Reflecting

I wrote this for my youngest sister when she got married. Unfortunately my wife and I could not attend her wedding ceremony. I came across a copy recently and wanted to share it here. It was sent to my sister in the letter with her wedding gift.

Marriage is a robe that is knit by the effort of two people, who wear it together. Sometimes the colors or texture may change, but when well made, it fits comfortably and keeps the warmth in. It is ever changing, and therefore takes a lifetime of effort, and is never truly finished.

If I were to rewrite it today, it would be more succinct, but would still have that message of the "warmth" shared from mutual dedication to the never ending effort that is a happy marriage...

Tolkien's Use of Thongs

Apparently I may be mistaken in how Tolkien used thongs ... I mean in his writing. In some of his works he uses the term thongs as leather straps used to bind or as the thongs of a whip. So I guess that unfortunate Dwarf might not have gotten shoes after all. I guess I just didn't see the purpose of tying him up before locking him in a cell...

Dwarves in Thongs

You can imagine how it got my attention when my eldest daughter asked me "Daddy, what is a thong". My insightful response was "uhhh, what do you mean?". She was reading the book The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and came across "Then the elves put thongs on him, and shut him in one of the inmost caves...". "Him" being one of the dwarves. Oh, the sordid imagery. I had to remind myself that in the 1930's when the book was written until much more recently, thongs were not the butt-floss garments we might think of today. Thongs were a type of shoe. So I told her "Thongs are flip-flops or those shoes with the strap between your toes". I think I'll save the modern definition for another time...

Carpe Diem

Commonly translated as "Seize the day" from a latin poem by Horace.
...but sometimes I get the impression the day doesn't like being grabbed certain ways.
...I'm somewhat in agreement with the wonderful Oscar winning short Harvie Krumpet who goes beyond. "Harvie didn't just seize the day, he was strangling it" Okay, so you need the lead-in... Atom films has the whole film here. Oh, the fakts!