--- Was just looking at

--- Was just looking at the calendar and saw that Passover starts
today.
I like the story of Passover. It's one of those few dramatic stories in
the bible that actually made me pay attention in Old Testament class in
high school (the TWO times I had to take it---and no, I wasn't a dolt.
The Catholic school I attended switched around the religious education
requirements so that my class wound up taking it twice---once freshman
year and once senior year.) Let's face it: the OT lacks drama. Not much
happens in the OT. God created the world in six days and on the
seventh, he kicked back and had a beer. He decided, however, on day
eight that he needed some people so he created Adam, and then Eve. By
the end of that week, Eve was tempted into eating the apple and the
concept of original sin was created and God put the boot to their asses
and kicked them out of the Garden of Eden. Then you have the whole Cain
and Abel debacle; Isaac and Abraham; you learn about the Tower of Babel
and the Flood; then you finally get to the good stuff in Exodus. Upon
further thought, let me correct my previous statement: there's plenty
of drama in the OT; the writers just aren't good enough to make it
exciting when you actually have to read it. The stories are filled with
lots of "begats" as in so and so begat so and so who begat so and so.
There's very little dialogue, unless its with God and then it's a third
person account of what the individual chatting with the Big Man said
the Big Man said---hearsay, in other words. The story arcs are
lacking--- big time. Resolution of certain big events takes place in a
paragraph. It's just my opinion, but whomever wrote most of the
Torah---the first five books of the Bible---needed to attend a writing
seminar. But I love Exodus. It's great. It's jampacked with action and
adventure. Slavery in Egypt. A chosen one who had been raised by the
enemy. Plagues. Payback galore with the death of Pharoah's first born
son. Flight. Revenge. Jealousy. Sacrifice. Has this story got it all or
what? No wonder they made a movie out of it. Obviously I'm not Jewish,
but I have some Passover experience. A long time ago, the husband and I
cooked a Seder for an elderly Jewish friend and her family in Des
Moines. I've cooked Kosher, in other words. After hearing about the
traditions of the Seder for years during Holy Thursday mass, it was
interesting to finally see what one was like in real life. Lots of
wine. Lots of reading of the story of Passover. And lots of food.
Despite the fact I'm a "shiksa---a nice shiksa, but a shiksa
nonetheless" I apparently make a mean potato latke. (FYI for
gentiles---a latke is basically a hashbrown patty.) It was a grand
occasion for them, and it was special for me to be a part of it.
There's nothing really like this in all of the celebrations we have for
Christianity, and that's a shame. We don't pull out the Bible and start
reading sections of it while we say prayers and then make toasts with
the wine. Jews bring their religion into their houses and make their
homes an integral part of the practice of their traditions and beliefs.
We Christians don't do that. We're not required to. We keep our
religion low-key and in our churches, for the most part and I think
we're lacking something because of it.
Anyway---Happy Passover. --- Courtesy of the Cake Eater Mother we have
the Crane Cam! (You'll need Real One Player to view)

The cranes are Nebraska's version of the swallows coming to Capistrano. Go here to
learn more about it. Keep checking back to see the cranes. It's
impressive. They sleep on the river, as it protects them from other
beasts who would like nothng better than to eat them. The best times to
see them are in the morning and in the evening right around sunset. ---
Well, I guess her daughter can stop sending checks, eh?

Just goes to show, once again, anything other than a maximum bet on a slot machine is for suckers.