Monday, April 01, 2013

Monday Malarkey, incl. a quarterly reading update and malarkey synonyms

Yesterday's celebratory Easter footwear, for posterity:


Good grief, we've already lived through 3 months of the year 2013?  How is that possible? Someone explain this to me.

So . . . time for a quarterly reading update.  Here's what I've read, so far this year (with links to books I've reviewed or at least mentioned):

January

February

24. The Art Forger - B. A. Shapiro

March

28. Little Raccoon Learns to Share - M. Packard and L. McCue
29. Little Chipmunk's Wiggly Wobbly Tooth - M. Packard and L. McCue
32. Jericho, Season 3: Civil War (graphic novel)
36. Shadows and Strongholds -  Elizabeth Chadwick
37. On the Other Side - Mathilde Wolff-Mönckeberg
38. Down at the Dino Wash Deluxe - T. Myers and M. Pamintuan
39. Little Wolf Goes to School - M. Packard and L. McCue
40. Little Bear's Baby Brother - M. Packard and L. McCue

I'll try to get all caught up on those I haven't reviewed, soon.  Except Jericho - not reviewing that.  I've pre-scheduled my review of On the Other Side (a Persephone book!) for tomorrow.

And, today . . . (after dropping the husband off at the airport and buying some seedlings to plant):

I looked up the definition of malarkey -- well, actually, I was looking it up to make sure I wasn't misspelling the word (there are two acceptable spellings; I am not senile, yet) and found the following synonyms at Merriam-Webster.  Am I alone in finding it hilarious that there are so many food synonyms for malarkey?  Applesauce and fudge?  Guys, the synonyms are as fun to read as the word is to say!

"applesauce [slang], balderdash, baloney (also boloney), beans, bilge, blah (also blah-blah), blarney, blather, blatherskite, blither, bosh, bull [slang], bunk, bunkum (or buncombe), claptrap, codswallop [British], crapola [slang], crock, drivel, drool, fiddle, fiddle-faddle, fiddlesticks, flannel [British], flapdoodle, folderol (also falderal), folly, foolishness, fudge, garbage, guff, hogwash, hokeypokey, hokum, hoodoo, hooey, horsefeathers [slang], humbug, humbuggery, jazz, nonsense (also malarky), moonshine, muck, nerts [slang], nuts, piffle, poppycock, punk, rot, rubbish, senselessness, silliness, slush, stupidity, taradiddle (or tarradiddle), tommyrot, tosh, trash, trumpery," and . . . the reason my Monday and Tuesday posts are interchangeable with a whisk of the fingers . . . "twaddle".
This is a terrible photo (I was in a hurry and it was shot through a window) but so cool!  Kiddo's girlfriend cut his hair out on the patio, a couple weeks ago (and, then I helped out by showing her how to layer it, which is necessary because he has a ton of hair).  After we were done, I grabbed all that hair and threw the clippings into one of our planters.  I think the kids thought I was crazy but I figured the birds might like to use it for lining nests.  Till recently, it didn't seem to be of interest to the birds -- none appeared to have been removed from the planter -- but look what I saw, this morning!!!


I have no idea how to get rid of the Merriam-Webster frame I foolishly imported, above. Horsefeathers.

Anyway, that little animal in the photo, my friends, is a tufted titmouse with a beak full of my son's auburn hair!  You can see the bird was a little sloppy and left some hair lying about, but either s/he came back for more or it blew away because there's nothing sitting on the edge of the planter, now.

I'm going to skip listing recent arrivals, today, for two reasons:

1.  I got so many I'm embarrassed (mostly from friends and Paperback Swap, but still . . . ), and
2.  I just got home from running errands and I don't feel like taking pictures.

But, if anyone begs, I might be convinced to take a picture.  You never know.  I am currently reading The Clover House by Henriette Power and one of the books I got from a friend, Z by Therese Fowler -- that new novel from Zelda Fitzgerald's POV.  I'm loving both.

Happy Monday!

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.


14 comments:

  1. Your tufted titmouse looks "tufted" in more ways than one....he had to borrow more "tufts" to keep his good name!! I love seeing bits of your son put to such good use.

    Please...book photos please. I love to drool over good books.
    Hope your Easter was happy.

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    1. LOL You're "on" tonight, Gaye! :) My sentiments exactly, though, about the hair being put to good use. I'm very much into recycling.

      Oh, darn. I was hoping nobody would ask for photos. So, so embarrassing. I need to shut down the incoming books completely, for a while. 4 more arrived, today. Eeeks.

      My Easter weekend was great, although Easter day was a little too quiet. I wouldn't mind some little ones and an excuse to dye and hide eggs. Kiddo was home for a long weekend and husband took Friday off so we got a lot accomplished (exciting stuff like replacing the mulch in the front gardens). I'm happy. Hope your Easter was wonderful!

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  2. Thanks for the synonyms! I've always wanted to use balderdash, maybe I'll try codswallop as well.

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    1. I love balderdash and codswallop. My parents used quite a few of those (malarkey included) but plenty are new to me. As I was reading the list, I remembered my parents went to a play called "Horsefeathers and Applesauce" when I was young enough to have a babysitter. I loved the title.

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  3. Ha, I love the word malarkey! I have a hankering for old fashioned words for nonsense ;) And then Joe Biden said it during the VP debate and I loved it even more, lol.

    You've had a great year so far! Woot woot!

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    1. I love old fashioned words for nonsense, too -- sometimes old fashioned words in general. I just posted a list of obsolete words that still "should be used" (like "snowbroth", meaning freshly melted snow) on Facebook, last week. Such fun reading. :)

      Thanks! I'm happy with my reading year, so far. Woot!

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  4. I have read FIVE BOOKS this year. That is just stupid.

    Jealous is me of all the reading you're doing.

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    1. Andiloo, you're just at a stupidly busy stage of life (not that you're ever a non-busy person). Motherhood alone was enough to keep me from reading more than a book or two a month when I had little ones. Don't kick yourself. Life sometimes eats your reading time, ya know? You'll look back on these years fondly, I promise.

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  5. Oh, that is the cutest picture! I love the birds that come visit the back yard, and I often see them taking bits and pieces from the yard for their nests, but never hair! Very, very cool!

    I hope you had a nice Easter!

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    1. Thanks, Heather! Me, too, love watching the birds. I've been feeding them quite a bit, just to get them to show up. The hair was a whim. I've done that before but haven't ever been in a house with a window that looked out right onto the spot where I left hair for the birds. I must have read that they'll use hair clippings for nests. It was really fun to watch him rustle around and come out with a beak full of hair!!

      Thanks! Hope you had a great Easter, too!

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  6. Aww, look at the cute tooties! Nice socks!

    Birds are so cute. I love watching them. I wish I had trees.... *sigh*

    And wow. You've read 40 books so far??? I stand amazed.

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    1. Thanks, Heather! I have a thing for cute socks.

      Me, too. Love the birds. I'm waiting for the hummingbirds to come home -- or through. I'm not even sure which are residents and which just visit us on the way to and from Costa Rica (or wherever they go).

      Yes, 40, but that includes children's picture books. I'm either cheating by adding those in or spending all my time reading. Either way, I'm doomed but happy.

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  7. Balderdash is a fave. Cool about the bird and the son's hair.

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    1. Excellent choice. Apparently, balderdash is much beloved.

      'Twas definitely exciting seeing a bird taking Kiddo's hair. Now, the birds seem to be noisy but distant. Nesting must be going on all over the place.

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