The previous information about the hidden wall needs to be revised. In talking to people who read the earlier blog, I have come upon some new facts. The son of a previous minister was talking to his dad about the wall and the dad said he remembered the wall being lowered for a specific funeral. Not sure why, but as far as the memory goes, it was probably in the early 80's. So the wall that I thought had been hidden away for 60+ years was seen (we think) about 25 years ago. It is still a fascinating feature of our sanctuary.
You may have noticed a gouge in the right side of the wall. I was told that a paint can was lodged in the track and as the wall was being lowered, it caused the hole in the wall. It can be repaired (patched) and we have even found some similar material in a storage area upstairs.
Folks are talking about painting the wall and it will need to be done eventually, but I hope we don't rush into anything. Sorry about the inaccurate info. But now you know the truth, as I know it.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A TRIP BACK IN TIME---The Wall
This blog is usually about my travels. Not this time. I guess the justification for adding this to a "travel" blog is that the travel was from back in time and from the attic to the first floor. Makes sense to me
.About a month ago, Union Presbyterian folks were informed at Session meeting that a hidden wall existed in the attic and that the men working on the new elevator had checked out the cables and machinery (winch behind the sanctuary) and declared them in amazingly good shape-even considering their age.
Let me stop here and give some background--that I have already written into my facebook page. The church building was erected in the 20's (at least this is what I've been told- I have not been here that long) It is said that the moveable wall was kept down and only raised when a bigger seating area was required for a large gathering (wedding/funeral/special worship service). Brownwood became a much larger town when, during WWII, it hosted Camp Bowie. I have been told that the church was packed during that time, with chairs having to be brought in to seat everyone. The wall was kept up during that time. I am guessing that the groove into which the wall moved (up and down) was considered unsightly and those in charge had an attractive molding nailed permanently over the groove--permanently sealing the wall up in the attic. And seemingly the wall was forgotten for a really long time.
Fast forward 60+ years.. Our sanctuary is NOT packed with worshipers at the moment and we sort of rattle around in the extremely large worship space. We have become used to a smaller worship area since October when our OLD elevator was declared out of compliance by the state regulatory agency and we were required to install a new one. We had to evacuate the sanctuary area while the work was being completed (October-March) and have been worshiping in the Fellowship Hall (a smaller space).
As we are preparing to return upstairs, we are hoping to retain the small, close, friendly atmosphere we have enjoyed in the basement.
ENTER THE HIDDEN WALL.
The session voted to go ahead and work on lowering the wall. The date was chosen for preparation and for lowering. Notice went out to those who wanted to come watch.
The boards in the molding came off w/ very little problem. Few miscellaneous items were found under the boards--long dead wiring, a carpenter's pencil and a dessicated bird skeleton.
The kind, generous and strong elevator installers assisted with the "lowering"--I'm sure it could not have been accomplished with out them. More about them later.
Several members of the congregation gathered to watch the event.
Before the wall was lowered the sanctuary looked like this.
The molding which was added to "pretty up" the sanctuary and to permanently trap the wall in the attic.
The winch, --note -it is full of the cable which is attached to the wall---later picture shows the AFTER winch, empty of cable.
The next pictures are stages of the lowering process. (And many thanks to Valeri for taking some of these pictures for me)
The empty winch
I talked to the people who were upstairs in the attic facilitating this event. I was told that the track the wall came down in was gummy and sort of swollen. The wall didn't just slide down. The three guys in the attic were pushing and shoving and at one point, jumping on the top of the wall to get it to slide down the groove. (Actually if there had been adequate light, that would have been the place to be with a video camera) When these guys were finished, they were exhausted. Now think about the guy on the crank. You've seen it. I can imagine that his slow cranking and holding and cranking and holding over a 45 minute period was also exhausting. As I mentioned, this probably could not have happened without them. And without Tracy, who's idea this activity was in the first place and who was in the attic doing pushing and shoving himself. Thanks guys and thanks a million, Tracy
The way the smaller sanctuary looks today--March 19, 2009
Upclose
The backside of the hidden wall from the soon to be prayer room or chapel.
The same view as before the wall was lowered.
Any questions?
.About a month ago, Union Presbyterian folks were informed at Session meeting that a hidden wall existed in the attic and that the men working on the new elevator had checked out the cables and machinery (winch behind the sanctuary) and declared them in amazingly good shape-even considering their age.
Let me stop here and give some background--that I have already written into my facebook page. The church building was erected in the 20's (at least this is what I've been told- I have not been here that long) It is said that the moveable wall was kept down and only raised when a bigger seating area was required for a large gathering (wedding/funeral/special worship service). Brownwood became a much larger town when, during WWII, it hosted Camp Bowie. I have been told that the church was packed during that time, with chairs having to be brought in to seat everyone. The wall was kept up during that time. I am guessing that the groove into which the wall moved (up and down) was considered unsightly and those in charge had an attractive molding nailed permanently over the groove--permanently sealing the wall up in the attic. And seemingly the wall was forgotten for a really long time.
Fast forward 60+ years.. Our sanctuary is NOT packed with worshipers at the moment and we sort of rattle around in the extremely large worship space. We have become used to a smaller worship area since October when our OLD elevator was declared out of compliance by the state regulatory agency and we were required to install a new one. We had to evacuate the sanctuary area while the work was being completed (October-March) and have been worshiping in the Fellowship Hall (a smaller space).
As we are preparing to return upstairs, we are hoping to retain the small, close, friendly atmosphere we have enjoyed in the basement.
ENTER THE HIDDEN WALL.
The session voted to go ahead and work on lowering the wall. The date was chosen for preparation and for lowering. Notice went out to those who wanted to come watch.
The boards in the molding came off w/ very little problem. Few miscellaneous items were found under the boards--long dead wiring, a carpenter's pencil and a dessicated bird skeleton.
The kind, generous and strong elevator installers assisted with the "lowering"--I'm sure it could not have been accomplished with out them. More about them later.
Several members of the congregation gathered to watch the event.
Before the wall was lowered the sanctuary looked like this.
The molding which was added to "pretty up" the sanctuary and to permanently trap the wall in the attic.
The winch, --note -it is full of the cable which is attached to the wall---later picture shows the AFTER winch, empty of cable.
The next pictures are stages of the lowering process. (And many thanks to Valeri for taking some of these pictures for me)
The empty winch
I talked to the people who were upstairs in the attic facilitating this event. I was told that the track the wall came down in was gummy and sort of swollen. The wall didn't just slide down. The three guys in the attic were pushing and shoving and at one point, jumping on the top of the wall to get it to slide down the groove. (Actually if there had been adequate light, that would have been the place to be with a video camera) When these guys were finished, they were exhausted. Now think about the guy on the crank. You've seen it. I can imagine that his slow cranking and holding and cranking and holding over a 45 minute period was also exhausting. As I mentioned, this probably could not have happened without them. And without Tracy, who's idea this activity was in the first place and who was in the attic doing pushing and shoving himself. Thanks guys and thanks a million, Tracy
The way the smaller sanctuary looks today--March 19, 2009
Upclose
The backside of the hidden wall from the soon to be prayer room or chapel.
The same view as before the wall was lowered.
Any questions?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Train ride and Tut's 3000 year old cow
Friday the 13th---We woke to an overcast day that was promising rain. We had mapped out how to get to the TRE rail station and knew how to change trains to get to downtown Dallas. Sara was wonderful, taking us right to the Center Point station much quicker than we thought. Rain had begun and traffic was moderate to light. Bought tickets for $5 each for the entire day's travel from a kiosk at the train stop. Really easy to accomplish Our train didn't leave til 8:50 and we had a while to wait in the icy weather. We had borrowed rain jackets from B & Nki, and had other jackets on under them, but we still weren't WARM. Train arrived, we got on, walked up to the observation level and settled in. It was comfortably warm and we watched the countryside whip by thinking how smart B and Nki were to suggest this way to get to the museum. Changed trains w/ no problem ---second one not quite as comfortable as the first, but we were only on it for a little while. The brochure mentioned that the museum is only a short walking distance from the DART St. Paul station going up Harwood St. Remember, it is raining hard and the weather seems icy. I was visualizing a block or two walk. After 2 blocks we began checking addresses--we were at the 600 block of Harwood and the museum's address is 1717 Harwood. YIKES! That's 11 more blocks--not bad on a balmy spring day, but not today. We walked two more blocks or so and there it was. No clue what is up w/ that address, but it was only 2 or 3 more icy blocks rather than 11.
Our hearts kinda sank when we say row on row of school buses lined up, empty. Having both been in the school business, we know that kids on field trips are not always a credit to their parents. Besides even the best behaved children can be a problem when there are hundreds and hundreds of them.
As we entered the building we saw a queue of tightly packed youngsters that doubled back on itself about 8 to 10 times in a huge area. No, I'm not even going to hazard a guess how many there were. Online, we had bought tickets for the 3-D movie that accompanies the exhibit, so we decided to go there first for 30 min, hoping that the line would diminish some during that time.
Movie was interesting, not great 3-D, but effective. Explained the process of mummification in Ancient Egypt and how it would be done today. DNA testing was shown on the ancient mummies. And when it was over there were fewer people filling the velvet ropes going back and forth. Finally entering the exhibit, we used the audio tour device to have Omar Sharif describe what we were seeing. It was crowded, but not oppressive. I must commend the people who administer the exhibit's entry procedures, they were able to keep the number of visitors coming in at a constant level, so as not to overwhelm any one area. And we didn't feel rushed, we were able to spend as much time in any given area as we wanted.
The artifacts and statuary, both large and small, were very impressive. There were carved and molded busts of people and animals made of alabaster, of wood, of metal covered w/ gold, and of inlaid metals. Personal ornamentation (in the form of cobras, large birds and jackels) were found wrapped into the windings of King Tut's mummy and also was found when other remains were unwound. We saw jars of alabaster and metal covered with gold which were designed to hold the mummy's internal organs. One for the liver, one for the lungs, etc. The heart was returned to the body after being cleaned and prepared. We saw gold coffins for tiny mummies of unborn children--it is guessed that one of these was for Tut's own son. One of the most impressive items discovered in Tut's pyramid was a wooden carving of a cow. A regular ole black and white cow which was painted 3000 years ago and looked as if it had been painted last week. Now that was good paint. We saw a sarcophagus of Tut's wife (his wasn't on display) and it was covered in gold. Everywhere you looked gold, gold, gold and more GOLD.
I don't have any King Tut pictures to show you here because they were forbidden. So just visualize dark rooms, filled w/ people reading and listening and looking at shiny stuff and lots of children filling out question booklets that I'm sure the museum sent to their teachers. We had to be careful to look where we were stepping-- many of the children were sitting and lying on the floor to record their answers.
EGYPTIAN OBELISK BEHIND NICK--ONE OF THE FEW PLACES WE COULD TAKE PICTURES
When we had as much Egypt as we could stand, we headed for the Atruim--the casual cafe in the museum. There is a more elegant restaurant on the Mezzanine, but decided against it. We had chicken ceasar salads (I thought the Ceasar part interesting in light of his involvement w/ later Egypt) and soup. I did take a picture of a very pretty salad. This was not just thrown together as I might do at home, it was ARRANGED and very attractive.
(Although the picture does not do it justice.)
I checked out the gift shop (of course), but didn't think I needed any of the Egyptian jewelry that ranged from $2,400 to $65 (for a cartouche of my name in silver) I did get a mood ring for $3. And it has an Egyptian design around it.
After reclaiming our numerous coats at the FREE coat check area (at least we didn't have to wag them around the whole time), we saw a very interesting activity down a hall way. Picture a round table sized fan, plugged into the ceiling which is about 50 feet above our heads (super long cord). It is swaying and swooping and bobbing as if alive. It was so interesting, that I forgot I was in the "take no pictures" museum AND I DID. OOPS! I was yelled at about it, and the picture isn't particularly good, but here it is.
The fan is at the top center--a round black blob. The sculpture in the picture was also rather unusual.
Back out into the rain, back to the train station where we waited maybe 2 minutes for the train that whisked us to Union Station. We waited there (inside and warm) for about 50 minutes. The rest of the trip was just a reverse of the earlier trek.
UNION STATION
We picked up a map of the train route at Union station and discovered that we had gone right by "the grassy knoll", Dely Plaza and the JFK museum area twice without even being aware of it. Next time, we'll get off there, if it isn't raining.
Got back to Nki and B's house with only a little difficulty--Sara told us to get on I-30 at a particular place but she didn't know that that particular on ramp is closed because of all the road work taking place to provide better access to the new stadium. We figured it out finally and got to the house, changed wet socks and pants and had some hot tea.
A really fun day.
Our hearts kinda sank when we say row on row of school buses lined up, empty. Having both been in the school business, we know that kids on field trips are not always a credit to their parents. Besides even the best behaved children can be a problem when there are hundreds and hundreds of them.
As we entered the building we saw a queue of tightly packed youngsters that doubled back on itself about 8 to 10 times in a huge area. No, I'm not even going to hazard a guess how many there were. Online, we had bought tickets for the 3-D movie that accompanies the exhibit, so we decided to go there first for 30 min, hoping that the line would diminish some during that time.
Movie was interesting, not great 3-D, but effective. Explained the process of mummification in Ancient Egypt and how it would be done today. DNA testing was shown on the ancient mummies. And when it was over there were fewer people filling the velvet ropes going back and forth. Finally entering the exhibit, we used the audio tour device to have Omar Sharif describe what we were seeing. It was crowded, but not oppressive. I must commend the people who administer the exhibit's entry procedures, they were able to keep the number of visitors coming in at a constant level, so as not to overwhelm any one area. And we didn't feel rushed, we were able to spend as much time in any given area as we wanted.
The artifacts and statuary, both large and small, were very impressive. There were carved and molded busts of people and animals made of alabaster, of wood, of metal covered w/ gold, and of inlaid metals. Personal ornamentation (in the form of cobras, large birds and jackels) were found wrapped into the windings of King Tut's mummy and also was found when other remains were unwound. We saw jars of alabaster and metal covered with gold which were designed to hold the mummy's internal organs. One for the liver, one for the lungs, etc. The heart was returned to the body after being cleaned and prepared. We saw gold coffins for tiny mummies of unborn children--it is guessed that one of these was for Tut's own son. One of the most impressive items discovered in Tut's pyramid was a wooden carving of a cow. A regular ole black and white cow which was painted 3000 years ago and looked as if it had been painted last week. Now that was good paint. We saw a sarcophagus of Tut's wife (his wasn't on display) and it was covered in gold. Everywhere you looked gold, gold, gold and more GOLD.
I don't have any King Tut pictures to show you here because they were forbidden. So just visualize dark rooms, filled w/ people reading and listening and looking at shiny stuff and lots of children filling out question booklets that I'm sure the museum sent to their teachers. We had to be careful to look where we were stepping-- many of the children were sitting and lying on the floor to record their answers.
EGYPTIAN OBELISK BEHIND NICK--ONE OF THE FEW PLACES WE COULD TAKE PICTURES
When we had as much Egypt as we could stand, we headed for the Atruim--the casual cafe in the museum. There is a more elegant restaurant on the Mezzanine, but decided against it. We had chicken ceasar salads (I thought the Ceasar part interesting in light of his involvement w/ later Egypt) and soup. I did take a picture of a very pretty salad. This was not just thrown together as I might do at home, it was ARRANGED and very attractive.
(Although the picture does not do it justice.)
I checked out the gift shop (of course), but didn't think I needed any of the Egyptian jewelry that ranged from $2,400 to $65 (for a cartouche of my name in silver) I did get a mood ring for $3. And it has an Egyptian design around it.
After reclaiming our numerous coats at the FREE coat check area (at least we didn't have to wag them around the whole time), we saw a very interesting activity down a hall way. Picture a round table sized fan, plugged into the ceiling which is about 50 feet above our heads (super long cord). It is swaying and swooping and bobbing as if alive. It was so interesting, that I forgot I was in the "take no pictures" museum AND I DID. OOPS! I was yelled at about it, and the picture isn't particularly good, but here it is.
The fan is at the top center--a round black blob. The sculpture in the picture was also rather unusual.
Back out into the rain, back to the train station where we waited maybe 2 minutes for the train that whisked us to Union Station. We waited there (inside and warm) for about 50 minutes. The rest of the trip was just a reverse of the earlier trek.
UNION STATION
We picked up a map of the train route at Union station and discovered that we had gone right by "the grassy knoll", Dely Plaza and the JFK museum area twice without even being aware of it. Next time, we'll get off there, if it isn't raining.
Got back to Nki and B's house with only a little difficulty--Sara told us to get on I-30 at a particular place but she didn't know that that particular on ramp is closed because of all the road work taking place to provide better access to the new stadium. We figured it out finally and got to the house, changed wet socks and pants and had some hot tea.
A really fun day.
Friday, March 13, 2009
King Tut
We're in Arlington to stay overnight and to get up early to go to the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) in the morning. The plan is to drive to a train station- catch the inner city train- change once and arrive within 2 blocks of the DMA. We have jackets and hoodies and should be warm enough. We're really looking forward to the King Tut exhibit. Those of you who know me well won't be surprised to know that I got up at 4:30, and had my shower. B gets up at 5 and Nki at 6 and N at 7. No one ran out of hot water. Breakfast will be a little tricky because we are having some success doing the South Beach Diet right now and I'm really tired of eggs. That is the only sanctioned breakfast that I have discovered, so I may just forfeit so I'll be really ready for lunch at the Museum. Our drive to the train station may be interesting during "going to work" traffic, but I'm sure Sara, orange van, can advise us on the correct route and the traffic conditions. Keep your fingers crossed for easy travel.
More later.
More later.
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