Post 27/2024 Goshen Indiana. For some it’s a vacation. For others it’s a holiday. Same thing. The English publication, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler (Oxford University Press, 1983), says, “vacation is in America the ordinary word for what we call a holiday. In Britain it is not so used except (often abbreviated to vac.) for the intervals between terms in the Law Courts and Universities. The corresponding word for Parliament is recess.”

The English Usage does not address what’s afoot on the ground and in the air as holidaymakers seek relief from work, study, and normal obligations (like voting) for fun, refreshment, change, recharge, fresh start. Certainly heavy on fun for many.

It seems moot to quibble about the words, vacation or holiday. It could be a topic for a café roundtable. Or a conversation starter at a reunion. A nod to discussing what families did when we elders were young.

Or, something else. Like, an excuse to opt out of the nonstop chattering and clattering and shattering about politics, and many other matters, at home, in the UK, and around the world. I’m taking that kind of vacation/holiday. Mums the word. Thank you very much.

Beetles and balancing rocks

We had a host of Japanese beetles shredding a plant in our flower garden. I mixed a quart of water with a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and sprayed the invaders numerous times over the last three days. No sign of live beetles today. I found one on a new blossom on an adjacent plant, though the blossom died, too.

I continue to have fun with balancing rocks. A thunder storm with high wind brought both towers down more than a week ago. I’ve moved them to a more protected area on the patio. To my astonishment they are standing upright, now day six. Balanced stone on stone, impossible to my eye, yet holding up, almost smiling at me. Putting them up took just very slight adjustments of position to keep them from collapsing. What fun.

Time for recess.

John