Photo Gallery > Personal Photos (13)
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Yuletide Wreath
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At home my wife and I long ago decided to "unplug the Christmas Machine" and make Christmas and all other holidays low-key and spiritual. At the Yuletide I make a traditional Advent Wreath from greenery I cut, using a candle frame that comes from Denmark. This is a typical wreath. During the year I decorate our dining room table with a number of different wreaths made of hay, herbs, flowers, etc. to mark the different holidays of the spiritual year. -
First Universalist Church
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When I graduated with my doctorate in 1978 I wanted to move into health care ministry. However, at that time a person who wanted to do "community ministry" had to have at least three years of experience in parish ministry. So off I went into a pastorate. This is the First Universalist Church of Southold, New York. Founded in 1835 on the North Fork of Long Island, this was the congregation I served from 1978 to 1981. This photo was taken just after the building was renovated. For some reason I always felt a need to conduct a building program wherever I went. -
Chicago Cubs
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People ask me if this photo is a fake. It's not. While I do not specialize in sports hypnotism I try to vary the work I do so that I don't go stale as a practitioner. Some years ago I did work for people connected with the Chicago Cups Organization. At the conclusion of that work they did this as a thank you. -
Lindsay at 26
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My wife is the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Bates. We met in theological school 30 years ago. This is how Lindsay looked when I first met her. -
Lindsay at Church
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My wife, the Rev. Dr. Lindsay Bates is the Senior Minister at the Geneva Unitarian Universalist Society. She was settled at this congregation right out of theological school and has been there for more than 30 years. This is a recent photo and shows how she looks now. -
The Unitarian Universalist Church in Oak Park
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After the required three years as a parish minister I was ready to move into a healing ministry. However, I received the invitation to become senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Oak Park, Illinois. It was too good an offer to turn down. Returning to the Midwest put me back in the health care community I had known as a graduate student and that enabled me to complete all training for Board Certification on a part-time basis without having to take on more student debt. I served this congregation for a decade and got to know their National Landmark building, called Unity Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright, very well. It was a good experience, but by 1991 I was ready to strike out on my own. -
Banish Misfortune
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In my private life I'm a Level 3 member of the Friends of the Bristol Renaissance Faire. During the summer Faire season I attend in costume. This photo is of harpist Sarah Mullen. She is playing my favorite celtic song, "Banish Misfortune." -
Queen's Progress
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In my private life I'm a Level 3 member of the Friends of the Bristol Renaissance Faire. During the summer Faire season I attend in costume. While not a formal part of the cast, the Friends of the Faire Organization serves to lend local color to the Faire. The plot of the Faire unfolds during the day when Queen Elizabeth visits the Village of Bristol. This is a photo from Her Majesty's arrival. -
Publick House
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In my private life I'm a Level 3 member of the Friends of the Bristol Renaissance Faire. During the summer Faire season I attend in costume. The Friends of the Faire helped build the new Publick House, and those who made contributions were allowed to design a brick to go into the building. This is the brick the Lindsay and I designed. The rules didn't allow explicitly religious inscriptions, but the Faire management was okay with my using the name of Aslan, the god-like lion from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. -
Hezekiah
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This is a photo of Hezekiah (you need to look amid the stuffed animals to see him). He was born to a stray mother cat in a shelter. I gave him the name of the King in Jerusalem during the time of the Prophet Isaiah. King Hezekiah upset the priests of his time by taking piles of official papers to the Temple and "spreading them out before the Lord." Well, whenever the cat Hezekiah sees a pile of papers he thinks he should spread them out before the Lord too. -
Hannah
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This is a photo of Hannah, the dominant female in our collection. Hannah's previous owner got sick and couldn't take care of her, and so she came to live with us. She is a traditional blue-point Siamese who loves people. She is certain that everyone who comes to our home is there to give her a lap to sit in. -
Shadow
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This is a photo of Shadow, our dominant male. Shadow is a big fluffy guy who is gentle and loving. He was rescued from behind a seafood restaurant where he was surviving by scavenging the dumpster and by asking for handouts. As he was a restaurant cat he knows all about men in the kitchen, and when he sees me cooking he is right there asking for a taste. -
Lucrezia Borgia Romanov
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This is a photo of our newest rescue, Lucrezia Borgia Romanov. She was found starving and abused in a rural area. Lucrezia was not socialized as a kitten and therefore has no idea of how to relate to people. Regarded as unadoptable by the animal rescue foundation, she was moved around as a companion to other cats. However, I thought she had promise and we have tamed feral cats before. She's been with us since early 2008 and is coming along well. She loves her home and fits in with the other cats. She is figuring out what to make of her two-legged friends, and is starting to enjoy handling. I think she will do fine.She had such a rough start I decided she needed a powerful name. Lucrezia Borgia was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI, and she became a powerful woman in Renissance politics (reportedly being very handy with poisons). Despite her dark reputation, she died comfortably at an old age. There is no historical connection between the Borgia Family and the Romanov Family, but historians have compared them and find them similar. The Romanovs were the royal family in Russia during the time of Rasputin. I put the names together to make it clear that this was a cat who would never be mistreated again.