A Meerkat's Bolthole

Having words with the felines this morning and I realized that "furry son of a bitch" really didn't work. What is a breeding cat called? Oh, a queen. Right. Well, that explains a lot, dunnit?

Back to work this morning, fortified with bagels and coffee. The apartment is unbelievably messy, but we're inching along toward deadline. But first, a few items:

stephen_dedman tagged me with ( the interview meme )


In the world outside, the Catholic Church is getting tighter, as Pope Benedict XVI revoked the excommunications of four schismatic bishops, including one whose comments denying the Holocaust have provoked outrage. Way to go, Bennie. Bring back that Old Time Religion. You're already advocating women-as-chattel-of-man, so what's next, forced conversions* and the stoning of non-believers? News flash: it's not the umpteenth century more. Going small-and-hardcore isn't going to win you any Crusades, and the wealthy aren't tithing their estates to you.....

But while I'll be watching Bennie and his extreme right-wing adherents carefully, I refuse to let it dim my mood. As I said to a friend overseas, there is a sense of 'we may survive' in the air here now. It won't last, but the lifting of the Bush malaise has been just amazing to feel, like knowing that the class bully and his cohort have been shipped off, at long last, to reform school....
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Dinner last night was extremely good, and deadly easy: Soak flounder fillet in teriyaki sauce and brown sugar and a dash of sesame oil. Heat skillet. Brown two cloves of garlic and a scattering of sesame seeds in safflower oil. Slide fillet into pan, cook over medium heat until flesh flakes easily. Plate and quickly cook string beans in same pan until they turn a more brilliant green. Nom nom nom. Boomer approved; the gonif tried to take it right off my plate.

I will not be having haggis tonight however, piped in or no. I had some on New Year's Day (no piper) an that's enough for the year.




*apparently, part of the recent concessions from the Church have included considering a Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of Jews. I'm sure that will make many people soil themselves in ecstasy. Pagans and other-believers, this is your wakeup call; we may be the favored targets, but you're on the list too, I'm sure....

How to annoy your cats, in two easy steps.
1. go away overnight.
2. come home smelling of not one but two dogs.

Mei-Chan is still adorable, and seems to be taking to paper-training with reasonable speed. Also, I am pleased to inform NYCers that Salmon River still makes the best damn tandori salmon ever. I forgive them their wine list.

EtA: and finally! I have a name-storm! T.S. Laura is on the map. (no, I don't want her to do any damage [looks like she's out to sea; go ahead, make the jokes] -- but after years of waiting, it's still fun to see her up there)

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Meanwhile, those who observe the Jewish traditions face the closing of another year this evening. I was trying to decide what to say, and realized that I had pretty much nailed it last year. And so, updated:

Sunset tonight brings us to the beginning of the Days of Repentance in the Jewish tradition, starting with Rosh Hashanna (Yom Ha-Zikkaron) and ending ten days from now with Yom Kippur.

I am mostly, as I often say, a forgetting-to-practice Jew. But there are a few traditions I hold fast to, and the High Holy Days are among them. Not from any religious compulsion, but more because they...well, they make sense.

The Days of Awe are a time to pause and reflect on the previous year, to consider the actions done by and to us, and to search and find forgiveness. In these days, we are taught, God inscribes our fate for the coming year... but that inscription can be altered by our actions within the next ten days. If we are honest with ourselves, if we seek forgiveness from those we have wronged, and forgive those who have wronged us, the judgment will be lightened, the inscription be kinder.

I do not believe in a God with pen and gradebook. But I do believe in balance, in forgiveness, and in fresh starts. Coming in September, a time of seasonal change and the beginning again of the academic year, it always made perfect sense to me that, along with changing our closets, we could change our approaches.

Yom Ha-Zikkaron finds me, this year, in a place of peace, if not complete serenity. If you have harmed me, either by intent or omission, by act or by word, I do not hold a grudge. If I have harmed you, either by intent or omission, by act or word, I ask your forgiveness, and offer the knowledge that I will take pains not to do so again.

[I think the Universe will forgive me, this year, if I have to struggle to forgive certain financial and political leaders for their actions of greed, arrogance and willful ignorance]

L'shanah tovah tikatevi v'taihatem. May we all be inscribed and sealed for a good year.

Day 52 of Retrievers #6: Blood From Stone

In semi-related news: royalty season has begun. Got a small but nice check in the mail from a project that I had not expected to still be generating income. Long may it sell!

Also: http://cosanostradamus.blogspot.com/ has been updated with a small but amusing something.

Still in recovery mode -- running a few errands today nigh wiped me out, but at least they got done. And the gym is clearly paying off, as I was able to lift and carry the 20# bag of cat food out to the car in one hand without stressing it, even wiped out. Like the royalty check, of such small things is contentment made.

And, anticipating tomorrow's fast (I do not fast well, for various medical reasons, but I always try) I have made a good solid meal of carbs and protein, only realizing afterward that I managed to cross not two or three but four different culinary cultures... (Udon noodles, tossed with grilled chicken andoulle sausage and Thai peanut sauce, topped with fresh grated romano cheese.) Yummm.

Also? Rudy Guillani is such a whore. After years of fighting for gun control against the NRA, he is now sucking up to them for endorsement. Hey Rudy, here's MY flip to salute YOUR flip... ^l^^ Asswipe.

(no, come on, suri. Tell us what you really think...)

But I'm back.

Among other healthy, happy, and non-writing things, I spent a day at the Zen Mountain Monastery. Not my answer (or even my path to the answer) but an interesting and informative stop along the Way.* And any monastery that's housed in a 1920's era stone building is going to have my love. Even if the arisen Christ carved into the side of the building (a remnant of its original purposing) is sommat.... startling)

Also, zazen is rather remarkably like hunt seat, in a surprising number of ways. Except you're looking off and in, not ahead. And no matter what the belief system, all sermons/readings go on exactly five and a half minutes too long.

Meanwile, the felines have almost forgiven me for slutting around with Kobe (my sister's Burmese, who decided I was his new snuggle-toy.). Although I suspect another can of the kitty-crack may be required to wipe that twitch off Pandora's ears.

And I have once again renewed my love affair with white burgundies. Dom. Corsin Saint-Veran 2004 is love. Better, it's inexpensive love.

Oh yeah, and the writing.

Daughter of the Sea, start of week 2



*and I may have to buy a zafu, as I think my customary "girl, with laptop" crosslegged pose could only benefit...

In a small town in NJ, a group of people have, for several years, gathered together to light a large menorah a few feet away from the creche set up on town grounds.

This year, they are being blocked from doing so.

Not by outraged Christians.

Not even by the ACLU doing their usual December thing about preventing religious events from occurring on government property (something I 90% agree with, btw).

No, this is being blocked by the mayor...who is Jewish.

Her logic? It's not appropriate behavior, but rather an attempt to expand a small, family-oriented holiday into Christmas-substitute. She doesn't approve.


I am...torn on this. On the one hand -- I totally agree with her logic. Chanukkah is a minor but pleasant holiday that has been put on a forced diet of steroids to compete with Christmas, and I hate that. Chanukkah is about surviving those who would have forced assimilation on the Jewish population -- how is making that more like Christmas a good thing?

On the other hand, if a group of Jews wish to gather and light the menorah together, as equally sanctioned/supported by the government as, oh, the displaying of a creche or singing of carols, then how can the Mayor -- not a religious leader -- say that a community must only gather in private homes, behind closed doors?

It's an interesting dilemma.



Meanwhile, thanks to M. I have boughs of greenery stonking up the apartment with the lovely smell of pine (I mentioned loving the smell of her tree, and we agreed that it was a pagan tradition and therefore could be adapted to any household), my menorah is out of the china cabinet and candled-up, and the makings of latkes and other traditional foods have been assembled for dinner on Saturday. Plus, I got my solstice candle today, so I'm all set. Am lacking only the appropriate bottle of wine for New Year's Eve, but I suspect that will be picked up closer to the date and the place...

I'm a very lapsed Jew. But the rituals of my upbringing formed me, and especially during the Days of Awe I find myself returning to them.

On Rosh Hashanna, Jews turn to others and say "forgive me for the sins I committed against you, as I forgive those committed against me." On Yom Kippur, Jews turn to God (however you may determine and define God) and say "forgive me for the sins I committed against You." For me, then, it's a reconciliation with the universe at large, the spark that creates and motivates and enlightens us.

The service that opens the holiday this evening is called the kol nidre. It translates, roughly, to 'all vows.' Repent, and sins of commission and ommission alike are forgiven; unfulfilled vows are dissolved, we begin the New Year with potential and promise, not guilt and regret.

In the year, we have done many things:
We made vows, and were unable to sustain them.
We made promises, and failed them.
We have gossiped
We have judged.
We have comitted slander.
We have been uncharitable.
We have been unkind.
We have not practiced lovingkindness to others.
We have not practiced lovingkindness to ourselves.

The list is long, for we are human. Forgive us (may we forgive ourselves) these failures of positive commands and negative commands, whether or not they involve an intentional act, whether or not they were performed unawares.

On Yom Kippur the Book of Life is closed and sealed for the year. May next year find us all in the City of Peace.

Amen.

May all those who are fasting have an easy time of it, and may we all find peace, within and without.


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This is also the day I set aside to remember my grandparents. ( This year... )

Today is Yom Kippur, perhaps the only holiday of my youth I still observe (ETA: in conjunction with Rosh Hashanna). I do so not because it's the Holiest of holies, although it is, but because it's one that still has resonance to me.

( more on that resonance, and some other related stuff )

another blurb from the AP wire:

No Ten Commandments in Courthouse
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer.


WASHINGTON - A split Supreme Court struck down Ten Commandments displays in courthouses Monday, ruling that two exhibits in Kentucky cross the line between separation of church and state because they promote a religious message.

The 5-4 decision was the first of two seeking to mediate the bitter culture war over religion's place in public life. In it, the court declined to prohibit all displays in court buildings or on government property. Justices left legal wiggle room, saying that some displays - like their own courtroom frieze - would be permissible if they're portrayed neutrally in order to honor the nation's legal history.

But framed copies in two Kentucky courthouses went too far in endorsing religion, the court held.