Trevvy Logic

May 17, 2008 / J. Thorp / 4 Comments

I could hide out under there
I just made you say underwear …
– Barenaked Ladies, “Pinch”

Our youngest, three-year-old Trevor, applies a certain, consistent logic to the new words he’s learning in order to figure out what they mean. For example, out of the blue he will proudly announce, “Mom, I know why we say toothbrush – because we clean our teeth with it, and because it’s a brush … toothbrush!”

He applies this equally to simple and compound words, so that the results are often unintentionally nonsensical and funny, e.g. “I know why they’re called suckers … because you suck on them, and because they’re ers!”

So last night we’re enjoying a small dish of ice cream, and he begins: “I know why we say ice cream … because it’s really cold, and because it’s cream – ice cream!”

“That’s right, Trevvy!” says Jodi, and I ask, “Trevor, why do they call it chewing gum?”

“Because you chew it, and because it’s gum!” he says proudly.

“And why,” I ask, “do we call it underwear?”

He stumbles a moment, working it through in his head.

“Because it goes under your pants,” he says, “and then it’s like it’s gone!”

* * * * *

Blogger’s Note: If you aren’t laughing, don’t worry – it took us a moment, too. Homophones are great fun, aren’t they?

Additional Note: On a mostly unrelated note, this morning, Trevor approached Emma, placed his palm on top of his head, and said, “Emma, this is how tall I am. I’m this tall!”

Still More Friends and Good People

May 16, 2008 / J. Thorp / 1 Comment

I’ve added more links to the various menus on the right. While I make no guarantees as to the content of the sites, I have been amused, thought-provoked, educated, or touched by them on a fairly consistent basis.

Today, I’ll highlight one in particular, in part because he drew folks’ attention to my blog the other day, but mostly because his most recent post is authentic, funny, and beautiful.

So pay a visit to Hubba’s House in Elm Springs, South Dakota. (Population: 6, and 10 on the weekends, as Matt likes to say …)

Tuesday Evening Stream of Consciousness (or, Chilly Versus Chili …)

May 14, 2008 / J. Thorp / 1 Comment

Been kind of a cool, wet spring. Don’t get me wrong: I like the cool weather. I much prefer the coldest days of winter to the hottest days of summer. But it’s mid-May now. Time for sunshine and leafing and stuff.

* * * * *

I enjoyed some edible warmth today in the form of the best Thai noodle dish, Drunkard’s Noodles from True Thai in Minneapolis. A friend and colleague who spends her vacations in Thailand volunteering at an orphanage calls True Thai the real deal. I don’t know about that, but I promise you that pain has never tasted better! Noodles, chicken, basil, onions, and plenty of dried chilis, seeds and all. Wow.

* * * * *

A dear friend of mine who is actually a Minnesota native is my weather opposite. She lives for the hottest, most humid days of the year, when the air’s too thick and wet to breathe and you break a sweat sleeping. Kind of a tropical flower. Why she stays in the great white North, I’m not sure. But I’m grateful.

She loves the heat, and she plays the cello, and one day I got to thinking:

cello as chile
arms al fresco
slick with inspiration
she plucks and slices
the summer sun abundant
thick air ripe with possibility
her cello the fruit
resounding red
her bow a horsehair knife

j. thorp
10 june 04

It’s not the right time of year, perhaps, but her birthday was Sunday, and she likes Thai, too. So there. Belated happy birthday, my friend.

* * * * *

Jodi went to visit another dear friend in Colorado a couple weeks back, and brought me home a surprise: a cookbook called The Red Chili Bible. Looks like great recipes. Another reason for warm weather: the chilis need sunshine!

Sounds Familiar …

May 12, 2008 / J. Thorp / 6 Comments

I’m winding my way through a fascinating history called The Devil’s Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe by James Chambers. The most interesting parts thus far have been the passages describing Mongol horsemanship, as well as the accounts of military tactics and mobility that were unheard of at the time but are still practiced today.

That is, until last night, when I read this passage below. The Mongol army is preparing to invade Syria by first neutralizing the enemy’s neighbors on its eastern flank, the Caliph of Baghdad to the south, who at the time was the spiritual ruler of Islam, and the Ismaili Order of the Assassins to the north, described as “drug-crazed murderers” who were “unsupported by orthodox Moslems” and were hiding in impregnable mountain fortresses. (Al Qaeda- or Taliban-esque?) Here’s the description of Baghdad as the Mongols advanced:

“At last the caliph accepted his generals’ advice and ordered that citizens should be armed and trained and the walls of the city repaired, but his orders were delayed by his vizier and it was not until the day before the Mongols arrived that work on the walls began. In the sectarian quarrels that divided Islam, the caliph supported the Sunnites, but his vizier was a Shiite, and resenting the caliph’s persecution of some of his Shiite brethren, the vizier had been sending secret messages to the Mongols since the beginning of the negotiations, urging them to attack, describing the city’s vulnerability and offering his assistance in the hope that after the city had been taken he might be invited to govern it.”

The year was 1257. So the Sunni and the Shia have been fighting each other for control of Baghdad for at least 750 years. I haven’t finished the chapter to know whether the Khan’s army simply slaughtered the lot, or attempted to rule. The next chapter (the last of the book) is called “The End of an Era.” For Baghdad or the Mongols, I wonder …