Grumpy the Gargoyle sends Christmas Greetings to Googlers everywhere, from his home in the Shenandoah Valley…
I know, I know…it’s two days before Christmas but, you see, it’s bright and sunny today, and my new friend might not be in such a medially social mood (if you get my drift) 48 hours from now, so take it while you can, is all I’m saying.
When I was a small child, I fancied that I would grow up to be the sort of person who could handle with a certain degree of grace and aplomb most everything that might happen to me as the years went by. After all, I had started my creative life on the dance floor when I was six, learning that listening to the beat of the music, having a kinesthetic sense of the space and people around me, and being solid on my feet would, more often than not, guarantee that I wouldn’t end up splat on the floor, ego-bruised and body aching all at once.
But as all dancers eventually learn, the body has its limits – sinews and tendons and ligaments and muscles and joints protest at their over, extended, or flat-out misuse, suddenly announcing, all too visibly during a performance perhaps, their refusal to go along with one’s determined and stubborn “Let’s entertain the Public once again, shall we?” plan. While one might not end up sprawled on the stage, exactly – there might be a decided limp, a lack of spring in one’s jumps, a lagging behind the beat, a lack of synchronicity with the other dancers, or an off-center and noticeably wobbly pirouette, all combined to culminate, at movement’s end, in an embarrassed and forlorn Exeunt Right.
But the interior recesses of our minds and hearts and emotions can be pushed to cooperate seemingly forever – when there isn’t a visible bruise it can be very easy to talk oneself into marching forward no matter the result, no matter the circumstances. For we have all been culturally taught to Suck It Up, to Stop Whining, to Put on Our Game Face, to Make the Best of It. Admirable attitudes to strive for to be sure, but which, when misguided, can lead to denial, disaster and dissatisfaction.
2012 has been a Year of Lessons for me, for all of us I think, one that has been uncomfortable and challenging and to which I have responded, far too frequently, with considerable grumpiness rather than with considerable grace. Ah, me, but this is my truth.
After having finally arrived at a place of acceptance about living in Kentucky, far from the home I love in Virginia and my little apartment in New York, in response I fashioned plans to write more, to fly more, to dance more, plans that were dashed mid-year when a vast amount of water spread through our home and my attention had to turn to fixing, mending, preserving and restoring a place I loved but could not live in. How odd. It was such a time-consuming effort that I was pulled away from literally everything I wanted to spend my time doing and had convinced myself were self-preservatory and healing endeavors.
I came to wish that my physical body would rebel because then I would have had an excuse to say, “I am not making this drive one more time.” But ’twas not to be. Seems I was meant to fix, mend, preserve and restore a home I loved but could not live in. When hurricane Sandy hit suddenly I no longer felt crazy. I had been telling myself that I should be able to hit a switch somewhere, like I was a Waring Blender, and simply not care where I was living, telling myself that all houses, all States, all physical spaces are the same and that I was lucky not to be living in a tent in the middle of the cornfields. But when I watched all those videos of men and women and children pouring through the remnants of their domicile memories, rummaging for any scraps of their pasts to take with them into their unknown and uncertain futures, I realized how much we all lie to ourselves about what we need to keep us grounded and feeling solid.
The dichotomy is that no matter how much time, effort and money we spend creating it, there really is no such thing as safety and security. We can’t plan how things are going to turn out. How many times have we seen a brilliant athlete begin their journey, only to suddenly end up a heap on the ground? How many times have we seen a perfect and lovely home by the seaside in one photo, only to see it vanquished by water’s power in another? How many times have we seen the face of a smiling child on one day, only to have to accept that their smile was for yesterday but only the memory of it for today.
Two weeks ago I was sitting outside in the Ft. Valley Nursery thinking about all of this and turned to see this Gargoyle staring at me. Our house was almost ready to move back into and I imagined him saying, “Take me with you and I will guard your house. I will never let anything happen to it again.” But I left without him because I felt it was absurd to spend money on a stone Gargoyle that hardly anyone would ever see for a house that I could not live in. Absurd.
But that night I couldn’t get his stern face out of my mind and in the morning I went back and fetched him, saying, out loud, “I shall call you Grumpy.” The cashier laughed. And I swear we could both hear him respond, “Excellent. I shall be the grumpy one, so that you don’t have to be.”
I have slept very well since he has been at the front door. And I feel decidedly less grumpy…
Giselle
December 23, 2012 at 7:48 pm
You would like him Matthew Graybosch. Actually, he reminds me of you…tough on the outside, but a sweetheart once you get to know him. 😉 Merry, Merry Christmas to you and Catherine and so many good wishes for you both in 2013.
December 23, 2012 at 7:53 pm
He looks like an excellent guardian and holder of grumpiness.
December 23, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Ha! From your mouth to his ears Andy Brokaw! It is a He, doncha know? Happy holidays to you!
December 23, 2012 at 7:56 pm
You too!
December 23, 2012 at 7:57 pm
I don’t think he is too grumpy.. He just has a downward smile 🙁
December 23, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Hmmmm…the downward smile….Grumpy or Sad???? James Davis??? Perhaps a little of both…
December 23, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Giselle Minoli I like grumpy. Merry Christmas to you and Brian Altman.
December 23, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Ha James Barraford! Note that I said I was decidedly less grumpy, which is not the same thing as not being grumpy at all. There is still plenty left, believe you me. Cheers to you and your lovely wife, Jamie….can’t tell you how nice it is to have gotten to know you here…
December 23, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Merry Christmas Giselle Minoli I have really enjoyed meeting you this year! Glad you have Grumpy to protect you in 2013.
December 23, 2012 at 8:07 pm
The feeling is mutual Paula Jones. (I think we should each have our very own personal Gargoyle). Merry Christmas to you as well…
December 23, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Go, go, gargoyles!
December 23, 2012 at 8:15 pm
A very merry un-grumpy Christmas to you and yours, including your guardian gargoyle, Giselle Minoli 🙂
December 23, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Giselle Minoli : happy holiday season and a big hug to gargoyle.
December 23, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Hi, Lew Bloch Did, perhaps, you mean…. Go Gargirls? They are very of that cheerleading spirit I think. Merry Christmas to you and to you Clare Cosgrove in jolly ol’ Germany (where I have never been, sad to say, definitely the Land of Gargoyles!) and to you Denis Labelle (Grumpy accepts your hug – even Grumps like to be hugged – and extends a rather large one back to you, which he asks that you keep for all of 2013), and to you sweet Rajini Rao. Hmmm…I think you, too, need a Guardian Gargoyle, perhaps one of the Garden variety for growing things!
December 23, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Gregorio and Pandora Giovana Eve A. Actually, she and Gregorio are having a bit of a snit at the moment and she asked me to separate them for a little cooling off period. So…Gregorio is inside under the bookshelves in the Living Room, watching over things there, and Giovanna is outside on the patio watching for skunks as they amble across the cornfield. She likes her freedom and has a good view of the hawks circling overhead. She’s quite chipper abou the arrangement, although Gregorio looks a bit sad. I might have to have a talk with him about his ‘tude… Happy Holidays to you, too, in which I know Brian Altman joins me…
December 23, 2012 at 8:48 pm
Interesting point is that it’s not a Gargoyle, it’s a Grotesque… Gargoyles are the ones that have water flowing from their mouths…
December 23, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Giselle Minoli – kind of like Grouchy Smurf? – he was my favorite. He was sort of source of reason. I guess we can all use a protective gargoyle to chase the demons away.
December 23, 2012 at 8:52 pm
wood dragon I am using the word “Gargoyle” as it is commonly used and come to be accepted among the crowd (including me) who use them in gardens. Grotesque is a less “pleasant” word and one not often used in gardening circles. This fellow came with his very own Gargoyle tag and in that sense I bow to common popular usage. Works for me.
December 23, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Brian Altman is there such a thing as “sort of a source of reason?” Grumpy has commissioned a rather large sign that says: “Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here…” If you listen carefully, you can hear him reciting Dante…
December 23, 2012 at 8:58 pm
wood dragon Kudos for erudition. Giselle Minoli makes a good point about its colloquial and specialized uses, but the history and architecturally precise definition is useful to know.
I call Grumpy a Lar, especially in light of his relationship with Giselle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lares
December 23, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Giselle Minoli I was just quoting that line elsewhere! However, you misquoted it. It’s, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
December 23, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I wrote my thesis in College on Dante Lew Bloch. There was endless debate about the translation of the phrase “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.” There are so many ways to translate it, the meanings being subtly different. And I have written it different ways, depending on my own mood! The distinctions between Gargoyle and Grotesque are fun, however, as are the various meanings of the words “ogne/ogni” and “voi”… We could go on forever…
December 23, 2012 at 9:12 pm
This isn’t the first time I stepped into a pile of someone else’s superior knowledge, Giselle Minoli . I looked this up just a short bit ago, and found no reference to the popular version, and I see no “all” in the «voi ch’intrate» phrase. So despite my inferior expertise, I have to stand by my assertion. However, I really do enjoy being corrected, and the insights of someone who knows what she’s talking about.
December 23, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Oh good grief Lew Bloch but I don’t have a shred of superior knowledge. Although I do speak the language, I only know the infinite and often hilarious debates among the Italians themselves about the “definitive” translation of every single word and phrase of the most beloved book in Italy. 7 years ago I was in Siena (studying Italian) and I bought tickets (they cost a fortune) to see Roberto Benigni give his version of “The Divine Comedy” in a piazza in Florence. A friend and I drove there in the pouring rain only to discover when we arrived that it had been cancelled because of the weather. I have tried to get a video of it and would travel to the ends of the Earth to see it. It is supposed to be spectacular and fabulous. I was so disappointed.
As for the word “voi” it is plural “you” and, colloquially (I suppose like the common use of Gargoyle) it is all you/you all…and I am happy to have anyone disagree with me about that too! You are correct that it is most often seen as simply “Ye” and, not being in a particularly grumpy mood today, I am happy to change it for you if you like. But, if there were only one way to translate the Divine Comedy, there wouldn’t be countless translations…
December 23, 2012 at 10:01 pm
Giselle Minoli I hope your Guardgoyle keeps you safe from harm and that you have Happy Holidays and a much more serene New Year. (There are days that I say: Can I take a break from the Life Lessons…enough already!)
December 23, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Ah, Katherine Bond boy oh boy can I relate to that? Really, it doesn’t seem to be asking for much to ask for just a few months of relative calm, does it? May 2013 bestow up all of us few reasons to have to ask: What is the Life Lesson in This. Happy Holidays to you, too, Katherine and all good wishes for health and peace in 2013!
December 24, 2012 at 1:21 am
Matthew Graybosch that you actually have this book, Without Bloodshed, written so that it can be revised is an accomplishment, for any writer, let alone a writer who works at something other than writing and has to find the time for the creative voice within all the busy-ness. Congratulations. Yes, 2013 is going to be a most interesting year.
December 24, 2012 at 1:31 am
Thank you Giselle Minoli for sharing. Thank you for all your articles and contribution. May you have a Merry Christmas,full of peace and harmony, with all your family and friends. Yes, 2013 is going to be a most interesting year. Greetings from Brazil.
December 24, 2012 at 1:40 am
Romero Cavalcanti You are always so kind. We need you in America. Ever considered moving to the States? Sadly, I have never been to Brazil, which I hear is beautiful. Kidding, really. But happy holidays and New Year to you! I like the ring of 2013. Already….;)
December 24, 2012 at 2:45 am
A very happy, low-stress Christmas and new year to you, Brian, and Grumpy.
December 24, 2012 at 3:48 am
Hi, Sheri ONeill…we must get together in New York in the New Year…I managed to convince Jodi Kaplan to slog all the way down from the Upper West Side to Eataly on Madison Square Park for a cappuccino and a “little sandwich” Saturday before last and I was soooooooo glad I did. A year and a half ago, prior to the Grand G+, I never imagined that I would make contact with so many people online that I would want to meet in person. Talk about a lesson…and what a wonderful one.
I’m winding down my night. The car is packed. And it’s over the mountains in the early morning to The Horse Capital of the World and XMas with my sweetie! From my Travel Advisory Map it doesn’t look bad…a little mist…a little rain…a little fog…ain’t nothin’ that’ll scare my ferocious Mini Cooper off the road!
December 24, 2012 at 4:11 am
A Very Merry Christmas to you and yours Giselle Minoli!
December 24, 2012 at 4:12 am
I take no credit, Matthew Graybosch. I may be supportive, but I’ve had pathetic time to read, about which I am sad…
December 24, 2012 at 4:14 am
Says Santa himself Tom Moncho. Grumpy is jealous of your beard…
December 24, 2012 at 6:02 am
He looks more sad than grumpy to me, but perhaps we’re just not good at reading his expression. 🙂 Nice post.
December 24, 2012 at 6:06 am
Every home should have a gargoyle! I loved reading your post. Thank you.
December 24, 2012 at 11:17 am
Good very early morning Bill Collins. He’s most definitely grumpy. I ought to have done an entire album of his face from different angles, rather like those old-fashioned movie star stills, in Black & White. It would have been a better effect. I love Black & White. I don’t think I can do that on my iPhone but I can in iPhoto. There’s a sternness around his snout that is hard to see here.
Grumpy, sad or otherwise, I agree Charlene Slimp, each home and every GarGirl should have a Guardian Gargoyle at the entranceway (or elsewhere).
December 24, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Hey Giselle Minoli , I wish a Merry Christmas to you and your family…tight hugs from Italy to all of you…
We’re looking forward to meeting you in 2013!!