Friday, January 18, 2013

Omnium-Gatherum

I can't believe it!
This is my fiftieth blog post!

I've gone through a huge learning curve,
and I am excited to know
that I still have a long way to ride that curve!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_ant_surfing_a_light_wave.png

My learning curve does not trend steadily upward;
rather, 
up down, 
up down; 
or,
soar,
crash-and-burn,
soar,
crash-and-burn!

Crash, Fire, and Rescue Marines in Training

I've been reading blogs and pouring through blog books,
and one thing I've come to recognize is
that I need to be more structured,
to have some kind of framework or plan 
for writing and publishing blogs.
Not there yet, but I'm working on it!

And I need at lease one thing that's predictable or repetitive,
à la Martha's wonderful Saturday Silliness,
or Jim's inspiring Contemplative Mondays.
(I'm loving the blogosphere because it is filled
with amazing bloggers like these!)

And so today I was searching for a name for
such a post among
synonyms for potpourri,
and I stumbled across omnium-gatherum.
I love new words, and this is perfect!


Omnium-Gatherum


This word comes from Latin, and its first known use was in 1530.
Sad to say, I spent two years studying Latin; but,
my recollection of Latin declensions has seriously declined!
I don't quite get why omnium is the genitive plural of omnis,
but suffice to say it means all.

And Gatherum is the English verb gather
with the Latin noun ending -um tacked on.
This means to bring together.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omnium-gatherum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_declension

So one day a week I'm going to have a post called: 
Omnium-Gatherum.
And in it, over time, I will bring together a/an

agglomerate, agglomeration, alphabet soup, assortment, botch, clutter, collage, crazy quilt, farrago, gallimaufry, grab bag, gumbo, hash, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, jambalaya, jumble, jungle, litter, macédoine, medley, mélange, menagerie, miscellanea, mishmash, mixed bag, montage, motley, muddle, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, pastiche, patchwork, patchwork, quilt, potpourri, ragbag, ragout, rummage, salad, salmagundi, scramble, shuffle, smorgasbord, stew, tumble, variety, welter...


But wait!  There's more!  
(And I considered every one of them!)
detritus, notions, oddments, odds and ends, sundries; accumulation, aggregate, aggregation, conglomerate, conglomeration; catchall; admixture, alloy, amalgam, blend, combination, commixture, composite, compound, fusion, intermixture, mix-up; bollix, chaos, confusion, disarrangement, disarray, disorder, dog's breakfast 
[chiefly British], mess, morass, muddle, shambles; imbroglio, knot, snarl, tangle

of all things that interest me (and hopefully others).

So for my first Omnium-Gatherum post 
I'm choosing a photograph from long ago, 
when I was studying Latin 
and trying to take "real" photographs
with my old Brownie Hawkeye.

Brownie Hawkeye Camera
  
To the best of my recollection, 
this is the first time 
I ever deliberately  took a photo with a Reflection in it.
Is this Herculaneum font not the funnest?!

St. Mary's River, Stillwater, Nova Scotia
The Spring Flood of 1965.

The St. Mary's River flows 160 miles (250 kilometers)
through Pictou, Antigonish, and Guysborough counties 
before it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Sonora.  
It is one of Nova Scotia's longest rivers, 
famous in the past for its salmon fishing.  
Today it is an important habitat for Atlantic salmon. 

Unrealized by me at the time, 
I was already fascinated with natural processes,
and I climbed to the top of a hill overlooking our barn
and our neighbors' farm
to record the high water reach of the river.

Spring Flood, Stillwater, 1965

And, because I knew from endless hours 
of pouring through National Geographic and Life magazines, 
that "real" photographers  
added interest, artistry, and perspective to their photos,
I tried to do the same with my photos of 
our dog Hilda 
investigating this strange new river 
and a line of fences reflected in the flood water.

Hilda Examining the Flood Water

Notice I said a photograph above.
Somehow things never go the way I intend 
when I sit down to write!

Does this happen to you?

Now I just have to figure out what one day a week I'll post

Omnium-Gatherum!

14 comments:

  1. Sometimes I think I will write one thing, and then, start to type and it becomes something else entirely!
    Congratulations on your 50th! I hope you enjoy blogging as much as I do, I think it is a joy.
    Oh! And we used to have the OMNI in Atlanta, that is where I saw all the Rock concerts in the 70's!

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    1. Thank you, Kay!
      I am finding blogging a joy! I am having so much fun! And the best part is getting to meet people from all over!
      I never saw a rock concert until the mid-80s - if you leave out Las Vegas shows. My first real concert was Bruce Springsteen. Talk about a good way to begin! Did you ever see the B52s? That's a Georgia group I've loved for many years - especially their "Rock Lobster," which is almost a family anthem in my family! I hope that you are enjoying your Friday evening!

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  2. Hi Louise. I am a creature of habit and have thus taken a path here in blogsville to have 'theme days'. I find it organized me at first. And before you joined the 'cult' Louise, I had a theme for every day! No kidding! I went a little overboard with the structure. I have retained the Monday theme because I find it is helpful to others and it is time to just slow ourselves down and spend some me time.
    I've recently added a Saturday Morning Post which is a 'play' on the old mag..Saturday Evening Post. It can contain just about anything....so far.
    I like what you have planned and look forward to the posts!

    You know what? What she said! We have beautiful ferns from the banks of the St.Mary's River in Guysborough County area on the Eastern Shore. They are about 20 years old now and quite different from the ones that are indigenous to this area. So there you have it. I don't remember that flood but then again I was just a child!!

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    1. Hi Jim!
      I can tell you right now, Jim - I'm incapable of having a theme for every single day - even my theme is a potpourri! I keep thinking Omnius-Garum instead of Omnius-Gatherum. I can't get garum out of my head. I'll see how Omnius-Gatherum "feels" as I go on. Maybe I'll change it to "Detritus" - that's feeling more me-ish at this moment. I'm always open to changing my mind. I have too much butterfly in me.

      Very cool about the ferns from Guysborough County. I wish I had understood more about the history of the region when I lived there, but I was still pretty much a kid. I went back in the 90s, and the houses I used to go to parties at with my friends and the Sunshine Shoppe where we hung out sometimes for sodas or sundaes were now part of historic Sherbrooke Village. Talk about weird!

      The flood was something else, but I don't know how much other parts of Nova Scotia were affected. I know the water came right up to the road just across from our house, but then it receded. We kids thought it was cool, but my parents were panicked.

      I could have added the Saturday Evening Post to the list of magazines I poured over, because that was another one I read cover to cover. I'll be reading your Saturday Morning Posts with more awareness of the "play" now.

      By the way I still haven't gotten that song "Take it Back" by Caro Emerald in one of your "Eclectic Tastes" posts out of my head. That is a fun theme you have going. I really enjoy it.

      Enjoy the rest of your evening!

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  3. Hi Louise! I had serious flashbacks to my five years of Latin class when I read the title of this post. In my head, I thought, "We All Gather".....and, as I read, I was pleased to find out that my Latin isn't too rusty. Anyway, I look forward to your weekly "Omnium Gatherum" posts. And those photographs above are AMAZING....I especially like the fence one and the dog one. Gorgeous! Hope you have a lovely weekend!

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    1. Thanks, Audrey!
      You had five years of Latin! That is cool! I really enjoyed Latin; but we moved a lot, and the next school I went to didn't have any languages. I had to do French by correspondence to get into university. I found out today that Rosetta Stone has a Latin series, so who knows maybe I'll plunge back into Latin.

      I'm glad that you enjoyed the photos! I was pretty excited when I took them. I had to mail the film to another province (New Brunswick) to get them developed, and before that I had to save up the money I earned from babysitting in order to pay for the developing process. Sometimes I had to wait a couple of months before I saw the pictures I took. Of course, colored photos were totally out of my price range! We have it so easy today.

      The barn/river picture was something for the geologist in me that hadn't emerged yet. Even today, I'm always running down to our park to check water levels and to see what's going on - especially after a heavy rainstorm. That was my first "geological/natural processes" photo I ever took. I just didn't realize at the time what it foretold.

      You have a lovely weekend too!

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  4. Happy 50th post! Love these photos, too!

    Isn't it amazing how quickly blog posts add up? I love blogging. Not only because I enjoy being silly, creative, etc, etc, but also because I have met some wonderful people along the way. And just like Jim, when I first started blogging, I had many theme days. I grew tired of it, and dropped many of them.

    I really enjoy your blog and I hope you are around for a long time! Your posts are lively, energetic and very engaging. So blog away!

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    1. Thank you so much, Martha! I love blogging too, and when I started I had no idea about all the great people I would meet! And the creative outlet is wonderfully satisfying! I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!

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  5. Latin...
    terra terrae
    terrae terrarum
    terrae terris
    terram terras
    terra terris

    That's how I remember Latin.

    Omnium-Gatherum....sounds like a good hook...go for it!

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    1. You are too funny, Ron! You remember more than I do! I remember the meanings, but the declensions are gone.
      I'm going for it! I was second-guessing myself with "Detritus" last night, but I think I'll stick with O-G. :)

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    2. The singular was supposed to be all in one line separate from the plural...oh well. I still remember Mrs. Morton drilling and drilling.
      Detritus sounds interesting...like a toothpaste or something! LOL

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    3. I'll never tell, Ron!
      I remember Mrs. Nichols (in Sherbrooke) drilling and drilling.
      But even more I remember the pictures of Roman homes in my Latin text book - based on pictures from Pompeii!

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  6. Congratulations on your 50th post! I look forward to many more.

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Thank you for your comments! I appreciate them very much.