Woebegone

The Word of the Day for March 18 is "woebegone."

woebegone: (adjective) affected by or full of grief or woe

Synonyms: sorrowful, woeful

Usage: Some cling to you in woebegone misery; others come back fiercely and weirdly, like ghouls bent upon sucking your strength away; others, again, have a catastrophic splendour; some are unvenerated recollections, as of spiteful wild-cats clawing at your agonized vitals; others are severe, like a visitation; and one or two rise up draped and mysterious, with an aspect of ominous menace.

Relevance to my life: Upon hearing the verdict, the child looked up at me with such a woebegone expression on her face: huge eyes brimming over with tears and bottom lip trembling. I weakened for a second and nearly relented, but recovering my determination, I repeated, "No cookies before dinner."

I can't hear the word woebegone without thinking of all those Saturday nights listening to Prairie Home Companion on the radio with the family. Garrison Keillor's updates from Lake Woebegon (his hometown) were always my favorite.

Dusty and Lefty
This is a clip from the movie based on the radio show







Coffee
Also from the movie







Darryl Tollerud's Long Day
Here is a bit from one of his updates from Lake Woebegon.

"It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon... my home town."








On Being a Dad
Priceless