Word-Wednesday for April 17, 2019

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, April 17, 2019, the 16th Wednesday of the year,  the 107th day of the year, with 258 days remaining; brought to you by Poopy Dup: The Puppy Poo Composter. Contact Jack Pine Savage for de tails.


Nordhem Lunch: Hot Turkey Plate


Earth/Moon Almanac for April 17, 2019
Sunrise: 6:29am; Sunset: 8:17pm; 3 minutes, 25 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 6:07pm; Moonset: 6:08am, waxing gibbous
Be glad the Earth rotates; it really makes your day.

Temperature Almanac for April 17, 2019
                Average        Record         Today
High            52                 78                49
Low             29                 13                35


April 17 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Bat Appreciation Day
• National Ellis Island Family History Day
• National Cheeseball Day
• National Haiku Poetry Day

April 17 Riddle
What should  the captain do if he learned that the ship has no more eggs?*


April 17 Pun
I didn’t used to think wearing orthopedic shoes would help, but I stand corrected.


April 17 Punctuation Point
In honor of National Haiku Poetry Day, today’s Punctuation Point is a relevant haiku by Joyce Clement.

Birds Punctuate the Days

apostrophe
the nuthatch inserts itself
between feeder and pole

semicolon
two mallards drifting
one dunks for a snail

ellipses
a mourning dove
lifts off

asterisk
a red-eyed vireo catches
the crane fly midair

comma
a down feather
bobs between waves

exclamation point
wren on the railing
takes notice

colon
mergansers paddle toward
morning trout swirl

em dash
at dusk a wild goose
heading east

question mark
the length of silence
after a loon’s call

period
one blue egg all summer long
now gone


April 17 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1387 Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• 1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of English King Richard II.
• 1534 Sir Thomas More confined in the Tower of London.
• 1907 Ellis Island, New York records 11,745 immigrants.

April 17 Author/Artist Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1622 Henry Vaughan, English poet.
• 1774 Vaclav Jan Krtitel Tomasek, Czech composer.
• 1699 Robert Blair, Scottish poet.
• 1897 Thornton Wilder.
• 1937 Daffy Duck.
• 1954 Rowdy Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler.

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Make a single sentence (or poem) from the following words:

• acronical: of the rising or setting of a celestial object.
• bumfuzzle: to deceive, confuse, or astound (a person or group); to bamboozle, bewilder.
• exigent: requiring immediate aid or action.
• hinky: dishonest, suspect, or unreliable.
• mopery: the action of committing a minor or petty offense such as loitering.
• operose: involving or displaying a lot of effort.
• oxter: a person's armpit. [Scottish; Northern English]
• paludal: (of a plant, animal, or soil) living or occurring in a marshy habitat.
• punnet: a small light basket or other container for fruit or vegetables.
• sprunking: the action of beautifying or adorning oneself.

April 17 Word-Wednesday Feature
Haiku
It’s National Haiku Poetry Day. Haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry, where a poem has 3 lines and 17 syllables: the first and last lines of a haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme. Haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness, most often capturing moments in natural settings.  These characteristics make haiku the least of intimidating poetic forms for the metrophobic.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) is among the greatest Japanese haiku poets. Here are three of his best:

An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.

Autumn moonlight-
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.

In the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus -
A lovely sunset.

Write your own haiku today. If you’re feeling adventurous, create your own haiku from the Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge list this week, should you come across such a naturally inspired moment.

From A Year with Rilke, April 17 Entry
Ever Again, from Uncollected Poems.

Ever again, though we’ve learned the landscape of love
and the lament in the churchyard’s names
and the terrible, silent abyss where the others have fallen;
ever again we walk out, two together,
under the ancient trees, ever again find a place
among wildflowers, under heaven’s gaze.

or in haiku form

Ever and again,
though we have learned love’s landscape
and the lament in

the names of the churchyards
and the terrible, silent
abyss where others

have fallen; ever
again we too walk out, two
together, under

the ancient trees,
ever again find a place
among wildflowers,

under heaven’s gaze.



Be better than yesterday, learn a new word today, try to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow, and write when you have the time.

Lay to.*