S for Spoonerisms

May 20th, 2015
ABC Wednesday

The letter is S - for Spoonerisms......

Definition -  an unintentional interchange of sounds, producing a phrase with a meaning entirely different from the one intended.

Example -  we'll have the hags flung out    -     we'll have the flags hung out

Of course this produces many funny witticisms, and we have the Rev. William Archibald Spooner to thank for these sayings that "fickle our tummy bone", so to speak.

The Reverend Spooner was an Anglican priest and scholar  (an albino with poor eyesight) who studied at New College,Oxford, and then went on to lecture there for sixty years in history, philosophy and divinity.

He was a kind and hospitable man, with a keen intellect, which contributed to the manifestation of sound switching for which he became well known.  His tongue barely kept up with his thought processes.

Spooner was born in London in 1844, and he is buried in Grasmere Cemetery in the Lake District, but he left behind this marvelous word-play, some examples of which follow!  Enjoy......

nosy little cook                            cozy little nook

our shoving leopard                    our loving shepherd

it's roaring with pain                   it's pouring with rain

wave the sails                             save the whales

bedding wells                             wedding bells

our queer old Dean                     our dear old Queen

hiss and lear                                listen hear


Your turn now - can you think of any good spoonerisms???

Lots more Ss here at ABC Wednesday, with thanks to Roger, Denise and strong and steady helpers.

p.s.  Thanks to Martin Chilton for some of the information about the Rev. Spooner.

A Stroll through the Garden

I took a little stroll through the garden this morning,

camera in hand

and found that spring has put all her lovely flowers to bed

to rest in peace and prepare for

next year's marvelous show of daffodils and tulips, swaying in the soft breezes

of April.

In their place summer makes a tentative entry

with that beautiful ubiquitous yellow ranunculus

and some lovely early peonies..

the first of the iris, the purple globes of the allium,

  and great growth on the hostas.

The roses are bursting with pink, and the clematis that

covers the gate are awash in long slender buds.

I take my lunch outside these days,

along with my new book

(McCall Smith's Forever Girl)

and sometimes I have a bit of ice cream and stewed rhubarb 

(fresh from the garden) for dessert.

Here is a little collage of some of the promises

summer is honouring.......

Roses Eternally

ABC Wednesday
May 13th, 2015

The letter is R, for Roses

I have been lucky to have lived in Rose country all my life.......

In Alberta, - Wild Rose Country, where I grew up

I walked to school in June on a pathway through a great cluster of wild rose shrubs,

and the memory of the fragrances remains with me to this day.

today the road that leads to Ginty's pond is lined with the same wonderful scent.

On the farm red and white blaze roses came trailing through the open windows to the kitchen

and our bedroom.

When we moved to town roses and poppies and lilies grew in great abundance over the
fence Charles built to enclose the flower bed fron the street

and in October we brought the remnants into the house to see us through

cold November.......

In the hillside garden we grew roses against the house and throughout the garden -the Abraham Darby, the Prairie Princess, the Mister Lincoln

and just scads of other shrub roses.

and here in town, the roses climb over the gateway to the side garden
 and take prime place in the raised bed

Mary Oliver writes of Roses....

What happens/to the leaves after/they turn red and golden and fall/away?  What happens

to the singing birds/when they can't sing/any longer? What happens to their quick wings?

Do you think there is any/personal heaven/for any of us?/ Do you think anyone,

the other side of that darkness,/ will call to us, meaning us?/ Beyond the trees/
the foxes keep teaching their children

to live in the valley/so they never seem to vanish, they are always there/
in the blossom of light/that stands up every morning

to the dark sky/and over one more set of hills,/along the sea,/the last roses
have opened their factory of sweetness

and are giving it back to the world./If I had another life/I would want to spend it all on some
unstinting happiness.

I would be a fox, or as tree/full of waving branches./I wouldn't mind being a rose/
in a field full of roses.

Fear has not yet occurred to them, nor ambition/Reason they have not yet thought of.

Neither do they ask how long they must be roses, and then what/
Or any other foolish question.

Well there, so much for roses and philosophy

Lots more on the letter R here at ABC Wednesday, with thanks to
Roger, Denise and relentless helpers....


A little addendum for my personal diary....

Here are the red roses I carried to the altar seventy years ago
on the 12th of May, 1945.....

ABC Wednesday
May 6th, 2015

The letter is Q

Here, for your delight is Quintessence

A saxophone Quintet playing Bach:  Fudge Fugue

For more great Qs visit here at ABC Wednesday, with many thanks to Roger and Denise and any quirky helpers who may be assisting them with this great meme.

Holiday

May 1, 2015

I have just returned from a week's holiday in the East Kootenay, - land of magnificent mountains, hot springs, Hoodoos and eagles.

I was excited to find upon my return that the garden had taken flight and spread itself over all the little bare spots, almost obliterating those dratted violets that send out root tendrils and pop to the surface every few centimetres.  But not quite, and so I spent a couple of hours this morning removing their tender green leaves and admiring the new blooms, and the way the roses which lay dry and dead when I left have started to recover with lovely shoots....

We had a grand holiday!  Some days relaxing and reading

and some days traveling to places I have been through

but have never had time to really enjoy.

I went with our eldest son and his wife, and they couldn't have been

kinder or more solicitous....lucky me!!!

Here is a nice little Bavarian type village, full of gift shops and antiques and nice bakeries and restaurants.

 We went further afield to The Panorama, a Ski Resort high in the mountains. following the road
up beside a stream which in the summer would be full of torrents of water and wild rafters!!!

Our accommodation was  a comfortable 'time share' located beside the resort golf course, where each evening a herd of deer sauntered across the grass into the woods at the far side.

and in the distance the mountains rose steep and jagged.

Down the road, on the way to the southern part of the valley there is a long stretch of

bank, eroded by the winds of time and  elegantly turreted 

 Across the way is this this cone shaped sandstrone creation, with a unique embelishment at the side

which would make one wonder what erosion could have shaped it so delicately (click to enlarge)

Because of the height of the land spring comes much later, and the trees in the valley still bear that tenderness of brand new light green leaves, and the willows are still golden.....

Coming down from the ski resort we stopped at Lake Lillian and enjoyed the quietness

of the shoreline, and the birds that bustled amongst the dried bull rushes.

The time came to leave, and on our way home we passed once again through the many tunnels that

make this mountainous highway possible, - through avalanche country, and twice I missed a picture of the guns that are placed on the highway, and fired to bring the snow safely down.

As we descended and started down the Okanagan Valley at Sicamous

spring became more mature, and showed signs of summer approaching.

The fields were full of dandelions, and the leaves on the trees had that summery look.

We stopped to watch and feed the goats who perform for tourists at 'Dave's Goat Walk'

and I thought this was a fun ending to a perfect holiday....

Lovely to get home to one's own bed, where I will now retire and read a few pages of McCall Smith's new book "Emma", which I got from the library today!!

The Ostrich

ABC Wednesday
April 22nd, 2015
O is the Letter

I give you THE OSTRICH

The Ostrich roams the great Sahara

Its mouth is wide, its neck is narra

It has such long and lofty legs

I'm glad it sits to lay its eggs

Ogden Nash

For more info about O s visit here at ABC Wednesday -

with thanks to Denise, Roger and their most orderly helpers.

April in the Garden

It is a warm and sunny morning.  Blue skies, - the sound of sandhill cranes flying through the valley, skirting the friendly clouds,

I am out early, with no other commitments than to feel the warm earth on my hands, and a half a dozen amaryllis that need a summer home.

I find a lovely big pot, loosen the soil, add a handful of promising fertilizing pellets and top it up with some beautiful black crumbly composted earth; into which I scoop out little bowls and lay the bulbs and their long trailing roots, patting them tenderly and wishing them a nice summer in whatever weather might come and nurture them.

Yesterday I made myself a nice cheese sandwich, and took a cup of coffee and a bowl of yogurt out for lunch on the lawn, but today I had a Philharmonic concert from Berlin to watch and listen to at eleven o'clock.  Gorgeous Shumann, a marvelous Mozart and then some rousing Strauss.

So after tending to the amaryllis I made a tour of my little garden spot, - marveling at how quickly things are growing and coming into bud and blossom, and here are some of the things that Callie and I found growing.

Mostly tulips and aconites in bloom right now, but the early peonies have pink buds

and the poppies and delphinium  are reaching skywards.

And some people have early lilacs blooming, filling their yards with

heavenly scent.  Mine are on the verge.....

There is a great plethora of that particular kind of violet

that doesn't bloom, but seeds itself in every available bit of space,

crowding around the feet of all the perennials.  It seems to

have taken the place of the Great Chinese Lantern Railway

(which is present, but in decent bounds)

and I spend a lot of time pulling it out by its shallow roots

and filling the compost bins.

The hills are greening nicely, and I noticed coming home from Penticton the

other day that the Black Eyed Susans are beginning

to decorate the hillsides.

I am taking the trip across the Pass on Sunday, to a birthday party,

and will have a fine opportunity to take pictures

as a dear DIL is driving.

Oh, - and did I tell you I heard a Meadowlark singing across the way,

towards the creek!!!!

And here is the 'new-bed-last-year' where I am going to plant lilies and freesia tomorrow!

ABC Wednesday
late on Thursday.......
The letter is N for NOW, you forgetful Nellie!!!

The days go by, and I try to keep my reminder Notes up-to-date, but sometimes Time plays tricks on me, and I forget...

Yesterday I looked, puzzled, at the "Tree to Me" note on my wall calendar - what could it mean????

I put it out of my mind as inconsequential and went off to singing with the Seniors - singing at Orchard Haven where those who are not lucky enough to still look after themselves find - well, HAVEN...

My good friend who fell and broke her leg is there, - no longer able to maintain her own little apartment.  And my dear, old friend who I first met seventy years ago and who is so terribly frustrated by her inability to be able to find words to express herself (as the result of a stroke).  She is also there...  Time stretches on painfully for them, and NOW is not always pleasant.

As we finished singing the old tunes for those residents who had gathered to listen and some to sing along, one of the singers said "Are you coming to LUNCH?"

LUNCH?  LUNCH???? - oh my, - NOW I remember.  Lunch with the Apple Tarts at TREE TO ME!!

I didn't go to lunch.  I filled my NOW time trying to solve the problem of why my dear old friend could not hear (dead battery in her hearing aid), holding her hand, and reminiscing.

Today my NOW time is going to be spent in the garden, - but first this little contribution to ABC Wednesday, whose Yesterday was NOW TIME, but better late than never, I guess......

If you pop in here at ABC Wednesday you will probably find much more interesting comments on the letter N by people who are more attentive to NOW and get things done on time!!!!  Like all the NOBLE people at ABC Wednesday!!

And I will go out in the garden on this lovely sunny day and plant pansies and sweet peas, grateful that I have such pleasant things to fill my NOW days at Ninety!

All in the April evening...

I see on Facebook that my nephew, the News Correspondent, has posted the launching of the robotic Dragon with a load of supplies for the International Space Station, and so I hurry to the site and the image of the ship and the Falcon launcher standing straight and tall, pointed towards the heavens against the blue of the sky and the wisp of clouds, and belching smoke and fire .....

As I watched the preparations for launch suddenly into my head came the hymn, 'All in the April Evening' (Roberton) and I found myself humming, and singing snatches of the words.  A somewhat vague feeling of the passage of time, eternity, and how in some way despite the great advances in technologly since I first learned that lovely April hymn, all things remain the same throughout and despite these incredible changes.

And how blase we are about it all...  I saw nothing on the news about the Falcon and the robotic Dragon, - or the close proximity of Mars and the total eclipse of the moon (ah, I was looking in the wrong place...)

When we first came to the farm and John Maunsell was the incumbent at St. John's there were a number of good singers in the congregation and we formed a choir of sorts.  All in the April Evening was one of the pieces we sang - it has a lovely sweetness and melancholy about it and it brought back so many memories.  Singing, sheep, lambs, the years on the farm........

I love the sound of this Men's Choir and picture the sheep on the hills in the Dales when we visited Charles' crew member, Brownie, in Peakdale..

A walk in the April woods with Charles when we first met, - a journey through space this April afternoon some seventy years later.....the same incredibly beautiful world!!!