Flowers, words, and a gift for Louie

Irises

Yesterday, I snapped a couple of pictures of flowers growing behind the Crown Center when I took Clawdia out to walk in the grass and listen to the birds.  She chose to plop down near these multi-colored irises in the middle of our grassy area.

These purple irises are also growing around the sculpture located in the middle of our curving paths.  While in the gardening area with Clawdia, I saw a bird swoop down to an air conditioning unit in my building and disappear inside.  For days, I've watched a bird make a smooth, looping approach to one of the units in the building across from my windows.  It slips between the vents to the inside of the unit while landing.  But that looks impossible.  I decided a mama bird must have built a nest inside there.  Maybe she's bringing food to her chicks, or maybe it's the daddy bird feeding her as she sits on the eggs.  Who knew that birds could do such a tricky thing as flying or landing between vent slats?

Gift for Louie

Speaking of birds, I took a gift to Sandy's Louie this afternoon.  In cleaning out, I came across this colorful, lightweight (maybe balsa wood?) toucan souvenir someone apparently saved from a trip to Costa Rica.  It's about three inches tall, and the beak

measures about an inch and a half.  Clawdia is curious about it, but I'm not giving it to her.  Sandy told me she put the little toucan near Louie's cage.  Here's a recent photo Sandy took of Louie.

Word of the Day #1

souvenir / sou·ve·nir /ˌso͞ovəˈnir / noun (from French, for remembrance) = a thing that is kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event.  In other words, it's a memento or keepsake.
Example:  "I gave Louie that little toucan souvenir from Costa Rica."

Word of the Day #2

cancel / can·cel / ˈkansəl / verb = decide or announce something (like a planned event) that will not take place.

The writer of that poster needs the past tense, so what's the correct spelling?  Grammarly says:

Canceled or cancelled is the past tense of the verb to cancel.  Both spellings are correct; Americans favor canceled (one L), while cancelled (two Ls) is preferred in British English and other dialects.  However, there is only one correct spelling of the word cancellation, no matter where you are.  Mr. Webster decided to chop the past tense of "cancel" down to one L.  This variation first showed up in the Webster’s 1898 Dictionary, though it didn’t fully beat out the double-L spelling until about the 1980s.

So here in the USA, the poster should say:  "The National Spelling Bee has been canceled."  I thought it would be two Ls.  To be sure, I looked it up.  If the double-L spelling lasted into the 1980s, that explains why the double-L spelling still looks correct to me.  I was born in 1940, so I have probably spelled it "cancelled" for decades.  Our words evolve constantly, and dictionaries are quickly out of date.

Gift for Bonnie

Sharon in the Café, "long ago"

Fifteen minutes after posting this, I got a text from Sharon, who lives at the other end of my hall.  Yes, the very same Sharon who is one of Clawdia's very best friends:

"Corn on the cob still warm outside your door."

She was almost to the other end of my hall when I got to the door, but she came back halfway when Clawdia hurried out of our apartment, having heard her buddy talking to me.  Clawdia got her little bit of loving, and I bustled her into our apartment so I could snarf down my gift of corn on the cob.  It was the moistest corn I've had in years.  Do you suppose lockdown is making us see (and taste) things in a new and more appreciative way?

Word of the Day #3

snarf / snärf / verb / informal, North American = to eat or drink quickly or greedily.  Example:  "Yes, it's true that I snarfed down that corn on the cob."

More Words Today

Since Sharon is a translator, I asked her later if the information I found online about the French origin of souvenir (Word of the Day #1 above) is correct.  She told me that je me souviens is the Quebequois way of saying, "I remember" and that the verb souvenir means "to remember."  We were conversing in messages, so I looked up Quebequois and learned that it's the form of French spoken in Quebec.  Okay, this is about all the learning I feel up to today, so I'm going to bed.  G'nite.  (That's a contraction of "good night," but you knew that, didn't you?)