To Clarify Some Things

(This picture is not recent, but rather in the spring a couple of years ago)

I'm feeling a little like the first-grader, Charlotte; I need to clarify some things. In the post, Cherry Candy, the parts about the candy, money, and lie were all true; however, to be honest, I don't remember what Mama's reaction to it was. But I do feel she was understanding, for Mama was a very patient person and tried to be conflict-free. She was the only person I remember ever spanking me, and believe you me, I needed it; just ask Wanda. I was a timid child (Daddy told me a few years ago I was born timid) and all Daddy had to do was look at me sternly and I backed away like a frightened mouse. So, I'll feel better now, hoping you understand about writing; some things have to be embellished somewhat, without meaning for them to be a lie.

Now, on a more positive note, I wanted to direct you to http://www.wandastricklinrobertson.blogspot.com/ for her post for today; some very important things to think about here. Although I'm not obese, the prayer, asking God to melt pounds off a body, reminded me of myself. On days when Popa is not here to eat lunch with me, I scour the refrigerator for whatever I can find to keep from cooking for one. Then, after thanking God for my food and asking that it give me strength to do my work, etc., I chow down on whatever I've found, along with chips and Coca Cola, finished off with miniature Hersheys or ice cream. Where's my willpower??

Smiles, Charlotte

What a Nerd

My daughter is a fifth-grader. Today her homework in language arts class was to make a list of 30 prepositions and to write sentences with them. So of course she wanted help. We were brainstorming for prepositions (we came up with 20 before we had to go online for a list), and I was scanning through some sentences in a book, searching for prepositions we didn't already have. Suddenly, I was reminded again of how much I really love language.

I've said before that I love words and the shades of meaning different words convey. I relish the distinction between "walk" and "stalk" and "strut" and "sashay" and "stagger." But what sort of surprised me tonight was that I love the way the words go together, too. As an English major in college, one of the courses I had to take was Advanced Grammar. We used to diagram sentences in that class (anybody else remember doing that?), and I thought it was fun to strip a sentence down to its most basic elements of subject/verb/(object) and then to see how all the modifying elements like prepositional phrases winged off from that kernel of meaning. It was sort of like putting together a puzzle, or maybe more like taking a puzzle apart and seeing how all the unique pieces did their job to create the whole. I had the urge to diagram some sentences tonight...though it's been so long I'm not sure I could put everything in the right place.