Saturday, February 13, 2010

checking in . . . and it's still officially winter here

Hi y'all! How' all y'all doin'?

Mass media, IMO, is responsible for the decline of regional accents & dialects. I still enjoy hearing the different ones, though.

It is still winter here, and abnormally cold & snowy. I will not complain this summer, when the heat is oppressive. Our son and DDIL had snow in Atlanta yesterday. We may get snow again tomorrow. We've had enough. Schools have used up their snow days. Anything more will come out of Spring Break. Too bad it all can't be channeled up to Vancouver for the Olympics. Such bad luck with the weather up there. The jet stream is definitely skewed this year. Yeesh!

DH and I watched the Olympics opening ceremonies last night. We'll finish watching the rest of our recording tonight. It was all very well done. I loved the Orca whales special effects.

DH and I are off to watch the Avatar movie in 3-D this evening. I know the plot isn't the strongest; we're in it for the 3-D experience. He really wants to see it, so I'll go with him. He humors me and goes to romantic comedies, so it's a trade-off. :o)

Hugs to everyone!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Wet and cold here

Yes, I am making sure all the pictures that I know the subjects of have names and dates on the back. The newspaper clippings are already yellow with age. DH's father worked for Curtis-Wright Aircraft, making propellers in WWII. He was promoted several times to the manager of the division. Clippings on all of them. When they moved to Fla. because of his arthritis he became the mayor of the small town where they were. There are several clippings of DH when he was little, in one he was wearing PJ's in a fashion show! Him and his dog who won the mutt durby at the local dog track. Etc.
I did find one picture of my Grandmother as a 4 year old in 1891. It has her name and the date on the back, otherwise I wouldn't have known who she was.
There are some glamor shots of my Mom, and a snapshot of her in her wedding dress. My, she was good looking at 24! The wedding dress was beautiful. She still has it, but it is mostly dry rotted. The pictures were taken in 1943.
I'm over my head cold, and ready to run/walk 7 miles in the morning, our last practice before the big race. It will be cold, but I'm really hoping it won't be raining.
Off to lay out the clothes, and make sure the alarm is set for 5:45 AM.
The Vancouver winter games will be on TV tonight. If they are not too late I'll watch.
Too cold for me!
Sara in rainy Fla.

ACCENTS

You 'uns,

In case you 'uns didn't know Lavinia lives over (or up, I'm not sure) yonder from me. I gather that over yonder means somewhere other than here. I have tried to nail a friend down on that but failed. It could be anywhere in a 360* directions. Up in Cashiers is south of here but is a higher elevation. Up in Bryson City is north of here but also higher. It's a real problem asking for directions around here. On the other hand just about anyone you might ask will be just as friendly as an old friend.

Jane

Appalachian accents and other stuff

I have posted this before, I know, but will do it again. Y'all stems from Old English terminology, ye all. The singular is "you-uns" which comes from you ones. (Don't ask me why there's an 's' on the end when it is singular, I have no clue).

We have now had several more snowstorms and more on the way. Biggest problem here is falling trees due to saturated soil from all the rain this year plus the wet, heavy snow and icing. Fortunately we manage to get a day once in a while to be able to get out of the house. Quilt club has been snowed out 3 times in a row now and we are all praying for a respite for the machine quilting class that is scheduled.

Sara, I posted a comment about your news articles etc. Please save them for your grandchildren in case anyone ever does a family tree, they are invaluable insights. Sad that names were not put on pictures; I ran into that after anyone who knew who they were had passed on. So please, folks, identify your pictures somehow for future generations! When my aunt passed away I was allowed to go through her secretary desk and glean what I could. In later years the desk went to my cousin's son, who decided the antique needed some care and cleaning. When he took the drawers out, years of photos and papers fell out that had fallen down the back. He was kind enough to copy it all for me, but we still have pictures we cannot identify and even militaria from the 1800s with names that we have no clue why our family had them.

RE: pollution. In 1983 there was an article in Southern Living about the plants in southern Ohio and Kentucky and general airflow south into the Smoky Mountains. At that time it said pollution was so bad it was as if you turned the mountains upside down and dipped the trees in vinegar due to acid rain. Hard to believe that was 27 years ago and the problem is still here. At the time I gave the article to my boss, who had a summer home in Boone,NC. Wish I had kept it, he wasn't impressed LOL.

Well I have yacked on enough, stay warm everyone (enjoy the warm, you folks down under). Lavinia

Accents..

I am enjoying all this talk about accents. I find them fascinating. In England they seem to change every few miles, some are very attractive (to my ears anyway) but others are difficult to understand. Here is NZ we object to being confused with our friends across the Tasman , to our ears, there is a very big difference !

Rosey, thank you for so eloquently summing up how I am feeling. Most of us here have had lost loved ones. It isn't easy. I am hoping that memories this coming year, will bring me more smiles that tears.

I visited two friends in hospital today. Both had hip replacements this week. Both are over 70. Neither looked well ! Both were on oxygen because they feel faint when they stand up . Sounds very brutal to me...that's another operation I will try to avoid.

DH is making a good job of painting the house and is very pleased with himself ! He hopes to get it finished this w/end but isn't looking forward to doing the high bits which he has, so far, avoided !

A sunny day today, but far from tropical. Must get out there and mow the lawns , the recent rain has set them off again !

Enjoy the w/end.
Marion.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

ACCENTS

ROSEY, hoooose boooot is far better representation than mine. However, in the community in which I grew up it was pronounced "Nyew Yawk." One greeted one's friends with "gud mawning". I left there at 17 to attend U. MI. married there and went from there to Baltimore (in New Yawk that would be Bawltimauw. There it was Bol'mer. You checked the awl level in your car. Then we went to coastal FL, Clearwater to be precise, and it was a polyglot of Yankees and there is almost no identifiable accent. Fifty miles inland it sounds like GA where they count one, two, three foe. The migrants during the civil war to avoid the draft of the Confederacy came from GA. In AL that number is foa. We knew a couple in which the husband was a native of NJ and the wife came from AL. She was a wonderful, creative art teacher in my kids' school. They loved her but could understand only about 1/3 of what she was saying. The husband said rather lovingly that she was the only person he ever knew who could make a three syllable word out of dog.

Around here the old timers, when they mean to suggest and alternative as in x or y say xy, one. Read one of my favorite books, Cold Sassy Tree about folks in a town in north GA which, from it's description was Commerce, GA. The dialect, even though not strictly southern Appalachian comes pretty close. I can't remember the author's name and unfortunately she died before completing her second book. Cold Sassy Tree is one of my all time favorite books. It's a hoot.

Got out today and even spent about 40 minutes at the gym. It's been a long time and it felt good. Tomorrow I will get to quilt with the girls in the regular Friday group and am really looking forward to it. The studies say that we old folks need not only to be physically active but socially as well to keep all our marbles. I'm basically a gregarious person and those Friday quilt and lunch days are very important to me.

Jane

How about....

Hooose for house and aboooot for about. That's the usual, Jane, that most people mention when talking aboooot Canadienns and their 'accents' but good for you for mentioning your .....ah........Neeoooow Yeorkh/Long Island accent (and I cannot do that justice...help me out, Jane). One good thing, you can laugh at yourself. I grew up with my mother's four younger brothers teasing the heck out of me and ribbing me unmercifully but never in an unkindly way. It was the best thing that ever happened to an only child. Laughing at yourself is not a gift everyone has..(and never end a sentence that way, Rosey).

Condos...believe me, if I ever get involved in one of those, take me out and shoot me. I have heard more people complain about rising condo fees once they've bought into the condo and more problems with condo board fights...I DO NOT need that stress in older age...have enough of it here in my own home at times without paying big bucks to have that in my life. Rent an apt., rent a house, own a house, live in assisted living...growing old is not nice...the golden years last only so long then age catches up with the body and it can't do what it used to do in looking after itself and where a body is housed. But, condo-living, no way.

Sunny, bright and bitterly cold. Just my cup of tea.

Marion, your summer is our winter and here you haven't had your usual great weather. What is happening down under? Last year at this time you were in England and dealing with sorrow. This year, time goes by yet the sorrow doesn't...just goes underground like a river running through your life...leaving a huge sadness there.

I need to centre myself today to do some designwork. This means, closing myself off and turning the conversation off in my head and focusing myself on feeling so that I can express it through the lines of my designs. It usually takes a few stabs at drawing before I get it 'right'. Have B&B guests arriving on the week-end so my dining room table is clear and available for today and tomorrow. Trouble is, my creative mind doesn't work on command.

Rosey

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

CHILLY HERE

Woke up to snow coming down sometimes and horizontally at other times. It was so much colder than last week's snow so it was light and didn't bring down a lot of trees causing power failure. The wind effectively blew the snow off a large part of my property including some driveway. However there is no more than an inch in the bad spots. By the way, Sara, my '08 Prius was just the rug under the accelerator problem so I've just removed the rug til I hear from the dealer. Obviously they have much more urgent problems. The reason I'm unhappy is that the strange transmission has just two forward gears. The lower one designed for long downgrades isn't low enough for the mountains and definitely for dealing with snow. I've been reminded of the '57 Volkswagen we had as newlyweds. Getting the engine to start was a challenge in temps near zero or lowered because we didn't have a garage. But once started you could just start moving in second gear, come down hill in 3rd or 2nd and in severe winter weather it was possible to get around never using the brakes. Because this lower gear is not low enough for mountains even coming down from the top of a pass, it isn't low enough to avoid using brakes the way it can be done with a conventional transmission. Riding brakes, and it happens to tourists here, over heats the brakes and ultimately boils brake fluid rendering the brakes inoperable.

Re: Canadian accent - there is hosse bote for house boat (that's a long o). Interestingly northern VA has the same pronunciation. Of course, having come from Long Island I don't have much leeway in commenting on the speech of others. I wonder where the use of the word hydro came from in an area where I assume electricity is not generated by moving water. It is hydro electric here in the mountains. Unfortunately, we get some pollution from the coal powered plants in Tennessee.

There is a study going on by Ohio State and Western Carolina Universities examining the disappearence of dialects throughout the US. The old timers here speak almost Elizabethan and were impossible for me to understand when I came here. Of course part of my problem wasthe prevelence of missing teeth and a wad of tobacco in the cheek. Both of those conditins aren't as prevalent as they were just 20 years ago. It's a bit sad that the old timey speech is disappearing and they are recording teenagers now. The speech in the southwest US is similar as most of those folks migrated from here. I guess there are or were so many dialects because of isolation and now with movies, TV and other technology we are probably not too far from losing regional speech. The Eastern Band of Cherokees here is struggling to save their language. Folks woke up and realized that those who grew up when the children were sent off the reservation to boarding schools and forbidden to use their language in order to Americanize them lost touch with their own culture and language. This happened all over the country. Did the Canadians do this to the native people there? Anyway there was serious concern and they commandeered the old folks in their 80s and 90s to teach the kids. There is now an immersion program in the elementary school there and the parents participate as well. There is an endowed chair at Western for Cherokee studies. All very interesting and my hat's off to them.

Bottom line, don't mess with others' culture with a certain exception of certain fundamentalists of various sects.

I'm catching up with paper around here. I just shredded my '98 tax return. No wonder this house is such a mess.

Jane

EH?

Rosey: how about "pay the hydro" for pay the electric bill and servette for napkin?
It's sort of like people in the south saying y'all. Y'all is singular, all y'all is plural. Don't ask why.
I guess people in PA, VA, and maybe NC are getting slamed with the wind and snow. Burrrr.
Here it's just been windy all day, cool, but the sun has been out. I'm hoping and praying that the rain that is supposed to be here tomorrow is gone by 5:00AM Sat. It will be our last practice run. The actual run is on Sun. the 21st.
Prius? Jane, I hope that yours didn't run off the hill because of the brakes. If it was so, maybe you can get Toyota to pay for the towing, etc. Glad you were not hurt.
Condo--as far as some of the newer ones, they are built with quiet walls between the units, at least here. My DH and I would be in one now if he had his way. I'm not ready to give up the flower gardens. Be ware of the "condo comandos" as one of my GF's calls them. You know those people, like in a small town, that stick their nose in everybody's business and try to run their lives. Also, some are villas, sort of like a town house, but on one floor.
OK, have been pressing fabric and getting ready to start a small wall hanging.
Didn't sleep much last night as dog #2 decided to throw up on the quilt at 2:00 AM. I think she might have gotten a lizard in the back yard. Maybe walked on a yard that was recently sprayed for bugs. I did give her a quick bath in the kitchen sink this afternoon. Hopefully that will get the paws clean.
Off to be a slug on the couch!
Sara in Fla.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

February...

Hard to believe that we are already well into the second month of the year ! Our long awaited summer has kept up waiting. We had nice weather for Christmas and New Year ,the rest of January was disappointing and officially labeled "unseasonably cold and wet"... Feb. has been better, but far from reliable . So much for global warming !!

We've been busy with visitors from England and more to come next week. .. Last week, the son of a close friend, next week the daughter of a cousin... They like to come here to get over the long journey before they take off on their adventures . Always nice to see visitors but it does interrupt the routine . I had just started to pick up my interest in quilting, after a non-productive year , and then had to tidy it all away again ! It's a year this week, since my quilting buddy died . We had met fortnightly, for over twenty years. I don't belong to a group . I finished my friends unfinished quilt but , other than that, I have done very little.

DH has decided to paint the house...Fortunately it is built of stone, so there's not a lot of paintwork ! However, it does require the use of a ladder and he isn't good with heights (even though he likes to fly....) so..there's a fair amount of drama here these days..

The NZ grandchildren are back at school after the long summer holidays. I think they are pleased to be back and seem happy with their teachers etc. The Scottish Grandchildren are on Half Term holiday in Scotland. DD#1 is there for a month. More snow up there but not as heavy as in January..

Jane, we will have to move at some stage too. Not something either of us look forward to. We have never had near neighbours and , all the other things you listed will be a problem too !!

Marion.

Lost me password !!

Must have happened with the storm and the site being off and all...who knows. I managed to read the instructions this time properly and reset my password. Now, just to remember it...lol. I know, write it down. I can't remember where I put things when I write them down and need them a year later.

Sarah, my parents also celebrated the Super Bowl with special snacks, meal, etc. as we watched it plus the Rose Bowl on television. Now, like Jane, I couldn't give a hoot about hockley, football, basketball, etc. but oddly enough I do find listening to football comforting (from another room). It was part of my Saturday afternoon's growing up when my dad would have his radio plugged in out side listening to a football game as he raked autumn leaves. My historical association with football thus is a reminder of the wonderful smell of fall leaves burning...spicy smoke. Something no-one in cities can do these days. In fact, not here in the country without a burn permit.

Just home from a very long funeral for a B&B host, Unto The Hills B&B...a beautiful B&B in our area. I did not know the gentleman well but he became distracted and went through a stop sign in the country on a County Road last Thurs. morning. He died at the scene of the accident. He built the B&B especially as a bed & breakfast; his wife wasn't anxious to do it, initially but I think enjoys it now. A dream that he lived for a number of years in retirement but how quickly life is snuffed out in an instant.

Snow expected tonight...hurray! I'm getting down to the dregs of snow for snowshoeing...

And I won't embarass Jane and ask how "Rosey's accent" sounds....like we say, eh, instead of 'huh'...and what else, Jane???

Rosey

Different Strokes etc.

Re: Super Bowl
I wouldn't spend that much time in front of a TV set to watch anything I can think of. I've never given a hoot about football but I used to love the big tennis tournaments and many Olympic events but have abandoned most of that because I can't tolerate watching more than half the time invested watching commercials. I do know, however, never to call anyone on such a high holy day. DH was so dedicated to sports that ESPN would be on all day Saturday during collegiate football season and Sunday for the pros. Then came basketball, and his great love, hockey. Having grown up in the Detroit area hockey was always watched on the CBC station from Windsor. As the sport began to spread throughout the states he often complained that US camera crews didn't understand the game and did a poor job of covering it. Things did improve. It saddens me that he didn't live to see his grandson play hockey. That's a great fast game and the players don't spend a lot of time standing around adjusting their jocks. I watched those games in Ann Arbor in my college days. A goodly portion of the players hardly spoke English as they were from Quebec and the others spoke with typical Canadian accents like Rosey. Also, in the mid fifties, the swimming team members were almost exclusively Australian.

Yesterday I broke down and paid $150 to have that #%^#$% Prius pulled out of the last patch of icy slush along side my drive way. It got to skidding on the ice almost a week ago and ended up close to a ditch. I haven't had transportation since then but trying to get it out while temps were well above freezing all I did was spin holes in the recently re graveled road which had lots of road bond. Now I have to hire the gravel guy to re grade that spot. There is another spot along the very steep winding drive where the high bank on one side has recently eroded badly exposing roots of large trees, one of which has a huge boulder behind it. It won't take much more wet stuff to topple those suckers across the drive so I will spend some more money I don't have to have those trees removed and the bank shored up. I won't even tell you how much it cost me to run that wonderful whole house propane fueled generator for the five days we had no power last week. Nobody told me what a fuel hog that thing is. Next time I'll just run it at night for refrigeration, light and the CPAP. I have a little gas log which takes very little gas and can warm the front half of the house to a fare thee well. If I had a grain of sense I'd move to a condo. I couldn't give this place away in the current market and I'd go nuts with the lack of privacy, having to confine my best friend if, indeed, I could have a dog, and the light pollution at night along with hearing the neighbor's tv on summer nights would drive me to violence.

I am getting acquainted with the Janome 6600. The Janome club meets Saturday, but, guess what the weather guessers are predicting. Nothing as simple as snow flurries. We are supposed to get the dreaded wintry mix between now and then. To get to the shop in Franklin I have to drive over a very high pass. I sure don't want to get stranded up there.

Please pass the cheese, I have plenty of whine. I keep reminding myself that I could be in Haiti.

Jane

Monday, February 8, 2010

Monday afternoon, after football

Hi everybody;
Sigh. . .7 more months until Football season now.
For those of you who watched the game, it was a really good one. I didn't really care who won, we had a few folks over and had fun. The back up quarterback for the Saints is Mark Brunell, he was the quarterback for the Jaguars when the team was first formed. I'm really happy for him, and glad he was a part of a winning team.
As in previous posts, we have Comcast cable, and didn't see the "Tim Tebow" comercial that was so hyped. Did see 2 with him and his Mom in it, but not the one that got so much criticism.
I'm going to try to see it on line.
The Tebow family are sort of local heros here in the No. Fla. area. He was home schooled, but in Fla. a child can take part in any extra programs, such as sports, or debate, etc. He was the H.S. quarterback, and went to Florida, which is the "big" school in this area of Fla.
I heard his Mom speak about 2 years ago, and she was just wonderfull.
Now, we have lots of leftover chips and dip, and Mojito stuff. I'd never made it before, so didn't think it had such a kick, but it does. It's the rum.
Back to cleaning out boxes of old pictures. I don't know what to do with pictures of people that no one knows. Pitch them? What about the newspaper clippings of the late Father-in-law? I better ask DH on that one. They were all when his dad was a mayor of a small town in So. Fla.
Stay warm.
Sara in Fla.