Writing and Trivia

In another month maybe the tiny buds
 forming on my Forsythia will look like this.

     It’s been a while since I’ve posted any thoughts so today I thought ––how difficult would it be to share a few of the humorous things items that have been passed along from friends?   We could all use a few chuckles, right?

     But first, my excuses for not tending to my blogs...

     I’ve been sidetracked from blogging in recent months by an unexpected activity that has kept me busy and burning much mid-night oil.

      You may think ‘busy’, a strange word to use in connection with sitting in a recliner, a cold drink or cup of coffee, (depending upon the weather), nearby; laptop in place, and me, pounding away on the keyboard. But I am correct in its usage. I had no idea how correct, until, curious, I checked the thesaurus,  and found these synonyms: hard, tiring, hectic, eventful.

      The event that started all this line of activity, was a simple request by our children to write down the memories of their father’s and my early lives. I think they expected a rather humorous account, because of their Dad’s laughter as he told his tales of growing up.

     That bit of writing turned into more than a mere bit. Even without the modern stuff they were familiar with, there was more than thirty years of combined individual lives and then those of our early married life, the wartime years, and those that followed.

     Anyway, I bit the bullet, so to speak, finished the project, without the humor, unfortunately, since I’ve heard of no one losing their breath from laughter. I’m still thinking of incidents to add.

      With that, I discovered I liked to write. Sure, I’d written twenty years of newsletters on the aluminum giftware of the Depression years, and numerous articles for the trade papers, but I discovered writing fiction.

     Writing fiction has created that busy life I spoke of earlier, with all its various meanings. To make a very long story short, I have been critiquing the work of two talented writers, and in turn, they are doing the same for me. It’s an educational, eye opening, fun experience. And a time consuming one.

End of excuses and a glimpse at a few things I’ve saved.

Cowboy rules:

   Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

  If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during a hunt, we WILL shoot it outta your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

Texas Trivia:

King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island .

Beaumont to El Paso   : 742miles

Beaumont to Chicago : 770 miles

Understanding Southern dialogue:

Catty-corner(ed)	a. Diagonal.
Cattywampus	a. Askew, awry; not straight.
Chicken fried steak	n. A steak dipped in batter like chicken then fried until crisp. Some cooks will then smother it in gravy to hide the evidence.
Chinchy	a. Real stingy, as in, "That Roscoe's the chinchiest sonnovagun I ever seen."
Chunk	v. To throw, thoe, or toss, as in, "Hey, boy! Chunk me a chunk of at-ere wood you got dere."
Citify	v. To take the country out of the boy; said by some to be impossible.
Citified	v. Urban or urbane. Takes yuh pick.

Funny or maddening?

I came across this little tidbit while doing some research for a story. It does raise a question––how much credence should we give to the highest court’s decisions?

 U.S. Supreme Court, which, in April 1873, said it was within the power of Illinois to limit membership in the bar to men only. Only one Justice dissented. One Justice wrote:

Man is, or should be, woman's protector or defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy, which belongs to the female sex evidently, unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.... The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator. And the rules of civil society must be adapted to the general constitution of things, and cannot be based on exceptional cases.