Today is Cow Appreciation Day. And I really appreciate our bovine friends. They are noble, as well as humorous. They are inspiring with their ability to placidly spend their days grazing while they are producing milk for the masses.
Cows are so amazing they deserve the Pulitzer Prize for being outstanding contributors in their field.
Next time you quench your thirst with a cold glass of milk, or sprinkle some cheese on your pizza, or dip into that bowl of ice cream be sure to thank a cow.
Which three letter word sports the current title of having the most definitions?
A. lie
B. set
C. run
Lie?
Sorry—only two : to tell something that is untrue or to assume a horizontal position.
I’m not lying about not taking word knowledge lying down
Set?
Previously the champ, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED—THE leading dictionary) tagged it with 200 meanings, starting with the expected “put or lay something down” and then running on for another 32 pages with various meaning. Speaking of run—
Run?
Congratulations on this pick as the OED folk have determined that this little word carries a whopping 645 definitions. Impressive, right?
Here’s a sample (taken from RD.com)
When you run a fever, for example, those three letters have a very different meaning than when you run a bath to treat it, or when your bathwater subsequently runs over and drenches your cotton bath runner, forcing you to run out to the store and buy a new one. There, you run up a bill of $85 because besides a rug and some cold medicine, you also need some thread to fix the run in your stockings and some tissue for your runny nose and a carton of milk because you’ve run through your supply at home, and all this makes dread run through your soul because your value-club membership runs out at the end of the month and you’ve already run over your budget on last week’s grocery run when you ran over a nail in the parking lot and now your car won’t even run properly because whatever idiot runs that Walmart apparently lets his custodial staff run amok and you know you’re letting your inner monologue run on and on but, gosh—you’d do things differently if you ran the world. (And breathe). Maybe you should run for office.
And I have run the course on this post. Until next time.
Time to catch up on my reading shares. I’m having an absolute jolly time in my retirement reading books whenever I want. Mornings used to find me scrambling out the door to get to class before the parking lot filled and evenings were often spent grading, leaving a smidgen of time during the weekend to leisurely read.
Not so anymore. I have started to luxuriate in bed in the mornings and read for a couple of hours before starting my day. Since I am still on teacher time I get up at 5 am and even reading for a couple of hours I am up and ready for whatever the day brings by 8 a.m. I am also deeply investing in hammock time this summer and depending on the book (a shout out to Anthony Horowitz) will spend ALL DAY reading.
When not reading I am at the library volunteering (my happy place), working on my own stories, or fiddling about with yardwork. Reading is definitely my retirement go to.
Here are the five star reads over the past couple of months:
I Could Murder Her by E.C.R. Lorac
Inspector MacDonald steps in early and in his usual smooth, methodical manages to untangle this messy family drama.
Mockingbird Summer by Lynda Rutledge
As with her other book, West with Giraffes, the main character is full of heart and refreshing insights as the book explores the complications of friendship across the tracks in 1964. The ending resonates after the last page is read.
The Essence of Malice by Ashley Weaver
A tangled case for Milo and Amory–this time in Paris.
The Wright Sister: Katharine Wright and Her Famous Brothers by Richard Maurer
Who knew Wilbur and Orville had two other brothers, let alone a dynamic sister? An informative middle grade biography of the Wright brothers’ sister who turns out contributed significantly to their success.
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
The third outing for Susan Ryeland provides readers with a different perspective. No Andreas, for one. And only a brief mention of Katie. Susan is absolutely on her own and once again caught up in editing a book with a sinister agenda that will threaten her life and livelihood.
Candle Island by Lauren Wolk
As with her other books Wolk provides a unique setting with a memorable set of characters. This story combines many plot threads: loss, new beginnings, creativity, animosity, respect, and adapting. Wolk’s signature lyrical prose is admirable.
Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson
A concise, user-friendly overview of Shakespeare in under 200 pages divided into quick chapters blending in known facts with neutral conjecture that adds nicely to anyone interested in learning something but not everything about the Bard.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
A deeply profound story of healing through the emotional language of flowers that centers on Alice, who literally rises from the ashes of childhood abuse to a strong, confidant woman. This was also made into a series with Sigourney Weaver, but I have yet to watch.
The Poet’s Dog by Patricia MacLachlan
A short, poignant story of a dog and two children surviving a winter storm huddled together in a cabin once owned by a poet.
As always, you can find my other reviews on Goodreads–I hope you stop by.
Although it may seem I’m late in wishing William a happy birthday, I might actually be on time.
While traditionally Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated April 23, it’s not certain what day he was born. Something about birth registry and waiting a few days blurs the true date.
Besides, birthdays weren’t that big of a deal in Shakespeare’s time, unless you were of nobility. I imagine Queen Liz I had quite the bash.
Bring on the birthday fun!
The more common folk instead celebrated their saint’s day. Shakespeare’s saint’s day was St. George, the purported dragon slayer guy.
Cakes and candles came upon the scene much, much later.
In fact, Shakespeare didn’t get a party until after his death. He even got a parade.
Not late but perhaps elated
So Shakespeare might not have blown out candles and made a wish over an iced confection on his birthday, he did get a parade. It only took a century or so to get one.
Anyway, happy birthday, William. May your words continue to live on.
June 14th commemorates adopting the flag of the United States, which all began June 14, 1775.
No worries if you didn’t even know about it. The banks are open, so is the library, and there will be no parades or a big star-studded concert at the nation’s capitol.
I will celebrate by hanging out our flag and by going out to dinner. Then again it’s my birthday and what better way to celebrate than to have flags hung out and enjoy a night out.
Hope you find a special way to celebrate Flag Day—even if it isn’t your birthday.
Let’s think for a moment about the 1990s. For some a moment might be too much for others it might be a welcome nostalgia nudge.
After all the nineties introduced fashion statements like grunge and the music genre hip hop. One influenced the other. TV shows and the workplace became more relaxed in attitude. But one, if not the biggest contribution to life, was the WWW. No, not World Wide Wrestling—the World Wide Web or what we mostly call the Internet (and now it’s such a ubiquitous aspect it’s not even capitalized anymore). The internet was still in its dial-up infancy.
some fashion statements are best left in the past
Since this is my Word Nerd post I’m going to focus on how the internet contributed to our cultural lexicon. Here are words that came out of the internet age:
viral: an infection that used to be related to health like how a cold can be spread, and in the same manner misinformation, memes, and other aspects can be quickly spread from one person’s computer to another.
catfish: it still refers to that strange whiskered fish but has taken on the meaning of being duped, usually when it comes to internet dating profiles. Read here for the backstory.
ghost: not like Casper, yet the term shares with the friendly entity the ability to disappear without warning or reason.
cookie: not the sweet treat you’re thinking of—instead it’s that little bit of information that websites use to keep track of user information. It’s not always so sweet to have personal data kept in a business file.
hallucination: not LSD related yet in the same sense that what you are looking at on the screen is not always real or to be trusted. Now that AI has entered our lives there is more hallucinations than ever before.
stream: relating to flow, like how water moves, information and more commonly, entertainment like movies, flow from our tech into our lives. No longer do we have to wait for our weekly episodes of our favorite sit-coms as some station no doubt is streaming Friends or The Dick Van Dyke Show 24/7.
24/7: the concept of easy access around the clock didn’t start with the internet, although it brought it to the forefront that information can be had at the push of a button at anytime day or night.
troll: these despicable creatures are found living under bridges in folklore and are all about harm and deception, which makes a perfect description of those who hide behind websites and do mischief with misinformation.
I could probably come up with a couple more but I really want to go stream another Death in Paradise episode and I’ve got to get an email out before being accused of ghosting, and I better clear out my cookies before a troll finds them.
Apparently one is supposed to say ‘Rabbit, Rabbit” first thing in the first day of the month. Not sure why but hints of good things happening are implied.
It was easy to rabbit trail on this first day of June since it is my favorite month. Why my favorite? Well, thank you for asking.
my inner feelings revealed
School ends in June—referring to most K-12 students. Knowing that summer break’s imminent arrival created an anticipatory exhilaration. And I suppose students felt that way too. I know as a teacher I did.
Flag Day! Not only is this a day to honor our nation’s flag it’s my birthday. Yes, not everyone can claim the truth that people hang the flag out for them on their birthday. That’s what I believed because that’s what my mother told me. Believed it. I still do, actually.
Family birthdays. Winter must have been long because we have a plethora of family birthdays in June.
Summer solstice. Shades of Shakespearean delight as summer officially begins with the solstice. Watch out for fairies and wayward thespians if walking in the forest.
wood you care for a walk?
5. Settling into summer mode. Even though May provides some bodaciously warm days there remains a sense of “just kidding!” since May still tosses in some rain and inclement weather. June seems more confident in providing consistent blue sky days.
6. Birds and blooms. Giving credit to April and May for nudging winter to pack up and leave for a while, June ushers in the season of winged friends and garden flurry. My backyard is a small slice of paradise as hummingbirds and assorted feathered friends cavort amid the feeders and bird baths while I appreciate the lavender, lilies, and other blooming details. And the busyness of bees is a bonus. 🐝
7. Then there is the celebration of the hammock. Reading, lounging, napping—aah, so nice.
To prevent any misconceptions I will emphatically state that I do indeed like robins.
With that stated, I have say this: Robins have got to be one of the stupidest birds out there.
Why the vitriol?
Maybe I’m just fed up with this particular batch of red-breasted harbingers of spring.
I don’t mind how they try to nest in our patio rafters every year—at least not too much since when we do allow a nest it’s plenty entertaining watching them raise their noisy brood.
I’m irritated but understanding when they lob their droppings all over my outdoor furniture—when nature calls, and all that.
I must say I get tremendous enjoyment watching them splash around in the birdbath—they are exorbitant extroverts when it comes to bathing.
Getting ready to splash and dash
I do mind one distinct and inexcusable behavior: robin reflection bobbing. Or flap and slap. I’m sure there must be a scientific term for how robins (I have yet to see other birds do this behavior) go for their window reflection endlessly flapping up against it until I shoo them away.
This is is the first year in the thirty years at this address I’ve seen this behavior.
Right—I understand they think it’s another bird and are feeling territorial…
Yet this year they are taking on car windows, the neighbor’s shed window, the office window, the living room window. These aren’t isolated incidents but repeated violations no matter how many times they are chased away.
We even blocked a window so the reflection was covered and the robin still wanted to fight with the window.
I’m doing a call out here—has anyone else noticed their backyard robins being so crazily hostile this year?
My explanation is that this year’s robins are an off batch. They give meaning to the description of being bird-brained.
Maybe there should be a robin recall. Anyone know the number of the department of defective birds? Or did that one get shuttered as well?
Then again I tend to celebrate bees everyday. We keep a bee-friendly yard by planting lots of flowers that bees favor, such as a huge mound of lavender.
I will often go out and search for bees once the lavender comes into bloom. My favorites are the big black bumblebees. They remind me of little bears as they flit around gathering pollen.
Reading about bees is also a favorite. Here are few recommendations:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Bees by Laline Paull
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
He Should Have Told the Bees by Amanda Cox
Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager
The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Porter-Stratton
And I definitely tune into nature shows about bees. One of my favorites is found on PBS’ Nature called “My Garden of a Thousand Bees.” A wildlife filmmaker is stuck at home in Bristol, England during the pandemic lockdown and decides to film the busy bees in his backyard. I’m on my third rewatch. Here is the preview.
What are your thought about bees?
P.S. Don’t forget to nudge your congressperson to support PBS. Public broadcasting benefits everybody!
Teacher Appreciation Day happened this week and I silently salute my former colleagues since I am now a teacher in the past tense.
A funny thing happened on the way to the classroom…
I started out my career with an AA in Early Childhood Education. The two year program held in a brand new interactive classroom was an amazing experience. I learned so incredibly much about little tykes and I also learned it would be difficult to make a sustainable living watching other people’s preschoolers since wages were barely above minimum wage. Hmm, that says something about how society values the care and feeding of our children. Let’s move on.
From there I enrolled in the university’s speech therapy program (having somehow been convinced by my dentist and mother to do so because he wanted to include a speech therapist in his practice and my mother probably liked the prestige of her daughter going into the medical field). I transferred out at the end of the year. Less said the better. Let’s move on.
Another university, another program. This time it’s Outdoor Education(officially dubbed Leisure Studies—I know. Outdoor Education is better for the resume). A BA later and an internship helped me understand this too was not a sustainable career since a camp director lives on site meaning time away from family and most camps are seasonal. Let’s move on.
I like to write. I like the outdoors. How about Environmental Writing? This university needed warm bodies for their new MA in the Teaching of Writing? Okay, I’ll switch. This one had possibilities providing I got hired on at a community college. One local CC with no openings. The library is hiring.
Twelve years later, a big move with a family now in tow I apply for the local high school library position. What? I need a teaching certificate to be a school librarian? More school. What? Budget cuts? The school district can afford a certified librarian? Options?
All those different paths helped me become an English teacher. An ECE degree definitely helped with classroom management (preschoolers and teenagers share distinct similarities), teaching outside the classroom when applicable thanks to Outdoor Education, and an MA in the Teaching of Writing absolutely came in handy. All that library time? What better place to apply literary knowledge than in AP English.
I didn’t intend on being a teacher because given my druthers I would have thoroughly relished being a long term librarian. I did appreciate my time in the classroom and do miss it (at times).
So happy Teacher Appreciation Day to those dedicated to educating our youth.
Pam Webb 