Dear Reader:
The shadows are the number one indicator, to me, that the seasons have changed. My garden stays bathed in shadows longer and longer each day. The little bright yellow and white mums look forward to the waning sun’s rays falling on their little faces for as long as they can capture the warmth.
(And if you have a jack o’ lantern right in front of you….then the little mums are happier still!)
The trade-off for autumn and our gardens is the lessening of flower blooms…but also…the lessening of weeds growing in our gardens.
And that is a good thing…like my day yesterday…a deserved R&R period when both the garden and gardener can settle back into a different routine that doesn’t require daily watering and weeding that the hot summer season required.
……………………………..
Words and expressions are like weeds….they all have their “season” of popularity and growth… and then slowly, but surely, fade away.
I even discovered an electronic word game involving word mazes called
Get rid of the weeds
Take care of the weeds! You don’t want weeds in your beautiful garden, so clean them up. But be careful, you only have so many chances to make it through this word weed-maze..
Honey sent me a fun email titled: “Lost Words.” It is really cute and all of us (of a certain age) can fondly remember many of these words and expressions from our own grandparents and parents… (including ourselves growing up.)
The author made one comment that really struck home with me…he said: For a child each new word is like a shiny toy, a toy that has no age.
Don’t you love that statement? I must still be a child because I love learning new words. I also love banishing “used up” words from my audio-surroundings that irritate rather than describe. My personal offender is “awesome.”
I suppose it comes from teaching eighth graders for almost three decades but I will never have an “awesome” home or garden…I will however, use this list of ‘anti-awesome’ replacements.
1.Amazing
2. Astonishing
3. Awe-inspiring
4. Awe-struck
5. Beautiful
6. Beyond the call
7. Breathtaking
8. Brilliant
9. Clever
10.extraordinary
11. Dazzling
12. Exciting
13. Excellent
14. Exceptional
15. Fabulous
16. Fantastic
17. Great
18. Groovy
19. Heart-stopping
20. Humbling
21. Impressive
22. Incredible
23. Ingenious
24. Magnificent
25. Majestic
26. Marvelous
27. Mind-blowing
28. Momentous
29. Moving
30. Out of this world
31. Outstanding
32. Overwhelming
33. Remarkable
34. Righteous
35. Shazam
36. Simply divine
37. Spectacular
38. Staggering
39. Striking
40. Stunning
41. Stupendous
42. Un-believable
43. Wonderful
44. Wondrous
45. You rock
*Feel free to add on to the ‘anti-awesome” list or “whatever“….my second most irritating word which I wish to banish from my life forever…(Again stemming from too much time spent with thirteen-year-olds!)
Now take a few moments and read this adorable (down memory lane) email originally titled: *WORDS AND PHRASES REMIND US OF THE WAY WE WORD* by Richard Lederer
Click on the link here and remember with a smile:
OLD WORDS AND PHRASES REMIND US OF THE WAY …
So until tomorrow….Let us strive to keep expanding our vocabulary and letting over-used words in our daily life just “fade away.”
“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
*I spent yesterday catching up on emails, belated birthdays, and thank-you’s… then I cozy-ed up in the Happy Room …the warm sun’s rays streaming across the sofa sent me to dream land in less than five minutes. It was a very good day!
ichaseferalcats
John Turner
Legally Ohm
Becky Dingle