A couple wicked good stories
Bizzy week & I’m running late posting this tonight. I’ve been going through a late summer cleaning & purging spree the past few days.
Growing up, my mother used to do a spring & fall cleaning, almost religiously every year. She’d deep clean every room in the house, pulling everything out of cupboards, closets, inspecting the expiration dates on food, washing all the knickknacks & dishes we only used on holidays. tossing out old paperwork, and other stuff we no longer needed.
Every season I say I’m going to do the same, but I’ve never gotten around to it until now. I’ve been throwing all kinds of junk out, & cleaning like crazy - minus the holiday dishes because I don’t own any & I rather like all my fidget spinner toys, so I’m keeping them.
Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of my mother’s death, which is hard to believe. 15 years since I last heard her voice, how can that be possible? Luckily, I still hear her New England accent in my head most every day, giving me tough love guidance. “Pahk the cah in Hahvid yahd, deeaah.” 🥲
Translation: Park the car in Harvard yard, dear. It’s nothing my mom would have actually said, but rather, a well known, old saying that pays homage to the Boston/New England accent.
For those not accustom to the New England accent, r’s are clearly a nuisance, completely unnecessary, and therefore absent from some words, like car. Why say r when you can say “Ah” instead? It’s usually then dragged out, like this…“caaaaahhhh”, which is a mighty large sound for a tiny 3 letter word. Try saying it, it’s fun.
The poor letter r, tho. Having no place to go, and feeling unwanted, they all went running off to find new homes. R’s tend to show up in places they don’t belong like a “warshing” machine. People from downeast Maine like to talk about their dadgum warshers a lot, especially when they’re not working right.
At least they’re giving the lost r’s a good home, but ya still can’t git they-ahhh from hee-yaaah. 😀 iykyk Oh how I wish I could write with a New England accent like this every day.
When I lived in Maine, like a million years ago, I knew an old guy (rip) who hated hearing anyone pronounce car as “caaaah”. He’d get so offended every time he heard it, so we said it often, of course. We’d wait with bated breath as he’d ball up his hands into fists, clench his teeth, tighten his jaw, and enunciate the r as if it was a capital letter. “it’s caR, damn yous! Now, go home. I have some warshing to do.” 🤣
Ah, the good ole days. May the wicked good, gnarly New England accent live on forever, even though people don’t. (Love you, Mom!)
Brr! I’m writing this while sitting here shivering with my hoodie up over my head. We went from 100F+ every day down to a high of only 73F today. Quite a drastic change. It’s only 66F right now. The humidity is gone, and has taken summer along with it.
I’m going to leave you with some links to enjoy while I go find my winter clothes before I freeze.
Reading:
Tanya Kucey’s post - Your Artsy Palette Cleanser #2
Thank you for having me as your featured artist this week, Tanya!
Tanya’s just getting started here on Substack. She’s super friendly, generous, and sweet. I’m so happy to call her a new friend, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her art.
Watching:
Is it Selfish to Make Art While the World Burns?
What should I do in my sketchbook?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I hope you have a wicked good creative week ahead.