and they did feast on ashes

happy mardi gras, if you are wont to celebrate it. one of my coworkers brought homemade red beans and rice (and a bottle of lousiana hot sauce) to work today in honour of “fat tuesday,” as it’s so ickily nicknamed. blegh. does not bring a pretty picture to mind — but enough of that tangent.  the beans and rice were excellent, but the worthy coworker bemoaned the absense of a king cake to complete our impromptu celebration.  after lunch i brought back pieces of the cold oven pound cake my mom made yesterday, explaining that, while it was no king cake, it was indeed fattening in keeping with the general theme of the day’s food.  i didn’t investigate to see if they ate every single crumb, but both coworkers who received a piece said it was very good.

you know what day comes after mardi gras — fat tuesday — don’t you?  that’s right, ash wednesday.  miss b. and i discussed lent last night and whether we were going to give something up for it even though we’re neither of us roman catholic.  i originally thought about giving up sugar altogether, but then, my friend amanda is getting married this weekend.  and i’m cutting the cake … what do i do if i get frosting on me?  ;)  then i thought about giving up facebook, but i’d just invited a bunch of people via facebook to an event that’s not ’til the first week of march, and if i gave up facebook, i wouldn’t be able to see who rsvped.  after some more thought, i’ve decided on giving up these items, things which i enjoy (a little too much for my own good), for lent:

• ice cream
• chocolate
• lattes (and any odd craving i might get for sweet coffee)

not being roman catholic or russian or greek orthodox (do they celebrate lent?) i’m not exactly well-versed in the reason behind the celebration of lent.  i’m sure my dad, who is a pastor, knows, though — or at least has a book that would enable me to read up on it.  it seems to me like a season for contemplation, meditation, examining one’s inner-workings and saying “God, which part of me isn’t fully yours?”  i hope that’s what lent will be for you, and that’s how i’m intending to go about it.