linguistics and dialect

I am watching a fascinating PBS documentary on dialect entitled "Do you speak English?"

The only reason it paused long enough to watch it is that I Keep having a discussion with my friend Maria who has recently moved to Arkansas of all places. She says certain words now with a definite Southern Accent and seems upset by it. Well, according to this show, she should be upset! It seems she is ruining the spoken language by stretching all those vowel sounds.

Statistically, the majority of Americans consider this area of the united states (the midwest area of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, etc.) or the 'Midland' dialect area to be the MOST CORRECT spoken english in the nation. While the Southern dialect is considered the LEAST proper way of speaking.

Hmmm. Go figure.
So any tahhhm you need ah refresher course ahhn the spoken wurd, come forah visit.

smash, smash

That dreaded day has finally arrived. The day of Persimmon smashing. That Joyful activity that involves taking those bitter, mouth-dry-ing delights that really are not a bit of good until they have frozen on the tree and rotted enough to fall onto the ground. Several of the darn things have fallen off the tree at "Papaw's" house and he was so kind to save me a few buckets of them.

Rather than see them go to waste, the boys and I set to work. You take the hard stem/leaf nodule off of the top of the fruit and thow the whole thing into the masher/strainer device, given to me in my first year of marraige to Jim by his grandmother, Ruth. Affectionately called Mamaw. Now the story behind this strainer is this, It was HER first strainer, purchase the year she was pregnant with 'Jimmy' (my husbands father). So, the thing has been around the block and still does the job. I am sure this cone strainer has seen thousands of tomatoes, roasted pumpkin, and yes, persimmons.


My youngest Judd has perfected the technique of spinning and pressing the 'Simmons.

He and Jacob have taken turns for the better part of 2 hours, smashing approximately 3 gallons of persimmon fruit into 5 pints of persimmon pulp.
Look out holidays, persimmon pudding is on the menu... again.

Happy Halloween

OH no! It's Luke StyWalker and the Dark Invader!!!


We had a lot of fun and called it an early night.
Jim was a little 'horney' devil, keeping his bad boy biker images with little red horns.

Dior Gowns

Indianapolis Museum of Art currently has a display of Dior Gowns. WOW! I only wish I had these waistlines. Being a bit of a seamstress myself, I really wanted to skip the entire Roman Art display on loan from the Louve. But Jim was interested in that- he says- Personally I know he can't stand the art museum, or 'art' in general. "It's not my thing" he tells me.
I did love the contrast between the velvet and silk as it is draped over the form. Very nice, and crisp!

Ahhh Fall

On a recent trip to Indianapolis to enjoy the Indianapolis Museum of Art, we enjoyed the lovely fall leaf views shown here.
THIS is why we still live in Indiana. (well, that and we have a babysitter here...)

What a Steak!

I might have possibly had the best meal of my life on Monday, October 29th.
at this location:

Ruth's Chris Steak House
9445 Threel Road
96th & Keystone
Indianapolis, IN 46240

My husband and I during some much needed time off cashed in my gift certificate from work at Ruth's Chris Steak house.
After a little trial and error on directions, we finally arrived and were treated as if we were treasured guests.
The staff were understanding and pleasant and knowledgeable about the menu ane wines.
Derek our waiter was indulgent to my silliness and recommended the 'sweetest' red wine he know of on the menu. a Pinot Noir by Greg Norman winerys. The golfer, no really.
I told him (Derek) I was going to be a lot of fun that night, and true to my word, I certainly wasn't stuffy.

The atmosphere was hushed, subdued and elegant. I loved the ballroom dance painting over the fireplace in the 'library' room. It was closed off, not being used at the time, but I could see through the french doors leading to it.
I ordered the blue crab cakes for an appetizer in honor of our desire to visit Maryland again. Initially we had planned on a trip to the east coast during vacation, but that didn't pan out as planned.

Jim and I both had the ribeye: He rare, Myself, medium rare.
Jim had the asparagus with hollendaise sauce. I ordered mine 'orlando' style, were the ribeye is topped with a generous dollop of crab meat and finished off with a few spears of asparagus and bernaise sauce (hollandaise with fresh terregon and white pepper) MMMMmmmmm delightful.

Of course, I couldn't possibly eat the whole 16oz. cut of beef, but I tried. Jim and I both made a valiant effort and then gave up and ordered boxes. As we finished off our bottle of wine, we decided upon dessert. I got to have a terrible bad for me piece of carrot cake (4 layers worth) smothered in a cream cheese frosting. Very nice.
Jim had the creme brule. A first for us. It was so soft and creamy in the middle, and the burnt sugar on top done to perfection!
I couldn't ask for a better night out.

Cheers to good food, good company, and of course- good gift certificates!

(bring your wallet friends, this is a 5 star!!!)