipation with land reform in 1848. 

Present time distance Lazistka to Hlavatce

During the Thirty Years War, terror would strike varied settlements. Hlavatce was one settlement affected by the uprising, which is supported by two main pieces of evidence. First, is the 1654 Berni Rula which was an inventory by the governmental authorities for taxation purposes. (Unfortunately, the 1651 census of population known as the 1651 Soupis is lost for this district, which would have provided other evidence.)  We are fortunate that the 1654 Berni Rula survived. The Berni Rula had a column for designating when a holding was resettled, a clear indication that many villages or dwellings saw the same fate as Hlavatce. A review of the Berni Rula for Hlavatce provides a total of 20 landholdings, which would represent many parcels of land around the village. Of these 20 holders only four appear to have either survived the terror of the war or (perhaps more likely) had already resettled on the holdings prior to 1654, but after the destruction. Two more properties are accounted as having been resettled in 1654, leaving 14 total holdings which were still vacant. The title heading these 14 holdings essentially says they are desolate. Further explanation on the page indicates that the properties were burned. 

1654 Berni Rula Holdings in Hlavatce
Simon Soubar would become the Jodl holding
See Haas, 1954

The next, more descriptive evidence comes from the land registers for Hlavatce. Richard D'Amelio translated the Jodl line in two land registers for about 70 years starting in 1720 when Veit Jodl acquired the Hlavatce holding. Richard is diligent in is work, and as part of it he looked back in time from before Veit Jodl acquired what was known as the Šimon Šaubar  holding. The summary Richard provided notes the following: 

The Šimon Šaubar holding (1626-1711 land register for the court district of Hlavatce). This holding is identified as burned at the inception of the 1626 land register. The initial summary text states that the holding had remained abandoned for a period of 40 years to 1662. Furthermore, the register suggests almost every holding in Hlavatce had suffered a similar fate. The descriptive text of a holding sold in 1676, specifically states that it had remained abandoned for a period of 60 years, from the time of the „Vnglikhafften Böhmischen Rebelion [unglückhaften böhmischen Rebelion]“ (Folio 126), suggesting the holding had become so during the Bohemian Revolt of 1618.

From this we are informed that the village saw significant destruction of most, if not all, structures by vandalism induced conflagration in the early part of the Thirty Years War, or Bohemian Revolt. If not in 1618 itself, the destruction likely occurred by 1622. This is supported by the aforementioned tax inventory of the Berni Rula which noted that a vast majority of holdings were still desolate due to being burned. We don't know what side caused the destruction, we only know the village was destroyed.

Hlavatce House #8, Stable Cadastre Indication Sketch
~1826

Following the war, according to the D'Amelio summary, the Šaubar holding was first rebuilt in 1662 by Michael Kreüsinger, with permission of the then Hauptmann (director) of Libějovice dominion for the sum of 77sß 8g 4₰. This amount was was due the manorial authority, since the property had effectively reverted to its control. However, Kreüsinger would only farm the property for three years with the holding being sold in 1665. It must not have been easy to reclaim farm fields that had been fallow for forty years. Pioneer trees, think box elder and silver maple, could easily take hold and be rather good sized trees within only a 20 year time. The property would see seven additional owners over that 55 year time span until 17 Oct 1720 when forty year old Veit Jodl acquired the holding.

Vit and family in 1719 Seigniorial Register for Lazistka
Trebon Archives, Ord 51

Veit Jodl hailed from the village of Lažišťka, which is about 16 miles from Hlavatce, although both villages are in the Libějovice dominion. Veit Jodl acquired the property due to negligence of the prior manger who controlled the holding for only three years. The land register, in its handover to Veit Jodl, makes a point of the condition of the holding, lack of payment and the debts acquired by the previous holder: 

The previous holding owner, Martin Novotný, had managed the land negligently for a period of three years so that the property has become completely dilapidated. In addition, he has accumulated debts here and there, consequently paying little in the way of land tax, and nothing at all in the way of ground rent, for which reason the gracious manorial authority has ordered him to leave the holding....

This would be an expensive property to purchase. Veit's father still controlled the holding in Laziskta, and in the 1719 Seignorial Register Veit, his wife and four of their children are living with his parents and are part of the lodger class, that is he does not hold property. The land register is clear that Veit made no down payment for the property. Generally, it seems to me, the oldest son had more difficulty in obtaining a farm. Generally, in Bohemia, the youngest son took on the father's farm, and if his father is deceased at that point, he may at least have a "down payment" on the holding with his share of of the inheritance being deducted from the amount due to the heirs. I have not had the handover register for Veit's father translated which would give the inheritance that Veit would receive and maybe when he received such payments. 

Land Register Introduction to required Payment
Trebon Archives, Ord 17

In agreeing to purchase the rights to manage the holding, Veit Jodl took on a great deal of debt as the total price was 100sß 8g 4₰. The purchase included the stipulation that "he pay each and every debt which the previous holding owner had been liable, promptly and diligently, alongside an annual installment of 2sß against the carried purchase price".  At 2sß per year on a debt of 100sß 8g 4₰ meant that it would take over 50 years to pay off the encumbrance. By comparison when of Michael Kreüsinger purchased the property in 1662 the price paid was: 77sß 8g 4₰. The additional accrued amount was debts accumulated by the previous owner. Veit not only had to pay the amount due over time he also was agreeing to grant a life provision to the widow (it is unclear whose widow, but probably a prior owner) but such arrangement was "agreed in advance." The register gives a great level of detail on what makes up this over 100 schock grossen debt. The bulk of the payment owed is to the manorial authority, there is also payments to heirs of two prior owners (going as far back as the heirs of the owner from 1681 to 1692), and payment to the negligent owner Martin Novotný for the value he had paid. The manorial authority was gracious to waive the registration fee for Veit, so no payment was due in 1720. It must have been a difficult holding to farm and revitalize, as from 1721 to 1734 Veit only once made a payment over 2sß or more and that was in 1723 when paying 3sß 30g. The last payment to satisfy the debt was made in 1787. Therefore, it took 67 years for Veit, his son, Martin and his grandson, also named Veit, to pay this large debt. 

Detailed accounting of the breakdown of  the100sß 8g 4₰
Veit Jodl has to pay
Trebon Archives Land Register, Ord 17

When Veit Jodl decided to uproot his family he had to weigh the benefits of his owning a farm against the risks of incurring so much debt. Using the 1654 Berni Rula we can see that the Šimon Šaubar holding acquired by Veit Jodl was 30 strich, or about 21 acres. It was slightly larger than the Havel holding in Raiborova Lhota, but its poor condition required a great deal of work. Veit saw that this holding represented his best option for farming.

About one hundred years after the village burned Veit Jodl took advantage of the poor situation, and reconstructed a neglected farm. This began a long-term Jodl family relationship with the #8 Hlavatce holding. The Jodl family would farm the land for many generations as my second great grandmother Anna Jodl's brother Mathias would take on the holding in 1846, just two years before the full serf emancipation and the land reform. The Thirty Years War desolated the village of Hlavatce, and it took two generations for resettlement to occur and even then there was much trial and difficulties. History is complex, but this provides an interesting insight into the Jodl line of the Havel family.

Sources:  

D'Amelio, Richard. Summary of early land registers, Feb 2023.

1954, Haas, Antonin, Berni rula 27 Kraj Prachensko (1654 document)

Trebon Archives, Land Registers, Ordinal 17. Translated by Richard D'Amelio

Trebon Archives, Land Registers, Ordinal 29, Translated by Richard D'Amelio

Trebon Archives, Seigniorial Register, Ord 51. 

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Healing Concrete

With present time thinking many seem to think we are most advanced age, and that we have most all the answers. After all, in our world today there more experts in more fields than at anytime in human history. Yet, for all of the learning, certain items can still be wrong. It happens in the health field, it happens with food (remember trans fats?), and it even occurs with concrete. Concrete is a common construction material since it was first used by the Nabataen's in Syria and Jordan over 6500 years ago. (We best know the Nabataen's for having built Petra in the early fourth century.) As a construction material concrete rose to popularity with the Romans who were the first to use it on a large scale--the Pantheon, the port of Ostia, just two of their large projects. Roman use dates back to perhaps 600 BC. It turns out that all our present time engineering of concrete it is not as good as what the Romans developed over 2,000 years ago. What engineers and scientists thought was sloppy mixing of concrete was in fact something much different. Recent research indicates that the material that was thought to be of sloppy mixing, was actually part of the Roman process of having created self-healing concrete. 

Crack in Concrete Driveway

We have all been on concrete roads with cracks, particularly in northern climate zones with freezing weather. Water that makes its way into the concrete freezes and expands and then cracks the concrete. Perhaps 30 years ago WIDOT attempted to place clear stone, rather than gravel under concrete roads with a drainage system in an attempt to get the water to move out. Two examples of which I am aware of this use are Highway 51 near McFarland, WI, and Highway 151 north of Sun Prairie toward Columbus. I am not sure that met with success. I think the clear stone, rather than a gravel base allowed other soft spots and cracks to develop.

Cracks in one area lead to more cracks as water continues to intrude into the mass. Concrete has very good compressive strength but has poor tensile strength. Concrete is made of small "stones" or grains which means it will always have some microscopic cracks in its formation. Thus, when tensile forces are applied to concrete, these cracks become elongated and eventually the concrete breaks apart. Hence, the need for reinforcement to improve the tensile strength. The reinforcement is usually what we know as rebar, but for some situations like, sidewalks fiberglass strands are used. If concrete is not too thick it may not need much, if any, reinforcement. 

Interior of part of Pantheon Dome

Ironically, the study of Roman concrete by MIT, Harvard, and universities in Italy and Switzerland, was published in the journal Science Advances. In this case, science was advanced by looking at the advanced methods of Roman concrete, processing and construction methods over 2000 years old. For many decades it has been thought the strength and durability of Roman concrete was related to the use of "pozzolanic material such as volcanic ash from the area of Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples. This specific kind of ash was even shipped all across the vast Roman empire to be used in construction, and was described as a key ingredient for concrete in accounts by architects and historians at the time." (MIT News)

Part of the Exterior of the Pantheon

However, it turns out the durability of Roman concrete comes from something called lime clasts, which present day genius' thought was the result of sloppy mixing practices, or poor quality material. Also crucial was the material used and the processing--hot mixing of the concrete. The Roman process also sets and cures much more quickly than our current concrete. It turns out those Roman engineers knew quite a bit more about concrete than our present day engineers. But, it gets much better, and let me quote MIT news so I don't get the substance wrong:

During the hot mixing process, the lime clasts develop a characteristically brittle nanoparticulate architecture, creating an easily fractured and reactive calcium source, which, as the team proposed, could provide a critical self-healing functionality. As soon as tiny cracks start to form within the concrete, they can preferentially travel through the high-surface-area lime clasts. This material can then react with water, creating a calcium-saturated solution, which can recrystallize as calcium carbonate and quickly fill the crack, or react with pozzolanic materials to further strengthen the composite material. These reactions take place spontaneously and therefore automatically heal the cracks before they spread. Previous support for this hypothesis was found through the examination of other Roman concrete samples that exhibited calcite-filled cracks.

Hence, the ingenious Romans developed a self-healing concrete and being over 2,000 years old makes modern day concrete look cracked up (pun intended). The Roman leaders liked their public work projects, regardless of debt, to keep the masses happy. Public works projects to please the masses became more and more prevalent during the dictatorship era, from Julius Caesar becoming the anointed Emperor, on to the end of the empire when it was  overthrown by the Visogoths, a Germanic tribe of barbarians. Some of the Roman Emperors may have taken depravity to new heights, but their engineers knew what they were doing. 

The end of the Roman Empire led to a decrease in learning and opportunities. The barbarian invaders apparently did not much care for concrete or the unique methods the Romans used to make this durable material, and it has now taken 1547 years for why Roman concrete was so good to be made known. I wonder if the road building lobby will adjust to this process? There is already much debate about asphalt or concrete and the state tries to please both powerful lobbies. It could give concrete an advantage, but it may mean they are not rebuilding roads as often. The healing concrete is an amazing invention, and a very good reason why modern people should not think they do every thing better and know more than those in the long past.

Reference:

https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106

Photos by Author

Alexa the Quilter

The Amazon Alexa device is interesting in what information it can provide. My wife was telling the story about a former co-worker who volunteers in the school with young children. Her former co-worker was working on "Th" sounds, and she was wanting the kids to say thermometer, so she said something like your parents would look at this to get the outdoor temperature? They looked at her with rather befuddled faces and she said, what do your parents do when they want to know the temperature? The children responded, "they ask Alexa." Alexa is great telling one the weather, and the outdoor thermometer is going the way of the can opener. But, is Alexa is a quilter?

Amazon Echo Dot

The wife quilts, and sews. Right now she is making quilt that she donates to an organization that works with pregnant women in non-ideal situations. This past Friday night I asked Alexa how much snow are we going to get. She responded 2.16 inches. I have asked before for both rain and snow and marvel at how she gets it to a hundredth of an inch. She could have said 2 inches, or 2.2, but no, she has to go to the hundredth of an inch. Her prediction probably was true as of 5 pm Saturday, but Saturday, from 5 pm to early Sunday AM, we had a good 6 + more inches of snow. I don't even know how you would measure snow to that level of accuracy. I was commenting on her precise amount, and my wife said "she must be a quilter." 

My wife can judge measurements very well, particularly in the smaller dimensions. It comes from her years of sewing and quilting. She may not be as precise as Alexa, to the hundredth of an inch, but she is very close on her estimates. I have even measured times when she gives has given me a measurement, say 2" and I measure and she is right on. Years of sewing and quilting have given her an eye for measurements. 

A Quilt

Alexa has a habit to get chatty, particularly after I ask the question of the day. Alexa always seems to be wanting me to get into some trivia club or group, or try Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader" challenge. The next morning, after my wife's comment Alexa was in one of her chatty moods, and I asked her to stop or end and she continued. My wife made a comment about her being so chatty, and I responded to my wife that, "Well, she is a quilter." I think that is the first time I can recall when my wife did not have comeback, I left her speechless. 

Alexa is great for providing current weather or forecasts for a specific area, although I tend to think her wind level is off. I am still trying to understand how she describes wind speed, breezy one day light breeze even though a higher windspeed the next day. I then came to realize understanding Alexa is like trying to understand what a woman wants.

The Absconder

One never knows what you will find in the land that is called Southern Bohemia. For genealogists Bohemia presents difficulties with changing surnames just one of the issues. For the most part our ancestors were serfs, many were farmers, some with little if any land. Most had a side side trade who went about their daily life with onerous obligations imposed by the domain. I have written a great deal about these difficulties. They lived day-to-day, with the possibility of a negative event leading to possible destitution for the family. I wrote about destitution in the village of Chvalovice farm #1 in which just over thirty year period of time three of four owners had to give up the farm due to poverty, which you can read about here. We also saw how families were impacted by children born out of wedlock in a post of 29 Sept 2022, which is here. There is now the story of a man who absconded and left his children to live out their own lives. This is a story of that circumstance and the absconder.

Georg Bostal marriage to Catherina Broz
He would take on Broz as his surname after
acquiring his father-in-laws holding in Zernovice
Source: Richard D'Amelio report on Bostal

It all began in my search for the marriage record of a woman named Catherina Broz, the daughter of Wenzl Broz of Zernovice. I found the marriage record, and with my normal trouble of deciphering the script I passed it off to my translator. Catherina married, on 3 Nov 1686, a man listed in the parish record as Georg Bostal of Kralovice. Kralovice is west of the Havel family ancestral village of Ratiborova Lhota. Yet, Georg and Catherina are not on the Havel side, they are on my paternal great grandmother's lineage, specifically Theresia Kamen. You cannot trust surnames in Bohemia, and that is the case here. But, Bostal is not really used as a surname, so the question arose where did the name come from? An hour of work by the translator found that Georg's father was Sebastian aka Wostel,  Wastel, and Bastel (where you can see where Bostal came from) with a surname Felckhlhauser, or Hauser for short. I will not go through all of the research that proves this link, as most would find it boring (although I find it rather interesting), rather let me tell the story of what occurred. Wostal took on the Fencl holding in Kralovice in 1654. In 1667 Wostal, or Sebastian, is on that holding with his wife and five children, four males and the youngest at the time a female, who is listed in the 1667 Seignorial Register as 1/2 years of age. Sebastian is an 8th great grandfather to me.

1691 Land Register entry when property is being given up
by Philip Fencl due to poverty
Source: Richard D'Amelio report on Bostal

In 1678 Sebastian cedes the farm for 85 Meissen schock grossen to his stepson, Philip Fencl. Sebastian married the widow Katherina with orphan children (in Bohemia if you lost the father, but your mother was still alive you were still considered an orphan).  The reason for his giving up the farm is listed as old age and destitution. Destitution arose due to his house having burned down not once, but twice! Fire was a constant hazard, and one of the reasons rules would be promulgated requiring masonry construction. By 1683 his wife is not recorded, she is likely dead, and son Josef has now joined the family. Pavel is not listed, meaning he married or died. Later records will show he had married. Georg, my seventh great grandfather who married Catherina Broz, is age 21 and in employment with the Forka mill in Kralovice. In 1684 we first see Sebastian as an absconder having left the dominion with out permission and his status is unknown. The children at the holding are Andrej-27; Georg is 22, noted as a miller; Matous 20; Sophie-17, and Josef-14. Sebastian will show as either an absconder or mendicant in all of the available Seignorial Registers until 1709, when they stop recording him. 

Google Earth Map
showing Zernovice (Broz family); Kralovice (Georg Bostal, ie Hasuer)
Ratiborova Lhota--Havel ancestral village

Like the Chvaolvice farm, the sorry state continues in 1691 when Philip Fencl cedes the farm to Matous Fencl due to destitution. In this situation two prior owners have gone destitute on this farm, and yet some one still wants to buy it. But, as we shall see, money is a long time in coming to the heirs of the grantor. At this point 20 schock grossen is still owed Sebastian Volkhauser (a form of the name Felckhlhauser) "who due to poverty became mendicant and has disappeared."

Four years later we find perhaps the most tragic and horrible part of the story. Sebastian has been gone for 21 years to an unknwon location. The Seignorial Register notes that "Sophie, now 27 years of age, is in detention at Gratzen owing to the fact that she had drowned her child." Sophie may have few memories of her father. It was, unfortunately, not uncommon for a mother who gave birth to an illegitimate child to kill the child and that could be the case here. 

Sophie's age in the records may be five years off.
This is 1662 birth record, but we don't know if this child died 
and the name was given to a child born later.
Source: Trebon archives, located by Richard D'Amelio

The 1711 Land register notes that the value of the farm is owed to Sebastian's heirs, or 30 years after his disappearance, and 33 years after he sold the farm to Pavel Fencl. The identified heirs are: Andreas Sohn (first son), Pavel Kuss (second son), Georg Broz (third son), and Georg Klima. We don't know how Georg Klima enters the picture, perhaps a husband of the likely now deceased Sophia. Also, the youngest son is not listed as an heir so he too may be deceased. 

Georg Broz will die before 1740, having received only 1 schock and 30 grossen of his share of the farm. In 1740 the land register notes that the inheritance is owed his heirs which include: Vojtech, Dorothea, Wenzl, Bartos, Satava (who married Catherina after Georg died and Catherina is now also deceased), and Jakub. In 1747, 69 years after Sebastain Hauser sold the property to Fencl, hid grandchildren get the value of the farm from that sale. Vojtech gets 46 grossen in 1747, or 69 years after his grandfather sold the holding to his stepson. Vojtech also received a share of his late brother Andrej's inheritance. What is amazing is that they kept a long detailed recording of debts owed and Sebastian's grandchildren benefited, and perhaps more amazing is they knew who they were and could find them. These ancestors were likely illiterate, but they wanted things settled fairly. I have to think their memories were probably better since they could not write, depending on oral tradition. What an accounting nightmare, but someone knew what they were doing. In fact, one could say that the domain kept better track of debts owed in the 17th and 18th centuries than politicians keep track of classified documents. 

In 1686 Georg married Catherina Broz and takes her surname as an after-the-roof name. It is interesting that none of Sebastian's children retained the Hauser (Volkhauser or Felckhlhauser) surname. Although they could also be after-the-roof names, too. Georg used a diminutive of Sebastian as his surname when he married, and took over the Broz holding from Catherina's father.  Our ancestors were a tragedy away from poverty. Not only that, the series of events that followed this tragedy, with Sebastian leaving the family, and Sophie having, being blunt, killed her own child, may well be related to the the two fires that destroyed the house and left the family in poverty. It was surely a series of tragic events, and the absconder, Sebastian, did not do his family no favors by running out on them. They were a family left to fend for themselves. 

Water Color

Last week the wife and I enjoyed a water color class sponsored by the Farwell Gallery in McFarland. Rather than getting each other Christmas gifts the wife thought we should do experiences together. Experiences and adventures are seemingly terms, in my mind, popularized by millennials. We had some experiences or adventures but we referred to them as trips. Our trip to Italy, a trip to Disney World, a camping trip. Today the lingo for the same thing is something else.

I am about as far from an artist as one can be. Luckily for us they had a faint outline of the object on our heavy paper. Our canvas, so to speak, was about 5.5" wide by about 8" in length. We did water color of a cardinal. I was pleasantly surprised how well mine turned out in that my hand is not near as steady as Land Girl's. Although, when it comes to painting walls next to trim or the ceiling I often am somewhat successful. 

My Cardinal

What I did find is that water color painting can be forgiving, the instructor showed another student in the class how she can almost lighten all the way to the paper by using a brush and clean water, over and over again. The use of water is key to water coloring. The more water used the lighter the color. We began by painting water on our cardinal bird before adding the red color. To desire less red more water, to desire more red use less water. You move lighter to darker. You can also layer colors as I did using a mix of grey and blue to form a dark, near black. That color can be made less dark by adding water, and you can easily transition by use of water and brush between colors. 

Spouse's Exquisitely Crafted Cardinal

Use and mix of colors is an interesting part of painting. The book I am currently reading is about Michelangelo's frescoing of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He was more a sculptor than a frescoist, but he has produced one of the greatest works of art in the world, as an inexperienced artist in that medium. Raphael, a younger artist was also doing frescoes in the museums of the Vatican at the same time. Raphael's signature work is known as the "School of Athens" also located at the Vatican. The School of Athens is described as Raphael's masterpiece, and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel the peak of Renaissance art. 

School of Athens, by Raphael

When doing the fresco, Michelangelo was very selective in his sourcing of his color choices. Most of his colors he obtained from an abbey in Florence. It was a trying, dangerous and difficult task for the monks to produce some of the colors from varied earth elements and materials. His colors, combined with his brushstrokes and the images he created are beyond compare in the world of art. The finger of God reaching out to Adam's limp hand, the penultimate point of Adam becoming fully human may be the premier work of western art in the world. I suggest you watch the segment of Sister Wendy discussing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, which starts just after the 23 minute mark at this link. 

The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo
Sistine Chapel Ceiling

When my wife and I took our honeymoon trip, I mean adventure, to Italy in 1990, we visited, I mean experienced, the Sistine Chapel. At that point it was in the midst of a multi-year restoration. The boo birds were out, including our guide, with most complaints centering on the brightness of the colors. Centuries of candle wax and soot, used for lighting and liturgical functions, had darkened the colors and people did not think it appropriate for such bold colors. The common complaint was that the artist would not have used such bright colors. The book I am reading, Ross King's (2003) Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling discusses and traces the use of color and it turns out the bright colors were actually used. King relied on his and other's use of documents of purchase and requisition by the artist to come to his conclusions. It turns out the Vatican restorationists did it right. Drab, dark, foreboding colors were not to be the main aspect. After all, it makes sense that vibrant colors would be used since the renaissance is a rebirth. 

Garden of Eden, Michealangelo
Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Frescoing is a difficult and time sensitive technique as the painting has to be accomplished before the plaster dries, but the plaster cannot be too wet. If interested, I encourage you to read the book to find out how cartoons were drawn, transferred, and the method of the execution of the frescoes. Contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo did not lay on his back. King shows this to be a misinterpretation of the original language. He stood, on a scaffold of his own design, and leaned back. Maybe it would have been easier to lie on your back. But, they needed the head room for much of the preparatory work, including the layer of plaster, to doing the actual painting. How would you mix the plaster and other ingredients while in a short height space meant to only lay down and paint a ceiling? Adding to the difficulty is the ceiling itself with its curves and spandrels. Proportion is crucial, given the height of sixty-eight feet above floor. That is about the same distance one has to be away to best appreciate my cardinal water color. Water color painting is more forgiving than that of doing a fresco.

In doing his fresco Michelangelo at times broke out and rebuilt scenes of parts of scenes. With my water color, while I could mesh and massage the color, if I got out the line, I was well, done with, unless I wanted to try and use water and more water to get rid of my mistake, which I thought would just blot it around more on the white paper. The bird tail would have looked hideous if I extended its width to catch my off area water color mark.

School of Athens snip from: https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/collezioni/musei/stanze-di-raffaello/tour-virtuale.html

Creation of Adam and Garden of Eden snips from: https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/tour-virtuale.html

Why Bethlehem?

In April 2013 I visited the Holy Land. It was a fascinating trip, with so much history from Roman times to Christian to the British Mandate, the UN creation of Israel in 1848, the wars and conflicts from then to present. There was also the intake of Arabian and Jewish cultures, interestingly, more Arabian-Muslim then Israeli-Jewish. The trip involved a great number of contrasts. During and after that trip I have wondered why God chose to have Jesus born in the Mideast, and in particular why Bethlehem? That thought occurred to me once again this past week on the Feast of the Epiphany. 

Barricade in Bethlehem

At the time of that 2013 trip, I was struck by how the Mideast always seems to be in turmoil. When you are in the Holy Land the tension is omnipresent. If not war, then something close to it. To travel a few blocks sometimes required a long way around through varied Israeli checkpoints. For example, to get to the tomb of Lazarus, which would have been a five minute walk from the Mount of Olives instead took a 30 to 40 minute ride through I don't recall how many check points.

Manger Square

On January 5, 2023 an Israeli lawmaker visited what is now known as the Temple Mount, which is  home to Al Aqsa Mosque; the mosque being the third holiest site in Islam. Yet, this site is important to Jews. Historically, it was the site of the main Jewish Temple. The western wall of the structure of the old temple, is known as the Wailing Wall, a place of deep prayer for many Jews. That Israeli politician's visit caused such an uproar that a United Nations Security Council meeting was called to discuss the issue. The Associated Press, on Jan 6, 2023 reporting on the Jan 5 visit, tells why a visit is so important, by noting that "In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, visited the Temple Mount, which helped spark clashes that led to a full-fledged Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada." I recall seeing results of the intifadas, with bullet holes in Churches, not to mention the omnipresent barricades and barb wire. Muslims say the visit of Jan 5 infringed on their holy place, Jews view it as anti-Semitism. 

Temple Mount as seen from Garden of Gethsemane

I have found it an irony, but perhaps necessary, that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was born in a region of perennial conflict for well over 2,000 plus years. Jesus, a Jew, we heard his lineage spelled out at mass a few weeks ago, was born in a land under control of the Roman Empire, with the local population in constant discontent to the occupying force. Jesus could well have been born on most any continent, but he was born to Jewish parents in the midst of international tension.

Prayers at the Wailing Wall

His birth in an area of constant turmoil and tension is in part due to the unique geography of the Mideast. It is in the Mideast where east meets west, where north meets south. The Mideast represents the physical place where varied cultures meet and clash. It is a pot of stew with unique characteristics for the varied cultures still identifiable, like carrots, and beef in a homemade stew. The stew is always on the fire, almost ready to boil over at the slightest provocation. Globalization instead of bringing different people together seemingly makes them think of their heritage, their tribe. There is this human desire to belong, and for some it is more than a sports team allegiance. They have a desire to belong to a group that shares their cultural experiences. Culture is important, even at times when we think there is not much difference. 

St Catherine Church, next to the Church of the Nativity 
has bullet holes from providing sanctuary to Palestinians
during one of the uprisings. 

It was just over thirty years ago that Czechoslovakia split in to the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has been termed the Velvet divorce. One report indicates that the Slovaks thought the Czechs were paternalistic and patronizing, and the Czechs thought the Slovaks were ungrateful. (https://kafkadesk.org/2018/10/30/why-did-czechoslovakia-break-up/). To the non-discerning eye they may seem to be similar cultures, but to those imbedded in each I suspect they well recognize the differences. The cultural ties were significantly strong as to lead to separation. 

Roman Ruins in Caesarea, on the Mediterranean Sea 

Blood runs deep, it is part of our human nature, how else to explain all the blood tests for genealogy? So many people in the United States have taken a blood test for genealogy that you don't want to be a criminal and leave your DNA behind as the criminal can be traced. Ethnic groups are formed in large part by geography, cultural heritage, which are often implicit in their blood lines. 

King David's Tomb, at site of Last Supper

The United States is probably unique among Western nations as its settlement came from a variety of ethnic groups, often displacing the indigenous population. The east portion of the US was settled by WASP's, the southwest by the Spanish and the resulting Hispanic ethnic group, and part of the north by the French. Many centuries ago, the continent's indigenous populations arrived from Asia. It is curious to me that the Spanish and indigenous groups sufficiently intermarried to form a new ethnic group (Hispanics), but little of that occurred with the pretentious WASP settlers of the eastern seaboard. The US was (is) dominated by the WASP's for its history and hence our nation's history is written in favor of the  British-WASP dominating culture. 

Cultural and physical geography is important in explaining how the world's populations had and continue to evolve. So, why was Christ not born in Wisconsin? Lack of suitable population. Yet, I think that explanation can be found in physical geography. I heard on the news the morning of Jan 7, 2023 that we have not seen the sun for two weeks, and that within the prior thirty days of Jan 7, 70 percent of those days were cloudy. Let me translate sun to clear nights, clouds to not clear nights. With all those clouds the Maji, or the Three Kings, would never have found the Christ child, because the star would not have been visible. Typical winter Wisconsin winter weather. Could you imagine being Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar and you are leaving, probably years ahead of the birth of the Christ child on the prairies of southern Wisconsin (of course not known as WI at the time), and getting two weeks out from your destination only to find you don't know where to go any more because of an incessant two weeks of cloud cover? If Christ had been born in Wisconsin, I am sure the Feast of the Epiphany would be weeks later. Instead of the Twelve Days of Christmas the song would be the 40 days of Christmas. It would take a lot longer to sing an already long song. How many cultural expressions could be found to add 28 more verses?

As different as cultures are, some items, both good and bad, span the cultural divide. We are all people.

Church of the Beatitudes
We could all do well to use the Beatitudes as a guide

I probably will not know why Christ was born in Bethlehem (at least until I get to heaven), but my take is the overlapping cultures presented a unique opportunity for the world to embrace peace, which has been found fleeting. Of course, Christ's birth was prophesized in the Old Testament (Daniel 9:25 as an example) which places it in the Jewish world, but it could certainly have been chosen to be elsewhere. We do know that Wisconsin's clouds would not allow visitors from the east to make good time. God has given people free will, and that was best expressed by the birth of the Christ child that December night. It is up to us what we do with the free will. My hope is that all in the world will recognize the commonness of our humanity. Come to think of it, that is why Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.