The Holy Trinity

In honor of Trinity Sunday, I am going to blog about the Holy Trinity. It is a hard enough concept for adults to ponder so imagine teaching it to children! When I was teaching catechism, I asked the Holy Spirit for some guidance, and He told me to explain the Trinity like a waterfall. So this is how I explained it to my catechism students, and they seemed to get it:

Imagine there is a very high mountain, so high that we can't see the top, but we know that it is covered with snow. The snow begets a waterfall, which is one in being with the snow. Through the action of the waterfall, the snow creates a valley. Mist rises from the snow and the waterfall, filling the valley and strengthening all the plants and flowers that live there. The closer the plants are to the waterfall, the more they are surrounded by the mist, and the lusher they are.


In the same manner, the Father Whom we cannot see begets the Son, Who is one in being with Him. The Father is not the Son, but they are of the same substance, just as the snow is not the waterfall but they are of the same substance, H2O. (In fact, in nature water exists in three states, which may be an example of creation mirroring its Creator.) Through the Son all things were created, just as the valley is created through the action of the waterfall. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (apologies to any Eastern Orthodox readers, since this is very filioque, but that's how the Holy Spirit explained it to me so I guess take it up with Him), just as the mist proceeds from the snow and the waterfall. And the closer we draw to Jesus, the more imbued with the Holy Spirit we become. The flowers closest to the waterfall have the most beautiful blossoms because they receive the most humidity, and in the same way the soul closest to Jesus bears the most beautiful spiritual blossoms, being most filled with the Holy Spirit.

When I visited Niagara Falls a couple of years ago, I saw for myself how well this metaphor shown to me by the Holy Spirit fits with the reality of a waterfall. The source of the water was too distant to see, but through the action of the falls it created a beautiful valley filled with lush plants and flowers. The air was so saturated with mist near the falls that it almost resembled smoke, and when we took a boat right into the curve of the Horseshoe Falls, the mist was so thick that all I could see was whiteness, like when an airplane is flying through a cloud, and it really did seem to me like we were sailing into Heaven.

I highly recommend a trip to Niagara Falls. Even if you don't find it as spiritual an experience as I did, you will probably still find it incredibly beautiful. However, if you are a religious person, go and see what a wonderful metaphor the falls are for the Holy Trinity.

Famous Hat

Random Monday Post

So it's Bike to Work Week, but this morning it was raining so once again I wimped out and took the bus. That's OK, I only committed to biking three times this week, and what are they going to do if I don't meet my quota, anyhow?

Tiffy came up this weekend, and on Friday night we went to Barnacle Bob's seafood restaurant and sat out on the deck overlooking the lake as we enjoyed coconut shrimp (me) and lobster tail (Tiffy) and brandy alexanders (both of us). It's a good thing we took advantage of the balmy evening, because Saturday it was COLD. In the evening we went to the outdoor theater with Rich, Anna Banana II, and her housemate Jillymoose. We all wore lots of layers and brought blankets, as well as rain ponchos that we didn't end up needing. (Thank goodness!) With all those layers, we were perfectly comfortable, and the cold kept the mosquitoes away. Beforehand there was a huge potluck, since it was the season opener, and then we saw Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors, which was hilarious! Don't you hate when twin boys and their twin servants get separated just after birth and then meet up years later? It leads to so much confusion... especially when both sets of twins somehow end up with the same names like, say, Antipholos and Dromio. What a wacky coincidence. More coincidences ensued when Tiffy and I decided to purchase some hot cocoa during intermission, and a familiar-looking girl in line asked if I had gone on a Caribbean cruise a couple of years ago. Turns out it was my travel agent! She made a career change and now works at the same software company as the still-available B-Boy (who was also at this show, but he had driven up with Cecil Markovitch), and the next day she was going to Japan... just like Richard Bonomo had! I was beginning to feel like we were in our own farce, and no matter what she thought up next, we would have someone along who knew something about it.

Yesterday Tiffy and I saw Up in 3-D, which costs a little more but was totally worth the price. I highly recommend the movie. Children's movies often are much better than adult ones, because all the time they can't fill with gratuitous sex and violence they use for plot and character development. This one was particularly magical, with talking dogs, colorful birds, and a house carried by a bunch of helium balloons, and the protagonist was elderly. It was refreshing to see a geriatric hero - at a time when many people think life is over, he was just embarking on a new adventure!

This weekend I had the goofiest dream about Early Music Camp, that they handed us our music and my eyes just about popped out when I saw a high E. The other first sopranos weren't too worked up about it, and my OTHER choir director said, "If you consider yourself a real soprano, you should be able to hit an E. Besides, it's only an E flat." Now a high E could be hit by a few sopranos, I'm sure, since the "Queen of the Night" aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute requires a high F, but in reality I rarely see choral music that goes higher than a high A. Anyway, in real life I am usually panicking about how low I have to sing, since I am not an alto but am forced to sing that range in my own church choir, and anything below a low A is a real stretch for me. In fact, in the "Crucifixus" from Bach's Mass in B Minor, I panicked upon spotting an F, and my OWN choir director said, "It's an F sharp," so maybe that was all this dream was about.

Famous Hat

Disgusting Politics

Yesterday I was going to blog about riding my bike to work for the first time this season, but then Hardingfele asked me to blog about the Fish Liberators. Today it is a beautiful day again but I took the bus. Anyway, next week is Bike to Work Week so there will be plenty of time to blog about it then. Today I will instead discuss a most fascinating article Hardingfele sent me.

The article is on Yahoo! News and is called "Conservatives Are More Easily Disgusted." The link to the article can be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090605/sc_livescience/conservativesaremoreeasilydisgusted;_ylt=AjsV0.vA4_Cr28aZzaq.e.J0fNdF

The gist of the article is that people who are more squeamish about "yucky" things are more politically conservative because of a knee-jerk reaction to how "yucky" abortion and gay marriage are. It says a lot of other odd things too. For example:

1. Political conservatives tend to be tidy, with organized offices, but liberals favor colorful, more stylish but cluttered spaces. So then I must be liberal.

2. A large, global study in 2007 concluded that political preference is 50 percent genetic. So then I must be at least half liberal.

3. Conservatives Happier Than Liberals - I consider myself a happy person, so then I must be conservative.

Like many people, I feel my views are too nuanced to be considered either "liberal" or "conservative." You could split the difference and call me a "moderate," but I am not truly a moderate on anything, more of a raving anti-abortion, tree-hugging, social justice wackadoo. The paragraph in this article I found most chilling was this:

Studying the link between disgust and moral judgment could help explain the strong differences in people's moral opinions, Pizarro figures. And it could offer strategies for persuading some to change their views.

Say what? Isn't that what the kids are calling "brainwashing" these days? Can you imagine if a conservative had said this about the liberal viewpoint? I find it alarming that this Cornell University psychology professor is advocating using some kind of behavioral "reprogramming" to change the views of those he does not agree with. How 1984 of him. Maybe he should change his name to O'Brien, although he probably wouldn't get the reference. People like this tend to be well-read only in the sense that they read writers who agree with their preconceived notions, and he would probably consider George Orwell a traitor. "What do you mean, he saw some flaws in socialism? Big Brother always knows best!"

So if you don't like blood and guts and bugs, let Big Brother reprogram your brain so that you will vote the appropriate way. I am not a particularly squeamish person but do tend to be socially conservative, so good luck reprogramming my brain. Then again, since I am messy and love bright colors, maybe they would overlook me in their witch hunt for those vile, squeamish conservative types they are just trying to enlighten.

Famous Hat

Warning to All Fish Owners

The Hostages: Arphaxad and Amminadab

(I have to post this now because Hardingfele already commented about it on my previous post.)

The following is a real dialogue taken from Librarian's MyFace page. It was sent to me by Hardingfele since, as all five of my faithful readers know, I am the "oppressor" of two very spoiled goldfish, Arphaxad and Amminadab. Apparently there are those misguided souls out there who would like to liberate A&A, as well as Nemo Two and Blue and all other fish held hostage in bowls and aquariums across this nation. I assume Hardingfele is referring to me and my little prisoners when she mentions her friend with the fish with unpronounceable names.

For Hardingfele: that would be [AR-faks-ad] and [uh-MIN-uh-dab]

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(Yesterday at 5:15 pm) Librarian is rolling her eyes right now. The animal rights coalition came in to the library today. They wanted us to surrender our goldfish, Moby. Moby is thriving. He is four years old, has the cleanest fish tank I have ever seen. Our head librarian keeps up with the latest articles on goldfish care, and sometimes chops up frozen peas to make sure he has enough fiber. This is NOT a neglected fish. AAAAaaargh.

Friend #1 at 5:55pm June 3
It's sushi night and they were short . . .

Friend #2 at 6:09pm June 3
Did you tell them they can take your gold fish when they pry it from your cold, dead fingers?

Hardingfele at 6:23pm June 3
Geez, dont they have bigger fish to fry :-) sorry I could not resist the pun. My friend's fish with unpronounceable names (she is also on myface) also get peas and actually beg for it. Just dont tell these people where I work.....

Friend #3 at 8:07pm June 3
I hope someone told them where to get off?

Hardingfele at 8:50pm June 3
Um and where would they release Moby. Goldfish are not native MN fish, so they would only survive in an aquarium or become an invasive (they are related to carp). So they would have to put him in an aquarium, which is basically the same situation that he is in now.

Friend #3 at 9:03pm June 3
Or stick him in the freezer for a relatively pain free death to free his fishy soul...

Friend #4 at 9:15pm June 3
Do ya think that "THEY" might need to do a little research themselves about Goldfish??:)

Librarian at 9:41pm June 3
#3: No one told them off but oh god we wanted to. As public servants we had to listen to them. For 45 minutes. Pointing out Moby's health and longetivity had little impact on them. I cannot figure out what set them off. Don't they have more important animal rights causes to pursue?

Librarian at 9:43pm June 3
Hardingfele: They told us they had an appropriate "rescue home" standing by. One with a larger tank, more fish toys and "companion fish." I had no idea before this that there where rescue homes for goldfish.

Friend #5 at 9:45pm June 3
Oh, for crying out loud! Goldfish rescue?? Some people just ain't got enough to do.

Hardingfele at 8:29am June 4
OMG. This deserves to be spread thru the blogosphere. I will do my part. What ridiculous people. Probably the same people who release white mice from labs onto the street where they are promptly hit by cars and eaten by owls and cats.

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Famous Hat here again, doing her part to spread the word through the blogosphere. So a word of warning to those of you with companion fish: there are people out there waiting to seize your beloved pets and take them to "rescue homes" with better toys and more fish. So don't walk - run to the nearest pet store and buy your friend some fish toys and a buddy. That may not shut them up, but at least they would have to think of new lame reasons to take your fish away.

Famous Hat

Shady Cast of Characters

Now that you have seen the movie of Plant World: Summer Edition, let me introduce you to some of the shady cast of characters. (Do I say that because they are partly shaded on my balcony or because they create some shade of their own? That's for me to know and you to wonder!) This is by no means an exhaustive list of the plantages involved but introduces you to some of the major players.

The Professor - a dracaena demerensis (?) left to me by someone who had gotten her PhD and was moving out of town for a job as a professor

Greg, Lazarus, and The Professor

Dr. Cheung - a spineless yucca given to me by a coworker, who had himself inherited it from a previous coworker named Dr. Cheung

Moses and Dr. Cheung

Jolly Bob - a dracaena of some sort (possibly demerensis or reflexa) abandoned by the side of the road; I found it as Tiffy and I were returning from a Jamaican restaurant called "Jolly Bob's Jerk Joint"

Jolly Bob

Greg - a dracaena fragrens abandoned by my neighbor Greg when he moved to California

Lazarus - a nine-tenths dead dracaena fragrens Hardingfele found by the side of the road and brought to me. Miraculously, I was able to save it

Moses - a ficus benjamina I found in a basket by the garbage can in my condo complex. It had one leaf left at the time, but I felt sorry for it, took it home, and watered it... and now it is covered with leaves!

Baby Girl - an enormous pineapple plant that grew out of a much smaller "mother" plant but shows no inclination for producing a fruit like its mother did (see below)

Mama Pineapple with Tiny Fruit

This does not even mention my Plant World: Work Edition plants, which include a "frosty fern" (actually just a giant moss), a cycad, two pothos, baby spider plants (the mom is in Plant World), a big dracaena marginata left in my care by an insane neighbor who moved to Seattle, and the tiny dracaena one of my current coworkers gave to me, the one I scanned.

This coworker has two saltwater fish which he has never named, so we call them "Nemo Two" and "Blue," and I am currently fish-sitting them. He got them to replace "Nemo," an enormous clownfish that was ten years old. My officemate and I googled clownfish and found out their average life expectancy is six years, so this thing was obviously living on borrowed time. We were a little scared to fish-sit such an ancient creature that could clearly expire at any moment during our watch, but Nemo the First (also not named by the coworker) had the good grace to wait until its rightful owner returned to die on his watch. Hopefully Nemo Two and Blue don't die on my watch, but they are still very young fish.

Famous Hat

Catechism Capers

Yesterday Palm Tree Fan was at home with her new puppy, Leo. Partly this was to see how he would adjust, and partly it was to see how her first dog, Buddy, would adjust. Here is a picture of the boys in her backyard.

Leo and Buddy

And this is a picture she took through a knothole in a covered bridge. It has nothing to do with this post, other than that it is a very cool picture.

When A-Fooze and I were proctoring Rich's exam for his Catechism students, we looked over the tests as the students finished. All three children are Mexican, so when Rich wrote one question that said: "Bad angels are also known as 'Vikings.' True or false," they had to ask us what a "viking" was. A-Fooze said it was men that wore hats with horns, and I tried to clarify that it was a Norwegian pirate, but apparently all they heard was "horns," and then they must have thought of demons, because they all said True. Another question they all answered True to was: "There are three types of sin: venial, mortal, and deluxe." (Maybe that falls into the category of Things That Aren't True but Should Be!)

Kids can certainly come up with some interesting answers to questions; when I was teaching catechism and asked the class the first day how many gods there are, I got all kinds of numbers. They also have a tendency to think "God" is the right answer to ANY question. The worst thing is trying not to laugh about some of the answers they give you. Once a little boy told us that the first commandment is: "I am the Lord thy God and thou shalt have no strange gods before me." We were amused by his overly formal language, which led us to believe he had just memorized the commandments and didn't actually understand them. My co-teacher asked him, "That's great, but what does that MEAN?" and he thought very hard for a moment, brightened, and said, "You can only have strange gods AFTER Him!" Another time one of my kids said to another one who kept talking out of turn, "Man, you're the most annoying robot I ever created!" Say what? Of course, this was the same kid who, when another kid forgot to put his name on his paper so that I had to do it, said to him, "Man, you're always making her do your dirty work for you!" However, the single funniest moment may have been when I was giving the kids a test that the catechism director had written, and one of the kids complained about a question on it. I wasn't sure what to say, since the question really was ambiguously worded, and the kid realized I was sympathetic to his complaint so he stood up and began punching his test. When I asked him to please sit down and finish his test instead of beating it up, he replied, "But it said somethin' bad 'bout my Mama!" I couldn't help it - I laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

You will be relieved to know that I am no longer teaching small children how to be good Christians.

Famous Hat

Killing People Who Kill People

I have never been in favor of the death penalty, even for those who commit the most heinous crimes. Now this braintrust in Kansas goes and shoots an abortionist to death in the man's own church. Thanks a lot, buddy. Here are all the reasons this makes no logical sense:

1. You have just punched the entire pro-life movement right in the face. We are trying to change hearts and minds peacefully, like Dr. King and Gandhi, not by terrorizing people a la Chairman Mao or Stalin. And we WERE making slow, steady progress...

2. Now you have just made us look like a bunch of hypocrites. All the pro-abortion people can go, "Pro-life? Yeah, right!"

3. I agree that the abortion doctor was a mass murderer, but now you have stolen any chance he had for repentance. Only God is allowed to judge a man like that; other humans do not have that right.

4. While it does seem odd to me that a man who commits late-term abortions, tearing apart infants old enough to survive outside the womb, would be a devout Lutheran, did you REALLY have to shoot him in his church?? Once again, you managed to make the entire pro-life movement look both insane and hypocritical.

5. Certainly I agree this man had to be stopped from killing, and the law was not helping, but when laws are immoral we should protest using CIVIL disobedience. Being arrested for blocking access to his clinic, that would have been noble and honorable. Shooting the man dead is not only a mortal sin but a very bad public relations move. Though you may possibly have saved a few babies doing this, the damage you have done to the pro-life movement is enormous and will ultimately result in the deaths of far more unborn children.

NARAL and Planned Parenthood must love you. You have done more in a moment to discredit our movement than they could do in decades of lies and propaganda. Please - don't do us any more favors!

Famous Hat