It struck me while watching the Azerbaijan Country Life vlog of how in the 19th century, farming life was a constant battle keeping everyone fed. They have to work so long and hard, burning enormous amounts of calories to maintain an adequate food supply. If someone gets hurt or weather or disease wipes out a seasonal crop, they start to go hungry. It becomes a downward spiral with life teetering one catastrophe away from all perishing. In the early days, they also had to contend with a hostile and deadly Indigenous folk dedicated to wiping you off their land.
We've all heard and even used the phrase "a piece of work" when referring to a difficult person. Many associate it with New York/East Coast but the term is found in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties…” In this case, the term is used literally. Around the turn of the 20th Century, it becomes a pejorative especially in Britain where it becomes "a nasty piece of work".
Looking for a film to watch on Netflix or Prime is like gold prospecting: you gotta pan a lot of gravel to find a nugget.
An ad from one of the local utility companies featured helpful tips to keep your home cool in summer. One suggested drawing the curtains on sunny windows to help keep the heat out. Good grief, he thought. Are people that dumb? What's in store for cold weather? Advising that they close the windows to keep the cold out? Sheesh.
We've managed to gift several of the gardening fail hot peppers. C remarked over dinner that we're doing a pretty good job marketing our hazardous produce.
Sitting down to dinner after spending 45 minutes in the kitchen, seeing Madame staring at him, J apologizes for not remembering to bring out her treats, a regular tradition this Summer. C, already on her feet to fetch something murmurs that she will get them. Madame coldly responds: "It will be noted in your pay packet".
He was not very hungry but needed a bit of a boost so he swung into Taco Bell for a bean burrito. No drink. When he drove up to the window, the clerk smiled and said "Honey, you're the easiest order I've had today". He was a bit taken aback but didn't miss a beat: "I try my best" he replied.
The giant had thrown peanuts out towards the squirrel brothers at a high trajectory. Sky, ever fearful of anything falling down on him, ran for safety. Realizing that the objects were peanuts, he rushed back. Bhadra had not run away and was already consuming his second peanut. "See?" he chided Sky, "sometimes good things come from above".
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