Ahoy!

The eye is healing, and I am grateful for that. The “bubble” is slowly dropping and my two eyes are working better together, but I still can’t read very well from a book or even on the computer unless I hold things right up close to my right eyeball. I’ve probably not read fiction now for the longest period in my life. No kidding. It’s been a weird few weeks. I’m depressed and trying to rest. I meditate daily and depend on the two Marias to help me with Sophie. Ave Marias. Carl’s been a dream, dropping in the eye drops four times a day and coaxing me out on walks. My sons sent me a box of chocolate covered strawberries today for Valentine’s Day and a note that made me cry. They are, seriously, perfect in many ways. Sophie is good. The world is weird. 

Read the rest HERE.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, Part II

See you on the other side of the weekend! We're going on a road-trip up north!

Happy Valentine's Day

My favorite JH song.

The Requisite Valentine's Day Post

Must I?

Sigh.

I am one of those people who professes to hate Valentine's Day, who rants about how commercial it all is, such bullshit, etc. etc.. But then I get my annual Valentine's gift from my father, and my cold, stone heart melts.

I confess to making special Valentines for Sophie to give her aides and classmates:

The Husband and I went all out and prepared a Valentine's Day feast for our true loves:

Here they are, blurry, and Sophie is not in the picture, but she was there:

So, yeah. While I'm not going to post a love sonnet, we do some serious celebrating around here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

More Valentine's Day

Breakfast

Dinner

i carry your heart with me. i carry it in my heart**

** e.e. cummings

LOVE

St. Valentine is, in some historical texts, noted as the Patron Saint of Epilepsy. Here he is, standing over an epileptic child, a sculpture dating from the 1400's in Ulm Cathedral in Germany. Evidently the German word for "fall" could perhaps be associated with the name Valentine, but there is also some indication that Valentine "healed" a person of epilepsy and thus was canonized.


When I researched this a bit on the internet, I found a fascinating medical study of medieval artistic representations of saints and disease, particularly epilepsy. The article stated that the depictions of epilepsy by artists of this period were actually quite comprehensive with real "knowledge" of the various types of seizures and what they looked like. However, I also learned that most of the "victims" were either dressed in rags of a certain color that were directed against demons or meant to protect the victim from the demons inside of him OR were dressed in rags in distinct opposition to the "Saint" in all his Christian "glory," indicative of the appalling ignorance of the medical condition and, sadly, why the disease is still marked by incredible stigma today. Black clothing, like on the child at left, refers to debt, punishment and penance -- the sick person might have burdened himself with debt and has been punished with the "falling disease" as a penance. If a child wears black, his parents are guilty in some way.


What do I have to say about that? Well, let's say the whole Catholic thing has always troubled me a bit and I might just have to discard the notion of celebrating St. Valentine as the Patron Saint of Epilepsy!