The White Witch has been conquered in Narnia; it is snowing petals.
On this lovely afternoon within Passover week, Orthodox families converged on the park. Most enjoyed it with a sedate and traditional stroll, but a few were (like me) on bicycles. Their traditional attire is problematic for cycling, but numerous little boys pedaled past with flying tassels, and several little girls tried to cycle in long skirts. (I've never understood why a pair of pants can't be frum [modest].)
The other sizable families commonly seen in the park tend to be Hispanic. As an only child, I fill with longing at the sight of these blessedly expansive clans. I want someone to take me home and feed me. Today, latkes, but later in the season my ethnic Walter Mittying will focus on black folks conducting gloriously fragrant barbecues at family reunions, and Hispanic cousins-by-the-dozen picnicking on savory pollo and endless foil pans of rice and beans. I will pedal homeward, an Irish-German orphan with a single offspring and a very big and half-empty house, and wonder what it's like to be a sibling in the park.
A Subversive—Nay, Even Transgressive—Quote for Earth Day 2008:
Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."
- Genesis 1:26-28
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