Strong words

Hoar frost in blue

Don’t use words too big for the subject.  Don’t say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

~ C. S. Lewis

Frosty myrtle

We had a lovely frost yesterday morning, one that involved big flake-like crystals of hoar frost on the plants around the lagoon.  Hoar frost mornings are usually bitterly cold mornings.  The combination of cold (it was 7°F when I went out for my walk yesterday) and humidity (in this case, from the lagoon) not only creates beauty, but it can be dangerous to the extremities (fingers, toes, nose, and ears).  It was on a hoar frost morning in the Bogs that I hurt my fingers, not to the point of frostbite but enough that my fingertips really feel the cold, in a painful way, when I go out on chilly days.  Now I wear gloves AND mittens for hoar frost mornings.

Salutations

I went out just after sunrise to admire the wintry beauty.  I’m going to pepper the post with some of the images I captured while I ramble about something.  I hope you don’t mind.

Frosty fog and sunbeams

Hate is a lack of imagination.

~ Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory

Enlightened.  (I didn’t alter the colors in this image.  The frozen fog and sunlight gave it a sepia glow.)

Several years ago, maybe longer, I removed the word “hate” from my vocabulary.  It didn’t happen overnight.  I had to work at it.  Like a lot of folks, I used the word inappropriately, throwing it around hither and thither, over and yon, without much thought about the strength of the word.  Hate means a passionate or intense dislike.  Many of the things I said I hated didn’t inspire much passion or intensity.  It had become, for me, a lazy way to express my displeasure or my dislike with less than optimal conditions.

Glow time

The idea behind removing “hate” from my vocabulary wasn’t just to strengthen my vocabulary skills.  It was a step towards removing negativity from my words and thoughts after being told that I could be a very negative person.  I was hurt by the remark because I didn’t see myself that way, but it taught me to be mindful with my words.  If I knew how to get in touch with the woman who said that to me, I would thank her for it.  She was right, and if she hadn’t mentioned it, I might not have noticed it for a long time, if ever.

Pretty in pink light

A couple of weeks ago, I commented on something to M, and he replied, “That’s a strong word for it.”  I must have looked puzzled because he explained, “Hate.  It’s a strong word.  Do you really hate it?”  Oh.  When did that word creep back into my life?  And how often was I using it?

Home of the frost faeries.  (If you look closely, you might see them hiding in the background.)

I used the word hate a lot when I was a child, especially during my teen years.  Most everyone I knew at the time did.  Teens are good at hating this, that, and the other thing.  It wasn’t until I was an adult with a child of my own that I learned just how, well, hateful the word hate can be.  If you’ve ever had your child say to you, “I hate you!” then you know how hurtful it is, even if you know the child doesn’t mean it (thank goodness!).

Did you know hoar frost makes a chiming, tinkling sound when it falls?

I started monitoring my speech recently and it turns out I was using the H word pretty frequently.  Yikes.  So, once again I am on a mission to clean up my words and thoughts.  Hate was not the only negative thought or word to creep back in.  There’s the word “no” when I should be saying “yes.”  Or “can’t” when I very well can if I only tried.  Words can be so powerful.  It seems a shame to put out negative energy when I don’t have to.

The crystals look like little trees.

That’s about it from me and from the Wabi-Sabi Ranch for today.  Construction work on the addition continues in spite of the cold.  John the Construction Guy has been here every day this week, even when it was zero degrees.  The electricians did their thing this week, too, and the wiring is roughed in.  I’m amazed at how fast everything is going.

Curvature

Thank you for stopping by.  Do you have any plans for the weekend?  I think M and I will be sticking close to home.  We need to chop and haul wood for the wood stove, and I’ll probably continue my slow unpacking and organizing of the kitchen.  I might set a world record for slowest unpacking.

I almost forgot.  My MOVs for the week:

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂  And have a great weekend!

The lagoon in winter