Thursday, February 26, 2009

Here a blog, there a blog, everywhere a blog blog...


Good morning (or afternoon, or evening, as the case may be)!

When I look at the little map thingy over there in the sidebar and realize that over fifty countries are represented by little red dots (meaning someone in the dot has found his or her way to my doorstep), I also realize that it is morning, afternoon, and evening all at the same time on this amazing planet we live on. Not for each one of us individually, of course, but for all of us collectively.

My science teacher would be so proud.

And just as American playwright Eugene O'Neill once said, “The iceman cometh,” American blogger rhymeswithplague now says, “The blogosphere cometh.” I have no idea what that means, but it sure sounds good.

I don’t have an award to distribute today (if I did I would certainly distribute it). Instead, I want to introduce you to some of your fellow rhymeswithplague readers so that you can get to know one another, as it were, but only if you care to. As you will see, you are a varied lot, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Say hello to:

Pat - An Arkansas Stamper, who recently attended the 137th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas as a lay delegate.

Jeannelle of Iowa (not to be confused with Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of Richard the Lion-hearted), who is passing her midlife by farmlight with a herd of Holstein cows.

Sam Gerhardstein of Columbus, Ohio who manages to find some really neat things about which to post, including a video of Patches the Horse that is not to be missed.

Dr. John Linna of Neenah, Wisconsin, who claims to have a little town in his basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is back to normal (a contradiction in terms if I ever heard one).

Ruth Hull Chatlien of Zion, Illinois, who has written books that have been published by real publishers, and so has her husband, Michael.

Mr. Yorkshire X. Pudding, Esq., M.D., P.D.Q., N.Y.P.D., L.S.M.F.T., who lives in England and enjoys soccer or rugby or something.

Ian (a.k.a. “Silverback”) who divides his time between Sebring, Florida, and Leeds, Yorkshire, in the U.K.

Daphne, also of Leeds, Yorkshire, in the U.K., who once visited Ian (a.k.a. “Silverback”) in Sebring, Florida.

Mr. David (“Putz”) Barlow of Ephraim, Utah, who seems to be a heck of a nice guy even though he is orthographically challenged.

Mary @ Annie’s Goat Hill, who makes soap and lotions somewhere in southwestern Ohio.

Reamus (Michael in Carlsbad, California), whose writing makes me positively green with envy.

Carolina in Nederland who not only lives in Nederland but also, according to the sidebar thingy, in Apeldoorn, Gelderland.

Tracie in Florida, who has a rose bush named Rosezilla.

Vonda, who calls herself Egghead and lives on a little egg farm in Oregon.

Dr. Jim, who is not a medical doctor but a college professor of business, now retired, whose video of either St. John or St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands -- the text says one thing and the video caption says another -- drove me crazy. Also, on his other blog, Ask Dr. Jim, Dr. Jim invites readers to pose questions that he attempts to answer after the manner of Ann Landers and her twin sister, Dear Abby. Some of these are a real hoot.

A guy in Arkansas named Richie who owns a business called Richie’s but who signs himself as Richies, go figure, and who once took a beautiful picture of a sunrise in Belize, formerly British Honduras.

Daisy, whose profile says she lives pretty darn close to Toronto, Canada, with her husband, a 5 year old son, dog and cat. I would have said “...dog, and cat” but I went to school a long time ago when teachers still emphasized the serial comma.

Yellow Swordfish, another chap in England.

Yellow Swordfish’s wife, Jay, who goes absolutely bonkers over Johnny Depp. I should warn you about many of these English bloggers that they think nothing of peppering their posts with Anglo-Saxonisms that would make American sailors blush and turn away. It is their language, of course, and they can do with it whatever they please, far be it from me to criticize, or, as they would say, criticise, them in the speaking of their own tongue, but many on this side of the pond have tender ears and delicate sensibilities about such things (we are a young country), the presence of R-rated movies on certain cable television channels notwithstanding.

Delwyn, a woman in Australia who just started blogging in January. She recently celebrated her Frangipani anniversary and loves blue-tongued skinks and, according to her profile, something called “stand-up paddling” and who is already a major force in blogdom, or ought to be.

Mrs. Rhymeswithplague sometimes reads Rose of Sharon up in Michigan and also Confessions of a Pioneer Woman out in Oklahoma, but both of those bloggers take so many photographs and write so many words every single day that it makes my head swim. If you go to their links, you may never find your way back.

These are some of the folks who visit my blog. Some other readers I would like to get to know better include Gail, Grumpy Old Ken, Lula’s Daughter, and Katherine in New Zealand.

And you. I see you lurking out there.

(Photo of Coney Island, 1945, by Arthur (Weegee) Felliq)

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for the referral, RWP. And for the links to others who regularly read your blog. Those who are far, far away are as close as a click. Wonderful, is it not?

    Sending a smile your way. :)

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  2. Well, that was a pleasent surprise. Thanks for the link.

    I got rapped on the hand about 10 years ago about the comma thing

    blah, dog and cat
    vs
    blah, blah, and blah

    where the 2nd is what I preferred, but the first is apparently what is supposed to be.

    Now I can not tell you who rapped my hand, however, it got drilled into me.. so there you have it.

    Thanks again,

    Daisy, from near Toronto, Canada
    with hubby, kid, dog and cat

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  3. Oh, rhymsie....what a great post! Good for many smiles. Thank you for the mention. (I need to study up on Eleanor of Aquitaine....I hope she was nice....and kept her head.)

    I'm trying to find myself in that crowded photo. I don't get to the beach very often, though. Were there beaches in Aquitaine, do you think?

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  4. Pat - I didn't even poison the well by revealing that you aren't really from Arkansas at all, you're from Texas by way of New Mexico. Oops, I guess I just did.

    answerstarts with you (Daisy) - Let me begin by apologizing for calling you "answers" in another comment, as that would make you "answers tarts with you" (unless you really do intend to answer tarts with me, not that I know any) before I noticed that your blogname is "answer starts with you" so a thousand pardons from moi.

    Secondly, I thinkg the 2nd (the one you preferred) is what it is supposed to be, not the first, and I think whoever rapped your hand and told you that is completely out of order and should be brought up on charges of abuse. I know the language is constantly changing (well, maybe not constantly), but two widely recognized authorities are Theodore Bernstein's The Careful Writer and Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. S&W says, and I quote, "In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. Thur write,

    red, white, and blue
    gold, silver, or copper
    He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.

    In the names of business firms the last comma is usually omitted.

    Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith"

    Bernstein, a few years newer, says, "Should it be 'The colors are red, white and blue' or 'The colors are red, white, and blue'? The answer is either; the authorities do not agree and never will agree on whether a comma should or should not precede the 'and.' The only rule is that once you have made your choice you should follow it consistently."

    So apparently you can do what you like and I can do what I like and never shall the twain meet.

    I think that (a) you should go with your first "gut feel" and (b) you were the victim of a well-intentioned but completely wrong rapper.

    So, unless "hubby, kid, dog and cat" is the name of a business firm, you know what you have to do.

    This irreconcilable difference between us could be merely one difference in a Canadian education and an American education. Not that Canadians aren't Americans (North Americans).

    I hope we can move on now.

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  5. thinkg -> think, of course, and Thur -> Thus.

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  6. Hey, Jeannelle ("hey" is what we say in the South instead of "hi") - I think I see you standing near the Nathan's Hot Dogs stand. No, wait, that's Eleanor Roosevelt.

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  7. OK now I must find even more people to read about. Blogs are so interesting....they certainly suck me in.

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  8. That's me, 57th row back, just left of middle. Thanks for thinking of me. And for some reason the fact that blogs suck Egghead in just cracks me up... I'm feeling somewhat juvenile today :)

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  9. Hi, again, rhymsie,

    We say "Hey" up here, too. Not really in place of "Hi", but when saying things like, "Hey, rhymsie....pass the ketchup" or "Hey, rhymsie, how'd you get to be such a great blogger?" Probably if I ran into you at the Readlyn post office, I would say, "Hi, rhymsie......what the heck are YOU doing here!"

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  11. Thanks for the kind words RWP, and who said there were no territories to conquer? They obviously have never used the Internet. It is the new frontier.
    I am not in that particular picture, but I am in a similar one no doubt at that very beach a number of 4th of July weekends later. Used to take the subway there all summer back when the world and we were young.

    Great post.

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  12. Love, love, love to hear from friends in cyberspace!

    Egghead (Vonda) - You mean like a vacuum cleaner?

    Rosezilla (Tracie) - I checked out the 57th row back, just left of middle, but that was certainly no juvenile....

    Jeannelle - Well, we say "hey" like "hi" and Carolina in Nederland says "hoi" and up in Sweden the Swedes say "hej" and the Aussies say "g'die, mite" but Anna Russell always said "Good Ahfternoon."

    Reamus (Michael - Alexander the Great is supposed to have wept because there were no worlds left to conquer, but I want to know is why would you take the subway all summer long to a beach you couldn't even see? Or maybe the beach wasn't what you went to see.

    The Owl and the Pussycat went to see in a beautiful pea-green boat....

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  13. RWP...It seemed the thing to do when you had a dime for the subway and it was too hot in Brooklyn...no yjer excuse. Of course we didn't go see to see the beach...one couldn't!

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  14. Interesting photo! Zandvoort in the Netherlands, The Netherlands or Holland looks much the same in summer I hear. Fortunately I have never experienced it.
    Lovely idea to introduce us all to each other.

    WV: mosus (our cat is called Mozes. Coincidence?)

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  15. Me again, just to let you know that the current word verification freaks me out, but rest assured: I do not accept it as an order!
    It is: slyahrim. Isn't that creepy? They must know you are on to them.
    I will stop mentioning the wv's from now on (unless they are really interesting).

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...