billytea! We were talking about you last night, because we were reading about angler fish and the...disturbing...way they mate, and I told The Boy that you probably knew all about it and could recount it in a way that was more humorous and less gruesome.

Why IS honey so good in tea, and not such a thing in coffee? WHERE can I get good cuban coffee in Seattle? SHOULD I dye my hair red this afternoon? I think I'm going to.

I need to make you Cuban coffee, dear heart.

OK, between t and Barb I cheerfully await my conversion!

Now I need to know more about angler fish.

Happy Birthday, K-Bug!

Noah and Grace's birthday party sounded fun.

I had to go shopping and pick up some shorts for the kids for Florida. Kohls is always blessedly cheap with decent quality kids' clothes.

You'll be happier not knowing, Cashmere.

Too late, Matt. I wikied it. *shudder*

Seems that my high school's boys basketball team is playing in the division chapionship game tonight.

billytea! We were talking about you last night, because we were reading about angler fish and the...disturbing...way they mate, and I told The Boy that you probably knew all about it and could recount it in a way that was more humorous and less gruesome.

You mean the whole fusion thing? I think that's awesome! I mean, not that I'm aspiring to it or anything, but still. It's a brilliant response to the dating desert in which they live - if you're lucky enough to find another fish that shares your interests, or species at least, then what you do is you grab hold of that fish, and you don't let go! And then your brain atrophies and you're left as nothing more than a pair of oddly positioned gonads. There's a metaphor in there somewhere. Possibly that motherhood is not for the fainthearted - it takes balls, dammit.

Anyway, it's also worth noting that the females outweigh the males something like 200 to 1. As Wikipedia notes, "[Male anglers] are signifantly smaller than a female angler fish, and have trouble finding food in the deep sea. This necessitates his quickly finding a female anglerfish to prevent his death." So maybe it's really a protection racket. "Nice pair of 'nads you got there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to them."

I suppose it goes without saying that angler fish are among the most monogamous of all animals. Used to be that scientists thought a lot of birds were monogamous - egg care can be beyond the single parent. Turns out that even species that pair for life, however, are generally not faithful. Some, like the fairy wren (gorgeous little bird - here's one I prepared earlier: [link] are incredibly promiscuous. Not so the angler fish, no. Still, I can't quite shake this image of a tiny hapless male, a massive predatory female bearing down on him, desperately squeaking "Pre-nup! Pre-nup!"

Is this a dress to play tennis in?

not sure, I guess it depends on fit

[link]

and now I know about angler fish

not sure I wanted to

I kind of like it, beth. Did she have ruffled pants to go with it?