Word-Wednesday for January 15, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for January 15, 2025, the third Wednesday of the year, the fourth Wednesday of winter, the third Wednesday of January, and the fifteenth day of the year, with three-hundred fifty days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for January 15, 2025
Red Fox
Vulpes vulpes is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, present from Wannaska across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia - even parts of North Africa. Red fox usually avoids people, and they are not dangerous to humans, but they can become a problem for home owners and rural property owners when the fox associates the people with food. Chickens are nummy to foxes, too. Red foxes dig dens mostly for raising kits but also for shelter from severe winter weather. Should you find a den beneath your porch or elsewhere on your property, you can just let it be until spring if the foxes are not causing you problems, and they generally move off in the spring. The Minnesota DNR has the following tips for relocating problem fox family dens once the kits are old enough to emerge:

• Place loosely packed leaves, soil, or mulch in the den opening to disturb the residents.
• Place urine soaked kitty litter, one of Sven's sweat-soaked T-shirts, smelly sweat socks, or old sneakers in or near the den opening.
• Hang shiny party balloons on sticks or poles a few feet off the ground just outside the den entrance.
• Spread a commercially-available repellent around the den entry.
• Place a radio five or six feet away from the opening and leaving it on for a few days.

Spot the Space Station: Wednesday, January 15 at 6:47 PM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 46°, Appears: 10° above SW, Disappears: 45° above S.

January 15 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


January 15 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for January 15, 2025
Sunrise: 8:12am; Sunset: 4:55pm; 2 minutes, 10 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 6:58pm; Moonset: 9:35am, waning gibbous, 97% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for January 15, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             13                     40                     31
Low              -9                   -41                     24

Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2 [Winter]
by William Shakespeare

When icicles hang by the wall
   And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall
   And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
                        Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow
   And coughing drowns the parson's saw
And birds sit brooding in the snow
   And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
                        Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

January 15 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Bagel Day
• National Booch Day
• National Strawberry Ice Cream Day
• National Hat Day
• Feast Day of Íte ingen Chinn Fhalad of Killeedy

January 15 Word Pun
Before my surgery my anesthetist offered to knock me out with gas or a boat paddle.
It was an ether/oar situation.


January 15 Word Riddle
A group of large married women have become famous for heating things with electromagnetic radiation.
They are known as…*


January 15 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
ALLEGIANCE, n.

    This thing Allegiance, as I suppose,
    Is a ring fitted in the subject's nose,
    Whereby that organ is kept rightly pointed
    To smell the sweetness of the Lord's anointed.
                                                                —G.J.


January 15 Etymology Word of the Week
light
/līt/, n., the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible, from Old English leht (Anglian), leoht (West Saxon), "light, daylight; spiritual illumination," from Proto-Germanic leukhtam (source also of Old Saxon lioht, Old Frisian liacht, Middle Dutch lucht, Dutch licht, Old High German lioht, German Licht, Gothic liuhaþ "light"), from Proto-Indo-European root leuk- "light, brightness." The -gh- was an Anglo-French scribal attempt to render the Germanic hard -h- sound, which has since disappeared from this word. The meaning "something used for igniting" is from 1680s. The sense of "a consideration which puts something in a certain view" (as in in light of) is from 1680s. As short for traffic light from 1938. The figurative spiritual sense was in Old English; the sense of "mental illumination" is recorded by mid-15th century. Quaker use is by 1650s; New Light/Old Light in church doctrine also is from 1650s.


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

• 1759 British Museum opens in Montague House.
• 1759 Voltaire's satire Candide is published anonymously in five editions in five countries to scandalous acclaim.
• 1797 First top hat worn by John Etherington of London.
• 1844 University of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana.
• 1846 Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel Poor Folk is published.
• 1847 First Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published.
• 1863 First US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal.
• 1870 Donkey first used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly.
• 1985 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery & Fred Chapell.
• 2024 Jamaican poet Jason Allen-Paisant wins the TS Eliot prize for his collection, Self-Portrait As Othello.

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

• 1412 Joan of Arc.
• 1622 Molière [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin], French playwright.
• 1730 John Malchair, German-English artist, violinist and composer.
• 1733 Joseph Lederer, German composer.
• 1742 Eugene Godecharle, Belgian violinist and composer.
• 1779 Jean Coralli, French ballet producer and choreographer.
• 1791 Franz Gillparzer, Austrian tragic dramatist.
• 1795 Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright.
• 1798 Thomas Crofton Croker, Irish story teller.
• 1803 Marjory Fleming, Scottish writer and poet.
• 1812 Peter C. Asbjornsen, Norwegian fairy tale writer.
• 1850 Mihail Eminesco [Eminovici], Romanian poet.
• 1858 Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter.
• 1869 Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish dramatist.
• 1871 Bertram Shapleigh, American composer.
• 1872 Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer.
• 1878 Johanna Muller-Hermann, Austrian composer.
• 1879 Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author.
• 1885 Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer.
• 1889 Walter Serner, Czech writer.
• 1891 Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet.
• 1892 Frank Hutchens, New Zealand-born composer.
• 1892 Rex Ingram [Reginald Hitchcock], Irish director.
• 1893 Ivor Novello [David Ivor Davies], Welsh composer, writer.
• 1896 Jacobo Ficher, Argentine composer.
• 1897 Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet.
• 1900 Caesar Domela, Dutch painter.
• 1902 Nazim Hikmet, Turkish poet.
• 1906 Rezső Kókai, Hungarian pianist, composer.
• 1908 Roberta Bitgood, American organist and composer.
• 1909 Elie Siegmeister, American composer.
• 1911 Wim Kan, Dutch cabaret artist.
• 1913 Miriam Hyde, Australian composer.
• 1923 Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet.
• 1925 Ruth Slenczynska, American concert pianist.
• 1929 "Queen" Ida [Lewis], Louisiana Creole accordionist.
• 1929 Teizo Matsumura, Japanese composer.
• 1930 Earl Hooker, American blues slide guitar player.
• 1931 Lee Bontecou, American sculptor and printmaker.
• 1931 Murad Kazhlayev, Soviet and Dagestani composer.
• 1933 Ernest J. Gaines, African-American author.
• 1935 Robert Silverberg, American science fiction author.
• 1939 Christopher Steel, British composer.
• 1954 Jose Dalisay Jr., Filipino writer.
• 1964 Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer.

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

• aishiteru: 愛してる /AYE-shee-teh-roo/ v., JAPANESE, I love you.
• bagatelle: /BAG-ə-tel/ n., a short, light piece of music, especially one for the piano; a game in which small balls are hit and then allowed to roll down a sloping board on which there are holes, each numbered with the score achieved if a ball goes into it, with pins acting as obstructions; a thing of little importance; a very easy task.
• condign: /kən-DĪN/ adj., (of punishment or retribution) appropriate to the crime or wrongdoing; fitting and deserved.
• friggle: /friɡ-(ə)l/ v., to jerk or twist around; to writhe, wriggle. Also transitive: to move (something, e.g. a part of the body) in this way.
• greige: /ɡrāZH/ n., a color between beige and gray.
• pank: /paŋk/ v., to breathe hard; pant.
• popple: /PAH-puhl/ v., to flow in a tumbling manner, as water from a spring or over a pebbly surface; to tumble about, as boiling or otherwise agitated liquid; to bubble up; to ripple.
• potager: /PÄT-i-jə(r)/ n., a cook whose specialties are soup, broth, and bouillon.
• viriditas: /vih-RID-ih-tahs/ n., greeness: vitality, fecundity, lushness, verdure, or growth.
• yuugen: /YOO-gen/ n., JAPANESE, the beauty that we can feel sense into an object, even though the beauty doesn’t exist in the literal sense of the word and cannot be seen directly.

January 15, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
Inspiration
/in-spə-RA-SH(ə)n/ n., the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative; the drawing in of breath; inhalation, from circa 1300, "immediate influence of God or a god," especially that under which the holy books were written, from Old French inspiracion "inhaling, breathing in; inspiration" (13th century), from Late Latin inspirationem (nominative inspiratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin inspirare "blow into, breathe upon," figuratively "inspire, excite, inflame," from in- "in" (from Proto-Indo-European root en "in") + spirare "to breathe" (see spirit (n.)):

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. [Genesis ii.7]

The sense evolution seems to be from "breathe into" to "infuse animation or influence," thus "affect, rouse, guide or control," especially by divine influence. Inspire (v.) in Middle English also was used to mean "breath or put life or spirit into the human body; impart reason to a human soul." Literal sense "act of inhaling" attested in English from 1560s. Meaning "one who inspires others" is attested by 1867.

How are those New Year resolutions coming? Need some inspiration? Here are some words from some authors who have personally explored the source; as with most important subjects, there is no consensus:

INSPIRATION, n. Literally, the act of breathing into, as a prophet is inspired by the Spirit, and a flute by an enemy of mankind.

    "Ho-ho!" said the Scribe as he brandished his quill,
    "I'm full of an inspiration!"
    Said the blown-up Bladder: "I too have a fill,"
    And he swelled with great elation.
    Then that writer he sneered: "My friend, your own
    Is nothing but just inflation."
    And that orb replied in a mocking tone:
    "And yours is but dilatation."
    So they came to blows, and the Bladder blew
    With a forceful sibilation,
    And that Scribe's remarks as he skyward flew
    Were unfit for publication.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

I don’t know anything about inspiration because I don’t know what inspiration is—I’ve heard about it, but I never saw it.

William Faulkner

Wit invents; inspiration reveals.

Octavio Paz

Inspiration never arrived when you were searching for it.

Lisa Alther

Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness—I wouldn't know; but I am sure that it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.

Aaron Copland

Inspiration is never genuine if it is known as inspiration at the time. True inspiration always steals on a person; its importance not being fully recognized for some time.

Samuel Butler

The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.

Claude Monet

I dare not alter these things; they come to me from above.

Alfred Austin

The knowledge of man is as the waters, some descending from above, and some springing from beneath; the one informed by the light of nature, the other inspired by divine revelation.

Francis Bacon

I write when commanded by the spirits, and the moment I have written I see the words fly about the room in all directions.

William Blake

I admire the person freed from his religion and inspired by the gods inside of himself.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Inspiration comes during work, not before it.

Madeleine L’Engle

Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning.

Igor Stravinsky

Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all.

Rita Mae Brown

If you wait for inspiration or that thing to hit you, you’re dead. Action breeds inspiration more than inspiration breeds action.

Willem Dafoe

Inspiration is for amateurs—the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will—through work—bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great “art idea.”

Chuck Close

I don’t believe in writer’s block or waiting for inspiration. If you’re a writer, you sit down and write.

Elmore Leonard

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.

Stephen King

Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

Thomas A. Edison

Here is a simple recipe to begin with. Get up every morning with the set intention of writing and go to your desk and sit there for three hours, whether you accomplish anything or not. Before long you will find that you are writing madly, not waiting for inspiration.

Gertrude Atherton

To the artist is sometimes granted a sudden, transient insight which serves in this manner for experience. A flash, and where previously the brain held a dead fact, the soul grasps a living truth! At moments we are all artists.

Arnold Bennett

When authors write best, or, at least, when they write most fluently, an influence seems to waken in them which becomes their master—which will have its way—putting out of view all behests but its own, dictating certain words, and insisting on their being used, whether vehement or measured in their nature, new molding characters, giving unthought of turns to incidents, rejecting carefully elaborated old ideas, and suddenly creating and adopting new ones.

Charlotte Brontë

He was, if ever there was one, an inspired poet. I do not think it the highest sort of poet. And you never discover who is an inspired poet until the inspiration goes.

G. K. Chesterton

Whatever a poet writes with enthusiasm and a divine inspiration is fine.

Democritus

Poets do not compose their poems with knowledge, but by some inborn talent and by inspiration, like seers and prophets who also say many fine things without any understanding of what they say.

Socrates

Inspiration is a farce that poets have invented to give themselves importance.

Jean Anouilh

Better beware of notions like genius and inspiration; they are a sort of magic wand and should be used sparingly by anybody who wants to see things clearly.

Jose Ortega y Gasset

If you ever have to make a choice between learning and inspiration, choose learning. It works more of the time.

Lois McMaster Bujold

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inspiration always comes when a man really wants it to, but it doesn't always go when he wants.

Charles Baudelaire

I long to speak out about the intense inspiration that comes to me from the lives of strong women. They have made of their lives an intense adventure.

Ruth Benedict

The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

Pearl S. Buck

Do we not all agree to call rapid thought and noble impulse by the name of inspiration? After our subtlest analysis of the mental process, we must still say…that our highest thoughts and our best deeds are all given to us.

George Eliot

It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.

Ray Bradbury

Thought is a form of love, if it be inspired.

Benjamin N. Cardozo

I cannot summon up inspiration; I myself am summoned.

P. L. Travers

From A Year with Rilke, January 15 Entry
Through All That Happens, from Paris, February 17, 1903, 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.

The Danaid
by Auguste Rodin

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 Macro Wives.