Our yard’s an avian paradise. Birdseed liberally sprinkled, water bowls, even a sprinkler on hot days. Cats trained to ignore birds. However will they manage in the real world?
Patiently waiting for lunch Image: Peggy_Marco — Pixabay
This is no fiction tale. The noise in our yard can be deafening at times — like when I go out with my birdseed first thing in the morning. As I have written before, the birds aren’t the only ones taking advantage: in the past few weeks I’ve often seen a doe and her fawn drinking from the basin between us and the woods. A few days ago I was up at the crack of dawn and saw a jackrabbit hopping around my front yard water dishes. And I’m amazed how bold the birds are around my cats. Hummers will feed at flower pots right beside where the cats are lying!
“I tell you, my friend, ‘Tempis Fugit’ : that’s the key to understanding and making the most of this life. Time is evanescent, deciduous, fugacious, fleeting, transient…and we who wish for bold adventures must seize the moment and pack it full ‘ere it escapes us forever.”
“So what do you plan to do about it?” his friend asked.
“Ah, therein lies the problem; we may dream but between our desires and our deeds a great GULCH is fixed.”
Seeing his friend looking puzzled, he elaborated: “Gulch…as in canyon, gorge, gulf, flume, ravine, abyss, chasm.”
“You know, pal, if you spent less time studying the dictionary, you’d have lots more minutes to try those bold adventures you’re talking about.”
The Ragtag Daily Prompt yesterday was CHAMBER. I had a few thoughts lined up on that subject, but didn’t get them down. Today’s prompt is CRUMBLE; maybe I can combine the two.
Pixabay image
Chambre is the French word for room, which is where we got it. According to my book on word etymology CHAMBRE + CHAMBER are derived from the Greek word kamara, which meant something with an arched cover or a room with a vaulted roof. This entered Latin as camara, which in turn slipped into English as CAMERA and brought its cousin COMRADE, which originally referred to someone sharing a room. The Germans did their part, too, in contributing to the diversity of English. The Greek kamara became the Frankish word kamerling, which hopped across the Channel, morphing into chamberlain en route and, in England, reshaped itself into a chimney.
Though the ancient Greek and Roman worlds have crumbled over time, linguistic bricks have been scattered far and wide, gathered up, and cemented into many other languages.
The word CHAMBER immediately reminded me of that old nursery rhyme, Goosey Goosey Gander. According to Wikipedia, the earliest recorded version of this rhyme was published in a London nursery rhyme book in 1784 and there have been several additions through the years. In keeping with today’s prompt, I’ll add a new verse to the story myself:
Goosey goosey gander wither shall I wander upstairs and downstairs and in my lady’s chamber.
And did you check the kitchen, too my pretty roaming goosey? Oh yes! I found the pastry cook, where lovely little Lucy was in the midst of mixing up a dish of apple crumble and when I tipped it on the floor you should have heard her grumble!
Merriam-Webster gives these definitions: Turncoat (archaic) One child exchanged for another at birth, (usually a fairy child) Imbecile (archaic) And I’m going to go with the first meaning, though it be rather archaic.
Illustration by ArtTower — Pixabay
No Changing Allowed!
Sister stamped her foot in fury. “Changeling! Turncoat! Traitor to the cause!”
“I’ve seen the light,” Brother responded. “It’s not an issue.”
“You were on my side before. Now you’re wimping out.”
“Having given the matter serious thought, I’ve realized that one choice is as good as the other.” Brother maintained his calm tone. “It’s no big deal.”
“Ha! If you’d been in Boston before the Tea Party, you’d probably have said ‘It’s no big deal. Let’s just pay the tax and not rock the boat’.”
“It might have saved a war.”
“Heretic!” Sister punched his arm. “And this is a big deal!”
“Everybody raves about how great peace is. ‘NO MORE WAR,’ they say. But soon as they get passionate about some issue, they’re ready to take up arms. Like you now.”
“You must have been switched for my real brother at the hospital. If you were my true brother you’d see things like I do.”
Brother scowled. “Wow! Talk about over-reacting.”
“Somebody needs to remind you of what you said last month when this issue first came up. You’ve done a 180 switch.”
“All I said was, I think we should…”
“But you said just the opposite last month. You agreed with me then. Changeling. Traitor.”
Finally Dad spoke up. “Okay, you two. Rather than fighting about this – ”
“I’m not fighting about it,” Brother protested. “She is.”
“I’m not fighting, either! I’m just saying he can’t change his mind like this. Last month we decided we wanted to do Sea World. Now he’s saying let’s go to Yellowstone.”
Dad laid his hand on her shoulder. “Well, I’ll settle the matter. We’ll visit Yellowstone this summer and Sea World next year. End of the skirmish. And no sniping.”
“Who knows if I’ll even be alive next year? The whole world may lay in ashes!”
The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is DOPPELGANGER
Image by Frank Winkler — Pixabay
According to Lexico a DOPPELGANGER is “an apparition or double of a living person.” As well as a double or a spirit double, M-W allows for the wider definition of “an alter ego” and “a person with the same name.” This last is an overly broad definition. When I began searching the 1840 Ontario Census for records of my great-great grandfather John Smith. In 1840 there were 1770 men named John Smith living in Ontario, and probably all shapes and sizes — no two alike.
While visiting Mr Webster, I noticed their Word of the Day: FUNAMBULISM Funambulism, they say, means tightrope walking. “The Latin word for tightrope walker is funambulus, from Latin funis, meaning rope, and ambulare, to walk.” That sense led to people applying the word for “a show of mental agility.” Squirrels, I have observed, are master funambulists.
Image by Alexas_Fotos Pixabay
The other day I was wending my way through M-W in search of the word VERBIAGE and specially took note of one synonym: GARRULOUS. Such an intriguing and colourful word, don’t you think? According to Merriam-Webster this refers to prosy, rambling, or tedious excessive speech; pointless or annoying talk.
The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is RESIDUE, a word which means that which remains.
Image by adege — Pixabay
Residue comes to us, along with many cousins, from the Middle French sedentaire and ultimately from the Latin verb sedere, meaning to settle. Through the years we’ve made much of this verb, stretching it out into words like dissident, sedition, preside, reside, sedentary, sediment, session, and even subsidy.
Reservoir, coming from reserve, refers to an extra supply held back, kept in store for future use. Sometimes when we feel fatigued, we are still able to draw from a reservoir of energy to give that last boost that helps us complete the task.
I’d like to have a full reservoir of energy, the oomph to accomplish tasks, especially now that it it’s spring, but with my CLL, my energy level feels more like the last bit left than an extra supply.
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