A Few Updates

1) I want to congratulate Chris Palmore. The second volume of his journal, Gratitude Journey, is out today, on his mom's birthday, and is available on Kindle. The paperback will soon go live as well. 

2) I will go on a road trip tomorrow and will return at the end of summer. I look forward to getting away from all the bugs and this heat.

3) I want to thank friends who send me goodies (chocolate, books, cards, and other wonderful surprises). The post office will hold my mail until my return. I won't get my mail until mid-August. If you have already sent me something, thank you; I will get it upon my return. If you haven't, please don't send anything until I get back.

4) I'm very excited: A few book projects are in the works... I will give you more details soon.

On Appreciation

Many years ago, someone I worked for told me something about appreciation that stuck with me. At first when I heard it, I was shocked... and I never shared it with anyone because, when illustrating his point, my former boss didn't use nice words and his example sounded vulgar, but I now realize sometimes that's the best way to describe something. He said, "Someone who is used to tasting honey can't eat shit, and someone who is used to shit can't appreciate honey."

I know my former boss's words are not polite, but they sound much better than the words that are running through my head right now. 

Now, I'm going to just put this link here:

https://concernedscientists.org/2020/05/international-astronomy-olympiad-winner-jailed-in-iran/

The Death of My Grandmother

When I was four, my maternal grandmother died, and my parents told me she wasn't there because she was travelling. My four-year-old brain knew better. My grandmother couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom by herself; she needed help every time she wanted to get up. How could she be travelling? I knew she was dead, but I didn't know my parents were lying to me; I thought they just didn't know, so I let them think that my grandmother was travelling. I felt sad that she was dead, and I couldn't talk about it with anyone. I was a little disappointed with my parents, too. How could they be so stupid? Didn't they know Grandma couldn't go anywhere alone?

So what prompted this memory from 47 years ago? 
https://www.independentliving.co.uk/philip-anderson/being-mortal/

In his thought-provoking article, Philip Anderson writes about euphemisms and introduces ways to talk to children about death: "It is far better to talk openly about death with children, and there are several books which can be helpful."

Why Make Things Worse?

The English language has many irregularities that make it difficult to learn for people speaking other languages. These irregularities have to do with the changes of words over time and often date back to a long time ago. 

A few days ago, I came across the phrase box spring and thought How are English learners supposed to know what that means? Thankfully, box springs are not really used anymore... 

Today, I came across another phrase and my thoughts, once again, went to my students and learners of English in general. The phrase ice chest, referring to a chest full of ice to keep foods and drinks cold, makes sense. The word cooler also makes sense because it keeps things cool. However, now I see the words are combined in an inexplicable manner, both online and on store signs, and the phrase chest cooler is in use. Why would people call it a chest cooler when they can call it simply a cooler? It doesn't cool the chest! Why create incorrect phrases, make them commonly used, and confuse English learners? 

Nowruz

I've been posting tidbits about Nowruz on my other blog, afarinrava.blogspot.com. 
If you've missed these, here they are in the order I've posted and published them:

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/nowruz-is-coming.html

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/haftseen.html 

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/my-haftseen-2021.html

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/happy-nowruz.html

https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2022/03/day-6.html


There is so much more information about Nowruz that I'd like to share...
and maybe someday I will write a book about it.

This morning, I came across a fascinating piece that I'd like to share with you. 
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/overheard/article/nowruz-and-the-night-sky

Enjoy!

Gratitude Girl... 52 Weeks

www.gratigi.blogspot.com

 

Update

I wrote several pieces in January and several more in February, but I never edited or posted them because I was busy with other projects. I'm simply behind on my blogging. I'll start editing my pieces and posting them in the next few days, in the order they were written, backdating each to its original date.

Gratitude Journey - Volume Two

Chris Palmore invites you all to share a gratitude story as we are collecting pieces for the second volume of his anthology Gratitude Journey, an annual publication.