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This is not an optical illusion. This is an un-retouched photograph of a fish that I caught a couple of years ago. My brother Kirk and I were with a guide in the Gulf of Mexico doing some “sight-casting.” We were catching absolutely nothing. But at one point I reeled in my lure and was getting ready to cast again, when Kirk asked what was on my lure. We looked closely, and one of the treble hooks had pirced the body of a tiny spotted gar (he’s the little pale thing dangling at the bottom of the lure).

I believe that this must be a world record, if they keep records for lure-to-fish ratio (or if they keep records for cost per pound of fish caught).

Tomorrow for my birthday Kirk and I are heading out to the Gulf for some deep-sea fishing. If I catch anything of note, I’ll post a picture.

By day she woos me, soft, exceeding fair:
  But all night as the moon so changeth she;
  Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy
And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.
By day she woos me to the outer air,
  Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety:
  But through the night, a beast she grins at me,
A very monster void of love and prayer.
 By day she stands a lie: by night she stands
 In all the naked horror of the truth
With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands.
Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell
  My soul to her, give her my life and youth,
Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?

Christina Rossetti

The following factoid is from a missionary‘s prayer letter that was forwarded to me—and shamelessly reprinted here without his permission. Enjoy.

Every language has certain throw-away words or phrases that don’t really mean anything, but get used like punctuation. Like “like” or “y’know,” as in, “That was such a, like, awesome movie, y’know?” In Czech, “y’know” is literally “vish.” In Slovak, y’know is “hey” (actually spelled h-e-j), said with a rising intonation, like you’re asking a question, and they use it a LOT. For example, “So there I was, hey?, all alone in on a train that was going the wrong way, hey?, when this guy comes up to me, hey?, etc.” Our Czech friends tease our Slovak friends for this linguistic tick, but I think it’s rather charming. By the way, for our Southern readers: Slovaks think it’s hilarious that anyone would use “Hey” as a greeting. Think of saying “Y’know!” to someone as they pass you by, and you’ll get the picture.

While talking about our planned move to Slovakia, my parents asked me what I was going to do with all the prints hanging on my walls. I don’t know. We might be able to take a few with us, but not many. So in order to remember them I created a page of links to images of most of them. You can view our gallery here.

A few years ago Nicholas wrote a paper on Daumier’s Don Quixote, pictured in the thumbnail here. It was such a nice paper I decided (with his permission) to print it here. (more…)

Please notice the new link under Menu (to the right) to an index to the Pen&Pulpit, a journal I edit.

I’ve been delinquent in giving a report on the English Camp that Paula and I served at this summer. Let me begin at the end: when pastor Mark Cary and I sat with Petr BlaÅ¡ko and the pastors and elders of the host church and finished our report on the camp, one of the elders spoke up. Of course he spoke in Czech, and his eyes were bright and shiny. Petr translated for us: “My heart is jumping,” he said.

Why did his heart jump? (more…)

If you are interested in some demographics on Slovakia, you can find their national statistics here. For statistics on different metropolitan areas click here. To zoom in on Trnava, our target city, click here.

For example, here are the religious-denomination demographics for Trnava:

 

I puchased a little Slovak-English extended dictionary. “Extended” means that it doesn’t just include translations of words, but of phrases that use the words you look up. And under the entry for run, I found this nifty phrase: PreÅ¡iel som veveričku.

In English: “I ran over a squirrel.”

Now, what does this say about Slovakia? What kind of a country needs such a phrase in a brief dictionary of phrases, which ought to include the most useful snippets of conversation like Where is the bathroom? Should we expect when we arrive to see signs warning us to Watch for Squirrels, or Squirrels at Play, or Squirrels Crossing? Will the license plates display the Slovak motto, Land of Ten Billion Squirrels? Will Squirrels’-Rights Activists demonstrate in the streets and call for an end to the use of all motorized vehicles because they pose a threat to the dwindling suirrel population?

Or were the writers of the dictionary just having a little fun?