Word-Wednesday for November 1, 2023

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for November 1, 2023, the forty-fourth Wednesday of the year, the sixth Wednesday of fall, and the three-hundred fifth day of the year, with sixty days remaining. 

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for November 1, 2023
Average for Wannaska
The earliest recorded snowfall in Minnesota was a light dusting in Duluth in August of 1949, and the earliest measurable snow occurred in International Falls in September of 1964. The earliest date for Wannaska can be found in the mind of one of our elder residents. The average first snowfall for most places in the northern half of Minnesota falls between mid-October. Few are as beautiful as this year's first.

Looking skyward in the mornings to come:

Spot the Space Station:

Wednesday, November, 01 at 6:27 AM, 

Visible: 4 min, Max Height: 69°, Appears: 45° above NW, Disappears: 10° above E 

November 1 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


November 1 Recipe of the Day

Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizzard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,-
For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
                            William Shakespeare, Macbeth

November 1 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily by 11:00am, usually.


Earth/Moon Almanac for November 1, 2023
Sunrise: 8:10am; Sunset: 6:05pm; 3 minutes, 13 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 8:17pm; Moonset: 1:06am, waning gibbous, 84% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for November 1, 2023
                Average            Record              Today
High            41                     68                     31
Low             24                     -5                     19

Map
by Gary Snyder

A hill, a farm,

A forest, and a valley.

Half a hill plowed, half woods.

A forest valley and a valley field.

Sun passes over;

Two solstices a year

Cow in the pasture

Sometimes deer

A farmhouse built of wood.

A forest built on bones.

The high field, hawks

The low field, crows

Wren in the brambles

Frogs in the creek

Hot in summer

Cold in snow

The woods fade and pass.

The farm goes on.

The farm quits and fails

The woods creep down

Stocks fall you can’t sell corn

Big frost and tree-mice starve

Who wins who cares?

The woods have time.

The farmer has heirs.

November 1 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• Prime Meridian Day
• Day of the Dead
• All Saints Day
• Autistics Speaking Day
• National Biologic Coordinators Day
• World Vegan Day
• National Cinnamon Day
• National Calzone Day
• National Stress Awareness Day
• National Brush Day
• National Deep Fried Clams Day
• National Cook for Your Pets Day
• National Literacy Day
• National Vinegar Day
• National Authors Day

November 1 Word Riddle
What type of road do skeletons like to roam during Día de Muertos?*


November 1 Word Pun
A waist is a terrible thing to mind.


November 1 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
DEVIL, n., The author of all our woes and proprietor of all the good things of this world. He was made by the Almighty, but brought into the world by a woman.

When Eve stood at the judgment seat,
And argued for salvation,
She pleaded at Jehovah's feet,
In sad extenuation,
That Satan, who had made them eat,
Was of His own creation.
"Not so," and frowned the Master's face,
"That apple 'twas a sin to
Indulge in, with no saving grace.
Atone! You can't begin to.
I merely turned him loose in space,
The world, you brought him into."
—Ella Wheeler

November 1 Etymology Word of the Week

November 1 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1512 Michelangelo's paintings on ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican first exhibited.
• 1604 William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello first presented.
• 1611 Shakespeare's romantic comedy play Tempest is first presented.
• 1665 Robert Hooke's landmark work Micrographia with drawings using a microscope and coining the word "cell" is published by the Royal Society.
• 1787 First free school in New York City (African Free School) opens.
• 1870 US Weather Bureau begins operations.
• 1904 George Bernard Shaw's comedy play John Bull's Other Island premieres.
• 1910 First issue of Crisis published by editor W.E.B. Du Bois.
• 1920 Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones premieres.
• 1928 First celebration of Authors' Day.
• 1935 T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral premieres.

November 1 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1500 Benvenuto Cellini, Italian sculptor.
• 1607 Georg Philipp Harsdörffer, German poet.
• 1636 Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French poet.
• 1761 Antonín Volánek, Czech composer.
• 1798 Benjamin Guinness, Irish brewer.
• 1859 W. H. Grattan Flood, Irish author.
• 1871 Stephen Crane, American novelist.
• 1880 Sholem Asch, Polish-Jewish novelist.
• 1886 Hermann Broch, Austrian novelist.
• 1896 Edmund Blunden, English poet.
• 1897 Naomi Mitchison, Scottish author.
• 1902 Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian poet.
• 1905 Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian abstract painter.
• 1917 Zenna Henderson, American science fiction author.
• 1921 Ilse Aichinger, Austrian writer.
• 1921 Jan Tausinger, Czech violist.
• 1923 Edward de Jongh, Antillian author.
• 1930 A. R. Gurney, American playwright.

Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge 
Write a story or pram from the following words:

• boustrophedon: /ˌbo͞o-strə-fēdn/ adj., written from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines; adv., from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines.
• confuddle: /kuhn-FU-duhl/ v., to perplex, confuse, confound, or befuddle (a person); to muddle or mix up.
• dickcissel: /dik-ˈsis(ə)l/ n., a North American songbird related to the cardinals, with a black and white throat and bright yellow breast.
• goety: /ˈgō-ə-tē/ n., black magic or witchcraft in which the assistance of evil spirits is invoked.
• munge: /munj/ v., to eat greedily and noisily; to munch, to chew.
• puckaun: / puhck-AHN/ n., Irish English, a billy goat.
• refuweegee: /rəf-yū-WĒ-jē/ n., a person who upon arrival in Glasgow is embraced by the people of the city, a person considered to be a local; see also, Glaswegian.
• syndic: /ˈsin-dik/ n., a government official in various countries.
• vigesimal: /vī-ˈjes-ə-ml/ adj., relating to or based on the number twenty.
• unseelie: /uhn-SEE-lee/ n., a malevolent or malicious fairy; adj., of or pertaining to the unseelie; malevolent (as a fairy, etc).

November 1, 2023 Word-Wednesday Feature
contuition
/kän-to͞o-ˈiSH-(ə)n/ a word that does not appear in any dictionary, but was coined by the innovative sprung rhythm poet of prosody, Gerald Manley Hopkins: n., a process whereby the exterior world and the interior self serves as a means by which God or some higher order of being is revealed to our perception.

Den yew got yer definition accordin’ to Sven:

Contuition, vell, now dere's a fancy vord dat sounds like somethin' a snake oil salesman vould peddle. But, yew see, itisn’t snake oil I'm talkin' aboot. It's dat feelin' ov knowin' tings vithout knowin' vhy you know 'em. It's like vhen you valk into a room and can't remember vhy you vent in dere in da first place. Now, I reckon dat's a case of selective memory, or as I like to call it, "room-induced befuddlement."

It's a bit like navigatin' the Mikinaak Crick, tryin' to find your vay trew a fog ticker than Monique’s corn chowder. Yer contuition is like dat trusty ol' compass, lettin' you know vhich way tew steer your canoe. Ov course, sometimes dat compass can be as reliable as a chicken vatchin' da time.

Contuition, yew see, is a bit like tryin' to catch lightnin’ bugs in a yar. Yew see 'em flashin' all around, but catchin' 'em is a whole 'nother story. Sometimes, yew yust gotta trust yer gut, even if yer gut ain't always made da best decisions.

So, dere you have it, contuition is like a stubborn mule – it might not alvays go da vay you vant it tew, but it's got a vay of steerin' yew clear ov the vorst of da briar patch. Yust don't rely on it tew much, or you'll find yerself vadin' in vater over yer head, vonderin' vhy yew didn't pay more attention tew dat ol' noggin of yers.

From A Year with Rilke, November 1 Entry
Between the Stars, from Sonnets to Orpheus II, 10

How far it is between the stars, how much farther
is what's right here. The distance, for example,
between a child and one who walks by—
oh, how inconceivably far.

Not only in measurable spans does Fate
move through our lives.
Think how great the distance between a young girl
and the boy she avoids and loves.

Everything is far, nowhere does the circle close.
See, on the plate upon the festive table
how strangely the fish is staring.

Fish are mute, we used to think. Who knows?
We may, in the end, find that their silence

says more to us than our words.

Bloaters on a Yellow Piece of Paper

by Vincent van Gogh

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.





*dead ends.