#89 A WOMAN'S BRIEFS "OR, THEREABOUTS"
This past Tuesday I wrote in my calendar of something that occurred “At 10:30a.m. or thereabouts.”
I mention this because it brings me to the computer now, Wednesday, with coffee, half an apple, and raw almonds. It is now 3:30a.m. or thereabouts. I will get to why I am, but as does often happen to me, I am distracted by the phrase thereabouts. Is that a phrase? Where did it come from? When? I have a book or two about etymology and phrases but as of this morning shortly after 3a.m. those books are no longer readily available to me, so I turned to the internet.
From the website Etymonline: “Thereabouts (adv.) early 15c. ther-aboutes, ‘in that area, near to that place, in that vicinity.” It’s the mid-15c. usage that applies to me. “Near to that time, approximately thence, with adverbial -s (see ‘s)”
Of course I went to (see ’s.) S being a suffix use gradually extended in Middle English from Old English -es, the most common genitive inflection of . . .”
Wait. TMI, right?
Yesterday’s crashing sound lifted my fingers from the computer keyboard, and me from my desk chair. Even the squirrel at my window birdfeeder was startled by the collapse of a large bookcase shelf throwing scores of weighty books to a bedroom floor. A giant Nautilus shell on the shelf below was smushed to smithereens as shelf supports gave way but the Giant Fluted clam behind it was spared. Whew!
Dave and I repositioned the shelf, reload heavy books, did the dustpan thing, and admired our work.
TUESDAY 10:30a.m. or THEREABOUTS
Wednesday morning at 3:00a.m., the “What the . . .!” of Tuesday’s midmorning was repeated. I’m here to tell you that on Wednesday 3a.m. or thereabouts, we Pines, Dave, Scooter, and I woke to a mighty crash nearly identical to that of yesterday at 10:30a.m. or thereabouts.
WEDNESDAY, 3:00a.m. or THEREABOUTS
This time, the shelf that bolted forth the day before broke free of its burden yet again, and talked the shelf below into following suite. Books galore to the floor. This time, nothing is being put back. This time, once again the Giant Fluted clam survived with only a chip or two, sandwiched it was, between slices of shelving.
GIANT FLUTED CLAM
Four Saguaro Boots stayed safe one shelf below. Funny what we treasure, right? I’m an Arizona Desert Rat by birth, and I marvel at the cooperation between Gila Woodpeckers or Gilded Flickers and Saguaro cacti in making these nests. They can be found among the skeletons of the Saguaro. Who’d dare threaten babies born between the spines of a healthy Saguaro? And how smart, their reuse as water vessels by native peoples. But I digress.
SAGUARO BOOTS
Best for me to acknowledge that the appearance of strength is not enough. Those failing bookcase shelves will be shored up, they must be. They are heavy things. The books piled onto them add massive weight. The tiny pegs depended on to hold them in place (like truth in a society) can only bear so much strain before the stress forces them to yield. The bookcase isn’t a complete loss, but the attention it needed, the repair required before it is again reliable, must be done. We have been twice warned. We still have a fragile clam, some strong Saguaro boots, a small Chihuly that carries a story of its own, and a bunch of books in boxes waiting for us to care enough to shore up some shelves.
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