pangolin |paŋˈgə(ʊ)lɪn|nounan African and Asian mammal that has a body covered with horny overlapping scales, a small head with an elongated snout, a long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites, and a tapering tail. Also called scaly anteater.: ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from Malay peng-guling, literally ‘roller’ (from its habit of rolling into a ball).

Now, where did I find that one?

yaffle A friend sent me this one. Apparently birds do this - guess it's a noise? - Does anyone know this? The online dictionary doesn't have it. When I have time I'll look it up elsewhere. I have been too busy with my screenwriting homework. I can't find skeeve out either.

cloaca |kləʊˈeɪkə|noun (pl.cloacae |-siː, -kiː| )1 Zoology a common cavity at the end of the digestive tract for the release of both excretory and genital products in vertebrates (except most mammals) and certain invertebrates.2 archaic a sewer. DERIVATIVES cloacal, adjective ORIGIN late 16th cent. (in the sense ‘sewer’): from Latin, related to cluere ‘cleanse’. The first sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

I know i looked this one up last week but I didn't retain it. It doesn't appeal to me.

The screenwriting homework continues inexorable. Some of it requires a gestation period before I can come up with a scene. That's when I am very grateful for my peculiar sleeping habits. I've been staying awake but not sitting up when I wake about 4 a.m. I lie there and think my way through it. I think some more while I swim and then by the time I get to the typewriter (computer -Final Draft plus Word) I can write. Yesterday morning I didn't get it right and I knew it, but this morning I figured out what was wrong and tweaked my erroneous scene into the new one. That probably doesn't make sense but it did to me.

More to come.

Yesterday I was focusing on Neil Pasricha's Awesome Books but did you notice how awesome he is? According to Wikipedia, he launched his blog in 2008 and by 2009 he had 10 million hits, followed by international best-sellers based on his awesome idea. Wow.

I have 2 regular likes. When I hit a chord -or something- I rise to 3 or 4. Yesterday I hit 9. I do have lurkers, readers who lurk in the shallows and who comment once in a while on something they feel lukewarm enough about to express it: a correction of a typo, a moot bit of grammar, a point of information about my topic. Nothing I ever write will go viral, nor do I want it to. I was tempted, early on, to give the odd pointer on sexual technique but I decided against it. Others can do that and do it quite well, though they may not be as imaginative or innovative as I am. They'll never know.

My blog is a cobweb blog, spinning along with random thoughts, catching whoever flies by and pauses for a moment to share a thought. Initially I subtitled my blog "a garden of literary delights", and it can be that. I love reading, I love words, I love language. I also love magic and fantasy. I have a pretty good memory and I have lived a long time so I have a lot to remember. So I'm not likely to run out of blog fodder. Also, I keep on learning, as those of us who are lucky enough keep on doing as long as we can.

So I guess my blog is just a gentle, quiet rumination as I drift (plunge? - not yet) into old age.

Okay, Browning (1812-1889): "Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be, /The last of life,/ For which the first was made."

That's all for now.