Those taking notes in the back of the hall will recall that we jacked the frame structure of the Ridgefield house up into the air and left it there for many months, while we completely removed and replaced all the foundation stones. When the new foundation was ready, we lowered the frame back down. Then we lay aloft, like landlocked sailors as it were, and began to replace every construction member in the frame. Timber by timber we advanced and ultimately an entirely new frame stood at last upon its entirely new foundation - ready now to receive its sheathing, roof and other finishing details.      

     This state of affairs, however, had excited the attention of the Ridgefield Building Inspector's Office - one of whose members now advanced upon George with the preposterous suggestion that George must take out a "new building" permit to cover all this activity.

     "Not so," countered our Leader. "You money-hungry dudes are just trying to get your pincers in my pockets."

     (Someone was always trying to grab George in abstract 'pincers', from his point of view). Personally, I think if he had let me assuage these "dudes" with a little "e pluribus unum" the stormy affairs of that Summer might have been earlier alleviated. But George was one to give as good as he got...

     His counter was that he was willing to take out a remodeling permit (much cheaper) but not a "new building" permit, since all he had been doing at any given moment was strictly just remodeling an existing structure....! And so we were off to the races! Actually, I enjoyed this immensely - for it was purely an exercise in philosophy and metaphysics - long favorites of mine. And so we bystanders were treated to exhaustive definitions of "when-is-a-house-a-house-and-not-a-wreck", and "when-is-a-structure-actually-there-and-when-is-it-not", and how is it possible in reality to call something "new" when parts of it there before your eyes exceed two centuries in age, and so on and on.

     George was splendid, I must say. No Zen Master ever handled unruly doubters better than he did during that protracted dispute. Suffice to say he won the argument. George, I am sure, had any Himalayan Guru ever asked him, could have answered to everyone's satisfaction, that ancient conundrum of "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"...