Sam Maverick’s bell is still there. Melt more guns.

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stmarkstemp

Don’t know why I have been so worried. But every time I pedaled by St. Mark’s Episcopal Church while it was undergoing renovation, I fretted the bell would disappear when the scaffolding was removed. The bell and an old image of the church inspired me to make “Peace be with you” in 2005.

Hanging in an arch on Jefferson Street, the bell’s past was not peaceful. Legend says it saw service during the Battle of the Alamo. According to the church’s website:

The church bell was cast from a bronze cannon found buried near the Alamo on the grounds of the home of founding members Samuel and Mary A. Maverick.

Abe Levy writes in the San Antonio Express-News the completion of work on the sanctuary will be celebrated on February 3:

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has had a storied past with the likes of Robert E. Lee among its flock, and Lyndon Johnson marrying Lady Bird inside its native limestone walls.

Among the city’s oldest Protestant churches, it is a downtown landmark with a rich history, especially for generations of Episcopalians.

After 15 years of studying plans and raising money for a campus-wide  restoration, St. Mark’s is celebrating its $15 million overhaul. Its most recent phase is a $2.6 million facelift of its sanctuary, originally completed in 1875….

Established in 1858, St. Mark’s is considered the flagship congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, producing many bishops through the years and lending the most financial support to diocesan operations among the diocese’s 90 congregations in South Central Texas….

Led by architecture firm Ford, Powell & Carson, renovation work included repositioning the altar to face the congregation. Care was taken to use original colors in plastering and paint, said Father Mike  Chalk, rector.

“We took our history very seriously,” he said. “We went back to early pictures of the building, and as we did the restoration, we noticed some colors associated with the original colors of the building…. We’re really trying to  reclaim the beauty of the building.”

The entire project was aimed to enhance the original architecture by the celebrated Richard Upjohn, who designed Trinity Church on Wall Street. St. Mark’s is a rare example of Upjohn’s work west of  the Mississippi River and is believed to be his only design in San Antonio.

From my print:

They say Sam Maverick forged the bell for St. Mark’s from a cannon used during the Battle of the Alamo.

If only the concept proved contagious….

That bell means a lot to me.

As I pedal by, often with the melody of some ancient hymn echoing in my mind from the carillon at St. John’s Lutheran Church, I wonder how all those semiautomatic assault rifles would sound ringing in church towers throughout the country.

Certainly a lot better than the sound of parents crying.

Note: Apologies for such a low-resolution image. Many of my print images temporarily are trapped in my old computer. My website is also in transition and in somewhat of a state of decomposition, but “peace” is there, albeit in equally low resolution.

Painful contractions: Another sign of age

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It was a horrible, haunting story in the newspaper. One repeated way too often.

A woman “trying to leave an abusive relationship was shot and killed in western Bexar County” on December 27, 2012.

The first paragraph of the story torn out of the San Antonio Express-News remains on my desk by the keyboard two weeks later.

Not because the words make me recoil at the thought of her husband dragging the screaming woman inside the house by her hair. And not because the reporter failed to make the tale compelling. The reporter’s sincere concern about the woman’s fate was underscored by her follow-up tweets on her day off from work:

Last pm, I exclusively reported a woman killed had sought a divorce and TRO from suspected killer the day before.

Sorry for tooting (tweeting) my own horn. Story is buried online but just as important (at least) as longhorns accused of rape, IMHO.

Man accused of killing wife has bought a new car, @BexarCounty sheriff’s office says. Now in 2013 Nissan, LP 39K6495

And two days later:

Officials confirm slain woman was pregnant; husband (accused killer) bought cigars, a car, after Thurs homicide

But instead of focusing on the tragedy, this aging boomer was distracted by the reporter’s use of a contraction in the first sentence of the printed newspaper story.

I make errors all the time. Frequently, in fact, on this blog. My tone is casual. I employ contractions, and many of my sentences simply are not sentences.

But maybe I’m too old (Age, unfortunately, is an incurable disease.) to accept “who’d” in a serious news story. Particularly when “who’d,” which can mean who would or who had, was linked by “and” to “was trying” later in the sentence.

A woman who’d just filed for divorce and was trying to leave an abusive relationship was shot and killed in western Bexar County on Thursday, and officials suspect her husband is to blame.

Proofreader please. The introductory sentence sent me to wondering just who’d read the story before it went to press. As newspapers continue to scale back, have editors vanished or is this the road down which the AP Stylebook has led us?

Of course, this concern over painful contractions arises from someone who thinks about commas often but tends to make up her own rules for the grammar game every time she writes.

To modernize my thinking and make newspaper-reading more palatable, I need to cure myself of this contraction distraction disorder. Part of my efforts for the new year is to try to heal myself of punctuation obsessiveness through music therapy.

The first prescription calls for a dose of Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma.”

Who’d have thought I’d be calling for a rousing chorus of “Who gives a f*** about an Oxford comma?”

February 1, 2013: Not over my contraction distraction disorder yet. Had to come back for another dosage of Vampire Weekend’s song.

The same daily newspaper did me in once again. The paper published an otherwise great story about the Mission Improvements Project on the San Antonio River on page 1. Great coverage, except the nonprofit foundation – the San Antonio River Foundation – supporting enhancements with millions of dollars in contributions was misidentified.

The online story was corrected, but the informal use of a contraction and the assignment of blame to “it,” the story itself, made the apology seem insincere:

An earlier version of this story credited the Confluence Park project on the Mission Reach to the San Antonio Parks Foundation. It should’ve credited the San Antonio River Foundation.

“Oxford Comma” time again.

Grazing our way through Quebec City…

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macarons

This represents our final fulfillment of our pledge to record some of our restaurant experiences from our recent trip to assist other travelers who obsessively turn to the internet before mealtime. (Well, semi-recent. And only a partial fulfillment. This has been a slow process, and the memories of restaurants and meals are fading a bit.)

Our apartment was in the Vieux-Port area of Quebec City, and foot was always our mode of transportation during our stay.

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On the night of our arrival we lucked into seats at L’Échaude, a tony spot where reservations normally are a necessity. Service was extremely polished, and we enjoyed the rich flavors of a mussel and seafood soup in lobster broth and grilled seafood risotto.

Somehow we ended up in the neighborhood of Le Pain Béni in the old city twice at lunch time. The multi-course table d’hote menu represents quite a bargain and inside was relaxing after our long morning explorations. A crispy duck appetizer flavored with maple was wonderful. Maple seems to slip into the ingredients of numerous dishes in Quebec City. Among the dishes we sampled were a lobster-based risotto with fish and a flank steak with purple potatoes and carrots. The fruit salad was not a good dessert option, but the blueberry cake soaked with maple is highly recommended.

SSS, formally named Simple Snack Sympathique, is a popular, trendy spot in the port area and is a sister restaurant of Restaurant Toast. Weekday lunch seems to attract professionals rather than tourists. For lunch, I had salmon tartar with sesame seed and avocado, and the Mister ordered roasted lamb shank with gremolata and roasted vegetables. Both came with French fries, which you can exchange for salad or vegetables. But don’t. These are great fries.

A visit to the impressive National Assembly building was on our agenda, but, rather than go on the total tour, we checked out the restaurant, Le Parliamentaire. We had no reservations, but they are recommended. The Beaux Arts dining room with soaring ceiling is elegant, and service is formal. The table d’hote is not as expensive as one would expect in such surroundings, and the setting is worth experiencing.

We flunked planning ahead, and so often could not get in at the last minute for dinner at some of the popular restaurants in the old quarter. Part of the failure to make reservations was due to lack of hunger. Our long table d’hote lunches left no room for major dinners. We actually slipped into – true confession – a chain, not once, but twice, for lighter evening fare. The Piazzetta in the Old Port area is quite pleasant. The pizza is fine, but what surprised us was how good the restaurant’s main course salads are. We split a warm asparagus and prosciutto salad, which included grape tomatoes, olive and onions with balsamic vinaigrette; and a warm apple and camembert salad with croutons and pecans topped with a three-pepper maple syrup dressing.

As we neared the end of the two-week trip to Canada, I was beginning to yearn for a non-restaurant meal. The century-old farmer’s market, Marché du Vieux Port, was only about a block or two from our apartment and was filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and fish just waiting to be relocated to our kitchen.

One more night, and I’m sure I would have cooked.

Maybe.