Fish on Friday

It's Friday, it's Lent - time for fish! And so I am posting a picture of Arphaxad and Amminadab for your Friday fish pleasure. (Please do not fry A&A; they are very small and would only make an h'ors doeuvres, not a full meal. Also, I am very fond of them, even if they do beg every time I eat broccoli or carrots.) Arphaxad is the white-and-orange fish looking at itself and Amminadab is the orange fish looking at Arphaxad. Usually they are out swimming around, but they must be as camera-shy as I am, because they are hiding under their plant. A&A are my work pets. (Thanks to my coworker "Palm Tree Fan" for taking this lovely photo!)

I do not have a Lenten reflection today, other than to reflect on why we don't eat meat other than fish on Lenten Fridays. I have no idea, but maybe it has something to do with Noah's Ark. In the Bible, man was only given the plants to eat in the beginning, but after saving the animals from the flood, he was given the right to eat them. Perhaps Friday is a day to reflect on our Fall from grace and to go back to the time after Adam but before Noah, when we could only eat plants. Fish would be exempt because clearly Noah did not need to save them in the Ark! OK, I'm sure that's not why, the meat thing has to do with penance but I'm not sure about the fish exception. I do know that in the 16th century the Vatican said the capybara, an enormous rodent that resembles a spaniel-sized guinea pig, could be eaten on Fridays in Lent because it spends so much time in the water that it qualifies as a fish.

Here is another Mr. Why story: many years ago I received a letter in the mail stating that I could purchase a book tracing the O'Hat family tree, including the O'Hats' harrowing journey over from Europe. When I told Rich about it, he said he had received the same letter, only about the Bonomo family and their harrowing journey over from Europe. Darned if just a day or two later Mr. Why didn't show up with the same letter himself, saying he could buy a book about the Why family's harrowing journey over from Europe! We were stunned, since Mr. Why's family name is clearly an ethnically Chinese one, but he just waved the envelope around triumphantly and chortled, "I TOLD you I'm Transylvanian!!"

Rest in peace and pepper, Mr. Why. You were definitely one of a kind.

Famous Hat