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

Permeate

The Word of the Day for March 13 is "permeate."

permeate: (verb) To spread or flow throughout.


Synonyms: imbue, pervade, interpenetrate, diffuse, riddle, penetrate


Usage: An atmosphere of distrust has permeated this administration.


Relevance to my life: By the time I had returned from dropping my younger daughter off at school and walked into the kitchen, the smell of freshly-brewed coffee had permeated the kitchen and enveloped me in a snug haze rife with the promise of caffeine.

Java Jive

Sing it with me!







Coffee Cantata
Even J.S. Bach got in on it. This is too great not to plug. It's a secular cantata which satirizes coffee-addiction. In the following aria, the soprano declares her love for coffee:

"Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, mellower than muscatel wine. Coffee, coffee I must have, and if someone wishes to give me a treat, ah, then pour me out some coffee!"

For a short synopsis of the cantata read this







Latte Art... in Dutch
I may have to try this today.