caprice

The early Spring is changing today a bit and, as I watch the branches bend and flower leaves dance, I think this word applies: there's a bit of whimsy in my day--what about yours?

caprice \kuh-PREES\, noun:

1. A sudden, unpredictable change, as of one's mind or the weather.
2. A tendency to change one's mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality; capriciousness.
3. Music. Capriccio.

Does she turn, thought he, thus, from one to the other, with no preference but of accident or caprice? Is her favour thus light of circulation?
-- Fanny Burney, Camilla, or a Picture of Youth

You lose, you gain—it's all caprice. The omnipotence of caprice. The likelihood of reversal. Yes, the unpredictable reversal and its power.
-- Philip Roth, The Humbling

Caprice is from the Italian word capriccio which means a sudden start or motion. It comes from the word capro meaning goat.

cordate

cordate \KAWR-deyt\, adjective:

1. Heart-shaped.
2. (Of leaves) heart-shaped, with the attachment at the notched end.

Despite their strong and interlinked root structure, the actual flowers were of a lowly order, though, canted towards the sun, they attracted the cordate butterflies.
-- Brian Wilson Aldiss, Hothouse

Without any wind blowing, the sheer weight of a raindrop, shining in parasitic luxury on a cordate leaf, caused its tip to dip, and what looked like a globule of quicksilver performed a sudden glissando down the center vein, and then, having shed its bright load, the relieved leaf unbent.
-- Vladimir Nabakov, Speak, Memory

Related to core, cordate comes from the Latin word for heart, cor, and the suffix -ate which forms an adjective from a noun.

_________________

I am "in love" with words and the sentence above by Vladimir Nabakov is perfect to me. I suggest it is also a poem, with some line editing by me:

Without any wind blowing,

the sheer weight of a raindrop,

shining in parasitic luxury on a cordate leaf,

caused its tip to dip,

And,

what looked like a globule of quicksilver

performed a sudden glissando down the center vein,

And then,

having shed its bright load,

the relieved leaf

unbent.

Happy Valentine's Day--from anitawrites

perspicacious

perspicacious \pur-spi-KEY-shuhs\, adjective:

1. Having keen mental perception and understanding; discerning.
2. Archaic. Having keen vision.

Perspicacious is derived from the Late Latin word perspicācitās meaning "sharpness of sight."

While I was working at HUD, the state director, Terry Goddard, described me with this word and I thought "uh-ho" my chances at continuing with the HUD Tucson office are now doomed for sure. I knew that my director (she who shall not be named) was already "nervous" about me and feared that I wanted her office director job which I definitely did not. And yes, my HUD career ended with my two year Fellow contract.

As this word popped up on my daily word email, I wonder if this characteristic has become "archaic." More and more in my community development profession, I have concluded that an emerging asset is to not see too much or say too much--but to just know enough to get along, get the "job" done. Yes, this is a cynical conclusion which is one of the main reasons I am shifting my professional efforts into writing which, I hope, is still an area where having keen sight is a strength not a weakness and certainly not a liability.

In your profession, is being perspicacious valued?

serry

Another word play for the day:

serry \SER-ee\, verb:

To crowd closely together.

Serry is from the Middle Frenceh serré which was the past participle of serrer meaning “to press tightly together.”

Serry in a poem by afonte

As I sit at my desk,

clicking the computer keyboard

to the rhythm of Mozart,

I see my late morning birds

as they serry around seeds

and soothe their fluffed feathers.

word play

I have been saving up some of my favority "word for the day" links and am going to play with one for you today.

The word is "persnickity":

persnickety \per-SNIK-i-tee\, adjective:

1. Overparticular; fussy.
2. Snobbish or having the aloof attitude of a snob.
3. Requiring painstaking care.

Persnickety dates back to the late 1800s. It is a variant of the Scots word pernickety, which is of uncertain origin. Pernickety is perhaps related to other Scots words with the per- prefix, like perskeet which meant "fastidious."

Example (true one)): "Don't be so persnickity, young lady," my Grandmother Dice would admonish me, referring, as I recall to how particular I could be about getting my clothes folded "just so" when I stayed overnight on the farm. Somewhere along maturity, I let go of that craziness and now you could hardly call my socks, etc. drawer the evidence of a persnickity personality. Same goes for housecleaning which Mark and I seem to "trim" to bare essentials every other weekend. My Aunt Margaret used to iron sheets and underwear (so I am told) for her family, and my mom never did that. But she was "fussy" about her housecleaning and even in her late 80s she would pressure my dad to clean the chandelier in their Green Valley townhome when the slightest coating of dust was seen on the glass.

I like the word for the way it sounds, too: when you say it out loud, the mouth has to purse up and pull back tightly--so the sounds mirror the meaning.

Do you have a fav word you can "play" with today?

reflection on a sculpture

In mid January, my hubby and I visited the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens where these lime-green glass sculptures greet visitors as they enter the urban oasis.

A winter storm was beginning to emerge from the west coast.

One element that intriques me about this photo, as I gaze on it in the quiet of my home office, is the variety of textures in the shot.

Those textures are in the rocks, wall and plants surrounding the man-made artwork. How many can you find?

local eats in Long Beach California

Ten days ago, I was enjoying a brief vacation in Long Beach, California. My husband and I like the area very much and we have extended family nearby, so each year, we try to make the time for a visit. Maybe, eventually, we will be able to spend summer weeks or a month there, but, for now, we just savor our short airplane "hops" from Tucson to LB. This time, we nixed the idea of driving back and forth to the Getty Museums and, instead, kept our mileage range short but our curiousity expanded as we tried out two new places for lunch.

Our first stop after settling into our hotel was at Michael's Pizzeria, recently opened adjacent to the finer dining restaurant (of the same name, Michael's) next door. Located in the district known as Naples, with canals, gondolas and vias named after the original city in Italy, the two lower photos show the $8.00 lunch specials--Margarita Piccola and Rotolino Carcifi. The second entree was new to us is described as "roasted artichoke wrap with melted mozarella and pesto". I watched the chef roll the dough, layer the soft, white cheese balls over the pesto and artichokes, pinch the dough together and wrap it into a small, wreath-like shape, before placing it on the paddle and into the oven. Both entrees were delicious. We let the server know that I wrote a blog and while we only order one scoop of hazelnut gelato (from the producer, Ciao Bella), she brought us a "sample". This included their homemade pistachio and two homemade sorbets: strawberry and white grape. While the mass-produced hazelnut was very good, the homemade gelato was excellent: smooth and cream like I recall from my trips to Rome and Florence. The strawberry gelato had a fresh, tart tang to it and the white grape was surprisingly crisp. Can you tell that we love our dolci as well as our pizza? So, of course, it is the first photo you see. Visit Michael's Pizzeria at 5616 E. 2nd Street in Long Beach. http://www.michaelspizzeria.com/

Our second day we went downtown to find the visitor's center (tucked into a stall by the transit stop) and on our way, saw a sign with my name on it. Of course, we had to go into the Cafe and have two iced coffees (served with iced coffee cubes which made the sweet coffee taste linger) and talked with the manager about the connection of my name to the coffee. He gave us several complimentary Fonte paper coffee cups which I packed up and shared with family members to their surprise. We went back to the Cafe, named simply for the address Cafe 301, at 301 E. Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach and split a generous chicken and pesto panini ($6.75), served with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes and fresh greens. This is another locally owned foodie jewel I would recommend when you are in downtown LB. And the coffee has its own story at http://fontecoffee.com/ .