WORD FREAKS AND CLEVER THINGS PEOPLE SAY

Certainly would not be any secret that I like, correction, love words. I love interesting words and how they are put together. I love to find out what they mean. As a little girl I would play a game involving randomly picking words out of the dictionary and discovering what they meant. I'm some kind of word freak.

This week a few people put words together that struck me as rather clever. I like the way they flowed together and what they meant. So if you are a word freak, like me, read on. 

One of my co-workers went out for a quick shopping trip over the lunch period. It was the day before "Black Friday" but things were already starting to ramp up out there in retail land. When I asked how the shopping went they mentioned it was busy with "a dash of  Geriatric." Gosh, I love that statement! I mean, we all get the picture. Those sweet but moving at warp speed ladies and gents, with reflexes that are not what they used to be and insist on counting out the EXACT change for a purchase. When a car is moving along at less than 40 km, I can pretty much guess it is being driving by an old man with a hat or a frail little old lady who can barely see over the steering wheel. The thing is, that will soon be me. I seem to be shrinking all the time and the steering wheel seems to be getting larger. It will someday be you, too. So let me just encourage all who are out Christmas shopping to be patient in those lineups and bustling crowds and nonstop traffic. And remember there is a "dash of geriatric" out there trying to be independent and get things done as well, albeit at a much slower pace.

Yesterday, I went to an information session for a new drop in centre planning on opening their doors in January. This is a Christian-based centre run by volunteers. It will be a safe place to build relationships with all people, including the poor and disenfranchised. We can hang out together, play cards or chat and have a coffee and a snack. No major agendas other than loving and getting to know people. One of the videos we watched involving the poor stated "it is not charity, it is justice." How true! We, the well-to-do middle and upper class with warm houses and full bellies often think of it as charity when we donate to a worthy cause. Perhaps we should remove the word charity altogether! Because the fact is we are all on the same level ground and justice cries out that those who don't have a roof over their heads  or food in the cupboards have that right as well. 

Finally, I went for a swim at the local pool with my Mom who is now in her mid 70s. She was and still is an excellent swimmer. As we were doing laps back and forth I went for a dive mermaid style to swim along the bottom. Upon surfacing my Mom says
"I can't do that anymore, I'm too buoyant."
"What do you mean?" I ask 
"I think my bones are lighter and my fat is fluffier."
Dang, that is a good statement! And also a bit of an eye opener as well. Had no idea that swimming along and then bumping your bum up for a vertical dive down, down, down, would be off my things I can still do list when I reach my 70s. 

Ah....words....I love ya.

Let me just end this post with a couple of  photos, cause we in Ontario got our first whopping of snow this week and if you don't live in snow country, you might enjoy looking at it. 

This is what my neighbourhood looked like at 5:30 in the morning. No filter here, this is a true image. The world is in black and white.

My backyard, a little later in the morning. Beautiful!