{"id":4607,"date":"2021-02-02T22:17:37","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T22:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=4607"},"modified":"2024-12-15T00:27:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T00:27:06","slug":"groundhog-day-and-me-in-three-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/groundhog-day-and-me-in-three-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundhog Day, and Me in Three Words"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Groundhog_Day\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20201109ff\/202102102-800px-Groundhogday2005-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s February 2nd, Groundhog day. It&#8217;s a North American tradition, one of Punxsutawney&#8217;s local events and \u2014 at least in my country \u2014 national news.<\/p>\n<p>Punxsutawney Phil didn&#8217;t see his shadow this year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/us\/2021\/02\/02\/punxsutawney-phil-groundhog-day-more-winter-sot-newday-vpx.cnn\">Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nCNN (February 2, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/weather-news\/2021\/02\/not-snow-nor-pandemic-keeps-punxsutawney-phil-from-his-job\/\">A gloomy Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil says more winter<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nWeather News, WTOP (February 2, 2021)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>North American folklore says that this means we&#8217;re in for six more weeks of winter. Which, here in central Minnesota, is likely enough: cloudy day in Punxsutawney or not.<\/p>\n<p>Groundhog Day&#8217;s folklore is, or was, superstition.<\/p>\n<p>I see it as an opportunity for Punxsutawney&#8217;s VIPs to wear top hats, and a pleasant mid-winter break from shoveling and heating bills.<\/p>\n<p>However, there&#8217;s no getting around it. Groundhog Day has roots in Pennsylvania Dutch superstitions. Or folklore. Depends on viewpoint, maybe.<\/p>\n<p>Hoo boy. Groundhog Day&#8217;s roots could be trouble.<\/p>\n<p>Being superstitious is one of the things we&#8217;re told is a bad idea. It&#8217;s religious feeling gone wrong. Really wrong. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c1a1.htm#2111\">2111<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>If I was superstitious about, say, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, I&#8217;d think that the words and what I do with the prayer beads had magical effects.<\/p>\n<p>They don&#8217;t. Which reminds me: I want to talk about the Divine Mercy chaplet again some time. But not to day.<\/p>\n<p>If I burned berries before a picture of Punxsutawney Phil to lower the household heating bills: my wife would complain. And I&#8217;d be well-advised to rethink my attitude toward groundhogs. Which, I see, are the critters I call woodchucks.<sup><a href=\"#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>A Pennsylvanian groundhog&#8217;s presumed prognostications might lead me down the primrose path to perdition. If I took today&#8217;s cloudy weather as a Sign to the Faithful.<\/p>\n<p>Which I don&#8217;t. And that&#8217;s another topic. Topics.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"adoption\"><\/a>Adoption: Simply Fill Out These Forms, and These, And &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/h4>\n<p><a><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20201109ff\/202102021325-GroundHogDay-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n(Another overcast day here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. (February 2, 2021; 1:25 p.m.))<\/p>\n<p>I talked, briefly, about family and children yesterday. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-family-visit-is-still-in-progress-kids-and-adoption\/#brief\">February 1, 2021<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Recapping, in part: our number-two daughter and son-in-law adopted their daughter. Which is okay. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a6.htm#2379\">2379<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The hoops they had to jump through in the adoption process warrant more attention than I&#8217;m willing to give today.<\/p>\n<p>The good news, part of it, is that they finally had all the forms filled out. And could spend two months as residents in another state.<\/p>\n<p>My son-in-law, happily, is the sort of entrepreneur who can take a two-month vacation and still have a &#8216;job&#8217; when he gets back. Not everyone can do that.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m pretty sure that many couples who aren&#8217;t like our granddaughter&#8217;s adoptive parents would also make good mothers and fathers. But we&#8217;re not likely to find out, as long as American adoption regulations stay the way they are.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re bracing for a rant, relax. My father and I have, between us, lived through eras that inspired today&#8217;s bureaucratic tangle.<\/p>\n<p>Our laws and regulations were, I think, innocuous.<\/p>\n<p>I think the folks who set up the system meant well.<\/p>\n<p>How it actually works could use improvement. Much improvement.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"describing\"><\/a>Describing Me in Three Words: and a Three-Week Anniversary<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/another-daily-journal-masking-the-unmasked\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20201109ff\/20210123-am-DSC08931-658.JPG?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n(Me, Saturday before last. I do <strong>not<\/strong> usually wear a mask at my desk. (January 23, 2021))<\/p>\n<p>Before I forget \u2014 this is my 21st consecutive daily &#8216;journal&#8217; entry. But, important as this milestone is to me, I don&#8217;t expect to see it in national news. And that&#8217;s yet another topic.<\/p>\n<p>Now, getting back to the adoption process.<\/p>\n<p>One of the many forms and reports that number-two daughter and son-in-law filled out included instructions to describe, in three words, the prospective adopters&#8217; parents.<\/p>\n<p>Which, I think, makes sense. Or should. In any case, I&#8217;m impressed, relieved and pleased that number-two daughter&#8217;s three-word description of me didn&#8217;t cause trouble.<\/p>\n<p>She, quite accurately, said that I was:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eccentric<\/li>\n<li>Scholarly<\/li>\n<li>Eclectic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We&#8217;re not entirely sure about the second word, &#8220;scholarly.&#8221; Their copy of the actual report is on a disk drive that is on my son&#8217;s to-do list of things to fix. It&#8217;s a long list.<\/p>\n<p>But she said I was scholarly or academic, or something like that. And I think she&#8217;s right.<\/p>\n<p>She&#8217;s right about eccentric and eclectic, too.<\/p>\n<p>Which should be obvious, from the stuff I write:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-family-visit-is-still-in-progress-kids-and-adoption\/\">A Family Visit is Still in Progress: Kids and Adoption<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(February 1, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/plans-prescriptions-an-exoplanet-and-me\/\">Plans, Prescriptions, an Exoplanet and Me<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 29, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/a-gallimaufry-politics-and-prayer-a-dragon-and-turkeys\/\">A Gallimaufry: Politics and Prayer, A Dragon and Turkeys<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 21, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/rereading-christopher-marlowes-doctor-faustus\/\">Rereading Christopher Marlowe&#8217;s &#8216;Doctor Faustus&#8217;<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 6, 2021)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/boston-charlie-partridges-in-pear-trees-and-me\/\">Boston Charlie, Partridges in Pear Trees and Me<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(November 28, 2020)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> More than pretty much anyone really needs to know about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Groundhog\">Groundhog<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Groundhog_Day\">Groundhog Day<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pennsylvania_Dutch\">Pennsylvania Dutch<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania\">Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Punxsutawney_Phil\">Punxsutawney Phil<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s February 2nd, Groundhog day. It&#8217;s a North American tradition, one of Punxsutawney&#8217;s local events and \u2014 at least in my country \u2014 national news. Punxsutawney Phil didn&#8217;t see his shadow this year. &#8220;Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/groundhog-day-and-me-in-three-words\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,192],"tags":[240,84,217,90,88],"class_list":["post-4607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-being-catholic","category-journal","tag-adoption","tag-family","tag-groundhog-day","tag-holidays","tag-superstition"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-1cj","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4609,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}