MEANWHILE, IN THE NETHERLANDS...From Minister of Music Ruth Roper

MEANWHILE, IN THE NETHERLANDS...

Two weeks ago Noah shared with me the story of the damaged bell and its pending re-casting; he was curious what I thought, both as a history buff, and as Grace's musician, who will be playing these bells sometime soon. While it's disappointing not to have all of the bells conserved in their pristine original form, I actually find it kind of cool that this one bell is having this incredible adventure. From Medford, to the U.S. heartland... then off to Asten, half a world away in the Netherlands, to the premiere bell foundry in the world... for melt-down, and like the phoenix, to rise from the ashes into a digitally-exact replica. Wow! And isn't our faith a lot about renewal and rebirth?

"I almost wish one of us could fly over there to witness it," Noah mused. Well, as it happens, my niece Joanna was in fact going to be in the Netherlands that very week! So, in a flurry of e-mails, I arranged to have her make the 2-hour side trip to the Royal Eijsbouts Foundry (http://www.eijsbouts.com/), to witness the event on our behalf. She was to be met at the train by Joep, the Dutch artisan overseeing this project, and given a tour. Our bell was not scheduled for its recasting until after Joanna's visit, but on the day of her visit she would be able to see its wax cast, and was invited to observe a bell for the Notre Dame in Paris being poured. Joanna, herself an artist who works with molten glass, not to mention always up for an offbeat adventure, was thrilled for the opportunity. After the foundry visit, she planned a visit to the associated "Klok & Peel" ("Clock & Bell") museum in Asten. (http://www.museumasten.nl/) I got so jazzed up reading these materials that I actually considered flying over there myself! (Curious? Read this: http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=54970#.UEgLRiLduSp)

I've been hoping to hear more from her about how the visit went -- so far I've just heard that it was "awesome!!" and received this picture of her next to a bell twice her size. (Her time in Holland was bnef, as she was en route to Israel to begin a program there.) Hopefully we'll hear more from her about her day with our phoenix-bell, so watch for future posts.