Yesterday, Miranda and Daddy (and Hya) went to Zachy's school in Manhattan for a special Valentines Day party. We played musical chairs (Miranda won), pin the heart on the cupid...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Groundhog's Day
Groundhog Day, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. The holiday bears some similarities to the medieval Catholic holiday of Candlemas. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated among Gaelic peoples and some other Celtic cultures, either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring.
Most commonly it is celebrated on February 2nd (traditionally a time of weather prognostication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens), which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere. Originally dedicated to the goddess Brigid, in the Christian period it was adopted as St. Brigid's Day.
Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow. In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge, social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g’spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime or quarter, per word spoken, put into a bowl in the center of the table. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where crowds as large as 40,000 have gathered to celebrate the holiday since at least 1886.
I often find myself reminiscing each Groundhog's Day, of February 2, 1987, when I stood soggy and aching in the sub-freezing drizzle, at 5am, on Gobblers Knob to witness Punxsutawney Phil predict the future. This day was memorable for several reasons, one being the profound physical discomfort all present endured, another being the charming companion who accompanied me, but perhaps my most poignant memory is of the rather absurd treatment the rodent du jour received.
Did you ever wonder how they know that the groundhog (called a woodchuck as well) will miraculously poke its nose out on this exact date each year? Mother nature is full of wonders and all, but it seems far-fetched, right? It did to me, and it was one of the reasons why I talked my college crush, Jennifer - the proverbial "one who got away," into going with me that day.
We got there early enough to witness the whole operation - it goes something like this: First a hapless napping groundhog is taken from its cage on a farm outside of town the night before, jammed into a portable kennel which is thrown on the back of a pickup truck, usually having some witty bumper sticker invoking beer, handguns and/or Jesus. The truck is driven to the Astro-turf covered Gobblers Knob, where a cheesy fake tree stump has been set up, complete with a fake hole in the stump, simulating the groundhog's natural habitat. At about 4:30am the now thoroughly terrified rodent is removed from the kennel and roughly stuffed into the stump hole. The animal retreats inside to escape further torment as the crowds start to gather.
What the beasty does not know is that the stump is wired with an industrial strength cattle-zapper, and shortly after sunrise, the TV cameras are fired up, speeches are made and poor Phil is zapped out of the stump - nearly out of his skin - and into 100,000,000 candlepower's worth of TV camera lights. He can't see his shadow, for his retinas are fried before he even hits the ground, still quivering from the shock. He appears to wander around, as if prognosticating, but really he is blindly searching for somewhere to go - anywhere out of reach of humanity.
There is always much cheering - yes it will be six more weeks of winter, there always are - but there are truckloads of beer that must be consumed and Punxsutawney pancakes and beer and bratwurst and beer and apple cobler and more beer.... well, you get the idea.
You do it once then cross it off your Americana "Bucket List", along with Graceland, Wall Drug, South of the Border, the double-decker outhouse at The Booger Hollow Trading Post in Arkansas, Carhenge (Stonehenge made from junked cars) in Alliance, Nebraska, Six Rivers National Forest where the famous Patterson-Gimlin footage of Bigfoot was shot in 1967, the world's largest ball of twine (Darwin, MN), the Black Hills Motorcycle Classic, the Roswell UFO Festival, etc.
I have never been back to Punxsutawney ("Punxy" as the locals call it) for another Groundhog's Day, though I passed through on my motorcycle a great many times after that coming or going to Swamp Camp... but that is another story, for another day.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Bug Night
Tonight we dealt with bed bugs, scabies and lice - a trifecta of fun, fun, fun! Here two of my colleagues don space suits to enter the forbidden zone. I stayed on the deck of the Calypso to make sure the crepes did not burn.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sea Monkeys
Well, I guess it's high time for an update as to how the Monkeys, life, the universe and everything are going - call it The State Of The Miller Address. The short version is: everything is fine. Christmas came and went - I had a nice week or so with the wee ones. Santa brought Miranda the Tinkerbell Tea Set that she wanted and Zachy got a train table set for his Thomas trains.Since then, we have been chilling out... literally - it's been way cold in NYC this January. Both kids had dentist appointments a couple of weeks back, and we found that Panda has 20 teeth and Zachy's new front teeth seem to be coming in nicely. Zachy had an eye appointment last week - he still needs glasses (not that he ever wears the ones he has) but his prescription has not gotten any worse. Both kids had the plague then got better (trips to the pediatrician for both), then Zachy had an ear infection and is now on the mend (another trip to the pediatrician). Finally, Miranda took the gifted and talented test last Sunday, but we have to wait 10-12 weeks for the results. She seemed to enjoy the experience, however, for which I am very grateful... enough?
On a definite down note, one of the cats at Mommy's house died a week ago Tuesday. I found out the following day when I was saying goodbye to the kids and Miranda blurted out, "Wooty went to heaven." She said that Mommy said that "he was never coming back." Miranda was very thoughtful in a matter of fact way about it, but I could tell she was still processing it and trying to figure it out. It's a bummer, but considering that those cats never had any vaccinations, checkups or went to the vet, they've had a pretty good run. When I was Miranda's age my cat Sunshine was run over by a car, and I was trying to remember how I felt - near as I can recall it was not overly traumatic - I was too young I guess, so hopefully the same will be true of her. Still, the whole pet dying thing, with its metaphysical implications lies in new parental territory for me... Hmmmmn?
Anyway, this weekend I started two pet/animal related projects with the kids at Daddy's house: we started a colony of Sea Monkeys (remember them?) and started raising Painted Lady Butterflies to release in the spring. We got the butterfly nursery at Toys R Us and ordered the caterpillar larva which should now be in the mail. We started the Sea Monkeys by putting in the water conditioner packet and will add the eggs tomorrow night. I'll keep you posted.
I'm still working in the loony bin, which has been exceptionally loony of late. In addition to all the industrial strength psychosis, we've also had an outbreak of the norovirus (poop and puke flying everywhere) as well as the usual bed bug, scabies, lice and other assorted critters - one of the two units was even quarantined. It's great fun to go to work in a space suit! Each day brings something new and it is kind of fascinating experiencing things like the Obama innaguration or an airplane landing in the Hudson or whatever, on an accute in-patient psychiatric ward. This Sunday I'll be watching the Steelers win the Superbowl (hopefully) with a thorazine enhanced cheering section.
I'm sure that a lot more has gone on that I'm forgetting about - I had to look at my Twitter feed just to reconstruct this much, but I'll post it as I remember. Check back, as there are a bunch of pics on the old camera that I have to upload - I'll get to that asap. Peaceandlove.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Lotus Position
Good Morning Panda!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
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