Sunday, March 1, 2009

I have pigs

I have pigs, or swine, rather. To have pigs (Schwein haben) is to be lucky in German, although I never quite mastered the usage (I'm pretty sure one does not tell someone about to take a test, "haben Sie Schwein" the way we did in high school German class, but it usually seemed to work for us).

My pig luck started last summer, when my mother-in-law (MiL) gave me a piggy bank for my birthday. Not just any piggy bank, which she'd been generally seeking as a lucky symbol for me, but a Vino Fund piggy bank. Pretty darn lucky to have a MiL who not only supports whims (i.e. year of luck) but also connects them to my other passions (i.e. wine).

My pig luck continued at Christmas, when I received a good luck marzipan pig in my stocking (the one pictured is for sale at Germandeli.com). Admittedly, I know (ok, was) the elf who helped Santa out by putting it there, but if I've learned anything about luck this last year, it's that it can't hurt to help it out a bit. Receiving any gift from a loved one is lucky, but explicitly luck-related gifts this year included a hand-knit thinking cap (yes, it has plants on it and says "think"), a copy of Fooled by Randomness (luck plays a role in the stock market after all) and a gorgeous royal purple frilly scarf knit with all sorts of good wishes (pictured surrounding the Vino Fund).

I started planning this post back in December and kept thinking how lucky it was that both sets of parents live in beautiful places (and how lucky I am to recognize the beauty of the prairie). I didn't realize just how lucky it was to see the sunshine in Colorado and Kansas until I returned to West Virginia and received an hour of direct sunlight in the next three weeks. I never can convince my students that here in steeply hilly central West Virginia, I miss real mountains. But then, they have no idea what it is like to grow up in the shadow of Mount Evans (the image is of the view from the gas station near my parents' house. Even suburbia in the foreground does little to diminish the majesty of my favorite mountain).

Of course I am lucky in all sorts of other ways, from having friends who read my blog to having a warm house to clutter up, to having the Mister who will take me out for Valentine's meals of duck and lamb, to having a very very sweet very very silly kitten running around the house.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wisteria is beautiful.

Mt. Evans is magnificent.

Ms Splashypants is awesome.

Anonymous said...

And I do like that wine drinking pig!

Sparkling Squirrel said...

Well, Prairie Quilter, someone with good taste gave it to me!

Anonymous said...

And I like the frilly purple thing under the wine drinking pig.
Oh, and Mr. Splashy Pants is adorable. I hope he has more manners than a certain black cat we used to know. I still have scars.

Sparkling Squirrel said...

Well, Anonymous, someone with good taste gave me the purple frilly thing (alas, one cannot see the depth of the color in the photo). Mr. Splashy Pants has not had many opportunities to jump out at guests under the table at holiday dinners, but I'm not convinced she wouldn't love the chance.