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.’