sandstone, guitar

…If we set the little paraffin lamp out at night, flying fish were attracted by the light and large and small, shot over the raft…

…It sometimes happened that we heard an outburst of strong language from a man on deck when a cold flying fish came unexpectedly, at a good speed, slap into his face…

…They always came at a good pace and snout first, and if they caught one full in the face they made it burn and tingle… 

…But the unprovoked attack was quickly forgiven by the injured party, for with all its drawbacks, we were in a maritime land of enchantment where delicious fish dishes came hurling through the air…

…We used to fry them for breakfast, and wether it was the fish, the cook or our appetites, they reminded us of fried troutlings once we had scraped the scales off…  Thor Heyerdahl, Kon Tiki, 1950

…There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.  But what are they among so many people?……Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all… …Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted… …When they were satisfied, he told, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

…So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets… John 6, 9-13 NRSV

In the dark and unlit ceiling of the Loretta Chapel there is a lonely painting of a chunky fish atop a heavy slab of bread.   At the moment Thor Heyerdahl’s balsa log raft was colliding with a dusty man breaking bread in the grass of Palestine.  The long pilgrim road leading through elder drifts, slabs of rock, mountains of hailstones, unearthly fish with a mouth like a grave.  The sign of Jonah.  Provision comes unlooked for, and fear is weathered away.