english

Two countries separated by a common language...

 

wednesday's words and wonderings and wanderings

LET THERE BE HEAT!

❊ I woke up, got out from the cozy comfort of my down comforter, and thought, "Brrrrr. It's a little chilly in here." And it was. The thermostat read 63. I flipped the switch to heat and nothing. Uh oh. Went to the furnace and flipped the switch off, waited a minute, turned it back on, and nothing. Todd tried doing a couple things and the furnace wouldn't turn on. This is a brand new furnace. We called our furnace guy and he was at the house in an hour. He did his furnace guy thing and got the furnace to work.

❊ It was time to pull the parsley out of the garden and made parsley garlic butter. There was a lot of parsley still left and I remembered my mom froze parsley. It took no time to chop it in the food processor and it took me back to the days of no food processors watching Mom chop her parsley by hand. 

❊  At the farm, people are buying lots of pumpkins and tomatoes. Fall decorating is in full force and the customers are sensing the end of fresh tomato season. I've been buying my share of tomatoes, too. Once they're done, I'll wait until next year for the homegrown tomatoes. 

❊ This week a couple people who evacuated from Florida came to the farm. One lady is planning to go back in a couple days and she bought a lot of veggies to take back to friends and family. Another woman and her daughter spent a long time just walking around and looking at all the vegetables and pumpkins, they sat in a couple chairs looking out over the field that had been recently plowed. It was a beautiful fall day and the mom (who had evacuated from Anna Maria Island) just wanted to take it all in. The farm is a little 10 acre oasis that brings a lot of joy to people.

❊ I made an early morning trip to Kroger for some ingredients to make an apple cake. The young man monitoring the self-checkout line said, "Good morning," and I responded, "Good morning, how are you?" This opened the gates to a conversation. "Im tired. Had to be here at 6:00 a.m. and I worked until 9:00 last night. I'm so excited for next week because I'm making my last two payments on my college loans." Good for you and congratulations, young man. 

❊ Oh, my 2 1/2 year old grandson brought the biggest smile to my face. He named his pet rock "Diane." Rock on, little guy.

 

smh (shaking my head)

People get vanity plates to celebrate something interesting about the car or its driver. They are intended as conversation starters. Sometimes they are inside jokes that most people won't get. Sometimes they are easier to figure out. Overall, vanity plates are a way for individuals to express their identity, interests, and values through their vehicles.

So what does MRS WTF say about this soccer mom who drives her kids to and from practices and to soccer games? Perhaps WTF is her husband's or partner's or her initials. Or is this what she yells at the refs when she doesn't agree with a call? Maybe it's an inside joke of some sort.

Me, I don't have a specialized license plate, just an everyday plate from the BMV which needs its renewal in the next few weeks. 

monday's mulling: back in the day

Who remembers doing this? I sure do and it was in the lunchroom that was also used as the gym at Dorothy Lane Elementary School. Not to brag, but I was good at it. I was one of the faster ones to pull myself up that rope, held on for dear life to ring the bell, and then slid down, finding that point to get down quickly but not get rope burns.

This was Dorothy Lane Elementary School where I attended 5th and 6th grade. It was the original Fairmont High School and is now the site of senior living apartments. Why was the school named Dorothy Lane? It was on a road named Dorothy Lane. Dorothy was the daughter of John Patterson, the founder of National Cash Register (NCR), and he sold the land to Van Buren Township (now the suburb of Kettering) to build a road. 

Back to Dorothy Lane days. At the end of the school year, there was 6th Grade Recognition Night, a farewell to the 6th graders as they left the comforts of elementary school and embarked on their junior high school journey. As one last assignment, each 6th grader had to write a poem about his or her Dorothy Lane experience. A committee would choose four students to recite their poems by memory on the stage in the auditorium in front of all the parents and classmates. I prayed that I my poem wouldn't be one of the chosen ones but it was. I was very quiet and shy and quite petrified having to do this. Bless my mom. She worked and worked and worked with me to memorize the poem.

6th Grade Recognition Night came, all the poets stood on the stage as we each recited our poem. My turn. Stage fright set in as I was blinded by the big light. I heard my mom's voice say the first line of the poem, "The corridors are still..." and then everything was fine. I recited my poem.

Here's what I can remember of it.

The corridors are still, the children have all gone home.

Only the memories of their voices remain

As night closes in on Dorothy Lane.

This school I shall long recall, with thoughts of joy and gladness

The teachers with their skills and knowledge

The friends who someday will be in college.

If the rooms could take and tell their thoughts

What would they think, what would they say?

Do you think they’d remember Carnival Day?

The lunchroom is most peoples’ favorite, 

For here our appetites are pleased.

Hamburgers, hot dogs, vegetables, and pies 

Are some of the things we get to try.

(There were a few more verses going through different rooms in the school but this is where the my memory stops.) 

The last line...and the biggest sigh of relief!

Good night, good night, dear Dorothy Lane.

new employee

Every year when the farmers market opens, one of the employees goes around to all the produce and makes a cheat sheet with all the prices on it. Typically it's handwritten and taped to the counter until everyone is comfortable in his or her price knowledge.

A couple weeks ago a new employee joined the ranks and she needed her cheat sheet. She's artistic and added illustrations to go with the items and prices. What fun! Hope she'll be back next year to make the price list.

 

make the world a better place

Humanity can be baffling at times, but I'm in awe of our ability to come together to help each other out – so here's to all the helping hands, near and far, who continue to show up selflessly for all the folks experiencing really rough times of late; you are good, good souls.

 

the friday feed: pumpkins for sharon 🎃

For Sharon, creator of Phoenix Daily Photo. 

In one of my posts, Sharon commented that the only pumpkins she had seen this year were in boxes at Trader Joe's. This one's for you, Sharon - pumpkins in all shapes, sizes, and colors!

“I am falling in love with autumn, the smell of warm cider, the orange color leaves, pumpkins everywhere, and the crisp breeze.” ~ Charmaine J. Forde

“We’re not pumpkins. We’re stunning autumn gourds.” ~ Penny Reid

"I can smell autumn dancing in the breeze. The sweet chill of pumpkin, and crisp sunburnt leaves." ~ Ann Drake

“In November, the smell of food is different. It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell.” ~ Cynthia Rylant