An Agreeable Week

HP Sauce and Tequila, African Nectar tea, Simone's, prayer buddies 2008, "Are you wearing underwear on your head?", garlic fries at Red Robin, sin happens, Buckles, Cornish pasties, Ojai Ice-Cream, Handel's Messiah, "orange blast" paint from Anthony, Starr Market in painting attire (Rabic's white eyebrows), Mariachi music blasting with the windows down, Cleopatra's Secret, lotion at Rainbow Bridge, "berry" in Spanish, Ruben's Burritos, snuggling on your couch, pomegranate, the Advent novena devotions, picnic by the Guadalupe fountain, Italian aria boy, Ventura mall, apple dutch baby, dorm thief traps, 10:30pm tea party, guava jelly, heart-shaped scones, pregnancy, 12th Nite Cranberry, "At first I thought it wouldn't be me, but then it was!", sparkling cider, Iain's shorts, gift wrapping, Seattle rain, Mr. Rote, Earnest, the Oneders, Sabotage at the Savoy, baking Christmas bread, Pannettone, Christmas decorating, BFFL, BFTS, Trader Joe's, sweet basil pesto sausage, love languages, jumping at the beach, which orchestra instrument are you?, tour of the yard/look behind the bushes!, car tunes, "Now you're just stupid!", the Fannings' first Christmas, chicken stroganoff, potato cheese soup, jam thumb print cookies, streamers in the living room, Claire's ultra-gel hairdo, The Wisdom of Menopause, faux pas (fox pass), good and classy, the hidden wallpaper in the bathroom, "She's in all our hearts.", tango squares, Mick Jagger, love handles, our own Tuft's Jumbo, shearing Kidu, Organic Spring Jasmine, Tropical Green Tea, little Snickley!, I miss you like a child misses their blanket, "You could give me children.", once in love with Amy, Earth Friend Jen, Tree Buddy Claire...

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow- SNOW!

As is appropriate for December, it's snowing today!
I generally dislike snow, except when it is first falling from the sky, any time when it is falling from the sky, and when school is canceled. So, I'm pretty happy about it right now. I shall try to stay indoors as much as possible today though. I am not a fan of cold and wet, so I stay indoors as much as I can when it snows.
Other news of the day is that we're celebrating the feast of St. Francis Xavier tonight! The actual feast day is on Monday. People come from far and wide for this- hopefully the snow won't hinder their journeys up here- and if they all get stranded in Bellingham we can hopefully find enough floor and couch space for everyone to sleep on! If you are unfamiliar with the location "Xavier House" or "X House" it is the house next door to mine (the Siena House) where eight upstanding Catholic gentlemen of the Newman Catholic Campus Ministry reside. There is always a huge celebration of the feast of St. Francis X every year that pretty much everyone comes to- Newman Catholics from past and present. Last year there were probably 60 people crammed into the living room and kitchen area. It was intense. I'm looking forward to it!
Yet more news includes the exciting realization that Advent begins- tonight! I need to go make my paper chain with 24 links on it to aid my countdown until Christmas... :)
It is also news that I have just one week of classes left, then a week of finals (on Mon, Wed, Fri). The subsequent week involves me and Hermarax trekking down to sunny Cali to visit our farthest and dearest Bernhofts! Then, of course, after that is Christmas. What else could a girl ask for?
In earnest,
Toad

November

Happy November, guys!
(Painting by Joachim von Sandrart)

Early Americans... *tsk*

I thought I would break the monotony of this here weblog by posting a fascinating article about ice-boating (on the Hudson if you like) in the early years of the country---

Oliver Booth is credited with first introducing the ice boat to the states in 1790. The original ice boats were used in the 1600's in the Netherlands to transport... things... along the rivers. Oliver first sailed his ice boat on the Hudson River in NY, like in the lithograph printed by Currier & Ives. Ice yacht clubs were started here and there, but they didn't start ice boat racing as a "pro" sport until the time of the Virginian... 1861-ish. :) Within the decade they also found racing trains to be a boatload o' fun! (Did you see the train in the lithograph?) I find it so amazing that these "water" craft could reach speeds of around 100mph! People could actually die by crashing into things, such as rocks, while riding their ice boats down the river! You can see from the lithograph that ice boats had a couple of thin beams on the sides, which acted kind of like ice skates or something, and there was a third part sticking out in the back that was the rudder apparatus. I think it would be super fun to ride on one of those things, but it would also be really scary since they go s'darn fast!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures, as I do. One day when you've had many iceboating adventures on the Hudson River you can tell all of us about it as we cuddle up around the fireplace and listen intently to the midnight ride of [your name here].

"Wisdom" theme

• Wrey got his wisdom teeth out last Tuesday. I am so jealous because he never swelled up and has very little pain and is generally doing terrifically. The best part is that he's home from work all week, so I have a friend to hang out with. Hoorah! We've been watching select Star Wars movies, id est "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Both are just as exciting and hysterical and delightful as ever! Especially Harrison Ford, but that goes without saying. :)
• 
  
• My best Frog friend, who's middle name means "wisdom", is celebrating her half birthday tomorrow. I wish her half of the best and a Hap- Birth-.
• 
  
• It would be wise of all to begin a novena to Our Lady of Sorrows today since the feast day is the 15th.
• 
  
• Speaking of the fifteenth, that is the day when I shall move back to Bellingham. That is also the day of the Wash For Life! Obviously, I shall not be washing cars that day. Oh dear. At least I shall have plenty of time to move in and relax and secure a job and everything before school begins on the 25th, which will be a wise move, I believe. Plus, I'm paying rent for the whole month, so I might as well be t here for half of it, eh?

• • 

Summer of the Gift Cards

Albertson's, Half-Price Books, Jesus time, Coldstone Creamery, Luke Shea, Shari's, the Virginian (*cough cough*), guacamole, "homemade" raspberry ginger ale, St. Godfrey's Pasta, Olympic View Dr., The Hermans, blackberries, more Jesus time, Howarth Park, 89.5 dancing in the van etc. ;), Bridget Kennedy, Thai Gusto, 1030 N. Park Drive, Grandmother Stark, Hermes' bloody toe, Everett youths, Blessed Sacrament, "Saint-Jean, you are ze bomb!", sweet sticky rice with Thai custard and coconut milk, size 6 ring model, FABS!, renewable energy around the world, the Bugnis *Grrrr*, crocheted vests, the Lindy, mosquitoes!, SOFT grass! (without evil creatures hiding in it), Bing's harrowing driving, "scenic" routes, traffic jams in Everett, Steve's classic "Galaxie", chocolate war paint, Hilary Duff concert @ Everett Events Center, scaring the waiters at Thai Gusto, "Please be CAUTION!", fortune cookies, Bing's Godmother, waving at the train, leaping over waves, rain, rhododendrons, cascading angelic thoughts, "Y", 59-cent cups, birthday cards, Forest Park, Sully, Hermes' lullaby's, the Transfiguration, cold feet, the Aquasox, chicken pox, back rubs, Barnabas Rolls, PDA, no sleep, day-long showers, avocados and Ritz crackers, pierced ears, Chex muddy buddies, Roman Holiday, Zukafe, vocations, Fra Angelico, Richard Simmons, Jimmy May -44lbs, Mochas, St. Dominic, Cinnamon Crunch Bagel, separation anxiety for seven hours, sweatshirt swapping, Quo Status, the ideal gas law, Sean's music, YFL, beisbol, "My favorite thing about Washington is...", St. John Vianney Seminary :), plans for Claire's new license photo!, fake eyelashes, k.t. tunstall, "Ain't no mountain high enough!", "You have the same deodorant as me!", Thunder Thighs...

"That beautiful season the Summer! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light." (Longfellow)

Chicken McFann

My dear Fiona Margaret,
Remember the time you turned 17? What great memories... esp. the immodest ice-cream cones, St. Paddy's Day dinner at the Nell Thorn Pub & Restaurant, rosemary salt loaves with cheese, Italian sodas- I swear we did more than just eat amazing food, didn't we? We've definitely lost a few pounds since then, wouldn't you say?! What do you think of the name Sr. Hermes of the Apocalypse? Hahaha!
Yesterday when me and some sistahs went to the beach in the morning there were two adorable families there. One had six kids and the other had five, and they were all under age seven probably. One family had a set of triplet girls! Their mom brought this big pile of bathing suits and all the little girls just picked whichever one they wanted. It was so cute! They had really good names too; we caught several: Ava, Cora, Annie, Elsa, Nathan, Jackson, Alex, and Julian. Wow. :) I look forward to the day that you go to the beach with your 17 children all under the age of 18. Haha!
How about a nice sonnet by Willy Shakespeare.

CXXVIII. (128)

How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips.
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.

(I also considered 54 and 60.)

Love, Claire Bridget

It's official!

I'm GETTING MARRIED!!!!

j/k j/k

Actually, I'm heading north in a short two weeks! Deirdre, Andrew and I will be IN WASHINGTON from August 2-August 9. Anyone interested in hosting a Bernhoft or two, feel free to do so. Currently, I have no plans really set down, and therefore you may start claiming me. I'm so excited to see you all!

That's about it for now. Try to arrange for some nice rain that week...

love,
Bingie

Beware- Friday the Thirteenth!

Greetings-
Today is the seventh day of the annual novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. My family and I have been going to Mass every day at the monastery in Shoreline. We've been going to that our whole lives. (I actually met Michelle Kuenstle there when she was one and I was 6 months old!) In fact, my parents met at the monastery and are literally a match made in heaven since they both prayed for a spouse that fateful year. *sigh* How romantic. :) Today is the feast of the great Carmelite saint, St. Teresa of the Andes. "And if my prayers are worth anything, you can count on them for the rest of my life;because every day I have you with me at Communion time." She died in 1920 at about age 20, and is a great patron saint for young people.

The other day Hermes and I played dress-up for a couple of hours. It was perfectly amazing! We took turns choosing one-another's outfits, and they were mostly just hideous. We also took 42 pictures! If you are looking for some summer fun indoors when it's too bloody hot to go outside, I suggest a game of good old-fashioned dress-up!

Today my aunt and uncle are moving to Arkansas. Please pray for them to have a safe journey and for their future life in "the Natural state." (The word Arkansas comes from the Quapaw Indian term for "downstream people.")

Remember people to mark your calendars for the July 23rd feast of St. Bridget of Sweden, my confirmation saint!

Dear Frog,

How are you? I'm fine. Happy Canada Day! We should go up to visit the Browns and celebrate with them.

How are your little violin students doing? I haven't touched my clarinet in two weeks. Maybe I'll get around to that sometime, maybe soon. :)

This summer so far I've gone to MI camp, had very little sleep, watched several amusing movies, including this really old one called, "Life with Father," that has a plethora of ridiculously quotable lines; I've made some chocolate chip cookies, gotten some new clothes, had an orange-mango Italian soda (from the Red Twig in Edmonds), barely gotten a tan, gotten a new and beautiful phone, purchased a Madeleine Peyroux CD with Hermes for some summer relaxation, and I just don't know what else. Nothing too spectacular. I'm also waiting/hoping to hear back from either Jo-Ann's or Life Uniform (which sells scrubs) that they want to hire me for the summer.

If I come visit you this summer we should get our ears pierced together... that is, we can pretend to, since amphibians like us don't actually have ear lobes to pierce.

I love you.

TOAD

Life

So I have a life. Of sorts. This is how it is.

I am at home. So far, I haven't done anything particularly riveting. Mild productivity is about all I'm good for these days. Lots of cleaning and cooking and driving people places. Things like that.

I am planning on making some money this summer. I heard from the place I applied to a couple of days ago, and they're giving me a job. Which is exciting, although I'm not exactly going to be making pots of money. Oh well, it will be really awesome. I'm a program aid, so basically I get to hang out with disabled people who work at the ARC (that's where my brother works) all day. It will be sweet. I had to get tested for drugs, tuberculosis, and fingerprinted, all of which made me feel thoroughly criminal. I should be starting there next week.

I'm also going to be taking some violin students for the summer. Our friends the Woods (of Celtic Spring fame) have several students, and since they are going to be gone for most of the summer, I'll be taking their students. I'm looking forward to it.

Deirdre and I are also in a musical for most of the summer- Kiss Me Kate. We're both lowly ensemble girls, but it's fun and something to do. (I got in at the very last minute. I didn't even really audition...) We've been rehearsing for about three weeks, and it opens June 22. I feel wildly unprepared, since I'm used to having large roles, and it feels like we've done almost nothing. We have actually learned all our music, and have staged a lot of it, and have learned our big dance number, so I guess it will come together. It is rather terrifying though!

Besides that, not much has been happening. I actually miss school already, and I miss both my friends there and all you up North. By the way, everyone is more than welcome to come and visit. I don't know if I'll make it up to Washington this summer, since Kiss Me Kate runs through July 21, which means there is no visiting before that ends. And we'll see about afterwards, how jobs and things are going. I hope I can come up and see you all. (By the way, I officially curse all you quarter system people who are not out of school yet. The past couple of weeks would have been ideal to come up and visit!)

Oh yes, and finals all went well. I'm exceedingly glad that they are over with- I decided after our first final that I don't like them. It took me 5 before I decided that. My seminar final was really fun though, although I was horribly nervous for it. Oh, and for our Fabre project (for Freshman lab, everyone has to do an experiment on an animal or plant. You ask a question about it, hypothesize the answer, and then do experiments to determine whether you were right) we (my friend Jacob and I) caught a lizard, asked in what way the temperature of the lizard affected its reactions, hypothesized that hot temperatures would not change its normal reactions, and that cold temperatures would slow them down and eventually cause them to cease altogether. We were right. Fans, small refrigerators and space heaters are very handy for determining this!

Everybody had better behave themselves. You're all in my prayers (probably), and I hope I see you all before too much longer.

Love,
Bing

Let's Hear It!

Dear Public,
It's been a year since we last had a poetry contest/rhyme-off. I think it would be appropriate to have the second annual Poetry Showetry! Yay! This year's theme:
This artistic advertisement for the Morris Panych play The Dishwashers. You could write a poem, a few lines of dialog that you think would be in a play with this title (rhyming or not), or anything else that comes to mind, like the ever-popular haiku. Enjoy!

The Dream Stealer

For the second time ever (as far as I am aware) I made it into the paper! It's from the Western Front campus newspaper, and the article is about the composers of Western concert that happened last Monday. This photo from one of our rehearsals for The Dream Stealer made it onto the article, but they didn't put our names on it anywhere. The pianist is Heidi Fivash, the violinist Brendan something... the flautist is Justin Lee, who is also our principal clarinetist for wind symphony, and the cellist is Zach something. (Unfortunately, I can't remember those last names.)So, that's rull exciting! You can read the article if you like, although I didn't find it particularly provoking.

Other exciting news includes seeing the play "The Importance of Being Earnest" here last night. If you've never seen it, you must! It's a romantic comedy by Oscar Wilde and there are a couple of movie versions (one with Colin Firth in it!) that you could see. Anyway, the play was *very* good and I would probably see it again if I had eight more dollars.

Tonight I am going to see an opera that I believe a student here wrote... not sure though. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it because I love opera!

I only have two more weeks of class and some finals to go! The end is in sight!

Once upon a time...

there were five little girls named Claire, Madeline, Bing, Deirdre, and Sheila. They lived happily for quite some time. Then one of them decided it would be fun to have a tea party.

So Claire and Bing, who happened to be best friends, went tea party dress shopping. Claire found a beautiful dress, plaid on top with a mismatched bottom that only Claire would be able to find. Bing found a tasteful, elegant and classic tea party dress, and they were both thrilled with their choices.

Deirdre, Madeline and Sheila went shopping too. Deirdre's dress of choice was $3000, but since she was saving up for a car, she settled instead on a feather boa and pink lace dress. Madeline found a truly *remarkable* dress, two different shades of lime green, with matching leggings. And Sheila fell in love with a light purple, rather frumpy, frilly dress.

Now that they were all decked out in their finery, they made tea, sponge cake, star fruit and whipped cream, zucchini bread, and spread it all out on a lace table cloth in Bing's kitchen.

*slurp. sip. crunch. nibble. slurp*

The rain was falling, as rain is wont to do, and the fivesome felt it high time to frollick in the aforementioned rain. So they did, got soaking wet, ruined their party dresses, and had a high old time. Congratulations, girls, on an afternoon well spent.


------------------------------------------------------------
This story is based on real events and characters. Names may or may not have been changed to protect privacy.

Did you know that I could blog in Hindi?

I could. However, it would not be legible, even to those who speak Hindi, so I think I probably won't.

Anyway, since I have nothing "interesting" to post about, I'll post about myself. The past couple of months have been entertaining. And penitential. It was Lent for a long time.

The Pirates of Penzance is showing next weekend. One week from today. I should probably learn the last couple bits of my music that are a little bit rough. It's coming together really well though, and it's a ton of fun. We have something like 5 hours of rehearsal tomorrow though, which is somewhat less than thrilling. Especially since my pirate isn't back yet, which means I get to dance/be seized/flirt with/marry myself. Or thin air.

I only have three weeks of school left before finals week. This year is hurtling towards its close, and I'm not sure that I'm ready for it to be over. On the bright side, it means that before too much longer I'll be going up to Washington for a bit to visit, which will be quite delightful.

Summer also means I get to work. I'm hopefully going to be working at the Ojai ARC, where Andrew works. I'll be substituting, pretty much every day, and hanging out and working with disabled people. Whee!

Easter was terrific. The Hermans came down, and then Cowee showed up, and we went to TAC for the vigil. I wasn't feeling my best, especially when 1:30 am rolled around and the vigil was still going, but nevertheless it was wildly thrilling.

The Easter break at TAC is mildly ridiculous. We get Holy Thursday through Easter Wednesday off, so we get one week. But it's not even a normal week, since we only get one weekend! Mr. Finley, my language tutor, thinks it's ridiculous, and so I offered to leave class this morning since it was so ridiculous. it didn't work.

Ummm, there really hasn't been much of note going on lately (at least, of note for the masses). I had a birthday last month. I've been doing a lot of singing, and a fair amount of playing the violin. I'm hopefully playing in the next Schubertiade with my friend Jacob (Beethoven Spring Sonata for Violin and Piano). Oh, and I have a philosophy paper due next week. *groan*

Oh, and Sarah and I have a pet hamster for this semester. He's her Fabre project (we all have to ask a question about nature and perform experiments to determine the answer) and he gets to spend the rest of this semester in our room. Unfortunately, small furry pets are not allowed generally, so next semester we'll have to go back to reptiles and insects. *sigh*

This is really a rather disorganized account of what has been going on lately. I'm sorry. All that Lenten penitence has permanently scarred me. :)

Have a blessed Easter season everyone!
Bingie

New favorite saint!

I just found the most awesome blessed- who should've been Raph's confirmation saint- and his feast day is/was today! Blessed Clemens August von Galen was...
"Born to one of the oldest German noble families. Ordained on 28 May 1904 at Münster, Germany. Chosen bishop of Münster on 5 September 1933. Fiercely anti-Communist, and outspoken opponent of the Stalinist regime. A strong nationalist who loved his homeland, his was known for his opposition to the Nazis, their programs and policies. He was a key opponent in the fight to end the Nazi program of "euthanasia", the murder of the old, the crippled, the ill. Created Cardinal-Priest of San Bernardo alle Terme on 18 February 1946.

His beatification miracle involved Hendrikus Nahak, a 16-year old Indonesian whose life was threatened by a particularly dangerous form of appendicitis in 1995 who was healed after his nurse had called on Cardinal von Galen to intercede on the boy's behalf."

He's also known as the Lion of Munster. He was elevated to Venerable by JP2 and beatified by Benedict XVI. Clemens' motto was "Nec laudibus, nec timore" (Neither praise nor fear)
God bless y'all!

Command Performance

Alright Zenka. Since I have 20 minutes to kill, I guess I'll post something here for your delight. All for your delight we are not here... Ah, good old Entropy days! "Speak through the bush!" Remember when we did You Be the Judge for the last time and Nathan Carter winked at Nelder Dufray... And all those fun times singing Pirates of Penzance backstage in our Broadway voices... The frantic coordinating of the pistol with cap and pebble for A Tale of Two Cities so that it would actually fire. And I think it was at the in-home performance that the gun actually did fire a mere minute before it came onstage, so Snick had to put the whole contraption together again faster than ever before! Hohoho! Then there was that moment in Sherlock Holmes (I think) when Cow needed to go onstage after a costume change, and his tie wasn't tied, so I, not quite sure of how to tie a tie at the time, closed my eyes, and did something with the tie that actually turned out to be correct, practically as he was walking onstage. :) Remember in that *one* performance of "12th night for Tom" when we were singing that *one* carol and the pages started singing a measure early, and then they stopped abruptly, so then Hermes and I were laughing wildly and trying to hide behind other people, but Mr. Curtis zoomed his camera in on us... *tsk,tsk* Going back to earlier times, it was always dangerous in Cyrano de B when Christian de Nuviette (or whatever) was "kissing" me and Kirstin would always make these kissing noises, which made me want to burst out laughing! That was wicked, Kirstin! And, of course, the problem of Cyrano's nose staying put, and Deirdre suffering greatly since the schnozz was not well-ventilated... heh heh. And good old Snick shouting "Frasquita! The glasses!" in Lily of the Label Dept. Or his line in 'A Tale': "*yawn* Been up since dawn... So tired, sleepy... I'll just close my eyes for a few.. seconds..." ZZzzzzzz- And in Figaro when we skipped some part of it, so I added, at the end of the scene: "Rosina, take this note, it is for you. I will meet you at x:00 tonight." *awkward stage coordination* Yeah, that was fun. And I will have to leave all of you with that, since I must away to my physics lab. Feel free to put your memories in the comment box!!!

Life is good

First of all, it rained from Friday night until this afternoon. And it's still kind of cloudy. *aaaaaah*

Second, I auditioned last Wednesday for the part of Kate in "The Pirates of Penzance", and I found out today that I got the part. Wheee! The performance is on April 20, and it should be really fun. Anyway, since the Pirates is basically the most glorious operetta ever, it must be good.

Third, I went to this IRL conference yesterday in LA, and Jason/fr. Herman Joseph was there!!!!!!! He looks great in his habit, we punned at each other, and it was entirely delightful. It seems like he's really loving the Norbertines, and it was fantastic to see him.

Fourth, I have a sore throat. Pity would be appreciated. *I feel scornful comments coming*

Fifth, the food hasn't been as bad this semester. And we actually had a good seminar last tuesday, on Antigone. It was the second good one of the year...

Sixth, the Walk For Life in San Fransisco was terrific. Claire, Cowee and Alex and I hung out basically all afternoon and evening, got pizza, ate gelato. It was VERY much fun seeing them all.

Seventh, Sarah and I are going to get a pet ferret after we graduate or something. It will be great.

Eighth, Fr. Sweeney (yes, Blessed Sacrament fr. Sweeney) was down here this evening giving a talk, and he talked about Blessed Sacrament briefly and made me wildly homesick. Thanks father.

Ninth, my hands are cold, i need a drink, and I should do more homework. Pray for the White family, Arielle and Max are students here, and there mother and grandmother are the ones who were shot in Kenya yesterday. So keep them in your prayers.

Tenth, you're all in my prayers. I will talk to you all eventually, so brush your teeth. Toad, I'm glad you're my friend.
Love,
Frog

St. Herman Joseph, pray for us!

St. Herman Joseph was born in Cologne around 1150. He had a devotion to Our Lady practically from birth, and was given mystical graces from his childhood on. As a boy he liked to bring small gifts to a statue of the Virgin and Christ child at a Marian altar in Cologne. One day he brought them an apple. The famous story says that the statue came to life and accepted his humble gift.

At the age of 12 Herman entered the Norbertine Abbey of Steinfeld and worked there as sacristan, cellarer, and porter. Eventually, he went off to Freisland to do priestly studies. Once a priest, he returned to the Abbey of Steinfeld, where he was a canon. He was largely known for his gifts of preaching and guiding souls, especially among religious communities of women. Herman Joseph was a confessor, scriptural commentator, poet, composer, and a master clockmaker! One of his poems was a Marian consecration prayer in which he referred to Our Lady as his “rose.” He also wrote a hymn in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus following an apparition in which He experienced seeing Jesus Christ, crucified, with His Sacred Heart surrounded in flames. Besides receiving great gifts and visions, Herman Joseph also suffered much in mind and body, most acutely on great feasts of the Church.

He was given the name Joseph by his confreres because he was as devoted to Our Lady as St. Joseph, her spouse, must have been. Indeed, this was confirmed by the mystical marriage that took place between him and the Blessed Virgin.

At the age of 90, Herman Joseph went to celebrate Mass for the Cistercian sisters at Hoven during Holy Week. He prophesied that he would be buried in a churchyard there, and died on Easter Thursday, from a fever.

His feast day is celebrated on May 24^th.

Jason/fr. Herman Joseph has definitely chosen a wonderful saint to be named after! Of course, this name has some great pun potential. In his own words, he wants to become more like "her man, Joseph." We love YA!

"Help! My best friend is trying to kill me!" said Toad.

Winter Quarter Chills:
My classes this quarter are music theory, aural skills/piano, math (linear algebra & differential equations... whatever that is! ;), physics (my phys. lab is on Thursdays for 3 freaking hours!), clarinet lessons, and wind symphony- or .5 wind symphony, since math is during the 1st hour. Half of these things only happen once or twice a week, so each day I have a different schedule. The little stuff makes everything kind of crazy most days. And now I'm also doing a composer's ensemble thing, which involves playing music that was written by a composition student at Western. The piece I'm playing on is by one of the percussionists. It's quite good! Outside of school I don't really have a life...

Life:
Speaking of life, I went to the massive Walk For Life in San Francisco last weekend. I've heard that there were 25-30,000 people there! It was kind of incredible. In fact, let me simply quote a pro-choicer from SF whose blog was found by a member of WWU for Life:
"For the past three years that this march has come to town I have attended and sometimes helped to organize the counter demonstration. Every year the Walk for Life gets bigger and the activists grow fewer. This year, the sheer ratios of 1 protester to every 50 anti-choicers and 2 protesters to every 1 police officer got me a little blue, and an overall feeling of hopelessness permeated the thoughts of many of my fellow marchers…. They asked themselves "What's the point of coming anymore? Protesting accomplishes nothing." It's true that protesting as a lone tactic rarely accomplishes much but it's exactly this mentality that keeps the numbers low at protests. We need to remember that protesting in conjunction with political organizing can make a powerful statement. We need to be there with our messages of "Forward Not Back: Reproductive Justice for All." "Our body! Our lives! Our right to decide!" and "Keep your Rosaries Off My Ovaries!" In era where our reproductive rights are being eroded by the Christian right, it's more important than ever to hit the streets and send the message that we're not going to stand for it. If we allow them to permeate our movement with hopelessness and doubt, then they have already won. And I for one refuse to go down that easily. Won't you join me?" (I strongly encourage you to visit her blog for more!)

Not Much Else:
I can't think of anything else particularly interesting to report. I'd just like to say:
Hi Frog! It was delicious seeing you in SF! I hope that we can make more Frog and Toad memories in the near future. I love ya!

You Only Live Twice

After a VERY long absence, I thought it was about time to post on this here blog!
Since last posting, I've been to Californier to visit my dearly beloved Frog and Friends, and they have come to visit me and mine. What happy news... I took yon photo while traversing the roads around the Bernhoft abode. Isn't it quaint?
By the way, the internet has just informed me (via this fun website) that one of my peculiar titles is Her Royal Highness Claire the Scintillating of Westley Waterless. Mmm! Btw, if you keep going back to the main page thing of that and resubmit your name, you will get an entirely different title, each time! Hahaha!
Some highlights of the CA trip, over Thanksgiving break, included seeing the Bernhofts new house, which I am very fond of, meeting Stephen the Elusive at long last, meeting other interesting TAC-ers, the sunshine, making delicious Thanksgiving food, eating scrumptious Thanksgiving food, borrowing the Bernhoft girls' clothes all the time, going to the beach and then the Ventura mall, witnessing Cowe's haircut, eating rum raisin ice-cream in Ojai, relishing a bacon-avocado-tomato omelet at Franky's, visiting the San Buenaventura mission, getting down to some good funk with Cowe and Bing on the patio, and many, many other things!
It was difficult to come home to the freezing weather and two more weeks of arduous school... I've had a lovely, relaxing, Bernhoft-filled Christmas break, but now I'm getting ready to return to school and real life... and turning twenty years old on Monday! This quarter at WWU I'm taking more music theory and aural training and piano, more math (:D), physics, and clarinet studies, of course. Here's hoping for a good quarter!
Two weeks from now I am heading down to San Francisco for the major Walk For Life! That's January 20, so I will be there from the 19th to the 21st. I'm going with about 20 people from Western's Newman Center. I am really looking forward to the trip!
And remember: you only live twice! One life for yourself, and one for your dreams...