Word-Wednesday for January 15, 2020

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, January 15, 2020, the 3rd Wednesday of the year,  the 15th day of the year, with 351 days remaining, and only 78 days until April 1st.


Nordhem Lunch: Chicken Strip Dinner
Jackie Helms-Reynolds has a photograph featured on today's WikTel home page.

Earth/Moon Almanac for January 15, 2020
Sunrise: 8:12am; Sunset: 4:54pm; 2 minutes, 7 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 11:14pm; Moonset: 11:16am, waning gibbous


Temperature Almanac for January 15, 2020
                Average           Record          Today
High             14                    44                  0
Low             -6                   -41                -24


January 15 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Hat Day
• National Strawberry Ice Cream Day
• National Booch Day
• National Bagel Day

January 15 Word Riddle
Another way of saying, “The rathe avian purloins the lumbricus?*

 original painting by Peter Somers

January 15 Pun
Roseau Times Region Report: Study of the Effects of THC on Warroad Gulls Leaves No Tern Unstoned.


January 15 Notable Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1846 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel Poor Folk is published in the St. Petersburg Collection almanac.
• 1863 First U.S. newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal.
• 1895 Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake premieres, St Petersburg.
• 1977 Coneheads debut on Saturday Night Live.
• 1985 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery & Fred Chapell.

January 15 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1412 Joan of Arc.
• 1622 Molière [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin].
• 1803 Marjory Fleming.
• 1929 Martin Luther King Jr.
• 1930 Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler.
• 1960 Peter Somers.

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

• absquatulate: to flee; abscond.
• altricial: of a young bird or (in later use also) other animal: confined to the nest, burrow, etc., until sufficiently developed to live without parental care.
• callithumpian: resembling a discordant band or a noisy parade.
• helluation: the act or habit of eating or drinking too much.
• maffick: to celebrate boisterously with extravagant rejoicing and hilarious demonstrations.
• musophobist: a person who dislikes or mistrusts poetry.
• prandicle: a small, light meal; a snack.
• schmick: smart, stylish; admirable, excellent.
• sprauncy: smart or showy in appearance; dapper.
• tripudiate: to dance with excitement or figuratively trample on an opponent in triumph.

January 15, 2020 Word-Wednesday Feature
Brother
English is a funny language when it comes to some words - funny ha-ha and funny strange. Take the word, brother - one of the six primary relationships that a person can have in a family. This seems like an important word, and many moving tributes have been written to brothers, by brothers, and about brothers. On the other hand, brothers can be troublesome, in some traditions even  evil. Is it any wonder that English now has so many varied versions of this word - often with contradictory meanings: bromance, a black man, a member of a religious order or congregation of men, soul brother, milk brother, Big Brother…oh brother!

Today, Word-Wednesday celebrates a fourth consecutive anniversary Wednesday since Christmas Day, New Years Day, and the Wannaskan Almanac’s first date of publication:  the birth of my brother, Peter Somers. Peter the son, is the husband of one, the father of three, the grandfather of two, and the brother of six. Now a semi-retired psychologist, Dr. Somers has resumed painting when he is not with family.  Peter is easily the most loving, generous, fully attentive, steady person I have ever known. A person of faith while being at ease with the unease that life can bring, Peter is also a person of deep conscience. Peter chose to take the surname of his wife, Kathy, as a reflection of his commitment to begin and shape their own life and family together, much to the curmudgeonly consternation of our dad. Happy birthday, Pete!


From A Year with Rilke, January 15 Entry
Through All that Happens, from Letters to a Young Poet.

As you unfold as an artist, just keep on, quietly and earnestly, growing through all that happens to you. You cannot disrupt this process more violently than by looking outside yourself for answers that may only be found by attending to your innermost feeling.


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.


*The early bird gets the worm.