Quote of the Day, 9/16/06

I was inspired by this great review from Disco Mermaids. My Saturday night adventure will include tequila, good food, good friends, and my new Choose Your Own Adventure DVD. Today's quote theme, appropriately, is adventure.

G. K. Chesterton
An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.

Tennessee Williams
Security is a kind of death.

As a postscript, one of the quotes I came across was from Peter Pan: "To die will be an awfully big adventure." Only trouble is, the place I found it credited that quote ... to Aristotle. Somehow, "awfully big adventure" just doesn't sound much like Aristotle to me. What do you think?

Quote of the Day, 9/15/06

Some thoughts on Autumny things...

Andrew Wyeth
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

Annie Dillard
Nature is, above all, profligate. Don't believe them when they tell you how economical and thrifty nature is, whose leaves return to the soil. Wouldn't it be cheaper to leave them on the tree in the first place?

Dorothy Parker
Summer makes me drowsy. Autumn makes me sing. Winter's pretty lousy, but I hate Spring.

Buy a Friend a Book Week Approaches

BAFAB week approaches and Debra over at Book-blog is hosting an event. You can win an autographed copy of her book, Trying Neaira, if your entry is chosen. For details on how to play, see this post.

Debra, here is my entry, from my review of an imaginary thriller I'm calling "Spreads like Wildfire." (Johnson is in for a world of trouble tomorrow, according to this story....)

Johnson is alone on the grounds, oblivious that the girls left the Washbrooks’ mansion buzzing with gossip worth reading in a small Maryland newspaper.

A Little Poetry for You (Robert Frost)

Fall seems to be in the air this week, which makes me think of New England and the taste of apples and the smell of wood fires and the sound of leaves sweeping across the earth.

It also makes me think of Robert Frost, who seems like such an autumny poet. For this Poetry Friday, I've selected excerpts from "Mending Wall."

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
...

I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
...

. . . . . I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
...

Go here for the rest of the poem. It's really quite good, and you'll see I left the classic line out, twice.

I suppose I could have gone with "After Apple-Picking" to be more in line with the Autumn theme, but "Mending Wall" makes me smile more.

Quote of the Day, 9/14/06

New hot water heater, rain, water off the pear trees, laundry, thirst, planning two more trips to the Maine coast.... I've got water on the brain today.

Annie Dillard
The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out.

William Wordsworth
A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable.

Norman Maclean
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

At Peace with Pears

News from the Pear-Front:

The street-cleaner came, and swerved AROUND the pears and pear puree. I had a very friendly chat with him about this on Tuesday, explaining about the bees, the children who walk by on their way to school, and the smell. I was extremely nice. I am hoping that this Monday's street-cleaning will be an improvement.

The last few days, teenagers have been leaping off my porch steps to get to the pears, now that the lower ones have fallen or been picked. I brought a step ladder out for one of them the other day, fearing otherwise he would break his neck. I made him promise not to leap off the ladder. I also told him that in a few days, I would have another way for him to get to the pears....

Which leads me to my big news. On Tuesday, I ordered this:

It arrived this afternoon, and I've already put it together, and I've picked 5 pears with very little effort. It was dark and raining, so I put off further harvesting till tomorrow.

Boy oh boy, the pears are coming down! Yeeeeee haaaaaah!!!



Earlier posts on pears:
#1 - pretty picture
#2 - confessions of a pear-hater
#3 - pear taste tests

Rowling's Harry Potter Not a Threat to Air Travel Safety

J. K. Rowling's manuscript of Harry Potter book 7 is safe for air travel.

Apparently, Harry Potter almost didn't make it out of the U.S. a few weeks back. Luckily, J. K. Rowling was able to convince security officials that her manuscript posed no immediate threat. See this article for details.

We can all breathe a sigh of relief that Harry Potter did not end up in Scottsboro, Alabama.

Meanwhile, Ms. Rowling, might I suggest you invest in this product?

Quote of the Day, 9/13/06

Coffee, coffee, coffee...

Honore de Balzac
This coffee falls into your stomach... sparks shoot all the way up to the brain. From that moment on, everything becomes agitated. Ideas quick-march into motion like battalions of a grand army to its legendary fighting ground, and the battle rages. Memories charge in, bright flags on high; the cavalry of metaphor deploys with a magnificent gallop; the artillery of logic rushes up with clattering wagons and cartridges; on imagination's orders, sharpshooters sight and fire; forms and shapes and characters rear up; the paper is spread with ink - for the nightly labor begins and ends with torrents of this black water, as a battle opens and concludes with black powder.

Charles de Secondat Montesquieu
The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier than when he entered it.

Words on Wednesday: Trivia Every Word-Maven Should Know

For this week's installment of Words on Wednesday, I offer you a link to this Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia.

Here are the 3 most fun things I learned on a quick browse of this site.

1. There are 10 A's in the name of this Massachusetts lake:

Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

I like this one, because I have relatives living close to this lake, and I remember as a child being soooooooo impressed by anyone who could rattle off the name without mistakes.

Myth has it that the translation of Chargoggagogg...maugg is "You fish on your side of the river, I'll fish on my side of the river, nobody fish in the middle." Not true! This humorous translation was made up by a journalist and simply caught on. For the real translation and other fun facts, click on the very long link below.

CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAUGGAGOGGCHAUBUNAGUNGAMAUGG

2. Imagine if you took a list of nth's, for instance, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and so on to the highest nth you could make. If you alphabetized this list, this is what would be at the TOP of the list:

eight billion eighteen million eighteenth

And here is what would be at the BOTTOM of the list:

two vigintillion two undecillion two trillion two thousand two hundred twenty-third

Why should we care? Well now when we finish a competition in eight billion eighteen million eighteenth place, it will feel like winning.

3. The highest scoring word possible in Scrabble is QUIZZIFY, when played with the Q on one triple-word, the Y on the next triple-word space (over or down), one of the Z's on a double-letter space, and the other Z represented by a blank tile previously played in a different word. The point value for this, including the "bingo" points for using all 7 tiles, would be 419.

That's right, 419.

I know some of my blog readers are people I play Scrabble with online. Watch out, because the second I get QUIZIFY in my tiles, you are doomed, doomed, doomed! In fact, I'm going to make a point of using any blank tiles I get as Z's along the edge, perfectly positioned to prepare for my total Scrabble-world domination.

I've Got a Starbucks Gift Card with Your Name on it

This contest closed on September 19. Please check the Contests list periodically for more contests. Thanks!

-------------------------

Okay, one thing I've learned in these two months of blogging. Contests get people's attention.

In fact, it was a contest that first drew me into the blogging world -- specifically, the Starbucks Ultimate Coffehouse Challenge, which is where I first found Crossword Bebop and the wonderful community of people who joined forces there to solve the puzzles. At the end of the contest, 3 of the winners were part of the Crossword Bebop multitude. It happened that I had offered some support to each of them, and two sent me Starbucks gift cards as a thank you, which was very kind and much appreciated as a gesture.

Sadly, I don't drink coffee, or pretty much any beverage sold by Starbucks except maybe cocoa and water (ooh, and their good ginger ale)....

So, here I sit, with perfectly wonderful gift cards ($25 each) and no real inspiration to use them. One can only drink so much ginger ale.

Are the coffee-drinkers out there listening? I got free coffee, right here in my hot little hands!

I've decided to hold a few contests to unload these cards. The details of the first follow below. The other contests I don't know about yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I do.

CONTEST #1

Prize: One $25 Starbucks gift card

Contest Topic: Great Antagonists in Children's Books (ha, you thought I'd forgotten about this!)







How to Play: Simply submit your ideas for great antagonists in children's books in the comments of the post that this link takes you to. For EACH antagonist you submit, you will get one entry into the drawing. Submissions are due by 9PM, Eastern, September 19, 2006. The winner will be randomly selected from all entries on September 20, 2006.

Fine Print: If multiple people submit the same antagonist, I will only count the first entry. All submissions must be "bad guys/gals" from kids' books, and will be authenticated by me before being included in the drawing. Residents of the states of Shock, Unconsciousness, or Disbelief are not eligible to participate. Employees of Journey Woman's blog (ooh, that's me!) are not eligible (curses, foiled again!) to particpate.

For everyone who suggested antagonists for this list when it was originally posted, you are already entered -- good job! Keep the suggestions coming for even more chances to win!

A Note to the Non-Kids-Lit Readers of this Blog: I know some of you have hesitated to comment on posts about children's books in the past. Please don't feel that you are excluded from this contest. If you've ever read a children's book, just think of who the bad guys were and throw them in a comment for me. And remember, antagonists range from the sometimes dislikeable to the truly evil, so there's a lot of room in there for plenty of entries.

To refresh your memory about the Great Antagonists list, see this post here, and also this post here.

Oh, and spread the word please. My goal is to get at least 100 antagonists listed, but I think we can get to 200 without too much of a stretch, frankly.

Quote of the Day, 9/12/06

I nearly forgot to post a quote today, so in my rush to find a topic, I have landed on forgetting.

Friedrich Nietzsche
To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.

Laurence J. Peter
Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.

William James
In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important as remembering.

I Thought I had the Plague, but All Along it Was Only...

Congratulations! You have Leprosy! One of the trademarks of the Middle Ages, it is actually a hard to catch bacterial infection that you probably caught years ago through respiration. Now that it is making itself known, you have noticed white patches on your skin and numbness in your fingers. Things will only go from bad to worse as more areas become numb, making you prone to hurt yourself without knowing it and thus causing massive infections. The good news is you will be given a free bell or clapper! The bad news is you will need this as you travel the countryside unwanted in rags warning people of your approach.

Which Medieval Plague Do You Have?

Take this quiz!

Thanks Liz for sharing!

Quote of the Day, 9/11/06

Quotes on friendship. Okay, yes the first quote is from a greeting card writer. But it fits, darn it, so I'm using it!

Susan P. Schutz
Good friends must not always be together; it is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship.

Samuel Johnson
True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice.

Albert Schweitzer
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

Things that are Good to Hold on to

I've been at a loss for ideas on how to mark the day today. I have complete writer's block when it comes to the many things one might write about concerning 9/11. A few weeks back I read a quote that said (essentially) the best writing comes from the head instead of the heart.... maybe that's why I'm stuck.

Finally, around 7PM it struck me that today is a day custom-made for wallowing, and yet wallowing seems the exact wrong thing to do. The trick, I decided, was to do something that would renew my commitment to the people in this world whom I love.

Call my mother? Okay, good, but I do that pretty regularly.

Better I think to reach out to someone I've lost touch with, to remind her that I still think of her, and that I still consider her a good friend, even though I've not picked up the phone to call her in a couple of years.

Thank goodness for the internet. Michelle is listed, and now I have her updated address and phone number. And we've had a good long chat. And we've made plans to see each other in a few weeks.

I met Michelle in junior high, on the bleachers in the gymnasium. That would make it... about 25 years ago, maybe 26. It's good to hold on to things like that I think.

Now I'll call my mother.

Quote of the Day, 9/10/06

Some thoughts today about heroes....

Tom Brokaw
Heroes are people who rise to the occasion and slip quietly away.

Edward F. Croker
I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. Our proudest moment is to save lives.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning
And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword. Ready to do what a hero can.

9/11

Day starts in sunlight.
Then three thousand birds in flight
and heroes ash-white.

.

For a much better poem remembering 9/11, please take the time to read "The New Century" by Linsey Abrams here.

.

Thanks to Susan over at Chicken Spaghetti, who linked to Abrams' poem for poetry Friday.

Pear-Hating, a Follow-up

An update to the pear battles, recorded faithfully, this 10th day of September, 2006

Small boy in front of my house:
"It says free pears! Look! The sign says free pears! They're free!"

Me, inside the house, thinking:
"Please, please take the pears. Take them all away. Pick more. I'll get the ladder."

Two children outside my house:
Laughter, giggling, indecipherable chatter. This goes on for a while.

Me, inside the house, thinking:
"What is so amusing, and are they still in front of my house? Didn't they take the pears yet?"

So I walk to my front door, and see two children sitting on my front steps next to the box of pears. The boy is about 4, the girl 5 or 6. The boy, cute as a button, is putting a pear back in the box. The pear has two bites taken out of it.

Me, actually thinking I am smarter than the 4-year-old:
"Oh, don't put it back! Please throw the pear away if you don't want to finish it."

Me, taking a closer look at the 20 pears in the box:
"Oh no! You took bites out of all the pears?"

Small boy, picking up another pear and grinning:
"Not yet!"

(I never remember to grab my camera at the most opportune moments....)

Me, in despair:
"No! Please don't eat that pear!"

Small boy, in guilt-inducing voice of the wrongfully accused:
"I'm sorry."

Me, finally growing a sense of humor:
"That's okay. Let me just get a plastic bag so we can throw those away."

Girl:
"He started it."

16 of the pears went in the trash. I let the each child take one, with strict instructions to take them away. I took one of the remaining pears, and now my box of free pears has become a box of free pear.

PS: And did I mention wasps? Not just bees and yellow-jackets, but wasps, and maybe even hornets. And odeur de poire putréfiée. The street cleaner comes tomorrow, unless it rains. Please God hold the rain off for 24 hours.

Quote of the Day: 9/9/06

Some thoughts on trees...

Robert Louis Stevenson
It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.

Thornton Wilder
The planting of trees is the least self-centred of all that we do. It is a purer act of faith than the procreation of children.

Rabindranath Tagore
Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.

My Inner Pear-Hating Demons

Two weeks ago I posted a charming picture of two butterflies dining on a (slightly decaying) pear in one of the trees just outside my door. I will post another similar image here, as a reminder.
















Now let me describe a new picture. No wait, I'll lead up to it gradually.

When I first visited this house last year, there were many rotten smushed pears on the sidewalk in front of the house. In fact, it was the first thing I noticed at the open house, and I was a little disgusted. Who were these people who didn't bother picking up the putrid pear mush from in front of their house? Well, I bought the house anyway, and by mid-December when I moved in, the pear-puree was gone.

At Easter I decorated the tree by hanging little white and yellow fuzzy chicks from all the lower branches. Adorable. Even when a vicious rain storm knocked most of the chicks to the ground where they would expire in the mud, and left the rest to drown while still hanging on the tree, I chuckled and thought, well it's an interesting if not so adorable tableau.

In mid-Spring, the tree blossomed. Who knew that pear trees were so pretty when in bloom? Not me, I had never lived with pear trees up close like this. My mother had removed all the fruit trees from our yard when I was very young, which I found incomprehensible. Wasn't I lucky now? "Wait until the bees come," my neighbors warned me. "Wait until the pears come!" I thought to myself.

In early summer, the pears began to grow. Between these two trees, there were easily over a thousand pears. Easily.

In late July, I noticed that the squirrels loved the pears. Very cute. They'd knock a pear off the tree, then squat on the ground and take two bites, then leave the pear there for the next guy. The next guy was usually me, as I kicked the pear out into the street hoping the weekly visit of the street-cleaner would take care of it. No big deal, a couple pears a day. I laughed about it with the neighbors, and wondered what I would do with all those wonderful pears when they got ripe.

In August, the butterflies came. More beauty. Life was good.

Pears began to drop more frequently, and by late August, I was gathering them from the sidewalk and street and sealing them in double plastic bags for the Friday trash collection. This was getting tiring, but the pears -- They were nearly ripe!

Then the pears got messier. They started getting smushed on the sidewalk, and the cleanup became a little dicier. There was a hose involved, and some footwork to separate bad pears from pesky insects. The Thursday before Labor Day I filled three grocery bags with bad pears. I also picked about 40 good pears, even though they were not yet ripe, and left them on my porch with a sign saying FREE PEARS. At least those 40 wouldn't fall.

On the Friday before Labor Day, we were hit with a big storm -- wind and rain and the PLUNK PLUNK PLUNK of falling pears.

PLUNK: they hit the sidewalk.
PLUNK: they were blown onto the roof.
PLUNK: they bounced off the car.
PLUNK PLUNK PLUNK.

I awoke the next morning to find at least 50 freshly-fallen pears on the sidewalk and street. Stubbornly refusing to face reality, I hopped in the car and left for the holiday weekend, with the best of intentions for cleaning up the mess as soon as I returned.

"Just wait till the bees come," my neighbors had said....

This past week has been quite the adventure in pear-puree-madness. The bees, and yellow-jackets, have indeed arrived. Along with an army of nasty flies. There are pear guts everywhere. I have washed the sidewalk twice, at no minor peril to myself (I am surprised to find that bees do not appreciate being hosed down while eating). I have collected 4 bags of pear trash, which is barely half of what was on the ground this week. There are pears I can't even approach because they are being feasted upon by the biggest bees I've ever seen. And each day, about an hour after I finish cleaning up, I look outside and see new pear rot on the sidewalk. It is a mystery to me how this happens and I'm considering a stakeout tomorrow so I can catch this in action.

Meanwhile, all the school kids pass my house every morning, stepping carefully around the putrid pears and stirring up the swarms of flies and other fun insects. I'm sure now my house will be known as the Fly-lady House, or Chateau Bug, or Rot Manor. Which is sad, because Halloween is coming, and who wants to go trick-or-treating at Rot Manor?

I'm secretly plotting the mysterious offing of two quite lovely pear trees. One morning I will call the police and tell them I am shocked -- shocked to discover that someone has chopped down my precious pear trees!

Oh, and I have an apple tree in the back yard that goes next.

And the pears are still not ripe enough to eat.

PLUNK!
PLUNK!
Aaaaargh!

How Lord of the Rings Should Have Ended

Many thanks to Fuse #8 for bringing this to my attention!

Quote of the Day, 9/8/06

Today's word, in honor of Ogden Nash, is "silly."

Ludwig Wittgenstein
If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.

Horace
Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans: it's lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Be Silly. Be honest. Be kind.

A Little Poetry for You (Ogden Nash)

For Poetry Friday, I went with an old favorite of mine, Ogden Nash. I've posted the first two lines of 6 of his classics. If you click on the last word of each couplet, it will link to a page with the rest of the poem.

Tell me, O Octopus I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
...
Behold the hippopotamus!
We laugh at how he looks to us...
...
A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
...
The ostrich roams the great Sahara.
Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra.
...
The one-L lama, he's a priest
The two-L llama, he's a beast
...
A panther looks like a leopard
Except that it hasn't been peppered

Link to a selection of Ogden Nash animal/insect poetry

Link to other good children's poetry selections

Quote of the Day, 9/7/06

Finding quotes every day proves challenging, not because there isn't an endless supply of wonderful things people have said, but because I first have to settle on a topic or word to ground the quote(s) I choose. To this point, I would happily welcome suggestions for quote topics or words.

Today's word is WONDER.

Albert Einstein
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

Anais Nin
The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.

M.C. Escher
He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.

Writing Challenge Follow-up -- Ta Dah!!!

The winners have been announced over at the Smug Cloud, so I can now reveal which short story was mine.

Remember that we had to write a story of exactly 200 words, and include all of these words: blackmail, cumbersome, discombobulated, edacious, intrigue, namby-pamby, poppycock, procrastinate, tawdry, vicarious. Here was my response.

Cameron let himself procrastinate while watching his new client leave. She had a dancer’s body, a tawdry wardrobe, and a massive bank account. His kind of woman. The kind that could leave a man too discombobulated to do his job.

He blinked, and picked up the file she’d left behind. The case had little intrigue. She’d cheated on her husband, and now some edacious vulture had photographs good enough for blackmail.

She’d fired the previous PI for his lack of progress and (her words) “namby-pamby” approach to her case. She used several nasty phrases to describe him, but beneath her anger still seemed unsure when she told Cameron, “He said I should pay the bastards what they want.”

“Poppycock!” Cameron snapped. He’d made a promise to stop swearing in front of ladies, which was proving to be a vocabulary challenge.

The case notes were cumbersome and of little value. This other guy had clocked enough hours for a new plasma TV, but clearly had scant talent as a PI. A good PI has to be more than a good observer. The best PI gets vicarious thrills from the low-lifes he investigates.

And sometimes, from his clients too. Cameron blinked again.

Well it won't win a Pulitzer, but it was fun to write! And I won the contest, which is just too cool because there were really fun entries in the mix.

Words on Wednesday: Intelligence Test

Have you tried this intelligence test?

We did this among family, friends and coworkers, and found it was only possible to complete as a group effort.

Note, I had to use an alternate site because the original link isn't working tonight. But if I see it come back up, I'll post that link, along with the links to 2 follow-up tests of the same type.

Quote of the Day, 9/6/06

To keep to the theme of pirates for the day...

Walt Disney
There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.

"Jack Sparrow" in Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl
Wherever we want to go, we go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and sails; that's what a ship needs. Not what a ship is. What the Black Pearl really is, is freedom.

Words on Wednesday: Journey Wench, Arrrrrrgh!

I found a nifty little translator today, that let's you switch from standard English to Elmer Fudd, Swedish Chef, Pirate, etc....

Some of their selections are tasteless. But the Pirate one is a real winner. Test it out with this link.

Oh, and if you click on the picture below, you'll see a snapshot of what the Pirate translator did with my blog.

Added note: The link above works well for translating web sites, but not for entering text. If you want a site where you can enter text and get Pirate-translation back, use this one.

My New Words Were a Bust

I got very excited when I saw that the folks at Mental Floss used one of my new words, plutobstinance, in this post. Thought for sure that meant I had a fighting chance of winning their coin-a-new-word contest.

Alas, it was not to be. And so I give you, probably for the last time you'll ever read or hear them, the 4 words I tried to make stick:

trinomychosis (Try-NO-me-CO-sis) - the insanity that can accompany the choice to be identified by one’s first, middle and last names

The investigators and many of the press were ready to believe that John Mark Karr’s tale was yet another story of trinomychosis, as was believed to be the case with John Wayne Gacy and Mark David Chapman, among others.

plutobstinance (Ploo-TAWB-stin-ints) - irrational refusal to accept changing scientific assumptions

In an act of blind plutobstinance, she continued to say “My very excellent mother just served us nine PIES!”

cognutia (Cog-NEW-sha) - inane trivia

Most Americans can rattle off astounding amounts of cognutia (such as the names of the 7 Dwarfs) but cannot name 2 cabinet members or 2 Supreme Court justices.

fabrilliant (Fuh-BRILL-yent) - all at once fabulous and extremely intelligent or brilliant

The words I coined for this contest are simply fabrilliant, don’t you agree?

Quote of the Day, 9/5/06

In honor of children going back to school, and their teachers....

D. H. Lawrence
The sense of wonder, that is our sixth sense.

Thomas Edison
If we all did the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery
If you want to build a ship, then don't drum up men to gather wood, give orders, and divide the work. Rather, teach them to yearn for the far and endless sea.

Quote of the Day, 9/4/06

Steve Irwin has died, and it's a big loss to the world of animals, ecologists, preservationists, kids-who-love-crocodiles, and adults who love being kids-who-love-crocodiles.

Quotes today are from Steve Irwin:

I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.
...
My belief is that what comes across on the television is a capture of my enthusiasm and my passion for wildlife.
...
Yeah, I'm a thrill seeker, but crikey, education's the most important thing.

Very sad.

Are You Nonseussical?

Dr. Seuss grew up in the same city I did, and graduated from my high school. The Mulberry street of To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street was just a few miles from my home.

Yes, I've always felt a special connection to Dr. Seuss.

Which is why I was horrified to only score a 2 out of 10 on this quiz.

Sigh...

You Don't Know Jane

For any Jane Austen fans out there, this is a great little quiz. See if you are worthy of calling yourself a true fan.

I am not worthy. I scored a 7 out of 18.

Quote of the Day, 9/3/06

Well, I'm a day late to post quotes in honor of my parents' 45th anniversary, but thought it worth doing, even late.

Amy Bloom
Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle.

Mignon McLaughlin
A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Simone Signoret
Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.

Vote for Me! Vote for Me!

No seriously, vote for the short story you think is best. I won't even tell you which one is mine.

Go here for the story-contest entries and instructions for voting.

The stories are only 200 words each, so it is pretty quick to get through all 8 entries and decide which one you like best. Remember, our contest rules required that we use the following words, so don't be suprised when you keep reading them over and over:

discombobulated
blackmail
edacious
namby-pamby
poppycock
vicarious
tawdry
cumbersome
procrastinate
intrigue

Vote early. Vote often.

Quote of the Day, 9/2/06

On the theme of remembrance, and the connection of remembrance to artistic creation...

The Talmud
There are stars who's light only reaches the earth long after they have fallen apart. There are people who's remembrance gives light in this world, long after they have passed away. This light shines in our darkest nights on the road we must follow.

John Keats
Poetry should... should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.

Gian Carlo Menotti
Melody is a form of remembrance. It must have a quality of inevitability in our ears.

Remembrances: A Grandfather's Lesson

Several weeks ago I mentioned that I wanted to post a series of remembrances. By remembrances, I mean short stories that highlight the character of someone we want remembered.

My first remembrance was about my dog Sam. The second was a story about my great-grandfather, as told by my father.

I haven't done much to collect more remembrance-stories since then, though I'd gratefully accept any that people care to send my way.

In the meantime, I came across this post today, and I think it fits in nicely with what I'd like to do. Please click here.

Quote of the Day, 9/1/06

Procrastination is my watch-word of the day, so I offer three quotes on the topic.

Abraham Lincoln
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

William Shakespeare
In delay there lies no plenty.

William James
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.

Magnetic Poetry by Nancy

Mother Reader reminded me to revisit Magnetic Poetry and see what I could make of it. I was limited to 20 words and only the word selection they offered, which is not to make excuses for what follows, but only to describe the writing challenge.

Sorrow fades.
You become
a brilliant cascade
of dreams --
my happy cycles
my summer songs --
delicious,
uncertain,
forever.

Nancy's New Words, Coming to a Conversation Near You

Did you remember to coin your new words for this contest?

I submitted 3:

trinomychosis
plutobstinance
cognutia

But if you want to know what these fabrilliant new words mean, you have to look at the comments in this post here.

Ooh, there's a 4th word!

A Little Poetry For You (Guy Wetmore Carryl)

My selection for Poetry Friday comes from a book I read many times as a child, called 100 More Story Poems. The following was by far one of my favorite poems when I was growing up, and even as an adult I've been seen reciting this at a party or coffee-house on occasion.

I hope you enjoy this! Some other Friday, I may offer another poem from the same book, entitled "God's Judgement on a Wicked Bishop," which is wonderfully gruesome and was another of my childhood favorites. For now though, something a little lighter....

(My favorite lines are the last two before the "moral.")

The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet discovered a tuffet,
(Which never occurred to the rest of us)
And, as ’twas a June day, and just about noonday,
She wanted to eat -- like the best of us.

Her diet was whey, and I hasten to say
It is wholesome and people grow fat on it.
The spot being lonely, the lady not only
Discovered the tuffet, but sat on it.

A rivulet gabbled beside her and babbled,
As rivulets always are thought to do,
And dragon flies sported around and cavorted,
As poets say dragon flies ought to do;

When, glancing aside for a moment, she spied
A horrible sight that brought fear to her,
A hideous spider was sitting beside her,
And most unavoidably near to her!

Albeit unsightly, this creature politely
Said, "Madam, I earnestly vow to you,
I’m penitent that I did not bring my hat. I
Should otherwise certainly bow to you."

Though anxious to please, he was so ill at ease
That he lost all sense of propriety,
And grew so inept that he clumsily stept
In her plate -- which is barred in Society.

This curious error completed her terror;
She shuddered, and growing much paler, not
Only left tuffet, but dealt him a buffet
Which doubled him up in a sailor knot.

It should be explained that at this he was pained;
He cried, "I have vexed you, no doubt of it!
Your fist’s like a truncheon." "You’re still in my luncheon,"
Was all that she answered. "Get out of it!"

And THE MORAL is this: Be it madam or miss
To whom you have something to say,
You are only absurd when you get in the curd
But you’re rude when you get in the whey!