Wing-Ding

WOTD is strangely reticent about the origin of wing-ding, saying only that it is a rhyming compound from 1920s America.  I know wingdings as a sort of pictorial font, so I was surprised to find that it means a party, or celebration.

We have had a super wing-ding today, as Jacob, Philippa, Evie & Max, Sarah & Blue came here for our family Christmas gathering. Some years it is on 25th December, but other times it has to wait a few days until we are all available. It was a real joy, everyone was happy and well fed, there were presents lovingly and thoughtfully given and received and I had the best time. Neil has worked hard in the kitchen and all the clearing up is done. Now it is time to finish the prosecco,pack my suitcase for tomorrow and chill out to Genesis, Nad Sylvan and the Prog sampler CD (Shining Pyramid, The Enid, Kiten Pyramid and Edison's Children)

 

 

 

 

Abdominous

Oh, unkind WOTD! Yes, I am abdominous, i.e. having a large belly; potbellied. This is the end of the feasting season, which starts in late November with Sarah's birthday and continues through the birthday celebrations for various family members, merging seamlessly with company feasts and suchlike until we arrive at the mega-feast of the Christmas meal and then tapers off down to new year

This year we decided to enjoy the luxury of a 3 night Christmas break at a local hotel. Food was lovely and available in large quantities all the time, so we ate, drank and were very merry, meeting and enjoying the company of like-minded couples. Happy New Year to Gloria & Brian, Richard & Sheila and Lyn & Mike, if any of you should read this.
Still, I am glad to be back home. I have to prepare for a family feast tomorrow, then go to Somerset for more feasting at Spencer House. No wonder I am abdominous!!
Lots of washing has been done. Neil did the shopping for tomorrow and cooked sausages, JPs and veg for dinner. Music from Procul Harum, and Steve Rothery (new CDs for Xmas)

Festoon

I'm sorry. Extreme tiredness caused by lack of sleep caused by coughing meant that I missed gastronome and irenic. But, as suddenly as it came, my cough has gone (or was it the Broncho Stop pastilles that Neil got me?). I am pleased to come in with WOTD "Festoon", as I am sure that all our houses are suitably festooned.

 

Some go for the gaudy bright look, with flashing lights in the window, inflatable Santa on the roof and 2 wicker reindeers grazing on the patio. Some altogether more refined, like Rebecca's festive flowers. I tend to be more minimalist these days with just a decorated tree. Neil loves Christmas so he tends to get more and more decorations each year. It looks really festive with our festoons.

Which is strange, because tomorrow we go to The George hotel in Rye to enjoy their 3-night Christmas package. I have never done this before, and it looks like a great itinerary, but I am still anxious, hoping it is enjoyable. Our festoons will be all alone

I won't be blogging while I am away, as I haven't figured out how to get my blog page on my tablet, so I'll see you again on 28th December. Have a great Christmas, everyone! I wish you health, happiness and peace for the coming year. I love you all.

Oenophile

At this intensly celebratory time of year,  everybody thinks they are an oenophile, for this WOTD means 'a lover of wines' (from the Greek 'oinos' = wine). For example, nearly 200 people (including 12 from Informed Financial Advice) gathered at  Powdermills hotel near Battle for their Xmas Party night. I would say that we were not atypical in consuming 12 bottles of wine between us, as well as all the before-and-after-party drinks. So there were clearly plenty of oenophiles dancing the night away last night at Powdermills.

 

However, another meaning for the WOTD is 'a connoisseur of wine' and if there were any of those there last night, I would be very surprised. I imagine the connoisseur drinking 1, maybe 2 glasses of excellent wine, chilled (or warmed) to exactly the correct temperature, from superb glasses in a sophisticated and peaceful environment. Not imbibing as much as you can in the shortest possible time and getting uncontrollably, schreechingly drunk by the end of the night. 

Fortunately, my colleagues all seemed to drink plenty without getting out of control, and I think a good time was had by all. I had to leave the party early, due to my uncontrollable cough and my sensitivity to the flashing disco lights, but was able to join them in the bar later.

We met again this morning for a tasty and filling breakfast, with some a little subdued, but most in good spirits. 

Today I have tried to rest to control my cough, I have helped Santa with his gift wrapping and generally tried to catch up on paperwork. By this time next week, all the Christmas furore will be over and we will be back from our first Christmas in a hotel. Now, we may see a couple of oenophiles there, who knows.

Matutinal

This WOTD means of, or relating to the early morning, so I suppose you would talk about your matutinal cup of tea (or coffee). It comes from the word Matuta, the Roman goddess of the dawn, but it seems primarily to relate to those organisms that are active in the early hours. Here is the aptly-named 'Morning Glory'

I would regard myself as matutinal; always at my best on waking, which is usually about 6am and full of energy until about 2pm, after which I visibly sag. At the weekends, I often have a sleep at this time, sometimes for a couple of hours, which enables me to be more lively in the evening, should it be called for. I am no slug-a-bed, regarding the 'lie-in' as a waste of the best part of the day. Surprisingly, on the odd occasions when I have slept late, I feel no benefit from it, often feeling more sluggish than if I had risen early. 
I was certainly awake early this morning, as I had to be sure of being ready to leave for work at 8.30. I had an enjoyable session, working as part of a great team. This afternoon, Evie & Max came over and decorated our Christmas tree for us, the signal that the preparations for the festive season can begin. Christmas cards that have been arriving for the past 2 weeks were opened and replaced Neil's birthday cards which have had their moment of glory. The Christmas rope light has decided to stop working, Neil will have to fix that tomorrow, the place wouldn't be the same without their eerie green glow.
Sad to hear from Julia that Abby looks like she has reached the end of her road. I shall miss that little kitty.
Neil is back home, so we had a Sunday roast dinner, except that we had sausages because we had some to use up.  I finished off the wine, music from Steven Wilson & Steve Hackett, early to bed, couldn't sleep, up to write blog and try to calm my cough

Antediluvian

Now, let's see if I am right..I think this WOTD literally means 'before the flood' and has come to mean very old. Now I shall look it up... HURRAH! I was right. Now of course, this means the great biblical flood, that alledgedly covered the whole world, but I guess there are some people in Cumbria at the moment who think that their whole world IS flooded. This is Carnforth railway station, the same Carnforth where Neil spent 2 glorious weeks of summer while I was living it up in Canada

 

I don't know whether flooding is a modern phenomenon, allied to global warming, but I certainly have never experienced this kind of attack by water. It seems to get in everywhere and ruin everything. I do have an extremely strong childhood memory (which is why it is one of the few remaining) relating to water. Our big old Victorian house at 4 Beulah Hill had no central heating (which is relevant), and probably plumbing that was quite elderly (which may not be). Very cold winter nights would cause the water in the pipes to freeze and burst the pipes, especially in the bathroom. The bathroom was situated above our music room.

Now I was usually the first person up in the mornings, and I would have to make my way upstairs and along the passage to the loo, passing said music room. Time and time again, I would hear the sound of water and open the door to see water pouring down the walls. I knew this was bad news. I don't remember what happened next, I suppose I woke a parent and it got sorted. Pipes were lagged in those days which I suppose is not necessary nowadays.

Today has been strange, as Neil has been in Folkestone, on standby for Kent Lifts while they have their work Xmas do. He is also invited to join in, unless he gets called to a breakdown. So I have been quietly getting on with some jobs here, and watching my favourite TV shows. I have eaten fruit and yogurt, chocolate & crisps. Not a very healthy dinner. Early to bed, as I am working in the morning. 

Fugacious

Fugacious. Not a word you hear bandied about, it means fleeting or transitory, like snow in Bexhill. The trouble is, it does not convey anything about its meaning in the word. I'm not talking onomatopoeia here - these are words that sound like the sound they're describing, 'thwack' 'cuckoo' or 'buzz' being common examples. I'm talking about a word that somehow conveys its meaning in the way that word sounds. I found a blog 'Fiction University' by Janice Hardy and she has this to say, giving the word 'frumpy' as an example: - 
'Frumpy sounds like what it is. You don't have to know its definition to get a good idea of its meaning. A quick trip to the thesaurus got me these other words that could have been used instead:  

badly dressed, baggy, blowsy, dingy, drab, dull, homely, old-fashioned, outdated, plain, poorly dressed, shabby, sloppy, stodgy, unfashionable, unkempt, unstylish 

None of them convey what frumpy does, because the sound of the word is so perfectly aligned with what it means.' 

 

Not Fugacious. Transitory has a nice fleeting sound to it, but fugacious has a dig-your-heels-in, I'm-here-for-keeps feel to it. This comes from the Latin fugere meaning 'to flee' so it's been the wrong word for ages. Maybe that's why no-one talks about the fugacious blossom in spring or my fugacious attempts to lose weight. 

 

Mind you, I didn't like the thesaurus string of words aligned to frumpy, as I feel all of those at the moment. Something must be done.

 

Busy day, achieved lots, took Evie to her gymnastics class, home to sausages, salad & JP, glass of wine. Music from Yes, Nad Sylvan & Genesis. Nice

Lexicographer

Now would I have wanted to be a lexicographer? A compiler of dictionaries? I am sure my regular readers will know I am a great wordsmith, loving words, meanings of words, spellings, anagrams and all such associated pleasures. But compiling a dictionary is a difficult job, and these days each new word is discussed by a committee before it is, at last, added.

It was Julia who told me about a village in Dorset called Ryme Intrinseca. Now  the name means the inner, or home, part of the Ryme manor as opposed to the outer parts, once called Ryme Extrinseca.

 

But if I lived there, and was part of the 115 strong members of this village, surely everyone would make sure that they had everything intrinsically rhyming, but Julia says it was a quite unremarkable village, with not a rhyme in sight. Maybe they just got fed-up with it, with everyone making the same jokes about the name of the village. 

Maybe it would be like that if I were a lexicographer. Maybe I would lose sight of the fun in words, and just get bogged down with the job of researching and getting it right. I think I will just stick to crosswords.

Mind you, I had a busy day today, and managed to get 3 letters written, as well as a whole load of other stuff. Fish & chips for dinner. Jacob came and fitted Neil's Podium turntable plinth to the wall, which makes a huge difference - wooden floors and heavy people are not a good combination for a turntable. Fitting it to the wall has isolated all that unnecessary vibration.

I can even dance now, and you know how much I like that!

Bombinate

I think I have heard this WOTD before, as it's what bees do - to buzz, or hum. Of course, it's not just bees that buzz and hum. Machinery does it all the time, even humans bombinate. I can always tell if Neil is contented, because he goes around the house humming tunes quietly. 

I rather like bees, and am quite pleased with my little bee tattoo, which is similar to the one below and I have had for about 20 years. It is just above my left breast, and although hidden for most of the time, I can (and do) show it to people if asked about it, without compromising my modesty.

 

Evie and Max were most surprised today to learn that I had a tattoo, and of course they wanted to see it. I have it because I am a Bea, and I like bees. I suppose my next one should be an elephant, but I couldn't do it in the correct ratio to the bee; it would have to be a miniature elephant.

I have had another lovely Monday, mostly doing Lift Man work and sorting out pile of papers. I fear they will never end. Max & Evie were rather over excited this evening; maybe it's the approaching Christmas holiday that is getting them rather wound up, but it was all good natured. 

Luxury fish cakes and salad, followed by fruit and yogurt. Very tasty dinner. Tomorrow is Neil's birthday and we are out for dinner, so may not be blogging at all. 

Gambol

This WOTD doesn't really suit me. Gambol means to skip about in play; to frolic. I always think that lambs 'gambol'; it is certainly not something that I would do, or indeed have ever done. My victorian-era father didn't really approve of physical activity for girls and we were never encouraged to have fun in this way. Fun was altogether more cerebral, which has affected me to this day. 
As a child,however,  I invented many dance routines, my favourite being the one to Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien, which you can find here. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIfHGjdF7qI )

This was 15 minutes of sublime music to dance to, and I thought I was in my own little world, no-one knew of my dancing efforts. But just recently, Julia commented that, if our parents had been more concerned with us as individuals, rather than the family as a whole, they would have enrolled me in dance classes, as I was 'dancing all the time' ! it has only taken me 60 years to discover that Julia was aware of my little dances. Here I am dancing with my cousin Jochen at my 60th birthday party.

But this doesn't really count as 'gambolling' and I have grown up without wishing to gambol at all. But I still love to dance, and even to modern music I will work out a step routine, not just jiggle on the spot. 

8 members of the Steadman family met today for lunch to celebrate Roy's (29th Nov), Liz's (3rd Dec) and Neil's (8th Dec) birthdays. I am still full, and having watched some TV about narrow-guage steam railways (very interesting), I shall head for bed. Happy birthday also to the lovely Hindy Kennedy.

Schmatte

The WOTD is Schmatte, meaning ' an old ragged garmet; a tattered article of clothing'. Now of course, I wouldn't know anything about that, as all my clothes are delightfully new. I only wish that were the case, but it made me think about items of clothing that I have loved so much, I wore them to pieces.
I remember a pair of stretch cord leggings that I wore in Greece. They weren't the most flattering garment but they were sooooo comfortable, I wore them until they disintegrated. Here they are, walking up through the fields back to our lodging. 

I have night clothes that are comfortable old favourites and I wait until they are full of holes and  Neil has to beg me to throw them out and buy new. 

I have had a great day today, getting all my admin work done early, seeing Jacob who finished tiling work, in fact the toilet is finished, just a few extra jobs in the bathroom. I will post before and after pictures for your enjoyment in a few days' time. Neil changed some light fittings round for me so I have the bright light where I need it. The house is tidy and Neil is making pizza for dinner (Neil's pizzas are the best in the world, believe me). 
We watched a new TV crime drama (Blindspot). Not too sure about it, so I will probably watch the next episode. It is most unusual for us to watch something together, I enjoyed that moment. 
Glass of wine, no music - catching up on emails and facebook. 
Now to get into my schmatte and dressing gown, ready for bed
 

Spoonerism

I really don't like missing days out of my 'daily' blog, but I couldn't figure out how to use propinquity, and was too tired yesterday for foudroyant. But the WOTD today is spoonerism one of my favourite language tricks, and one that I use a lot. A spoonerism is the transposition of the initial (or other) sounds in a pair of words, to make a different meaning, or sometimes just nonsense. The example given was to change 'a crushing blow' into 'a blushing crow'. 
Here, for example, is a picture of a skoo bligh over Midland Marina

I like the fact that I work, part-time,  as a rental deceptionist (that's quite apposite) and that today it has been roaring with pain. 

It has been a busy week and I have been bedevilled with a cold. This has left me with such a bad cough that I had to cancel my attendance at a 'scratch' Messiah tonight which is a shame, as I was looking forward to singing this choral classic. Worried for my sister's 18yr old cat Abby, who has been pawly all week. All fingers crossed.

Music from Anathema, and the Prog magazine sampler CD. Or this could all have been a lack of pies!

Winkle

Busy-ness, illness and away-from-home-nesss means that I have missed nocturne and bibliotaph, both of which I could have expounded upon at length. No more excuses, today's WOTD is very pertinent.
I think it was from Trevor at work that I first heard the term 'winkles' to refer to young children. It is only a small step from 'little wilkie' (my mother coined that expression to refer to the unborn Jacob) to little winkle/s and soon I was affectionately referring to Evie & Max as 'The Little Winkles' - maybe not to their faces, but certainly in other conversations. 
Today is a special day in many parts of the world as children excitedly venture to open door #1 on their advent calendar. What they find behind the door varies hugely from a simple, charming Christmas image, via the ubiquitous chocolate nibble, to gifts of varying magnificence depending on the indulgent nature and bank balance of the giver. Last year I exhausted all my artistic skills for the next decade in constructing a pyramid of 25 toilet roll inners, each one containing a pair of tiny gifts for Max & Evie. I covered the front in Xmas paper, wrote the numbers randomly thereon, stuck on some stars and hey-presto! 1 advent calendar! It didn't matter that the toilet-rolls could be see from the back, as it would be against a wall.

I gingerly carried it to the car, and got Neil to place it carefully on my lap while he drove us the 5 minute journey to hand over the calendar. Suddenly (I can't remember why) Neil had to brake rather abruptly, and all the little presents came flying out from the unprotected back of my pyramid!!. I had to try to remember where they had been, and carefully poke them back into their respective hidey-holes. 
My little winkles were none the wiser, and had a lot of fun poking a hole through the paper each day to discover the little gifts waiting for them.
This year it was left to Neil who, quite unprompted, bought chocolate-filled advent calendars for each of them, and delivered them personally this morning!

Pandiculation

This will be a short blog about gymnastics. Pandiculation means 'the act of stretching oneself' from the Latin pandere To stretch. Now I could write long about my superb lithe grandaughter who has being doing gymnastics since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. But my subject today is my niece Ruth. I have no reason to believe that she has ever done gymnastics as a child (but I wouldn't know,tbh). What appears to be happening is that she has just started doing gymnastics, for the sheer fun of it, at the indecently old age of.... well she's somewhere between 15 and 30... and she is amazing. Pandiculation is her thing. Definitely not mine.

So instead of a photo, I'd like you to see this little video that Ruth posted on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/ruth.dixon.58/videos/vb.100000101071977/1149657555047603/?type=2

Busy couple of days, may not blog again until Monday

Oniomania

Very good, dictionary.com to come up with this WOTD on black Friday. Oniomania is 'an uncontrollable desire to buy things' a nice hybrid of Greek & Latin, via Germany. 
I am sure that real oniomania is an unpleasant medical condition that results in your house being stuffed full of unwanted items, I don't think it relates to people who love to do a bit of shopping.

My father once said to me, when I had pestered him once too often for my own radio, 'you,my girl, are too acquisitive and one day it will get you into trouble'. He DID let me borrow the money to buy the radio, but he made me pay back every penny.
He was right, of course (your parents are so often proved right in the end) and my acquisitive nature - not exactly oniomania, but close - coupled with the laissez-faire attitude of credit-card companies in the past (they're better nowadays) enabled me to get into all sorts of 'trouble' along the road of life.

 

I guess that you learn eventually that material possessions are like the tiny ropes used by the Lilliputians to tie down and imprison Gulliver and that they don't really set you free in any meaningful way. I have always wanted the minimalist home, and have failed miserably to come even close. Time for a clear-out? 
NS & I had a great evening at 1a with Sarah (for her birthday) & Blue, Jacob & Philippa, chinese takeaway, lots of lovely family time. Can't beat it!
 

Gormandize

Now, if there was ever a WOTD that applied to me, it's gormandize. meaning 'to eat greedily or ravenously' it has come to us from the French gourmand meaning a person who is fond of good eating. That's me, in a nutshell (not that you'd get much of me in one of those). 
I have always had a difficult relationship with food, I know not why, or when it started. I know that my Mother's diary records that I had started at weight watchers, and I think I was about 16 at the time. I have been fighting with food ever since - sometimes I think I am winning, and sometimes food wins - I call this the 'Marjory Daw' approach to dieting.
I have reached weights where I think I look amazing; 

something then undermines all my hard work and I end up podge of the year! I am very happy though, and will always find the will to lose a few pounds sometime during the year.
Somewhere along the line I learned to eat very fast, as if I were frightened the meal was going to be taken away from me. I also like to think it is to eat it before it gets cold, but I eat salad just as fast. I am just a gormandizer!
 

Uxorious

This WOTD made me laugh, as I know several people to whom this definition can be applied. It means 'doting upon, or fondly submissive towards ones wife'. I won't name names, but you know who you are.... It has nothing to do with today's blog though.

This blog is late, because sometimes it is just not possible to get everything done in the evening and I was late home because I had to shop for bathroom fittings. The tiling being done so assiduously by Jacob is nearing completion, so it is time for a new paint job and towel rails etc to be fixed. I would like to get the work completed by Christmas, but this is looking increasingly unlikely. Here is a picture of what they used to look like before we started.

 I expect these turquoise fittings were installed when the house was built, they have '70's' written all over them.There is carpet on the bathroom floor (yuck) and the toilet cistern is stuck to the wall because it collapsed one day on Neil in situ. Our landlord is very accomodating (pun intended) and made no objection to being asked to pay for a new bathroom & toilet. We paid for the bleach, though!

Penetralia

It had to happen - a WOTD so obscure that I didn't think I could apply it to my day at all. But the foremost meaning of 'penetralia' is 'the most private or secret things', (so it seems to be a plural noun) and is the nominalisation of the Latin 'penetrare', to penetrate.
The burden of secrets has never sat easily on my shoulders, except the happy Christmas-present sort of secret, for 2 reasons. When in possession of someone else's secret, you are bound to stay silent about it for ever, then you find out that everyone else knew about it anyway, so you feel a ninny (although you should feel proud of keeping the secret). 

If it is your own secret, you have to be very sure before telling anyone else - sure that they will keep quiet for ever. I instinctively mistrust those who tell me other people's secrets - would they be equally careless with mine? So I don't have much in the way of penetralia - I am very open and honest, I can't stand secrecy and lies and the currency of my life is truth. The few grains of secret things will go with me to the grave.

Today has not gone ATP. My doctor was off sick, so my appointment was cancelled and Neil had to attend a breakdown in Surrey at 5pm, so decided to stay there overnight. Although I miss him enormously when he is not here, it did mean that I could watch 3 concurrent episodes of Downton Abbey, so I am now up to date. And I could sneak certain secret things into the house for coming festivities.

Splendiferous

I love this word - splendiferous! So much more than splendid, magnificent or fine, the given definitions. With the accent on the second syllable, it has a power and emphasis missing from mere splendid.
Now, I have had a splendiferous day. I have done all the ironing. I have caught up on paperwork. I have resolved a long standing problem with my computer (took the techie guy about 2 minutes!), renewed the house contents insurance, changed the bedding and all before 2.30 when I left to collect Evie & Max from school. The children were fun and we played silly games on the I-pad
With no Facebook, I phoned and SPOKE TO my brother Christopher to wish him a happy birthday and this evening Neil and I watched a documentary 'Wider Horizons' about David Gilmour. It was a most enjoyable shared experience.

The biggest change was that I cooked dinner, 'creamy fish & brocoli pie' which was completely delicious, the start of random Monday, when I shall choose and cook a recipe we have never tried before. Had Neil known about today's WOTD, he would have said the dinner was splendiferous, he was full of praise and ate the lot!

Early night, GP appointment first thing tomorow.

Gratulation

This wotd is easy to guess from the better known congratulation.  The wotd means feelings or expressions of joy. I got some of those feelings today when the sun came out after a seriously cold start,  and we had  blue sky and for a trip to John's Cross to look at the latest motorhomes.  We saw one which was very tempting but we put our sensible hats on and walked away. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent catching up on essential paperwork and watching some of the TV that I have recorded recently.  I particularly like watching 'landscape artist of the year'.  People seem to get great satisfaction from painting and if I had to learn a new skill in my retirement,  I'd like to have a go. I have no reason to believe that I have any artistic talent but I'd like to try.  It may help with my current feelings of disquiet which come from I know not where. 
 Early night.


 

Nominalize

I should have known this, having done English grammar as part of my degree, but my guesses were all wrong. Nominalize means to convert (another part of speech or phrase) into a noun or noun phrase. For example, changing 'To investigate' to 'the investigation' is to nominalize, or is a nominalization. I suppose we do it all the time without really knowing about it.
Neil and I have been talking about Facebook in the light of a recent study in which students were divided into two groups, and one group asked to go without Facebook for a week. They reported feeling generally happier and less lonely with an improved social life. We have often thought it bizarre that we sit in the same room, not talking, both busy 'Facebooking'. We have decided to give Facebook a miss for a week from Monday. If you have enjoyed reading my blogs, you can still do so; I just won't be posting them to Facebook. I will be interested to see whether my life is enriched after a week.
Today was the first day of winter, with temperatures only barely above freezing. Parts of East Sussex had some meaningful snow, although in Bexhill we only had a 5 minute flurry of sleety stuff, and all was gone by mid-morning once the sun appeared. Neil is hoping for serious snow, similar to this downpour in January 2010

 
Neil collected his repaired and 'blinged-up' car from the garage, where the expert, MG Simon, had put right the bodges of a previous owner and added some fancy touches. I left him to it, and went to work at the emergency dental clinic. 
Neil nearly scored 10/10 for his divine chicken and prawn stir fry, only losing half a point because he had failed to provide garlic bread!
Rekorderlig passion fruit cider, very tasty and (interestingly) completely colourless.
Total Prog tonight:- music from Fish, Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Steve Hackett, Anthony Philips and Nad Sylvan.

Penurious

Now here's another odd WOTD; Dictionary.com describes penurious with two meanings - 'mean, miserly' and 'poor'. I see these two meanings dependant upon whether you are the subject or the object of the word. It is my opinion that many people who are judged mean or miserly are not poor at all, although they may describe themselves thus. On the other hand, many people who are poor are so because they are too generous.

I am not, and have never been, penurious in either sense of the word. Neil and I love to save and as I speak we have 7 money pots around the house, most of which are empty right now but will fill up with holiday savings. We love breaking open the Terramundi and seeing how our £2 coins have added up over the year. This year Neil had about £250 in his. 

I was confused because mean and poor are not synonyms, so I looked the WOTD in the good old Penguin English Dictionary. It describes penurious as 'poor or frugal'; of course it is the adjective of penury, meaning extreme poverty, again from the Latin. The other meaning (mean, miserly) has been around since 1630 so I don't think I'm going to change it now!

A real favourite for dinner - sausages, JP with GC, mushrooms. Ice cream. Neil's 'radio 7' music mix from Frankie Laine, Tony Banks, Marillion, Level 42, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan and Be-Bop Deluxe, 

Empyreal

This word has an unusual etymology if you understand its meaning as 'pertaining to the sky, celestial' because it comes from the Greek term 'empyrios' meaning 'fiery'. Empyreal does have an alternative meaning 'formed of pure fire or light' and you might talk of empyreal radiance.
You might! I don't think I have ever used this WOTD in my life and would find it hard to squeeze into today in the last 2 minutes before midnight.

I do love the sky, though, and enjoy the ever-changing light and patterns it presents. I also love the stars and planets, and I am particularly thrilled with the app on my phone (Skyview) which will show you all the stars and planets and even the position of the International Space Station and the Hubble Telescope.

You can see these images day and night from the comfort of your own sofa - no more craning your neck and peering into the inky blackness.

Productive day at work, quiet night (no footie!) chicken for dinner, early to bed, then I am up again at 11.30 with cramp. Perfect time to write my blog!

Slugabed

This word cannot apply to me. Does not apply to me. Even on a cold winter Sunday, I do not stay in bed. I rejoice in the appearance of the new day and cannot bear to let it slide by while I sleep. Very occasionally, so rarely that it causes comment, we will doze off for an hour after our morning tea, but 6.30 is time for tea, whatever day it is.

Neil was using my car again today and had to go to Surrey, so was a bit late back. I forgot I had a podiatrist appointment at 5.45 and had to scramble to find her phone number to let her know I might not be on time. We arrived home to find her still outside the house, even though I was 15 minutes late. What a star! I love having my feet cared for by a professional. I don't go for all the polished nails and stuff (I would never want MY feet on show) but just proper foot and nail care is a valuable part of my healthcare routine. 

Tesco delivery brought our daily bread (and mayonnaise, and chicken, etc, etc. ) so we had dinner of sausages, tomato pasta, mushrooms and curried chicken and rice. Weird combo, but tasty!

Read Brooklytrek, then early night (oops , forgot to publish this last night)

Panglossian

How tempting to attribute this quality to myself! Panglossian means ' given to extreme optimism, especially in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity' . Unlike previous words, this doesn't come from an ancient foreign language, but from a character in a play - Voltaire's Dr Pangloss. I AM given to extreme optimism, but I cannot say I have ever had unrelieved hardship or adversity. I like the name 'Pangloss' - giving everything a coat of shiny optimism. My sister Julia said on facebook recently that fantasy needs to meet reality at some point if disaster is to be avoided, and I believe that the panglossian type is not a realist.
However, I am a firm believer that a healthy dose of optimism will carry you further through life than those who don't have any. I know; just believing that a bus will turn up on time doesn't make it happen, but there is plenty of evidence to support the view that optimists live longer than the average pessimist. Hey, wait a moment.... there is plenty of evidence to support the view that pessimists live longer than optimists. I just know that I would rather walk in the sunshine.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened today. I enjoyed my corned beef & pickle sandwich for lunch, and we're having fish & chips for dinner. There's international football on TV, so I don't stand a chance!

 
I popped into Tesco on the way home to buy a terramundi for my holiday savings. It was on special offer at £6, so this is a case of thrift. Not extreme optimism!

Hortatory

This WOTD had me completely foxed, and my rudimentary knowledge of Latin was no help. It means 'urging to some course of action; exhorting; encouraging; as in a hortatory speech'.

I suppose that in these days of social networking, the idea that someone would give a hortatory speech is rather ludicrous, as they are all posted on facebook, and shared to millions in a few hours. The many and varied (each one correct, no doubt) courses of action that I should take following the Paris attrocities came thick and fast - do this, don't do that, these are the real culprits, no THESE are the real culprits, and so on until you end up not knowing what to think, whether your instincts are correct, or who to turn to for the unvarnished truth.

High winds and lashing rain this morning as Neil and I headed off to Eastbourne to swap cars at MG revival, his to have some work done and get 'blinged up' a bit. So he did a few jobs in Eastbourne and then home in my car.

I love Mondays (unlike the song) as I get to meet Evie and Max from school and spend a couple of hours with them. Tonight we played scrabble, and they let me win. I'm sure it won't always be like this.

Emily came to give my nails some more strenthening medicine, then it was dinner, blog,  bed. Neil is out with Andy at a Waterboys gig at the DLWP.

Diaphanous

I shouldn't be surprised at my knowledge of English words - after all, I come from a family of logophiles and I have a degree, part of which was studying the roots and usage of the English language - but I have been pleased this week that I have known nearly every WOTD and it's meaning. Today's word means very sheer & light, transparently delicate, like a fairy's wings. It comes to us from the Greek word meaning 'to show through'.
I imagine that the word can also be applied metaphorically - to some action or personality trait. It is hard to see how diaphanous applies to me in any way, literally or figuratively. Except that I thought I had the most diaphanous personality of anyone I know - no sub-plots, no hidden agenda. Really, what you see is what there is. But just lately, I have been feeling misunderstood and I am struggling to find the reason for this sudden loss of transparency. I trust it will all become clear again soon.
I full of admiration for Jacob who won a 5k race for the first time - in 45 mph wind, not always behind him!
Neil and I had lunch today in Hastings with a local author, someone who we had made friends with on facebook. She was intelligent and funny and chatty and kindly signed a couple of her books. I like to make new friends, and hope we will meet up with her again.

We came home and dozed until 6pm. Neil is now watching footie as I write my blog.
That's really it; nothing more than a pleasant bit of paperwork to round off the day.

Indefatigable

Today's news has been dominated by the reports from Paris where 127 (at least) are known to have died in a night of the most unspeakable, disgusting murder of innocent people enjoying an evening out. Lots of brave words have been publicly spoken by important people, but I hope that there is something more than rhetoric and empty threats. 
Of course, the real evil in all these outbreaks of violence, whether a crazed pupil seeking revenge at the school that expelled him 3 years ago, or the religious fanatic seeking to destroy the infidel, or the policeman stopping a suspect after a robbery is the explosive. Killing someone with a knife or a brick is possible, and will always happen but you can't kill hundreds of people in one go. Take the guns and bombs away from the terrorists and they would have to find other ways to convert you to their point of view. Sure, there are plenty of ways that people can find to be vile to other people, but none is so deadly as the explosive. In my ideal world there would be no explosives.
 
Today's word is 'indefatigable' which means tireless or unflagging. I take this means in a spritual rather than a physical way and I hope that the western nations will, jointly, be indefatigable in seeking out these terrorists and showing them that the guns they use, the trucks and cars they drive, the internet they use to spread their cancerous message were all invented by the very nations that they are now seeking to obliterate. 
It has been a wet and windy day, so I didn't venture out at all until I went to Philippa's for a 'girlie' night. It is really an excuse for me to have a one-to-one chat with my daughter-in-law. She cooked a lovely dinner of lasagne & garlic bread, we had wine & Baileys, and cheescake for pud. It didn't really matter that Jacob was there too - he made himself scarce after dinner and Philippa and I had a great natter.
We need to make more space for 12" vinyl records, so we have started a cull on our old 7" 'singles'. Many of them are neither valuable nor enjoyable, and many of them I had completely forgotten about so they are going to the charity shop. Abba singles anyone?