Did you know that “Taken back” is a nautical term. If the wind suddenly changed direction a sailing ship stopped moving forward. It was ‘taken aback’, which was a bit of a shock for the sailors. VINEGAR OF THE FOUR THIEVES: Recipes & curious tips from the past See best-selling books by Donna R […]
DID YOU KNOW that “break a leg” comes from the superstitious age. It was once thought that jealous forces, always present, are only too anxious to spoil any venture so people looked for ways to divert the jealous forces. It was thought that a good luck wish would alert and provoke them to do their […]
A shamble was a bench where butchers used to set to sell meat from. In time the street where meat was sold often became known as the Shambles. (This street name survives in many towns today). However because butchers used to throw offal into the street, shambles came to mean a mess or something very […]
The phrase BITES THE DUST – comes from Ancient Greece This phrase comes from a translation of the epic Ancient Greek poem the Illiad about the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. It was poetic way of describing the death of a warrior. REVIEWS: The exhilarating action & subplots keep the reader in constant […]
Do you remember the book mobile? by Dorothy Graham Gast The Christmas I was ten, I asked for and received a 10 book set of reading classics. It had Heidi, Robinson Crusoe, Black Beauty,Little Women, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Tale of Two Cities, Call of the Wild, Alice in Wonderland, The Secret Garden, and Treasure Island. I read and reread these and finally began to loan […]
The idiom: Chip on your shoulder means being angry about something that happened in the past. A ‘chip’ can be defined as a piece of timber, or wood. Depending on the amount and size, timber can be quite heavy, and oftentimes people carry heavy things on their shoulders. The phrase appears to have originated with a 19th […]
The phrase to WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE means you are displaying your emotions to everyone. This phrase could have derived from the custom at middle ages jousting matches. Knights are said to have worn the colours of the lady they were supporting, in cloths or ribbons tied to their arms. However, it was […]
From the 1850’s to the 1930’s, more than 250,000 orphans from New York City and Boston were sent westward. The train made many stops along the way as married couples picked out the boy or girl they wanted. Michigan was one of many middle western states to take in 12,500 children from 3 to 16 […]
Aunt Bula’s Tombstone. By Dorothy Gast Aunt Bula was Granny Barton’s older sister that never married. She lived with her mother, Molly Cork, on the old “Red Jim” Cork place about 3 miles northwest of Wesley Chapel Church in Ralph, Alabama. When Molly Cork realized she could no longer manage her farm she made a […]
MAY DAY by Inez McCollum May is such a happy, beautiful time of the year. Across the South, there are bright colors to be found in those shrubs and trees that have been dormant all winter. It is a wonderful time of year to be outdoors and enjoy God’s Creation. Those birds I feed all […]
