Saturday, January 29, 2011

Day 40

In some Russian folklore, ghosts are believed to linger forty days after death.
The number forty certainly plays a leading role in the Bible. Rains that lasted for forty days and nights, 40 days of prayers, 40 days in wilderness, forty days of Lent--and those are just the few that come to mind right now.
Forty weeks is about how long pregnancy lasts. Forty, well, -40 is where Fahrenheit and Celsius scales correspond. There were forty theves, and for some unlucky souls, forty lashes.

And forty is the atomic number of zirconium.

At this point, the past forty days certainly have seemed like a period of testing, though not in a Biblical sense. I'm certainly no Job. I'm not even religious. Still, today I feel as though I've been sick 'forever.' Experience tells me that this feeling generally signifies it's nearly over. I'm going to hang on to that.

Today I mostly stayed in place and made drawing after drawing of dancing poppets. I've a wedding dress to paint, with a border of dancing poppets all around the hem.
Once I got into the rhythm, the drawings came more easily and the motion of the dancers more fluid. Not to worry, I'll share. A number of the sketches will become paintings. While I was in the groove, I sketched a few bug warriors too.

Orion and I didn't check in on our heros tonight because my voice is nearly gone. But we sent them our good wishes at bedtime and vowed to be back cheering them on very soon. We managed a few rounds of Crash of the Titans at least.

This is a tough time and I thank you for your comments. They help more than you may know. I hope I've helped you through some of yours.

Time for more Theraflu and hopefully, sleep.

g'night

4 comments:

Diandra said...

A Japanese pen pal explained to me that they believe a soul stays in a kind of "interim afterworld" for 49 days, being judged for his or her actions on earth, before it is decided whether they will be punished or rewarded.

James said...

Interesting...

lisa said...

diandra--while there, would they be considered 'ghosts?'

lisa said...

God-- I doubt that. Humans. Same, samey same.