Thursday, July 17, 2008

My Pomegranate Life is Juicy and Delicious


Last month I got my first tattoo. A big, blooming and ripe pomegranate. It is an illustration from Anna Maria Sibylla Merian (minus the butterfly tranformations). She was ahead of her time,a German woman traveling in Africa in the 1600's to study and make paintings of plants and insects. Her detailed observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly make her a significant, albeit not well known, contributor to entomology.

Also...
A few things about the pomegranate that inspire me(totally clipped from wikipedia):

Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the
613 mitzvot or commandments of the Torah. However, the actual number of seeds varies with individual fruits. For this reason and others, many Jews eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah. It is also a symbol of fruitfulness. Some Jewish scholars believe that it was the pomegranate, not the apple, that was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.

Pomegranates are a motif found in
Christian religious decoration. The fruit, broken or bursting open, is a symbol of the fullness of his suffering and resurrection.[34] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, pomegranate seeds may be used in kolyva, a dish prepared for memorial services, as a symbol of the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom

According to the Qur'an, pomegranates grow in the gardens of paradise (55:068). According to Islamic tradition, every seed of a pomegranate must be eaten, because one can't be sure which aril came from paradise. The Prophet Mohammed is said to have encouraged his followers to eat pomegranates to ward off envy and hatred.[34] The Qur'an also mentions (6:99, 6:141) pomegranates twice as examples of good things God creates.

The myth of Persephone, the chthonic goddess of the Underworld, also prominently features the pomegranate.



A Fellow Faithful Agnostic

I think I've found a spokesperson! Check out A.J. Jacobs: My year of living biblically .

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Salad Anyone?

What does it mean when someone says "those were the salad days"? I honestly don't know, but I imagine it means poor, but happy. Simple, but satisfied. Let's do a quick wiki look, shall we...

"Salad days" is an idiomatic expression, referring to a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person. More modern use, especially in the United States, refers to a person's heyday when somebody was at the peak of his/her abilities—not necessarily in that person's youth.

The phrase was coined in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in 1606. In the speech at the end of Act One in which Cleopatra is regretting her youthful dalliances with Julius Caesar she says:

"...My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood..."

Okay, not exactly what I had in mind. I'm not feeling particularly "green" anymore. I would opt more for "ripe". Although I can imagine in 10 years I will laugh my head off at that.

I have been turning that salad phrase (or dare I say tossing it) around in my head, because I can only see my life getting more complicated, rich and chaotic from here. Right now there is a simplicity in having small children with small problems and needs, an entry level career, a 2 bedroom home and little money to spare. My marriage is strong, my kids healthy, and we just planted our first garden. Life is good. Salad is good. Now I am sorta itching to add a bit of sauce....