A New Sugar Maple

I was blessed with the gift of a new sugar maple to replace the one I had removed. It's BEAUTIFUL!! It fills in the stark side of the house, and will grow to provide some nice shade once again.






Isn't it lovely??!!

Wednesday's Word

My boss happens to have a very large vocabulary. A graduate of MIT, his engineering mind is always stretching for more knowledge. He dropped a word into the middle of conversation today, which moved me to the dictionary.... yet again.

SALIENT

Example: “The article is not exhaustive, but it covers the salient points pretty well.”

DEFINITION: (sā’lē-ənt) adj. prominent, worthy of note, pertinent or relevant.

 

Things that Grow

I LOVE Things That Grow!
Not an enormous revelation.... I started this blog by talking about things that grow. I can see the hand of God in things that grow. Sometimes it's simply amazing.

A few days ago, as I was mowing, something red caught my eye in the bushes. I thought maybe a plastic bag had blown across the yard and was stuck in the weeds. A closer look revealed the source of the color. Flowers!! A couple of weeks earlier I had tossed a dry, dead hanging basket (minus basket) into the bushes. Apparently the flowers preferred shade, and came back to life!! Thankfully, I saved the basket and they're now hanging under the shade tree.

The very same day I noticed my English ivy had crept from the outside wall through the window and into my basement.

And, a close look at the front of the house, and I see morning glory winding its way around the rail and right up the front posts. I actually had tried to pull this out a couple of times, and yet it always seems to come back as if it has a mind of its own.

Things That Grow. Aren't they amazing?

Wednesday's Word

This week's word comes from the forward of a book that recently came across my desk. Since my boss is an author, books regularly cross my desk on their way in and out of the office. I happened to speak with the author of this particular book last week, so was curious as to content. I stumbled on this word in the acknowledgments section at the beginning of his book.

RACONTEUR

From "Emotional Branding" by Daryl Travis:
"He's my favorite writer, raconteur, and boulevardier. Without him this book would be... well let’s just say you would never have gotten to this part."

DEFINITION: (rǎk´ǒn-tûr′) n. A person who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit.

So... do you know a raconteur? I can think of a few in my corner of the world ;-)

WORDS!

 Several of the blogs I follow have regular features. One photographer's blog features photos with a certain theme every Friday: shadows, circles, etc. One thrift-store shopper posts photos of her outfits each day of the week, and where she got them. Creative!! And fun to follow. So, I thought I might try...

Wednesday's Word

I love words. Books. Magazines. Stories. And especially the definition and origin of words. I especially love learning new words. Call me crazy, but I enjoy reading through the dictionary and testing myself to see which words I know, and which I don't!

This week I happened across a word in the book I'm reading, and wasn't quite sure what it meant. So, I pulled out the dictionary and looked it up. Let's see if you know the definition! No cheating!! But, if you know the definition, post it in the comments section. On the weekend, I'll post the actual definition and word origin. Here goes...

INCENDIARY

From "When Character was King" by Peggy Noonan:
"Then Barry Goldwater heard about it. He called Reagan and said he'd been told the speech was incendiary.... Reagan was taken aback; he didn't think the speech was incendiary..."

DEFINITION: (in-sěn’dē-ěr-ē) adj. From Latin incendiārius (“setting alight”), from incendium (“destructive fire”), from incendō (“set on fire, kindle”). Causing or capable of causing fire; tending to inflame; inflammatory.