👻👻 2021 October FROM MY PERSPECTIVE 👻👻

It’s October already so that means it’s Happy Hallowgivingstmas.  In September the stores started putting out the holiday “stuff”.  I say, “stuff” because it is not just one thing, it’s so much.  I think a card should be made which says, “Happy Hallowgivingstmas-kkah-zaa”.  It would cover Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa all at once.  Of course, spell check would go nutz and keep trying to auto-correct it leaving the printer person almost exhausted because they’d be running back and forth re-correcting the auto-correct.

I saw some real life teen moment cards the other day.  They were so true when I had my teens.  Here is what I experienced:  “Open the fridge door, look in to find what you want; leave the door open and walk away.”  “Remove socks in a rolled ball on the family room floor along with your shoes.  Walk away and leave for days.”  “Fill your coffee cup, drink some, let it cool, set it down, forget where you left it, but know the cat will find it.”  “When the ice cube tray is empty return to freezer---empty.”  “When the trash is full, practice the physics law of tilt and fall you learned in school----when the container is full, add more trash, and then some more.”  “Leave a tablespoonful of milk in the carton---return it to the fridge.”  “At 5 minutes of needing to be in attendance at an important meeting 10 miles away, announce you HAVE TO BE THERE on time or you’ll be penalized.”  “When washing your clothes, forget about separating the darks and whites, put them all in together.  Grey is a universal color!”  “Leave the hall light on, which shines in your sleeping mother’s eyes, when you get home at 1:00 in the morning.”  “Leave every light on in the house while your parents are gone as you find what you were looking for; then, leave for your date.”  “Use dishwashing liquid soap in the dishwasher because there is no more dishwasher liquid compound.  Turn on, watch the bubbles spill out of the dishwasher; yell for Mom.”  “Eat the 2 pounds of left over meat loaf for a snack.  When Mom complains that it was going to be for supper---ask her if she wants it back.  Listen to her laugh.”  “Decorate your step-father’s favorite boxer underpants with lace and sequins.  Wear them over your biking pants in front of him.  Listen to him laugh.”  I’m sure some of you can add to this list.  PLEASE share with me, if you’d like.  You might see it in another column.

Looking through some fun English books, I found a paragraph written which had no “E” in any word used.  I enjoy these kinds of challenges and devised one of my own.  “Peter Piper thought he’d picked one peck of pickled peppers.  However, he could not do the chore due to pickled peppers get processed in the home on the stove, not in the outdoors’ veggie beds.  Pickled peppers don’t grow pickled.”  This is the one I wrote leaving out the letter “A”.  It took a while to choose the correct words for understanding of the known tongue twister, which is actually alliteration.  But, that’s a whole other English lesson for another time.

She was sitting in her favorite rocking chair on the porch slowly rocking, holding a worn, black book trimmed in gold.  I knew it was her Bible.  She had a look on her face of contentment and a bit of irritation.  “What are you thinking, Aint Daisy?” I asked as I approached sitting down in the other rocker. I watched her eyes.  I can always tell when she is thinking and remembering.  “Oh, I’m jes’ thinkin’ about what a young feller said a while ago when he visited me talkin’ like he knew so much.  He told me, ‘Not everything you read in the Bible is true, ya know, Mz. Daisy.  Some of that is just tall tales,’ he went on.”  I could tell just remembering what he said was irritating her more.  “You know chile, I’ve lived a long time, gone through a lot, and watched more than most people have, especially that young feller.  The longer I live and watch this world, the more I believe the words written in red---Jesus said those---and believe even stronger what is written is true.”  “I’m sure what that fella said irritated you a lot.  Did you say anything to him that he would remember?” I asked her.  “Yep.  I let him go on about his thinkin’ some of what is written is tall tales, and that maybe some is not true.  Then, when I knew he was finished, and he asked me, ‘So, what do you think, Mz. Daisy?’  I jes’ looked him the eyes, patted my Bible and asked, ‘How do you know it hain’t true?”  More wisdom from the Lady of the Holler.

I remember when CRAYOLA came out with their 64-count with sharpener box of crayons.  I was thrilled when my mother bought me that box.  I was so careful to hold the crayon carefully so it would not break.  I didn’t share them, either.  The teacher sort of scolded me for that, but when I told her she could buy my next box if any got broken by another, emphatically using “MY CRAYONS”, she left me alone.  Mother and Daddy got a phone call, though.  CRAYOLA came out with the 120-count box.  I just about lost my mind as I danced in the aisle, holding the box to my heart, yelling, “Oh yes, oh yes”, and smelling the box.  The manager came to aisle 7 and asked me to purchase the box and move on out to my vehicle.  Yep, it was two days ago.  I’m not sharing, either.  “Crayon” in French means---pencil.  What we call a crayon in English would be referred to in French as une craie de cire, which literally means “wax pencil”.

QUEUEING is the only English word which has 5 vowels in a row.  It means: lining up. 

“Lying is done with words and also with silence.” Adrienne Rich, writer and teacher (1929- ) “A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind.” -John Neal, author and critic (25 Aug 1793-1876)  

I had gotten some yellow, grape tomatoes which were delicious, sweet, and just the right size to pop into one’s mouth.  I was telling my daughter, Della, about them and offered to give her some.  She looked at me and said, “Mom, what’s the last word in that offer?  It’s ‘tomatoes’, and you know I don’t like them.”  I continued to defend the lowly fruit/veggie saying how sweet they were, so easy to store, pop-in-your-mouth convenient, etc.  She said, “Mom, you are sounding like a TOMATO-TORNEY, a defender of tomatoes.  In fact, with your position of power about these balls of alleged goodness, I’m giving you a position of ‘Power of Tomato-torney’ and what you can do with them.”  The girl is writing her own dictionary, folks.

Peace, smiles, and kind thoughts to you-----------Trudy