Today we had to have our beloved cat, Morrison, put to sleep. He’s had diabetes and arthritis for the past two years, and today we learned he had cancer and that there was nothing that could be done.
So for today’s old photo we take a look at what’s probably going on in Heaven right now (after Zephyr finished sniffing his butt that is)…
Believe it or not, there’s actually very good news today too, but it will have to wait.
Watership Down by Richard Adams is probably one of my favorite books and one of the few that I’ve read more than twice.
I first read it while in college. I was in my freshman year at UT (yes, long before we were the number one party school) and Richard Adams’ heroic tale of a group of rabbits building a new home for themselves was the best thing I read all year. It wasn’t even a course requirement; it was just something I found.
The story begins when one of the rabbits, a psychic named Fiver, has a vision that the Warren will be destroyed. The elders do not heed his warning, but an adventurous group led by Hazel, a small and unlikely leader, follows Fiver’s vision to Watership Down where they establish a new warren that will be a model of rabbit civilization.
The book examines the ways in which revolutions and social change occur from within and from outside societies. It explores issues of warfare, totalitarian governance, personal courage, leadership, and religious faith and mysticism.
Not bad for a book “about bunnies,” as Sawyer described it in the Lost episode “White Rabbit.”
Watership Down was one of the first books to appear on Lost, and its story of survivors building a new life for themselves neatly parallels events during the show’s first season. It is seen in “White Rabbit” in which Jack (like a combination of Hazel and Fiver) follows visions of his dead father to the caves where the survivors of Oceanic 815 will have water, shelter, and the possibility of a better life.
Like many of the Lost books, Watership Down deals with psychic phenomenon, the establishment of a new and better world away from the old world, and the ways in which societies select their leaders.
In terms of leadership, it provides an interesting counterpoint to another Lost book, Lord of the Flies that explores the ways in which leaders are chosen and societies structured. The vision presented in Lord of the Flies is of a decidedly Hobbesian system of governance.
It’s interesting to remember at this point that the philosophical counterpoint to Thomas Hobbes is John Locke, the philosopher who lends his name to a certain character on Lost. Watership Down depicts a more Lockian basis for society where leaders such as the lame and inspirational Hazel are chosen for their wisdom and courage and their dedication to protecting the freedoms of their subjects.
In this way we can see Watership Down providing a hopeful model for what life on the island could be like for the survivors which is why the book appears in the episode in which Jack begins the process of leading them to the caves to begin building what will hopefully be a temporary settlement.
In many ways, season one focused on the Watership Down model of creating an ideal society, whereas season two, with its emphasis on the more hardened tail section survivors explored the Lord of the Flies model. I suspect that the Locke vs. Hobbes argument (that can be simplified down to liberty vs. security) will be further explored in the third season when the survivors will have to deal with the threat of the Others.
For more of my Lost book posts, please see The Lost Book Club.
Years ago a friend of mine amazed people at parties with his ability to say and spell the longest word in the English language: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
These days, I use it at school as a way to practice dealing with unfamiliar words since it seems so intimidating to the kids, but when broken down is really easy to understand. Via Wikipedia:
So basically, a lung disease caused by breathing the silica dust from volcanoes.
Though the word has been included in dictionaries, it is considered a ‘fake’ word that has never actually been used in medical literature. Apparently the only purpose for this word is to answer the question, “What’s the longest English word?”
According to A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia, the longest non-scientific word other than the nonsense word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is floccinaucinihilipilification followed by antidisestablishmentarianism.
Ultimately, going back to Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, we wind up begging the question: Is a word a word if it’s only ever used as an example of a word?
Perhaps I could answer by saying, “Bkk-de skinb plewd blerty uloufopoly,” but then I’d just be making up nonsense words.
I’d have to remember that if I were suffering from a case of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, I could use that term to describe my condition even if my doctors only referred to it as silicosis.
My verdict: if the word can be used to convey accurate meaning, then it is a word, and if you disagree, then bkk-de skinb plewd blerty uloufopoly to you!
I could smell it as soon as I opened the car door in the Central Market parking lot. There is nothing quite like the aroma of fresh chiles roasting in the late summer heat. I love August in Austin for the twin green chile festivals hosted by Central Market and Chuy’s, and this celebration of nature’s most perfect fruit is now upon us.
The chiles are shipped in fresh from the chile harvest in Hatch, New Mexico and roasted on site. Central Market sells them by the pound, and Chuy’s creates a special Green Chile Festival menu that runs from mid-August to mid-September.
Each year, I buy several pounds of chiles from CM to freeze and use throughout the year. Use? Hah! I usually just eat them straight with a bit of salt or wrapped in a tortilla when I’m feeling industrious. Then we eat at Chuy’s at least once a week until we’ve tried all the green chile specials and gone back for seconds of our favorites. So far, nothing has topped the green chile tortilla soup of 1996 or the Charlie Brown chicken (crusted with pumpkin seeds) of 2003.
So, yesterday it began. While selecting my bags of roasted chiles, the clerk informed me that for $22 I could get a whole case, roasted while I waited and would save a ton of money and get more chiles. How could I refuse?
Now, my freezer is full of small baggies of chiles and all day I ate chiles. Next week, Chuy’s starts up, and I wonder what delights they’ll have cooked up for us this year.
I’ll keep you posted.
Yesterday, Phoebe joined some other greyhounds at the Greyhound Pets of America – Central Texas booth at the Austin Home and Garden show to help raise awareness and money to help retired racers find new homes. The booth was a hit, and many people came back around more than once to pet the greys.
And now for some greyhound eye candy…
Phoebe wearing her fancy jacket. Each pup got a jacket with a pocket so that people could make donations by filling the hounds’ pockets with cash…
This is Fancy being the star of the show…
Grappa having a good laugh…
Mary and Daisy…
and Phoenix…
After a few hours of gladhanding the crowd, Phoebe was cashed and ready to head home…
Everyone had a good time, and the pups managed to raise a bucketful of cash to help rescue even more unwanted greyhounds. All of these pups have couches to sleep on and people who love them, but there are many out there who need forever homes.
Here’s a few. Here’s another one. Visit Greyhound Pets of America to find one in your area.
And, here’s my wife’s post on the same event with another picture of Phoebe.
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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.
If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.
I took this picture of the ruins at Uxmal on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico on our honeymoon in 1998.
We stayed in Cancun for a few days and then rented a car to explore the countryside. We spent a few days in Merida and on one daylong excursion into the Puuc Hills we stopped at Uxmal, which turned out to be one of the most fascinating places I’ve ever been.
If you only have one duck, can you put him in a row?
Getting ready for the new school year is taking much of my blogging time, so I’m photoblogging, which is as fun as wordblogging and doesn’t require as much spell checking.
This is my coffee grinder. It’s nothing special, but it’s one of my favorite things.
I’ve tried to photograph it several times, but I’ve never really been happy with the results. I tried using the scanner yesterday after doing the masks, and I like how it turned out. The ghostly quality seems appropriate for something that gets used before 6am, before I’ve put in my contact lenses.
These are some of the masks in our house. I used the scanner as a camera and draped a black t-shirt over the masks to serve as background.
And then after a bit of manipulation…
Phoebe takes a break to throw us a smile from her bird feeder guard station on the porch.
She hasn’t caught anything yet, but someday I expect her to come in acting normal. She’ll wag her tail and hop up on the couch. A few minutes later she’ll burp a bunch of feathers and pretend nothing is out of the ordinary.
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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.
If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.