island life- in a monastery

Naomi with her Two Daughters-in-Law-Chagall

Perhaps no woman is more “immortalized” in the Old Testament than RUTH, a widow and a Moabite who became the daughter-in-law of Rahab. Ruth's story is a beautiful one of loyalty. She is one of the few women in the Bible who have a whole book named after her. Her vow to the mother of her dead husband has become a classic quote, often used in weddings to indicate the bride's and/or groom's intentions of loyalty.

Ruth Gleaning- Chagall

Ruth remains loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi after the death of her husband and in-laws. Naomi decides to return to her home land of Bethlehem alone, however, Ruth insists on staying with her and adopting Naomi’s God as her own. “But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (1:16).

We then see Ruth gleaning in the fields of Naomi’s relative Boaz. Boaz out of compassion and obedience to the law allows Ruth to glean but also leaves extra grain for her purposely. Shrewdly, Naomi advised the young woman how to catch her man. Ruth approached Boaz during the night, at the threshing floor. The next morning, Ruth suggested that they marry, reminding Boaz of his obligation to her as her nearest male kin. Boaz promised to do all he could. Ruth's loyalty was rewarded and she became his wife. She had a son called Obed, and Naomi cared for the child, who would grow up to be the grandfather of King David.

Ruth at the Feet of Boaz- Chagall

Ruth's loyalty to Naomi, led to a faith in and loyalty to the God of the Jews. In the tradition of her new mother-in-law, Rahab, Ruth became a part of the lineage of Jesus because of her faith.

Even Ruth, a foreigner from the despised Moabites, could move God's plan towards fulfillment. Its purpose was to demonstrate the kind of love, and faithfulness that God desires for us. It shows the difference between what happens when a nation does not follow in obedience to the covenant of God (Judges), and when God’s people follow in faithfulness within the covenant (Ruth).

Ruth Thomas Hood (1799–1845)

She stood breast high amid the corn,
Clasped by the golden light of morn,
Like the sweetheart of the sun,
Who many a glowing kiss had won.

On her cheek an autumn flush,
Deeply ripened;—such a blush
In the midst of brown was born,
Like red poppies grown with corn.

Round her eyes her tresses fell,
Which were blackest none could tell,
But long lashes veiled a light,
That had else been all too bright.

Ruth & Boaz- Chagall

And her hat, with shady brim,
Made her tressy forehead dim;—
Thus she stood amid the stooks,
Praising God with sweetest looks:—

Sure, I said, heaven did not mean,
Where I reap thou shouldst but glean,
Lay thy sheaf adown and come,
Share my harvest and my home.

Bathsheba- Paul Cezanne

Another woman mentioned in Jesus' genealogy is only referred to as "Uriah's wife" (Matthew 1:6), emphasizing the fact that BATHSHEBAbecame King David's wife only after committing adultery with David, who then arranged for her husband to be killed in battle to cover up their shame (2 Samuel 11-12). Again, shame is often assigned to Bathsheba because she was bathing on the roof of her house when her beauty happened to catch the king's eye.

Bathsheba was from David's own tribe and the granddaughter of one of David's closest advisers. She was the mother of Solomon, who succeeded David as king, making her the Queen Mother.
The story is told that David, while walking on the roof of his palace, saw Bathsheba, who was then the wife of Uriah, having a bath. He immediately desired her and later made her pregnant.

In an effort to conceal his sin, David summoned Uriah from the army (with whom he was on campaign) in the hope that Uriah would re-consummate his marriage and think that the child was his. Uriah was unwilling to violate the ancient kingdom rule applying to warriors in active service. Rather than go home to his own bed, he preferred to remain with the palace troops.

After repeated efforts to convince Uriah to have sex with Bathsheba, the king gave the order to his general, Joab, that Uriah should be placed in the front lines of the battle, where it was the most dangerous, and left to the hands of the enemy where he was more likely to die. David had Uriah himself carry the message that ordered his death. At the news of his death, we are told that Bathsheba mourned for Uriah, which makes us wonder what her part in the whole affair really was.

David & Bathsheba- Chagall

David's action was displeasing to the Lord, so He sent David's close friend Nathan the prophet to reproved him for his actions.The king at once confessed his sin and expressed sincere repentance. Bathsheba's child by David was struck with a severe illness and died a few days after birth, which the king accepted as his punishment.

David made the now widowed Bathsheba his wife. David is clearly the one in control. The difference in status and power would have made it impossible for Bathsheba to resist David's advances. What we learn from this sordid affair is that God can transform situations and bring about newness and hope. David repented of his sin and had a genuine marriage with Bathsheba, resulting in the birth of Solomon, known for his wisdom.

Even where society did not encourage the inclusion of females in genealogies, the faith of these four women of the Old testament was so strong they burst out of the confines of the socially accepted norm. God is able to take those who appear insignificant and unlikely to succeed and transform them into important witnesses to the power of God! An Advent lesson for us all!

David & Bathsheba- Chagall

J. Kirk Richards

The fifth and final woman listed in Matthew's genealogy is Jesus' mother, MARY. She is depicted as a young woman, a virgin, who was engaged to Joseph. Engagements were serious contracts between two families usually lasting about a year before the couple was formally married and began to live together. The penalty for sexual misconduct was anywhere from being stoned to death to annulling the engagement (divorcing her, Matthew 1:19) and sending the woman back to her family in disgrace.

The genealogy of Jesus is a description of the descent of Jesus. The New Testament provides two: one in the Gospel of Luke and another in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's starts with Abraham, through King David and his son Solomon, down the legal line of the kings via Jeconiah to Joseph. Luke gives a different genealogy, starting with Adam, through Nathan, a minor son of David, and again to Joseph.

St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, made the astute observation that Mary and Joseph belonged to the same clan and so would have common descendents. Her genealogy is given in Luke 3 . She was of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David. She was connected by marriage with her cousin Elisabeth, who was of the lineage of Aaron (Luke 1:36).

Joseph was clearly the son of Jacob (Matthew 1:16), Thus, the genealogy of Christ in Luke is actually the genealogy of Mary, while Matthew gives that of Joseph.

Arcabas

The two genealogies show that both parents were descendants of David: Joseph through Solomon (Matthew 1:7-15), thus inheriting the legal right to the throne of David, and Mary through Nathan (Luke 3:23-31), her line thus carrying the seed of David, since Solomon’s line had been refused the throne because of Jechoniah’s sin.

Matthew inserts four women into the long list of men. The women are included early in the genealogy, as we have mentioned in past Blogs, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Why Matthew chose to include these particular women, while passing over others such as the matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, has been much discussed.

There may be a common thread among these four women, to which Matthew wishes to draw attention. He sees God working through Tamar's seduction of her father-in-law, through the collusion of Rahab the harlot with Joshua's spies, through Ruth the Moabite's unexpected marriage with Boaz, and through David and Bathsheba's adultery.

It has been suggested that Matthew may be preparing future generations for the inclusion of the Gentiles in Christ's mission. Others point out an apparent element of sinfulness, emphasizing God's grace in response to sin.

Matthew gives us the story of Joseph's struggle with Mary's virgin conception. He is described as a good man who did not want to bring disgrace or death on Mary, but struggled with believing that she had not been unfaithful to him. Joseph does believe Mary after an angel appears to him in a dream and confirms what Mary told him.

Left unsaid is how Mary had the courage to tell Joseph that she was pregnant. But that courage and willingness to be the servant of the Lord (Luke 1:38) enabled her to bear the shame of a pregnancy before marriage and to be the mother of the Messiah.

Our first four women in Jesus genealogy were in the Old Testament, His Mother Mary is the "new Eve", entering into the salvation history of her Son, our Redeemer, the King not only of the Jews, but all peoples.

Nativity- Brian Kershisnik

This year I chose as my personal Christmas card the lovely "Madonna of the Fir Tree" which I first saw some years ago when our then Archbishop Brunette used it as his greeting. Other than the gentle, vivid loveliness of the piece, what strikes me is the crow sitting in a tree to the left of the Virgin. A little research on the artist let me to this information:.

Marianne Stokes (1855-1927), born Marianne Preindlsberger in the Austrian province of Styria, was an Austrian painter. She settled in England after her marriage to Adrian Scott Stokes (1854-1935), the landscape painter, whom she had met in Pont-Aven. Marianne was considered one of the leading artists in Victorian England. Her paintings were met with much love and admiration, both for their appeal and her devotion to the rustic genre style, no matter the subject.

J. Kirk Richards

The Child Jesus to Mary, the Rose
A Ballade John Lydgate, OSB
Translated by Jacob Riyeff

My Father above, seeing your hopeful meekness,
spread balm like dew on Roses where you stood
and sent his Spirit, greatest summit of cleanness,
into your breast (O Rose of womanhood!)
when I for man was born in humble manhood:
for this, with myriad Roses of heavenly sway,
I rejoice to play before your holy face.

Kindest mother! who from the first enclosed
the blesséd bud that sprang out of Jesse,
of Judah you are the single perfect Rose

J. Kirk Richards

chosen by my Father for your firm humility—
you the purest, never fading, bore me:
for this, with myriad Roses pure and chaste,
I rejoice to play before your holy face.

O mother! mother! in great mercy you stand,
fairest mother living on whom we call!
Though I have suffered bloody wounds for man,
five Roses there are among them all
against whose mercies devils fight and fall.
Rose of succor, hear man’s surest grace:
when to me they pray before your holy face.

John Lydgate (c.1370-1449/50) was a Benedictine monk of
Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds in eastern England. He is
best known for his prolific work as a poet. He saw himself as
following in the footsteps of Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote on
many topics and in many genres, but the monastic cast
of his poetry, which combines piety and learning, is evident
throughout. I have translated here one of Lydgate’s short
poems, a Chaucerian ballade with rime royal stanzas.

J. Kirk Richards

Joel Kirk Richards (born 1976) is an American artist who specializes in Judeo-Christian themes.
He was raised in Provo, Utah and studied at Brigham Young University. Richards attributes much of his love for the arts to an early emphasis on musical training in his parents’ home.

Much of Richards's work focuses on the life of Jesus. Two years in Rome influenced his art, which often consists of subdued browns and rusts. His love of the textural, the poetic, and the mysterious makes his art unique.

When the Magi came in search of Jesus, they go to Herod the Great in Jerusalem and ask where to find the newborn "King of the Jews". Herod becomes paranoid that the Child will threaten his throne, and seeks to kill Him . Herod initiates the Massacre of the Innocents in hopes of killing the Child (Matthew 2:16). But an angel appears to Joseph and warns Joseph to take Jesus and his mother into Egypt (Matthew 2:13).

Arcabas

Egypt was a logical place to find refuge, as it was outside the dominions of King Herod, but both Egypt and Palestine were part of the Roman Empire, linked by a coastal road known as "the way of the sea", making travel between them easy and relatively safe.

Interesting to note the Flight into Egypt is one of the listed Seven Sorrows of Mary.

At Al-Maṭariyyah, then in Heliopolis and now part of Cairo, there is a sycamore tree (and adjacent chapel) that is a 1672 planting replacing an earlier tree under which Mary was said to have rested, or in some versions hidden from pursuers in the hollow trunk, while pious spiders covered the entrance with dense webs.

The Flight into Egypt was a popular subject in art, showing Mary with the baby on a donkey, led by Joseph, borrowing the older iconography of the rare Byzantine Journey to Bethlehem. Before 1525, it usually formed part of a larger cycle, whether of the Nativity, or the Life of Christ or Life of the Virgin. After paintings of the Nativity of Jesus, the Flight is the most popular subjects in the life of the Christ Child.

The artist of these painting is one of my new favorites and to me conveys the mystery of this feast in a way words cannot. His use of colors in his art is vivid and wondrous.

Jean-Marie Pirot known as ARCABAS, a name given by his pupils, is a French contemporary sacred artist. Born in Tremery, France in 1926, he moved to Canada in 1969, where he was appointed guest artist by the Canadian government, and was a professor of the University of Ottawa. In 1972 he moved back to France and founded the atelier Éloge de la Main. Since 1986, he lives and works in St Pierre de Chartreuse, near Grenoble. His works are usually inspired by stories of the Bible. Of himself and his work he says:

"I took to calling myself a painter and it is a fact that I paint ten hours a day, two hundred and fifty days a year. The hundred or so remaining days are given over to wanderings, distress and the obstinate search for a "consciousness of being", suddenly lost and without which nothing is possible, especially not the passionate and often hazardous creation of those sorts of mirrors that we call works of art.

Let's say that any clear-sighted person is revealed in their thoughts and actions which, like a mirror, reflect back their own image, revealing their true selves. In this regard, a work of art provides a good example: as a mirror for its creator, it has the further faculty of revealing in a discreet but sure way, the whole creation.

Joseph's Dream (take the Mother & Child)

Days without inspiration are dark ones. They remind us constantly, as the author of Ecclesiastes does, that all is dust and returns to dust. This very fact kills all forms of joy and hope. But on a closer look, this reality hides another axiomatic one: this cosmic dust, more or less coagulated and assembled in diverse forms, holds in its inmost being the Spirit of the Universe. Docile and friendly, this divine medium can be led astray, separated and made diabolical. But, captured in its innate unity, it bears the phosphorescent clarity of meaning and flows, thus enriched, like an incandescent river towards a greater destiny, a new form in the Creation.
This is, par excellence, the raw material, made of Earth and Heaven, that is used by artists, these frank and open imitators, to whom, for sure, God grants His smile and His tenderness."

Shaw Island Landing- Cindy Margritz

This winter has been a strange one in the history of our small isolated island. Last winter, for the first time in anyone's memory the store closed for the winter. This fall we lost our postmaster (and the store is still closed for winter months). This means our two daily places to meet are either closed or limited. We have been desperate: one woman parked her RV in front of store/postoffice and invited people to come in for cookies and hot chocolate and game night has now started on Thursday evenings. We celebrated Howard's 90th birthday in December and over 100 people showed up- not only for Howard but to see one another! On top of our local woes the powers to be have decided to put all ferries on a reservation system- which means those of us with no bridges are... well, you get the picture! One wonders what next will happen.

The history of Shaw Island storekeepers stretches back to 1898 when Gene and Sadie Hoffman Fowler sold food and supplies from their house. In 1924 they built the store at its present site, on the water’s edge. In the early days, feed (for the many island chicken farms) and building supplies for Shaw and other islands were an important part of the store trade.

The Fowlers’ daughter, Mabel Crawford, ran the store from 1924 to the mid-1950s. Darrel Fowler was the next storekeeper. He was born in 1929 to Frank (born in 1900 on Shaw to Gene and Sadie) and Jessie Rice Fowler. Darrel’s brother, Wayne, still owns land on Shaw. A large part of Darrel’s trade was in chicken feed. He would bring in two longbed trucks full of feed twice a week.

The warehouse, adjacent to the store, was originally a cannery built for the Shaw Island Canning Company in 1912. The cannery processed salmon and produce from local farms. Later, the building was used for boat building, as well as sales of feed and lumber for the store.

In 1958 after many years in the Fowler family, the store was sold to a succession of owners. The Yansen, Leidig, and Nichols families each ran the store for a number of years. When we first arrived on Shaw, John and Geb Nichols casually ran things. One would grab supplies and if they were not around, just deposit money in a box.

Mother Kateri at ferry ramp

In 1976 the Franciscan Sisters purchased the store and ran the ferry dock. The “Nuns” were famous for meeting the ferry in their brown habits and greeting people at the store. They named the store "Little Portion" after the Italian church Portiuncula, meaning "a little portion [of the earth]," where St. Francis of Assisi lived and died. For a generation the sisters ran the store putting in long days meeting ferries at the terminal. They maintained a chapel near the dock and welcomed many people to Shaw. They continued to serve the Shaw Island community for 27 years and then sold the property to the present owners, Steve and Terri Mason. Over time the owners and the kinds of items for sale have changed but the store has always been the central hub of Shaw Island life.

Our small store is one of the oldest businesses in the San Juan Islands and indeed in Washington State.

Into the New Year I thought I would do a few blogs on our Island life- past and present.

When I came to Shaw Island, almost 30 years ago, our island school was one room with one teacher, K thru 8 grades. One of my first outings on the island was to the 8th grade graduation. I was seated next to one of the graduating boys and was impressed with his ability to talk to a strange adult with such ease. I was to find he was not unique for island kids.

The little red school on Shaw has been in continuous use since it was built in 1890 and is the longest- running school in the state. The building is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The current building was the second school house on the Island. The first, a small log cabin, was only open for a short period of time before it was replaced by the current building. That old building sits in deep woods slowly rotting away- soon to be part of the earth.

Today our school community consists of two classrooms - one for our kindergarteners through fourth graders, and one with our fifth through eighth graders. Over the years the classes have ranged from two to 35 students. At present there are 14 students. Last year there were 22.

As far as I am concerned the kids get one of the best educations in the country, mainly due to the many islanders willing to pitch in and offer outside activities. Unlike many areas of our country the arts have not been cut, so they have weekly music, poetry, writing and art. Scientists visit and give courses in everything from geology to chemistry to marine biology. Due to the small number there are not competitive sports but I have known kids who could drive a boat before they could drive a car. And they always top the charts for national contests. For the most part they use their imagination in their school work and play... so lacking in education today! And it also helps that the parents here care deeply that their children's are educated in more than the 3Rs.

I have a special place in my heart for our island library & museum. First of all I am a voracious reader and secondly I served on the Library board for 5 years at one point. Because our library is owned by the island and not in the public system, we do not have the usual "junk" but wonderful books. Our librarians are all volunteers, including the head librarian. I wish I was a child again to read all the children's books - I have been known to take some out...

The origins of the library go back to the late 1950s when Mabel Crawford worked at the Shaw Store. Mabel loved books and wanted to share them with others, so she dedicated a shelf at the store to books that people could borrow.

When Gwen and Don Yansen sold the store, the books moved to the home of Mabel's brother, Frank Fowler, and his wife, Elsie. Frank built book cases and Elsie served as librarian. But people didn't feel free using a private home as a library and decided a separate building was needed.

The Shaw Island and Historical Society was incorporated in 1966. In the summer of 1967, several islanders, including Babs and Malcolm Cameron and Zora Gross bought one-acre parcels kitty-corner from the school and donated the land to the society. Malcolm Cameron, an architect, donated his services to design the library and Zora donated the log cabin, part of which had been the island's post office, which became the museum. Henry Hoffman and his uncle, Loyal Hoffman, finished the work in the summer of 1970 and the library and museum were formally opened Aug. 22, 1970. More on Henry in another blog.

The first addition to the library--the children's library--was opened in 1985. The back building, which provides work and storage space for the library and historical society volunteers and is linked to the main library by a breezeway, was completed in 2003. All three projects were undertaken by longtime Shaw Islander Skip Bold.

Museum- with reefnet boat replica

Currently: The library and museum have about 2,000 visitors each year. They check out approximately 1,200 books and an equal number of videos. The library also has a selection of magazines and local newspapers, a copier and a computer with internet access available to all members.

The Shaw Island Library and Historical Society generates all its operating funds from donations and relies heavily on volunteers in order to provide its services, making it one of the last such organizations in the state. Since we have so many avid readers on the island many of the books are donated by them. So there is some high quality literature by authors from across the globe.

Yearly the Library invites a renowned speaker. This past summer we had Bryan Payton, author of "The Wind is Not a River". We have teas, poetry readings and other fun events, including an annual book sale and ice cream social. Books and ice cream? doesn't get any better!

In our previous blog on the Shaw Library we mentioned that MALCOLM CAMERONand his wife Babs donated the land for the library, but there is more to this man then just his generosity to the island. Malcolm P. Cameron was born in Los Angeles in 1902 and died in 1975. As we said in the last blog, Malcolm Cameron donated his services as an architect to design the island library.

Return to Yellow Island

After graduating from Cornell University in architecture he practiced his profession as well as drypoint and lithography in New York and Los Angeles. This was followed by lithography, book illustration and sculpture in San Diego County. The unifying thread throughout his life has been drawing, for it was practiced in his various professional pursuits as well as purely for the joy of it.

His career was broadened with travels to Europe, Mexico, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.

In 1962 he and Babs (Margaret) moved to Shaw Island.*"From the time of their arrival, Malcolm was fascinated with the quality of light and atmosphere in this area. The low keyed values, the soft edges of forms, the moods from gay to somber were all so different from Mexico, the Malacca Straits and the Mediterranean. A new challenge was presented, that of catching and recording this particular quality of light and it took four years of living among these islands to gain full awareness of their serenity. This element of serenity so rare in today's hectic world presented an obligation to state, that together with the shocking, the ugly and the violent, this too exists. After much time and many studies he then offered this folio of twelve drawings which represent his own feeling of the mood of the islands."

“The subject matter of these drawings is largely in the San Juan Archipelago with others in Canadian waters. Whether of broad sweep of island seascape, the solid masses of dark forest edging prismatic cliffs, or the quiet dignity of a single tree, the mood and essence have been the ever-sought priceless ingredient. The drawings are not literal nor are they realism in the sense of painstaking delineation of from and texture of physical objects. Rather, the hope and intent is that they be truthful and real in expressing the feeling of these inland seas.”

(Darvill’s Rare Prints- Orcas Island)

Blind Island Abandoned

Scattered around the island one can glimpse a few of these lovely art works: in the Library, at the Community and once in awhile in someone’s home. About 20 years ago I was cleaning out a closet in the monastery which had paintings and blueprints from the original building (now monastery). I came across a sort of portfolio made of a lovely, light wood, perhaps 22x30 inches, tied with a thin leather strap.

Before I even opened the case I was sure I had made a great discovery and was fairly certain what it was. To this day I have not a clue why this feeling came over me. It was a complete set (minus the “Reefnetters”) of Malcolm’s drawings.

Several I have never seen anywhere else are of Henry Hoffman's lumber mill here on Shaw. Significant to us, as Henry did many odd jobs for us over the years and when we built our new chapel in 1997 he milled the wood for the beams inside and the lumber for the outside- his last big job on Shaw.

Straits Island

*In her own right, Babs was a very talented sculptor. Her "Seal" rests in our Chapel Japanese garden and we have a collection of her angels- which Islanders "fight"over when on the market.


Seal Sculpture in Monastery Chapel Garden

Bab's Angels- with lamb & violin

In several of the past blogs on Island life, I have mentioned HENRY DELBERT HOFFMAN, who was a much revered man, know for his humor, simple life and generosity.

He was born on September 28, 1929 in Seattle, Washington, the only child of Delbert and Helen (Coleman) Hoffman of Shaw Island.

At the age of two, the family returned to their home on Hix Bay where Henry spent most of his life until 2010, except for time he served in the U.S. Army and his college years at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated in 1962 with a B.S. Degree in Business Administration.

Though Henry was born just before the Depression, he says his family was never hungry. They raised plenty to eat, with livestock such as steer, milk cows, chickens, ducks and turkeys as well as vegetable crops. Fishing and trading with the native Indians supplemented the food shelves.

Henry was a fifth-generation Shaw Island resident, who worked as a farmer, gillnetter and carpenter. As we said in a previous blog, he ran a sawmill and rented heavy equipment for his cousin’s earth-moving business and squirreled away scrap metal “I’m a scrap metal pack rat.” He built four homes on Hix Bay, named after his great-great-grandfather. The cove “next door” is named after Hoffman’s grandfather, who came to the San Juans from Ohio when he changed his occupation from accountant to boat-builder in order to save his eyesight.

Henry remembers being lonely as a teenager on Shaw. “Instead of dating I would hunt rats in a neighbor’s hen-house, but it’s not as satisfying as going out with a girl,” he once said with his typical tongue-in-cheek humor. In college he met Marlyn, his wife of 51 years.

Family history was important to Henry and his interest in writing began with creative writing courses taught by Janet Thomas. Henry took her memoir-writing class and “Henry’s Stories” was really intended for the family so the kids wouldn’t lose the stories. At local meetings we loved to hear Henry tell old tales- he was our local Garrison Keillor. His book about growing up and living on Shaw Island is heartwarming and humorous, written with the wit and wisdom only an early pioneer family member can have. It's an island treasure.

His stories are replete with do-it-yourself instructions describing how to build a trailer from a Model A car, retool a car horn motor to fit a wood lathe, fish from spar buoys, and build small explosives, as well as retrofit a hand gun. “Recycling is nothing new, and it came in handy during the war years,” he once said.

In his book, Henry described “the Olden Days” on Shaw of subsistence farming, including hunting and butchering, raising lifestock and going to dances at the Grange where the women talked about kids and babies and men talked about raising chickens. While a different era now Henry said: it’s still the same community spirit and caring... it’s a little friendlier now and work is better than it used to be

Henry's favorite pastime was getting out in the boat and beach-combing – a love he inherited from his father and uncle. The materials he used in building his houses were from things he found nearby: fir framework from the old ferry landing dolphins, cedar for paneling and spruce logs for ceiling timbers. “You could get good logs in those days.”

Henry and Marlyn raised three children on Shaw and all of their grandchildren were born here. About seven years ago we lost the whole family, as the farm that has been in the family for over 120 years was sold. Over the years, he served on the Shaw Island Community Organization and as a Fire Commissioner.. With Marlyn he also sang bass in Mother Kateri’s wonderful group in the 90’s.

Henry died in Anacortes in 2011 of pancreatic cancer but he left this island with a legacy of one who possessed wonderful smiles, the love of story-telling, a generous heart, and a humble faith in God. He was laid to rest on his beloved Shaw Island.

Henry's book can be found at the Shaw Store.

We rejoice that yesterday February 1 our new Abbess, Reverend Mother Lucia Kuppens, was elected. She is the 3rd Abbess of the Abbey of Regina Laudis and will probably be the last Abbess who knew our Foundress, Mother Benedict Duss. Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair, S.T.D., Archbishop of Hartford, celebrated Mass and presided over the election which took place in the Abbey Church Jesu Fili Mariae.

Mother Abbess Lucia (right) with Mother Abbess Emerita

Mother Abbess is originally from Boston, but having attended college in Conn. she lost her "accent". She was a freshman at Conn. College (then for women only) when she first visited Regina Laudis. She was particularly struck by the Abbey´s strong sense of community and 1,500 years of tradition. “Regina Laudis had something solid and deep,” she once said. “Its members radiated a joy that was increasingly hard to come by as the experiments of the ´60s began to fade, and idealism turned to cynicism.”

She has a PhD in Literature from Yale University, writing her dissertation on the breakdown of male and female relationships in Shakespeare’s plays. One of my fondest memories was a course she taught to us on Flannery O'Conner.

Mother Abbess Lucia also served as the Abbey's Librarian and Econome (head of kitchen). She has been the Abbey Cellarer for over ten years and has been in charge of the Abbey's renovation and expansion project

The lovely writer, Harriet Scott Chessman (who was a graduate student with Mother), wrote of Mother Abbess: She is one of the kindest, wisest, and most compassionate people I have ever known, and also one of the most modest, private, and contemplative.

The joy she once saw in others is certainly radiated in her!

Reefnet Boats on Monastery Land- Ned Griffin

For over 30 years our local fisherman on Shaw stored their reef net boats on our beach- what I call "saluvial muck" (bay mud). It takes seconds at low tide to sink to your thighs. A few years ago we- having had approval dismantled the decaying boats so we could reclaim the site for our own use, especially bird watching with the local children.

Reefnetting could be the oldest form of net fishing in the world and is unique to the Pacific Northwest. In the San Juans, this ancient art was the primary salmon harvesting method for local tribes.The techniques employed date back hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. Even today, most modern reefnets sit on traditional sites that have been "farmed" for the fish for hundreds of years.

Four local tribes that we know of worked reefnets in their territories including the Lummi on Shaw and northwest Lopez. Summer villages were established near the sites to support the fishers, and a great deal of ritual and ceremony accompanied the start of each season's fishing. As far as is known the natives never had permanent dwelling on Shaw Island.

The technique is basically simple with a pair of boats facing each other with nets suspended between them. It would take the fishermen several weeks to get their boats ready and into place, having no propulsion of their own they had to be towed in place.

(Amie Hood- Photo)

Standing on spotting ladders 16 feet up, they see the salmon headed for their reef net and the race is on. The fishermen have about 10 seconds to gather the fish before they get away.

The nets would be pulled up by manual winches catching the fish, which were then hauled into the boats. Fishing with the reefnets was grueling work. The season ran four or five months as different salmon runs came through the islands, and openings often lasted five or six days a week. Keeping the gear clear of kelp, working the big winches, and rolling the fish into the boats was exhausting, but it was a good living for many islanders.

Ed Hopkins & Crew (Ed & Kathy Hopkins photo)

Fishing the reefnets required particular conditions, including daylight, calm water, and reasonable clear weather, since darkness, surface chop or heavy overcast made it impossible to see the salmon enter the net. Since all reefnets fish only on a given tide, they were manned only when the currents ran the proper direction. Different gears were also fished during different salmon runs. One set might work well for Chinook, but not for sockeye. Another might be particularly effective only on cohos, pinks, or chums.

This type of fishing is environmentally sound as the catch arrives alive, not smushed as in a purse seine, or ripped and bleeding from a gill net. As the years went by the Natives were given more days to fish then the local men, so about 12 years ago they called a halt to the fishing. We missed this as the "rent" for using our beach was salmon from the catch. We lived on that salmon through the year.

By 2011 there were only 11 non-Indian commercial reef-fishing licenses left in the Washington state, with fishermen working off Lummi, Lopez, Shaw and Stuart islands.

Boat Demolition- Debra Maden, Orcas Is.

Abandoned Boat- A. Hood

Recently some Shaw men have "resurrected" this ancient art of fishing and once again park their boats on our land. Maybe salmon coming?

Thanks to SALTWATER PEOPLE HISTORICAL SOCIETYfor information.

Our closest neighbors- just a pasture away- are two retired teachers, who, when they decided to build a new home, knew they wanted an energy-efficient, no-stress Passive House design. The 1,800-square-foot house is the first Certified Passive House in the San Juan Islands, and only the fourth in the state of Washington. The home was designed by the Olympia-based firm The Artisans Group. It has a circular floor plan that centers around a prefabricated pod that contains the kitchen and two bathrooms.

The term passive house refers to a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, reducing its ecological footprint.It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. Passive design is not an attachment or supplement to architectural design, but a design process that is integrated with architectural design.

The Passivhaus standard originated in 1988 by a German builder and a Swedish Professor. Estimates of the number of Passivhaus buildings around the world in late 2008 ranged from 15,000 to 20,000 structures. As of August 2010, there were approximately 25,000 such certified structures of all types in Europe, while in the United States there were only 13, with a few dozen more under construction.The vast majority of passive structures have been built in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia.

In order to achieve its Passive status, Ned and Elaine's home features an air-sealed exterior shell that provides insulation, efficient windows and doors, and a heat recovery ventilator to keep it warm in the winter. In the summer, careful window placement and shades ensure the space won't overheat.

Storage wall- which are everywhere

Radiating from the pod, cabinetry and a minimum of walls defines functions, with a series of sliding and concealable doors providing flexible privacy. The interior palette consists of wind-fallen light maple floors, locally made FSC certified cabinets, stainless steel hardware and neutral tiles in black, gray and white.

The exterior materials are painted concrete fiberboard lap siding, Ipe wood slats and galvanized metal. Ipe (pronounced “ee-pay”) is a large tropical hardwood tree that grows abundantly throughout Central and South America. Ipe wood is prized for its durability, strength (it is 368% harder then Teak wood), and its natural resistance to decay, wet conditions, and insect infestation.

The kitchen

The home, which sits on a sort of mesa has no formal landscaping. When one looks out the windows, it is as if all the art is nature herself! The doors and windows are on a tilt turn, so can open inward or outward, thus either bringing the weather in or keeping it out!

The home was built for $330 per square foot, while construction costs for residential projects in the San Juan market often exceed $600 per square foot. Passive House measures did not increase this projects’ cost of construction.

Elaine and Ned wanted a low-maintenance, cost-effective, energy-efficient house in which they could age in place and which would be a restful shelter from clutter, stress and over-stimulation.

Dining area- Nature comes in

This home is ten times more efficient than a regular built house. Which makes one wonder why there are not more being built, especially if lower cost can be factored in! For anyone considering building a new home in the near future I would recommend checking into this form of building. Elaine said all buildings being built within the European Union will be Passive- starting this year. If only we could catch up!

While the home is certainly “minimalistic”, one can’t but help be envious of its simplicity and warmth, while saving the environment. The owners say they do not miss anything about their past homes. All Elaine needs now is a "red chair".

For more information two lovely books :

Mary James

Features Ned & Elaine's home

OLR Monastery

This is the last Blog on the history of Shaw.

HENRY KLEIN the architect who build the home that is now our monastery, passed away in 2013, in Mt. Vernon, WA.at the age of 92. He was born in 1920 in Cham (Bavaria), Germany to Fred and Hedwig (Weiskopf) Klein. He left Cham with his family at the age of 15 and moved to Switzerland where he continued his education before moving to the US. He attended Hobart and Williams College in NY and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Architecture

His career was put on hold during the Second World War when he was stationed in India and the South Pacific with the Army Engineers. Following the war he returned to New York to start his career, but city life was not for him, so he moved to Portland, Oregon where he worked for Pietro Belluschi and also met his wife Phyllis Harvey.

In 1952 when Belluschi took the job to head the MIT School of Architecture, Henry and Phyllis packed up and moved to Mount Vernon, WA where he opened his office and started his family. At the time he was the first architect in Skagit County. He was fortunate enough to be welcomed by the early pioneer families in the valley and designed private residences for them before branching out to commercial buildings. Enter our future benefactor (another Henry) Ellis, who asked him to design a home for summer use for himself and guests. After the home was completed it was given to us but had to be "upgraded" to fit a monastery.

The year the addition to our now monastery was completed (1976) , Henry made two close associates, David Hall and Lowell Larsen, partners in the firm.

Home on Guemes Island

Henry did several local designs which still stand in our hearts and those of other islanders: Museum of Northwest Art in LaConnor, the Swinomish Tribal Community Hall, Orcas Island"s Library, and UW Marine Laboratory Commons building and dormitories on Friday Harbor, the design of which was based on our new wing of monastery cells. In 1981 the firm was awarded the Louis Sullivan Award for Architecture, the first small firm to ever win the award as well as the only west coast firm at that time. Henry retired in 2004 after 52 years of practice.

UW Labs at Friday Harbor

Henry was said to be a quiet, humble family man who loved the arts and nature, which is very evident in our home. His work was his chosen expression of his citizenship. He and his wife had three sons.

In the past few years we have had several doctoral students from UW (one from Germany) visit OLR to see Henry's first residential home in WA. We are proud that his legacy lives on in the studies of a new generation, especially from his native land. The monastery Chapel, built in 1997, was based on a building of Henry's but burnt to the ground before we arrived on Shaw. We loved the Asian feel so decided to keep his plans.

OLR Chapel

A young Henry Klein

As we knew him

Welsh artist John Petts - Detail

This Lent I would like to focus on the CRUCIFIXION of CHRIST and some modern artists who are "fixated" on this most Sacred event.

The crucifixion of Jesus has been depicted in religious art since the 4th century. In the first three centuries of Early Christian art, the crucifixion was rarely depicted. Constantine I forbade crucifixion as a method of execution, and early church leaders regarded crucifixion with horror, and thus, as an unfit subject for artistic portrayal.

The discovery of the True Cross by Constantine's mother, St. Helena, and the development of Golgotha as a site for pilgrimage, together with the dispersal of fragments of the relic across the Christian world, led to a change of attitude. It was probably in Palestine that the image developed, and many of the earliest depictions are on the Monza ampullae, small metal flasks for holy oil, that were pilgrim's souvenirs from the Holy Land, as well as 5th century ivory reliefs from Italy. Prior to the Middle Ages, early Christians preferred to focus on the "triumphant" Christ, rather than a dying one, because the concept of the risen Christ was so central to their faith. The plain cross became depicted, often as a "glorified" symbol, as the crux gemmata, covered with jewels.

Early depictions showed a living Christ, and tended to minimize the appearance of suffering, so as to draw attention to the positive message of resurrection and faith, rather than to the physical realities of execution. In the Middle Ages, Jesus was more often seen as a human being, capable of suffering.

In our own day Crucifixion has appeared repeatedly as a theme in many forms of art. Each week in Lent we will study an artist whose life was "changed" or bettered by this theme.

One amazing example of the place of Crucifixion art in our own country, took place after a shocking incident that could have rent our nation apart.

Over fifty years ago on the 15th of September 1963, the Ku Klux Klan planted a bomb at the 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four black girls attending Sunday school. The Church was one of the primary institutions in the black community and became the organizing center for the local civil rights movement. The bombing marked a turning point in the American Civil Rights Movement, having the opposite effect of what was intended, ensuring the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

News of the tragedy stirred John Petts, a stained glass artist, at his home in Llansteffan, Wales: “the news on the radio … left me sick at heart … as a father … I was horrified by the death of the children; as an artist-craftsman, hearing that the stained-glass windows of the church had been destroyed, I was appalled … and I thought to myself … what can we do about this?”

He contacted David Cole, the Western Mail’s editor, who enthusiastically took up the idea and the next day the Western Mail launched a campaign with the headline: ‘Alabama: Chance for Wales to Show the Way”. It was agreed that individual donations would not exceed half a crown . “We don’t want some rich man … paying for the whole window. We want it to be given by the people of Wales.” Money flooded in, the £500 target reached within days and the fund closed at £900.

When a telegram was sent offering the window as "a gesture of comfort and support", a reply accepting the offer was received stating that ‘Wales was the only country to offer such direct and material assistance’. John Petts stipulated that this window was his gift and the monies received were to pay for the shipment to Alabama.

The church has become an important historical landmark, yearly attracting thousands of visitors. The window is regarded as one of the key icons of the American Civil Rights Movement, a powerful protest against intolerance and injustice.

Our Holy Father Pope Francis has given us an easy way to pray- this Lent- and always. It is a prayer that keeps us mindful of all who need our prayers.

Just spread out your hand and use each finger which represents a special intention.

The thumb, which is “the finger nearest to us”, helps us think of and pray for those who are closest to us; “these are the people that come most easily to mind”; praying for our loved ones “is a pleasant duty”. The index finger reminds us to pray for those who instruct and guide others, so “those who teach and care for others”. “Teachers, professors, doctors and priests” fit into this category. The middle finger is the longest and reminds us of our “leaders”, the people “who hold the fate of our country in their hands and influence public opinion … They need God’s guidance.”

Paraclete Press

The fourth finger is the ring finger. “This is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher will tell you.” It is there to remind you to pray for the weak, for those who face trying situations and for the sick,” who need “our prayers day and night”. He also urged faithful to pray for married couples.

Finally, the small finger reminds us that “we must feel little before God and our neighbors” and that we should pray for ourselves: “Once you have prayed for everyone else, you will be able to better understand what your needs are, looking at them from the right perspective”.

This week we present an artist who lived in, what I consider one of the most beautiful cities in the world, where I spent one month, ten years after the Velvet Revolution. Czech artist JAROSLAV VODRAZKA was born in 1894 during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the son of a miller who married a baker’s daughter. Their family ran a bakery in Prague. Jaroslav showed artistic promise at an early age, drawing on sidewalks and the margins of newspapers. He studied at The School for the Applied Arts, where he learned printmaking. Soon afterward he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I, where he sketched and made watercolors, while serving on the Italian Alpine front. A Czechoslovak state was formed after the war and Jaroslav became a professor of printmaking and graphic arts. In 1923, he went to work with Svaty Martin in Slovakia, where he spent the next 16 years doing book design and typography in the previously suppressed Slovak language, which occurred during Hungarian rule.

Surviving the period of peace between the two World Wars was short-lived, once the Nazis invaded and occupied Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Their endurance of the Soviet forces which separated the eastern block countries from the west placed an enormous hardship upon countless artists and creative individuals.
The early part of the 20th C. saw numerous eastern European artists working under these terrible conditions. They were often called 'internal emigrees', and during the day while at their jobs, they did what they were told. They also fought an artistic 'war' of their own while they struggled to keep creative and produce artwork in virtual seclusion. The penalties for intelligence and enlightened minds was severe and swift. The Nazis were not known for their sympathies for visionary artists or any unrealistic imagery.

On the eve of World War II, Jaroslav left his position in Slovakia and returned with his family to Prague, even though it was a Nazi-run Protectorate. He settled into a life of teaching, book illustration, and print-making. He produced wood engravings, linocuts, etchings, engravings, and lithographs, and was always interested in exploring new printmaking techniques, using materials such as plastic and plexiglass.

From 1939 he and his wife, Ella, a writer-poet,and their son, Jaroslav, who became a noted musician in classical organ and professor of music, lived quietly in a place of refuge on the West Bank of the Vltava River in Prague with a view of the spires of St. Vitus Cathedral, an image frequently seen in his etchings.

Unfortunately, Jaroslav did not live long enough to see the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. He died five years before the 1989 Velvet Revolution routed the Communists out of power in his beloved Czechoslovakia. The vitality and creative spirit of his work is still relevant for our world today. His work has a beauty and depth of emotion, and his respect for religious subjects is evident.

The artist kept a painting of St. Vaclav, the Czech national patron saint, in his own personal library with other examples of inspiration, like a collection of printmakers Rembrandt, Durer and Schongauer. His surviving sketchbooks are full of proposals for never-realized projects of stained glass windows and church sanctuaries. The Cross of his people's struggle is exemplified in His suffering Christ.

Our artist for this second week of Lent is JOSE IGNACIO FLETES CRUZ who was born in 1952 in Managua, Nicaragua. He is a Primitivista artist, whose naif style of image-making is associated with a utopian Christian community, founded in the mid 1960s by the Catholic Poet-Priest, Ernesto Cardenal, in the remote Solentiname island chain at the southern end of Lake Nicaragua.

A disciple of Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, Ernesto was an ardent proponent of Liberation Theology and believed the Church should actively support the poor in their struggle for social and economic justice. Soon after he arrived on the main island of Mancarron, the parish church became a center where the fishermen and farmers of the archipelago could learn about art, poetry, and radical Christianity. Thus the Solentiname community was born.

Ernesto noticed the islanders were skilled in decorating gourds, and invited Nicaraguan Figurative Painter Roger Perez de la Rocha to come to the community in 1968 to give art lessons. Many of the locals knew so little about art-making, they thought, at first, the metal tubes of oil paint were colored tooth paste, but they took up painting on canvas with enthusiasm. Soon whole families were creating landscapes, typical scenes from village life, and stories from the Bible in the naif folk art style, which has come to be known as Nicaraguan Primitivism. Fletes Cruz was an outsider who came to islands to take part in the unique social experiment. Born in Managua, he had taken art courses in Leon and shared the community’s Christian ideals and egalitarian politics.

Detail

He had studied for a year at the School of Fine Arts in Leon later joining the community of Solentiname. There he created works for the book, The Gospel in Art by the Peasants of Solentiname. During the war (1978-79) he took refuge in Costa Rica, and contributed paintings to the movement against Somoza. He settled in Leon after the war, and joined the Sutiava group of artists.

He has had exhibitions all over the world. In 2007 fifteen paintings by Ignacio Fletes Cruz were selected for permanent display in the new US Embassy and the offices of the US Agency for International Development in Managua, Nicaragua

Fletes Cruz’s depiction of Jesus Christ Crucified (The Christ of the Poor) brings to mind the 1977 attack on the community by the Somoza National Guard, who appear beneath the Cross, wearing U.S. military-issue camouflage outfits.

Fletes Cruz describes his art as “a visual representation of the revolution of Christ, of what Christ is doing within us.”

Our next artist for Lent, the only one not to suffer through a world war, is RUDOLPH VALENTINO BOSTIC. Hewas born in Savannah, GA in 1941. Rudy Bostic is a self-taught artist known for his vibrantly rendered religious images, usually done in magic marker, acrylic, metallic, and enamel house paint on cardboard, with the occasional flourish of glitter to accent his work.

As a young boy, Rudy had few toys and resorted to making his own. At the age of 17, he was asked to draw some religious paintings to be displayed in the church.Further encouragement came from his uncle, the longtime pastor of the Second African Baptist Church on Green Square in Savannah, who asked Rudy and his brother to make religious pictures for his congregation.

Rudy was working at the Derst Baking Company in Savannah in 1979 when he was inspired to use their discarded cardboard boxes as canvases. When he ran his fingers along its smooth, solid surface, he thought it would make an ideal "canvas" for working with all the odds and ends of house paint he had at home. He worked into the early hours of each morning making his first pictures on cardboard panels laid out on his bed. His working style hasn't changed much over the years, but he has since expanded his color palette and his images have branched out to include heroes of history and myth, fantasy landscapes, and everything from angels and hot air balloons, to mermaids and merry-go-rounds.

“Growing up like most children, I believe we all had our dream world... I loved 'Cowboys and Indians,' which became my introduction to drawing. As I grew older, I lost interest in art until I reached high school. In my later years, I took a closer view of art and realized that few artists today capture the power and the glory of God the way the old masters did. Trying to find a way, I studied their works. I love the design, colors and subjects of the Renaissance artists and the way Rembrandt uses dark and light. Inspired by their work, I try to express my love for God and the world.”

Rudy Bostic belongs to the category of "self-taught" artists. He isdeeply religious and his favorite subjects are scenes from the bible. Occasionally, he branches out into something he has seen on television; circus animals, cowboys, and Paris or Venice. He has great enthusiasm for his art and loves to share his vision with others.

Rudy is gaining recognition as a talented self-taught artist and is included in the collection of The Mennello Museum of American Folk Art, in Orlando, Florida.

Crucifixion I

This creator in cardboard is a true visionary artist. He seldom works from preparatory sketches and almost never retouches finished pictures, which are usually made in one sitting with the cardboard panel, lying in front of him on his bed. With his imagination so steeped in biblical imagery, Rudy gathers his paint pots and brushes, picks up a cardboard panel, and, as he says, "the images just come to me."

While his paintings are firmly rooted in an Afro-American tradition of “testimony art," meant to share Black historical experiences and religious beliefs, there is something that reminds us of Eastern Orthodox icons.

"The Crucifixion I" is an excellent example of his style of double painting. Clustered around Christ on the cross, one sees visual references to Jesus as “Lamb of God” and “Lion of Judah,” the Eucharistic symbols of bread and wine, an open Bible - even the Ark of the Covenant.

FAITHFUL WOMAN (RUTH)

(STOLEN LAMB - BATHSHEBA)

THE MOTHER OF ALL PEOPLES

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS ROSE

FLIGHT

SHAW ISLAND WINTER DOLDRUMS

UNIQUE EDUCATION

SHAW LIBRARY & HISTORICAL MUSEUM

ISLAND ART- RESCUED

HENRY'S LEGACY TO SHAW

NEW YEAR - NEW ABBESS

REEFNETTERS ONCE AGAIN ON MONASTERY LAND

PRE(TTY)-FAB NEIGHBORS

MONASTERY ARCHITECT- ANOTHER HENRY

CRUCIFIXION - ASH WEDNESDAY

THE FIVE FINGER PRAYER FOR LENT

SUFFERING CHRIST- A PEACEFUL REVOLUTION

CHRIST CRUCIFIED IN NICARAGUA

THE CARDBOARD JESUS