Word-Wednesday for September 2, 2026

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac with Word-Wednesday for September 2, 2026, the thirty-fifth Wednesday of the year, the eleventh Wednesday of summer, the first Wednesday of September, and the two-hundred forty-fifth day of the year, with one-hundred twenty days remaining.


Wannaska Phenology Update for September 2, 2026
Snowberry
Now fruiting in Wannaskaland, Symphoricarpos albus, ma'ingaananaatig in Anishinaabe, is also known as waxberry and ghostberry.  The name of the genus is derived from the Ancient Greek words συμφορεῖν (sumphoreîn), meaning "to bear together", and καρπός (karpós), meaning "fruit". A resilient plant able to withstand a variety of conditions, snowberries deep roots allow them to survive dry seasons, and they grow in a variety of soil types such as light sandy soil, medium loamy soil, and heavier clay soil. You're most likely to find them out in Beltrami Forest near Hayes Lake, where the soil is nice and sandy.

Snowberry contains low concentrations of saponins, which are anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory. Saponins have also been proven to help with immune function and decrease cholesterol. Several North American Indigenous tribes used snowberry as a  disinfectant, laxative, diuretic and has the ability to reduce fever. But unless you have a living indigenous physician, please consult your personal physician before consuming any snowberries.

September 2 Fickle Pickle Wednesday Menu Special: Potato Dumpling


September 2 Nordhem Wednesday Lunch: Closed until further notice.


Earth/Moon Almanac for September 2, 2026
Sunrise: 6:42am; Sunset: 8:05pm; 3 minutes, 28 seconds less daylight today
Moonrise: 9:56pm; Moonset: 1:33am, waning gibbous, 69% illuminated.


Temperature Almanac for September 2, 2026
                Average            Record              Today
High             72                     94                     76
Low              50                     27                     54

On An Apple-Ripe September Morning
by Patrick Kavanagh

On an apple-ripe September morning
Through the mist-chill fields I went
With a pitch-fork on my shoulder
Less for use than for devilment.

The threshing mill was set-up, I knew,
In Cassidy's haggard last night,
And we owed them a day at the threshing
Since last year. O it was delight

To be paying bills of laughter
And chaffy gossip in kind
With work thrown in to ballast
The fantasy-soaring mind.

As I crossed the wooden bridge I wondered
As I looked into the drain
If ever a summer morning should find me
Shoveling up eels again.

And  I thought of the wasps' nest in the bank
And how I got chased one day
Leaving the drag and the scraw-knife behind,
How I covered my face with hay.

The wet leaves of the cocksfoot
Polished my boots as I
Went round by the glistening bog-holes
Lost in unthinking joy.

I'll be carrying bags to-day, I mused,
The best job at the mill
With plenty of time to talk of our loves
As we wait for the bags to fill.

Maybe Mary might call round…
And then I came to the haggard gate,
And I knew as I entered that I had come
Through fields that were part of no earthly estate.

September 2 Celebrations from National Day Calendar

• National Blueberry Popsicle Day

September 2 Word Pun
Sven did his first nude painting today. The neighbors weren’t happy, but the door looks great!


September 2 Word Riddle
I am a food, but when you spell me backwards I become a month. What am I?


September 2 The Devil’s Dictionary Word-Pram
ABDICATION, n.,
1. An act whereby a sovereign attests his sense of the high temperature of the throne.

   Poor Isabella's Dead, whose abdication
   Set all tongues wagging in the Spanish nation.
   For that performance 'twere unfair to scold her:
   She wisely left a throne too hot to hold her.
   To History she'll be no royal riddle—
   Merely a plain parched pea that jumped the griddle.
                                                                       —G.J.

2. The surrender of a crown for a cowl, in order to compile the shin-bones and toe-nails of saints. The voluntary renunciation of that of which one has previously been deprived by force. The giving up of a throne for the purpose of enjoying the discomfiture of a successor. For these several definitions we are indebted to Spanish history.


September 2 Etymology Word of the Week
buxom
/BəK-səm/ adj., (of a woman) plump, especially with large breasts, from late 12th century, buhsum "humble, obedient," from Old English bugen "to bow" (from Proto-Germanic bugan-, from Proto-Indo-European root bheug- "to bend") + -som; so, etymologically, "capable of being bent." Related: Buxomly; buxomness.

The meaning progressed from "compliant, obliging," through "lively, jolly," "healthily plump, vigorous and attractive," to (in women, and perhaps influenced by lusty) "attractively plump, comely" (1580s). In Johnson [1755] the primary meaning still is "obedient, obsequious."

It was used especially of women's figures from at least 1870s, and by 1950s it had begun to be used more narrowly for "bosomy" and could be paired with slim (adj.). Among its cognates are Dutch buigzaam, German biegsam "flexible, pliable," which hew closer to the original English sense. Middle English also used unbuxom "defiant or unruly by nature; willful; rebellious, disobedient." 


September 2 Historic Events, Literary or Otherwise, from On This Day

• 1642 English Long Parliament issues Ordinance ordering closure of London theaters including the Globe theater, once part-owned by William Shakespeare.
• 1851 Northern Daily Times, the first provincial daily newspaper, begins publication in Newcastle, England.
• 1859 Solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service.
• 1867 First girls school opens in Haarlem, The Netherlands.
• 1920 W Somerset Maugham's East of Suez premieres.
• 1940 Great Smoky Mountains National Park dedicated.

September 2 Author/Artist/Character Birthdays, from On This Day

• 1251 Francis of Fabriano, Italian writer.
• 1548 Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect.
• 1661 Georg Böhm, German organist and composer.
• 1675 William Somervile, English poet.
• 1716 Johann Trier, German organist and composer.
• 1731 Johann Friedrich von Cronegk, German poet and playwright.
• 1750 Pehr Frigel, Swedish composer.
• 1763 Caroline Schelling [Michaelis], German Romantic poet.
• 1805 Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer.
• 1820 – Lucretia Peabody Hale, American author.
• 1850 Eugene Field, American poet.
• 1852 Paul Bourget, French novelist.
• 1854 Hans Jæger, Norwegian writer.
• 1862 Alphons Diepenbrock, Dutch composer.
• 1894 Joseph Roth, Austrian writer.
• 1896 Amanda Randolph, American jazz and blues piano player.
• 1901 Andreas Embirikos, Greek surrealist poet.
• 1904 August Jakobson, Estonian author.
• 1907 Pertev Naili Boratav, Turkish author.
• 1908 Ruth Bancroft, American landscape and garden designer.
• 1910 Bruce Boyce, Canadian-American baritone singer.
• 1911 René Amengual, Chilean pianist, composer.
• 1911 Romare Bearden, African American painter and songwriter.
• 1911 Lill Tschudi, Swiss artist.
• 1912 Johan Daisne [Herman Thiery], Belgian writer.
• 1915 Hans Joachim Koellreutter, German Brazilian composer.
• 1918 Allen Drury, American author.
• 1919 Gideon William Waldrop, American composer.
• 1919 Marge Champion [née Belcher], American dancer.
• 1923 Walerian Borowczyk, Polish artist.
• 1925 Hugo Montenegro, American composer.
• 1927 Tzvi Avni [Hermann Steinke], Israeli classical composer.
• 1928 Miloslav Ištvan, Czech composer.
• 1934 Hilla Becher (née Wobeser), German artist.
• 1935 Vladimír Válek, Czech violist.
• 1935 Liam Clancy, Irish musician.
• 1936 David Leonard Blake, British composer.
• 1942 Barbara Donald, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
• 1946 Walt Simonson, American author and illustrator.
• 1960 John S. Hall, American poet.
• 1962 Jon Berkeley, Irish author and illustrator.
• 1969 Chris Kuzneski, American author.

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

• aestival: /ES-tuh-vuhl/ adj., relating to or occurring in summer; characteristic of the summer season.
• cheugy: / CHOO-ghee / adj., not at all trendy; out of date.
• defenestration: /dee-fen-uh-STRAY-shuhn/ v., the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.
• desultory: /des-UHL-tor-ee/adj., lacking a clear plan, purpose, or sustained effort; proceeding in an aimless, scattered, or casual manner.
• kith: /kiTH/ n., one's friends, acquaintances, and relations.
• mozy: /MŌ-zē/ adj., shaggy, hairy, musty, faded.
• psychopomp: /SĪ-kō-pämp/ n., (in Greek mythology) a guide of souls to the place of the dead.
• termagant: /TUR-muh-gunt/ n., a harsh-tempered, and quarrelsome woman who argues or nags noisily.
• trouple: / THRUH-puhl / n., a consensual romantic or sexual relationship involving three people who are all connected with each other.
• virago: /vuh-RAH-goh/ n., a loud, aggressive, or scolding woman.

September 2, 2026 Word-Wednesday Feature
Caledonian Antisyzygy
With two Wannaskan Almanac contributors who almost certainly have some trace of Scottish blood in their lineage, today Word-Wednesday explores the term Caledonian Antisyzygy, if only for the word-rich fun associated with this term. For example:

caledonian: /ka-lə-DŌ-nē-ən/ adj., (chiefly in names or geographical terms) relating to Scotland or the Scottish Highlands.

syzygy: /SI-zə-jē/, n., a conjunction or opposition, especially of the moon with the sun.
When joined together, a Caledonian Antisyzygy refers to the "idea of dueling polarities within one entity", thought of as typical for the Scottish psyche and literature. first coined by George Gregory Smith in response to T.S. Eliot's view that there is no value in Scottish provincial literature because that literature. Eliot stated that Scottish literature lacked coherence and an anchor in a single language. Smith argued that such diversity or the union of opposites forms the very basis of Scottish literature. Clearly, these boys both were proud of having attended college.

In his book, Scottish Literature: Character and Influence, Smith said:

we find at closer scanning that the cohesion at least in formal expression and in choice of material is only apparent, that the literature is remarkably varied, and that it becomes, under the stress of foreign influence, almost a zigzag of contradictions. The antithesis need not, however, disconcert us. Perhaps in the very combination of opposites—what either of the two Thomases, of Norwich and Cromarty, might have been willing to call "the Caledonian antisyzygy"— we have a reflection of the contrasts which the Scot shows at every turn... we need not be surprised to find that in his literature the Scot presents two aspects which appear contradictory. Oxymoron was ever the bravest figure, and we must not forget that disorderly order is order after all.

The notion is most frequently cited in reference to the seemingly morally contradictory quality of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.

Scottish literature itself often includes narratives that have "antisyzygical splits" or double words/double narratives as demonstrated in the case of Jekyll and Hyde as well as the focus on the contrasts between the Highlands and the Lowlands, Protestantism and Catholicism, Britishness and Scottishness, and, one might argue, much of Finnegan's Wake. James Joyce adapts G. Gregory Smith's concept of the "Caledonian Antisyzygy"—the Scottish literary tradition of combining stark contraries and dualities—into a "Hibernian Antisyzygy" within Finnegan's Wake to reflect internal divisions, opposing forces, and the unity of opposites, including Shem and Shaun the twin brother antagonists; Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker, H.C.E, he central patriarch embodies the ultimate blending of contradictory traits; Finnegan's Wake's cyclical structure (Coincidentia Oppositorum); and portmanteau words, such as chaosmos - combining the words chaos and cosmos - Wannaskans discussing small engine repair, in a nutshell.


From A Year with Rilke, September 2 Entry
Cities, from the Book of Hours III, 4/5

Lord, the great cities are lost and rotting.
Their time is running out. . . .
The people there live harsh and heavy,
crowded together, weary of their own routines.

Beyond them waits and breathes your earth,
but where they are it cannot reach them.

They don't know that somewhere
wind is blowing through a field of flowers.

Field of Poppies 
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.







*yaM.