Sunday Sundries, 229

1. Critter of the Week [COTW]: Frequenting our back yard is a rather fat bunny, and whenever I see him (her?) out in the back, browsing, I think of Watership Down, of the rabbits out for their "evening silflay [snack]." I'm sure I will not think so kindly of him (her?) when he (she?) begins to dine on our strawberries, but, for now, I find myself inexplicably thrilled whenever I see him (her?), and if a critter makes me feel good? Well, that earns him (her?) the COTW! (Should I apologize to him (her?) for all those relatives of his (hers?) whom my father shotgunned? Those cooked corpses I subsequently ate with glee in boyhood? Nah. He (She) would understand ... right?

2. I finished two books this week.

     - The first was the latest story collection, Orange World (2019) by one of our best young writers--Karen Russell. I first became aware of her work in 2006 when I read glowing reviews of her debut, a collection of stories called St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. I consumed it like a box of Wheat Thins, could not believe the skill--the language--that Russell brought to every sentence.

Subsequently, I have read all her books (there are now five)--and have been happy, now and then, to see one of her stories in The New Yorker. She has one novel (Swamplandia!, 2011), which I liked but did not love so much as I do her short stories.

This latest collection features some wild ones, that's for sure. There's one about some ghosts at an old mountaintop lodge who kind of don't realize they're ghosts. There's another about a young woman who's invaded by the essence of a Joshua tree (!). Another based loosely on Madame Bovary ... You get the idea?

Her stories are strange--but here's the wild part: They are absolutely credible. Her skill is such that she draws you immediately into the world she is creating; you live there; you believe it.

I look for great things from her--even greater than she's already managed. She'll be 38 in July--so many wonderful years--and books--to come!

     - The second was The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story (2019), a debut work by Cara Robertson, who has a Ph.D. (English) from Oxford and a JD from Stanford Law School. And, boy, did I learn a lot in this text!

In August 1892 the father and stepmother of Lizzie (in her early 30s--still living at home in Fall River, Mass.) were found brutally hacked to death in their own home. Who did it? And why?

I've known a bit about this case for a long time--it has been part of the popular culture for more than a century. In 1961 (I was a high-school senior in 1961-62) the Chad Mitchell Trio (a folk group a la The Kingston Trio) released their song "Lizzie Borden." (Link to their song.) They began with a (spoken) quatrain that has been around for years: Elizabeth Borden took an axe / And gave her mother forty whacks. / And when the job was nicely done, / She gave her father forty-one!

So ... leap ahead to 2019. I was simply not prepared for the complexity of this case--of Lizzie's trial--all of which Robertson recounts here in amazing detail (oh, the research she did!).

But most surprising of all? The trial verdict ... and Lizzie's subsequent life. I'll not spoil it for you.

3. I used a word this week--grueling--then looked at it and wondered: Is that related to gruel, that cereal thingy? Looked it up.

And gruel, which goes back to the 14th century, comes from various sources and does, in fact, mean flour or an oatmealy type of cereal.

Back in the 18th century, the word morphed a bit--to have one's gruel meant punishment. And from there, it was a rather quick trip to punishing, exhausting, etc.

So there!

4. We're looking forward to streaming the movie Deadwood on HBO. We were devotees of the original HBO series way back when. We'll probably wait until we've finished the latest season of Bosch, though.

Years ago, when our son, Steve, was but a lad, we visited Deadwood, SD, and walked around, saw the famous graves, etc. And, of course, I've loved cowboy movies and TV shows forever. Link to trailer for Deadwood.

5. I did a post last week about a song we used to sing in music class back in the Hiram School when I was in 7th and 8th grade--"The Green Cathedral." I said in that post that I'd ordered the sheet music. It came (see pic). And I was surprised to see (or maybe not surprised?) that its original copyright was in 1944. The year I was born ... [cue theme music from The Twilight Zone]...

6. Last Word--a word I liked this week from one of my various online word-of-the-day providers ...

     - from Oxford English Dictionary

gilravage, n. Noisy or drunken merrymaking; boisterous play; commotion, confusion. Also: an instance of this.

Pronunciation: Brit. /ɡᵻlˈravɪdʒ/,  U.S. /ɡəlˈrævɪdʒ/,  Scottish /ɡᵻlˈravɪdʒ/,  Irish English /ɡəlˈrævɪdʒ/

Forms: see gilravage v.

Origin: Apparently formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: gilravage v.

Etymology:Apparently <  gilravage v.

 Scottish, English regional (northern), and Irish English.

a1796  R. Burns Poems & Songs(1968) I. 124 While at the stook the shearers cow'r..Or in gulravage rinnin scow'r To pass the time.

1818 Edinb. Mag. & Lit. Misc.  Sept. 155 Muckle din an' loud gilraivitch was amang them, gaffawan an' lauchan.

1838  T. Carlyle Let.  12 June in  T. Carlyle  & J. W. Carlyle Coll. Lett.(1985) X. 96 This season of the year is all on a gallop here in London with dinners and meetings and business and gilravish of all kinds.

1856  J. Strang Glasgow & its Clubs  125 Scottish ‘Galraviches’, as these drinking bouts were called, are well known to all acquainted with the ‘annals of the bottle’.

1863  R. Paul Let.  in Mem.(1872) xviii. 269 An after-dinner galravage with the children.

1876  W. Brockie Confessional  185 A' thing's ranshacklt frae head to fit, Ye canna get room to stand or sit, There's sic a gulravage as never was kennd.

1910  P. W. Joyce Eng. as we speak it in Ireland  xiii. 270 Gulravage, gulravish; noisy boisterous play.

1968 Classical Rev.  18 162 Simice and the daughter were arbitrarily and incorrectly given speaking parts in the post-rescue scene, and Simice again in the final gilravage [sc. wedding celebrations].

2013 Scotsman(Nexis) 6 Mar. If there are any statesmen left in Britain it is high time they stepped forward and brought some clear thinking to the present gilravage.