Easter Hedge cares not for your pastel baskets and sunshine:
Speaking of Easter (which must be coming up soonish?), a Dave Sedaris piece from “This American Life” features a diverse classroom of students trying to discuss the meaning of Easter in French:
It is long but howlingly funny. Also informative: I had thought the Easter Bunny was a worldwide phenomenon (at least in Christendom), but it is not. Please feel free to discuss whatever.
different-church-lady
“I know one big thing. Unfortunately it’s not how to get out of this damn basket.”
raven
Gators up in a bit.
gogol's wife
@different-church-lady:
Please don’t remind me that I have to read Isaiah Berlin before the day is over.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Wait, what? The F4 game is next weekend! What am I missing?
raven
@Betty Cracker: OOOP/s the other SEC team!
Hill Dweller
Unskew the Obamacare numbers!
Betty Cracker
@raven: Whew! Scared me for a minute there! ;-)
raven
@Betty Cracker: I scared me, I’ve obviously watched too many (all) games!
raven
Chickenshit play by U Conn player but they win! The last team to beat the Gators!
IowaOldLady
That was hilarious. Still, you have to go some distance to beat his story of working as a Christmas Elf at Macy’s.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sedaris+elf+crumpet+you+tube&FORM=VIRE2#view=detail&mid=43408525B3E2C113271343408525B3E2C1132713
Elmo
Who knew hedgehogs could be this freakin adorable?
Betty Cracker
@raven: My brother says the Gators will win it all, and he follows round ball much more closely than I do and usually doesn’t let homerism cloud his judgment. We shall see!
ixnay
The first time I heard this piece (the Easter one, not the Christmas Elf one, which also laid me out flat), I was driving. I very nearly had to pull over because I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t see. We all need to laugh more. I recommend this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4xzA3Oul1c
Also: my collection of seriously stupid seasonal riddles:
What do you call a rabbit that gives anesthesia? (The Ether Bunny)
What do you have when you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole? (Hot Cross Bunnies)
I told you they were stupid.
Omnes Omnibus
@ixnay: Why can’t Jesus eat M&Ms? (They fall through the holes in his hands.)
Mnemosyne
@Elmo:
Kitten meets hedgehog. Surprised the internet didn’t overload from the squee.
ixnay
@ixnay:
oh my word. I just listened again to the Sedaris bit, and was once again reduced to laughing tears. More of this.
? Martin
Careful, Jesus shall smite you upon return for thou does not knowest when to hand out thy Peeps™.
? Martin
@Betty Cracker:
Almost all of the games, apparently.
Mnemosyne
I have a chicken paella-type thing in the crockpot and need to go grocery shopping, but I’m being lazy. I also need to get my bicycle off our balcony and back downstairs in the garage now that the landlords seem to be done with all of the repainting etc.
Anne Laurie
Betty, your kid knows the fine old English word “tiggy”, right?
I always thought that was a better name for my favorite small omnivore. Back in the last century, my fanzine nyk was ‘Questing Tiggy Press’.
raven
@Betty Cracker: They are scary good but ya never know. I’m sure he is glad the big favorite, MSU, is gone.
MikeJ
@Anne Laurie: OED’s first printed example is from 1905 (Beatrix Potter character name), so maybe not as old as you think. “Mrs. Tiggy-winkle was nothing but a Hedgehog!”
They do say it probably comes from the dialect word “tig”, little pig, but the y don’t have an entry for that.
JPL
@raven: This might seem like an understatement, but Michigan State sucked.
They didn’t seem to be prepared.
Betty Cracker
@Anne Laurie: She probably does, raging Anglophile that she is.
raven
@JPL: That was a team that my lowly Illinois killed on their own court. I think they overachieved but many of the “experts” picked them because of Izzo.
Juju
@Betty Cracker: I’m no fan of the Gators, but I agree with your brother.
Amir Khalid
It has been a beautiful Sunday for me: Liverpool thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 4-nil at home and are now top of the English Premier League. They last won the league title in 1989-90 — the season after the Hillsborough tragedy.
ETA: Liverpool have never won the Premier League as such; in 89-90 it was still the First Division of the English Football League.
raven
@Juju: They were the number one seed in the tournament for a reason.
rikyrah
The ACA Surge Blackout
March 30, 2014, 12:52 pm
It’s not in itself that big a deal, but I’m somewhat amazed by what amounts to a de facto blackout by major news media on a developing story that’s really obvious if you read the invaluable Charles Gaba, or even the White House blog: a huge surge in Obamacare enrollments in the final days of the signup period. The print sources I read are still putting out basically downbeat reports about the ACA, with maybe a mention 10 paragraphs in that exchange enrollments passed the 6 million mark last week. I don’t watch cable news, but from what I hear it’s all still Malaysian airways.
In the end, I guess it won’t matter in a direct sense; the final number for year 1, which looks likely to be very close to the original 7 million projection, will eventually come out. But you wonder why news media that are happy to speculate about the 2016 election aren’t interested in at least putting out a heads-up about the strong possibility of a bombshell number next week.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/the-aca-surge-blackout/
Elie
@Elmo:
they are just so cute — cute, cute, cute
something fabulous
@rikyrah: I am one! Finally signed my ass up at 3am last night! [Not busy then btw– a breeze in CA!] Funny note on the CA site, if not mentioned before: in the online demo, the town used for filling out the sample personal info is… Galt!
Elie
My wonderful Mom is bed ridden and dying. She is soon to be 92 but has been in increasingly poor health and that has accelerated over the last month and a half. she is mostly sleeping, but when she awakens, what hurts so much is hearing her begging God to let her “go through the door”, or to open the door for her. Hospice has been wonderful. We focus on her comfort and spooning in liquids and nourishment as possible — this is diminishing.
Over the weekend we had family and babies over to play on her bed and bring their loving energy. It was a wonderful thing and I am grateful that she could still experience that..
Pray for her peaceful transit and for us, her family, wanting to ease the path on her way to eternity. We know that love lives forever and we will all continue to take her love into this world – a classy, smart and funny woman with a big heart.
shelly
That is one of the funniest bits of writing from , ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day.’
“he weared of himself the long hair and after he die. the first day he come back here for to say hello to the peoples.” he nice, the jesus.”
And agree with Sedaris, on the French symbol for Easter. WTF?
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
I’m so sorry. As you know, several of us have lost parents in the past few years, so we understand what you’re going through.
You may want to ask the hospice if there’s a counselor or minister she can talk to to help “let go.” I remember a part in Julia Sweeney’s book God Said Ha! where they had a counselor come talk to her terminally ill brother.
Also, strange as it sounds, you may want to try and leave her with just the nurses for a few minutes instead of having a family member with her 24/7. I heard so many stories of people waiting until their family members were out of the room before they finally passed away that I think it may be a real phenomenon that some people don’t want their family in the room at the moment they go. It happened that way with my father and my father-in-law, both of whom waited until family was out of the room before they let go.
the Conster
@Elie:
Bless you and her, and keep talking to her about how much her life mattered and how much love there is for her. Also let her know it’s OK for her to go now. The hearing is the last thing to go. She’s ready, so all you can do is be there with her, and to keep her clean and as comfortable as possible. May we all be so blessed to make our exits surrounded by love.
Pogonip
Elie, I will pray for a good death for your mom. My condolences.
Betty, Easter is 20 April this year, and Orthodox and Western Easter both fall on the same day, which won’t happen again for a few thousand years, if I remember right.
Geek alert: George R r Martin put up a new sample chapter called “mercy.”
Betty Cracker
@Elie: My thoughts are with your mom, you and all others who love her. I wish I could say I don’t know how you feel. But I do. Courage, love and strength.
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
Thanks, Mnemosyne… its a good idea to have her pastor talk to her.. and I acknowledge that several of our balloon-juicers have lost parents this year — you guys know where I am at…
We have been just letting her sleep more and more and not trying to do some schedule around eating or serving liquids. Sadly, but truly, dehydration is her friend.
Thanks much for your good thoughts and prayers…
Elie
@the Conster:
Amen and thanks to all of you for your kind words and support
WaterGirl
If this is what I think it is, I was just thinking about it earlier today and wondering how I could possibly find it again on the internet. Crossing my fingers while I go click the video.
JPL
@Elie: It’s so difficult to lose a mother and all I can add is internet hugs.
gbear
I fucking HATE bunnies right now. The snow has melted enough to reveal that the bunnies burrowed into a snowbank and ate the bottom foot of bark off of one of my boulevard crabapple trees all the way around. It’s going to die. Fuck bunnies.
SiubhanDuinne
@Anne Laurie:
My next trip to the UK, for sure, I am visiting Saint Tiggywinkle’s — a rescue hospital for hedgehogs and other small English wildlife. It sounds adorable!
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: Yay!
SiubhanDuinne
@Elie:
I am holding your mother and all who love her in my thoughts and in my heart. May her transition, when it happens, be easy, peaceful, and comfortable, and may you celebrate her life in joy even as you grieve your loss.
Hugs and love.
ruemara
@Elie: You have my sympathies, my blessings and my prayers. Glad you all can be there at her time.
WaterGirl
@Elie: Heartbreaking.
When my dad was dying, a wise nurse told us that sometimes someone will hang on if they are worried about someone they will be leaving behind. My two sisters are both married and had settled lives. I was daddy’s girl, and not married, and we all suspected I might be the one my dad didn’t want to leave behind.
Hardest thing I’ve ever done. My whole body was literally shaking as I stood in the hospital hallway, trying to find the strength to go in and tell my dad that I would be fine, that it was okay for him to go. I was able to compose myself somehow and went in to have that talk with my dad, who could no longer speak but could still hear.
He was gone just a few minutes later.
Juju
@rikyrah: I’ve been watching too much basketball. I thought the headline read ACC.
Tehanu
@Elie:
Elie, my dad wanted to go too, and it’s the main comfort I have now, knowing that he was ready when the time came. I know how hard it is on you too and I hope there’s some comfort to you in knowing that others are sending sympathetic thoughts your way. Best to you and your family.
Juju
@raven: So I’ve heard. I stopped caring and just watching after the last ACC team left the tournament. That Arizona Wisconsin game was a heart stopper. This current game is just as edge of your seat good.
Anne Laurie
@gbear:
I feel you, bro (although we’ve been blaming the voles/mice, not bunnies). When the worst of the snowdrifts receded, both of the spindly little multigraft fruit saplings I planted summer before last had been girdled. And so had the impulse-purchase one that got left out in an 18″-high root pouch — that one, at least, I don’t think I can blame the bunnies for, they don’t even have the ambition to climb a 6″ rise to eat fresh greens…
J R in WV
It is so hard to let go of someone you love so much. It is good that she is ready, my Mom had COPD and passed out one evening, so Dad called 911, they came and “saved” her and took her to the ER, Once she got home she told Dad, don’t do that again… if you can’t stand to stay with me, go in the other end of the house.
A couple of weeks later she died in his arms about 5:30 am. so all was for the best. She was past ready, sick of being an invalid. Dad gave her the best care, cut her fresh fruit, the Drs. gave her 9 months to go it was 3 years before she finally went.
My heart goes out to you and yours. It really does get better. You will remember the best parts of her life for the rest of your life.
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: Until you wrote that, I had completely forgotten that on the last day when my mom suddenly was not right (after 18 months of a 6-month terminal diagnosis) she shook her head “no” to my dad when he wanted to call the ambulance. She wanted to stay right there in her chair in the living room. By the time I made it home that day, she was already gone and had been taken away.
There’s just no way to be prepared for losing a parent, even when you know it’s coming. But you do get through it.
Elie
@WaterGirl:
Beautiful and painful story you tell… I have spoken with Mom and let her know that it is ok to let go, whenever she is ready…
Thanks for your kind words…
kathy a.
@Elie: xoxox
Betsy
@Elie: I wish peace and comfort and loving closeness for you all. No matter the age or circumstances, We’re never quite ready to say our final goodbyes.
Fred
Here in Sweden they have the Easter Witch. Little girls dress up as witches. Why? I don’t know but they just do, OK?
JadedOptimist
@@WaterGirl: Thank you for sharing that deeply personal story. I remember a similar moment with my husband, telling him that it was ok to let go of the pain and that I would be ok. I remember him looking directly at me as I spoke to him, and a peacefulness that seemed to fill the room as his eyes acknowledged my words. And by morning he was gone. And I knew that it was a peaceful experience for him. I could ask for nothing better.
JadedOptimist
@@WaterGirl: Thank you for sharing that deeply personal story. I remember a similar moment with my husband, telling him that it was ok to let go of the pain and that I would be ok. I remember him looking directly at me as I spoke to him, and a peacefulness that seemed to fill the room as his eyes acknowledged my words. And by morning he was gone. It was a peaceful experience for him; I could ask for nothing more.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Gators will be very hard to beat. If they & we (UK) get to Championship game, The Gators will have a chance to join the UK 1986 squad (Kenny Walker, Roger Harden, etc.) as the only team to beat another Div 1 team 4 times in one season. that UK team beat a good Alabama team 4 times that year.
Paul in KY
@Elie: Elie, very sorry to hear that. Just be with her & love on her. My prayers are with your mother & your family.
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: God bless you for doing that.
Caravelle
After reading the post but before listening to the video I was trying to remember what the Easter Avatars were in other countries. The first one I thought of was ducks, because of course !
Turns out I was thinking of the Soul Cake Duck, which has nothing to do with Easter whatsoever…
Something’s just occurred to me – could the Easter Bunny be a Protestant thing ? Because the whole point of the Easter Bells is that they fly in from Rome, presumably tasked by the Pope to rain chocolate eggs into the gardens of the good little Catholic boys and girls. (which, shut up David that makes a lot more sense than a rabbit, why is the rabbit leaving chocolate eggs in the garden anyway ?)
Actually I looked it up and it makes even more sense than I was thinking – apparently in various Catholic countries the bells are silenced for three days (Jesus being dead and all) and are then rung extra-hard on Easter. Hence the idea that the bells are silent because they went off to Rome to get blessed by the Pope, and then came back on Easter full of chocolate in celebration.
This seems to be specific to France and Belgium however. And the Easter Bunny seems to be American (possibly Anglo-Saxon ?), so never mind the Protestant thing.
This, however, is my favorite Easter custom :
“In Norway, in addition to staying at mountain cabins, cross-country skiing and painting eggs, a contemporary tradition is to read or watch murder mysteries at Easter. All the major television channels run crime and detective stories (such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot), magazines print stories where the readers can try to figure out “Whodunnit”, and new detective novels are scheduled for publishing before Easter. Even the milk cartons are altered for a couple of weeks. Each Easter a new short mystery story is printed on their sides.” (Wikipedia as usual)