Cute Canids, etc.

Joe: Everything is fine. Well, actually, we’re both really tired of winter, but we’re coping by eating Chef Joe’s Marvelous Meals (like chevre tarts and pork medallions with sweet pepper salsa) and being part of the Netflix Nation. We’re almost finished watching the entire Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett as da man.

Cute Canids: Joe sent me this link with wonderful pics of red wolves (canus rufus):

http://www.fws.gov/alligatorriver/red%20wolf/rwpics.html

The pictures alone make it clear to me why we would want to restore the endangered red wolf population, but here is a FAQ response to why the US Fish and Wildlife Service is doing this: "The essential reasons are to prevent extinction of the species and to restore the ecosystems in which red wolves occurred, as mandated by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. The ESA found that endangered and threatened species are of aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nation and its people. It is important to save all members of an ecosystem, including predators, if we intend to conserve the environment and be good stewards of the land. Lessons learned in the red wolf recovery program have served as a model for predator conservation worldwide." Wouldn’t it be nice to be of “aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value”? The “recreational” and “scientific” parts scare me a little.

Music Notes: My Infiniti G35 is really just a beautiful Sirius radio entertainment center. I love being able to see the name of music I’ve known for years, but didn’t know the name. Like Pilgrims’ Chorus from the Tannheuser opera by Wagner. So, who was Tannheuser and what’s up with this chorus? Tannheuser was a German Minnesänger (a troubadour) and poet who lived in the 13th century and is known through his poetry and in legend. The 1845 opera dramatizes the legend which goes like this: Tannheuser finds the goddess Venus in her underground, undisclosed location called Venusberg and hangs out with her there for a year. Since this is all about sacred and profane love, (i.e., loving Mary, the Mother of God = Good Lovin’ and loving Venus = Bad Lovin’), Tannheuser leaves Venus full of remorse. He travels to Rome to ask the pope for absolution. The pope replies with the medieval equivalent of “when pigs fly”, namely it’s about as likely as his papal staff sprouting leaves. Well, guess what happens three days after Tannheuser leaves the pope, theoretically still full of remorse? Pigs fly and the pope’s staff sprouts. Messengers try to find our remorseful fellow, but he’s already taken the express back to Venusberg, never to be seen again. Poor thing. There are pilgrims going back and forth to Rome all day long. I don’t know what they’re singing in the Pilgrims’ Chorus, but it is undoubtedly sacred and certainly nice sounding.