Thursday, November 4, 2010

HIATUS

The word of the day for November 4, 2010 is "hiatus"
noun
\hī-ˈā-təs\
Latin, from hiare to yawn — more at YAWN
1. a : a break in or as if in a material object : GAP [the hiatus between the theory and the practice of the party — J. G. Colton] b : a gap or passage in an anatomical part or organ. 2. a : an interruption in time or continuity : BREAK; especially : a period when something (as a program or activity) is suspended or interrupted [after a 5-year hiatus from writing]. b : the occurrence of two vowel sounds without pause or intervening consonantal sound.


It's been way too long since I last wrote. I do hope you all got through the summer well. I've been adjusting to life with Lloyd in a care home. Now that his meds are straightened out, he is adjusting to the home, himself.

It is such a relief to know that someone is always there if he falls, that I don't have to argue or cajole him to take his meds, that I don't have to tell him repeatedly that chocolate is not good for the dog.

The staff at Golden Living of Wichita are competent and cheerful. They're always willing to answer my questions. They listen to what he says, even when his diction is unclear or just incoherent.

Lloyd in the dayroom-taken from the foyer of Golden Living of Wichita.

Our quote for today is from Henry Fielding. (1707–1754), The History of Tom Jones “IV. In Which Is Introduced One of the Pleasantest Barbers That Was Ever Recorded in History, the Barber of Bagdad, or He in Don Quixote, Not Excepted":

“Alas! sir,” answered the shaver [barber], “my father disinherited me for
it. He was a dancing-master; and because I could read before I could dance, he took an aversion to me, and left every farthing among his other children.—Will you please to have your temples—O la! I ask your pardon, I fancy there is hiatus in manuscriptis. I heard you was going to the wars; but I find it was a mistake.”—“Why do you conclude so?” says Jones. “Sure, sir,” answered the barber, “you are too wise a man to carry a broken head thither; for that would be carrying coals to Newcastle.”

;^) Jan