Thoughts At The Symphony

 Orchestra Hall

Since returning to Metro Detroit we have been enjoying the Detroit Symphony Orchestra directed by Leonard Slatkin. At Orchestra Hall or the neighborhood concerts, on the DSO to Go app or Livestream internet television, it has been a delight. Maestro Slatkin does a wonderful job bringing the music to the people.

 

Every time I hear the symphony live I realize how listening to a recording or radio is lacking.

Last evening we heard Joshua Bell performing Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, which I had only heard on radio before. It is a real showpiece for violin and Bell was amazing! The concert started with a tribute to Steven Stucky, performing his Dreamwaltzes, which Slatkin first directed 30 years ago. And the concert ended with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major.

The program notes quotes Prokofiev: "I wanted to sing the praises of the free and happy man: his strength, his generosity and the purity of his soul. I cannot say that I chose this theme: it was born in me and had to express itself." It was written in 1944 "as a means of putting into music all of the mind-boggling suffering which Russia had endured during the Nazi invasion, but also to look forward to what many people then felt was an almost-sure final victory."

The symphony premiered in Moscow the day that the Soviet Army crossed the Vistula on their victory march into Nazi Germany. Prokofiev lifted his baton but was delayed by the sound of gunfire. As the symphony came to its end "it became clear that the end of the war was indeed insight."

With the coda, the martial sounds of war with the drums and percussion instruments driving the music louder and more belligerent, the couple in front of me turned to each other in silent laughter. I wanted to give them a Gibbs head slap. Where I was experiencing the impact of war into human life they thought the 'intrusion' was funny.

But I had been thinking of how 1944 was less than ten years before my birth, how I grew up thinking the war was ancient history while around me my parents and grandparents knew otherwise. And I considered how lucky I am: my grandmother and her family, and my husband's grandfather, left Russia a hundred years ago. And fifty years before that the German Ramers. Because had they been in Russia and Germany they would have lived through the war--or died in it.

Great music at once engages my rapt attention while also freeing my mind for free association, forging connections between my knowledge and experience to the music.

Leaving Blythe River by Catharine Ryan Hyde

Ethan has been estranged from his father ever since he and his mother caught him 'entertaining' his secretary at home. But when his mother needs to help her ailing parents her only choice is to send Ethan to live with his father who has moved into the wilderness.

Ethan has never received his dad's approval. City boy Ethan is small and timid and book smart. His dad is athletic, a risk taker, a womanizer. Their reunion is not going well.

One day Ethan's dad doesn't return from his typical twenty mile run. The local police can't find him and are not convinced he didn't just skip town. Ethan could have walked away but he can't leave until he has gone on his own search for the man he hates and loves.

With the help of three local misfits Ethan takes a journey into the Blythe River National Wilderness on an adventure that brings him self-knowledge, revelation, and personal growth.

Catherine Ryan Hyde 's latest book Leaving Blythe River will appeal especially to YA readers who will identify with Ethan's struggle for parental approval. His personal growth is the focus of the story. The supporting characters are well drawn and memorable. The wilderness journey will propel readers to keep reading. The ending is realistic.

There were some unanswered questions, such as how was Ethan's dad supporting himself while living in the wilderness and going on runs. As a mom, I was not convinced why mom was so accepting of her son's going on the dangerous quest into the wilderness.

I have been a fan of  the author for several years. The author's last book was Worthy which you can read about at http://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/06/worthy-by-catherine-ryan-hyde.html

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Leaving Blythe River
by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date May 24, 2016
$14.95 paperback
ISBN:9781503934467

Dystopian Futures

I read David Mitchell's The Cloud Atlas for my book club and  Paolo Bacigalupi's  The Water Knife after reading the beginning through the First Look Book Club from  Random House. 


The Cloud Atlas was not easy to get into, but by the third section I started to see the connections, and by the time I got to the stories set in the future I was hooked. I ended up impressed and moved and loving the book. 

The novel is told through stories that cross time, each written in the language of a different genre. The structure is linear but then reverses backward through time as the ending of each story is revealed. As A.S. Bryant advises in her review appearing in The Guardian, you have to "trust the tale." It is worth it! 

The issues raised are deep and relevant: how humans perceive the world, what motivates human society and individuals, the way we condone and whitewash evil, the power of money, the evils of war, our denial of uncomfortable truths. The stories take us to a future that has reverted back to tribal warfare. But ending where he began, in the past, we are shown that individuals who choose to do good can, perhaps, alter the course of history. 

The Water Knife is set in a future world devastated by climate change where the Southwest and Western states are ruled by water cartels. The 'fivers' live in lush Chinese built communities where water is recycled; the poor, made of refugees from communities whose water has been turned off, live with Clearsac recycling of their own body fluids and huddle around water sources provided by charitable organizations. 

Angel is a Water Knife, hired to carry out the dirty work for the Vegas water lord. Lucy is tired of writing for the 'blood rags' reporting on ruin porn and follows a lead to perhaps another Pulitzer. Maria is a Texan refugee, on the lowest rung of society, just trying to survive. 

I really liked the issues explored in the novel. I did have trouble with the graphic violence and the descriptive kinky sex; I don't think these added to the story. But the novel does raise interesting issues and warnings of what could come. 

Emily St. John Mandel book signing 

Last week I attended a talk and Q&A with author Emily St. John Mandel whose Station Eleven I read a year ago and which I reread last month for book club. She addressed the issue of why dystopian novels are so popular and mainstream today. Emily listed reasons for the huge interest in dystopian novels which people across the country have suggested to her.

As Emily states in an NPR interview found here, post-apocalyptic fiction can be a reflection of the anxiety of life in an ever-changing world. No one likes change. Or perhaps we secretly like the idea of a do-over, another chance to get it right. Or perhaps the future is the only frontier left to explore.

I think this fiction allows us to see a projection of what will happen if we don't change and adapt. The visions are a warning, prophecies of doom based on our present actions. What I love about The Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven is the aspect of hope, that something of value is worth saving, that individuals who think morally original can challenge cultural norms and bring society one step closer to ideal. 

The Dog Merchants: Inside the Big Business of Breeders, Pet Stores, and Rescuers

Pets are a product. They are developed, marketed, and sold for profit says the author of The Dog Merchants, Kim Kavin. And too often buyers do not consider all the ramifications of what their dollars are supporting.

Once we understand the business, what can we do about it? Kavin believes that smart shoppers can make a difference, even in the dog industry.

I am a lifelong dog owner.

I was about four years old when my father brought home a puppy, Pepper, a mutt  I loved dearly. She would follow me to school. One day appeared she at my classroom door and I had to walk her home again. When my little brother began walking my grandparents took Pepper in; she was getting crotchety and needed a quieter home. When she was old and in pain my family let her go, and it broke my heart.

my Pepper in old age

After we lost our house trained bunny my husband and I bought two dachshunds from a pet store, adopted a dog through a want ad, came home with a home breed pure breed Shiba Inu, and fostered one adopted two more Shibas who were puppy mill breeder rescues. Eight dogs, eight sources that illustrate the cycle of dog ownership over sixty years: from mutts to commercially bred dogs to home bred to rescued.

our beloved foster Kara, who spent 9 years in a Missouri puppy mill.
He had serious health issues and lived nine months after rescue.

Kim Kavin's fine book considers every aspect of the industry that provides us with our animal companions. She explains the impact of the AKC breed standardization on canine health and well being and how dog competitions fuel a desire for designer dogs. Kavin reveals that puppy farms are producing dogs in expectation that the rescue societies will buy them! That sends chills down my spine.

We brought PJ from a pet store when grieving for the loss of our first dachshund Pippin.
We were ignorant about puppy mill breed dogs sold at pet store chains.

I respect Kavin for telling the truth in an objective and informative way. She offers examples of canine abuse without being manipulative.

I hate those commercials seeking funds that prey on one's feelings. Kavin never stoops to such tactics. I don't think I could stand 'the details' of puppy mill life any more than the details of combat. I saw the ramifications mill life had on my foster dog Kara and adopted girls Suki and Kara.

Our first Shiba Inu, Kili, lived over 16 years, locally home breed.

Everyone who loves dogs, or who are considering adding a dog to their family, should read this book. It will help in making informed decisions on all the vital questions: are you prepared to take responsibility for a dog, what are you willing to invest, what you should ask before making your purchase.

The book is published in conjunction with a website where pet owners can share knowledge through product-style reviews and ratings of breeders and rescues. Visit The Dog Merchants website http://www.dogmerchants.com. 

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Dog Merchants
Kim Kavin
Pegasus Books
Publication Date May 2, 2016
$27.95 hard cover
ISBN: 9781681771403

Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick's new book Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution, like his previous book Bunker Hill (my review found at here), changes how we think about the American Experience.

Philbrick tears away the veil of myth to reveal a far messier path to Democracy, one rife with conflict. We see that Washington was not always right and Arnold was a brash hero who resented being overlooked. The Revolution was, Philbrick points out, in itself an act of treason.

The book started slow for me, then picked up interest and in the end swept me along to its conclusion.

Benedict Arnold was motivated by ruthless self-interest, his betrayal based on a desire to be lauded for bringing peace to the war-weary Americans by reuniting the colony to Britain.

 I am hoping for a next book to continue the American story.

I was just finishing the book when I happened to catch NPR's interview with Philbrick on the book. You can read the interview at http://www.npr.org/2016/05/16/478188328/valiant-ambition-tells-of-benedict-arnolds-turn-from-hero-to-traitor

I was visited by an aching nostalgia while reading about so many places I had lived near or had visited. I wished I had understood more deeply the history of these places. Particularly moving for me was the account of the Battle for Fort Mifflin.

We visited Fort Mifflin several times. It sits on Mud Island in the Delaware River south of the city, not far from the airport. The fort is restored to its 1834 condition. The first time we visited was on a warm summer day. The stone powder room was cool and dark. The air hummed with the sounds of nature. We watched a Green Heron sitting on a tree near the water. Suddenly a jet came overhead and at that moment the Heron started and took off, the two flying in tandem. It was an awesome sight that summed up everything I was struggling with at the time: the battle between the man-made and God's nature, the pull between the excitement of the city and the peace of the Maine woods.

Oh, had I realized the blood that had spilled on those grounds! I would have seen ghosts and heard the cries of anguish instead of the frogs and birdsong near the still waters. Reading the account of the Battle of Fort Mifflin I could not connect that summer stillness to the continual bombardment of cannonade, the groan of the wounded, the sleepless weeks under barrage.

After the British took Philadelphia they wanted sea access to bring in supplies. That meant clearing out the Patriot forts. Fort Mifflin's four hundred American soldiers held off thousands of British troops and 250 ships for several months. Philbrick's account is devastating to read, the horrors endured by one soldier accounted the worst he had undergone. The end the British ships drew up to the island and lobbed in grenades. The fort was finally abandoned. 250 of the 400 men were killed.

Valiant Ambition is a complex, controversial, and dramatic portrait of a people in crisis and the war that gave birth to a nation. The focus is on loyalty and personal integrity, evoking a Shakespearean tragedy that unfolds in the key relationship of Washington and Arnold, who is an impulsive but sympathetic hero whose misfortunes at the hands of self-serving politicians fatally destroy his faith in the legitimacy of the rebellion. As a country wary of tyrants suddenly must figure out how it should be led, Washington's unmatched ability to rise above the petty politics of his time enables him to win the war that really matters. from the publisher

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.



Valiant Ambition
Nathaniel Philbrick
Viking
$30 hard cover
ISBN:9780525426783

Old Fort Mifflin

by Nancy A. Bekofske

Wide vistas where once colonial soldiers trod

with its perimeter of aged barracks,

the cool dark recesses of powder houses,

slit windows looking out into summer sun,

history's memory, empty and still

but for voyeurs peering on the past's leavings.

Nearby the river ran round like a moat,

catchment of brush and reed, crickets

and frogs singing and leaping,

and looking down in contemplation

sitting on its barren branch, a heron.

Unexpectedly, a mechanical roar disturbed

this Eden of river and fort.

Above us hovered a great silver belly

its mass blocking out the sun,

its labored ascent a mystery.

We believed we could have stroked the silver belly,

it hung so low above us.

Machine made holier than all else

diminishing the heron's tandem flight

parallel under the great belly.

Convergent deities of flight

vying for preeminence.

And when the two had flown

we were left godless on the wide vistas

of a wasteland past.

Himelhoch Brothers Department Store Hanky

In a West Branch, MI antique mall I found this hand painted rayon handkerchief in it's original box, including the paper lace doily that covered it.

The handkerchief is made of rayon, mimicking silk. The edge is not bound, but has a frayed edge. It has a lovely Columbine flower, delicately hand painted.

The box read Himelhoch Brs & Co, Detroit. I needed to know more.

Being a 'recent' transplant to the Detroit area (1963 when I was ten years old) I am not familiar with much of its history. When I was a teen my friends liked to window shop at Jacobson's in Birmingham. Mom liked Federal's in Clawson. But before the suburban shopping centers, people went downtown to shop.

And Himelhoch Brothers and Company was one of the big downtown Detroit department stores.

Michigan Jewish History has a full article on the Himelhoch family and business. You can read it at
http://michjewishhistory.org/pdfs/vol49.pdf.

In the article Marilyn Shapiro writes that in 1907 the Himelhoch family moved its Caro, MI store to downtown Detroit. (Caro was in the heart of the lumbering area.) The automobile executive wives money attracted New York stores like Saks to locate in the city. With funding from Marshall Fields the Himelhochs built a . store near Hudson's Department Store and B. Speigel on Woodward Ave.

The next decade was a time of huge growth. The store was moved to another Woodward Ave location, to a building being remodeled by renowned architect Albert Kahn. An article found in Goggle Books here details the luxurious new store:

Will Rebuild Store-Garment Retailing Concern to Have Handsome Eight Story Structure

A handsome eight story building of reinforced concrete fireproof construction is to be erected on the site now occupied by the store of Himelhoch Bros 8 Co retailers of women's outer garments, Detroit, Mich and will be used in its entirety by that concern.

The new building is to be completed before the close of the present year. The exterior walls to the height of the third story will be faced and trimmed with marble. The walls above will be of ivory white terra cotta trimmed with cream glazed terra cotta. The cornice marquee and window casings will be of copper. The vestibule will be deep thus increasing the extent of the display windows. The interior finish on the first and second floors will be in Circassian walnut, on the third fourth and fifth floors in mahogany, and on the other floors and in the basement in fumed quartered oak. The equipment will include two electric passenger elevators enclosed in polished wire glass and an electric freight elevator. The offices will be located on a balcony over a part of the main floor. Sanitary locker rooms and rest rooms will be provided for the employees and there will be a handsome rest room for customers. A vacuum cleaning system will also be installed. The firm have been in their present location five years and now find a serious need for the additional space which will be provided by the new building.  

The high end store included furs and a bridal department and the novelty of rest rooms for customers.

With the growth of the suburbs the family built stores in Grosse Point, Birmingham, and Northland (once one of the world's largest shopping mall whose last store closed in 2015, It has been torn down.) Fewer people went downtown to shop. The flagship store downsized. The suburban stores did not carry high end goods, but focused on sure sellers. Himelhoch closed in 1979, hurt by the rise of the suburbs, the race riots, and flight from the city.

The business had a life cycle of fifty years. The demise of Detroit killed it.

Learn about the Detroit department stores at HOUR magazine here. 

Ogemaw County, MI Quilts and Ancestors

Sunset over Lake St. Helen

We took a week to go 'Up North' and stay at my brother's cabin on Lake St. Helen, MI. The area is famous for being beloved by actor Charlton Heston who owned a great deal of the lakeside property which he kept natural for outdoor sports. We went down the road to West Branch, MI.

The West Branch Historical Society showed me their recently acquired appliquéd coverlet.

The green fabric was amazing--no fading! So was the Chrome orange and Turkey red.

 The family history was that the coverlet was made in 1864 by Harriet Gordon.

 It was hand appliquéd, machine pieced, and one layer finished with red binding.

In a downtown West Branch antique store I found this quilt. It has cotton appliqué and embroidery on cotton and wool with a pieced cotton outer border.

It may have been bought at auction near Mio, MI. For $99 it was a bargain...if only I had room to store it! 

West Branch City Hall next to the library with a great resale shop

Of course we also hit the West Branch Library and brought home several dozen books!

The Ecker Family of Ogemaw County, MI

We went on the Genealogy Trail for my husband's g-g-grandparents Henry Ecker (Ecer, Acker, Acer) and Sophronia Van Slyke (Slack) whose child Jennie Melissa Ecker married John Hazen Bellinger. Their child was Loretta Valdora Bellinger Bekofske who I wrote about in the post Girl, A Lamp, and the Shipwreck Coast.

We went to the West Branch Public Library, the Rose City Public Library where the historical society holds its library, and to the library at Tawas, MI. We searched the cemeteries at Prescott and Tawas.

Henry Ecker (Acker, Ecer) and Sophronia Van Slack (Slyck) were born in Ontario, Canada and immigrated to the States in 1890. Their daughters had already come to Iosco County upon their marriages: Jennie married Jacob Hazen Bellinger and her sister Margaret married his brother John Wesley Bellinger.

Henry and Sophronia's children included Margaret, Ettie, Jennie Melissa, Abraham, Joseph H., Sarah Elizabeth, Charity, Leona, Cynthia S., Ralphie (Ralphia/Rafee/Ralph), Allen Thulman, and Truman.

Henry and Sophronia Ecker were some of the earliest land owners in Prescott, Richfield Twsp, MI, purchasing 40 acres in 1890. Prescott was 'lumber camp No. 6" belonging to C. H. Prescott. He developed the town which grew to have a post office, church, and all the other small town highlights.

Henry shows up on the 1900 Federal Census with his family "Safrona', Jos., Rafee, and Truman."

Henry appears on a 1903 Plat; he owned 40 acres in Logan Twsp. A Prescott history shows Henry was baptized into the newly built Judson Baptist Church along with his son John H. Ecker in 1891.

In 1903 Jacob and Sophronia with their children Elias, Robert, and Ethel were admitted into the Indiana Quaker Meeting. In 1906 they were "disowned." There is a story here. Especially as Jennie died in 1906!

We discovered a 1919 probate notice for Henry Ecker in the name of Sophronia.


Then Henry disappears.

The Children

Raphie/Raphia/Rafe Courtland Ecker bought land near his father's farm in 1913.

Joseph H. I believe died in 1939; he had been living with his mother in Burleigh Tsp, Iosco Co, Tawas, MI. Joe died from alcoholism.

Truman was the youngest child born in 1890, the year of his family's immigration. His death certificate shows him living at the Ogemaw County Poor Farm near the present golf course in West Branch. He was 50 at the time of his death.

We found marriages and death notices for the children and grandchildren. I pieced together a history of tragedy for Ralphie. In 1906, at age 21,  Raphie married Miss Louise 'Lonsay' Jane Van Meer. She died in 1907 from "eclampsia" and their baby Mary S. died of convulsions ten days later. In 1909 Raphia Cortland Ecker married Ellen Nichols, 19 years old. She died of measles. In 1929 R.C. Ecker, 44 years old, married Mrs. Arletta Barrington, nee' Brown. She appears as Synthia Arletta on the 1940 Federal Census.

Abraham married divorcee' Ellen Fountain, nee' Kerr, in 1906. Their baby girl Sohpronia was stillborn later that year. Abe's occupation on the 1920 census was 'trapper of fur', 'farmer' in 1930 and WPA worker in 1940.

In 1907 Allan Ecker married Mary Van Meer (sister to Lonsay Jane who married Allen's brother Raphie). Allan's wife.

Ettie married Edward Sheehan; their child was Jennie Elizabeth. Sarah Elizabeth married James Augustus Farrand.

After Edward's death Ettie married William Warner.

Sophronia (Saphronia, Sofronia, or Synthia/Synthie) lived to be 99 years old. She is buried in the Richfield Township Cemetery near Etta. But her husband Henry does not show up on any list of internments in the county.

Joseph H. is also buried here but I found no headstone.

Raphie Courtland's son Henry and his wife Ettie are buried near Sophronia.

I am still searching to see how Ralph Delton Ecker fits into the family! He was born in 1945.

And also David H. Ecker.

Bellinger Family

We also went to Tawas, MI to find the grave of Jennie Melissa Ecker Bellinger (daughter of Henry and Sophronia who married Jacob Hazen Bellinger). She died at age 44 from complications of childbirth; shortly later her baby also died. The date reads June 1, 1889. She left behind a large family, including my husband's grandmother Loretta Valdora. (Whose brother Elias Howard also lived in Ogemaw Co and is buried in West Branch.)

It is hard to read, but the top of the headstone reads "WIFE."

Her son Edward and daughter-in-law Martha are also buried there. We found no headstone for her brother-in-law John Wesley who appears on the cemetery list.

Our next step to find Henry Ecker's death date and burial place is to go to Oscoda, MI and the Huron Shores Genealogy Society library and if that fails apply to the State of Michigan.