me

I have almost "graduated" (if that is the correct term) from my screenwriting course and am about to become an alumna, joining others who have gone before me and who are committed, as I will be, to helping and encouraging each other.   To enter this special Facebook group I had to enter my face.  

For me, this is not as easy as it sounds.  When I joined Facebook last year I tried to edit a picture of me and ended up with a lopsided half photo.  I'm not very good with techie stuff.  But this week I had help. I'm visiting my daughter and son-in-law and they did it for me.  Well,  I washed my hair (it was Saturday anyway), I dressed for dinner (a patio dress plus a shawl - I live in shawls) and a dab of lipstick. My son-in-law told me not to look down and he took a couple of shots. Then Kate adjusted (?) it, and sent it in.

I have been overwhelmed with the responses.  You'd think it was my birthday. It's not.  It's a good haircut, though.  And I feel more rested than I've been, gathering my strength for the next assault, that is,  the next challenge, whatever it is.

I guess I should put this blog on Facebook, to thank the dozens of people who commented and complimented me.  I  look pretty good for my age.

maine chance

I have moved my body through time and space again, this time to a pond in Maine where my daughter and her husband have a "camp". In Manitoba we called it a cottage, a term I am most familiar with, and a way of life I adapt to very quickly.  But there's wifi and there's Alexa so I am not very rustic.  Again, I promise more than I am delivering today, because I am going to have an afternoon nap.

Bliss.

But I'm awake in time to ponder a few words before I start drinking.

corso noun (pl.corsos)(in Italy and some other Mediterranean countries) a social promenade.• a street used for social promenades, or where races and parades were formerly held.   ORIGIN Italian, ‘main street’, from Latin cursus ‘a course’.[So guess who is still reading Black Eagle and Grey Falcon? Fewer than a hundred pages to go.]

fiacre  fɪˈɑːkrə, -noun historical  a small four-wheeled carriage for public hire.  ORIGIN late 17th cent.  from French, named after the Hôtel de St Fiacre in Paris, where such vehicles were first hired out. [I sort of knew that, in context.]

appanage  ˈap(ə)nɪdʒ| (also apanage) noun: historical provision made for the maintenance of the younger children of kings and princes, consisting of a gift of land, an official position, or money;  archaic , a benefit or right belonging to someone; a perquisite: the appanages of her rank.   ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from French, based on medieval Latin appanare ‘provide with the means of subsistence’, from ad- ‘to’ + panis ‘bread’.  [BE&GF is a history book, as well as travelogue,  biography and cultural exploration.]

sipper |noun:  a small piece of bread or toast, used to dip into soup or sauce or as a garnish.   ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: apparently a diminutive of sop.  [One could guess the meaning, but its it a nice word?]

hugger-mugger |adjective: 1 confused; disorderly: a spirit of careless frivolity where all was hugger-mugger.  2 secret; clandestine. there was no longer the hugger-mugger anecdote, or any juicy elbow-gripping gossip.noun [ mass noun   ]1 disorder or confusion. the vast hugger-mugger of alleys.  2 secrecy or secretive behaviour. he declared war on hugger-mugger and conspiracy, clandestine deals sealed in back rooms.   ORIGIN early 16th cent. (in sense 2 of the noun): probably related to huddle and to dialect mucker‘hoard money, conceal’. This is one of a number of similar formations from late Middle English to the 16th cent., including hucker-muckerand hudder-mudder, with the basic sense ‘secrecy, concealment’.  [Now I love words like this, with the meanings and history.  I found a Shakespeare glossary online and hugger-mugger is in it,  just given one definition (secrecy).  It seems to me that poor old Polonius was buried hugger-mugger.]

  caponing and curveting  I couldn't find caponing but I did find curvet:  verb (curvets, curvetting, curvetted or curvets, curveting, curveted) [ no obj. ](of a horse) perform a. Barney and Dolly curvetted for grandma's benefit.• leap gracefully or energetically.  noun: a graceful or energetic leap. "he sprang from the ice in a swift, frisky curvet."  ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Italian corvette, diminutive of corva, earlier form of curve ‘a curve’, from Latin curves ‘bent’.  [Rebecca West is contemporary in so many ways, but or and?  her vocabulary is multi-faceted, contemporary and learned. Wow.]

anfractuous  ənˈfraktjʊəs| adjective : rare sinuous or circuitous. the line of gold extends and becomes anfractuous.  DERIVATIVES  anfractuosity noun  ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from late Latin anfractuosus, from Latin anfractus ‘a bending’.

hellebore a poisonous winter-flowering Eurasian plant of the buttercup family, typically having coarse divided leaves and large white, green, or purplish flowers.●Genus Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae: several species, including the Christmas rose.• a false helleborine.  ORIGIN Old English (denoting various plants supposed to cure madness), from Old French hellebore, elebore or medieval Latin eleborus, via Latin from Greek hellebores .  [I sort of knew this one but I never used it in sentence: "I admired my teacher but he was pedantic and a hellebore."]

apices plural form of apex.apex  noun:  (pl. apexes or apices |ˈeɪpɪsiːz| )1 the top or highest part of something, especially one forming a point: the apex of the roof | figurative : the central bank is at the apex of the financial system.• Geometry the highest point in a plane or solid figure, relative to a base line or plane.• Botany the growing point of a shoot.2 the highest point of achievement; a climax: the apex of his career was in 1966 when he hoisted aloft the World Cup for England.3 Motor Racing the point in turning a corner when the vehicle is closest to the edge of the track.  verb:  1 [ no obj. ] reach a high point or climax. melodic lines build up to the chorus and it apexes at the solo.  2 [ with obj. ] Motor Racing turn (a corner) very close to the edge of the track. he understands when to apex a corner.  ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin, ‘peak, tip’.                                             [I guessed what apices was but I never saw apex used as a verb.  Learn something every day.

viscid  adjective:  having a glutinous or sticky consistency: the viscid mucus lining of the intestine.                              DERIVATIVES   viscidity noun:  ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from late Latin viscid us, from Latin viscum ‘birdlime’.viscid.                      [I thought it was related to viscous, which I will look up now....

viscous adjective:  having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid; having a high viscosity: viscous lava.  DERIVATIVES  viscously adverb;  viscousness noun.  ORIGIN late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French viscous or late Latin viscous, from Latin viscum ‘birdlime’. {Yes, related - to birdlime.]

 inspissate verb,  (usu. as adj. inspissated):  )thicken or congeal: inspissated secretions.  DERIVATIVES  inspissation, noun            ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from late Latin inspissat- ‘made thick’, from the verb inspissate (based on Latin spissus ‘thick, dense’).  [Okay. I wonder if anyone would be put off if I talked about inspissating a pudding?  Fortunately, I never make pudding so it won't be put to the test.]

withies:    withy noun (pl.withies or withes):  a tough, flexible branch of an osier or other willow, used for tying, binding, or basketry. it is fixed with withies tied to the common rafters. [ as modifier ] : a withy basket.• another term for osier.              ORIGIN Old English wīthig, of Germanic origin; related to German Weide .  [Well, I read Old English' so I knew this one.]

camber noun:  the slightly convex or arched shape of a road or other horizontal surface. a bend where the camber of the road sloped to a ditch. a flat roof should have a slight camber to allow water to run off.• Brit.a tilt built into a road at a bend or curve, enabling vehicles to maintain speed.• the slight sideways inclination of the front wheels of a motor vehicle. suspension changes include a wider front and rear track with increased negative camber for better cornering grip.• the extent of curvature of a section of an aerosol.  DERIVATIVES   cambered, adjective: a steep, badly cambered turn   ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French camber, dialect variant of chamber ‘arched’, from Latin camurus ‘curved inwards’.  [Npw, I should have known this one and I bet drivers know it well. I'm going to use this one.]

levigate |verb [ with obj..]   archaic: reduce (a substance) to a fine powder or smooth paste. this clay, carefully levigated, yielded a red ware.    DERIVATIVES   levigation,  noun.    ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from Latin levigat- ‘made smooth, polished’, from the verb levigate, from levis ‘smooth’.  [This is another good one to use.  Is his helping you as mch as it is me?  Do you love words? Are you still with me? I have one more,I think...]

marmoreal adjective literary:  made of or compared to marble: the marmoreal skin took on the flush of colour.        DERIVATIVES  marmoreally  ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from Latin marmoreus (from marmot ‘marble’) + -al. [I've looked at this one before.  Not in my usual territory,but a lovely word.]

With any luck ere won't be any more words before I finish this book. 

Anon, anon.