Thunderphobia
So, with all of the storms passing through the region in the last couple of days, we've realized once again how thunderphobic our big baby dog Lucy is. I read about this and how to desensitize dogs to the big bad thunder sounds here. I'm going to try to desensitize her to the thunder, but I'm thinking she might need drugs.

Merry Christmas Cheeps!
Well, it's listed on Amazon now. Isn't this cover adorable? This is the newest book in the Cheeps series.

Happy Birthday, Billy!
Today is the birthday of William Shakespeare. Go to Writers' Almanac to learn more about him. On today's edition of Writers' Almanac, Garrison Keillor gives lots of interesting tidbits about Shakespeare. He also reads a lovely poem for the day.

So what is your all-time fav Shakespeare play? Mine is Hamlet, no doubt about it. It's brilliant.

Goose Attack!!!
Since Jacob was feeling a little better this afternoon, we went over to the lake to feed the geese again. We were trying to give the mama goose some food when all of a sudden, this big mean man goose came up to her and started pulling her feathers out with his beak! What a jerk! He was trying to get her to get off her eggs. She did, eventually, and then Jacob and I went into full defense mode, telling that jerky goose to get away. He listened eventually, and the mama got back on her eggs. Yikes! It was scary. The big meany!

And no, that will not be part of a new story about goose zombies. Nor will I write a horror story about vampire geese trying to suck the blood from other geese.

Two Things Tonight
This evening, we went to the seminary lake (which, by the way, Jacob thinks needs a name--Lake Luther?) and visited the ducks and geese. We saw three mama geese and one mama duck sitting on nests. It was great. At one point, one of the mama geese got up to stretch her wings and we spied six or seven eggs under her, which were about twice the size of chicken eggs. It was great.

Then, I got an email with this link to see some cool pictures of Pittsburgh. I especially liked the fourth picture down of the four gables stair-stepping to the top of the PPG building. It's a cool shot. I also like the "city of bridges" one.

Art and the Bible
I stumbled across this website this afternoon as I've been doing some research on the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River. It links to a ton of artistic renderings of the Baptism of Jesus. I liked this one a lot. Here's the link to the art index.

Unicorns in the Bible?
I got really freaked out when on Maundy Thursday I heard this quoted from Psalm 22:

20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

Unicorns in the Bible? I read up on it, and found out that it likely is referring to wild oxen, and that is shown in other translations. I thought I was losing my mind because for the last 5 or 6 Maundy Thursdays, I had chanted this entire Psalm with another woman from our church in Pittsburgh, and I never remembered anything about unicorns. I missed chanting that with Mary Ellen, by the way. It was one of our traditions.

That is not to say that the Holy Week traditions at Redeemer were anything but wonderful. Because they are wonderful.

But I miss the daffodil cross, the overwhelming scent of Easter lillies at Concordia and I missed the tenebrae, the Easter breakfast cooked by the Flores family, putting out the Easter baskets made by Virginia. Much love to you all at Concordia! I miss you!

Holy Saturday
If you haven't ever been to an Easter vigil on the night before Easter, I suggest you find a church that has this lovely service. I'm looking forward to going tonight to Redeemer.

We're right now listening to Bach's St. John Passion. I love the soprano aria that is placed right after Peter cuts off Malchus' ear in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is not a great translation, but here is the text.

I follow Thee also with joy to be near Thee
in trouble and strife
Thou light of my life
Ah speed Thou my way:
and say me not "nay";
but let me be near Thee to solace and cheer Thee.

I think Bach is genius to place this here because the text is so meaningful at this point in the passion story. It could be a prayer of Christ, but also of His followers. It's also a light, lovely aria that I wish I could sing although I'm fairly sure I wouldn't be able to pull it off.

What I love about Holy Saturday is the reassurance that Christ has gone to the grave ahead of me. On Holy Saturday, He is resting in the tomb and we await the resurrection.