More Word Fun From Mandy

Hi again,

Cary guest blogger here.

Enough is enough. I've been working dog-hours all summer so far on a job that required heavy hours for excellent pay and to leave me free for the last half of summer. The last half is here, so we farmed out the kids and had a little retreat. We had a great and uplifting time at the Hill Cumorah Pageant, stayed at a charming bed and breakfast in Ithaca (Thomas Farm, for anyone in the area--we highly reccomend it!), and spent a hot muggy morning hiking a delightful nature trail with some breathtaking falls at Treman State Park.

But the best part of it was how long I had Mandy alone in a van, just talking. We had a lot of fun. I wanted to share 2 of the highlights just because this side of her personality she will not write about herself--I think it's against her code or something...But I can do it!

#1. The Spunky Side

Mandy: "I think if I wanted a bumper sticker I would get one that just says BUMPER STICKER."

#2. The poetic side

You know how some people have the gift of putting together two seemingly unrelated words or concepts to make the most perfect description, or capture the most pure essence of some phenomenon? My literary studies have given me to admire that in almost every poet I can cite. Mandy has that gift. She's got the soul of a poet. I'm sure reading her blog many of you get that sense. It's not the "flowery overflowing" language of some kinds of poetry, but rather the "those two simple words together nails it better than any dictionary ever could" kind of poetry.

What's the phrase? Picture a yard we're driving by at 60 miles/hour where you can barely see the lawn for all the eclectic collection of variously shaped ornaments and trinkets.

Mandy, with her usual spunk: "Now there's a plague of knick-knacks".

A plague of knick-knacks! On par with a pride of lions, a herd of cows or a gaggle of geese, right? But a PLAGUE, no less: captures in a word the process by which such a yard was most likely created, like some sort of disease unstoppably spread.

Mandy will never cease to give me things to admire her for.