Words as we know them...

I enjoy Etymology (the study of the origins of words.) I also enjoy words themselves, and the clever way in which we can use them to express ourselves. I'm certain that is apparent in most of my blog entries; I use large words when a simpler version may be floating around somewhere. I also take pleasure in complexity, both in grammatical composition and in the actual word itself. There is just something very satisfying about wrapping your tongue around a multi-syllable word.

Words for everyday usage are often short and to the point, whereas words used in science or theory are often a combination of various bits and pieces. If you understand the bits and pieces, and have a Latin dictionary handy, the lengthy words themselves are actually just descriptions of what the subject is. When I speak, it is plainly, so that others can understand. When I write, I tend to pull all sorts of synonyms out of the bright blue yonder (or else my arse). It is a filthy habit. Often people do not have the discipline to read things that appear, at first glace, to be stuffy or "above their heads". I shall endeavor to break this habit, or no one will have any desire to read my blog.

It is not that I am trying to impress anyone. I am a firm believer that people are perfectly capable of adding words to their vocabulary, or at least finding new ways of expressing themselves. Lengthy words are not a matter of proper breeding or an expensive education; they are simply a way of conveying information in a manner that, at best, shows they have more than cobwebs and bits of fluff nestled inside their skulls. I, personally, have a gerbil on a wheel up there. As long as he is fed, the thoughts continue to flow.

Most people do not have the occasion to use fancy words. They go about their lives with bliss, working careers that require little in the way of grammatical decorum. Poets, authors and the occasional scientist seem the ones doomed to possessing a vocabulary that is only out-matched by the shoe collection once belonging to Imelda Marcos.

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Ohio (the Burning River State)

the Buring River State)
by Andy Whitman

Someone said... "Well back in the brief time I lived in Ohio, I remember the rivers catching on fire if that gives you a hint..."

That's our big claim to fame.

* Seven presidents
* home of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame
* home state of the first man to orbit the earth and the first man to walk upon the
* the birthplace of the tomato (that's right. It was a Buckeye who
first dared to eat the fruit of the deadly nightshade family)
* the spawning grounds of:

Dean Martin, Rebeccah Schaeffer (Miss America of 1979), Pee
Wee Herman, Paul Lynde, the star of Hollywood Squares (from my hometown of Mount Vernon, Ohio, I'll have you know. It says so right on the sign as you come into town.)

* home to the largest Amish population in the world
* the largest state fair in the world
* the most gargantuan university in the world
* the biggest molded butter cow in the world
* possessor of more fast food burger restaurants than the entire continent of Europe

And what do people remember? The river catching on fire.

There's more, of course.

Much more.

Like the fact that several major insecticides were developed here.

And hybrid corn.

Like the Danville Turkey Festival, where more turkeys are displayed than
any other turkey show in the known universe.

Like the Circleville Pumpkin Show, where you can actually buy pumpkin ice
cream and pumpkin burgers, and witness pumpkins the size of mobile homes.

Like the Our Lady of Perpetual Harvest shrine near Findlay, where Mary's
face miraculously appears on the side of a silo.

You would think that those kinds of attractions might warrant some attention -- maybe a national park near the shrine, or four stars in the AAA book, or something. But noooooo.

We're the state where the river catches fire.

But I know the truth. This is a state of infinite variety --

not only corn, - but soybeans, and alfalfa, and hay, and virtually any legume
you could name.
Not only big cities with small town mentalities, - but
actual small towns, and tiny hamlets with small town mentalities.
Not only
McDonald's, - but Burger King, and Wendy's, and Rally's, and the various roast
beef restaurants that also serve burgers.

So enough of this one-dimensional stereotyping.

Ohio -- it's more than a (burning) river.

Thank you to the person who sent this to me in email. I can say that we really are much more than a (burning) river state.

My Return

It has been some time since I have endeavored to journal anything, either on this site or on my primary blog. My only recent attempt at creativity was to slap up a photo from my garden as a test piece for some tinkering being done for the benefit of a friend. I will include an updated picture here.

Time comes in bits and spurts, flowing quickly when we try desperately to cling to it, and stalling when moments of suffering head our way. For me, time is timeless. The pain in my ankles and back has become so severe that I cannot continue working full time. I am, at the age of 35, living as if I were retired, sans any pension. I will not digress into what causes the pain, except to say that it is skeletal and related to joint attachment in the ankles. The back, of course, is due to that bad fall over decade ago.

How best to deal with the incapability to move as I once did? Should I wallow in the depths of deepest despair, sunk in a quagmire of self-pity and detestation of my fellow man? Shall I simple become a recluse, the "Batty woman down the way", who chases children off her lawn with a gnarled cane?

Hell, no.

Life is too breathtaking for all that bullshit.

Pain is something that is, in part, mental. The pain will always be there. The pain is our body's way of saying, "stop, and allow things to heal." Healing for me will require radical surgery (an osteotomy, with reattachment of the major tendons and ligaments of the ankle, leg and foot structures x both legs), but without insurance, I am cursed to limit the amount of distance that I budge in one session. Becoming depressed because of pain only make the pain that much more unbearable. It is better to continue with an upbeat mind-set than to allow one self to decline into a ghostly shell of a personality.

I have always been one that pauses and observes things in nature. I am someone who would spend hours on end in a dense forest if only to enjoy the tranquility. I have an abundance of time to study things now that I am limited in mobility, and will begin to chronicle annotations here.

I heard a thousand blended notes

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What Man has made of Man. - William Wordsworth


The Yard

This is just a sample photo. I'm working on a few things for a friend, as far as image hosting and adding links to Blogger templates. Bear with me while I muck with it all.

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