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It’s always special when a peer thinks of me – especially during award time 
Thanks so much, Karen…
Drawing Room Days is marvelous site, and Karen has seen fit to fill it with bright, refreshing, colorful posts – a very nice change from the doldrums of daily living – you should stop by and say hello. Here’s the link:
Click to go to Karen’s site!
So. The questions and answers:
- What is my favourite colour: Any green except lime
- What is my favourite animal: Make believe, the werewolf, of course. Real, the Silverback Gorilla ranks high
- What is my favourite number: I have no idea why, but 17
- What is my favourite non-alcoholic beverage: coffee first thing, iced tea in the evenings
- What is my favourite alcoholic beverage: I actually make some pretty rippin’ home-made Kahlua…it’s cheap, and if done properly, it puts store-bought to shame
- Do I prefer Facebook or Twitter: Facebook, hands down…so much more personal and flexible
- What are my passions: My wife, fishing, a good movie, a good cigar, a good drink, and I don’t have to mention writing
- Do I prefer giving or receiving gifts: Giving, anytime. The appreciation and joy that results is the best gift, anyway
- What is my favorite city: I’m not much for cities, actually, but my hometown of Pittsburgh. It’s a melting pot of so many cultures – mix that in with the working-man mindset and you’ve got a heady brew of society
- What are my favorite TV shows: “Justified”, “Deadliest Catch”, and “Ghost Adventures”
Okay, so now I get to pass the torch, and it goes to:
Bob Atkinson
M.S. Fowle
Catherine Wolffe
Ruth Watson-Morris
Diane Major
Judith Atwood
Simon Okill
Maer Wilson
Lorraine Jean Bush
Victoria Dougherty
They get to answer the same questions – get to it, folks!
Now that “The Clearing” is up and running, I’ve turned my attention to my next work – an anthology of three ghosts stories. It’s two short stories and a novella, with lengths of 7,000, 11,5000 and 25,000 words, respectively.
You can read any one of them, or all three. I want to get at least 10 sets of eyes on each – and I want criticism, not flattery.
In acknowledgement of your efforts, you’ll receive a published-grade copy of my book, and the entire team will have their names listed in the front of the book
So…can anyone help me out?
Please leave a comment if you’re interested
1. A drop in the bucket
Meaning
A very small proportion of the whole.
Origin
From the Bible, Isaiah 40:15 (King James Version):
“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”
‘A drop in the bucket’ is the predecessor of ‘a drop in the ocean’, which means the same thing, and is first found in a piece from The Edinburgh Weekly Journal, July 1802:
“The votes for the appointment of Bonaparte to be Chief Consul for life are like a drop in the ocean compared with the aggregate of the population of France.”
2. A fly in the ointment
Meaning
A small but irritating flaw that spoils the whole.
Origin
These days ointments are chiefly for medicinal use – just the thing for rubbing on that nasty rash. In earlier times, ointments were more likely to be creams or oils with a cosmetic or ceremonial use. Literally, ointment was the substance one was annointed with. There is considerable annointing in Bible stories and it isn’t surprising therefore that this phrase has a biblical origin. Ecclesiastes 10:1 (King James Version) has:
“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.”
Our contempary phrase ‘the fly in the ointment’ didn’t appear until later. The earliest example I have found in print of that precise wording is in John Norris’ A Practical Treatise Concerning Humility, 1707:
‘Tis that dead fly in the ointment of the Apothecary.
3. A house divided against itself cannot stand
Meaning
Literal meaning (house meaning household).
Origin
From the Bible, Matthew 12:25 (King James Version):
“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”.
4. A labour of love
Meaning
Work undertaken for the pleasure of it or for the benefit of a loved one.
Origin
This phrase has a biblical origin and appears in Thessalonians and Hebrews (King James Version).
Thessalonians 1:2, 1:3:
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
Hebrews 6:10:
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Shakespeare didn’t use the expression ‘labour of love’ in any of his works but it is possible that the writers of the KJV were familiar with his play Love’s Labours Lost, 1588, and that they adapted the expression from that title.
5. A leopard can’t change its spots
Meaning
Proverbial question, querying the ability of any person or creature to change its innate being.
Origin
From the Bible, Jeremiah 13:23 (King James Version):
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
6. A wolf in sheep’s clothing
Meaning
Someone who hides malicious intent under the guise of kindliness.
Origin
The cautionary advice that one cannot necessarily trust someone who appears kind and friendly has been with us for many centuries. Both Aesop’s Fables and the Bible contain explicit references to wolves in sheep’s clothing. On the face of it, Aesop must have originated the phrase, as his tales are much older than any biblical text. The question is, when did the phrase first become part of the English language?
The version of Aesop’s Fables that is best known to us today is George Fyler Townsend’s 1867 translation, in which he gives the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing fable this way:
Once upon a time a Wolf resolved to disguise his appearance in order to secure food more easily. Encased in the skin of a sheep, he pastured with the flock deceiving the shepherd by his costume. In the evening he was shut up by the shepherd in the fold; the gate was closed, and the entrance made thoroughly secure. But the shepherd, returning to the fold during the night to obtain meat for the next day, mistakenly caught up the Wolf instead of a sheep, and killed him instantly.
The King James Version of the Bible, 1611, gives this warning in Matthew 7:15:
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
(17 June 2003, United Kingdom) The National Express bus service between Aberdeen and London takes approximately twelve hours, with NO SMOKING on the coach. A 43-year-old woman was riding south from Glasgow, and as the miles rolled by, she became more and more desperate for a cigarette. It’s a long trip for addicts.
The coach stopped at Carlisle–at last, she could satisfy her craving! But no, she was not allowed off the coach. She sat in her seat, becoming more agitated by the mile. She was craving a cigarette. She was fuming.
Fellow passengers said she became increasingly anxious as the journey continued, and started shouting that she wanted off. However, the coach was on a motorway at the time. It was not permitted to stop, save for emergencies.
Somewhere between Shap and Penrith, passengers saw the woman push against the passenger door in the middle of the lower deck. She couldn’t be trying to get off to smoke, could she?
Oh, yes she could!
Police concluded that the coach was traveling approximately sixty miles per hour. Our involuntary non-smoker was crushed beneath its wheels. At that point, the coach did make that hoped-for emergency stop, but life is not fair. Unlike a condemned man, our heroine never did get that last cigarette.
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