Monday Musings

Our Blue Ridge Mountain area has been blessed with a week of beautiful weather, with daytime highs in the high 70s to low 80s and nighttime lows in the 50–60 range. It was a perfect time to put the garden to bed for the 2023 season. But, it was too good to be true because here comes the cold weather. The  date of the first fall freeze  varies depending on where you live in the US. Friends in Montana have already experienced snow and near-zero temperatures. Having previously lived in Montana, I can vouch for the frigid climate our Northern neighbors must endure. Our neck of the woods will join the freezing temperature zone this week on Wednesday, November 1st night. We may enjoy one more burst of unseasonable warm, dry weather if traditional Indian Summer arrives mid-November. The criteria for a true “Second Summer” include: (1)the period happens after at least one good killing frost but before the first snowfall, and (2) the temperatures must remain above 70 F for at least sev...

Saturday, October 21st was “Smart is Cool Day”, an excellent time to celebrate the gift of “smart” and to encourage us all to be the best version of ourselves. Television and movies portray smart people as weirdos with coke-bottle glass lenses and zero personality, nerds or know-it-alls, and made fun of or left out of social events. Contrary to that picture, intelligent individuals don’t all fit the stereotypical mold. They can be amusing, open-minded, and great empaths. They can, however, be  socially anxious  because they are more self-aware and can detect more threats. Their minds continually browse for new information and examine theories. Smart people also tend to be more logical and rational, so they are more likely to misinterpret emotional reactions and thus may have a lower EQ, Emotional Intelligence. In 1850, Sir Francis Galton (a statistician and eugenicist) and Paul Broca (an anatomist who researched the area of the brain involved with language) studied the idea of...

October 16, 1758, was the birthdate of Noah Webster, the “father” of the American dictionary. At the age of 16, he began college at Yale to study teaching. He had a zeal to reform the American academic system. The  Blue-Backed Speller  was his first textbook, which addressed English language grammar. In 1801, he began to define American terms that differed from spoken language in England. To facilitate the dictionary creation, he learned 26 languages. Despite Webster’s busy career, he also founded Amherst College. The first edition of  An American Dictionary of the English Language , published in 1806, corrected English spellings to American English spellings, i.e.,  colour  to  color  and  musick  to  music.  This edition defined 37,000 words; Webster’s last edition, in 1828, included over 65,000 terms. When Webster died in 1843, G&C Merriam, Co. bought the rights to  An American Dictionary of the English Language . George...

As a writer, every piece committed to a document is a work of creation, building a new entity from the re-organization of existing letters, word forms, and ideas. I learn new things about myself, others, and civilization as I write. I do a tremendous amount of research on the topics I chose for description. And amid that study, I see a great deal of the world’s happenings, both good and evil. In the aftermath of the weekend’s events and the potential for worldwide conflict, we can, while not ignoring reality, instead choose to center and thus empower ourselves with the calming effect of art. Red is the color of rage, of war; other shades of the spectrum personify varying feelings. Responses may differ for the individual. Robert Plutchik elucidated the color wheel of emotion in 1958. Regardless of their creative medium, each artist must search out a kernel of individuality, a grain that makes them unique. How do you react to stress? Do you turn to a creative focus to express your feelin...

October showcases National Book Month, a fantastic celebration for readers, writers, and literature. Books and reading have long been a favorite pastime. Books became available to the ordinary person after Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1439: the first press with mechanical movable type. This development allowed the rapid spread of ideas and knowledge. Palmer Putnam and John Wiley established the first major US publishing house, Harper & Brothers, in 1817 in New York City. Harper’s printed books and magazines, which further increased reading material availability. The annual recognition of books began twenty years ago by the National Book Foundation. Each year, the foundation honors the country’s top authors. Reading is generally a solitary occupation. However, sometimes people form Book Clubs to meet and discuss books; there are even online reading groups. National and local organizations promote book club recommendations with different topical themes. My end ta...