published on LITERARY HUB "To Mary Frances food was a metaphor for living." By Ruth Reichl July 3, 2019 “Please don’t whisper,” whispers Mary Frances. Even reduced to the tiniest thread, her voice is imperious. The small house in the tawny Sonoma fields is quiet. She lies propped up in a large bed in a dark room.... Continue Reading →
[Please note: I take credit for none of these! SB SM] 1. When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison. 2. To me, "drink responsibly" means don't spill it. 3. Age 60 might be the new 40, but 9:00 pm is the new midnight. 4. It's the start of a... Continue Reading →
[This is the way things go. Silverback Digest discovered the Blindboy several years ago and made his "What's the craic?" a regular feature. Now he's touted by the New York Times as the next big thing. Will the predictable follow, i.e. that so many others will hop on to the media bandwagon that Blindboy will... Continue Reading →
[This is the story of an outlaw who wore a bag on his head and robbed stagecoaches. In tomorrow's Silverback Digest we'll feature one of our own, who also wears a bag on his head, Blindboy. SB SM] The Poetic Tale of Literary Outlaw Black Bart Stagecoach robber Charles Bole took the inspiration for his... Continue Reading →
[For several years Jimmy Piersall was my favorite baseball player, even if these were years when the Red Sox's left fielder was a guy named Ted. In 1957, when I was 9 years old, the movie version of his life story, called Fear Strikes Out was released. My Dad, knowing what I fan I was,... Continue Reading →
From SBs Mike and Cyndy (Post Island SBs) who clearly have too much time on their hands: Comment:Great - measure for measure -And of course there is the lesser known "smoot"=From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe smoot /ˈsmuːt/ is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi... Continue Reading →
[Silverback Ron (Muskegon SBs) writes: "I’ve been reading the SB digest and the recent articles about AI. I’m pretty ignorant about the whole thing which is probably true for a lot of people older than 50. I think people will line up in one of 2 camps; it’s just another tool or machines will take... Continue Reading →
The history of measuring a dollop or a pinch. By Claire Cock-Starkey Published in Lapham's Quarterly, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023 Below: Cooking: The Cook, by Edouard Vuillard, 1934. The Cleveland Museum of Art. In evidence given to Parliament’s 1862 Select Committee on Weights and Measures, a Mr. Greenall remarked on the extraordinary number of different historical weights and... Continue Reading →
By Laurie D. Morrissey Call it a flower or call it a weed – clover is a plant everyone knows. Who hasn’t idled away an hour hunting for a four-leaf clover, hoping for good luck? A member of the legume family, clover is common in lawns and fields, in disturbed sites, and along roadsides. Of... Continue Reading →
[from http://sesquiotic.com via our good friends at The Browser http://thebrowser.com: SB SM] This blog was started as a permanent home for posts I write to email groups (mainly on language) that I* want to keep somewhere. It is also where I post my word tasting notes, which are also available by email. I have also been... Continue Reading →
