Blogging Around: Random Things

Going Whole Hog

Doriana Giustozzi and Raffaele Petterini have adopted a 100lb boar, Pasqualina in Foligno, Italy. The caring couple gave the hog a home after finding it desperate, undernourished, and close to death in the woods. Now the bulky animal gallivants freely around their house.

There is a delightful slideshow for this story in The Telegraph. Thanks to T for the heads up on this after seeing the Wild Boar photo here last week.

Roses = Secrecy

Sub rosa literally means "under the rose" in New Latin. Since ancient times, the rose has often been associated with secrecy. In ancient mythology, Cupid gave a rose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to keep him from telling about the indiscretions of Venus. Ceilings of dining rooms have been decorated with carvings of roses, reportedly to remind guests that what was said at the table should be kept confidential. Roses have also been placed over confessionals as a symbol of the confidentiality of confession.

I had no idea that roses symbolized secrecy. For that matter, I never knew the meaning of sub rosa, while I'm busy breaking silence! This is from the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day which I receive in email. It is only email subscription I have and I read every one of them. They almost always have some interesting tidbit I didn't know.

How Do You Keep Your Wedding Vows When Everything Changes?

That was only the beginning of what felt like a series of deaths over the next several years. Al came home after six weeks in the hospital. He walked with the aid of a leg brace, a cane, and a gait belt. He had almost no use of his left arm. I comforted myself with the thought that on the inside, he was the same old Al. My sweet, funny, and compassionate husband was still alive, and that’s what mattered most. Over time, however, I started to see that he had changed on the inside as well.

Al suffered from chronic brain fatigue that made him need to take long naps. He was often confused, and his short-term memory was impaired. Most difficult for me was the decline in his emotional capacity. Not just our physical intimacy but our whole relationship no longer had the same depth. The closeness I had shared only with Al, my partner for life, seemed to be gone.

A powerful and thought provoking article from Word Among Us.