Last month I did a post about Mountain Born -- a book I'd gotten for Christmas with a lot of old timey mountain sayings. Stephanie in Flat Rock read the post and very kindly sent me a compilation of phrases that the doctor she worked for had made over the years.
Some were familiar-- others not. Thank you, Stephanie -- these are too good not to share!
Draws -- spasm or cramp, as in "My leg sure draws."
Arthur -- arthritis (Arthuritis) ' Ol' Arthur has done got hold of me."
Fireballs of the Eucharist -- fibroids of the uterus "She was just full of fireballs of the Eucharist."
In movable health -- doing okay, as in "I was in movable health till this here stroke got me."
Scowers (or scours) -- diarrhea "He's took the scours right bad."
Vomick -- vomit " Law, riding in the back seat on that twisty road makes me want to vomick."
Toucheous -- painful to touch"Pa's gout has made his big toe right toucheous."
And my personal favorite --
Traveling fart -- lots of migrating belly gas pain. "She had her a traveling fart but that Mylanta holp (helped) right much."
Molly was oldwhen she came to us. We adopted her when our neighbor Eileen had to go into a nursing home. We were never sure of Molly's age -- she could have been fourteen, maybe older, when we said goodbye to her on Friday.
I blogged recently about her -- a cheerful old thing, in spite of deafness and arthritis. But for the past few weeks, she's been increasingly confused. When she became completely incontinent, the time had come.
Never easy -- but in this case we knew it was coming.
Someone asked a few days ago for an update on our dogs and cats. It's odd to find ourselves down to three dogs after many years of having six.
But I'll do a quick rundown of the dogs that have been part of our lives and this blog for the past three years.
Sweet Bear ( the original of Ursa who lives on in the Goodweather books) and happy Jack have been gone about a year .
Dan, the Border Collie, Maggie, the Mountain Cur (original of Elizabeth Goodweather's Molly,) and William (Elizabeth's James) remain. Dan's the youngest -- maybe four. Maggie is twelve, William is older -- maybe fourteen.
The cats Eddie and Miss Susie Hutchins both seem ageless.
Often appearing in my pictures are Otis (in front) and Ali Ali. They live with Justin and Claui in another house on our farm.
One last rose blooms in a sheltered corner, a lingering breath of sweet summer time . . .
The greens from the garden are bug free at last! Dill and parsley, Georgia collards, and kale -- Black Tuscan and Red Russian -- sweet and delicious, all the better for having been lightly kissed by frost. . .
Eggs from the hen house, another flush of mushrooms -- oysters and shitakes, and fat potatoes, dark soil still clinging to them . . . the makings of a feast . . .
The temperature is falling and at last it's time for a fire.
