A cold but sunny day

This time of year I am so thankful for the availability of books, and I’ve been reading one after another.  I went right from “Where the Crawdads Sing” to “The House We Grew Up In”.  That last one is set in England.  I try to avoid books by British authors, but usually I will read enough to get interested before I realize it’s “over there”.  I’m sure they think our way of speaking is strange, because I sure don’t understand some of theirs!  For instance, a “skip” seems to be what we here call a pod, a big trash container.  An SUV is a people-carrier.  Their word for truck is “Lorry”.  I suppose if I keep getting lured into reading stuff by British authors, I’ll learn all the terms eventually.  This book I just finished is about a woman who is a hoarder, and it shows how this affects her family and friends while explaining a little about what kept her hoarding things.  The more I read, the better it got..  I still have “Holy Ghost” and “Girl, Wash Your Face” on hold, so I’ll have to find something to fill in the days until one of those works its way down to me.  

Speaking of books, I’m getting quite a collection of real books (as opposed to e-books) written by various of my country music has-been stars, although two of them are loaned out; I hope I get them back.  When we’re watching Country’s Family reunion, one of the people on the show will mention he’s written an autobiography, and I’m like, “He’s written a book?!?”  And I start searching the Internet in search of said book.  Some of those shows were taped many years ago, so I often find one of the books for three or four bucks on Abebooks.com.  This past weekend I ordered a book written by Ricky Skaggs.  

Cliff and I were talking about something the other day and I said, “I don’t want to be an Indian giver.”  Then I said, “How did that expression come about, anyhow?  We were the ones who gave them certain places to live, then took those places back if we decided it was of some worth to us`.”

So I went looking for an explanation.  The term came about from a misunderstanding early in the history of America:  “The phrase originated, according to researcher David Wilton, in a cultural misunderstanding that arose when Europeans first encountered Native Americans on arriving in North America in the 15th century. Europeans thought they were receiving gifts from Native Americans, while the Native Americans believed they were engaged in what was known to Europeans as bartering; this resulted in the Native Americans finding European behaviour ungenerous and insulting.”  

It is a derogatory term, something I had never thought of... but of course it is!

It’s wintertime.  We are holed up reading, and it drives Gabe crazy.  He must wonder how he got hooked up with two lazy old people who do nothing but sit around and read or watch TV.  At least in summer he got to nose around in the yard while I sat in the hammock-swing.  These days he’ll find his ball or some other toy, bringing it to one of us in hopes we’ll play with him.  We do, for a while, but then we go back to whatever has our attention and he’s left at our feet, bored silly.  “You need to get him a dog to play with,” Cliff said.  “I can barely afford one dog,” I answered, “what with the high-class food, the vet bills, the heart-worm pills, the flea-and-tick preventative, and the groomer... he’s expensive.”  If the snow weren’t so deep, I’d take him for a walk and let him work off some energy.  

He sure is picking up some phrases lately:  All I have to do is say the words “Here comes....” and he’s off to the window, barking like crazy.  Apparently when someone comes up the driveway I must say “Here comes ______”, and he doesn’t need to hear who is is, just so he knows somebody is coming to break the monotony.  

Well, speaking of monotony, that’s your daily dose of drivel from me.

Yours very truly, 

Donna