Down and Up ~ and in between

Surprise!

In mid-afternoon, I was playing a rousing online game of Solitaire when there was a knock on the door.  Scott delivered a bag full of surprises from my "secret admirer."  After Clawdia had tackled the paper wrapped around these things in the gift bag, she came to investigate the other contents.  On the left is the bag with a big "Embrace Hope" sticker on it.  At the top is the card of a monarch butterfly on a flower, with these words written inside:  "Have a Beautiful Day from your Secret Admirer."  Beside it is a mug inscribed with these words:

I AM ONLY
TALKING TO
my cat
TODAY

You can see the MEOW wall hanging across the middle and the envelope below, but can you make out the six tiny dots under the sign?  Someone — correction, my secret admirer — had taken a hole punch along the top of the paper bag and punched out six tiny kitties walking with their tails held high.  Maybe there were more that fell to the floor when Clawdia tackled the wrapping paper.  Clicking on the image will enlarge it.

Library Loot

You're Only Old Once!: A Book for Obsolete Children ~ by Dr. Seuss, 1986, humor

"Is this a children's book?  Well...not immediately.  You buy a copy for your child now and you give it to him on his 70th birthday."

In the middle of this pandemic shutdown, I thought a little humor would be good.  I am, after all, an obsolete child.  Old folks take pills and more pills, but I'm not so sure these quotes are funny:

• "When at last we are sure you've been properly pilled,
  then a few paper forms must be properly filled
  so that you and your heirs may be properly billed."
• "...you're in pretty good shape for the shape you are in."

Word of the Day #1

shut·down / ˈSHətˌdoun / noun = temporary closure of a factory or system due to a malfunction or for maintenance.  An example is turning off a computer.  My example:  "We need humor in the middle of this pandemic shutdown."

The pandemic shut down whole communities, states, countries, the world — so the whole world has malfunctioned!  By the way, when used as a verb, the correct form is TWO words:  shut down.

Bookish Puzzle

1. The Geezer and the Caribbean
2. An Elm Develops from a Sapling Where the Dodgers Once Played
3. While I Was in Bed Croaking
4. The Muscadines Belonging to Anger
5. Tremendous Anticipations

Can you figure out the names of any of these famous books whose "titles" have been slightly re-worded?  Have fun grappling with these five, and I'll give you another list of books next time.

Buck Up

Don, who sends daily "flower of the day" email photos, sent a couple of young bucks today.  "Looking out my window this morning," he wrote, "I saw that the kids are growing up.  At least they were munching on the grass and not the wildflowers.  It will be interesting to see how their growing from young bucks to adults will be handled in this settled neighborhood."  Thanks for sharing these, Don.  And thanks for adding me to your daily emails.

Word of the day #2

buck / noun = a male animal.  Example:  Those two young bucks in the photo were munching grass, not wildflowers.

Word of the Day #3

buck up / idiom = to buck up someone's spirits, you say or do something to make them more cheerful.  Example:  Don's photos of flowers buck up the people he emails.  Including me.