Thursday, January 7, 2010

shiver me timbers


Just when I thought that it couldn’t get any colder, it seemed to be colder this morning. Actually it wasn’t any colder but the frost made it seem cooler. I wrote the word “cold” on the hood of Mary’s car with my finger.

Even the water in the birdbath was frozen. And I don’t mean just a thin coating of ice. It was thick because I wrapped the ice hard with my knuckles and it didn’t break. It actually sounded quite solid.

It is very difficult to see the ice in the picture because the ice is absolutely clear. But it is there and either solid or very close to being solid. Poor birds, they will have to wait for the sun to warm everything up to melt the ice so that they can get a drink of water.

I lightened the picture and if you look real hard you can see the surface of the ice. But it is so clear that it really doesn’t look frozen. I don’t want to complain about the cold weather too much because this is what I had looked forward to during the hot steamy days of August. Besides, we don’t want to scare the tourists away. And at least we don’t have several feet of snow piled up on the ground like those poor folks in Long Island and Utah.

And of course, don’t forget the poor gardenia bush. It always suffers from the winter cold each year. Some of the leaves have already turned black and I am sure that there will be plenty more to follow. But no matter how bad it gets, it always “kicks back” in the spring and send out shoots of new leaves. It as perennial as the .............. (I don’t remember the rest of the saying. Does anyone know the ending?)

"Shiver me timbers." Pirate talk, at least that is what the pirates always use to say in the movies. By the way, I always liked the actor Robert Newton in his portrayal of Long John Silver in the television series of the same name. Whenever I think of pirates, the image of Robert Newton comes to mind dressed up in all of his pirate clothes. Stay warm and enjoy a fun day indoors. Lew

2 comments:

seaside said...

Freezing rain warning until 1 in the afternoon according to Channel 13. I wrote you about our experience over at the beach. Burr!!! Mom is making bean soup. The ice is very slushy on the hood of the truck. This is very good soup weather. We also have croissant rolls to heat in the oven. This will be a nice addition to the soup. Stay warm.

seaside said...

"Shiver me timbers" sounds very pirate like. However, looking at the words makes you wonder more about the meaning. Timbers means woods. Shiver me woods? The woods make him shiver? The woods wouldn't shiver. This is similar to the "Yankie Doodle song" "Yankie Doodle went to London just to ride a pony." "Stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni." It makes me wonder why a person would do that?