Adieu

R.I.P., P.D.

Is it the end of the dust?

From Pixie Dust to just plain dust. The joy has gone, so the blog is currently comatose. A merciful death may be in its future. It's been fun.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I really really don't like looking in mirrors. Grant you, if I did it more often I'd have fewer incidents of clothes being on inside out. Nevertheless, it is something I go out of my way to avoid.

I don't like seeing myself, and while looking in a mirror won't make me look better that I thougt, there is, - for me - always the fear that somehow I'll look much worse.

And to prove that there is very little to be gained by mirror-checking, here's the sum total of what I learned this morning when I accidentally saw a reflection of myself in mirrored glass:

Yes, there are no other buttons on this shirt, this is as high as it goes.
Wow, that's a lot of warm wooly clothing for the tenth of June.
Born with knobby knees, live with knobby knees, die with knobby knees.

What they all mean.

Sorry about the delay, but things have been a wee bit crazy lately. But for those of you who, like me, like to find out the meanings of words they’ve never heard of before here are the definitions for the words from here:

Minatory
–adjective
menacing; threatening

Desuetude
–noun
the state of being no longer used or practiced.

Incunabula in•cu•nab•u•la
 
1.
extant copies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable type.
2.
the earliest stages or first traces of anything

Marmoreal mar•mo•re•al
 
–adjective
of or like marble: skin of marmoreal smoothness.

Carabosse The wicked fairy godmother, a figure rare in fairy tales, is nevertheless among best-known figures from such tales because of her appearance in one of the most widely known tales, Sleeping Beauty, and in the ballet derived from it. Anonymous in her first appearance, she was later named in some variants Carabosse, and in others Maleficent.
Phagocyte phag•o•cyte
 –nounCell Biology.
any cell, as a macrophage, that ingests and destroys foreign particles, bacteria, and cell debris.

Jilt jilt (in the context it was in, she meant the latter definition
 –verb (used with object)
1.
to reject or cast aside (a lover or sweetheart), esp. abruptly or unfeelingly.
–noun
2.
a woman who jilts a lover.

Swingeing swinge•ing
–adjectiveChiefly British.
1.
enormous; thumping.
2.
Slang. swinging

Inelecutable in•e•luc•ta•ble
–adjective
incapable of being evaded; inescapable: an ineluctable destiny.

Vitever apparently this is some sort of grass: From Ananda Aromatherapy, pure essential oil of Vetiver, steam distiled from from the roots of the herb organically grown in Sri Lanka. This is a lovely soft and earthy Vetiver...an outstanding variety both aromatically and therapeutically.

Because it's worth the research

I bake. I bake things, not myself. Although August in Saskatchewan...yes, sometimes people themselves bake but that's another story.

I bake when: I'm happy, angry, sad, tired, frustrated, excited - in fact I think the only thing that baking doesn't make better is migraines. But who knows? I've never tried baking with a migraine; perhaps I'm missing out on the most productive cure ever.

Oops - way off track. Anyway, when a friend's life had to change drastically, I threw myself into doing something about it. Lots of experiments and lots of research.

Lots of reading, too. I've learned about things that are interesting in their own right (Like Britain's 1953 flour order), and things that I am hoping will help me in my quest. Things from other countries, sometimes in English, sometimes in languages that I can read and sometimes in languages that I have to find someone to help me out with. Which in itself has made me want to learn Arabic.

Drat - off topic again. I figured if I went back in time (oh, I really wish I could mean that literally) I would have a much better understanding of what I am trying to accomplish. So I read books from the early 1900's. Not good enough. So I went back a hundred years. Still not good enough. How far back did I go? Fifteen hundreds. Very helpful, if difficult to get trhough at times. Very helpful, though, and there were occasionally words that a) I didn't understand until I looked them up and b) should come back into circulation because they're awesome.

For your reading pleasure here is a bit from Thomas Muffet's Health's Improvement. Written @ 1595, published in 1655 by Samuel Thomson at the Sign of the White Horse in St. Paul's Churchyard:

"the water must be pure, from a clear river or spring" (HA! Don't even think about trying that today), the salt must ve very white, finely beaten, not too much nor too little , but to give an indifferent seasoning. The leaven must be made of pure wheate, it must not be too old least it prove too soure, nor too new least it work to no purpose. When a just proportion is kept betwixt them both Leaven corrects the meals imperfection, making altogether a well relished mass called Bread which is justly termed the staff of life...loaves made of pure wheaten-meal require both more leaven and more labouring, and more baking , than either coarse cheate or than bread mingled of meal and grudgins".

Seriously, shouldn't we start using grudgins again? Ok, they're just the coarsest particlles of husk and bran but still - I'd like to say "grudgins" the next time someone asks me what I had for breakfast.

And this genre of dance is what, exactly?

So Tuesday night's dance class was...interesting. This is belly dancing, yes? Arabic music, fluid movement, the whole nine yards.

We had a substiture teacher (whose full time career is being a ministry of education substiture teacher) and the music was...the Beatles....reggae style. Yeah, confused me too. Not to mention that despite being a lovely dancer, she didn't seem to have a sense of rhythm. Which would almost be worth suffering with if I could shimmy like she does.

Common Sense 101

You know what should be obvious but apparently isn't? Not to everyone, that is. You can't leave a message about when you're going to be over to fix the phone that doesn't work on the phone that doesn't work.

Definitions

At the end of the week I'll add definitions to the previous post. In the meantime here is one for today: Jilt. A woman who is a harlot, originally, then one who is a harlot AND dumps a guy. Hence the term "jilted".

The List

Remember this? Well I'm done the book. Many of her books, actually, but I'm done with the one that required reading with a dictionary to hand.

So now you can look at the list. And I'm no longer worrying about how many of you know some or all of the words on the list. Because one thing I did get through my thick skull from this read: the world is full of wonderful words. I could read a novel a day until I'm ninety and not know them all, so I'll be content with knowing a fair amount of them. And here, for your reading (and perhaps gloating) pleasure is the list:


Minatory
Desuetude
Incunabula
Marmoreal
Carabosse
Phagocyte
Jilt (yes, I know the word but I’ve never seen it used as a type of person, as in “she was such a jilt)
Swingeing
Ineluctable (I wasn’t sure I knew this word, turns out that my guess was right but since I wasn’t absolutely sure I’ve put it on the list anyway)
Vitever