Yesterday I did not get a chance to blog (which I will explain in today's second post) so pretend this is yesterday's post. First I wanted to show you a publicity shot of the Undersea Players, who starred in my video "Happy Birthday to the USA." From left to right: Tony Abalone, Semper Fi the Seal, France the Crab, Canada the Crab.
And here is a shot of them from above so you can see France and Canada's crabbiness more clearly:
Now back to the main topic of this blog post: Tallis the Fish. Several years ago I had a number of dreams involving a little white girl cat, and in one of the dreams it was revealed that her name was Tallis. Since I am extremely allergic to cats, I assume this dream was not telling me to go out and get a little white girl cat, although I was curious enough to do some research and found that female cats, light-haired cats, and short-haired cats (which Tallis was) cause the least amount of allergies, so if I were to own a cat, Tallis my Dream Cat would hypothetically be the best bet outside of one of those hairless Sphinx things. (Apologies to anyone reading this who loves Sphinx cats, but those things are UGLY!! They look like giant baby rats.)
Since Arphaxad died, Amminadab was inconsolable, first searching for her frantically and then just hanging around in his bowl, looking droopy. Hardingfele said she had a source for a new goldfish (Rockstar Tailor's babysitter owns goldfish that had babies), but I figured Amminadab couldn't wait that long. Thursday night I headed to the pet store in a terrible thunderstorm, ignoring the tornado warning in effect, just to buy a 25-cent feeder goldfish. (Actually 26 cents with tax.) There were several that looked just like Arphaxad, white with a red splotch on their heads, but I decided to get an all-white fish and name her Tallis. (Having just experienced the wonder of singing Spem in Alium added to this conviction.) I spotted a small white fish with rounder fins that seemed female; no idea if it is, of course, but I will refer to Tallis as "she" until proven wrong. She is all pinkish-white except for her right eye, which is orange.
Meet Tallis
As you can see, their bowl is a little dirty because I clean it on Friday afternoons, and in the summer it quickly fills with scum. Several people have told me the scum is why Arphaxad died, but that makes no sense: how would she have survived three summers of scum just to succumb now? I suspect Light Bright forgot to feed them and Arphaxad just grew too weak, considering that both fish were very thin when I got back from Early Music Camp.
As soon as I put Tallis in the bowl with Amminadab, they swam around together as if they had been friends forever. This is another reason I suspect Tallis is female, because I really think Amminadab is male and would not have been nearly as happy to have a second male invade his bowl. We may not be able to tell boy fish from girl fish, but I suspect they have few problems in that area.
Tallis and Amminadab: Instant Friends
And here is a picture of Keith the Plant, which is much bigger than back when I scanned it. I could never scan it now! It is in the office window with my fish.
Here is a picture of Keith with the fish, to give you more perspective of Keith's current size. If it keeps growing at this rate, it will be too tall for my office in just a couple of years!
Friday as I was cleaning out the fish bowl, something very strange happened: I accidentally tapped it against the side of the sink, and that was enough to break a hole in the side. I ran into the lab and frantically asked for something to put the fish in until I can get a replacement bowl, so they lent me a big plastic beaker thing. Here you can see the fish happily swimming around in it, since it is actually larger than their bowl was.
And this is what it looks like from the side. You can still make out the fish and their plant, but it is not nearly as pretty as their glass bowl. A coworker who is moving to the East Coast said she was going to bring me her son's old aquarium, so I have not gotten a replacement bowl yet. Stay tuned to find out more about Tallis and Amminadab's housing situation.
Famous Hat
2 comments:
The silk tallit is the robe with which the worshipper is wrapped during prayer and hence often referred to as a "prayer shawl," though this is not the traditional Jewish name for the garment, which was not originally associated particularly with prayer.
Wow, that is incredibly relevant to a post about a fish named after a British Renaissance composer.
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