cross pollenization

this post has absolutely nothing to do with coffee or espresso. i don't normally double over my posts from my "normal person" blog, but i couldn't pass up the chance to share this story with my legions of readers of this blog (read: all four of you). it posted under the title, "a marine miracle shade tree, or, weeping tree found merely to be connected to the water main." enjoy.

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shroud of turin. incorruptable saints and parts of saints. our lady of guadalupe appearing to juan diego. and now, the watery blessing of a san antonio red oak, calling the maim, the halt, the blind and those in need of a faith booster.

here's one from/for the bizarro file. i was sort of following this story the last couple days in the local rag, about an unexplained "weeping stream" shooting forth from the trunk of an east side oak tree. the lady who lives in the blessed home where the fount of blessing began pouring about three months ago says she has no idea how or why this all started happening a few months ago. and now pilgrims and papparazzi alike are making their way to her yard to get a glimpse of a modern day rock of ages. well, okay, you guessed it: the miracle isn't quite such. turns out the tree figured out a way to get its water from the city main without having to pay its utility bill.

either that, or the lady was out there in the dead of night sticking the hose up the center of the trunk to draw the faithful herself. and this in the middle of a drought, even.

i wonder, though, why she didn't try this stunt with--i'm gonna go there--a weeping willow.

still, the faithful flock to the tree like it's some sort of south texas relic. you can't convince them that their wood's all wet.

science may have debunked the mystery of the aquatic oak, but that's not going to wet the blanket of many who still show up. said the son of the lady with the huge and, up until now, inexplicably high water bill, "I tell them all how it is, and they still want it. I figure if they are still that strong in their faith, knowing all that, then go on."

indeed.

i smell a discover channel expose coming on....

UPDATE: you really must read this commentary on the gurgling miracle tree of the east side. the author writes it funnier than i could paraphrase it (not a very daunting challenge to begin with, i surmise).