Tag Archives: postaday2011

Remembering Henry

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And so if, as rarely happened, a customer was distressed over a price, or irritated by the quality of an Ace bandage or ice pack, Henry did what he could to rectify things quickly.

Tilting his head toward his unhappy customer he’d position his rather over-size ears to catch every word and nuance of the complaint. His eyes would narrow in concentration. He’d tuck his chin down and absentmindedly rub his hands together.  

He would look down at the item splayed forlornly on the counter, cup his hands, gather it up, and stand there holding it against his chest. And then he would say,  “You are absolutely right.  This is just not right for you; I’ll take it home with me.”

In all the years Henry ran the corner pharmacy, he never lost a customer.

A rose by another name?

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What’s in your vocabulary? What words or phrases do you think sound beautiful? And what words are simply gross? The wordsmiths at Dictionary posed those questions on their blog, The Hot Word.  (Yeah, I think it’s kind of cute, too.)

The whole thing started when they announced what is commonly considered the most beautiful word or phrase in the English language: cellar door.

People said, “Whaat?”  

Yup, according to those who make it their business to study the pleasantness (euphony) or the unpleasantness (cacophony) of sound, cellar door has just the right combo of sounds that make it most pleasing to the ear. 

Edgar Allen Poe seems to agree with the combo as he gets pretty close with nevermore, forgotten lore, and chamber door. But their blog readers have different ideas, choosing words whose both meanings and sounds are beautiful to them.

Serendipity is most often submitted for the most beautiful (along with scissors, fudge, epiphany, languorous, voluptuous, ambrosia, and melancholy). Many believe moist is among the grossest (along with flaccid, juice, wasps, nugget, morsel, pork, vomit, acrylic, gooey, oyster, egg, and sludge).

The moral of this story is name your 2011 baby Celadora. I’d stay away from Moist.

Ya think?

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Dear Abby,

1) A couple of women moved in across the hall from me. One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker in her mid-twenties. These two women go everywhere together and I’ve never seen a man go into or leave their apartment. Do you think they could be Lebanese?

 2) I have a man I can’t trust. He cheats so much, I’m not even sure the baby I’m carrying is his.

3) I am a twenty-three year old liberated woman who has been on the pill for two years. It’s getting expensive and I think my boyfriend should share half the cost, but I don’t know him well enough to discuss money with him.

 

 Excerpts from The Best of Dear Abby, 1981 

 

Rouge et noir

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Wine clubs are so old style. How about a licorice club?

Licorice International moved from the upper east side of Manhattan to Lincoln, Nebraska in 2003. Located in the historic Haymarket area, the store stocks 160 types of licorice along with keeping up with a hefty mail order business.

Here are the black and red collections. My favorite? It’s a German licorice that is salty called Katjes Salzige Heringe.

 

Love it

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No time to shop? Visit Velvet da Vinci, a San Francisco gallery that features contemporary art jewelry from artists in and out of the US.

These earrings are plastic cutlery covered with swarovski crystals. (Wait a minute, what are swarovski crystals, anyway? Well, glass. Precisely cut glass to reflect light with techniques developed by the Swarovski family.)

The artist is Lynn Christiansen who obviously has a healthy sense of humor. And if you like these, you’ll probably want to take a look at her bracelet. It’s very big.

 

Just remembered I have a pair of three-inch cloisonné lizard earrings. I wear them when I want to meet new people.

Hammerpress

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One of the best presents I ever opened was custom designed monogrammed stationery. The paper was a rich sand color and my initials were embossed in gold. There were several sizes of cards along with single sheets for those times when a card wouldn’t hold all the news. I used it all.

So now I can get more!

I am in luck. Hammerpress is a KC design and letterpress outfit that has a growing fan base. They do relief printing with lead and wood type; images are then pressed into the surface of the paper. The craftsmanship of the process make their products stand out.

A Savor-ite

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I bought lemon tea cookies from Costco called Sweet Williams. They are bite-size balls of crumbly, buttery pastry coated liberally with powder sugar. I ripped open the box and threw one in my mouth.

I’m telling you, this is a cookie worth searching out and stocking Up. They are reminiscent of the Lemon Coolers that you can find in most grocery store’s cookie aisle but a Master Baker has said, “Let’s ramp that recipe up a notch or two.” 

Careful, if you just throw one in your mouth without chewing, the dough goes straight to the roof of your mouth. You will then experience the same sensation that a dog has when given a spoonful of peanut butter. All and all there are worst experiences in life, I’d say.

Thanks 4 Sharing

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 OMG, OMG, OMG. Who are these people? 

Awkward Family Photos is where people send in photographs that are, for the most part, laugh out-loud hilarious. The site was born when two guys just hanging out started laughing at a dorky family vacation photo. After they stopped laughing, they thought to themselves — photos like this are rampant across the land!

Bravo to people who can laugh at themselves; I think they should inherit the earth.     

Inspiration

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The Journey is from Dream Work by Mary Oliver. The New York Times has described her as “far and away this country’s [America] best-selling poet.” She has won both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award.

This poem captures a time of transformation that resonates with anyone facing a difficult choice.  The photograph by Casey Boudreau, Kansas City, serves as counterpoint.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
 
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.