Christmas Tree 2013

This is our Christmas tree for 2013, and the closer shot I put on FaceBook.

And, while I am at it, here’s the close-up from Christmas 2012.

Dental Floss

Various types of dental floss of come my way via the dentist or have been passed to me by other family members who do not like a particular type.

This is one I do not like.

It is slick and requires that I wind a lot of it around my fingers to hold it in place. I waste half of each piece in the winding.

Flowers From a Site, Day 9

I brought my bouquet home last Friday. Other flowers have opened beautifully.

Pretty pretty!

Flowers from a Site

As Coordinator for Extension Sites, I work with churches to work out their partnerships with the University. Part of the early process includes a conference call. This past week, on Tuesday, the mail room called me to say there were flowers to be picked up. I have never received flowers, so I could not imagine where these were coming from. Turns out they were from the person I talked to at this site.

Shipping Oddity #4

Today’s shipment included these names:

Brandi
Debbie
Jackie
Jerri
Jodie
Lori
Lori
Mary
Shelli

That’s for the sound of the long e.

Doubles

Torres
Debbie
Jerri
Miller
Moorman
Benney
Lynn
Ranney
Shelli
Reeder

Shipping Oddity #3

This time it is about double letters and double numbers. I know that double numbers occur in all shipments, but they stood out this time, because I was looking for doubles.


For 11 orders (oh and that’s the first double), we had these doubles:

1. 44, 66
2. Wattles, Comm
3. 33, Diann, Orr
4. Donna, Wood, 44, 99
5. Jerry, McAuliffe, Hoosick, Falls
6. Three, boofarm
7. none
8. Michelle, Shaffer, 55, 44
9. Todd, Libby, 99, 77
10. O’Donnell, 99
11. Robbie

And then the postage totaled $99.99.

This tickles me. Ha!

Shipment Oddity #2

We mail parcels twice a week.

In this week’s shipment we had these names:

Berry
Webb
Steffes
Witte
Goodwin

See all the double letters?

Shipping Oddity #1

Today our shipment to six customers included these names:

Margie

Marsha

Martha

For the size of this shipment the series of  “Mar-” names is noteworthy. These unusual  combinations of names stand out to me. Fun!

Plant Care “Between Times”

Picture it: houseplant-experienced resident elderly ladies and gentlemen. A woman has had a houseful of plants that she has cared for all her life. Some plants are as old as she is, or older. She knows how to keep them going. Or perhaps it is the gentlemen of the house who has the green thumb. Now, here they are with the limited space of their campus apartment. Not all the plants were able to come with them to their new home. Some were passed to the daughter or daughter-in-law.

Now a plant has been placed in a common area.

Residents from Hall A water it. Then a resident from Hall B recalls that it was dry when she checked it—yesterday—and thinks, I must water it when I come by tomorrow. No surprisingly, it becomes overwatered. So Cathy G makes a sign.

Who owns the plant? Is it a resident? Is it housekeeping? Who is supposed to water it? How does a person know when it is “between times”? ’Twas amusing to picture the plant-watering activities that called for the making of a sign.

Jigsaw Puzzle Putaway Rule

Greencroft is the retirement complex in Goshen, Indiana, where my parents chose to live after retirement. Our family traveled from Florida to see them (and other Indiana relatives) every summer for many years. Mother made her transition to heaven in 1996, and Daddy continued to reside at Greencroft for fourteen more years. Greencroft rented guest rooms at a reasonable cost. One guest room was right off a common area, where many residents spent some time each evening. A piano and organ, used for the Sunday meeting held in the common area, were available for residents to play. I sometimes sat down at the piano to play a few songs. A resident once caught me and asked me to play the piano while she played the organ. Using hymnbooks, we played together for about thirty minutes.

Daddy loved to work crossword puzzles and did at least one every day. He also enjoyed jigsaw puzzles. A puzzle was always under way in the common area. Residents had it worked out. Cookie sheets held sorted pieces. Participants never knew how much work would be accomplished by the time they came back to the table. We worked at the puzzle table most evenings when we were there. Other residents came to the area to play games, most often Rummikub. My small children, who had learned the game from their paternal grandmother, often participated in the game with these elderly folks.

The campus had several residential wings, as well as a health and rehabilitation center. After my mother died, Daddy expanded his lifelong commitment to serving others by volunteering to feed a younger resident, a gentleman who had been in an accident and was unable to feed himself. The gentleman eventually became a Christ-follower, much to Daddy’s delight. Daddy walked across campus to feed him for two meals a day. Sometimes our visit included a walk through or past another wing or another common area on campus.

In one such area we found an amusing sign about putting the puzzles away.

So it’s: Okay, to the closet! No, to the chair. Closet? Chair? Closet? Chair?

Creation Poem from Home Schooling

Way back in the summer of 2009 I was beginning to play around with social networking, probably before it had taken that name “social networking.”

I used My Space. And I like the Notes, as a place to store memories. I stored this one on August 8, 2009. It is from the Rod & Staff curriculum, which I used for home schooling.

The First Week

Day one brought heaven, earth, and light.
It must have been so very bright.

Day two God make the clear blue sky,
A place for many birds to fly.

Day three brought land apart from seas
With all the plants and grass and trees.

Day four shone forth moon, stars, and sun.
The work of God was not yet done.

Day five we see the fish and birds.
God did all this with just His words.

Day six God formed all beasts and man
To finish His creation plan.

Day seven was especially blessed,
A day for worship and for rest.

From Lynne Truss, #7

I’m posting my final entry from Eats, Shoots and Leaves, the calendar created from the book of the same name by Lynne Truss. This entry is from August 9, 2009:

It is worrying that people are no longer learning how to use the colon and semicolon, not least because, in this supreme QWERTY keyboard era, the little finger of the right hand, deprived of its traditional function, may eventually dwindle and drop off from disuse.

From Lynne Truss, #6

The calendar Eats, Shoots and Leaves was written by Lynne Truss, taken from the book of the same name. I’ve been sharing a few favorites. This one is from July 2, 2009:

Cecil Hartley, in his Principles of Punctuation: or, The Art of Pointing (1818), includes this little poem, which tells us the simple one-two-three of punctuation values:

The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause
A sentence doth require at ev’ry clause.
At ev’ry comma, stop while one you count;
At semicolon, two is the amount;
A colon doth require the time of three:
The period fourth, as learned men agree.

And just one more remains.

From Lynne Truss, #5

We’re continuing to look at my favorites from the 2009 Eats, Shoots and Leaves calendar taken from Lynne Truss’s book. This fifth offering is from April 29, 2009:

The trend in the 20th century has been towards ever-simpler punctuation, but take any passage from a non-contemporary writer and you can’t help seeing the constituent words as so many defeated sheep that have been successfully corralled by good old Comma the Sheepdog.

Only two more to go after this one.

Calendar Gift—December

Images from winter and Christmas are some of my favorites.

So many memories are conjured up from these images.

This was our own tree that Jo photographed, the final image for the

calendar gift she gave me for Christmas 2010.

To enjoy all the images, search for “Calendar Gift” on this blog.

Calendar Gift—November

Spanish moss in a backyard tree against billows on blue. Another image by my daughter, who put together this calendar for me for Christmas 2010.

Delightful!

View all the images with a search of this blog: “Calendar Gift.”

Calendar Gift—October

Jo presented this image of glassware from my cupboard. The calendar is a gift from her
for Christmas 2010, with images she took herself.

I had a delightful year to enjoy her work and her gift.

You can see all the images with a blog search, using “Calendar Gift.”

From Lynne Truss, #4

Lynne Truss pictures the comma has a sheepdog in this April 28 entry from her 2009 Eats, Shoots and Leaves calendar. Out of the 365 pages, I saved just a handful. Here’s #4:

Between the 16th century and the present day, the comma became a kind of scary grammatical sheepdog. The comma has so many jobs as “separator” (punctuation marks are traditionally either “separators” or “terminators”) that it tears about on the hillside of language, endlessly organizing words into sensible groups and making them stay put; sorting and dividing; circling and herding; and, of course, darting off with a peremptory “woof” to round up an wayward subordinate clause that makes a futile bolt for semantic freedom.

From Lynn Truss, #3

This is another charming description about punctuation from the 2009 Eats, Shoots and Leaves calendar, by Lynne Truss, April 10.

On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune.

When I was home schooling and trying to explain the “optional” uses of the comma, where its use is solely determined by the writer as to the required pause, this would have been a good way to explain it. What do you, the author, want the reader to do? How do you want the reader to hum the tune? That’s how you think about those yes-or-no commas.

Like!

Calendar Gift—September

Ahhhh, yes. So she did not take all of the images. 

This is a picture of the photographer herself, representing the month of her birth.

Can you imagine the delight when I paged through the calendar on Christmas 2010!

So delightsome!

View all the images by searching the blog with “Calendar Gift.”

Calendar Gift—August

An artistic image of a table in a conference room on the campus where I work,

taken by my daughter, who created this calendar for me for Christmas 2010.

I took great pleasure in this calendar at my desk in the office for year 2011.

You can see all the images with a search of the blog: “Calendar Gift.”

From Lynne Truss, #2

This is another entry I particularly enjoyed from Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves calendar, for April 5, 2009

Humorist James Thurber was once asked: “Why did you have a comma in the sentence, ‘After dinner, the men went into the living room’?” And his answer was one of the loveliest things ever said about punctuation. “This particular comma was a way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up.”

This is such a perfect explanation. Beyond the charming way of expressing his use of the comma, it is useful in actual writing. More than once since reading this, I have assessed the use of a questionable comma on this basis.

Good stuff!

Calendar Gift—July

A pretty picture of fireworks shot off by neighbors across the street from us.

This is another of her own images on the calendar my daughter gave me for Christmas, 2010.

To see all the images, just search this blog with  “Calendar Gift.”

From Lynne Truss, #1

First, I must explain that in order to use the label, the use of semicolons was required where commas would normally and correctly appear.

I know I am not the only fan of Lynne Truss. When I was preparing to post this particular quote, my error caused me to go online to find it again. With ease, it came up on an initial search, posted by another fan elsewhere. I enjoyed Lynne’s daily calendar every day during the year 2009. I captured a handful of favorites to enjoy later. And now I have the pure delight of sharing them on a blog.

Are you a fan of Lynne Truss?

From Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves calendar, April 3, 2009

“Here are the weapons required in the apostrophe war: correction fluid; big pens; stickers cut in a variety of sizes, both plain (for sticking over unwanted apostrophes) and coloured (for inserting where apostrophes are needed); tin of paint with big brush; guerrilla-style clothing; strong medication for personality disorder; loudhailer; gun.”

Webster’s says this of loudhailer:

chiefly British: bullhorn

First Known Use of LOUD-HAILER: 1941

Calendar Gift—June

I have to say, “Wow!” especially when you know what the shot is.

This June image was taken on the airplane in December 2009, when Jo and I 

flew to see my father, four months before he left this earth.
This “landscape” is really a cloudscape—sky against the top side of clouds.

This is another shot from the calendar she gave me for Christmas a year later, in December 2010.

You can find all the images with a search of this blog, using “Calendar Gift.”

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 7

Lesson 7

How about a few more vocabulary words from Gone With the Wind? Just one more lesson after this one, which started here.

quixoticism, p 383—annoyed at myself to find that so much quixoticism still lingers in me
—rash, lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly; exceeding idealistic; unrealistic, impractical

fillip, p 383—There’s nothing like danger and death to give an added fillip.
—a slight smart stroke or tape given with the flip of the finger against the thumb

timorously, p 388—timorously followed Scarlett up the avenue
—of a timid disposition; fearful, lacking confidence

scuppernong, p 402—under the scuppernong arbor
— a cultivated grape with yellowish-green plum-flavored fruits

martinet, p 409—Poor Mammy, still the martinet about such unimportant things
—a strict disciplinarian; a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods

vermifuge, p 424—But the vermifuge only made the child look paler.
—an agent that destroys or expels parasitic worms

hants, p 424—[Wade] was more afraid of the Yankees than of Prissy’s hants.
—derived from haunts

pusillanimous, p 510—that pusillanimous fellow
—lacking courage and resolution; timid

paletot, p 527—and, as she took in the black velvet paletot, how short jackets are!
—A close-fitting jacket differing in  material from the rest of the costume, worn by women, especially in the 19th century         

dishabille, p 561—dirty and unshaven and without a cravat but somehow jaunty despite his dishabille
—The state of being dressed in a careless, disheveled, or disorderly manner

vituperative, p 626—Vituperative words rushed to her lips.
—to find fault with, to censure harshly or abusively

saturnine, p 635—one glimpse of Tony’s swarthy saturnine face
—a sluggish, gloomy temperament; gloomy; taciturn; moody

benighted, p 663—information about this benighted town
—intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened

laconic, p 679—his laconic message that Gerald was dead
—expressing much in very few words; concise

Calendar Gift—May

Isn’t this a fun summery image! Warm and pleasant against the blue sky. 

The calendar was a gift from my daughter for Christmas 2010, filled with images she took.

I kept it at my office and thoroughly enjoyed the the calendar throughout the year.

Search for all images from the calendar with “Calendar Gift.’

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 6

Lesson 6

These are some words from Gone with the Wind. Some were brand-new to me. Others just merited looking up and getting to know them better.

Lesson 1 started here.

abortifacients, p 233—advertisements for . . . private diseases, abortifacients and restoratives for lost manhood
—an agent (as a drug) that induces abortion
First Known Use of abortifaciaent, 1873

insouciance, p 324—their apparent insouciance in the face of falling shells and shorter rations
—lighthearted unconcern; nonchalance

dewlaps, p 326—the skin of his pink face hung down in loose folds like the dewlaps of a bulldog
—loose skin hanging under the neck of an animal

contretemps, p 330—about Rhett showing up when Scarlett was talking to Ashley: Evidently he had forgotten the contretemps, or pretended to have forgotten it
—an inopportune or embarrassing occurrence or situation; dispute, argument

presaged, p 333—presaged a declaration of love
— foretell, predict

victoria, p 354—Mrs. Elsing, standing up in the front of her victoria, reigns in one hand, whip in the other
—a low four-wheeled pleasure carriage for two with a folding top and a raised seat in front for the driver (from Queen Victoria)

Fury, p 354—as she lashed the horse like a Fury
— capitalized : any of the avenging deities in Greek mythology who torment criminals and inflict plagues

fetid, p 354—among soldiers waiting for care: until the fetid stench almost nauseated her
—having a heavy offensive smell

gabble, p 362—Scarlet would gabble something until Melanie
—to talk fast or foolishly, jabber

wraith, p 362—Prissy, scurrying like a black wraith, lit a lamp
—ghost, specter

gibing, p 378—“Take a good look at them,” came Rhett’s gibing voice.
gibed, p 382—His drawling voice gibed in her ears
—to utter taunting words, to deride or tease with taunting words

Calendar Gift—April

The April image from the calendar Jo got me for Christmas 2010, with images she took.

The sparkled droplet image was taken in our back yard, probably an early shot
with the new camera she had bought at the time.

Search for all images with “Calendar Gift.”

Calendar Gift—March

Jo put together this calendar for me for Christmas 2010.

This image was taken at Greencroft, in Goshen, Indiana. 

If you want to see the other images, they will all be under a blog title“Calendar Gift.”

Wounds from Roofing Day Fall

On Monday, the roofers came and started the project, which should be completed tomorrow or Friday.

After handing the camera to Bill, I turned around from taking a picture and caught the electrical box on the pool deck with my left leg and went down on my left side. So that was Monday; today is Wednesday. I thought about taking a photo yesterday. But it was today, when the pain on the bottom of my right foot turned into a bruise with a bump. I’ve never seen a bruise on the bottom of a foot. I don’t know if I pushed hard on something on the way down or if a strained or pulled something.

So here are the grim photos to remind me of the event.

This wound measures about 5 inches along the curve, and 4 inches just measured straight from end to end. During the day it is washed clean and left dry. In the evening, I apply ointment to help the healing. This is the outside of my left leg, down near the ankle.

Below: bottom of my right foot. The bruise is about the diameter of a quarter. It has a bump in the center that feels like a tiny pebble. Looks like it comes back up toward the ankle a bit also.

Calendar Gift—February

The February photo from the calendar Jo gave me for Christmas 2010. 

This image was taken at the United Kingdom Pavilion at Epcot—somewhere I’ve never been. 

Pretty!

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 5

Lesson 5

When I read Gone with the Wind, I noted words that I wanted to know better

Lesson 1 started here.

suttee, p 182— “just as barbarous as the Hindu suttee”
—the act or custom of a Hindu widow willingly being cremated on the funeral pyre of her husband as an indication of her devotion to him,

dolorously p 199—“Pa is coming tomorrow and he’s going to land on me like a duck on a June bug,” answered Scarlett dolorously.
—causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief

dishabille, p 204—when Scarlett answers the door and finds Rhett and her father: He took in her dishabille in one glance.
—the state of being dressed in a casual or careless style; negligee

attenuate, p 208—the thought either did not occur at all or was so attenuated by the delay it was not very troublesome.
to lessen the amount, force, magnitude, or value of; weaken

tilts, p 218—After tilts with him from which she seldom emerged the victor
—a contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong disagreement

fusty, 219—his masculinity . . . made . . . the seem small, pale and a trifle fusty.
—rigidly old-fashioned or reactionary

furbelows, p 225—Rhett’s memory for furbelows was an excellent substitute for Godey’s Lady’s Book.
—a pleated or gathered piece of material ; especially : a flounce on women's clothing

passementerie, p 230—beneath its glittering passementerie trimmings.
—an ornamental edging or trimming (as tassels) made of braid, cord, gimp, beading, or metallic thread

Moon Shot—Experiment with Saving Image

When I was taking the photography course as an elective, in spring 2011, I was all about taking pictures in my little bit of spare time. (Now it’s more about blogging.) I was thinking I would invest in a new camera However, now I am not as much interested in a new camera as in learning all about how to use the one I have. It would please me to have photos in a blog every day.

It is not particularly difficult to photograph the moon, but I had not done it until summer 2011. I prepped them in PhotoShop Elements and discovered options about saving images. One was saved “for the web,” and the other save simply as a jpg. Which is better?

This one is saved as a jpg.

This one is saved “for the Web.”

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 4

Lesson 4

It’s time for another vocab list, the fourth from Gone With the Wind.

Lesson 1 started here.

spavins, heaves p 93—about intermarrying: “When my family asked me to marry a second cousin, I bucked like a colt. I said, ‘No, Ma. Not for me. My children will all have spavins and heaves.’”
—bony enlargement; breathing problems, persistent cough

temporized, p 93—Maybe there won’t be any war,” Mrs. Tarelton temporized.
—to act to suit the time or occasion; yield to current or dominant opinion

bridling, p 98—Suellen was bridling in a way that made Scarlett want to slap her.
—to show hostility or resentment (as to an affront to one’s pride or dignity)

corsage, p 10 —the corsage of her dress
—the waist or bodice of a dress

bull fiddle, p 167—named in the instruments played at the bazaar
—double bass

gaiters, pp 168, 276— named in garments worm
—a cloth or leather leg covering reaching from the instep to above the ankle or to mid-calf or knee; an overshoe with fabric upper b: an ankle-high shoe with elastic gores in the sides

lese majesty, p 184—Rhett . . . whispered: “Pompous goat, isn’t he?” Scarlett, at first horrified, at this lese majesty toward Atlanta’s most beloved citizen
an attack on a custom, institution, or belief held sacred by numbers of people

lachrymose, p 195—Over the waffles next morning, Pittypat was lachrymose, Melanie was silent and Scarlett was defiant.
—given to tears or weeping

When I Come Home From Work . . .

. . . my husband’s eyes light up.

Calendar Gift—January

This picture is from the 2011 calendar my daughter created using her own images.

This clover was outside our back door and one of the first images she took with

the new camera she had bought at the time.

I kept it at my work desk, enjoying the reminder of her each time I looked at it.

Pretty cool. Pretty pictures.

Chiclets for Bill

I would say it had been more than a year since Bill has been able to find Chiclets gum. He used to be able to find it at both Walmart and Publix. But it disappeared. He has kept his eyes open for it, hoping it would reappear.

At the beginning of last year, when I went to Dollar Tree, I spied Chiclets! The package has only ten pieces per box. He says it used to be twelve pieces per box, and these do slide around quite freely because it’s ten pieces in a twelve-piece box. Nonetheless, it was only a dollar for the package of six boxes.

Happy Bill!

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 3

Lesson 3

Here are some more words from Gone With the Wind. This is all quite interesting to me—looking up words, many with which I used to be more familiar. When I first made this list, I realized I had become quite removed from reading, writing, and words! I look at some of these and recall vocab lessons from high school, but it’s great fun to record them here and look for the tighter meanings of words that are remembered to a degree, obvious in context, but calling me to take a closer look. And so I continue.

Lesson 1 started here.

redolent p 76—heavy with velvety smells, redolent of many blossom, of newly fledged trees
—exuding fragrance, aromatic, full of a specified fragrance

riot p 76—a bright riot of the twin lanes of daffodils bordering the graveled driveway, and the golden masses of yellow jessamine
—a random or disorderly profusion

sprangles p 76— yellow jessamine spreading flowerey sprangles modestly to the earth like crinolines.
—relates to aimless or random

obdurate p 80— Seeing the obdurate look on Scarlett’s face
—stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing, hardened in feelings; resistant to persuasion or softening influences

lugubrious p 84—Irish ditties or the more lugubrious lament for Robert Emmet
—mournful, gloomy, dismal or the like, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner

vociferous p 88—the four girls . . . gave such vociferous cries of greeting that the team pranced in alarm.
—marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry; clamorous, blatant, strident , boisterous, so loud or insistent as to compel attention; implies a vehement shouting or calling out

sallies p 89—Scarlett laughed with the rest of these sallies but, as always, the freedom with which the Tarletons treated their mother came as a shock.
—a clever, witty, or fanciful remark

hoyden p 90—It was the same conflicting emotion that made her desire to appear a delicate and high-bred lady with the boys and to be, as well, a hoyden who was not above a few kisses.
—a girl or woman of saucy, boisterous, or carefree behavior

broad p 91—“Our cook is the broad wife of the Wilkes butler
—female slave whose husband was owned by another master

Calendar Gift

For Christmas 2010, Jo gave me a 2011 calendar, with images she had shot.

I have enjoyed it all year long at my work desk.

What a wonderful gift!

I will eventually show all the images from the calendar.

Holding My Hand

When my husband holds my hand, he often tells me, “I like your sweet little hands.”

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 2

Lesson 2

These are words from Gone With the Wind. Some are brand-new to me; others I’ve looked up to get a clearer definition, to confirm the meaning or look for expanded definitions. Plus, it’s just fun, for me.

Lesson 1 started here.

amity p 52—With all the rest of the County, Gerald was on terms of amity and some intimacy.
—peaceful harmony; mutual understanding and peaceful relationship

pony p 52—signaled for tall glasses in which a pony of Bourbon had been poured over a teaspoon of sugar and a spring of crushed mint
—something smaller than standard; a small liqueur glass typically holding one ounce

truculent p 52—a kind heart, a ready and sympathetic ear and an open pocketbook lurked just behind his bawling voice and his truculent manner
—eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant

florid p 35—When Gerald . . . so thickset of body and florid of face that he looked like a hunting squire out of a sporting print
—tinged with red, ruddy; archaic: healthy

depredations p 60—About the geese on the lawns of Tara: Against their depredations, a small black sentinel was stationed on the front porch. Armed with a ragged towel, the little negro boy sitting on the steps was part of the picture of Tara—and an unhappy one
—preying upon, plundering, ravage

chunk p 60—one, for he was forbidden to chunk the fowls and could only flap the towel at them and shoo them.
—to make a dull plunging or explosive sound

splitter p 74—Pork took a long splitter from the mantelpiece, lit it from the lamp flame and went into the hall.
—a flexible strip of wood, used in basket making; a slender piece of wood (or a roll or twist of paper) for lighting a fire

Gone With the Wind Vocab, Lesson 1

Lesson 1

This begins some fun, for me, with vocabulary. The words are not necessarily unknown to me, but are less commonly used. When I read Gone With the Wind in early 2008, for the first time, I decided to write down words I wanted to know better.

basque p 5—About Scarlet O’Hara: The dress set off to perfection the seventeen-inch waist, the smallest in three counties, and the tightly fitting basque
—a Victorian-era bustier, a sort of corset

mettlesome p 6—About the Tarleton twins: They were all healthy, thoughtless young animals, sleek, graceful, high-spirited, the boys as mettlesome as the horses they rode, mettlesome and
—spirited, courageous

approbation p 16—Stuart had courted India Wilkes with the approbation of both families and the entire County. The County felt the perhaps the cool and contained India Wilkes would have a quieting effect on him.
—formal approval; sanction

skylark p 20—but regretfully refused to elect them, because the Tarletons to lickered up too quickly and liked to skylark
—from running up and down the rigging on a ship: to frolic, sport

importunate p 28—never so importunate as the younger Fontaine boys, but, still, never the week went by that Ashley did not come calling at Tara
—troublesomely urgent : overly persistent in request or demand

temerity p 32—the temerity to think of Gerald O’Hara as a ridiculous little figure
—suggesting boldness arising from rashness and contempt of danger; audacity

code duello p 47—poker and horse racing, red-hot politics and the code duello, States’ Rights and damnation to all Yankees, slavery, and King Cotton, contempt for white trash and exaggerated courtesy to women.
—rules of dueling

poteen p 49—“Never mix cards and whisky unless you were weaned on Irish poteen,” Gerald told Pork grave the same evening as Pork assisted him to bed.
—illicitly distilled whiskey, typically from potatoes

manumitted p 51—Old Angus had never manumitted a single slave and had committed the unpardonable social breach of selling some of his negroes to passing slave traders
—to release from slavery

25 Most Commonly Misspelled Words

Here’s a little spelling test to challenge you. 25 Most Commonly Misspelled Words is a list that has circulated among American businesses for decades.

Please read the instructions when you go to the link.

Watch for:

Two words have variant spellings for companies using British English spelling. Those two words are repeated at the end of the list of 25 words asking for the British spellings.

Two words also have variants that appear in dictionaries. However, business writers have clear preferences for one of the spellings and expect to see that spelling in business documents.

When you have taken the test, please come back and let me know how you did.