Ash Wednesday

Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.
- Ash Wednesday Service -

We are stardust
We are Golden
We are million year old carbon
and we have to get ourselves
back to the garden.
-Joni Mitchell

Dust in the wind,
all we are is dust in the wind.
-Kansas-

And if that isn't cheery enough, lent lasts for six more weeks.

Lost Filling?

Over the weeknd, as I was driving to New Jersey, I was chewing some gum and discovered that there was a piece of my tooth in it. At first I thought the tooth chipped, but now I think it was a ceramic filling that came loose. It is hard to tell because the filling matches the tooth color so well.

Usually, I don't wan't to go to the dentist very badly, but this thing will get bad if I don't deal with it. I am, in a way, looking forward to going to the dentist this morning. The tooth doesn't hurt, but I have been avoiding chewing on that side which is irritating. We are lucky that things like this can be repaired. In the past this tooth would probably have rotted and gotten really painful before it was finally pulled. Tonight, I will still have my tooth with a little patch.

3:11 pm
After an hour and a half in the chair I now have a whole tooth once again. Most of the novocaine has worn off and I am almost back to normal. It turns out that the problem was indeed a broken filling, which the dentist repaired at no charge because she was the one who did the original work.

Superbowl Pool

I finally won something. After never winning a pool, or a raffle, or even a game of bingo, I won our office Superbowl pool this weekend. Seventy five bucks! Not bad.

Unfortunately the Eagles didn't win, but I guess I can find a way to live with that.

Smiling Seth

This is such a fun picture!

We're Home!

Our trip home from NJ was uneventful, which is exactly what we wanted. No traffic to amount to much. I suppose travelling during the first half of the Superbowl had something to do with that.

Seth is very glad to be home and to see all of the familiar stuff. He is all smiles and chuckles.

On The Road Again

Punxatawney Phil's Revenge

It looks like Phil is getting his revenge on us for waking him so early yesterday morning. While he sleeps cozily in his heated groundhog hole, we have quite a good snow fall under way. From the looks of the weather radar I predict it will last into rush hour. Oh, boy! It is relatively warm, so it probably won't accumulate much.

Post Groundhog Day

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. ~Andrew Wyeth

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. ~Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

To shorten winter, borrow some money due in spring. ~W.J. Vogel

Groundhog Day

February 2, 2005 - around 7:30 am ET - Punxsutawney, PA
Punxsutawney Phil (the official Groundhog) saw his shadow and so we are headed for 6 more weeks of winter!

Groundhog day is also Candlemas day which is roughly half way between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Candlemas celebrates Mary's ritual purification after the birth of Jesus and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Early Christians believed that if the sun was out on Candlemas, then the winter would last six more weeks.

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

In any case, six more weeks of winter at this point is a pretty safe prediction.