The Gulf of Aqaba is about 15 miles wide at this point. At the time I had no idea how wide the the Gulf of Aqaba was or if it was possible to see across it. I thought maybe I was seeing an island. Here it is on a map.

I’ve always wondered about that. I’ve also seen Jordan across the Dead Sea, which was really cool, and Lebanon through a gate which had Isaiah 2:4 written on it: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

“Writing in English isn’t always easy even for native speakers.  It is a complex language, with more exceptions to the rules than rules themselves.  Whether you are writing an application essay, a term paper, a thesis or a journal article, you want your writing to clearly express your thoughts.   Grammar mistakes and structural flaws distract the reader, bring down your grade and diminish professional credibility.  My mission is to help you express yourself in perfect English that allows your ideas to shine.”

Think about your response to questions about politics, religion, society, humanity.  If you can only answer what you dislike about Republicans (or Democrats), religious  fundamentalism (or atheism), separatism (or integration), free will (or predestination)*, then do you really have an opinion, an identity?  What if all the “bad” suddenly disappeared?  Would you know who you are?

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*I’m not listing these pairs as opposites, only as disparate.

Look how excited I was!

This has nothing to do with the above picture, but I wanted to say a prayer for my friends who are feeling the darkness of the season — Seasonal Affective Disorder, they call it, but I call it, “Why are we still living in New England when there are so many warmer, viable options?”  But, here we are, and the gorgeous autumn that we just experienced as a perk of the region is being followed, as it always is, by months of dark and cold.

Hang in there.

Spring will be here in a few short months, and in the meantime, God loves you as much as he did on the most brilliant summer day, even if your tan has faded and you have gained ten pounds and don’t get out of your pajamas for days at a time.

Click here for the full image.

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In Easthampton, Massachusetts it was a Polish Catholic parish!  That was how the young people met.  With extra long work days, and so many church services, there was not much time for play.

-And so it was that Jozef eyed Antosia, inviting her to a first date to accompany him to Mass on a Sunday to hear the “banns of marriage” announcing their forthcoming marriage.

Banns of Marriage” were announcements made after a Sunday sermon to convey to the public that a couple was to be joined in marriage.  If there was to be an objection for any reason, the priest was to be notified before the wedding date.

Antosia and her girlfriends knew who Jozef was, or knew of him, but Antosia was not proposed to by Jozef – in fact, he had never spoken to her before that.  Apparently, he went to the rectory on his own, submitted his and her name, and assumed there would be no problem.

Antosia was flabbergasted to say the least.  She immediately meant to go to the rectory to explain the “misunderstanding”.  Her girlfriends preyed on her humility saying that she could not be waiting for a “Knight-in-shining-armor” to ride in on his white horse to spur her away! Even they knew those fairy tales of old!

They convinced her that she was so lucky to be chosen by such a handsome, intelligent, industrious young man.  Jozef’s plan for the wedding proceeded!  Antosia’s plan for her future was detoured!

The wedding took place on a Saturday (January 15, 1915) – party into Sunday -  Jozef went off with “the guys”, and Antosia slept in a rocking chair at his “Aunt’s” house waiting for her honeymoon.
Sixty years later, when Dziadzi began becoming “obstreperous” with the beginning of senile dementia, Babci reminded him of the honeymoon they never had!  She said – “and where did you take me for a honeymoon – Bermuda, maybe?”

On Monday, they all went back to work!  The whole male contingent of the bridal party went to the priest to “take the pledge”.  It was a vow not to use alcohol for one year.  I guess it was a common practice.

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My great-grandmother had always wanted to become a nun!  Good thing for me, I guess, that she didn’t.  Still, reading this story makes me wish she didn’t give in to my great-grandfather!  Just a note for any potential suitors: I prefer to know in advance before the banns go up.

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A science program, complete with beakers, giant sock balloons and DRY ICE.  I went with the C’s and the RN’s kids, but this picture of the kids sitting in front of us is my favorite.

In binary it is 10011100010000.

In base 36 it is 7PS.

If you’re confused (like me) it’s because you’re so used to the decimal system that you don’t even think of it as a system, you think of it as what numbers intrinsically do.  But we count the way we do because someone (the ancient Egyptians, to be precise) decided that they would count up to ten and then start again at one, making a note in the left hand column that they were on their second set of ten.

But in other systems you count up to…other numbers, and then start over.  So in the octal, or eight based system, you count up to EIGHT, then start over at one:  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,21, and so on.  Don’t say the numbers past eight as “eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…” or you will be using decimal language to describe octal numbers.  “Teen” means ten, after all, and there is no ten in octal.  So unless you speak the language of the Yuki tribe of California (which used an octal system) you’d better call 11 “one one,” and 47 “four seven.”

I think I’ve mentioned my housemates Mark and Joel before.  This is the kind of conversational topic that is likely to spring up in our kitchen without warning.  Daniela (Joel’s wife) usually leaves to go do something else, but I am like a little kid wanting to be included in the grownups’ conversation, so I pay as much attention as I can, then go up to my room and start googling.

Then I get really excited about learning something new, and I want to share!  So I draw a picture and hang it on the refrigerator.  Wait, no, that’s what I did when I was a kid.  Now, I blog.

So, if Hopkins was living in a society that used the octal system, he would have written,

Í say móre: the just man justices;

Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is—

Chríst—for Christ plays in two three four two zero places…

…which really messes up the iambic pentameter…

…and my blog would be called the same.

But he wasn’t, so he didn’t, and it’s not.