Author: Gradmama2011

900 Followers…Welcome Little Literature

Other Bloggers' Work (re-posted here), Poetry, Sometimes, This and That, WORD PRESS

https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/149381873

I’ve been looking for my #900 Follower.    The honors go to  littleliteraturekc.    I don’t know anything else about this person except that they write great poetry!     Have a peek, its like popcorn reading this collection,—ya can’t stop at just one.

 

 

 

 

Cat Decisions

Cats & Animals, Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge, My Place, photos, Sometimes, This and That, Writing and Blogging

 

DSC03517
Now what?
DSC03519
Pearl isn’t sure.
DSC03518
Bob considers the situation.
DSC03516
say what?
DSC03535
Closer, so we don’t have to shout
DSC03536
Time for a nap.

(photos ©Sometimes,2018)  The colors in these shots are overwhelmed by the bright sunlight coming in the windows…except for Pearl, who is completely black and requires different camera settings to see her face.   The green paint is prettier than it appears, but could use a fresh coat of paint.   (The very thought of painting scares me!    and yes, I know we should have painted before we put the flooring down.   yikes!)

Flooring update half-way there!

Housewife Work, My Place, Sometimes, This and That

The workers are here installing the new floor, which looks great.    We will paint or stain the baseboards so they are nice when they go back up.    The living room area is about half of the job, so it’s a relief to have it so far along.   However, everybody knows what happens when major new infrastructure goes in…. right…. the walls look crappy now and also incidental window frames and of course the cabinetry in the kitchen, which needs only a good cleaning.

The rest of the walls in the house were re-painted a couple of years ago when the ceilings had to have major replacement work due to ice getting in below the roofing and the insurance company paid some big bucks to repair the ceilings.   It was mostly drywall, but the insurance also covered having the ceilings AND the affected rooms re-painted.      Now we need to paint the living room walls, because they look shabby compared to the new floor and the recently-new rusty-orange paint of the kitchen/dining area.

Man…these people make a LOT of noise.   The owner(s) of the company do much of the labor themselves.   Incidentally, I have known these people for decades…the owners’ mother was a police dispatcher when I was a news reporter, and although I haven’t seen her in decades the name came to me as I thought of a local flooring company.

I’d like to paint…well, to rephrase that, it would be nice if the walls were painted.  The dusty green color is still nice and I like it as much as when it originally went on the walls fifteen years or so ago.

Well the living room part of the floor is in place, and Thursday they will do the kitchen and dining area.   The baseboards need to be spruced up, so I bought a can of water-based stain (at Home Depot) to paint them with.   The paint/stain dries in one hour, so that is a break.   All the paintings and miscellany are off the walls, all the furniture is lounging in the dining area.

ah…those of you who are still awake…thanks for following along on my housewife work musings.

long live rock n roll!

This and That

back with my favorite band, Time Cat, live on a porch in Akron, Ohio…. Porch rockr 2018.    These photos are mine, from my limited point of view on a sofa in the front row.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=time%20cat

They have a new album out, I think that makes six.

 

Jeri
Colton n Sam
A Fan
Sam
Jeri
Colton

No more kittens…but here’s a possibility

Cats & Animals, My Place, Nature, Photographs, This and That, Writing and Blogging

 

The latest kittens from next door.   Barbara has been featured in this blog before…she is a rough and tumble lady that appeared from thin air long ago; she lived in the now defunct greenhouse across the road.   Not sure where she lives now, she is very illusive.

[all photos ©Sometimes, 2018}

DSC02549.JPG little grey 3
going next door
DSC02564.JPG barbara 1
Barbara, an old soldier, three feet, feral, numerous kittens. Bad foot is from being hit by a car, we didn’t know until later.   Approach at yer own risk!
DSC02511.JPG LITTLE GIRL KITTEN 2
Little Sister kitten
DSC02514.JPG BARBARA N LITTLE GREY 2
Barbara & Son
DSC02558.JPG little grey 4 good
Here he is: Little Grey
DSC02559.JPG little grey 3
Little Grey posing
DSC02560.JPG little grey 2
beautiful markings
DSC02562.JPG little grey kitten
hmmm…what’s over here?
DSC02552.JPG little grey nosy
Nosy Little Grey

A Word About Words From the OED

Books and Reading, education, Sometimes, This and That, Writing and Blogging

The Oxford English Dictionary remains THE word bible of the English language.   The OED is available online, with a Word-of-the-Day feature to which one can subscribe without cost.   A full subscription is beyond my budget, and I do respect the OED’s the prohibition against re-posting in its entirety.   Anyone can subscribe to the daily word post  through the OED web site at http://www.oed.com/ to receive the without-cost daily.

Often these selected words grab my attention for various reasons, not only to find out what they mean, but also as discussion topics.

A recent word that intrigued me especially is  —  dis-candy — which means literally liquifying or melting candy (lemon drops, or life savers for example,) from its candied/solid state to the sticky gooey mess that sticks to everything when melted.

Shakespeare used the word to good advantage, with a metaphorical meaning, as taking the overly-sweet or romantic useage of cleaning up “purple prose” or misplaced or just overstated descriptions in a line of poetry or speech.    English teachers often like to “dis-candy” students’ writing.

My wonder isn’t really the word itself, but the prefix (DIS -candy. )    Some substance that starts out as a sticky-sweet solid that  deteriorates into a liquid, or disappears; or a cringe-worthy saccharine sweetness in speech or prose.     Upon consideration I suppose that (DE-candy) would have a different connotation, perhaps meaning some of the  ingredients or adjectives of said substance (i.e. lollypop,) or line of spoken words would be present originally, but removed from the final product never having existed.

Beside the point, neither of my two little desk go-to-dictionaries: The New Oxford Spelling Dictionary, 2014;   nor  The Merriam Webster Dictionary New Edition, 2004 include the word dis-candy.     My criteria for go-to-dictionaries is that they are small paperbacks that sit on a shelf above my computer and can be retrieved with one hand.

 

 

 

 

 

Books of Childhood

About Me, Books and Reading, This and That, Writing and Blogging

In a previous poem I wrote about a gift I received for Christmas, which my mother had concealed in an Oxydol Soap box…a book which our teacher had read out loud to the class.  That book, is called Snow Treasure, by author Marie McSwigan, was first published in 1942.

At age eight or nine I was very impressed with this book about Norwegian children who smuggled their town’s gold down mountain, past occupying German troops,  to a fiord, where an uncle waited with his ship to whisk the treasure away to safety.    The story is said to really have happened.

About 70 years later I obtained a copy of the book that had been discarded by a public library, and available at a book sale.    Marveling at my luck, I quickly paid the pittance asked and left with this great treasure of my own.

 

bringing down the trees: a study in accuracy & precision

My Place, Nature, Photographs, This and That, Writing and Blogging

I spent most of three days watching the clearing of a 1.8 acre lot which I sold recently.   The operation was both sad and fascinating.   The company that did this work was efficient, the crews worked magnificently together, and the huge trees fell precisely as intended…where they had stood for a hundred years.     (All photos are  my own.)

 

DSC02343.JPG THE LAST APPLE TREE N MY HOUSE
The last apple tree, my house in the background. 

 

DSC02364.JPG VIEW FROM THE LAST APPLE
The last apple tree, facing Southeast.    

 

20180627193349.m2ts STILL OF APPLE TREE(3)
There goes the last tree after it was cut down, on its way to the chipper.

 

DSC02374.JPG TREES STILL THERE
Here is the Eastern corner while some trees on the tree line are still standing.  
DSC02375.JPG VERY GOOD GUY UP IN BUCKET RED SHIRT
Man in red shirt in bucket…others working on downed branches.

 

DSC02376.JPG VERY GOOD SHOT OF TREE GOING TO CHIPPER
Tree top down.  
DSC02410.JPG SAME AS 09 BUT SHOWS CHAIN SAW
Chainsaw dangling from top of crane; dragging tree top to chipper.   The yellow machine is a stump digger, operates by remote control.  The white building is the church.   The clump of ornamental grass in the foreground is on the very edge of the property, so far spared by the operation.  

 

Enter a caption

 

DSC02364.JPG VIEW FROM THE LAST APPLE
Cleared field, the last apple tree standing.   

 

 

20180627193349.m2ts STILL OF APPLE TREE(3)
There goes the last tree after it was cut down, on its way to the chipper.

 

DSC02374.JPG TREES STILL THERE
Here is the Eastern corner while some trees on the tree line are still standing.  
DSC02375.JPG VERY GOOD GUY UP IN BUCKET RED SHIRT
These were healthy old growing trees.
DSC02376.JPG VERY GOOD SHOT OF TREE GOING TO CHIPPER
Excellent team work and organization.  
DSC02410.JPG SAME AS 09 BUT SHOWS CHAIN SAW
Chainsaw hanging down; big log being lowered by chain; branch on way to chipper. 
DSC02261
This is way the edge looked before the pathway was created. The red ribbons marked the approximate location of the property pin.
DSC02498.JPG APPLE TREE RIP
Tri-corner section.

DSC02493.JPG NORTH TALL TREE LITTLE MACHINES

DSC02418.JPG tree down w dust
Dusty landing… exactly where it was headed.  
DSC02422.JPG the last tree to go
The last tree on the tree line, moments before it came down.  
DSC02431.JPG wrangler w operator
Chomp…moving to chipper.  
DSC02457.JPG LOWERING BIG LOG SEE MAN IN BUCKET
Down comes the log; stump digger waits its turn.

Housewife Work revisited

Housewife Work, My Place, This and That, Writing and Blogging

Once my youngest son commented that there were tasks that definitely fell under the rubric “Housewife Work.”     That immediately got my attention, and the phrase has become part of our family lingo.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about moving household was that it involved clean cupboards, drawers, closets, having been cleared of collections and extra belongings that did not and never did belong to anyone who ever lived in the house.   Although I admit there is the occasional “junk drawer,” that defies sorting out and/or disposal of its contents, that arrives intact at the new location.

We have arranged to have a flooring company come in and install vinyl planking in our main living, kitchen and dining room areas.   What that entails is packing up the things from the china cabinets, moving all the small furniture like tables and chairs, and moving out the refrigerator, which really moves pretty easily on wheels…and the stove, which has never been moved since it was installed about 17 years ago.

The problem is that all those things removed from the affected areas have to go someplace temporarily.

I do have a lot of stuff, but the bulk of it is books, as I’ve written before.   I sell books exclusively online now, but my inventory is housed here, in addition to my personal book collection and thousands of unlisted (that is not in the inventory) titles in the process of being listed.    A few years ago I had two bookshops, one at the indoor flea market, the other at an antique mall.

So my dilemma is that before I can accomplish A I need to complete B; and so on from room to room.   Sigh.   A bit of organization goes a long way, that’s true…so I better get to work.

Writing about it helps to solidify my thought process…such as it is.

 

 

The Thing I do Best is Now the Thing I Do FIRST

This and That

Trying to follow my own advice…I have been neglecting my blog and that is the thing that bothers me the most….not the blog, but the neglect…. So I dug out this old poem from 2015. (Having said that, I am about to write a post about my current task at hand—contracting with professionals to have my kitchen/ding area and living room re-floored. It is a big expense and a big job, which involves moving a lot of stuff out of the way. stay tuned…

SOMETIMES

                  Shifting Priority

I have decided to change my priority
without worrying about inferiority
or the ways of the majority.
No longer will I pretend to put domestic concerns
ahead of my life’s purpose — Writing!
Back in the day any writing I did was secondary
or confined to the secretary’s desk.

For a housewife back then
furtive moments  were doled out as rewards
or stray  opportunities to pen
wayword words or purloined phrases,
words of wisdom
a note, a word, a reminder
–confined to the backs of envelopes
or shopping lists,
written in pen or pencil…or lipstick
or eyebrow pencil..

Gone are the days when making soup,
baking cookies…
and  pies
scrubbing and ironing…
dashing through the store with a grocery cart
all had  top priority over the Writing Art.

No frilly little aprons or caps
are needed to fulfill MY kind of Real Work
no pretty cotton dresses
and certainly no high heels!
From now on–I…

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Why is it called Latin America? (re-blog with new title)

History, Latin America, This and That, WORD PRESS, Writing and Blogging

Q 1 —Why do we hear so little about countries in Central and South America?

Q 2 — Do citizens of all Latin American nations speak Spanish?

Q 3 — What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?

 

See the source image

 

 

  Q. Why do we hear so little about Latin American countries?  

For one thing, we Americans tend to get our news from a relative few sources, including local television as the most personal news…about our neighborhood, the city, county and state.     Local news bring us details about local sports teams, schools with leaky roofs, who is being arrested or has excelled in something.

The other major news source is cable news like CNN, MSNBC, FOX.  These news networks follow major events around the world—almost always from a standpoint of the United States involvement with the current “newsworthy nation.”    Friends or foes get the news coverage in order of their relative importance to Washington.

Mexico and Canada tend to get the most news coverage, being our immediate neighbors to the north and south.     Other nations, notably Venezuela, which usually has an adversary position with the United States—as one of the chief “bad boys” that are not on the favorites list.    Cuba held that position as thorn-in-the-side for more than half a century, and was rewarded with punative embargoes that tried to crush the island’s fortunes.

Why is it called Latin America?    Because it was dubbed with that name at various times in History, including by Napoleon and Jose Martí (a Cuban writer) and others for various conversational purposes.    The collection of nations included in the designation Latin America were originally settled by the European countries speaking Latin-based (Romance) languages: Spain, England, Portugal, France.       Some of the islands in the Caribbean were originally romance-language speakers after colonialization, although others speak Dutch or English..

The Spanish settled all of the South American continent except Brazil, which was and is Portuguese speaking.

The Treaty of Tordesillas, signed at Tordesillas on June 7, 1494, and authenticated at Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and the Crown of Castile, along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa.    Following is an excellent Wikipedia.org article about the Treaty of Tordesillas and its lasting influence on the division of the world between the Spanish and Portuguese.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas

Here is an excellent site that I found while researching the above material.  http://www.dosmanosnederland.com/en/index.php    The succinct  but thorough History of Latin America  contained here is highly recommended for the casual interest in the region, and provides a good review and timeline.