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The Write Way 4 July 2003 Want to Know a Secret? Greetings, Psst! Come in a bit closer ... Want to know the Secret of Life and Happiness? Those of you who've been with me for a while will remember the Moreton Bay Boat Club. You'll recall that we used to live just around the corner from this magic little place and would walk down each Friday afternoon for drinkies on the deck overlooking the little (OK ... "tiny") harbour. It was always a great way to finish the week, watching all the boaties as they messed about in their launches, yachts, cruisers and sailing boats. We'd stay long enough to watch the sun set behind the Glass House Mountains, then share one of their great seafood platters before wandering home by the light of the moon. (This is the club: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/mbbc/MBBCR.html I don't know why they haven't got a real website ... just shows how small the club is!)
Since we moved further along the Peninsula, we haven't been back as often (we have to drive about 10 minutes to get there now), but last Sunday, we met our son and his wife on the Club deck and did what we do best - we enjoyed being there. The kids (... yes, I know they're not really kids any more) were drawing us plans of the new house they've put a deposit on and were so excited, telling us all their ideas about the verandahs they want to build so they can take in their view, the gardens they're going to plant, the walls they're going to knock out to change a bedroom into a dining room and so on. After living less than a kilometre from us for the past couple of years, they've decided to head for the bush - they're moving up to a small town in the wine country on the Granite Belt. I've mentioned this region before - it's where we went for the Opera in the Vineyard http://www.write101.com/W.Tips128.htm and it's becoming a popular retreat for people in the city who want to get away from it all to recharge their lives. Our daughter-in-law comes from the area and all her family still live there, so it will be lovely for them to have lots of little cousins for their children (when they come) to play with. The place they're hoping to buy is on 30-something acres and it's in the middle of farming land, so they'll have plenty of open spaces around them. They've got a couple of dams, hundreds of trees and a house that's been totally renovated. They're only just over a kilometre from the village itself - mind you, there's only a school, a church, a general store and a post office - but they both grew up in tiny places like this and they can't wait to get there. Now, time was, when I'd have been devastated by the thought of them moving away from us, but that was before I discovered the Secret of Life and Happiness. It's not something that came to me in a blinding flash of lightning; there were no heavenly choirs ... not even a light bulb that went on over my head. The Secret, you see, is the result of a goodly number of years spent knocking around Planet Earth and it's this ... are you ready for it? Drum roll please, Mr Music ... the Secret of Life and Happiness ... is ... that nothing is constant. Once you've learnt that, you'll be right - everything then makes perfect sense. Life is wonderful today? T'riffic - but don't be surprised when something changes. Life is unbearable today? No worries - you can guarantee it will get better again. See? Nothing is constant. You just have to appreciate the good times and roll with the punches because the one thing that never changes is that there'll be more of both. So here's another motto to add to our collection: "Life is a roller coaster ... you just have to ride it" (Sounds like a good line for a song ... Oh? It is ...) No, shucks, don't thank me, just send money ... You see we're going to be making a lot of trips up to the wine country from now on! And if that's not better than any secret you've heard recently, all I can say is, you're hard to please! Sigh ... I knew you'd spot that one. And of course, you're absolutely right - when two things are compared, the word "other" must be included after the adjective in the comparative degree, otherwise it means that whatever you're comparing is more so than itself. "And if that's not better than any secret you've heard recently" means that this secret is better than itself. I should have written, "... better than any other secret you've heard recently ..." This week's quiz: adumbrate, omniscient, osculate, duplicitous, ruminate, perspicacious, omnipotent, badinage, perspicuous, feckless 1. insightful and wise 2. deliberate deceptiveness 3. generally incompetent and ineffectual 4. playful raillery; silliness 5. clear in thought and expression; not ambiguous 6. outline; describe roughly or briefly 7. meditate; ponder over 8. knowing all things; infinitely wise 9. to kiss 10. all powerful; unlimited ability Have you ever had that feeling that things have happened before? Deirdre found these terms you can use to describe each and every situation: Déjà coup: The feeling my government has been overthrown like this before. Déjà do: The feeling my hairdresser has given me this cut before. Déjà fu: The feeling I've been kicked in the head like this before. Déjà who: The feeling I've known who was on first before. Déjà ooh: The feeling I've exclaimed at these fireworks before. DUH-jà-vu : The feeling that the answer was so obvious, that you surely should have known it before. DUH! The term déjà vu is one we've pinched straight from the French and it translates as "already seen." Last week's quiz: caruncle, eremite, sedile, petard, ephectic, feretory, thurible, talaria, phot, digamy 1. a receptacle to hold the relics of saints - FERETORY 2. censer of metal, for burning incense, having various forms, held in the hand or suspended by chains - THURIBLE 3. a winged sandal (as worn by Hermes) - TALARIA 4. an explosive device used to break down a gate or wall - PETARD 5. habitually suspending judgement - EPHECTIC 6. an outgrowth on a plant or animal such as a fowl's wattle - CARUNCLE 7. a unit of illumination equal to one lumen per square centimetre; 10,000 phots equal one lux - PHOT 8. a recluse or hermit, especially a religious recluse - EREMITE 9. remarriage after the death or divorce of one's first husband or wife - DIGAMY 10. one of a set of seats, usually three, provided in some Roman Catholic and Anglican churches for the use of the presiding clergy, traditionally placed on the epistle side of the choir near the altar, and in Gothic-style churches often built into the wall. - SEDILE If you're thinking of adding the patter of tiny feet to your family, here are some little known dog breeds that Jackie discovered on her travels through cyberspace: Deerhound +
Terrier Pekingese + Lhasa
Apso Collie + Lhasa
Apso Malamute +
Pointer Add your pin to the map of the world: http://pub37.bravenet.com/guestmap/view.php?usernum=3170114826 If you received this newsletter from a friend and you'd like to have your very own copy delivered to you on Friday, just click here: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and why not spread the word? Send your friends a copy and invite them to join our merry band - we number over 7,000 now. A Little Something Extra Since I was feeling a bit philosophical this week, what better than to give you some tips on how to write a philosophy paper? These notes are from the College of Charleston: http://www.cofc.edu/~portmord/tips.htm If you're looking for help to write an essay, look no further: http://www.ourmailnet.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=45 These Infoproducts give you all the information you've been looking for, conveniently packaged in a nutshell ... and gosh! Look who the writer is! Word of the week: Quiddity (n) The real nature or essence of a thing. This great word comes from the Latin (where else?) Quid means "what" in Latin. Out here, before decimal currency arrived on our doorstep, a quid was a pound note: "Lend me a quid till pay day, will ya, mate?" Palindrome of the week: I prefer pi (Jeff Klipa sent me this great site with hundreds of palindromes ... and it would have been churlish of me not to have included one this week!) http://www.palindromelist.com/ Here's one for Andre after his encounter with the Scud this week: Damn! I, Agassi miss again. Mad! Got a question about grammar, punctuation or any other language matter? Here's the place to go: http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3170114826 This week's Latin phrase is for this arvo, when the sun is over the yardarm ... if you get a chance: Nihil agere delectat. (It is a delight to do nothing.) Regards, Jennifer P.S. Want to donate to the upkeep of this newsletter? Here's how: 1. Pay by PayPal:
2. Click here to subscribe for a full year OR 3. Use your credit card on my secure order form: http://www.write101.com/fund.htm (You can also access the PayPal subscription link from this page if the link above didn't work for you. With PayPal, you can use your credit card, PayPal account or pay online using your own cheque account.) OR 4. Send a cheque (payable to Jennifer Stewart): http://www.write101.com/fund.htm To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. Click here to subscribe for the next year: To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. |
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