Mondegreens

 Andrew today posted about Mondegreens. If you're not familiar with the word or need a reminder, here is the definition.

mon·de·green

/ˈmändəɡrēn/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song.

I've had a few of these over the years but the following is one of the worst, which kept those who heard me regaled with laughter - but not in front of me, always rushing to the bathroom or outside to double over. Obviously it was too funny to have me continuing rather than to have me corrected.

Here is the original song, My Resistence is Low, it was released, I believe in 1951, so forgive me, I was 7. But I remember how wonderfully catchy the lyrics and melody were and also I hadn't a clue what the big words meant. And there were far too many occasions where it came on the radio and I joined in, probably drowning out the professionals.

This is the part I kept mondegreening:

You with your overcoat,

And your underpants low

I'm going overboard

Through the Gap of Dunloe*.

Absolutely no relation whatsoever to any of the lyrics. But you'd only have to play the first couple of notes to that song now, and I'd bellow my version at ya. 

*A gorgeous spot in Ireland. Many family picnics there.

Choose languageAfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBanglaBasqueBelarusianBosnianBulgarianBurmeseCatalanCebuanoChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKinyarwandaKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianNepaliNorwegianNyanjaOdiaPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScottish GaelicSerbianShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSouthern SothoSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTatarTeluguThaiTurkishTurkmenUkrainianUrduUyghurUzbekVietnameseWelshWestern FrisianXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu

 I'm booked for my first jab on Wednesday, the 30th. Daughter is a volunteer firefighter so she had hers yesterday and only suffering a bit of soreness and extreme tiredness.

I am find it difficult to focus lately, apart from reading engaging books. I'm enjoying Tana French's latest which is holding my attention even though her use of the word "cookie" all over the place is a little annoying. In Ireland, cookies are "biscuits" and biscuits are "scones". But trivial, right? It shows how petty minded I can be.

I'm using this as a meditation point as I can't seem to get ripping on a knitting piece that didn't work out and needs to be redesigned. It's a belated wedding gift for a niece. Really belated now. And I'm foostering and dawdling and sighing and hand wringing but nothing is being generated.

I love these beautiful shapes and the subtle colours. And each piece has a little memory inside it of places I've been and who I was with.

My energy is pathetic. This week I'll be 5 weeks on the iron and doc had said between 4 and 8 weeks for any effects to be felt.

I'm still working on my new card. The prose/poem is evading me. 

Writers' and knitters' blocks All at once.

I can hardly wait for each of them to lift.

Little things

 I found these on line after a couple of years of trying to find red ones. I have splashes of red around the apartment to warm it up. My kitchen, as I've mentioned before, is so poorly designed as to be laughable. The lack of counter space is unbelievable but I have expanded it with a wooden cart.  And these burner covers add additional counter type space and cheer this section of my home up immeasurably.

These end tables were part of the marital home yonks ago and followed either me or Daughter to various homes since. Most recently as bedside tables in her house. Now they have moved back to me. The lamps (gift from Daughter) don't show how beautifully red they glow and bathe the living room so invitingly at night.

And finally, I bought these cheerful file folders with various messages a long time ago, 

I've always loved unusual file folders and treasure the ones I bought in Paris the last time I was there which are so well made and hold so much and can't be bought anywhere here. I've searched.

I'm getting ready for tax season, thus the obsession with file folders. And before you mention them, those accordion jobbies so many are in love with? Have you ever dropped one on the floor? And the space they take up? To each her own. As in all things.

Gratitude

 DKZ, co-incidentally, wrote about this today.  Just as I was thinking of my own list.

Somedays it takes digging through the coal for the diamonds, other days those jewels shine with the power of the sun.

I am grateful for many things today.

(1)A tube of 7 Fathoms that Daughter brought me on the weekend. My own small tube was running out and I was using it sparingly but I wouldn't dream of saying that to her until she gifted me with a large tube of this magnificent lotion. 

(2) Walking 1,000 steps yesterday. Can't tell you the last time I could do that. Way back in the mists of time in 2020. This iron is kicking in. Big Time.

(3)Reading a fabulous book gifted to me by Grandgirl, The Purple Hibiscus. A gripping read.

(4) Watched a beautiful movie last night : A Song for Jenny - yes, I cried, but sometimes we just need a good ol' cry, right? So much bottled up during these Covid Times.

(5) Visiting all your blogs and getting caught up with your doings, and beings, and interests.

(6) Receiving a long post card from a friend who had previously ticked me off with unwanted advice, recalling a special star filled night we had watched together during the Perseid Meteor Shower and that he brought to mind many times since, one of the highlights of his life. Interestingly enough, even with the prestigious memory I do have, I have completely forgotten it.

(7) A brother celebrating his 72nd birthday today. And so grateful all six of us siblings are still alive and meeting on Zoom every Sunday from around the world.

Limbo

I can't thank you guys enough for all the private messaging and comments during my recent bout of illness. 

What I find most beneficial are the affirming comments and emails. 

What  I find devastating (and interestingly none of these from fellow blog-mates but from long term friends) are messages lecturing me on my "poor choices" in not going to the hospital for a multiple day stay in isolation and denying my feelings on the matter and told to think only of my being less of a burden on my family. As if I am incapable of making carefully evaluated decisions on my own.

It's been a rough old time, guys. Not enough strength to write most of the time. And you know, a lack of interest in life and most of all participating in it.

I am back on my iron pills and the last few days have seen a small resurgence in my energy. I am awaiting news of a more planned approach to this multiple testing rather than the awful rush of the last which would have been a disaster. And not just for me but for my family.

Enough said about it all. I am back in the writing saddle so to speak and can hardly wait to get caught up your blogs.

I managed to get to my beloved beach with Daughter yesterday. We picked up some Mexican take out for a picnic and drank in the gorgeous air so much we forgot to take photos. It felt like the clouds of winter and Covid were lifting us onto a different plane which was affirmed later by zero new cases in the province.

With this first taste of spring at 6 degrees celsius, there were many like thinkers, hikers, babies, children and dogs on the strand and all the magnificent trails surrounding it.

I felt very much part of the land of the living and not of the dead.