Toadfish Monastery

I notice that many of the toadfish photos in our gallery are listed with a temporary name. I think it's high time they had permanant names! If you want to help name them, please enter your suggestions and votes in the comments boxes under each image at:

http://toadfishmonastery.com/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=4&catid=1&PageNo=1

Hey, guess what? This week marks the first anniversary of the Honorable Order of Toadfish! We are one!

I can't remember what day it was exactly (maybe Chatty does, she has a great memory), but I'd like to think it coincides with the Christian celebration of Epiphany, which is the day the Wise Men appeared. We strive for wisdom, so why not?

I think I'll celebrate by lighting candles tomorrow night at suppertime and thinking of everyone here. Maybe I'll serve fish. Or would that be too cannibalistic?

I know, beer! I'll serve beer.

Check out this map of where the Northern Lights may be spotted tonight! Are you in the zone?

http://sec.noaa.gov/pmap/

I don't know what you'd call these. They are painted, but with a drawn feeling.


The first two are for Goatie. Please excuse the odd angles, as they have glass over them and I was trying to avoid reflections.





This was the first in my cartoony series. I was trying to break away from being too exact and literal.



These were some morning glories on my front porch:

Siblings Aggie and Chatty have suggested a Monastery-wide food drive called HOT Meals.

Siblings are encouraged to donate to their local food banks and report their donations here.

Each penny spent on donated food equals one T.U. (Toadfish Unit),each minute of donated time to charity equals 1 T.U.  and each penny (or smallest denomination) equivalent equals 1 T.U. This includes coins placed into a homeless person's hand, dropped into a little charity bucket or any check mailed to any charity.

TALLY HO as of November 17, 2009:

256,414 Toadfish Units Donated!






My kid's school had a drive where we donated boxes of Mashed Potato Mix. Would that count?

Post here if you're in the mood for a chat with your fellow sibs in our Cha(n)t Room, located at the bottom of the Monastery Home page. In it, you may have real time (more or less?) conversations.

You can go there and type a greeting, then open another window and come here to post that you're there. You ought to be able to hear a little zithery strum when someone answers.

That said, I'm in there now, if anyone wants to try it out.

Welcome to the Honorable Order of Toadfish  (HOT) Monastery!

Anyone wishing to register on this site can enjoy free use of our Open Water forum threads for fellowship and exchange of ideas and silliness. All we ask for is a modicum of humbleness and respect for others, as per the rules listed on our Home Page. In joining the Open Water forum, you may consider yourself a sibling (our gender-free title for what might be called a brother or sister in some monasteries) of the OWL, or Open Water Level catagory.

If, after a while, you find you like the attitude of this place and want to take it to another level of trust, you may take our more formal HOT Agreement and become a HOT Novice. To do so, you would simply read and agree to the following:


The Toadfish Virtues

    * Tolerance   I will accept that others have different views, opinions, and values from me. I will not seek to change, refute, or dismiss other peoples differences from me, in so far as they themselves show tolerance.
    * Humility My own views, opinions, and values have just as much importance as anyone elses. No more, and certainly no less.
    * Respect for Others When I wish to disagree with someone's posts or actions, I will do so with the assumption that they are as thoughtful and considered in their judgements as I would like to be in mine.


Toadfish Monastery Acceptance Agreement:
Since this is a sanctuary, we'd like to keep things civil. We are here to guide ourselves toward better communication skills using the tools of patience and humbleness. As we are human, we may occasionally slip up and fall on our faces, but this should be met with understanding and guidance on the part of the others and if the perpetrator is contrite and asks forgiveness, it shall be given. If however, problems persist, it is understood that the matter will be taken up privately with perpetrator and complaintant and an excommunication is possible.

We do not believe in telling people how to think, what to do, what to believe or what to disbelieve. This is a place of spiritual acceptence for all who keep our vows.

If you agree to these principles, and intend to pursue the Toadfish Virtues, please send a personal message to a HOT Global Mod saying so, and await acceptance into the Honorable Order of Toadfish monastery. On receipt of your agreement, you will be given consideration to take on the status of Toadfish Novice and be admitted to a  private sanctuary where you will be able to practice keeping the vows with the expectation that this will lead to full Toadfish status when the community feels you are ready.

Since we are not a secret society with any hidden agendas, we encourage any and all questions and will try our best to answer them to your satsfaction. What we strive to be is a siblinghood of trust, where we may open our minds to philosophical brainstorming in an un-self-concious manner.

Check out this page o'booty at McPhees:

http://www.mcphee.com/categories/pirate.html

I loiks the Dashboard Pirate and Blackbeard's Flag has always had a place in me heart. Sniff...

Sam Haney. Wasn't he the postmaster on Green Acres?

I'm referring here to the ancient holiday of Samhain, which later became Halloween.

http://www.celticspirit.org/samhain.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

I don't know about you, but I'm all ready feeling the mystical surges of the natural world welling up as if in preparation.  ...or maybe it's all that chocolate I've hidden in the closet calling to me...

I just got my November National Geographic and there on pages 16/17 is a full-face, double-page spread of a TOADFISH!

It's a beautiful banded toadfish from the Ningaloo Reef off Western Australia. He is golden with fabulous coral-mocking eyebrows and beard and black lips.

Talk about a centerfold! Oh BAYBAY!!!!!

We know who we are.

The orionids meteor shower peaks this Saturday between 10 and 11 p.m.! Keep an eye out for shooting stars!

This is a true story.

Long ago I was friends with a pair of young lovers. One day this happy pair decided to take a boat out onto the Chesapeake Bay and go fishing.

The didn't have much luck. Finally, as they headed home, they felt one of their fishing poles snag onto something. What they reeled up was a lady's purse! Being young lovers, they were living a rather meager lifestyle and were excited at the possibility of treasure. They pulled the waterlogged purse to shore and dumped out the contents.

Alas, it was free of cash and fabulous prizes. The only interesting thing it held was a lowly oyster toadfish. The pair shrieked at it's ugliness and shoved it back into the murky waters, disappointed.

I wonder if the humble bottom-feeder wasn't a bearer of good tidings. The pair were young and in love, what greater treasure could they possibly have had than that? If it had been a more beautiful or edible fish, they might not have let it go. Perhaps its humbleness is what saved it.

What causes human beings to make violence against eachother? It is an over-inflated sense of ego that gives one person the idea that his ways are better than that of another person. If we can take the time to listen to eachother and work at trying to tolerate our differences, we may live to see a more peaceful world. But this will take a conscious effort on our part.

We at the Toadfish Monastery practice the art of humbleness. This does not mean we think others are more important than we are, but that others have equal importance no matter who they are. We are willing to talk things over with them. Many of us have experienced very pleasing results from simply practicing mutual respect. It is not easy. Sometimes we mess up, but we are all here to help eachother up again, if possible.

There are some very interesting facts about the actual toadfish. One is that it is vocal. It can makes quite an impressive noise to call for its mate. So we here call out for our kind to come and join us.

The toadfish has teeth and will put up a heckova fight if snagged on a line. It is humble, but it is by no means a pushover! Thus we here will defend our lives and eachother if threatened.

Finally, the toadfish is a good parent. It takes care of its own. We try to do the same.

I don't know if any of this makes much sense but next time you're waxing philosophical, consider the toadfish and see if it inspires you. Maybe if it just cracks you up it is enough.

Humbly,
Ops

Here's Wikipedia's report on the toadfish:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opsanus_tau

He may be a plain-looking little fellah, but he can bellow and has major teeth and has even been to space! Gotta love him...

Here's where we can review books, movies, articles, theater, art, you-name-it.

Favorite quotes and original musings.

Hey, MB!

First, let me thank you again for putting this site here. With Venganza down it has kept us in touch.

A couple of Siblings are having problems logging on. They are:

NoName (Griffin)

Coelaca (Teripie)

Could you please check this out? Maybe we need clearer instructions.

Hey, it's just me, Tau, poking around in here. I was thinking that we ought to figure out how to make better use of this place in case venganza goes down and we wanna keep up the chanting. Not that I think venganza will go down, but every once in a while it might.

What's it need in here? Curtains? Mini fridge? Cappucino machine? Pasta extruder?