And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for March 5, 2025, the twentieth Wednesday of the year, the eleventh Wednesday of winter, the first Wednesday of March, and the sixty-fourth day of the year, with three-hundred one days remaining.
Wannaska Phenology Update for March 5, 2025
Seasonal March
According to meteorologists, spring in the Upper Midwest begins each year on March 1. Astronomers tell us that spring begins on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2025, at 4:01 AM this year). Our local meteoastroastrologist says we're in Psychological Spring. March could be the peak of the snow season, but at some point it’s also our first month of real spring — the awakening season. Botanists say that the best time to prune grape vines, apple trees, and oak trees is between now and the last day of March. Here in northern Minnesota, black bear cubs (collective noun — sleuth or sloth) are now about a month old, weigh less than three pounds each, are in dens with their still-sleeping mothers, and thinking about spring, “Are we there yet?”
March 5 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling
March 5 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.
Earth/Moon Almanac for March 5, 2025
Sunrise: 6:58am; Sunset: 6:13pm; 3 minutes, 35 seconds more daylight today
Moonrise: 9:14am; Moonset: 1:04am, waxing crescent, 31% illuminated.
Temperature Almanac for March 5, 2025
Average Record Today
High 28 63 28
Low 4 - 30 18
To March
by Emily Dickinson
Dear March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat —
You must have walked —
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell!
I got your letter, and the birds';
The maples never knew
That you were coming, — I declare,
How red their faces grew!
But, March, forgive me —
And all those hills
You left for me to hue;
There was no purple suitable,
You took it all with you.
Who knocks? That April!
Lock the door!
I will not be pursued!
He stayed away a year, to call
When I am occupied.
But trifles look so trivial
As soon as you have come,
That blame is just as dear as praise
And praise as mere as blame.
March 5 Celebrations from National Day Calendar
- National Absinthe Day
- National Cheese Doodle Day
- National Multiple Personality Day
- Ash Wednesday
- Feast Day of Ciarán of Saigir
March 5 Word Pun
Sven’s house is haunted by a chicken…
a poultrygeist…
a fowl spirit.
Sven’s plan: call an eggsorcist to help it cross to the other side.
March 5 Word Riddle
After one dies, what part of the human body is the last to stop working?*
March 5 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
INDIFFERENT, adj. Imperfectly sensible to distinctions among things.
"You tiresome man!" cried Indolentio's wife,
"You've grown indifferent to all in life."
"Indifferent?" he drawled with a slow smile;
"I would be, dear, but it is not worth while."
—Apuleius M. Gokul
March 5 Etymology Word of the Week
mirror
/ˈmirər/ n., a reflective surface, now typically of glass coated with a metal amalgam, that reflects a clear image; v., (of a reflective surface) show a reflection of, from mid-13th century, mirour, "polished surface (of metal, coated glass, etc.) used to reflect images of objects," especially the face of a person, from Old French mireoir "a reflecting glass, looking glass; observation, model, example," earlier miradoir (11th century), from mirer "look at" (oneself in a mirror), "observe, watch, contemplate," from Vulgar Latin mirare "to look at," variant of Latin mirari "to wonder at, admire" (see miracle).
The Spanish cognate, mirador (from mirar "to look, look at, behold"), has come to mean "watch tower, gallery commanding an extensive view." Latin speculum "mirror" (or its Medieval Latin variant speglum) is the source of words for "mirror" in neighboring languages: Italian specchio, Spanish espejo, Old High German spiegal, German Spiegel, Dutch spiegel, Danish spejl, Swedish spegel. An ancient Germanic group of words for "mirror" is represented by Gothic skuggwa, Old Norse skuggsja, Old High German scucar, which are related to Old English scua "shade, shadow."
Figurative use, "that in or by which anything is shown or exemplified," hence "a model (of good or virtuous conduct)" is attested from circa 1300. Mirrors have been used in divination since classical and biblical times, and according to folklorists, in modern England they are the subject of at least 14 known superstitions. Belief that breaking one brings bad luck is attested from 1777. Mirror image "something identical to another but having right and left reversed" is by 1864. Mirror ball attested from 1968. To look in (the) mirror in the figurative sense of "examine oneself" is by early 15th century.
March 5 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day
- 1558 Smoking tobacco introduced into Europe by Spanish physician Francisco Fernandes.
- 1616 Astronomical work de Revolutionibus by Nicolaus Copernicus placed on Catholic Forbidden index.
- 1623 First American temperance law enacted, Virginia.
- 1807 First performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's 4th Symphony in B.
- 1868 Arrigo Boito's opera Mefistofele premieres.
- 1970 Dubnium atoms are first detected conclusively.
March 5 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day
- 1637 Jan van der Heyden, Dutch painter and inventor.
- 1703 Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet.
- 1733 Vincenzo Galeotti [Tomasselli], Italian dancer, ballet master.
- 1746 Jacob Wallenberg, Swedish writer.
- 1748 William Shield, English violist, violinist, and composer.
- 1751 Jan Křtitel Kuchař, Czech composer.
- 1756 Thomas Linley the younger, English composer.
- 1774 Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse, Danish organist and composer.
- 1805 Theodore Labarre, French composer.
- 1825 Hans Balatka, Moravian-American conductor.
- 1840 Constance Fenimore Woolson, American writer.
- 1843 William F. Sudds, American composer.
- 1845 Alphonse Hasselmans, Belgian-French harpist, composer.
- 1853 Howard Pyle, American illustrator, painter and author.
- 1874 Arthur van Schendel, Dutch writer.
- 1887 Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer.
- 1895 Fritz Usinger, German writer.
- 1897 Gunta Stölzl, German textile artist.
- 1899 Patrick Hadley, English composer.
- 1901 Julian Przybos, Polish poet.
- 1908 Irving Fiske, American writer, playwright.
- 1910 Joseph Tomelty, Irish playwright.
- 1910 Konstantin Sergeyev, Russian ballet dancer.
- 1910 Momofuku Ando, Taiwanese-Japanese inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles.
- 1913 Julian Krein [Yulian Kreyn], Russian composer.
- 1916 Ian Parrott, British-Welsh composer.
- 1922 Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian poet, novelist.
- 1928 Lou Levy, American jazz pianist.
- 1933 Norbert Linke, German composer.
- 1939 Charles Fuller, American playwright.
- 1940 Tetsuya Noda, Japanese artist.
- 1947 Clodagh Rodgers, Irish singer.
- 1955 Juraj Filas, Slovak composer.
- 1960 David Tibet [Bunting], English poet.
Words-I-Looked-Up-This-Week Writer's Challenge
Write a story or pram from the following words:
- aitchbone: /ĀCH-bōn/ n., the bone of the buttock.
- brolly: /BRÄ-lē/ n., BRITISH SLANG, umbrella.
- defalcate: /də-FÔL-kāt/ v. embezzle (funds with which one has been entrusted).
- gawby: /GAW-bee/ n., a fool or simple-minded person.
- jook: /jo͝ok/ v., pierce, poke, or stab.
- juck: /jək/ v., to make the natural noise of a partridge settling down for the night; SWEDISH, to thrust.
- maenad: /MĒ-nad/ n., (in ancient Greece) a female follower of Bacchus, traditionally associated with divine possession and frenzied rites, from mainesthai "to rave".
- maestria: /migh-STREE-uh/ n., skill, mastery (esp. of literary or musical performance); dash, flair.
- maffled: /MAFF-uhld/ adj., confused, muddled.
- matrescence: /muh-TRES-uhns/ n., the physical, emotional, hormonal, and social transition a female goes through to become a mother.
- stonkered: / STAWNG-kuhrd/ adj., extremely tired, exhausted; drunk, intoxicated; rendered useless or ineffectual; confounded, defeated; ruined.
March 5, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
Word-Immigrants
Paraphrasing Emma Lazarus' pram, The New Colossus on the Statue of Liberty,
Give me your wanderlust, your cookie,
Your huddled karaoke masses yearning to breathe fresh air,
The wretched entrepreneurial refuse from your teeming shore.
Send these, the lemons, tempest tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Not to mention metropolis, avatar, and eighty per cent of words in the English language. Shakespeare, Dickens, Melville, and the other English language writers would not be so wonderful without their words borrowed from other languages. Just imagine life in these United States without the following color:
- adobe, Coptic
- algebra, Classical Arabic
- amen, Hebrew
- banana, Wolof, Africa
- bikini, Marshallese
- bog, Irish
- bogus, Hausa, Africa
- boss, Old Frankish
- canal, Sumerian
- chipmunk, Ojibwe, Native North America
- cigar, Mayan, Native Central America
- coffee, Omotic, Africa
- cotton, Andalusian Arabic
- doodle, Turkish
- ebony, Ancient Egyptian
- geyser, Icelandic
- hamster, Old East Slavic
- hooch, Tlingit, Native North America
- jazz, Mandinka, Africa
- jungle, Hindi
- ketchup, Min Na, China
- lemming, Sami
- moose, Abenaki, Native North America
- orange, Telugu, India
- paradise, Avestan
- pecan, Illinois, Native North America
- petunia, Guarani, South America
- quiver, Mongolian
- raccoon, Powhatan, Native North America
- ramen, Mandarin
- sugar, Sanskrit
- sofa, Aramaic
- taboo, Tongan
- tango, Ibigo, Africa
- tattoo, Samoan
- toboggan, Mi'kmaq, Native North America
- tomato, Nahuatl, Native Central America
- tundra, Sami
- voodoo, Ewe, Africa
- walrus, Danish
- yam, Fula, Africa
- yeti, Tibetan
- zombie, Kongo, Africa
From A Year with Rilke, March 5 Entry
In Our Own Way, from Eighth Duino Elegy
Ever turned toward what we create, we see in it
only reflections of the Open, darkened by us.
Except when an animal silently looks us through and through.
This is our fate: to stand
in our own way. Forever
in the way.
Blacksmith Shop
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.
*The pupils; they dilate.
ReplyDeleteHe jooked when I jagged- his brolly went in
Stonkered- near dead, I entered an inn
The maenad at the bar said what will it be?
Enough to get maffled- from my pain set me free
Set your aitchbone right down, relax now old buck
I liked what she said and plopped down with a juck
Her maestria was fine, as one deep in matrescence
She was gentle and kind with my growing senescence
She could never defalcate- treated me like a baby
And soon I was drunk as the happiest gawby
* aitchbone: /ĀCH-bōn/ n., the bone of the buttock.
* brolly: /BRÄ-lē/ n., BRITISH SLANG, umbrella.
* defalcate: /də-FÔL-kāt/ v. embezzle (funds with which one has been entrusted).
* gawby: /GAW-bee/ n., a fool or simple-minded person.
* jook: /jo͝ok/ v., pierce, poke, or stab.
* juck: /jək/ v., to make the natural noise of a partridge settling down for the night; SWEDISH, to thrust.
* maenad: /MĒ-nad/ n., (in ancient Greece) a female follower of Bacchus, traditionally associated with divine possession and frenzied rites, from mainesthai "to rave".
* maestria: /migh-STREE-uh/ n., skill, mastery (esp. of literary or musical performance); dash, flair.
* maffled: /MAFF-uhld/ adj., confused, muddled.
* matrescence: /muh-TRES-uhns/ n., the physical, emotional, hormonal, and social transition a female goes through to become a mother.
* stonkered: / STAWNG-kuhrd/ adj., extremely tired, exhausted; drunk, intoxicated; rendered useless or ineffectual; confounded, defeated; ruined.
Remembrance
ReplyDeleteit would be around four,
right after i got home from school
she’d put the baby on the floor in the kitchen
(my cue to start the chopping for dinner
and quick before my father got home)
because she’d be stonkered
top to bottom she’d ache
calvaria to aitchbone
day in and out
coping with the brunt of us
and my father’s brolly jooking ways
(eyes pierced and rolled at the sweaty threat of him)
each night before he got home
and she had to sit down
with her glass and amber bottle
for the wee drinks
that brooked her maenad minutes
allowed her to defalcate some sense
allowed her the juck-illusion
that she was not a gawby
my mother
the rag soaked and wrung dry
by the maffled five-kid-kismet of her life
(and the awful awful threat of my father)
"I’m just st-st-st-onkered," jucked closed-eye Sven to Ula, crashing upon his bunk with one shoe on and one shoe off. “I get it, her matrescence is woeful to be sure, but geesus, it’s like she’s maenad herself. Her maestria leaves me maffled to where I don’t know one day from the next. Is this Tuesday? Tell me, it’s Tuesday. It’s gotta be Tuesday.”
ReplyDeleteThe room swam around behind his eye lids; he felt as to puke. "They gave me the brolly, you know right? And I jooked it, like a gawby just as they said to do. Swept it this way and that so hard I think I broke me aitchbone doin’ it. Then, one of them acted like I defalcated her! "’WHAT?’" I said. "'I swear on my life I dint!’"
Ah, but ye did, sir, ye did
DeleteT'wern't witnesses, I tells ye.
Delete