2001-12-07 - 5:21 p.m.

Dingles

Dingles-----

Revisited an old word today-dingle. I think it means a valley, like a dale, or a vale. Isn't it odd, how many words there are that we do not use anymore? On the way to work and back, I have been listening to the 9 CD Lord of the Rings. It is very scary in places and the voices are done superbly.

The last few trips have been concerning Merry and Pippin going with the Ent(a giant anthromorphic tree) That is where a dingle is mentioned. It has been a long time since I have read the books, and I don't remember the Ents, or even Merry and Pippin being captured by the Orcs. There has been quite a hulaballoo about Harry Potter lately, but books of this sort have been around a long time. Perhaps my conscience is seared by my reading habits or perhaps I am rationalizing the issue, but most everyone is familiar with Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, etc, all of which feature witches and other not-real creatures.

Actually, if it is an issue, perhaps all fiction is at issue. 800 is of that frame of mind. He often chides me for 'living on the fiction side of life'. I do not often live on the fiction side when it comes to real things. The real world is very real and I have never been able to imagine it differently. I have noticed that some have a view of their life that is very far removed from what is really happening, and that is probably more harmful than reading fiction and knowing it is fiction.

But listen carefully. Can you hear the swelling refrain of the William Tell Overture as the Lone Rationalizer rides again?

1d and I went to the employee sale this afternoon. She wanted some Tater Tots and veggies. I got some home fries and flame-roasted corn on the cob. The fries are so good just tipped into the frying pan in bacon drippings and crisped, and the corn was delicious. A five pound sack of prepared potato product like tots or fries for fifty cents is such a good buy. In the old days when I worked there for a winter, one could only buy cases. When I quit in the spring, I bought a case of Tots, one of Bucks, Tri-taters, and french fries. The boys were all teenagers and those cases were so good. We usually stored up about 600 pounds of fresh potatoes back then.

The meat portions were not very big but with mashed or fried potatoes and pan gravy, we enjoyed every supper. Canned veggies from the garden, or bought at the case sale and homemade bread completed the meal. Plain lettuce salad was available as money was. We all thought we ate pretty well. Cookies, candy, pop and chips were a rarity and a treat instead of an everyday staple as now. There was very little sickness in our home, and a good thing since there was no medical insurance.

Those were good years and I often wish I had savoured them more.

EE's devotional

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