The History of Halbertcicles
Chapter 1: 1711 18th Street
Halbertcicles first appeared after I moved to Boulder, CO in September of 1987. I was living in a little old house at 1711 18th Street. I rented the house from an elderly man named Jack. He was so nice that whenever speaking of him, I was in the habit of saying that you could actually see angel wings starting to sprout from his shoulders. Jack put a lot of love into taking care of that house.
The house had one of those old-style refrigerators, before frost-free, where the freezer sits inside and at the top of the refrigerator. Halbertcicles weren’t occurring as frequently back then. They weren’t even called Halbertcicles until the spring of 2004. I didn’t have the larger size ice cube tray like the one I’m using now. So they were also smaller.
My first housemate in the 18th Street house was John Rob. (Rob isn’t his last name. He has two first names.) John Rob said that he could see angels. Regularly. Many conversations developed out his willingness to say that this was part of his experience in life. What he said led to discussing more generally how it affects human relationships when people assert that some version of the extraordinary, unusual, phenomenal, or miraculous is happening or has happened to them. When verifiability is at issue, like with seeing angels, this adds a whole new set of issues.
I can’t say whether or not John Rob really does see angels. Back when we were living together, I did not see a need to believe or disbelieve John Rob. Naturally, he wanted to be believed. This brought up some important questions for me. How does it affect my relationship with him if believe him or disbelieve him or not form an opinion? How would my beliefs about John Rob affect my relationships with other people in our circle of friends? How does it affect my relationship with others just to bring the subject up?
The interrelationship between community, intimacy, and believing people who have unusual experiences started to become very apparent. It is a topic that I have continued to explore ever since meeting John Rob.
Fortunately for me, Halbertcicles can be photographed and the growth process has been witnessed by quite of few people at this point. I don’t have the kind of believability challenges with Halbertcicles that John Rob faces with seeing angels. Still, it makes me very sad when I tell people about them and they are suspicious about whether I’m doing some kind of trick to make them grow. We all know what it feels like when we’re telling the truth and people are suspicious.
I do not have an exact memory of how many times the Halbertcicles showed up at 1711 18th Street. My best guess is that it occurred about five times.
Sorry I don’t have pictures from this time period to prove it. Believe what you will. I’ll love you just the same either way. Promise.
A great wise man once said, “Take a picture. It will last longer.”
Chapter 2: Oops. My BadIn 1991 I moved into a home that had an automatic ice cube maker. It just never occurred to me to keep on providing an opportunity for the Halbertcicles to grow.
Oops. My bad.
Another one of those “lesson” things.
Chapter 3: It’s Not The Freezer
From 1997 to 2000 I lived in two different homes. Neither one of them had an automatic ice cube maker. The Halbertcicles grew in both places. Fortunately, there is some photographic evidence from this time period.
Both of these homes were in the Twin Lakes area just outside of Boulder. My friend, Jill, and I, used to go running around the lakes. I think that’s how we met. Jill, honors Life’s magic. We had lots of conversations that in a general sense were about honoring Life’s magic. When Jill learned about the Halbertcicle phenomenon, being into photography, she offered to take some pictures.
She took slides, which means that I never got actual prints when she had them developed. In creating a vision for this website, I naturally wanted to include some of the pictures she took. Fortunately, I stayed in touch with Jill over the years. Unfortunately, Jill lost the slides. Fortunately, I know about the prayer to St. Anthony.
I went up to see her at her home in the mountains where she now lives and then, once she assured me that the slides were good and lost, I asked her, “Do you know the prayer to St. Anthony that helps you find things that are lost?”
She had never heard of the prayer. It goes like this: “St. Anthony, St. Anthony please come down. Something’s lost that must be found.” You say that three times in a row OUTLOUD. (If you’re not willing to feel a little silly, you can’t get the results. That’s how these things work.) Then you say what you’re looking for, like “We’re looking for the slides of the Halbertcicles that Jill took.” And that’s how you do the prayer to St. Anthony.
I don’t really know anything about St. Anthony except that he supposedly had something to do with finding stuff. Personally, my beliefs don’t really accommodate the notion that the deceased, even the saintly deceased, can directly lend a helping hand from the spirit world. I basically believe that God and the angels do the things that some people attribute to spirits of those who have passed on.
On the other hand, I do think that saying the prayer is an excellent opportunity for us to reach within ourselves for the intuitive or spirit guidance that seems to come a little better when we take the time to humbly ask for it, in one form or another. It does seem to me that God and the angels work better that way. Lots of traditions support this. My experience supports it. What the Heaven, I’m willing to believe that it helps to take the time to ask for some help, if for no other reason than it helps put us in a faithful state of mind. Always a good thing.
On purely non-scientific level, the little prayer to St. Anthony certainly has produced some very nice results. The childlike rhyme and repetition along with the fact that I’m not really praying to St. Anthony tends to produce a sense of silliness that I’ve always enjoyed, especially when I’m all stressed out because I can’t find something.
Anyway, when Jill found the slides we rejoiced and were exceedingly glad. It occurred to me how much better life was for Jill having lost the slides to later be found when needed and in this way. It sure is nice when being in God’s good hands is aligned with what I happen to think is best.
I also took some pictures during this time period. You’ll find these early images along with the more recent images in the Photo Gallery.
Halbertcicles did occur more frequently during this time period than they did at 18th Street home. Again, I can’t say for sure. Maybe about twenty times.
Chapter 4: Uprooted
From 2001 through 2003 I lived in a number of different places. I didn’t provide any opportunities for them to grow during this time period. Other highly unusual events did occur, however.
Chapter 5: The Brave New WorldIn March of 2004 I said to my friend, Tom, that I thought it would be especially nice for my son, Jaron, if the Halbertcicles would start growing again. Within two days the largest one that had ever grown (up to that point) showed up. In fact, it was so tall that I had to unhook the ice cube tray from the shelf above in order to get the tray out without the Halbertcicle hitting the upper shelf! I have a picture of Tom and with this Halbertcicle, but I wish I just had a picture of Tom with that confounded look on his face when he first saw it.
Ever since then they have been growing regularly. About 20% to 25% of the time when I put in a tray of ice cubes I get at least one Halbertcicle that is at least an inch long. Various sized ice cube trays and a muffin tray have all been used with success. There has been very limited, but some, success when food coloring is added. The food coloring was Tom’s idea.
I have taken photos of about one hundred Halbertcicles in the last year point and continue to play around with new ideas for growing and photographing them. What is currently offered on this site is just the tip of the iceberg. With time more will be added.
The series of pictures on the first page of this site were taken in January 2005. I used to think that the growth process was very delicate and should not be interrupted. This idea got challenged at the beginning of the year when someone asked me if I had ever photographed them during the growth process. In explaining my reasons for not “disturbing them,” I realized that I had never experimented, but had just assumed, that having the freezer door open would cause problems. Obviously, if the door is kept open too long they won’t grow and everything will melt. Apparently, the several seconds it takes to snap a photo are not too much of a problem.
Thanks for learning about the history of Halbertcicles. May you be abundantly blessed by their appearance in your freezer. If not, you can always find them here. I’m willing to share.