A Word Nerd's Delight

    

Oxford in the early 1900's, the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicography, women's suffrage, and WWI all come together in this charming re-imagining of the creation of the OED.

It's fiction, with some historical characters, and it's the story of (fictional) Esme who works on the Dictionary, along with some other very real but mostly unheralded women. 

Esme realizes that many words that women use or that pertain to women are not being included in this monumental work and she begins to seek out and document as many of these words as she can find, including those known to the editors of the OED but left out because they are vulgar or obscene (whatever that means.) 

It's a delightful read and full of interesting questions to ponder. No wonder it was a choice of Reese's Book Club.

A Rite of Summer

It's not summer without a good BLT--thick-cut hickory smoked bacon, crunchy lettuce (though due to the recent warnings, I made do with spinach,) and a really excellent tomato. Some folks insist on white bread but I go with the mixed grain we always have. And others feud over mayo choices--Dukes or Hellmans. I've made my own mayo for over fifty years so that's what I prefer.

The Platonic ideal is a homegrown heirloom tomato, just picked and still warm from the sun. But as I no longer make a garden, I was thrilled to find some beautiful locally-grown Cherokee Purples in our grocery store.

A sublime sandwich!

 

Lughnasadh--Rabbit, Rabbit

 

Starshine

                                                             

                                  photo from NASA

The oldest starlight ever detected comes from primordial cosmic structures and individual stars that formed shortly after the Big Bang, dating back nearly 13.8 billion years.

Astronomers tell us that some of the starlight that brightens our skies is from stars  long dead. 

Just so with those  people I have known in this life who, though gone, still endure in sudden flashes that brighten my existence–a bit of music one introduced me to, a wry turn of phrase from another, a recipe, a remembered story . . . and with each of these flashes, their light shines through the years.

                                       ******************


The nearest star system is Alpha Centauri, whose light takes about 4.3 years to reach Earth.


Light from the center of the Milky Way, out Galaxy, takes about 25,800 years to reach Earth.


Light from the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest Galaxy to us, takes about 2.5 million years to reach Earth.


Earendel is the most distant star observed, as of April 2022, and its light takes about 28 billion years to reach Earth.

High Summer

 

Tornado Watch

Around 5:30 yesterday evening, our phones buzzed with a tornado warning--go to your basement or an interior room. Scary stuff, but John was watching on the radar and then from our front porch and it was pretty sure the storm wasn't heading our way.

We kept a wary eye on the clouds and lightning to the north of us as they moved our way. We got several spells of rain and the power was out for about an hour but, (and I'm writing this at 8:45) so far, so good. 

 

Love in Bloom?

 

Pasta with Shrimp, Tomatoes, Basil, and Lots of Garlic

                                                            

  Sunday night is always something of an improv to use up things before my grocery trip on Tuesday. I had a lot of ripe tomatoes waiting and a half bag of shrimp in the freezer. Plus a burgeoning basil plant and there's always garlic and butter.

So, I got the butter good and hot and stirred in the defrosted shrimp and the garlic (8 cloves, chopped.) It was a very brief cook time, just till the shrimp curled, and I removed shrimp and garlic to a bowl. Then I put 3 chopped up tomatoes into the butter and cooked till some began to caramelize on the edges. Off heat, added a bit more butter then the shrimp and garlic and a good bit of torn basil leaves.

Served over pasta (farfalle) and topped with parmesan. 

It was right good for improv.

Serene Sunday

 

Simpler Times

When I was writing a historical novel or sub-plot, one of my favorite ways to do research was to look at the ads from the times for an idea of how folks lived.

These ads are from a 1903 cookbook published by the Willing Workers of Troy, Alabama. It was the property of my maternal grandmother and gives a good idea of the Troy of that time.

Farming was important.

As was beauty care.

Livestock, buggies, and wagons were available, along with bread and hand-rolled cigars.

 

Robinson Crusoe

                                                                          

Robinson Crusoe is one of those books everybody knows about but probably hasn't read. It's arguably the prototype of cast-away on a deserted island fiction and has spawned a multitude of offspring--Swiss Family Robinson, Lost in Space, The Martian, Castaway . . . to mention a few. And then there are all those cartoons from The New Yorker.

                                                   Like so many, I had never read Defoe's 1719 work in its entirety. But now a copy turned up in my recent book purging/reorganization efforts and now I have.

It's a terrific account of clever survival. Crusoe is on the island some twenty-six years and in that times builds houses, makes pottery, gardens, captures and tames goats, weaves baskets, and makes for himself a rather fine little kingdom.

I have to admit to skimming bits. There's a lot of moral reflection--Crusoe went to sea against the wishes of his parents and remained there despite several close calls before the final catastrophe that stranded him. There's lots of philosophizing about the nature of Good and Evil, including one rather good point made by Friday, the 'savage' Crusoe rescued from cannibals. 

Crusoe has been telling Friday about the devil being God's enemy, and Friday asks if God is stronger than the devil.

Oh, yes, says Crusoe, God is stronger.

Then Friday asks, ". . .why God no kill the devil, so make him no more do wicked?"

Crusoe is at a loss for a good answer and (much like some politicians) "diverted the present discourse . . . rising up hastily as upon some sudden occasion of going out; then sending him for something a good way off. . ."

Some things never change.

                  

Hurrah for Rain!

                  

 

Mullein aka Verbascum

 

Its other names include:

Aaron's Rod, Adam's Flannel, American Mullein, Beggar's Blanket, Blanket Herb, Blanket Leaf, Bouillon Blanc, Bouillon Jaune, Candleflower, Candlewick, Cierge Cotonneux, Cierge de Notre-Dame, Clot-Bur, Clown's Lungwort, Cuddy's Lungs, Duffle, European Mullein, Faux Bouillon-Blanc, Feltwort, Flannelflower, Fleur de Grand Chandelier, Fluffweed, Gidar Tamaku, Gordolobo, Hag's Taper, Hare's Beard, Hedge Taper, Herbe de Saint-Fiacre, Herbe Saint Fiacre, Higtaper, Jacob's Staff, Longwort, Molène, Molène à Grandes Fleurs, Molène Bouillon-Blanc, Molène Faux-Phlomis, Molène Thapsus, Orange Mullein, Oreille de Loup, Oreille de Saint Cloud, Our Lady's Flannel, Queue de Loup, Rag Paper, Shepherd's Club, Shepherd's Staff, Tabac du Diable, Torch Weed, Torches, Velvet Plant, Verbasci Flos, Wild Ice Leaf, Verbascum densiflorum, Verbascum phlomides, Verbascum thapsiforme, Verbascum thapsus, Woolen, Woolly Mullein. . .whew!

  

  It's a weed around here, growing on slopes along the highway and popping up here and there around our house. I always hope some will escape the weedeater -- such stately plants.

I know that mullein flowers used to be gathered and sold for use in medicines, but I have no experience of how it might be used in folk remedies. 

According to one site, mullein is used to make medicine for "cough, whooping cough, tuberculosis, bronchitis, hoarseness, pneumonia, earaches, colds, chills, flu, swine flu, fever, allergies, tonsillitis, and sore throat. Other uses include asthma, diarrhea, colic, gastrointestinal bleeding, migraines, joint pain, and gout. It is also used as a sedative and as a diuretic to increase urine output.

"Mullein is applied to the skin for wounds, burns, hemorrhoids, bruises, frostbite, and skin infections  The leaves are used topically to soften and protect the skin."

But wait, there's more! Mullein is used as a flavoring ingredient in alcoholic beverages.

Are any of you familiar with the use of mullein in folk remedies?

This is a slightly updated (I no longer wield a weedeater) re-post from years back.