precarity is a precarious existence, lacking in predictability, job security, material or psychological welfare. The social class defined by this condition has been termed the precariat. Wikipedia

hormesis is any process in a cell or organism that exhibits a biphasic response to exposure to increasing amounts of a substance or condition. Within the hormetic zone, there is generally a favorable biological response to low exposures to toxins and other stressors. [I don’t think I can use this.]

teratoma Teratomas are an unpleasant looking, yet benign form of congenital tumor (hence teratoma, Greek: monster growth) that form as the result of the expression of programs of embryonic development within somatic tissues. Ovarian teratomas form sacs containing multiple tissues (skin, cartilage, hair). (What have I been reading??)

cagoule noun,Brit. a lightweight, hooded, thigh-length waterproof jacket. ORIGIN 1950s: from French, literally ‘cowl’.

gurn verb [ no obj. ]1 Brit.pull a grotesque face. 2 (usu. girn) chiefly Scottish & Irish: complain peevishly. ORIGIN early 20th cent.: dialect variant of grin.

whudder SND :: whidder - Dictionary of the Scots Language whidder - Dictionary of the Scots Language. Also whudder, hwider (Jak.), whither, whuther, whother; ¶whutter-; arch. † quhidder, †quhithir; and, with alternative freq. ending whiddle. [Ooh,it would be nice to have a Dictionary of the Scots Language!]

pithivier noun, a tart with a rich almond filling. ORIGIN from French Pithiviers, the name of a small town in the department of the Loiret.

I’m not finding anything I can use. I’m going to bed.

I’m not the only member of an Icelandic chapter in Canada whose Icelandic parent married out of the bloodline. Born and bred in Canada (Winnipeg-born, Gimi-bred), my mother was the first of her family to leave the genetic nest. It couldn’t have been easy, but I’ll deal with that another time. Here in Toronto where I live now, I met other women like me in Icelandic classes whose mother didn’t let their daughter learn Icelandic so they could continue to gossip with their siblings without a little nearby sponge soaking up the language.

And so it was with Þorrablót, the Icelandic mid-winter festival named after Þorri, the month in the Icelandic calendar that falls somewhere between January and February. And blót means sacrifice. I never heard of it until I was an adult. I called it an Icelandic pig-out. The only sacrifice involved was trying not to eat too much.

It started with us, the members of the Icelandic Canadian Club of Toronto, more like a pot luck. I made my amma’s Icelandic brown bread for it and others made rullapylsa or gravadlax. Always, always, there was vinarterta, the festive cake so popular with Western Icelanders, the Canadian name Iceland has bestowed on our ancestors and we who have left the fold.

Of course, as our numbers grew, we had to have the affair catered with English food for a crowd, like turkey and ham, but gradually we could afford to bring in hangikjöt, smoked lamb, literally hung meat, recalling the days when the meat was hung from the rafters above the fire in the kitchen. All this I learned, and more, as a grown-up discovering a treasure I had been denied as a child. The ”Icelandic table” remained popular mainly because of the vinarterta and pönnukökur.

Now, Icelandic pancakes I remember, because when I was a kid on summer vacation in Gimli, my amma’s neighbour used to give them to me, rolled around brown sugar. On festive occasions. like þorrablót, they are served with strawberry jam and whipped cream.

That’s a memory worth preserving!