big-ass stone doesn't burn

I find this super comforting. And, yeah, taht was kind of the point of building with stone, wasn't it?

It doesn't burn, but it can shatter or destabilize or cook. Or fall over when the wooden frameworks burn.

But there are amazing pictures of the vaulting from the nave, still standing.

Is it weird that I'm still sad, but also kind of comforted by the knowledge that nothing lasts forever? I'm not sure how to explain it. Maybe it's that impermanence makes things precious.

One of the things that's stuck with me from Bhutan was the embrace of impermanence simultaneous with a deliberate choice to hold a permanence of memory. So many of their sacred spaces, they'd say 400 years. Oh, but burnt down/earthquake several times. This was rebuilt 20 yrs ago. Less a focus on mourning what was lost, more creating again with the same spirit. Not rebuilding, not making better, just imagining again.

I like old stuff, I like wondering about the hands that have touched, the physical clues left to another human, so understanding the Bhutanese mindset was a reach for me. But those spaces felt no less touched by the human hands whose marks had been erased by disaster than those that survived them. It's in the purpose, I guess.

I will never forget seeing the rose windows at Notre Dame. I've never been a religious person, but sitting in that magnificently beautiful cathedral filled me with awe and wonder I hadn't felt before.

Alas, how very sad. The world changed. I'm glad I got to see the citizens of Paris singing to their wonderful landmark.

I was in Paris a year ago last Christmas, and we walked past Notre Dame, but it was far too crowded to stand in line to get in. I'd been there before, in 1989 or so, and somewhere I have a rosary I bought for my mother there.

There's some hope that the structure is saved, but it's heartbreaking reading about the 900-year-old beams that held up the roof. The reconstruction project is probably what started the fire--but because the building was being restored, they had removed a lot of the more delicate art, which means everything wasn't destroyed by the fire.

I am very grateful that apparently nobody was injured?

OTOH, that's a multi-acre lead roof that just burned, and it's in the middle of a dense metropolis. I hope the city is putting out air quality warnings.

In other news, I double-checked my taxes and this year I ended up paying 7% more than last year. Thanks Obama!

I am grateful I got the warning early enough to adjust my witholding; I ended up sending the fed only $300, and I got a lot back from the state. Still, I'm lucky enough to be in a position to afford that; I feel awful for the folks who didn't know, and assumed they'd be getting a fat refund when instead they're getting screwed.

Is it weird that I'm still sad, but also kind of comforted by the knowledge that nothing lasts forever? I'm not sure how to explain it. Maybe it's that impermanence makes things precious.

I'm there, too. And parts of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia comes to mind, too. And trying to grasp it with the news of the deaths from measles in Madagascar, on the same day, was difficult.

I was in front the the Notre Dame with then SO as part of a tour. We didn't return to it in the other three days we had in Paris and now I'm regretting it. So it is now also serves as a metaphor to that relationship, in part. But I guess that in 20 years, after they've finished rebuilding it, and if the climate change won't kill us before that, I'll be able to see it.

Edited to add: in other news, we are living in the future. [link]

The news about Norte Dame is shocking. That's one of those places that "just is", in my mind. And thank you for letting us know about the mosque, Shir. I hope no one was hurt.

I don't know what numerical witchcraft my accountant used to get me money back this year. It's certainly not that I'm one of the Cheeto in Chief's rich friends. Anyway, this is why that wonderful great-grandmother can never retire. I and my budget would be devastated.

The reports about the fire in Al Aqsa (not many of them, as only one room was on fire) is that the room (outer to the mosque itself) was damaged, but nothing about injuries or fatalities.

On Twitter, Cashmere linked to this great thread about the protocol for fighting the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire and the plans the city has long had in place.

According the thread author, they've been growing replacement oaks at Versailles.

It's a hopeful thread. The comments are all civilized, near as I can tell. It's well worth the read.

[link]