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Monday, October 25, 2004

Monday deer blogging

It’s time to take this blog to the Next Level!

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Jamie and I travelled to Pittsburgh this weekend to meet Nick, who was on fall break; meanwhile, Janet was in Illinois, and . . . oh, never mind.  No one need bother with the byzantine logistics of this little three-quarters-family rendezvous.  What’s important is that Pittsburgh rocks.  It’s been the most pleasant surprise of our move to Pennsylvania; I’ve now been to Pittsburgh maybe half a dozen times and I always come away impressed.  Things are pretty bad financially-- the city is deep in a budget hole and everyone at USAir is now suffering through a 21 percent pay cut-- but it’s a strangely beautiful river city with steep rolling hills and lots of cool neighborhoods.  And a good zoo, which is crucial for Jamie, who collects municipal zoos the way certain baseball fanatics collect major league parks.  I love the zoo as well, though I can’t help noticing that it’s always Heterosexual Day at the zoo-- hets everywhere!  (Half price admission for breeders!) Except for the animals, of course, who are as queer as queer can be.  And as this pic suggests, Jamie is cool with that.

At one point during the Bérubé Boys’ tour of the zoo, Nick and I got into a discussion of canonization.  We don’t remember exactly why, but I think it started when we mentioned the saintly demeanor of this person or that.  So he asked me about the stages that precede official canonization by the Vatican, and kicked it off by saying, “after embalming, of course.” This cracked me up for some reason, so I parried with, “of course there’s flagellation.” “And then transmogrification,” Nick said, “followed by immolation.” By this point I was laughing too hard to keep up my end, so Nick capped it off with, “and then the entire chorus of ‘Pastime Paradise.’” Which, as you’ll recall, involves

Consolation
Integration
Verification
of Revelations
Acclamation
World Salvation
Vibrations
Stimulation
Confirmation . . . to the peace of the world

I don’t remember everything the Jesuits taught me, but that sounds about right.  Saintation is serious business, people!

OK, so here’s to Nick, Jamie, and two kangaroos:

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My next post will also involve animals.  Stay tuned.

Posted by Michael on 10/25 at 07:59 AM
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