By Odin’s Name!

Update with pics in a few....

Well, my beautiful Callie is here, and once again, my little family is reunited under one roof. It’s very nice, and we’ve been enjoying each other’s company.

I can’t believe my youngest is graduating high school on Friday! It’s almost surreal because I don’t feel old enough to be an “empty nester.” Anyway, I’m looking forward to that and to family flying in for the occasion. Joe’s one smart kid, and he will change the world for the better one day. Besides earning a full ride scholarship to Dartmouth, he was also chosen as a “Student of Distinction” at his high school, and will be forever immemorallized on a bronze plaque on the wall in the Hall of Honor. To earn that distinction, a student must have maintained a higher than 3.75 GPA for the year, passed all AP exams with an A, have performed over 75 hours of community service, and other things I can’t remember. I’m a proud momma, of ALL three of my kids!

Listening to them laugh as they bake a cake, make tacos, or swim together is the sound of heaven to me. We have certainly shed our quota of tears since our world was violently turned upside down many years ago, but coming through  it made us stronger, braver, and able to overcome ANY obstacles that seek to trip us up. 

Anyway, I’m feeling incredibly blessed tonight, and am looking forward to our future.

Okay, so now let’s talk about the Norse god with more names than anyone should have a right to. I’m reading slowly through The Poetic Edda, and memorizing as much as I can as I read. The scholars who translated this work must have been scratching their heads at multiple spots in the collection of poems, wise, sayings, and stories, because Odin often went from one name to another in the same stanza! 

I’m not halfway through the book, and I’m still finding a new name for Odin on almost every page. For example, here’s a list of just a sampling of the ones I’ve found so far:

Sigfather - means “father of victory.”

Tveggi - means “twofold.”

Hor - means “the high one.”

Bolverk- “the evil one.” He used this to trick Suttung for the mead that granted him the gift of poetry. The story goes that as Odin was hightailing it in the form of an eagle away from Suttung, a mighty giant, he spilled some and inadvertently bestowed the gift of poetry on man. 

Hroptatyr - crier of the gods

Heerfather - father of the host

Ygg- means “the terrible.”

Gagnrath

Thund - the thunderer

Son of Bestla

The All-Father

Odin the Old

Val-Father- father of the slain

Herran or Herion - the ruler

Omi - the shouter

Oski- the god of wishes

Nikar- the overthrower

Fiolnir - the many-shaped

Atrith - the rider

Baleyg - the flaming eyed

Bileyg - the shifty eyed

Gangleri - the wanderer (I like this one)

Glapsvith - swift in deceit

Grimnir- the hooded

Harbarth  or Harvard - Greybeard

Gondlir- wand bearer

Helblindi- hell-blinder

Hjalmberi- the helmet-bearer

Ofnir- the bewilderer 

Swath - the truthful

Sanngetal- the truth teller

Sithhott- with broad hat

Svafnir- the sleep-bringer

Svipal - the changing 

Val - the wakeful

Thrithi- the third

Thekk - the much-loved

Woden- where we get the name “Wednesday” from.

Remember, this is a SHORT list of the names used to identify Odin. I realize that THE God I follow  (Jesus, Savior, I AM, Prince of Peace, etc) also has a host of names, but Odin may have more.

Why did he seem to have so many names? There have been several theories, but the theory I think is perhaps the most reasonable is imagination and diversity, and Vikingr. The Norse boasted some ingenious and creative minds. The used kennings, short phrases that describe something, but mean something else. Like “the whale’s road,” meant “ocean.” They probably never heard of a cliche, because they didn’t seem to like them. Instead they used word play to come up with new ways of describing common events and things. Also, they were the world travelers of their day, and different dialects may have interpreted the names in different ways, accounting for sometimes very different spellings of the same name.

In a future post, I want to dive into the kenning names of Odin, and also write a short biography of the man behind the god. This stuff just fascinates me. I’m also planning a post about Odin’s wise sayings in the Havamol. And also a separate post of some of Odin’s stories and Shenanigans that you may have never heard of, but will be richer for knowing. 

Have a great day, everyone. I have the morning off for a dermatology appointment. 

Callie!

My gentle-

souled, humanitarian daughter is arriving tonight! I’m so excited!

So Proud of this Young Future World-Changer

Tonight was the Senior Awards Ceremony at Joe’s School, and I lost count of how many times he was called up to receive awards and scholarships, but the video I posted below was the highlight of all them, when it was announced that Joe received a $269,000+ scholarship to Dartmouth--the highest amount in the school, and the only kid that gained admission an to Ivy League College. There was an amazing young lady who received a $170,000+ scholarship to John Hopkins, which is also a very good school.

Afterwards, a whole bunch of kids rushed up to Joe, asking to have their pic taken with the "legend" of Palmetto Ridge High School. I said, "legend?" and a kid replied, "Yes, he’s a true legend."

Seated next to him and also winning awards was his bright and amazing in her own right, girlfriend (his first girlfriend), Anihe (pronounced Ann-eye-ee).

He’s come so far from being the ultra shy kid who wouldn’t even look at girls, much less talk to them, just a few years ago. 

I am so proud I can barely stand it. You can mark my words--he will be someone who changes the world for the better. 

If you want to fast forward to where Joe gets his scholarship announced, it’s at around the 1:42 mark.

https://youtu.be/T6CM9g3ZI8o

So, yes, one proud mom here tonight! 

Back in Boston

Okay, so here’s the third part of our recent travel story. After having a wonderful time in Vermont and New Hampshire, we headed to Boston. Our flight didn’t leave until 7:00 that night, so we had the full day to explore Boston. One note: I haven’t had a chance to brighten the pics yet, but I will and switch them out before tomorrow night. 

I foolishly thought I had overreacted to my initial experience of driving on Boston’s nightmare-to-hell roads, but when we arrived in the city proper, I realized I hadn’t overreacted one smidgeonly bit. It was just as terrible as the previous time I dared to risk my life on those pockmarked roads. 

But, we eventually made it to where we wanted to go--Boston Harbor. And man, was it cold! Cold doesn’t even begin to describe it, though. It was more like fallen-through-thin-ice-into-a-lake-of-hypothermic-death kind of cold. Well, maybe not THAT cold, but to this Florida native, it sure seemed like it. 

But it actually started to snow, just a little, so we all were sorta gleeful about that. Funny how those little fancy ice crystals you can only see under a microscope inspire such wonder and happiness in us. 

After looking out over the harbor where the history changing Boston Tea Party took place, we headed to the subway. But I snapped a couple pics of the kids being happy, first. Aidan’s sneakers were still a little damp from stepping in the mud water, so she had to wear her booties. She didn’t complain, though. 

Joe regaled us with Boston history while we walked, and I gazed all around, trying to soak my senses with the whole experience, so I would never forget.  Boston is noisy, crowded, and in some parts, sorta sketchy, but the buzz of controlled chaos didn’t make me feel too overstimulated. 

Quick note: Christopher Columbus is not my friend:

It was a little weird being on a subway again. I think the last subway I’d taken was in England many years ago. But it was interesting to observe all the different types of people through the corner of my eye. 

We exited at Boston Commons and walked around the giant park. Joe remarked that there weren’t any frogs in Frog Pond, but I said there were, and pointed to a bronze frog statue that reminded him of some internet meme, so he had to have his picture with it. And so did Aidan. Then I thought that I better have mine taken too. Lol. 

Here are a couple more pics from Boston Commons:

Near the Frog Pond, we found a pretty normal Merry-Go-Round, except this one apparently had a seat reserved for the son of Satan. I can’t imagine what kind of twisted Merry-Go-Round maker would create this horror:

Really, look at that pic. All the other animals are normal carousel horses, so why the evil, terrifying cat? WITH IT’S PREY IN ITS MOUTH? 

So, we quickly moved on, following the Freedom Trail, marked with a red brick line.

Then, we found ourselves in a place I was really excited to visit--the Granuary Burying Ground. I’ve always been fascinated by old graveyards, and I like to read the headstones and imagining what kind of lives the people now resting there might have lived. I took a LOT of pics there, because if there are such things as ghosts, you’d think this would be a prime spot. I haven’t looked too closely at the pics yet, but one pic did have something curious. In the following pic, there appears to be a reflection in the barred window of a tombstone behind me. But there wasn’t a large tombstone behind me, and I found a website that listed the names of those interred there, and couldn’t find a match for the partial name visible in the reflection. So, it’s a mystery. Maybe I can attempt GE street view or Google Maps to see if I can find the headstone that caused the reflection...

The graves of Ben Franklin’s mom and dad:

Samuel Adam’s grave:

Victims of the Boston Massacre:

We continued along our path, and marveled at the architecture while looking for somewhere to get lunch...we finally came upon a healthy eating kind of diner, and Aidan and Joe wanted to go there. I got a root beer. Lol.

Here are a few pics from our walk. I especially liked the gilded unicorn. I wonder what the significance of the unicorn facing the building might be?

We passed this church and another graveyard very close to Granuary:

Oh, and here’s a plaque I found about D.L. Moody, one of my favorite Christian authors:

Anyway, we had a great time, even finding a wonderful antique bookstore nestled in an alley. We spent some time browsing, and I really wanted one of their books-- The Book of Kells (a reproduction, of course), but it was just too big to pack into my already jam-packed carry on. So, the kids chose a couple things. Joe picked an old sketch of a skyline drawn by some famous guy, and Aidan picked a few Shakespeare titles that she hasn’t already read. I picked this old print, which sorta reminded me of me as a child, minus the dress (just substitute the dress for tee shirt and shorts):

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Boston and head to the airport. Just as we were about to merge onto a normal, anxiety-free road, a car began to pull into our lane very fast, and we narrowly escaped being T-boned. We offered a quick prayer of thanks to God, and made it to the airport thoroughly exhausted, yet unscathed. 

It was nice that we all had our own row on the plane on the flight home!

This past week has been pretty good, especially since I finally committed to binge-watching Game of Thrones. Holy Mother of Dragons, that show is GOOD!

We’re also looking forward to having family visit at the end of the month for Joe’s graduation, and I think Callie may stay all summer! SO happy about that! And I will be excited to see my ex MIL, the kids’ Uncle David, and my favorite little Fortnite dancer nephew, Connor!

There’s a lot of special interests in my life right now, so it doesn’t leave me much time to blog. But I am trying for at least once a week!

Tomorrow, one of our docs is on vacation, so I only have to work a half day. It will be a very happy Thorsday!