Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bible Studies 101
Today, determined not to overdo it, i said that we would watch some TV while Ghin had his morning nap. It is a bit more complicated than it sounds because every so often,. Ghin will cry and i will have to go up to comfort him. Anyways, we decided on watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film that catapulted Harrison Ford to post-Star Wars success. It was incredible how it has stood up to time and what great fun it still it. However, it seemed that Oisin had no idea what the Ark was. This would be extremely vexing to my family, as it demonstrated how godless we were. Let me make it clear i have no prejudice against whatever religion is out there...it's just that when i tell Oisin stories from the Bible, i do not previlege it more than say stories from the Ramayana, or the Koran, or any other mythological cycle. So there Indiana was explaining about the Ark and i thought, well i might as well explain this to him, what the Ark of the Convenant was about....so here it went...
Oisin, i said, you know the Bible? Yes, well parts of it were written by a group of people called the Jews. They believed that their god gave them a set of rules - ten altogether. The rules are as follows. I'm afraid here i had to grab the New Jerusalem Bible which we happened to have handy on the shelf, and read them out.
Some of it is pretty severe. Like, you can't worship anything else apart from me. Because i'm a jealous god. Of course i didn't go into great detail. The first four rules aare actually concerned with monopolising the attentions of the Jewish people and getting Sunday off. The others are basic ethics. Don't kill other people. Don't lie. Don't sleep with your friends husband/wife. Don't want their cows or donkeys. Things like that. So i abbreviated them. Then i said, they belived that God actually gave them these rules and that he wrote them down on stones using his finger - or lightning (thankfully Oisin is used to hearing very far fetched stories, so he didn't question this too much.) He then gave these to a man called Moses, who took the tablets - that's what they're called - down to the people. He found that they had used all their gold to make a cow which they were now worshipping and were having a party, instead of praying, like he had told them to do. He was very annoyed with them and so he lost hims temper and broke the tablets. But then people were very sorry that they had made him angry and they promised that they would stop having the party and worshipping the cow. Here it is from the Koran:
On his return Moses saw his people singing and dancing around the calf statue. Furious at their pagan ritual, he flung down the Tablet of the Law he was carrying for them. He tugged Aaron's beard and his hair, crying: "What held you back when you saw them going astray? Why did you not fight this corruption?"
Tugging his beard...how weird is that?
Now i defy you to tell this story without laughing. It is kinda funny, isn't it? Moses needed a sense of humour. He then asked me how come people here now follow this religion, seeing how the Jews came from the Middle East. I explained that Jesus then came around and added one more commandment to the other rules - which was love they neighbour as theyself. And this was extremely popular, so people here began to take up with the religion as well. I know it's a slight contraction on the facts, but i really couldn't go into the Holy Roman Empire, Gustavus Adolphus and Charlamagne could i? In any case, i do a similar fudge when he asks me how babies are made...there will be enough time.
Today we fetched up at B&Q after getting our veg at the farm, to get hold of some chicken wire to put together our compost heap. I have a fifteen foot beech tree in the garden that is in the process of denudation and it is filling the garden with its leaves. No 450 lt compost bin is going to do when that tree finally goes bald i tell you. So we went with the intention of only spending £20 and came out spending £70. The rest can be accounted for by the three new lampshades and a new lamp - one for my bedroom - and the other for Oisin's room. Who would have thought that a lamp would transform the look of my bedroom from miserable minimalist to cosy bohemian?
Oisin is now at a film with Lara and Jago - Stardust. It turns out it was written by Nail Gaiman, of whom i am a big fan. Actually i've just read the one story by him - The Dream Eaters and it is fabulous. I have the illustrated copy in my room and from time to time i get it out and just feast on the gorgeousness of it all. I can't wait to see the film myself when it does come out on DVD, although i think it is one of those films which must be seen in the cinema.
Will be jus tresting tonight - or who knows. I feel so much better. I was chatting to Judith about the 4 o clock feeling and trying to analyse it. I said that it's always at 4 and i think it's a combination of bloos sugar levels, but also it's an in between time. It's too early to make dinner and too late to go anywhere. The net result is that you feel trapped. If you were in an office, you'd be preparing to go home. Also as a full time mother, you can't stop work. You are home. Also the thing withb work is that you usually have a project which you can then look at and say, it's complete. With kids, that just doesn't happen. And while you get work reviews, as a mother you don't get any recognition and certainly don't expect any applause. Your project is seriously long term and you're not in control as to how it'll turn out. From the most complex thing to the simplest - like Ghin having three poops today. Oh, i must say that down at the farm today we got a pound of Coxs and when he saw them being weighed up he went all excited. So i took one and gave it to him. Oh boy was he delighted. I skinned the apple and fed it to him. He was like a squrrel with a nut, munching away at the fruit, holding it in two hands. Then i spied some blackberries and picked a few and he remembered them from Castle Espie three weeks ago. He went ot a paroxsym of shouting to be fed the berries. It was so funny.
