I guess if I want to have a blog post dated this month I'd better write one fast!
My furniture was all moved into my new address as of May 24. My old house was sold and my bridge loan paid off as of June 1. This summer I have done little but fill out paperwork, unpack boxes and try to get everything moved around/fixed up.
There is still no light at the end of the tunnel. However I've also spent some time with my youngest granddaughter who, also, just moved into a new place and is getting settled. It's funny how helping someone else to put together their furniture with a screwdriver feels like taking a break. And I do schedule a little time to unwind each day. Every evening I walk my dog or, rather, as a Jack Russell terrier, he takes me for a vigorous walk. All the kids in the new community have now met Oliver. I have a rule that it's OK to pet him but only one child at a time.
Later, I read myself to sleep with something light. I just finished "The Crime That Binds" by Laurie Cass, This is the latest in her murder mystery series featuring Minnie Hamilton, a librarian who drives a bookmobile with her sociable cat riding along. As someone who loves books, Minnie often plays around with words, as I do. When contemplating "toastiness" and "sogginess" to describe a microwaved sandwich, she just has to look them up. Merriam-Webster recognizes only "sogginess" but a wiki dictionary does, already, cover "toastiness".
Then follows a passage in the book that just blows me away:
"...I felt an odd sense of comfort. The world changed around us, sometimes at breakneck speed and sometimes so slow that only rocks could understand the long-term impacts. Language, however, moved with us."
It's true. Language is always changing. This annoys many people, like members of the Académie Française, created by the French to halt the process or at least slow it. The Académie is also charged with creating appropriate new vocabulary as the need arises. But, to their frustration, people often ignore their terminology, instead adopting the words that spring up, organically, without effort, as society moves forward. Sometimes new expressions even lead the way by inspiring people to investigate and adopt new ideas. It's a bit like being walked by a Jack Russell terrier.
