6 Jan 2022

HODGEPODGE JANUARY 5

1. Share one happy moment/memory from the holiday season. 

To be able to celebrate Christmas day with my husband in his retirement home, where a table was dressed for us and our son with family.  A  very good meal was served. There were three other families too, because the persons concerned were to weak to go and celebrate at home. 

2. Let's be reasonable with our expectations going into this new year, ? What is one thing you'd like to accomplish/improve/complete/do in 2022? 

I can't make any plans to accomplish, to improve or complete anything in 2022, it all depends on how Rick's disease (Parkinson) develops.

3. Every January 1st (since 1976) Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words are chosen). Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2022- wait, what?-no worries-at the end of the day-that being said-asking for a friend-circle back-deep dive-a new normal-you're on mute-supply chain Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add? 

Difficult for me to answer because  English is not my mothertongue. But I know from personal experience that all languages change. When for years I didn't speak any German and then the German TV was aired in Belgium, a lot of words I had never heard of but were now in the new Dictionary. And old words had disappeared. We noticed that especially in our Scrabble club where we played in French, some words were cancelled from the dictionary and others added ! A lot of English words moved into the other languages. My husband stated the same in the Italian language. 

 

My son is German, but his mother tongue is French, his son is Dutch and speaks only French with his father My DIL is Dutch and speaks English as second language. My husband is Italian and speaks French, I speak everything and I am German.  Therefore when we are all together we speak ...... ENGLISH and French

Be happy that you speak English in all States although with different accents, there is a huge difference between Texas and Boston ! So it's normal that your English changes too. Anyway there is already a difference in American English, the Queen's English, Australian English, Canadian English, and maybe more.  Once is for sure English dominates the world but which English I don't know a mixture probably !  

4. Best thing you ate in the month of December?

Honestly I have no idea, the only thing I know is that I ate !

5. January 5th is National Bird Day. Are you a bird lover? What's your favorite bird to see in the wild? Choose a phrase from the list that follows and tell us how it relates to your life currently...eat like a bird, bird's eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, a little bird told me, or kill two birds with one stone. 

Of course I like birds,  but I don't know their names except a sparrow or a parrot ! As I used to have 4 cats you can imagine that birds rather avoided our garden (yard) Now cat Rosie watches bird from the 4th floor and doesn't mind that she can't catch them anymore, I think she had killed a lot of these poor feather balls in her life  

Bird watching from the 4th floor !

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

I think that I have never lived like I do now since Rick lives in his senior residence and I live here alone. I don't feel like going out anymore (the weather is bad too) Shopping is already too much. I prefer to stay at home and occupy myself with my photos, and my blog I do a lot of researches and wait for this way of life to come to an end. In normal times I went out every day, was very busy, saw a lot of people and now Rick's illness and the Covid Circus have somehow paralyzed or frozen me and I'm waiting for me to thaw!

 

 

7 comments:

  1. We.ll I do hope you thaw soon and maybe get the chance to more travelling to warmer climates but I know that's much more difficult at the moment and of course you want to be near Rick. We woke to frost everywhere this morning. Brrr I don't like being cold.

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  2. So while you grew up in Germany and German would be your first language, you are now more fluent in French above all else?

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  3. Covid has certainly changed all of our lives, I am so looking forward to an end,soon! I would love to be able to speak another language, preferably french it is such a beautiful language, thank you for sharing.
    Sue

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  4. Hugs to you Gattina as you navigate this new journey of living alone and your husband struggling through Parkinsons. I know that is not an easy journey. I enjoyed your answers about the english phrases, so fascinating. Your answer to your favorite thing you ate made me smile. May you find peace and a desire to explore and get out again. Have a nice rest of the week.

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  5. Look at the charming picture of your son and Toby - and you'll forget all your troubles, at least temporarily.

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  6. It is hard to be in this semi frozen state,and we hope you can warm up soon and be thawed.
    In Dutch I would say:
    'Sterkte, hoor!'

    You have much on your plate, a lot you didn't ask for, but I sure hope you can find your way through it all, your son seems to be a great support as are your many friends.

    Covid has messed up so much of our daily lives, hasn't it? Phooey on that nasty and naughty virus.

    I know Dutch and English as my 'mother tongues', and studied French and German at school, and a wee bit of Italian in college. Right now my son is trying to learn Dutch, and he studied Chinese at college for many semesters. I have to say, though, I have forgotten most of the French and Italian...if you don't use it you lose it!

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