Ode to Joy

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, we've been swimming (at least the 10 yo has) and have put off painting the bathroom for yet another weekend (next weekend doesn't work either... oh well) And now my son and husband are playing Beethoven's Ode to Joy together, DH on the piano, son on the violin. It's the first piece of violin he's ever played, so it's of a quality only a mother could love, but love it I do. It's so nice to hear them playing together. DS got his musical talent from his father, and it's lovely to hear them share.

7 Deadly Sins

There was an article in Time Magazine about the Catholic Church's new sin list, and it made me want to revisit the originals - so here they are, courtesy of deadlysins.com - and why someone wanted to make a list of sins and what their religious political beliefs are, I cannot say, but their list is very well laid out:

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

Off the top of my head, I never get all 7, but I always forget different ones.
And then, in our 21st century post ironic way, I don't think of all of them as sins. Well, some of them are unpleasant, but envy can motivate us, anger can protect us, a good dose of lust can go a long way, and everyone needs some pride (not an overweening amount, but a little definitely helps.)

And then, in the article, there was the version that Mahatma Gandhi made:-

Wealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Science without Humanity
Knowledge without Character
Politics without Principle
Commerce without Morality
Worship without Sacrifice

And what an excellent list it is. I read them and know them to be unequivocally true. A much better list to memorize.

music of our childhood

When I was a child, my parents had an record by Esther Opharim, with Esther with a big floppy hat and her huge eyes on the cover, and on it was a cover version of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, which was my introduction to the song. I loved her sweet haunting voice. Now, I've looked for her version of it everywhere but haven't found it. I realize in my quest, I've got 5 versions of the song (1- Leonard Cohen himself, master song writer, awful singer, even though his intonation is great 2. Neil Diamond, who has a spectacular voice and surprisingly suited to the song. 3. Judy Collins, too sweet for my taste. 4. Nick Cave, Julie Christensen & Perla Batalla, which has 3 of them singing together, interesting but lacks the purity I want. and 5. the classic Roberta Flack version. But none of them match my memory of Esther Opharim. Of course it's many years since I heard the version I'm looking for, and even if I found it, it may not sound right... funny how memory is like that.

(and for those interested in a hamster update - no one's been eaten yet, and Amelia ate and ate appropriate hamster food and is now sleeping. And did you know one of the leading causes of death of baby hamsters is that they can't reach the water in the cages and die of thirst - how awful that sounds! We're going to get a low tiny basin (a lid?) and put water in that, so our babies get the water they need... And yet, if they hadn't warned me, that may well have happened to us, sometimes the obvious has to be pointed out.)

And then there were more

Photos to come -
Amelia had babies!
It was quite shocking, as the pet store had told us she was a baby herself, but she had been one week pregnant when we got her, and is now the proud mother of 4 tiny pink things, about as big as my finger tip. We've been reading up on baby hamsters, they can breed themselves when they are as young as 5 weeks (though the Internet assures us it's better to wait till they are 4 months) and their litters can be anything from 5 - 10 pups.

Because we weren't expecting this, we've done everything wrong (incl picking her up, just after the babies were born - but we didn't know there were any babies!) and my sincere hope is that she doesn't eat any of her young, a dire threat that they make if we irritate or agitate her (I can see mothers everywhere going, just leave me alone or I'll eat the baby!)

Still oddly exciting news.

My favorite line - remove the babies after 4 weeks, as the mother will be tired of them.

When I grow up...

I want to be a hamster....



Or at least, our new pet hamster. Not only does she have the most dashing hamster suite (pictured above, in case you were wondering what it was - no mere hamster cage for us!) but she has a really good lifestyle.


We were a bit concered because people kept telling us that hamsters are nocternal and would keep us up all night, but Amelia sleeps approx 22 hours a day, and has one hour of what I would call wriggling, and then every so often goes on her wheel for 5 minute bursts. She also has a ball that we can put her in to run around the apartment, and she does run, for a bit, and then curls up and goes back to occassional wriggling and napping (at which time we put her back in her cosy den.)


She really has a quite idyllic life, and every morning at least one member of the family is jealous!

Word of the Day

nocebo (no-SEE-bo) noun

A substance producing harmful effects in someone because it is believed to be harmful, but which in reality is harmless.

[From Latin nocebo (I will harm), from nocere (to harm). Modeled after placebo (I will please).]

Isn't that a cool word? The Nocebo effect...

four year anniversaries

I just realized that I had thought to myself that I ought to blog on Feb 29th, to have a leap year blog, but forgot, and now will have to wait 4 years to do it again.

And that gets you thinking about the future... will I be blogging in 4 years time, where was I 4 years ago, where will I be 4 years from now... 4 is an elegant, squarish number, a solid number... I could get a degree, finish highschool, change my life in 4 years. I can also babble for 4 years!

I'm listening to this amazing music. Following my Joan Borysenko discovery, with full consciousness I did a search at the library and came across Self Healing with Music.

The first disc is a lecture by Andrew Weil and musician Kimba Arem, and the second disc is an hour of music by Kimba Arem, with a lovely meditative vibe, bells and chanting, rainfall and haunting sounds. I'm listening to it as I go to sleep, or even as I stretch at the gym, and loving it.

And I'm going to the gym, and surely the music is helping me get there! Now if I went every day for four years... a life change indeed :)