thursday's thought for the day

Autumn isn't really about endings. It's about having the courage to change, the grace to let go, to make room for what comes next, and the faith that something beautiful will grow again. 

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

Back on October 29, which was my son’s birthday, Neil, the creator of the blog Yorkshire Pudding, published a post titled “"Quotations.".” He wrote about The Quotation Dictionary and how he used it when writing academic essays as a student at the University of Stirling in Scotland back in the 1970s. He still has that book.

In that respect, Neil and I are kindred spirits. I, too, have held on to some of the old reference books from my college days. And just recently, I added another one to my collection when I purchased a Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language at a friend’s garage sale.

My love for dictionaries goes back to fifth and sixth grades. When the class was  learning how to use one, our teacher gave us a weekly exercise involving our spelling words. First, we had to alphabetize the words in our spelling books. Then we would take out a couple of sheets of paper, look up each word in the dictionary, write it down, underline it, identify its part of speech, indicate its syllabication, and finally write its definition. Whatever we didn’t finish in class became homework.

There was plenty of moaning and groaning from some of my classmates, but not from me. I actually enjoyed the exercise. I liked searching for the words, discovering their meanings, and learning something new along the way. Looking back, those assignments probably helped develop my appreciation for words and the English language.

Now, back to my Webster’s Dictionary. It is an absolute giant! The pages measure 8 by 11 inches, and the book is 5.5 inches thick. There are 2,006 pages devoted just to A-to-Z words and their definitions. But that’s not all. It also contains sections listing the populations of U.S. cities and foreign cities, information about U.S. presidents, maps of countries, a digest of the purposes of current federal agencies, and so much more. This eight-pound tome is practically a reference library all by itself.

I imagine that most students today rarely, if ever, use a physical dictionary. With resources such as Merriam-Webster Online, Dictionary.com, the Cambridge Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary, definitions, word origins, and thesaurus tools are just a few clicks or taps away. Information is instantly available at their fingertips, without having to thumb through page after page to find what they need.

And while I appreciate the convenience of online dictionaries, there is something special about holding a big, old-fashioned dictionary in your hands. You can open it to look up one word and, before you know it, find yourself exploring several others along the way. Sometimes the words you stumble upon are just as interesting as the one you originally set out to find.

That's what I miss most about the physical dictionary: the journey of discovery. Looking up a word was never just about finding a definition. It was about learning, exploring, and occasionally getting sidetracked. Technology may have made finding words faster, but I think there is still room on the bookshelf for a good old dictionary.

 

text messages are driving me bonkers

And I truly truly truly truly truly will never send you any money because you have no idea what a comma is. 

día de los muertos/day 2

Today, November 2, is the second day of Día de Los Muertos, dedicated to honoring adult family members and ancestors.

Pilsen is a Chicago neighborhood, rich in Hispanic culture, and wherever you walk you're greeted by a sensory feast with fabulous murals for the eyes, music for the ears, and the smell of foods to entice the nose. 

Día de Los Muertos is a big celebration in Pilsen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Isabel Hernandez built her first big altar (ofrenda) to show her community this wonderful tradition of keeping family members' and community members' memories alive. It's also her way of attempting to influence the younger generations to pass down Mexican traditions. This ofrenda takes her three weeks to build, fills her entire yard, and people from all over Chicago come to visit it.  

I discovered Isabel's ofrenda on Instagram and last weekend we all piled into Lauren and Anthony's big SUV and headed to Pilsen to visit it. The ofrenda is 17 feet tall, has over 400 photos of departed relatives and community members. It's decorated with flowers, favorite foods, candles, personal mementos, papel picado (cut paper), calacas and calaveras (skulls created with humor and joy to show that death is not something to fear). Isabel pours so much love and joy into her ofrenda. She opens her gate for people to walk through garden and to the ofrenda. It is her beautiful gift to her community.

día de los muertos/day 1

Día de Los Muertos is a Mexican holiday and celebration where families welcome back and honor the spirits of deceased loved ones. It takes place over two days, November 1 and 2. Even though it's the day after Halloween, Día de Los Muertos is a joyful celebration of life and memories rather than a night of fright.

 

November 1 is the Día de Los Angelitos, the Day of the Little Angels. On this day, communities across Mexico and other Latino communities celebrate the lives of babies, toddlers, and children who briefly lived on this earth. This celebration is vivid and colorful. Even though the parents have lost a child, they have gained an angel.

In Dayton's historic Woodland Cemetery, there is a monument of a boy and his dog. Back in the day when Dayton was a canal town, Johnny Morehouse was playing with his dog by the Miami & Erie Canal and fell into the water. The dog jumped in and tried to rescue him but was unsuccessful. The story goes that the dog stayed by the grave for weeks, waiting for Johnny, living on scraps of food that sympathetic mourners gave him.

To this day, visitors touched by the sweet story frequently leave gifts, toys, and flowers on his grave.

Descansa en paz, angelito.

 

halloween

Grafton Hill is an old Dayton neighborhood known for its tree-lined streets and beautifully preserved homes. The Dayton Art Institute, the Dayton Masonic Center, and the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church are within the Grafton Hill boundaries. In 1984, one of the neighbors who lived on Stoddard Avenue came up with the idea to put jack-o-lanterns on the hill next to the Art Institute and the Stoddard Avenue Pumpkin Glow began with 30 carved pumpkins. Over the years, the number of grew with volunteer groups carving pumpkins and just recently corporate sponsorships along with volunteers. This year's Pumpkin Glow was held on Monday and Tuesday of this week and had over 1000 jack-o-lanterns. So much creativity! As people walk around the hill we heard comments, "Did you see this one?", "Go Dayton Flyers!", "That snake!". Little kids were so excited to see super heroes and cartoon characters they recognized. So much creativity.

Theme in Yellow

I spot the hills 

With yellow balls in autumn. 

I light the prairie cornfields 

Orange and tawny gold clusters 

And I am called pumpkins. 

On the last of October 

When dusk is fallen 

Children join hands 

And circle round me 

Singing ghost songs 

And love to the harvest moon; 

I am a jack-o’-lantern 

With terrible teeth 

And the children know 

I am fooling.

~ Carl Sandburg

the friday feed: hot honey carrots

This past summer, I planted carrots. I put the seeds in the ground, didn't do much else to them, and let nature take its course. The deer stopped by to munch on the carrot tops, I didn't thin the seedlings, the carrots were left to grow.

When it was time to pull them from the ground, I discovered a funny-looking harvest. The carrots were short and fat, twisted around one another from growing too close together. By no means were they perfect, but they were carrots! Now, what to do with these imperfect little root vegetables?

A little while ago, I had come across a recipe for hot honey pickled carrots, and it seemed like the perfect way to put my harvest to good use. The recipe called for carrots, vinegar, honey, garlic, and chili flakes.

I already had hot honey in my pantry, so there was no need to use the chili flakes. I digress here...When my daughter first moved to New York City, she lived in Brooklyn, just around the corner from the Bedford Cheese Shop. This small business carried Mike's Hot Honey. What was once a local Brooklyn favorite is now sold all across the United States. The cute neighborhood Bedford Cheese Shop is now out of business.

These hot honey pickled carrots turned out to be the perfect thing for my little odd-shaped harvest. They're packed with flavor - sweet, tangy, and a little spicy - and it didn't take long to empty the jar.