Trundle, per Microsoft search — [verb] to move or cause to move slowly and heavily, typically in a noisy or uneven way. Or, per Wiktionary, — [noun] a low bed on wheels that can be rolled underneath another.
As a child, I always thought a trundle bed would be fun (although I did rather imagine being rolled under the big bed to actually sleep there, which would probably be logistically impossible or, at the very least, uncomfortable). But the wonderful state of childhood allows for such joyous flights into fantasies where all is possible! But now…many years later…I need to trundle myself slowly and heavily (and noisily — “ouch!”, “creak!”) up the stairs to bed.
Today’s Word…hippie/y
“Hippie” can mean to be hip; and “hippy”, to have hips.
While definitions for “hippy” are generally the same, research on definitions of “hippie” vary somewhat. Per a Microsoft search: hippie — “(especially in the 1960s) a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs”. Per Merriam-Webster: Hippie — “a usually young person who rejects the mores of established society (as by dressing unconventionally or favoring communal living) and advocates a nonviolent ethic; broadly : a long-haired unconventionally dressed young person”. Per dictionary.com — “a person, especially of the late 1960s, who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness, often expressed externally in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and of beads, headbands, used garments, etc.” As a person who identified with that peace-loving, musical, colorful culture but never took drugs, I especially like the last definition. But, admittedly, I am also hippy.
Today’s word…artifice
Artifice – art (creative beauty), fice (Cockney or Australian pronunciation for “face” which means visage). So…beautiful creative face. Also – artifice, per a Microsoft search, means pertaining to clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others. So…again beautiful creative face — an appealing front. Artifice…
Finding Happy Holler…the Inaugural Story
An adventure! A road trip! The 1970s…before the days of the GPS, cell phones, free long distance, or the internet… Picture a mom, a dad, and a kid — embarking on a 9-hour drive to find friends that had packed up seven kids in an old school bus and moved from California to the southeast, sending only their new mailing address, “route 2” in their new city, a small town in the mountains of Tennessee. A spur-of-the-moment adventure. A happy reunion. How hard could it be?
So nine long hours later, having driven overnight. we arrived in the downtown area of a hilly metropolis boasting 16,000 people. Our friends had moved fairly recently so were not listed in any phone book (and might not have had a phone yet, as I recall). What we knew: they lived on route 2 in a rural area and had arrived in a school bus which they were likely still living in. So, armed with that information, we stormed the post office to ask where route 2 might be. After giving their name and the other pieces of information, the gentleman at the post office provided an address and a rough hand-drawn map of the route (which turned out to be about 50 miles long), and off we went. After winding through the hills for what seemed like hours, we finally discovered a mailbox emblazoned with the street address numbers. Nice little suburban ranch house. No lumbering school bus parked in the driveway. We knocked on the door. It was not them.
Back to the post office we went. Wearily, we sought out the gentleman who had provided directions and explained our plight. We showed him the envelope with the return address of our friends (name and route 2), and he began to laugh. “Oh”, he exclaimed, “you meant Donkin, Dee-oh-in-kay-eye-in. I thought you meant Duncan, Dee-yew-in-see-ay-in!” But, alas, no address was available, so he sent us back out to traverse rural route 2 in hopes of coming upon the mailman who would surely know where to find our friends.
After unsuccessfully coming upon the mail truck, we eventually pulled into a general store for some refreshments and any possible information. Lovely little road stop, complete with a pot-bellied stove (radiating wonderful heat as it was New Year’s weekend and quite chilly) and a few farmers sitting in rocking chairs chatting about the news of the day. When we asked the proprietor if the mail truck had passed yet, he said that it had not. When we asked for an approximate time, he responded that it would depend on how many magazines were in the mail that day as the postman sometimes took breaks to catch up on his reading. So we decided to wait at the general store in hopes of catching the postman.
In the meantime, the proprietor (taking advantage of the opportunity to help solve a mystery), got on the phone and began contacting folks on route 2. “Hello. This is Harold Dawes, down at the store. I was wonderin’ if y’all had a family by the name of Donkin up by y’all.” No luck, though.
But eventually the mailman arrived, walked in to drop off the mail, and offered to have us follow his truck to be led to our destination. At long last, in the middle of nowhere (no houses visible), he pulled over and showed us a mail box by a fence that opened to a long country lane down a hill through a pasture and some trees. The sign on the fence proclaimed “Happy Holler”, and the postman assured we could go through the fence (being sure to re-fasten the gate so the cows wouldn’t get out) and go down the lane to find the Donkins. Off we went, down a mile and a quarter dirt drive, through the pasture, through the trees, through a stream (had to ford it), and up a small hill to some outbuildings and a large log cabin with sheep, chickens, and familiar kids in the yard. Success!!
The visit was great. A joyous reunion. Accommodations were modest but comfortable…fireplace heat, gas lights (just in case the electricity didn’t work), indoor plumbing (thank goodness, as I live in dread of outhouses), and a glorious featherbed that kept us toasty warm after the fire died down overnight. It was a bit scary, however, to have our friends tell us (just after the children went outdoors to play, of course) about the fact that the area abounded with black snakes, king snakes, coral snakes, and cottonmouth (water moccasins). Yay. They neglected to mention the abundance of spider types, and that’s just as well.
This was my first adventure to Happy Holler. But not the last. More about Happy Holler to come….
Today’s Word…dementia
If you can have dementia, can you also have emacia? And if you can be emaciated, can you likewise be dementiated? To be considered emaciated, one would be “bony, gaunt, and most likely undernourished”. To be dementiated (de, or “without,” and mens, or “mind”), then, would one perhaps have an undernourished mind? To be a healthy human being (or a healthy any kind of being), nourishment is essential.
(Having a little fun with words…yet they are serious words with serious implications. We need to nourish the wholeness of our fellow beings.)
Today’s Word…testickle
Quality control in the Elmo factory: give each Elmo two test tickles.
Today’s Word…cardiogram
Cardiogram: Cardio – pertaining to the heart; gram – something written. Something written pertaining to the heart!! Valentine!!
Today’s Word…valentine
Valentine [noun] means sweetheart (the object of one’s affections) or a card which is given to the object of one’s affections. A valentine for a valentine, so to speak. Reportedly, the given name Valentine comes from the Latin and means strong or healthy. And…if Valentine gives a valentine to his valentine, we end up with yesterday’s word — redundancy. And, if we talk about Valentine’s Day, are we referring to a person of that name, the card, or the person to whom the card is given? Or St. Valentine, described by Wikipedia, who has been associated with a tradition of courtly love, is a patron saint of epilepsy, had ministered to persecuted Christians, and was martyred. February 14 has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine’s Day) since 496 AD. Whether you are a Valentine or a valentine — or send a valentine — Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Today’s word…redundancy
From a Jeopardy clue — “Redundant phrases that are also repetitive, too.” Need I say more? …
Today’s word…splutter
Splutter, according to dictionary.com, is “to talk rapidly and somewhat incoherently”. This is not yet, but should be, a word in Thelmese — partly because I do it a lot and partly because it is beautifully onomotopoetic which is happily consistent with the Thelmese language. Spit, splat, sput, sputter, splutter!!!