The first book that my brother David Noel read from beginning to end was A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Each chapter was named for the king it dealt with. The last chapter was titled Conclusion. For years he thought King Conclusion was the last monarch in English history.—Ben Freedman 9/16/08 (email)
Three standards of greatness in a work of fiction: How much do you hope this novel won't come to an end? How many thoughts does this novel make you have that you haven't had before? And: How novel is this novel? Could anybody else have written it?
--Donald Harrington [via David Angsten]
From the FOUR QUARTETS by T. S. Eliot:
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing;
wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
[via Nina Reznick. Esq]
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing;
wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
[via Nina Reznick. Esq]
Where Horses and Their Riders Winter
"In real life, we have horses and dogs in our neighborhoods....Aiken is without vampires...except for whatever the Stokers dredge up on Halloween." --Jenne Stoker
Where Horses and Their Riders Winter
By ELIZABETH MAKER
ED AND LESLIE GIOBE sat on rickety chairs among jockeys, local residents and fellow part-time Northeasterners at the Track Kitchen breakfast shack in Aiken, S.C., one recent morning, and explained why they spend more time at their house there these days than at either of their estates in Greenwich, Conn. “It’s a different world down here, laid- back, no stress and all horses,” said Ms. Giobe, a rider and a retired New York investment banker.
“On Halloween, kids dress up and go trick-or-treating on horseback. The bell rings, you open the door, and a horse walks his front hooves into your house.” The Giobes bought a 5,100-square-foot brick house on 2.5 acres for $980,000 in 2002. “You don’t get attitudes in Aiken,” Ms. Giobe said. “Everyone’s friendly. It’s a nonstop party.”
A party, with a whiff of barn and hay. The Giobes are among the horse lovers from the Northeast, local real estate agents say, who are reviving a colony of equestrian snowbirds in Aiken, a city of about 30,000 that sits 16 miles from Augusta, Ga. The town’s reputation as a haven for horse lovers originally bloomed in the late 1800s, when wealthy Northerners, including the Whitneys, Vanderbilts and Astors, discovered Aiken’s agreeable climate and found that its loamy clay soil was perfect footing for their horses’ hooves.
It was known as “the winter colony,” a horsemen’s playground, until after World War II, when “life got more demanding and the winter colony gradually faded away,” said David Jameson, the Chamber of Commerce president. “But now we’re seeing sort of a rebirth of the winter colony.” David Samson was New Jersey’s attorney general when he and his wife, Joanna, heard about Aiken six years ago. They had a weekend house in Washington, Conn., and Ms. Samson rode with a local fox-hunting club — when the weather allowed. Ms. Samson and her horses were cooped up with cabin fever when “someone told us about this awesome little horsy town, where the footing is always amazing,” she said of Aiken. “I went down and fell in love.
The red-clay dirt roads. The crosswalks that have two push buttons: one for pedestrians, one higher up for horseback riders. The adorable downtown.” They kept their Connecticut house and a condo in New Jersey, but the Samsons now winter in Aiken, living in a 2,500-square-foot 1887 cottage they bought in 2002 for $380,000. The Scene There’s no such thing as holding your horses in Aiken. There are steeplechases, fox hunts, polo matches and other competitive events. The streets downtown have names like Citation Drive, Ruffian Road and Saratoga Street, and the sidewalks feature a herd of life-size fiberglass horses. In the center of the city is the Hitchcock Woods, one of the largest urban forests in America, a nearly 2,000-acre preserve meant for horsy fun, complete with hilly trails and jumps.
There’s plenty of golf, too. Some courses are public; others are within private clubs or gated communities. Perhaps disappointingly, golfers ride carts, not horses, between holes. The downtown is home to mom-and-pop shops like New Image, which sells men’s suits for $45 and ball gowns for as low as $29; Equine Divine, which specializes in horse-related gifts; and Jones Supply, a hardware store that looks straight out of a Frank Capra movie. There’s a mix of restaurants, like Up Your Alley and the West Side Bowery, where the appetizers are listed as “Dinner Starting Gate,” and the salads as “Grazing Greens.”
Aiken’s night life can be wild on weekends. There are students from two local colleges, the seasonal horse set and scientists from the nearby Savannah River Site, a federal nuclear production facility. All of them spill onto the sidewalks, drinks in hand, from the Aiken Brewing Company, Pat’s Martini Bar or CuiZine. At the Hotel Aiken, with its Polo Tavern and Tiki Tavern, people dance to Carolina shag, drink Jack Daniel’s and smoke with abandon. “Yes, we have smoking in Aiken,” said Jane Page Thompson, an agent with the Carolina Real Estate Company in town, “and if that’s not O.K., you probably shouldn’t come.”
And, in Aiken, churches seem to sprout like mushrooms in a rainy season. “When we came to Aiken, we found God — everywhere,” said Steven Naifeh, a writer who bought a 25,000-square-foot, 29-bedroom “cottage” on Easy Street in 1989 with his companion, Gregory White Smith, also a writer, for less than $500,000. “There’s a church on every corner, with marquees, like, ‘Life Is a Lottery, Win With Christ.’ ” You’ll also find couples like Cathy and Herman Wallace, who were pushing their rarefied pooches in a pink pram outside the elegant Willcox hotel. The Wallaces, who also live part-time in Kentucky and Tennessee, spend a few weeks each year at the Willcox “because they roll out the red carpet for us and our babies,” Ms. Wallace said, referring to Patience, a bichon frisé-poodle with blue bow and collar, and Lola, a Maltese, with green bow and collar.
But image and income play little part in the social scene, Ms. Samson said. “The women here care more about keeping their horses fit than getting their nails done.” Pros Aiken’s climate is dry and sunny, there are plenty of riding opportunities, there is a lively downtown, real estate values are below the national average, and taxes are low. Cons Smoking is allowed in restaurants and bars, but many in Aiken like that — South Carolina, after all, is tobacco country. The Real Estate Market Aiken’s equestrians may tend toward wealth, but, even so, buyers have been getting a deal. The median price of a home last year was $155,000, according to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, while the national median was $219,000.
Condos go for $75,000 to $130,000; three-bedroom ranches start at $120,000; and properties with barns and paddocks range from $250,000 to more than $1 million. The Balcony, a six-acre estate, sold for $2.8 million last year. There are 757 homes on the market in Aiken, about 7 percent of the town’s stock, said David Stinson, an agent with Meybohm Realtors. Brick or clapboard ranches are most common, but there are also renovated historic frame houses, sprawling estates and country club villas that start at $300,000 and surge into the millions. There are also several high-end communities being built, including the Ridge at Chukker Creek and the New Bridge Polo & Country Club. Part-timers make up 17 percent of homeowners, said Sandra Korbelik, Aiken’s senior planner, and the town is one of the fastest-growing second-home communities in the country.
Edward Bernard, an oil executive from Point Clear, Ala., bought an antebellum house on five acres in Aiken three years ago for $350,000. He owns 500 more acres, on which he has put in three polo fields and several hunter/jumper arenas. He sells 10-acre lots for $150,000 apiece. Mr. Bernard said: “A gal from up North just came down and said, ‘You’re kidding, right? That’s a steal.’ I said, ‘No, Sugar, that’s for real.’ ” LAY OF THE LAND POPULATION 29,218, according to a 2007 Census Bureau estimate. SIZE 16.2 square miles.
WHERE Aiken sits in the midwestern section of South Carolina, 16 miles northeast of Augusta, Ga., and 50 miles southwest of Columbia, S.C. WHO’S BUYING Horse lovers from Northeastern states like Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING The Willcox (100 Colleton Avenue; 803-648-1898; www.thewillcox.com) is a white-pillared hotel with luxurious rooms and suites, most with fireplaces, all with featherbeds. Rooms are $185 to $525 a night.
Where Horses and Their Riders Winter
By ELIZABETH MAKER
ED AND LESLIE GIOBE sat on rickety chairs among jockeys, local residents and fellow part-time Northeasterners at the Track Kitchen breakfast shack in Aiken, S.C., one recent morning, and explained why they spend more time at their house there these days than at either of their estates in Greenwich, Conn. “It’s a different world down here, laid- back, no stress and all horses,” said Ms. Giobe, a rider and a retired New York investment banker.
“On Halloween, kids dress up and go trick-or-treating on horseback. The bell rings, you open the door, and a horse walks his front hooves into your house.” The Giobes bought a 5,100-square-foot brick house on 2.5 acres for $980,000 in 2002. “You don’t get attitudes in Aiken,” Ms. Giobe said. “Everyone’s friendly. It’s a nonstop party.”
A party, with a whiff of barn and hay. The Giobes are among the horse lovers from the Northeast, local real estate agents say, who are reviving a colony of equestrian snowbirds in Aiken, a city of about 30,000 that sits 16 miles from Augusta, Ga. The town’s reputation as a haven for horse lovers originally bloomed in the late 1800s, when wealthy Northerners, including the Whitneys, Vanderbilts and Astors, discovered Aiken’s agreeable climate and found that its loamy clay soil was perfect footing for their horses’ hooves.
It was known as “the winter colony,” a horsemen’s playground, until after World War II, when “life got more demanding and the winter colony gradually faded away,” said David Jameson, the Chamber of Commerce president. “But now we’re seeing sort of a rebirth of the winter colony.” David Samson was New Jersey’s attorney general when he and his wife, Joanna, heard about Aiken six years ago. They had a weekend house in Washington, Conn., and Ms. Samson rode with a local fox-hunting club — when the weather allowed. Ms. Samson and her horses were cooped up with cabin fever when “someone told us about this awesome little horsy town, where the footing is always amazing,” she said of Aiken. “I went down and fell in love.
The red-clay dirt roads. The crosswalks that have two push buttons: one for pedestrians, one higher up for horseback riders. The adorable downtown.” They kept their Connecticut house and a condo in New Jersey, but the Samsons now winter in Aiken, living in a 2,500-square-foot 1887 cottage they bought in 2002 for $380,000. The Scene There’s no such thing as holding your horses in Aiken. There are steeplechases, fox hunts, polo matches and other competitive events. The streets downtown have names like Citation Drive, Ruffian Road and Saratoga Street, and the sidewalks feature a herd of life-size fiberglass horses. In the center of the city is the Hitchcock Woods, one of the largest urban forests in America, a nearly 2,000-acre preserve meant for horsy fun, complete with hilly trails and jumps.
There’s plenty of golf, too. Some courses are public; others are within private clubs or gated communities. Perhaps disappointingly, golfers ride carts, not horses, between holes. The downtown is home to mom-and-pop shops like New Image, which sells men’s suits for $45 and ball gowns for as low as $29; Equine Divine, which specializes in horse-related gifts; and Jones Supply, a hardware store that looks straight out of a Frank Capra movie. There’s a mix of restaurants, like Up Your Alley and the West Side Bowery, where the appetizers are listed as “Dinner Starting Gate,” and the salads as “Grazing Greens.”
Aiken’s night life can be wild on weekends. There are students from two local colleges, the seasonal horse set and scientists from the nearby Savannah River Site, a federal nuclear production facility. All of them spill onto the sidewalks, drinks in hand, from the Aiken Brewing Company, Pat’s Martini Bar or CuiZine. At the Hotel Aiken, with its Polo Tavern and Tiki Tavern, people dance to Carolina shag, drink Jack Daniel’s and smoke with abandon. “Yes, we have smoking in Aiken,” said Jane Page Thompson, an agent with the Carolina Real Estate Company in town, “and if that’s not O.K., you probably shouldn’t come.”
And, in Aiken, churches seem to sprout like mushrooms in a rainy season. “When we came to Aiken, we found God — everywhere,” said Steven Naifeh, a writer who bought a 25,000-square-foot, 29-bedroom “cottage” on Easy Street in 1989 with his companion, Gregory White Smith, also a writer, for less than $500,000. “There’s a church on every corner, with marquees, like, ‘Life Is a Lottery, Win With Christ.’ ” You’ll also find couples like Cathy and Herman Wallace, who were pushing their rarefied pooches in a pink pram outside the elegant Willcox hotel. The Wallaces, who also live part-time in Kentucky and Tennessee, spend a few weeks each year at the Willcox “because they roll out the red carpet for us and our babies,” Ms. Wallace said, referring to Patience, a bichon frisé-poodle with blue bow and collar, and Lola, a Maltese, with green bow and collar.
But image and income play little part in the social scene, Ms. Samson said. “The women here care more about keeping their horses fit than getting their nails done.” Pros Aiken’s climate is dry and sunny, there are plenty of riding opportunities, there is a lively downtown, real estate values are below the national average, and taxes are low. Cons Smoking is allowed in restaurants and bars, but many in Aiken like that — South Carolina, after all, is tobacco country. The Real Estate Market Aiken’s equestrians may tend toward wealth, but, even so, buyers have been getting a deal. The median price of a home last year was $155,000, according to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, while the national median was $219,000.
Condos go for $75,000 to $130,000; three-bedroom ranches start at $120,000; and properties with barns and paddocks range from $250,000 to more than $1 million. The Balcony, a six-acre estate, sold for $2.8 million last year. There are 757 homes on the market in Aiken, about 7 percent of the town’s stock, said David Stinson, an agent with Meybohm Realtors. Brick or clapboard ranches are most common, but there are also renovated historic frame houses, sprawling estates and country club villas that start at $300,000 and surge into the millions. There are also several high-end communities being built, including the Ridge at Chukker Creek and the New Bridge Polo & Country Club. Part-timers make up 17 percent of homeowners, said Sandra Korbelik, Aiken’s senior planner, and the town is one of the fastest-growing second-home communities in the country.
Edward Bernard, an oil executive from Point Clear, Ala., bought an antebellum house on five acres in Aiken three years ago for $350,000. He owns 500 more acres, on which he has put in three polo fields and several hunter/jumper arenas. He sells 10-acre lots for $150,000 apiece. Mr. Bernard said: “A gal from up North just came down and said, ‘You’re kidding, right? That’s a steal.’ I said, ‘No, Sugar, that’s for real.’ ” LAY OF THE LAND POPULATION 29,218, according to a 2007 Census Bureau estimate. SIZE 16.2 square miles.
WHERE Aiken sits in the midwestern section of South Carolina, 16 miles northeast of Augusta, Ga., and 50 miles southwest of Columbia, S.C. WHO’S BUYING Horse lovers from Northeastern states like Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. WHILE YOU’RE LOOKING The Willcox (100 Colleton Avenue; 803-648-1898; www.thewillcox.com) is a white-pillared hotel with luxurious rooms and suites, most with fireplaces, all with featherbeds. Rooms are $185 to $525 a night.
Organ/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) is a musical piece composed by John Cage and is the subject of the slowest and longest-lasting musical performance yet undertaken. It was originally written in 1987 for organ and is adapted from the earlier work ASLSP 1985; a typical performance of the piano piece lasts for about 20 to 70 minutes. In 1985, Cage opted to omit the detail of "exactly how slow the piece should be played."
The current organ performance of the piece at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years, ending in 2640.
(from wikipedia)
Vincent Atchity
The current organ performance of the piece at St. Burchardi church in Halberstadt, Germany, began in 2001 and is scheduled to have a duration of 639 years, ending in 2640.
(from wikipedia)
Vincent Atchity
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