Rutter Requiem

Performed by CUCC Choir June 2, 2002.
Use player below to play all selections

John Rutter Requiem (29:09)
Introit (0:33)
Benediction (1:01)

Did You Ever Know a Bird?

Before I formed you in the womb,

I knew you... -- Jeremiah 1:5

by Lavon Page, April 19, 2002

Have you ever known a bird? I don't mean do you know about "birds". Or even do you know about a specific kind of bird. I'm asking if you've ever known a unique, individual bird. Not a parakeet or some caged bird, but a wild bird free to come and go as it pleases.

This is the story of Pinky.

One spring day in 1999 I noticed a small bright red bird near my back deck. He caught my attention because he was not a cardinal, and cardinals are the only red birds in these parts that I am familiar with.

A quick check of a bird book showed conclusively that he was a male, summer tanager. According to the book summer tanagers are common in the southeast, so I'm certain that my unfamiliarity with the species was partially due to my inattentiveness and general ignorance of birds.

In any case, Pinky hung around for a few weeks at least and had several very predictable habits. One habit was sitting in a small, scrawny cedar tree near the back porch. He preferred a particular little branch in that cedar tree, and on most days he could be spotted there during both morning and evening hours. Since the branch is only about 15 feet from our table on the back porch, and only about 12 feet from the deck, this gave ample opportunity for watching and filming him. (I fiddle around a lot with digital movies, so "Pinky" movies get played fairly frequently in our house when I'm experimenting with digital video.)

Also, during the time he was here in 1999 his mate was frequently seen. We dubbed her "Mrs. Pinky". She was similar to him in size, but of an olive green color, a very pretty little bird. But she was more reclusive and was rarely seen up close.

We enjoyed Pinky immensely while he was here in the spring of 1999. It was the first time in my life that I felt I was coming to "know" a bird.

In the spring of 2000 when Pinky returned, I was thrilled. How did I recognize him? Don't all summer tanagers look more or less the same? Maybe so, but the fact that I had seen only one tanager near my house in 20 years, plus the fact that the bird that came in the spring of 2000 had a particular preference for the same pathetic little branch in the same scrawny little cedar tree that Pinky had liked the year before removed any doubt. It was Pinky!

And he displayed the same habits as the year before. He's a very bold little bird who doesn't mind if I'm 10 feet away as long as I'm not doing anything that looks threatening.

His return made me wonder, "Where has he been for the past 11 months?" I wrote Lynn Barber (my personal bird expert), and she said he probably winters in South America. Some Internet research revealed Ecuador as a possible destination for Pinky between his visits to Raleigh.

Pinky in the summer of 2001

After Pinky made another annual visit in the spring of 2001, I began to wonder, "How long do these birds live?"

I don't know the answer to that question, but I had the feeling that Pinky would be back this year. I got up yesterday morning and stuck my head out the back door and remarked to Jo, "I think Pinky might show up today." (I didn't really think that, but I was hoping, as I had been all week.)

Around dinner time I was at my computer trying out some things with a new piece of video editing software that I had just acquired. Jo was in the kitchen and muttered something about me playing "Pinky" movies. It didn't register immediately, but a few seconds later it dawned on me that she was hearing "Pinky" movies being played, and I wasn't playing any. I looked out the window and there he was, in the dogwood tree right over the back porch. It was almost as if he had located me through the window to announce his presence.

(That Jo picked up his voice is amazing to me. There is a constant drone of wrens at our house, and every one of them is 10 times as loud as Pinky. How she picked out his small voice among all the shrill chirping of the wrens I can't imagine.)

Pinky in 2002

I went outside with my camera, but he backed off to a tree about 40 feet away, where he sat and alternately eyed me and engaged in seemingly random cheeping. I couldn't get good pictures from that distance, but I started thinking along the following lines:

"I don't need to take pictures now, because I know as surely as I know anything that in about 10 minutes he's going to be sitting on that same 1/4 inch diameter branch in that little cedar tree."

And sure enough, I came back out 10 minutes later and there he was on his favorite branch (see picture).

Now this is sort of scary if you think about. Here's a bird (not a person, a bird!) that I haven't seen for a year. I've observed him for about 60 seconds. And I know exactly where he's going to be in 10 minutes.

Most folks don't know that much about their own kids.

Now I'm not sure what the moral of this story is, but I do know that I shed a few tears at 4 AM this morning thinking about it. For one thing the story tells me that there is a level of "knowing" that we're oblivious to 99.9% of the time, but which occasionally (and miraculously) by serendipity breaks through our fog. The sermon that Dave Barber preached on angels years ago comes to mind. Angels come in many forms, and their message is often garbled and confusing.

Pinky is some sort of angel. I think he's telling me that even though I'm not paying much attention there is an order about me that is greater than my comprehension. And "knowing" this little bird has in a small way helped my understanding of what it means to be known.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you... -- Jermiah 1:5"

Epilog: In March 2003 I moved away from the house in the woods. I suspect that Pinky returned a month later. I told the new owner about Pinky, but I don't think she ever noticed him. 

Isabella Cannon

Isabella McLean Bett Walton Cannon (May 12, 1904 - February 13, 2002) was the first female mayor of a capital city in the United States.[1] At the age of 73, she defeated the incumbent Mayor of Raleigh, Jyles Coggins, during the election of 1977. Known as “the little old lady in tennis shoes,” she served one term as mayor of Raleigh until 1979. Isabella Cannon died at the age of 97 on February 13, 2002.

  Click any photo to view large versions of all photos  

MLK's "I Have a Dream" read by Geri Bowen

The famous Martin Luther King speech as read by Geri Bowen for the Community UCC worship service on January 20, 2002.

Geri Bowen reads the "I Have A Dream" speech of Martin Luther King (31:10)

Keith Petersen reads selected poems

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Keith Petersen was the poet laureate of CUCC for man years preceding his death in 2001. Shortly before his death I sat with Keith in his kitchen as he read some of the poems he had written during the previous two and a half decades. They provide a wonderful remembrance of Keith’s wit and wisdom.

Use this player to play all the tracks below:

Train in the Rain (1992) (2:19)
Swinging (1992) (1:08)
Sequence (1995) (1:24)
Sea Songs (1998) (1:13)
Three Nights with Two Grandsons (1999) (2:02)
Samoyed Summer Night (1977) (8:05)
Zebadee (1990) (2:32)
The Straw Gatherer (1995) (3:26)
The Sixth Commandment (1998) (1:36)
That You May Know the Truth (1998) (7:19)
The Nightingale's Own Ode (1991) (2:09)
How Long Did it Take? (1991) (3:17)
Why Crossword Puzzles Are Easier than Poems (1991) (1:41)
Alas and Alack, Mrs. Harrington (1993) (2:43)
The Funny Sonnet Debate (1999) (1:47)
Homage to Any Political Prisoner Who is Unknown (1978) (2:12)
Visit to the New York Museum of Modern Art (1985) (2:46)
Jail Visiting Hours (1987) (1:58)
Are You Okay (1986) (4:21)
Before the Pueblo Revolt, 1680 (1992) (3:20)
The 101st Love Sonnet (1996) (1:54)
This Hand, These Hands (1996) (1:50)
Accident Report (1996) (1:52)
What Was and Will Be Remembered (1996) (1:21)
Gertrude (1996) (1:56)
Cleopatra Remembers Dido, Too (1996) (2:15)
The Commoners (1996) (2:10)

On October 18, 2001 Keith Petersen wrote a letter to participants in the CUCC Wednesday night Bible Study group who had been present the evening before. A few days later Keith died. In this recording made in January 2007, Lavon Page reads an extended excerpt from Keith's letter and puts Keith's remarks in context. Those who knew Keith will feel Keith's spirit leap off the page in this reading, and those who were not acquainted with Keith will get a glimpse of a rare and remarkable soul.

Excerpts from a letter written by Keith Petersen and addressed to Bible Study participants at CUCC (10:08) (read by Lavon Page)

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Nancy Keppel - WUNC Radio Commentaries

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Nancy Keppel was always self-effacing when talking about her many commentaries broadcast on WUNC-Radio in Chapel Hill. “If I can do it, anyone can,” she said frequently. But Nancy had a gift, and her wit and charm displayed in her commentaries gives a faint glimpse into the many gifts that she gave to CUCC and all who knew her for so long.

Use this player to play all the tracks below:

Introduction (1:09)
Words (3:32)
Cheerwine (3:45)
Women's Basketball (3:15)
Reunion (3:55)
Dating Game (3:50)
Sex Talk (2:59)
Senior Moments (3:31)
Life Goes On (3:20)
Kidnapping (3:18)
Dust to Dust (2:57)
Introduction to Essay (0:16)
Essay: At Home on Mocksville Avenue (8:24)
Conclusion (0:13) Post settings Labels people Published on 6/1/01, 2:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time Permalink Location Options

Down in Yon Forest (Quartet)

A quartet consisting of Geri Bowen, Marty Lamb, Mark Denlinger, and Mike Ross. Recorded in December 2000.

Down in Yon Forest (1:51)