Word-Wednesday for August 13, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for August 13, 2025, the twenty-sixth Wednesday of the year, the eighth Wednesday of summer, the second Wednesday of August, and the two-hundred twenty-fifth day of the year, with one-hundred forty days remaining. 

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for August 13, 2025
Liatris
/laɪˈæ-trɪs/ n., commonly known as gayfeather, blazing star and mooz-waanow(ag) in Anishinaabemowin, is now blooming throughout Wannaska. Liatris are perennials, surviving the winter and resprouting from underground corms [/kôrm/ n., a rounded underground storage organ present in plants such as crocuses, gladioli, and cyclamens, consisting of a swollen stem base covered with scale leaves]. Of the tribe Eupatorieae of the aster family, like other members of this tribe, the flower heads have disc florets. Medicinally, various Liatris species have been used traditionally by Native Americans for a range of ailments, including pain relief, digestive issues, and as a wash for skin irritations.

August 13 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


August 13 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for August 13, 2025
Sunrise: 6:14am; Sunset: 8:43pm; 3 minutes, 10 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 10:20pm; Moonset: 11:38am, waning gibbous, 79% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for August 13, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             78                     95                     71
Low              55                     32                     57


Dog Days of Summer
by Meena Alexander

In the dog days of summer as muslin curls on its own heat
And crickets cry in the black walnut tree

The wind lifts up my life
And sets it some distance from where it was.

Still Marco Polo Airport wore me out,
I slept in a plastic chair, took the water taxi.

Early, too early the voices of children
Mimicking the clatter in the Internet café

In Campo Santo Stefano in a place of black coffee
Bordellos of verse, bony accolades of joy,

Saint Stephen stooped over a cross,
A dog licking his heel, blood drops from a sign

By the church wall—Anarchia è ordine—
The refugee from Istria gathers up nails.

She will cobble together a gondola with bits of driftwood
Cast off the shores of the hunger-bitten Adriatic.

In wind off the lagoon,
A child hops in numbered squares, back and forth, back and forth,

Cap on his head, rhymes cool as bone in his mouth.
Whose child is he?

No one will answer me.
Voices from the music academy pour into sunlight

That strikes the malarial wealth of empire,
Dreams of an old man in terrible heat,

Hands bound with coarse cloth, tethered to a scaffold,
Still painting waves on the walls of the Palazzo Ducale.

August 13 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Prosecco Day
• National Filet Mignon Day
• International Lefthanders Day
• World Organ Donation Day
• Feast Day of Fachtna of Rosscarbery, not to be confused with Saint Fachanan or Fachtna of Kiltoom.

August 13 Word Pun
Sven just left the massage parlor unhappy; he was rubbed the wrong way.


August 13 Word Riddle
At what battle was Al Dente the hero?*


August 13 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
RUMOR, n., A favorite weapon of the assassins of character.

    Sharp, irresistible by mail or shield,
    By guard unparried as by flight unstayed,
    O serviceable Rumor, let me wield
    Against my enemy no other blade.
    His be the terror of a foe unseen,
    His the inutile hand upon the hilt,
    And mine the deadly tongue, long, slender, keen,
    Hinting a rumor of some ancient guilt.
    So shall I slay the wretch without a blow,
    Spare me to celebrate his overthrow,
    And nurse my valor for another foe.
                    —Joel Buxter


August 13 Etymology Word of the Week
rumble
/RəMB-(ə)l/ v., make a continuous deep, resonant sound; create disorder and confusion; n., a continuous deep, resonant sound like distant thunder, from late 14th century,  probably related to Middle Dutch rommelen "to rumble," Middle High German rummeln, Old Norse rymja "to shout, roar," all of imitative origin. Slang sense of "engage in a gang-fight" is by 1959.


August 13 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 3114 BC August 13, 3114 BC, is the start of the Maya calendar.
• 1605 Controversial play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston premieres at the Blackfriars Theatre, London, landing two of the authors in prison for offending the King James.
• 1642 Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers Mars's southern polar cap.
• 1732 Voltaire's tragic play Zaire premieres.
• 1876 The Bayreuth Festspielhaus opens with the first complete performance of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle.
• 1892 US black newspaper Afro-American begins publishing from Baltimore.
• 1914 Carl Wickman begins Greyhound, the first US bus line, in Minnesota.
• 1921 Simon Kaufman and Marc Connelly's comedic play Dulcy premieres.
• 1935 Roller derby is born when the Transcontinental Roller Derby begins at Chicago Coliseum.

August 13 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1655 Johann Christoph Denner, German musician and inventor of the clarinet.
• 1692 Anton Simon Ignaz Praelisauer, German organist and composer.
• 1699 John Dyer, Welsh painter and poet.
• 1704 Lorenzo Fago, Italian composer.
• 1717 Christoph Nichelmann, German composer and harpsichordist.
• 1721 Francis Hutcheson, Irish composer.
• 1747 Adrien-Joseph van Helmont, Flemish composer.
• 1802 Nikolaus Lenau, Hungarian-German poet.
• 1803 Vladimir Odoevsky, Russian writer.
• 1817 Károly Thern, Hungarian composer.
• 1820 Joseph Alberdingk Thijm, Dutch poet.
• 1823  Benedikt Roezl, Czech writer.
• 1825 Rodolphe Bresdin, French engraver and lithographer.
• 1826 William Thomas Best, English organist and composer.
• 1831 Salomon Jadassohn, Polish pianist and composer.
• 1843 Karel Šebor, Czech composer.
• 1867 Rudolf Georg Binding, German songwriter and writ.
• 1878 Leonid Nikolayev, Ukranian pianist and composer.
• 1879 John Ireland, English composer and pianist.
• 1881 Jacqueline Reyneke van Stuwe, Dutch author.
• 1885 C. Howard Crane, American architect.
• 1886 Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, South African painter.
• 1888 Gleb W. Derujinsky, Russian-American sculptor.
• 1894 Leonid Polovinkin, Russian conductor, and composer.
• 1901 Ian Whyte, Scottish composer and conductor.
• 1907 Basil Spence, British architect.
• 1911 James Benton Parson, American judge, first African American federal judge.
• 1912 Metten Koornstra, Dutch painter and graphic artist.
• 1913 Anatoly Bogatyrev, Belarusian composer.
• 1913 Francisco Escudero, Basque composer.
• 1913 Anna Mae Winburn (née Darden), African American jazz singer and bandleader of all-female, racially integrated big band.
• 1914 Luis Mariano, Basque operetta singer.
• 1921 Jimmy McCracklin [Walker], American R&B pianist, and composer.
• 1929 Augustyn Bloch, Polish composer.
• 1930 Heino Jurisalu, Estonian composer.
• 1932  Sheila McClean, Irish artist.
• 1934 Leifur Thórarinsson, Icelandic composer.
• 1939  Paddy McGuigan, Irish musician.
• 1942 Sheila Armstrong, English soprano.
• 1961 Tom Perrotta, American novelist.
• 1967 Amélie Nothomb, Belgian writer.
• 1970 Will Clarke, American novelist.
• 1973 Kamila Shamsie, Pakistani writer.
• 1975 Brandon Som, American poet.
• 1982 Ibram X. Kendi, American author.

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

• anthophilous: /an-THÄ-fə-ləs/ adj., feeding upon or living among flowers.
• doxy: /DÄK-sē/ n., a lover or mistress.
• jess: /jes/ n., a short leather strap that is fastened around each leg of a hawk, usually also having a ring or swivel to which a leash may be attached.
• larrikin: /LAIR-uh-kuhn/ n., mischievous or boisterous person; one characterized by good-natured irreverence and a disregard for convention.
• mallung: /MAL-uung/ n., lightly cooked, shredded (often leafy green) vegetables mixed with fresh grated coconut, chilli, and other spices, served as a side dish, salad, or condiment as part of a typical Sri Lankan meal.
• morto: /MOR-doh/ adj., mortified, extremely embarrassed.
• powsels: /POW-zulz/ n., rags, tatters, or odds and ends of cloth — particularly worn-out, frayed bits of clothing or fabric.
• shuggle: /SHUG-uhl/ v., to gently shake or giggle.
• spilth: /spilTH/ n., the action of spilling; material that is spilled.
• splosh: /spläSH/ v., make a soft splashing sound as one moves; n., a soft splashing sound.

August 13, 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
Marriage: Definitions, Metaphors, and Similes
/ME-rij/ n., the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship, from circa 1300, mariage, "action of entering into wedlock;" also "state or condition of being husband and wife, matrimony, wedlock;" also "a union of a man and woman for life by marriage, a particular matrimonial union;" from Old French mariage "marriage; dowry" (12th century), from Vulgar Latin maritaticum (11th century), from Latin maritatus, past participle of maritare "to wed, marry, give in marriage". The Vulgar Latin word also is the source of Italian maritaggio, Spanish maridaje, and compare mariachi.

Also known as one of our society's primary institutions [/in-stə-To͞o-SHən/ n., an established law, practice, or custom], there seem to be as many understandings of that institution as their are individual participants. Whether definitional, rational, metaphor, or simile, the understandings of marriage sweep across many meanings, where some of the more common include: union like no other, contest, conflict, imprisonment, destined to fade, giving or receiving, inequality in favor of either gender.

One of the common issues in these varied understandings lies in the many understandings of the word love, which has increasingly become a foundation of a "good" marriage. Love can be understood as a process of rapid falling, where intensity tends to subsequently dwindle over time, or love can be understood as a process of constant commitment, investment, and hard work that develops and ripens slowly over time, largely in proportion to the capacity of each lover to sustain such efforts.

Today Word-Wednesday surveys the range of such attitudes as expressed by authors throughout history, examining how the fruits of this process or its end are not achieved by a ceremony, but only begin with ceremony, and in the best of marriages, never really end in terms of ones complete, heartfelt participation.

Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two.

Ambrose Bierce, in The Devil’s Dictionary

It has been said, you know—and I think quite truly—that you can only really get under anybody’s skin if you are married to them.

Agatha Christie

Marriage, in life, is like a duel in the midst of a battle.

Edmond About

Marriage, n. History’s first correctional institution.

Mike Boyd

One was never married, and that’s his hell; another is, and that’s his plague.

Robert Burton

Marriage is like a warm bath. Once you get used to it, it’s not so hot.

Cindy Adams

In marriage there are no manners to keep up, and beneath the wildest accusations no real criticism. Each is familiar with that ancient child in the other who may erupt again.

Enid Bagnold

The curse which lies upon marriage is that too often the individuals are joined in their weakness rather than in their strength—each asking from the other instead of finding pleasure in giving.

Simone de Beauvoir

When two people marry they become in the eyes of the law one person, and that one person is the husband!

Shana Alexander

Well-married, a man is winged; ill-matched, he is shackled.

Henry Ward Beecher

Marriage, to women as to men, must be a luxury, not a necessity; an incident of life, not all of it.

Susan B. Anthony

I can’t contradict what so oft has been said.
“Though women are angels, yet wedlock’s the devil.” 

George Gordon

To marry a woman you love and who loves you is to lay a wager with her as to who will stop loving the other first.

Alfred Capus

Marriage is the operation by which a woman’s vanity and a man’s egotism are extracted without an anaesthetic.

Helen Rowland

It seemed to me that the desire to get married—which, I regret to say, I believe is basic and primal in women—is followed almost immediately by an equally basic and primal urge, which is to be single again.

Nora Ephron

Marriage is nature’s way of keeping people from fighting with strangers.

Alan King

Marriage must constantly fight against a monster which devours everything: routine.

Honoré de Balzac

If variety is the spice of life, marriage is the big can of leftover Spam™.

Johnny Carson

Never forget that a marriage is in one way very much like a newspaper. It has to be made fresh every damn day of every damn year.

Raymond Chandler

Marriage is a feast where the grace is sometimes better than the dinner.

Charles Caleb Colton

Marriage is like a bank account. You put it in, you take it out, you lose interest.

Professor Irwin Corey

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

Benjamin Franklin

In a perfect union the man and the woman are like a strung bow. Who is to say whether the string bends the bow or the bow, or the bow tightens the string?

Cyril Connolly

Let there be spaces in your togetherness.

Kahlil Gibran

Marriage is not a simple love affair, it’s an ordeal, and the ordeal is the sacrifice of ego to a relationship in which two have become one.

Joseph Campbell

Ultimately, the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or friendship, is conversation.

Oscar Wilde

Every marriage is the union of two people’s stories—like a novel with two unreliable narrators written across the surface of time. In a long marriage, the pages become so thoroughly interlaced that it’s impossible to separate them.

Ron Charles

The deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise-longue.

Mrs. Patrick Campbell

To be married is to be neither alone nor together.

Natalie Clifford Barney

The only real argument for marriage is that it remains the best method for getting acquainted.

Heywood Broun

Marriage is our last, best chance to grow up.

Joseph Barth

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years.

Simone Signoret

Marriage is the perfection which love aimed at, ignorant of what it sought.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

After marriage, all things change. And one of them better be you.

Elizabeth Hawes

For the whole thing about matrimony is this: We fall in love with a personality, but we must live with a character.

Peter De Vries

In married conversation, as in surgery, the knife must be used with care.

André Maurois

Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horsepond.

Thomas Love Peacock

A marriage of convenience is neither.

Jim DeKornfeld

To keep the fire burning brightly, there’s one easy rule: keep the two logs together, near enough to keep each other warm and far enough apart—about a finger’s breadth—for breathing room. Good fire, good marriage, same rule.

Marnie Reed Crowell

Marriage is not a noun, it’s a verb. It’s not something you have, like a house or a car. It is not a piece of paper that proves you are husband and wife.

Barbara De Angelis

The tree of our marriage has grown slowly, somewhat crookedly, often with difficulty. But it has not perished. The slender seedling has become a tree after all, and it is healthy at the core. It bore two lovely, supremely beautiful fruits.

Käthe Kollwitz

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

Mignon McLaughlin

A great marriage is like two trees standing tall, side by side. Their branches intertwine so beautifully, so gracefully, they almost become one, yet they remain two. Standing together, they are strong, beautiful and better able to withstand the high winds of storms that come now and then. They are separate living things, yet so interdependent, growing more beautifully entwined year after year. Providing shade, comfort, and safety for each other and all who walk their way.

Carl Walter

To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup.
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it,
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

Ogden Nash

From A Year with Rilke, August 13 Entry
If Something of the Ancestors Lives On, from Early Journals

Even the next era has no right to judge anything if it lacks the ability to contemplate the past without hatred or envy. But even that judgment would be one-sided, for every subsequent era is the fruit of previous periods and carries much of the past within it. It is fortunate if something of the ancestors lives on in it and continues to be loved and protected; only then does the past become fruitful and effective.

Paul Gauguin 
When Will You Marry?

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.






*Spaghettysburg.