flea market finds

this year's flea market was a bit disappointing. there wasn't any good 70s pottery and when i first went, it was so crowded that it was actually downright unpleasant. but here and there, in between, i managed to find a few treasures. like this embroidered mormor (grandma) pillow with a fine rooster on it. 

i spotted these tiny houses in amongst a bunch of plates and cups that i wouldn't want. they were probably made by some child in school, but i love them.

the guy said i could give 5 kroner for both, but i felt badly about that, so i gave 5 kroner each (about $1). the money does, after all, go to the local scouts.

these will go nicely on my tiny houses board on pinterest (which is part of why i've posted so many photos of them here).

i do wish the child who made them had signed them. that would make them even nicer.

i also found this little teal blue typewriter for just 50 kroner. the blue is much better than it looks in this photos. i've not tried it yet, but i shall.

i had to have this sweet little red enamel bowl - it will be a perfect berry picking bowl. it says made in yugoslavia on the bottom, which makes it even more charming in my book.

tobias approves of the new chicken pillow. or maybe it's just that i put it in his favorite chair.

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i love this little article about unusable words.

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and how about an imaginary world encyclopedia that is unreadable?

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and speaking of books, reading this article makes me long to have lived in another time.

secret 6 - the truth about me and crossword puzzles

despite being a person who loves words. adores them. is practically addicted to them. simply can't get enough. and who has even been fondly accused of having a mild case of hypergraphia, i don't like crossword puzzles. never have. they feel like a trick to me. like there's something a bit malevolent in them. so i never do them. ever. not even if i'm really bored.

and to ease the blow of such a short secret today, i'll send a little surprise to the first person who guesses the book above correctly.

a new world dawns

just a quick post while my new work laptop does its installation thang in the background. it's a dell latitude E4200 and while i'm normally morally opposed to dell (them being evil thanks to michael dell being a huge contributor to bush-cheney campaigns), this computer is so tiny and so light that it almost (but not quite) makes up for it not being a mac. and i do so love the technology and gadgets. it's so tiny it's practically gadget sized. but enough about that.

you can look forward to a lot of new terminology here on MPC in the foreseeable future. there will probably be a lot more talk about longitudinal bulkheads and hatch coamings, ballast tanks and water ingress detectors, maximum sailing draughts, propulsion, starboard, port and aft. so many fun new words.

but now i'm off to the graphics department to see the new designs of my magazine (that's so exciting!), so i'll catch ya this evening.

it's a funny language

having english-speaking visitors reminded me of all of those words in danish that appear quite hilarious to the native english speaker, but which have ceased to seem funny to me after ten years because i know what they mean in danish.  things like:

slutspurt - used in regard to sales in shops--it's like the final days of the sale--the final "spurt" of the sale, if you will. no sluts are actually involved (i don't think that kind of thing goes on sale).

fart plan - this is seen on ferries and at bus/train stations--it's the schedule. when i got here, i thought, whoa, the danes are even more organized than the germans!

fart kontrol - warning that there is a speed trap ahead (they're kind enough to let you know here). when i first got here, i thought it was pretty incredible that they thought they could control such things.

i fart - this just means "in motion" and can be seen in elevators. probably tho', what you think it means could happen in an elevator as well.

fagfolk - this isn't a derogatory term for homosexuals written on the side of a truck, but another way of saying professional.  a fag is a profession and it's pronounced "fay."

during my sister's recent visit, we quite literally had hours of fun laughing over these.

then, this morning, i came across this in the NYTimes and realized it could be worse, the words could actually BE in english already and you could live in places with names like crotch creek and the like. read it if you'd like a laugh.

new balderdash just in

new balderdash is up for your reading pleasure...

and as usual, a teaser:

unsess - to push yourself beyond what you think you can do, only to find that you can do it and you're invincible.

and through a haze of smoke from her burning hair...

i've been reading a lot of new year's posts in recent days, as you might imagine, it being new year's and all...as we saw in my facetious new year's resolutions post, i'm not really one for making real resolutions, mostly because i never keep them anyway and like christmas cards, it's just something else to feel guilty about. (aside: i don't send christmas cards and every one that i receive is like a little dagger of guilt, tho' luckily not sending any has tapered off the amount i receive over the years so it's not very much guilt these days.)

there are, however, a couple of posts that have me thinking. beth on doors are everywhere has chosen a single word that will be her mantra for the year. last year it was "see" and she became very engaged in photography. this year, her word is "focus." a single word can be powerful. the other thoughts on new year's resolutions are sunmamma's posts on her new year's intentions. i like that notion very much, to have intentions towards the new year. because the new year does seem to be a time to begin anew, the clean calendar pages stretching before you, quivering in all of their delicious potential.

when i think back to 2008, although i didn't have a specific word in mind, i think that healing and creativity were two of the big words for me. inspiration was a factor as well. at the beginning of the year, i was definitely looking to find balance again. but now, what do i want this year to be about?

ARRGH!!! I WANT 2009 TO BE ABOUT NOT SETTING MY HAIR ON FIRE!! can you believe that i just did it AGAIN! much worse this time...like long-term, absolutely ridiculous-looking damage right in the front!! i look forward to not having to heat this room with CANDLES!!! and now i have to let all of the heat out while i air out the horrible BURNED HAIR SMELL!!!  HOW CAN A PERSON WRITE A SERIOUS, THOUGHTFUL BLOG POST UNDER THESE CONDITIONS?!?!

perhaps after all of the traveling of the past couple of years, my word for this year should be home. or perhaps simplicity in light of my desire to live a less materially-obsessed life.  but frankly, what with the stench of burned hair and all, i've kinda lost the thread on this post. if any of you thinks of a word that seems like it should be my mantra for 2009, do let me know...i'm open to any helpful suggestions at this point...maybe i should just pick one of those verification words. how about gredlome or dhoolo or ungistun...hmmm, i might be onto something there...

new balderdash just in

just posted some new balderdash...here's a teaser:

isess - that white residue left in the liquid at the bottom of a glass that has contained ice cubes.

announcing balderdash!

in response to popular demand, yesterday i created a new blog called balderdash. it's going to be exclusively for those hilarious verification word definitions. molly has agreed to help me out. we've invited amanda of WTF? wednesday fame as well, since she actually started the whole thing (but she hasn't accepted the invitation yet--we hope it's because she's traveling). anyway we're going to continue making up definitions for those quasi-words.

we'd like to thank google for making them much more word-like and totally inspiring us. now, get on over there and see what we've got (so far, it's my three previous postings that contained these, plus one brilliant one molly did yesterday and the one i'm about to post right now).

balderdash (is what she writes when she's got nothin' else)

it seems that not only are the verification words more word-like, they're getting more poetic as well. my definitions, however, not so much.

catmodea - small matted furballs left around the house by the cat after she grooms herself.

sliftemi - the taste left in your mouth after licking an envelope or a stamp.

unbrines - the last little sad pickles left in the jar and pushed to the back of the refrigerator, only to eventually be thrown out.

secueds - linguistic term for mild versions of swear words adapted from ones that had a religious origin. e.g. "cheese and rice" instead of "jesus christ" and "oh my goodness" instead of "oh my god."

keddlip - that sad little quivering lip sported by disappointed children. from the danish root "ked af det" (to be sad about something).

complue - low-level administrator who unwittingly helps a shady businessman commit his white collar crimes. not important enough to be an accomplice.

ementar - the weepy, slightly thick moisture that collects in the plastic on cheese that's been in the fridge for too long.

sphectum - an instrument for measuring quantities of phlegm. (not that i know why anyone would want to do that).

matracc - to become entangled in office politics.

pernies - people who take home food from a buffet.

wigimper - one who repairs wigs.

pholoof - an expression of relief to still be alive upon completion of a marathon or triathlon. (as if i'd know.)

dribloa - a pitcher that doesn't quite pour right, but always dribbles on the tablecloth.

crilec - a person with a chronic injury caused by excessive use of a hand-held electronic device. as in: "she used her iPhone constantly and now she's a total crilec."

cheedi - young people gathered on a quiet residential street smoking and setting off firecrackers when they should be in school. i was lucky enough to get a photo of some cheedi yesterday:

just far too many hairballs and stuff lurking in the back of the refrigerator to be poetic this time.

a bit more balderdash

will someone please remind me why i have a job which requires that i fly to get there? oh wait, it's because it's a fantastic opportunity and i get to work on interesting things together with people who are motivated and who i really like to be around (all of which i really mean and am not trying to be sarcastic)...but still, i have to fly to get to it. commercial no less. and getting to the airport involves almost exactly an hour on a train from where i live. but that gave me plenty of time this morning to write a few more definitions for those verification words:

aquallar - that luminous, transparent turquoise blue of the sea off boracay.

subedi - pockets of no cellular service when the metro goes underground.

vemputis - an uncontrollable tendency to wear black or nearly-black nail polish.

terysol - a spray which should be used to freshen the air outside of office buildings where smokers gather now that smoking inside isn't allowed.

epoide - the portion of a t.v. program that's shown between commercials.

pedinges - the small splashes of nail polish that get on the cuticle by mistake and must be removed with a brush wetted with nail polish remover by the nice nail girl.

jibist - one who makes out as if they had no idea what their underlings were doing. example: ken lay was the very epitome of a jibist in the enron scandal.

i think i'm kind of on a roll here, but now i'm running out of words, so i'd better go comment on some blogs at collect some more.

i wish you all a wonderful thanksgiving. i'll be working tomorrow, since people on this side of the planet are curiously oblivious to the best holiday of all. i'm doing a turkey and all the fixins on friday tho', together with our very best friends. and for that, i am thankful.

stacked books and balderdash

i hadn't stacked any books in awhile, but this morning, these books leapt off the shelves and just stacked themselves. strange, i'm not feeling as bleak as this stack would indicate, perhaps it's just residual withdrawal from the antics of sarah palin.

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for several weeks, i've been collecting those blogger verification words that look like real words. it's so much more entertaining now that they changed their algorithm and the words look like they might mean something. i find myself constantly scrambling for a pen and paper when i'm surfing the blogosphere, so these words are scribbled everywhere in the house..on the edges of newspaper, in the notes on my iPhone (for those times when no pen/paper were available), i even started a document with a bunch of them in it, but mostly, they're scribbled here, along with phone numbers and movie seats and journal prompts and stamped owls and the name of a fabulous chanel perfume, on a scrap notecard at my desk.

but, inspired by amanda's post nearly a month ago, i thought i'd make up some definitions for some of the ones that seem most fun.

cringo: i was going to say that it's what you do when you see a WTF Wednesday posting like this one, but upon further reflection, i think it's a curly-haired white person in mexico.

rhorifer:  a filter which clears away boring conversations like "do any of you ever use the highest temperature wash on your washing machine?" at dinner parties. i'm looking into a portable version of one of these.

domit: a small home constructed in the garden to attract hedgehogs.

menwisms:  the all-too-seldom clever utterance or observation by the male of the species. as in husband's statement last week while watching news of california wildfires on CNN that it so typical of americans to participate in global warming in such an extreme way.

brapigic:  that itchy feeling you get when you've just taken off an ill-fitting bra.

mismar:  to accidentally get caught in the waves and get the bottom of your pant legs all wet.

kajushin:   spontaneous squatting.

quinort:  an orangey-colored moss found at the foot of evergreens in the forest.  can be brewed into a healthy (if somewhat bitter) tea.

this reminds me of playing balderdash, that game where you make up funny definitions for words, at family holidays.