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Anniversaries
Some anniversaries are cause for celebration. Some are cause for regret. Some are unremarkable and pass by without notice. Birthdays are great. Wedding anniversaries can go either way. I’m just saying. I don’t really know why we put such stock in the passage of one year. Or why we have to commemorate in some way…
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Jerrold George Walter Edward Aldrich
Jerry, to his friends, was born on July 23, 1920 and died on August 4, 1969. If he were still alive today, he would be 100 years old. He was born in Wesley, Iowa at a time when it was common for young boys to wear knickers and knee socks and lace-up ankle-high boots. He…
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Creativity
I don’t just write. I have a number of other outlets for my creative spirit. I like to crochet. I just finished making a new leash for Maddie. My sister doesn’t know it yet, but I am making an afghan for her. Well, I suppose she knows it now. She likes greens and browns together.…
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Would the World be a Better Place without Mosquitoes?
In a poll of one, me, the answer would be a resounding “yes.” At least on the surface. But when I think about it for a moment, maybe not. Mosquitoes are flies. They belong to the order Diptera; DI (two) plus PTERA (wing). They are distinguished from most other insects by the number of wings…
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Weird Words, Part 12
Bumfuzzle I like the way this word sounds. I can’t recall ever using it in a conversation, but one day I might. You never know. Apparently, I’d be in good company. Read on. I looked for it in my 1972 edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, but it was not listed.…
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Ask versus Request
When did that happen? Am I the only one who thinks it’s odd? How did a very solid verb seemingly suddenly become a noun? And why? Especially when we’ve always had a perfectly fine noun for that very thing. I’m talking about two words: ask and request. Being the kind of person that I am,…
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Bonfire’s Mom Writes
The Maddie in the title of my blog is our dog. But we also have a cat named Bonfire. He came with that name. We couldn’t seem to change it. We tried. But nothing else would stick. We got him in late November of 2012 shortly after we had to put our previous cat, Winnie,…
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I’m Annoyed
There are a lot of things that annoy me. Honestly, I’d like to think of myself as a tolerant person. But the truth probably lies somewhere between those two statements. Maybe, sadly, a little closer to the first one. Yes, police brutality is a problem. Yes, it’s been a problem for a long time. Yes…
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Weird Words, Part 11
Nincompoop Even though the word “nincompoop” is considered to be colloquial, it’s claimed that it has a very learned past. One account reports that it stems from non compos mentis, which is Latin for “not of right mind.” It’s claimed that it was once actually a legal term. The idea of a lawyer using that…
Maddie's Mom Writes 