Scrabble squabble wars in Week 14 of Quarantine

It’s Week 14 and I have absolutely nothing to say.  Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.  I’m at a loss for words.  They’ve evaporated.  Vanished.  I’ve searched far and wide.  The ideas no longer flow.

Adverbs abandoned.  Nouns deserted.  Vowels and adjectives are no longer stars of the show, having embarked on a lark somewhere less stark.

It hasn’t always been like this.

A was playful and jostled with C, teasing her readers with suspenseful tales.  The relentless flirting with both D and E, kept them guessing at what was meant to be.
K and L had integral roles to play, padding the middle with informative facts, hinting at clues that led the other astray.  Q and U took turns stirring the stew, whilst last, but not least, the letter Zed threaded the plot and tied up loose ends.

My alpha and beta’s have quit the cabaret, no longer a show of spell, not tell.

Their exit sealed my fate, as I’m staring at a blank slate.

The drama ensued the morning of Day 105 in loco lockdown.  There was a scuffle.  A squabble.  Accusations.  Shouting.  Stomping.  Doors slamming.  Dead silence.

I was caught in the middle with nowhere to go.

It all started with a game of scrabble.  It was meant to be an entertaining diversion from the monotony of being stuck in the quagmire of the quarantine clock, yet had I known of the hysterics to follow, I would have suggested a game of solitaire instead.

The disagreement was trivial.  Beyond ludicrous.  After all, how many versions of a word are there to dispute?  Apparently more than I cared to know.  The epic battle of the War of the Words had just begun.  The cauldron of long pent-up rivalries had boiled over into a scathing knock-down-drag-out spat, scalding the ever so fragile egos of the duelling duo.

Oy vey. Here we go again.

Ms. Thesaurus and Le Dictionary were in it for the long haul in the altercation of the century.  And, where am I?  Sequestered at home with the lot of them; a bunch of raving lunatics.

It hasn’t always been like this, but three long months of lockdown were enough to make anyone go insane.  I concur with the both of them.  After all, they’re “family”, albeit a tad dysfunctional, but nonetheless, I sympathize with their differing points of view.

Ms. Thesaurus had quite the superiority complex, a bona-fide show-off skilled at showcasing her vast repertoire of synonyms.   A literal treasury of ideas and expressions, as well as countless versions of opposing antonyms were more than enough to prove her point.  

Monsieur Dictionary was quite the je ne sais quoi know-it-all, honoured to document all facets of a word.  Definitions, meanings and pronunciations, just to name a few.

They used to work in tandem and were one heck of an unstoppable team, a writer’s dream, but now all that they do is point fingers and scream.  The two used to discourse, debate, bounce ideas around and create in the good old days of far-away yesterday.

The fracas started over the simplest of wordings.

Whether to go fishing, spend a weekend in Long Island, holiday in Spain, take a siesta, frolic in the park or jubilee unapologetically once we’re all set free.

Are you kidding me?  Give me a break!

To be continued…


Next post:  In one or two weeks, the w/o June 29th or w/o July 5th, either on Thursday or Friday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned!  Stay home, stay safe and catch up on your reading!!





A great place to contemplate





Dreaming of my favourite library











Tick tock of the quarantine clock in Week 13 of Cabin Fever

I’ve had enough.  I’m done.  I’m so over this.  I can’t do this anymore.  I want to go back.

Week 13 in Quarantine was not starting out so well.  You would think that by the 3rd month mark, I would have adjusted and settled into my lockdown life, established a new routine and taken it all in stream.  Instead, I’m climbing the walls and wearing out the rug as I pace up and down the hall.

I’m claustrophobic, desperate to get out of this confining space and break free.  

But, there’s nowhere to go.

And speaking about walls, I even befriended that ever so chatty Fly on the wall.  He was forever buzzing around, yet I would pay him scant attention and swat him away.  I was hasty to judge in labelling him a nuisance, let alone a pest.  Bored, he’s been cooped up indoors, giddy with glee to chitchat with me.  Needless to say, we bonded over Chardonnay and gossiped the days away.  We caught up on secrets, theories and all sorts of conspiracies.  The preposterous tales of the liaisons and intrigues of my neighbours were television dramas come to life.  Turns out that the incessant banging and clanging reverberating from upstairs, startling me awake night after night, were not the menacing machinations of Hannibal but the wonky dance moves of a disco obsessed granny belting out the soundtrack to “I Will Survive”.

Oy vey.

The dust bunnies were next in line to make my acquaintance.  They were a happy-go-lucky bunch that drifted from place to place, gathering followers along the way.  Far from shy, they popped up in every which corner and enjoyed playing games.  Their current fav:  Hide & Seek.   Their motto:  Catch me if you can.

Mr. Clean and Mrs. Comet were an inseparable team, full of glimmer and hope.  Always looking on the bright side, their mantra of sparkle and shine was an inspiration of sunnier days ahead.

All of this tidy and toil was taking quite the toll.  Bored with the monotony of spic and span, I was desperate for a change of scene.  I had ants in my pants and I was itching to go fishing.  Anywhere!  Should I jet off to a snow-capped Alpine village or just lounge on a chaise and sip champagne in Capri?  Or perhaps camp out by a lake closer to home and contemplate the wonder and the mystery of the secrets veiled in our galaxy?

Alas, the dream of the wild blue yonder was a taunt of a mirage dangling well beyond my grasp.  It’s also a tad far.  I don’t have a car.  My passport’s expired and the border is closed.  After all, we’re in Day 89 of lockdown.  How dare I forget?   A momentary lapse and a blip of a slip have cast me adrift, trapped in the grip of the quarantine clock.  Sigh…

Nothing like trudging dejectedly back into the house, where lo and behold, I came eyeball to eyeball with an unexpected visitor aka The Mouse.

Eek! 

Next post:  In one week or two!  The w/o June 22nd or June 29th, either on Tuesday, Wednesday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned.

Stay home, stay safe and catch up with your reading!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Bags packed!  Next stop:  Vacation!

Packed for a year-long vay-cay anywhere!!!!!

How I miss schlepping luggage!!


Week 12 of Quarantine: A topsy-turvy tea party dilemma

Sequestered at home for months on end, I’ve spent countless hours ruminating about everything under the sun.  I’ve been questioning, analyzing, revising, improvising and just trying to figure it all out.  I’ve either gone loco in lockdown or I’ve stumbled into a parallel universe.   A world where the familiar is no longer similar to what it was the day before.  Perhaps I’ve tripped and have fallen down the rabbit hole close to where Alice made her acquaintance of the Mad Hatter and The Hare.   

Forever stuck in Time sipping tea at 18:00 o’clock.

My new reality…

My world had turned upside down.

Earl Grey is not my favoured choice of tipple.  The shelves were bare with no dark roast anywhere.  My French Vanilla beans were nowhere to be seen.  I could only assume that they were sheltering in the corner, whispering about conspiracies, hoaxes and hidden agendas.   I had no idea that secrets were being kept and I had been excluded from the loop.

It all started with a random text from The Kid.

“Auntie Nora, how do you spell the word dilemma?  Dilemma with a double M or dilemna with a silent N?” 

 Simple enough, non

Trick question, I thought.  Surely there are dictionaries to verify and I have far more pressing issues at hand.  After all, there’s a pandemic out there and I’m on the hunt for survival gear.  Who has the time to double-check spell-check when I’m immersed in a battle for victory, scrambling to secure enough PPE (personal protective equipment) to tide me over for the next hundred years.

Might as well placate The Kid and sound out the letters and get her off my back.  After all, I’m a wordsmith and spelling is my thing.  Linguistics is right up my alley.  My leisure time was spent not on the playground but camped out in The Shrine.  Otherwise known as The Library.

D. I. L. E. M. N. A. 

And don’t forget NOT to pronounce the silent N

And just because I’m that type of triple-checking sort of gal, thought I’d also look it up in The Dictionary just to prove that I’m always right.  

D. I. L. E. M. M. A.

Nooooooooo!!  That can’t be real! 

There’s a double MM More like double vision.  Am I losing my mind or even worse, my sight?  WHERE is the silent N?  Or, is it so silent that it has forever disappeared, never to be heard from ever again?

What is going on?  WHO changed the spelling and WHY wasn’t I informed of this monumental shake-up of the placement of these two consonants?  Should I just chalk it up to an ill-placed typo?  Perhaps Webster’s has already discovered their gaffe, re-ignited the presses and churned out truckloads of re-prints, discretely re-stocking the shelves of bookstores and libraries worldwide.

Frantic, in a panic, my first thought was to ring up DUW (Dictionaries United Worldwide) and petition for the truth.  I clearly remember way back in September, decades of moons ago, my Grade 4 teacher explaining the intricacies of spelling certain words, like dilemna.  The first rule of thumb is to chant the alphabet:  The letter M is followed by the letter N.  To help solidify, do not pronounce DIL - EM - NA.  Notice the silent N.  Forever ingrained in my brain.

Really wish that I had kept a copy of my out of print tattered dictionary so I that I could look up the correct spelling of dilemna and show the world the truth. 

The planet has gone bonkers and I’m hunkered down in a bunker on the other side of the looking glass peering into a sea of disbelief.

The clock chimed six.  Time to skedaddle and join the Mad Hatter and Hare for Chardonnay.


Addendum:  For a fascinating and informative read, I suggest that you Google The Mandela Effect and decide for yourselves the strange phenomenon of false memories.  There are two camps of people with drastically differing opinions.  Those who believe and those in the know.   And don’t even get me started on the correct spelling of The Berenstein Bears, Jiffy peanut butter and the cartoon series Looney Toons!  The list goes on and on and on...

Next post:  In a week or two!  Sometime the w/o June 15th or w/o June 22nd.  On either Tuesday or Wednesday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned!

The tale of my topsy-turvy orbit continues...

Stay home, stay safe and catch up with your reading!

 
Not everyone gets a special invite to the tea-party.







No need to further explain.

Squabbles with Voices on Week 11 of Quarantine

The squabbling, the name-calling, the pity parties and the weeping were more than I was able to endure.  The war of words had been simmering for weeks on end.  Percolating.  Brewing up a storm. 

And I was stuck smack dab in the middle.

They all blamed me. 

It was my fault.  I wasn’t being fair.  I favoured one over the other.  Can’t you see my point of view?  Give me a chance to say what I please.  Why don’t you listen to what I have to say?  Freedom of speech!  It’s my turn to tell my side of the story!  

The constant digs and condemnations were enough to make me go insane. 

The racket and the noise had reached their peak.  I was at my breaking point, precariously close to the precipice.   The flatmates from hell had crossed the line and my gasket was about to blow.   I could have been mean and kicked the bickering bunch to the curb, but then they’d be homeless in the midst of a pandemic.  Not to mention the additional stress of Voodoo dolls and payback Karma lurking menacingly in the shadows.

Despite our differences and radically opposing opinions, the roommates were family (albeit dysfunctional) and we had no other option but to figure on out how to get along.

We were not on the same page.

So, what’s a writer to do?

Our radically opposing views of the world were cause for consternation.

The voice, perspective, style and tone all crucial elements to penning a story.

The current Star of the show was raking in bucket-loads of accolades, not to mention a whole lot of laughs.  A spoonful of chuckles is all you need to banish the blues away.   Laughter is the best medicine and Humour was on a roll.

I’ve been leaning on her lately for much needed emotional support.

To help ease the anxiety and fear…

I understand my flatmates' frustration. They’ve been ignored and shuttered inside.  I’m guilty of favouring one over the other.  I haven’t given the others an opportunity to validate what they have to say.

We had to make amends.

And, in case you were wondering about the Roomies, I must confess that only one name is scribbled on my lease.  After all, I reside alone.

Contemplation was in quite the uncharacteristic rage, furious that her voice had been quelled.  Joined at the hip with best pal Reflection, the two were an inspirational team, pensive souls who spent countless hours ruminating the days away.

Melancholy was a sorrowful sight.  A nocturnal creature who used to make its presence known in the dread of night, was a shell of her former self.  The cascade of tears, a constant reminder of impending doom and gloom.  The end is near and there is so much uncertainty and fear.  Non-stop wailing about her inability to express.

Positivity was clearly having a negative day.  The meltdown was worthy of an Oscar or two.  Always one to champion the virtues of hope and optimism, my side-kick of happy vibes was in a funk, unable to deliver her message of sunnier days ahead.  Dancing in the shadows, waiting for her chance to shine.

To make a long story short, the dilemma of choosing is a challenging task.

We eventually haggled out the bare bones of a rudimentary truce.

The blank page of tomorrow has yet to be written.

Whose voice will prevail in next week’s blog post?

The negotiations continue…


Next post:  In one week or two!  The w/o June 8th, either on Tuesday, Wednesday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned!

Keep safe, catch up on your reading and be well, my dear readers!