Word-Wednesday for October 29, 2025

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for October 29, 2025, the twentieth Wednesday of the year, the sixth Wednesday of fall, the fifth Wednesday of October, and the three-hundred second day of the year, with sixty-three days remaining.

 
Wannaska Phenology Update for October 29, 2025
Woollybear Caterpillar 
Pyrrharctia isabella, miishijiizimwaabigweshi in Anishinaabe, can now be found throughout Wannaska as they leave their food plants — grasses, plantain, dandelion, and nettles — in search of a sheltered spot where they can hibernate for the winter. Each fuzzy (miishijiizim) 1.5-inch long woollybear eventually wakes up on a spring day and continues to feed before forming a cocoon. In about two weeks, a golden-orange, two-inch moth emerges, with three rows of black dots on its abdomen. These Isabella Tiger Moths are active at night during summer. Some folklore says that a woollybear's color band can help us predict the upcoming winter’s severity, but coloring is based on how long the caterpillar has been feeding and its age. A very good growing season results in a narrow, red-orange band.

October 29 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


October 29 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Updated daily, occasionally.


Earth/Moon Almanac for October 29, 2025
Sunrise: 8:06am; Sunset: 6:09pm; 3 minutes, 16 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 3:24pm; Moonset: 12:12am, first quarter, 43% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for October 29, 2025
                Average            Record              Today
High             43                     73                     47
Low              26                      0                     32

Halloween
by Robert Burns

Upon that night, when fairies light
On Cassilis Downans dance,
Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,
On sprightly coursers prance;
Or for Colean the route is ta'en,
Beneath the moon's pale beams;
There, up the cove, to stray and rove,
Among the rocks and streams
To sport that night.

Among the bonny winding banks,
Where Doon rins, wimplin' clear,
Where Bruce ance ruled the martial ranks,
And shook his Carrick spear,
Some merry, friendly, country-folks,
Together did convene,
To burn their nits, and pou their stocks,
And haud their Halloween
Fu' blithe that night.

The lasses feat, and cleanly neat,
Mair braw than when they're fine;
Their faces blithe, fu' sweetly kythe,
Hearts leal, and warm, and kin';
The lads sae trig, wi' wooer-babs,
Weel knotted on their garten,
Some unco blate, and some wi' gabs,
Gar lasses' hearts gang startin'
Whiles fast at night.

Then, first and foremost, through the kail,
Their stocks maun a' be sought ance;
They steek their een, and graip and wale,
For muckle anes and straught anes.
Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,
And wander'd through the bow-kail,
And pou't, for want o' better shift,
A runt was like a sow-tail,
Sae bow't that night.

Then, staught or crooked, yird or nane,
They roar and cry a' throu'ther;
The very wee things, todlin', rin,
Wi' stocks out owre their shouther;
And gif the custoc's sweet or sour.
Wi' joctelegs they taste them;
Syne cozily, aboon the door,
Wi cannie care, they've placed them
To lie that night.

The lasses staw frae 'mang them a'
To pou their stalks of corn:
But Rab slips out, and jinks about,
Behint the muckle thorn:
He grippet Nelly hard and fast;
Loud skirl'd a' the lasses;
But her tap-pickle maist was lost,
When kitlin' in the fause-house
Wi' him that night.

The auld guidwife's well-hoordit nits,
Are round and round divided,
And monie lads' and lasses' fates
Are there that night decided:
Some kindle coothie, side by side,
And burn thegither trimly;
Some start awa, wi' saucy pride,
And jump out-owre the chimlie
Fu' high that night.

Jean slips in twa wi' tentie ee;
Wha 'twas she wadna tell;
But this is Jock, and this is me,
She says in to hersel:
He bleezed owre her, and she owre him,
As they wad never mair part;
Till, fuff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e'en a sair heart
To see't that night.

Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt,
Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie;
And Mallie, nae doubt, took the drunt,
To be compared to Willie;
Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling,
And her ain fit it brunt it;
While Willie lap, and swore by jing,
'Twas just the way he wanted
To be that night.

Nell had the fause-house in her min',
She pits hersel and Rob in;
In loving bleeze they sweetly join,
Till white in ase they're sobbin';
Nell's heart was dancin' at the view,
She whisper'd Rob to leuk for't:
Rob, stowlins, prie'd her bonny mou',
Fu' cozie in the neuk for't,
Unseen that night.

But Merran sat behint their backs,
Her thoughts on Andrew Bell;
She lea'es them gashin' at their cracks,
And slips out by hersel:
She through the yard the nearest taks,
And to the kiln goes then,
And darklins graipit for the bauks,
And in the blue-clue throws then,
Right fear't that night.

And aye she win't, and aye she swat,
I wat she made nae jaukin',
Till something held within the pat,
Guid Lord! but she was quakin'!
But whether 'was the deil himsel,
Or whether 'twas a bauk-en',
Or whether it was Andrew Bell,
She didna wait on talkin'
To spier that night.

Wee Jennie to her grannie says,
"Will ye go wi' me, grannie?
I'll eat the apple at the glass
I gat frae Uncle Johnnie:"
She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt,
In wrath she was sae vap'rin',
She notice't na, an aizle brunt
Her braw new worset apron
Out through that night.

"Ye little skelpie-limmer's face!
I daur you try sic sportin',
As seek the foul thief ony place,
For him to spae your fortune.
Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!
Great cause ye hae to fear it;
For mony a ane has gotten a fright,
And lived and died deleeret
On sic a night.

"Ae hairst afore the Sherramoor, —
I mind't as weel's yestreen,
I was a gilpey then, I'm sure
I wasna past fifteen;
The simmer had been cauld and wat,
And stuff was unco green;
And aye a rantin' kirn we gat,
And just on Halloween
It fell that night.

"Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen,
A clever sturdy fallow:
His son gat Eppie Sim wi' wean,
That lived in Achmacalla:
He gat hemp-seed, I mind it weel,
And he made unco light o't;
But mony a day was by himsel,
He was sae sairly frighted
That very night."

Then up gat fechtin' Jamie Fleck,
And he swore by his conscience,
That he could saw hemp-seed a peck;
For it was a' but nonsense.
The auld guidman raught down the pock,
And out a hanfu' gied him;
Syne bade him slip frae 'mang the folk,
Some time when nae ane see'd him,
And try't that night.

He marches through amang the stacks,
Though he was something sturtin;
The graip he for a harrow taks.
And haurls it at his curpin;
And every now and then he says,
"Hemp-seed, I saw thee,
And her that is to be my lass,
Come after me, and draw thee
As fast this night."

He whistled up Lord Lennox' march
To keep his courage cheery;
Although his hair began to arch,
He was say fley'd and eerie:
Till presently he hears a squeak,
And then a grane and gruntle;
He by his shouther gae a keek,
And tumbled wi' a wintle
Out-owre that night.

He roar'd a horrid murder-shout,
In dreadfu' desperation!
And young and auld came runnin' out
To hear the sad narration;
He swore 'twas hilchin Jean M'Craw,
Or crouchie Merran Humphie,
Till, stop! she trotted through them
And wha was it but grumphie
Asteer that night!

Meg fain wad to the barn hae gaen,
To win three wechts o' naething;
But for to meet the deil her lane,
She pat but little faith in:
She gies the herd a pickle nits,
And two red-cheekit apples,
To watch, while for the barn she sets,
In hopes to see Tam Kipples
That very nicht.

She turns the key wi cannie thraw,
And owre the threshold ventures;
But first on Sawnie gies a ca'
Syne bauldly in she enters:
A ratton rattled up the wa',
And she cried, Lord, preserve her!
And ran through midden-hole and a',
And pray'd wi' zeal and fervour,
Fu' fast that night;

They hoy't out Will wi' sair advice;
They hecht him some fine braw ane;
It chanced the stack he faddom'd thrice
Was timmer-propt for thrawin';
He taks a swirlie, auld moss-oak,
For some black grousome carlin;
And loot a winze, and drew a stroke,
Till skin in blypes cam haurlin'
Aff's nieves that night.

A wanton widow Leezie was,
As canty as a kittlin;
But, och! that night amang the shaws,
She got a fearfu' settlin'!
She through the whins, and by the cairn,
And owre the hill gaed scrievin,
Whare three lairds' lands met at a burn
To dip her left sark-sleeve in,
Was bent that night.

Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
As through the glen it wimpl't;
Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;
Whyles in a wiel it dimpl't;
Whyles glitter'd to the nightly rays,
Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
Whyles cookit underneath the braes,
Below the spreading hazel,
Unseen that night.

Among the brackens, on the brae,
Between her and the moon,
The deil, or else an outler quey,
Gat up and gae a croon:
Poor Leezie's heart maist lap the hool!
Near lav'rock-height she jumpit;
but mist a fit, and in the pool
Out-owre the lugs she plumpit,
Wi' a plunge that night.

In order, on the clean hearth-stane,
The luggies three are ranged,
And every time great care is ta'en',
To see them duly changed:
Auld Uncle John, wha wedlock joys
Sin' Mar's year did desire,
Because he gat the toom dish thrice,
He heaved them on the fire
In wrath that night.

Wi' merry sangs, and friendly cracks,
I wat they didna weary;
And unco tales, and funny jokes,
Their sports were cheap and cheery;
Till butter'd so'ns, wi' fragrant lunt,
Set a' their gabs a-steerin';
Syne, wi' a social glass o' strunt,
They parted aff careerin'
Fu' blythe that night.


October 29 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Oatmeal Day
• National Hermit Day
• National Cat Day
• Feast Day of Colman mac Duagh

October 29 Word Pun
Sven was having dinner with some friends the other day and one of them accused him of having no sense of direction. He got so angry, h packed up his stuff and right.


October 29 Word Riddle
What's the difference between The Black Eyed Peas and chickpeas?*


October 29 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
MONOSYLLABIC, adj., Composed of words of one syllable, for literary babes who never tire of testifying their delight in the vapid compound by appropriate googoogling. The words are commonly Saxon—that is to say, words of a barbarous people destitute of ideas and incapable of any but the most elementary sentiments and emotions.

    The man who writes in Saxon
    Is the man to use an ax on.
                —Judibras


October 29 Etymology Word of the Week
mitigate
/MID-əˌɡāt/ v., to make less severe, serious, or painful from early 15th century, "relieve (pain); make mild or more tolerable; reduce in amount or degree," from Latin mitigatus, past participle of mitigare "soften, make tender, ripen, mellow, tame," figuratively, "make mild or gentle, pacify, soothe," ultimately from mitis "gentle, soft" + root of agere "to do, perform" (from Proto-Indo-European root ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move"). For mitis de Vaan suggests cognates in Sanskrit mayas- "refreshment, enjoyment," Lithuanian mielas "nice, sweet, dear," Welsh mwydion "soft parts," Old Irish min "soft," from a Proto-Indo-European mehiti- "soft."


October 29 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1675 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz makes the first use of the long s, ∫, for integral, helping to develop integral and differential calculus.
• 1787 Opera Don Giovanni, with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, premieres.
• 1863 International Committee of Red Cross forms.
• 1936 Ella Fitzgerald and the Chick Webb Orchestra record If You Can't Sing It You'll Have To Swing It Mr. Paganini.
• 1956 Greek-American soprano Maria Callas makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in the title role of Bellini's Norma.
• 1958 Boris Pasternak refuses the Nobel Prize in Literature under pressure from the Soviet authorities.
• 2018 World Scrabble Championship is won for the fourth time by New Zealand-Malaysian Nigel Richards with the word "groutier".

October 29 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1815 Dan Emmett, American composer.
• 1815 Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak author.
• 1818 Catherine Hayes, Irish operatic soprano.
• 1837 Harriet Powers, African-American slave and quilt maker.
• 1853 Dunbar Barton, Irish writer.
• 1855 William Charles Scully, Irish writer.
• 1861 Andrei Ryabushkin, Russian painter.
• 1873 Guillermo Valencia, Colombian poet.
• 1882 Jean Giraudoux, French writer and playwright.
• 1890 Claire Goll, German-French writer.
• 1892  Ottla Kafka, younger sister of Franz Kafka.
• 1897 Henry Swoboda, Czech conductor.
• 1898 Emmanuel Bondeville, French composer.
• 1903 Vivian Ellis, English composer.
• 1906 Fredric Brown, American science fiction author.
• 1923 Dietrich Manicke, German composer.
• 1924 Zbigniew Herbert, Polish poet and writer.
• 1930 Natalie Sleeth (née Wakeley), American composer.
• 1930 Niki de Saint Phalle, French sculptor.
• 1934 Ramon Sender, Spanish composer.
• 1940 Johnny Moynihan, Irish singer.
• 1942 Sigrid Grabner, Czech author.
• 1944 Harry Duda, Czech writer.
• 1954 Lee Child [James Grant], English author.
• 1958 David Remnick, American writer.
• 1976 Mohsen Emadi, Iranian-Mexican poet.

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

• asthenosphere: /as-ˈTHEN-ə-ˌsfir/ n., the upper layer of the earth’s mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.
• billingsgate: /BI-liŋz-ˌgāt/ n., coarsely abusive language.
• flapdoodle: /FLAP-dü-dəl/ n., nonsense.
• grouty: /GRAÛ-tē/ cross, sullen, sulky.
• languescent: /LANG-gwess-uhnt/ adj., growing faint, weak, or languid.
• mirken: /MURR-kuhn/ v., to become dar and gloomy; to grow murky.
• picklesome: /PICK-uhl-suhm/ adj., inclined to mischief.
• physick: /FIZ-ik/ n., the art or practice of healing disease.
• Samhein: /SOU-ən/ n., the first day of November, celebrated by the ancient Celts as a festival marking the beginning of winter.
• yakhdan: /YAK-don/ n., a container for transporting ice, carried or pulled by a pack animal.

October 29 2025 Word-Wednesday Feature
morpheme
/MÔR-fēm/ n., LINGUISTICS, a meaningful morphological unit of a language that cannot be further divided, from 1896 (but originally in a different sense, "root, suffix, prefix, etc."), from German morpheme, coined 1895 by Polish-born linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay (1845-1929), from Greek morphē "form, shape," a word of uncertain etymology, on analogy of phonème.

Creative writers often manipulate morphemes to invent words, build new worlds, and imbue their language with specific meaning and tone. This practice, known as coining neologisms, can involve forming new words from scratch, combining existing morphemes, or assigning new meanings to old ones. Some of the most interesting morphemes in literature are those that have become so embedded in our language that their fictional origin is nearly forgotten, such as the following:

Big Friendly Giant words by Roald Dahl, who blended, altered, and invented morphemes to create a specialized vocabulary for the giants, such as:
    whizzpopping: A combination of the free morpheme whizz and the bound morpheme -popping to describe a giant's fart. The morphemes evoke the sound and action of the phenomenon.
    frobscottle: The whimsical name of the giant's fizzy green drink, created from sound-based morphemes. 

-oid as a negative suffix: Author Norman Mailer coined the word factoid in 1973 for "facts" that are actually invented. The suffix -oid means "like" or "resembling," giving the word its original meaning of "resembling a fact, but not being one." Though the word is often mistakenly used to mean a trivial fact, its original, morally-charged meaning was a powerful literary criticism.
Pandemonium by John Milton: In his epic poem Paradise Lost, Milton created the word Pandæmonium as the name for Satan's capital, literally meaning "all demons" in Greek. The coinage was so effective that it entered the English language as "pandemonium" to mean chaos or wild uproar.

Portmanteau words in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, where he blended existing morphemes to create nonsense words that are still understood today because of their logical construction:
    chortle: A blend of "chuckle" and "snort".
    slithy: A combination of "lithe" and "slimy".

utopia by Thomas More: a word for a perfect-but-unrealistic society comes from More's 1516 book of the same name. It is a compound of Greek morphemes ou ("no" or "not") and topos ("place"), literally meaning "no-place." The name itself is a literary invention that comments on the very nature of a perfect society.

And let's not forget J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth elvish, the muggle of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, or the sfik, C.J. Cherryh's word for social standing relative to everyone else, or the words that bleat out in Chairman Joe's sheepish sailing saga. 


From A Year with Rilke, October 29 Entry
To Meet and Be Met, from The Book of Hours I, 1

I feel it now: there's a power in me
to grasp and give shape to the world.

I know nothing has ever been real
without my beholding it.
All becoming has needed me.
My looking ripens things
and they come toward me, to meet and be met.

study of an apple
by Paul Cézanne

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 Black Eyed Peas can sing us a song, but chickpeas can only hummus one.