...loitering by the wayside...

I finished part one of the Master Craftsman II (MC2) course after months of delay. I answered the multiple-choice questions the same day the test arrived in the mail, but I have been delaying the essay. The MC2 course requires both multiple-choice questions and an essay for each degree and the essays are 500-1000 words, each.

My motivation for completing part one, finally, was something I heard in the Des Moines Scottish Rite's One Day Summer Reunion held August 27. The Reunion was held in honor of Ivan L. Johnson 32° KCCH and Richard J. Noyce, 32° KCCH and conferred eight degrees: 4th, 6th, 13th, 14th, 18th, 23rd, 30th, and 32nd. As I was listening to the degrees on Saturday morning, one phrase stuck in my mind: loitering by the wayside. Well, I am loitering no more. Part one of MC2 will be in the mail early Monday morning and I am already anticipating the questions for part two.

Presentation at Specialis Procer #678 Festive Board

Specialis Procer #678 held their festive board Friday night at the Scottish Rite Temple in Des Moines. The menu featured Beef Wellington and it was delicious! This was only the second SP 678 festive board I've attended and I hope to attend more in the future. My first festive board was back in early 2010 before I had been raised to the Third degree. A brother of the lodge made a presentation on Freemasonry in Turkey. I was impressed both with the presentation and with the concept of gathering with brothers to eat, enjoy each others company, and talk about Masonry. Too often it seems like our meetings focus on the business details of the Lodge, but festive boards highlight the social aspects of our fraternity- and good food!

Last night at SP 678 I made the presentation. I have been working on a paper about symbolism and the Perfect Ashlar. I started work on the project over a year ago, in part to fulfill the requirements for the Ashlar Award. The Ashlar Award is a program from the Grand Lodge of Iowa in which a first year Mason accumulates points for active participation in Freemasonry. Points are earned by learning speaking parts in degrees, being a mentor, attending a Lodge of Instruction, and for writing a paper.

Parts of my presentation have been posted on this blog and can be found by clicking on the "Ashlar" topic on the right side of the screen. I enjoyed researching my "innocent little catalog" of different ways to interpret the Ashlar and hope to continue to learn more about Masonic symbolism with additional research in the future.

Jay Simser has some pictures of the festive board at his blog Bailey's Buddy.

George Washington's Tomb

I have spent the past week living and studying at Mount Vernon with Dr. Gordon Wood, the preeminent scholar of Washington and the Revolutionary era. Twenty teachers were selected to participate in this seminar and I feel fortunate to have been one of them. Dr. Wood is an incredible teacher and has answered every question, no matter how naive, although no one asked him about the bar scene in Good Will Hunting in which his name comes up!

Today was our last day at Mount Vernon. Dr. Wood started us off with another incredible session. We also had tours of the gardens and the Mansion. Just before dinner, we participated in laying the wreath at Washington's tomb. If you can't see the pictures below, click on this link to go to the pics at Picasa.

The tour of the Mansion was incredible, by the way. We spent over an hour in the building including a trip up to the cupola!

Anyway, enjoy the pics!

Mount Vernon Gardens Tour

Here are a few pictures from our garden tour this morning. Use this link if you can't see the slide show.

Washington's Mill and Distillery

Today we toured George Washington's Mill and Distillery just down the road from Mount Vernon. Not only was Washington a Freemason, but he was also the owner of the largest distillery at that time in colonial America. In 1799, the year of his death, his distillery produced almost 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey. There are no records of any other distillery of that size in 1799.

A few pictures of our tour are below in a slide show, or click here to go to the album at Picasa.

National Treasure tour pictures

If you can't see the slide show, click here and you'll go to the pics at Picasa.

Basement of Mount Vernon on the National Treasure tour

More pictures at Mount Vernon

Here are a few pics of the Mansion from early this morning.

Dr. Gordon Wood, Brown University

Dr. Wood is a professor at Brown University and a Pulitzer prize winning author of a book on the American Revolution. He is the featured lecturer this week for our seminar at Mount Vernon. Stephen Bullock, author of Revolutionary Brotherhood, was his student.

Mount Vernon: tomb, gardens, and sheep on the loose

Here are pictures from this morning's stroll around the estate. I visited both tombs, the gardens, and even saw some sheep enjoying breakfast on the back lawn of the Mansion.

Click HERE to go to the pictures.

Mount Vernon at sunrise before the crowds arrive

Here are a few pictures from my walk around the estate this morning.

If you can't see the pictures in the embedded slide show, click here to go to the pics.

Sunrise from the back porch of the mansion at Mount Vernon

Picture Slideshow from George Washington National Masonic Memorial visit 24 July 2011

If you can't see the slide show, click here to go to the pics on Picasa.

My room at Mount Vernon for this week

I'd sit on the left!

THE Chair...

From the observation deck

GW Masonic Memorial

Fourth floor at the Memorial