Monday, March 1, 2021

A few more long livers

...somehow fell off my personal radar and weren't included in my list a couple of posts back. They include Louise H. (94), Gertrude H. (93), Phyllis M. (91), Alma S. (89), Paul W. (89), Elaine G. (88), Peggy N. (87), Bill S. (87), and Sally H. (87).

The last name on the list, Sally H., actually missed my personally-imposed threshold of 87 years by two days, but I have included her because she was an important influence in my life. Born on October 14, 1904, she died on October 12, 1991, two days before her 87th birthday. She became very much my "other mother" after my mother died. About a year after Mrs. H. died, we learned that I had been included in her will when we received from the executor of her estate (we didn't even know she had an estate) a totally unexpected check for several thousand dollars. It arrived at the best possible moment, helping to pay for our daughter's wedding. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.

In other news, March came in like a lamb in this part of the world, and Jeopardy! answers that drew blank stares from all contestants this week included:

What is "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"?
What is distemper?
What is the Po?

For the geographically challenged among you, the Po is a river in Italy.

But denial is not a river in Egypt.

This is a short post, but if I have already told you about Jeopardy! I must be through.

Without looking it up, can you name two other rivers in Italy?

7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Emma, I will tell you eventually the other two rivers I thought of, but first I want to see what answers other readers might come up with. I would not be able to name a fourth river in Italy, however.

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  2. Yes my good man, I can indeed name two other Italian rivers - The Tiber and The Arno. I have walked across each of them - not on the surface of the water you understand but via bridges. In Florence, I crossed the Arno via the famous Ponte Vecchio. The Tiber is mentioned more than once in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and I crossed it with my wife when walking from The Colosseum to St Peter's.

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    Replies
    1. Neil, if I may quote Fonzie from Happy Days, correctamundo! Incidentally, were you aware that the phrase “crossed the Tiber” means a person has embraced Roman Catholicism?

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    2. No - I never knew that Bob. Thanks.

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  3. I'm surprised none of the contestants knew distemper. I've heard about distemper in dogs all my life. I admit I am not familiar with many of the Italian rivers!

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  4. Bonnie, I was surprised also as I too have heard about distemper in dogs all my life. The interesting twist is that the clue had to do with cats. I forgot to mention that in the post.

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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...