CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter
THE KER-HANDED CLAN: Daughter Katie Kennedy, the author and historian, came across a reference in a Scottish history book to “fighting ker-handed,” which means left-handed, for Helen’s clan, the Kerrs, were left-handed. Kerr in Scotland is pronounced Karr, as with Deborah Kerr, the actress. Helen’s family named is spelled Karr so everyone will pronounce it the right way, even though that spelling is the wrong way.
Helen isn’t left-handed, but she’s proud of her heritage. Her mother didn’t give her, or her sister, Mary, middle names, since their father, “Tank” [Earl] Karr was the last male in his family. By using Karr as their middle name, they extended the family name one more generation. Alternatively, Georgia Heltzel Karr, my great mother-in-law, says that she kept their names simple so if they turned out stupid, “they could at least spell their name.”
When we were in Scotland once, when I was doing some work for my doctorate at St. Andrew’s University, we learned that the Kerrs built their castles backwards, so if they were invaded, and swordsmen were trying to come up the stairs, the invaders would have their right hands against the stone wall while the left-handed defenders had their swords on the free-swinging side. Pretty smart for simple-named people.
CONTINUING TRADITIONS: Daughter Katie Kennedy, the author and historian, bought a new mattress this week from a store called McGregor’s. She explained that since the McFarlands and McGregors used to go marauding together, stealing cattle and such, she thought she should continue the tradition of cooperation with them. She said they seemed… surprised.
THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE LIVER: I saw that Seymour Halford died. We ran around with Seymour and Beverly a lot when we lived in Sterling, IL. Later, when we lived in Iron Mountain, MI and traveled to central IL and southern IN to see family and friends, we’d stop to see them, either coming or going. So I started to do my usual, notify mutual friends so we could grieve and remember together. Then I realized… Paul Blankenship, GL & Bettie Story, Larry Dunphee, Fred Congdon… all who knew both us and the Halfords are also dead. There is no one left to tell, no one with whom to share the grief and the memories… This is the first time this has happened. I suspect it won’t be the last.
WORK ETHIC: HOF College Football coach Tommy Bowden recently died at 91. In obit type comments, he was universally hailed as one who always had time for his players and other coaches. But I once heard his son say that the only high school game his father saw him play in was when he came to scout a player on the other team. American society, in general, lauds the “work ethic” of success, especially in sports. But the work ethic can work against other values.
SINGLE GIRLS: I got a Facebook friend request from someone claiming that her name is Rebekka Streicher and who says she has started a WhatsApp group [whatever that is] for “single girls who want good sex.” I’m sort of nostalgic for the olden days, when single girls who wanted good sex just kept quiet about it. I feel sort of bad for not accepting her request; I think she might profit from reading Christ In Winter.
NEW MOUSE: There’s nothing like a new mouse to make you realize how bad your old one was working. Talking computers, of course, although I guess it would apply to a psych lab, too. My mouse in Psych 101 had a green bottom, because it was lethargic and wouldn’t run the maze or do the other tests, so my lab partner, Gunther Lengnik, kept poking it in the behind with his fountain pen that had green ink. The mouse died, disrupting out lab reports considerably. I always suspected it had ink poisonings.
John Robert McFarland
“The worst sin towards our
fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them. that’s the
essence of inhumanity.” George Bernard Shaw
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