Category Archives: Creativity

I believe its name is Silvia Saunders (or a very close relative) and it was developed in 1921.

To close out the year, I have (finally) added another photo gallery to ART@CHC, titled Shots at Large: Winter.  We get little enough snow here that, when it does fall, I am often inspired to go out shooting.  The current collection comprises the 12 most interesting shots from the past 20 years of my winter walkabouts.  More to the point, these are the few shots that I didn’t get bored with after hours of scanning, editing, etc.

I will be ringing in the new year with a new lightweight camera and lens (948 grams total) and a new desktop computer (it weighs a lot more).  My 2009 Windows 7 PC cannot run the 2019 version of Photoshop — and Windows 7 support will end in one year — so it was time to bite the bullet and get a new machine rather than upgrade the old one.  I am not looking forward to the task of migrating all my programs and files, a first-world problem by any definition.

As a lovely year-end parting gift to my faithful readers, here is a bonus shot that does not appear in my Winter gallery.  This is the road leading out of our neighborhood, one that demands low gear and a tight grip on the wheel on snowy days.  I hope that you and yours enjoy safe travels in the year ahead.

In spite of what my title suggests, this post is not another tired whine about how ZEN is not a valid Scrabble word even though JEEP is.  (ZEN is a proper noun, hence unplayable, whereas JEEP… well, you figure that out.)  Instead, this post presents an assortment of should-be-words, complete with definitions, that have popped up in my seven-letter tray during Scrabble games.  I encourage fellow Scrabblers to try playing these words against friendly opponents, especially after a second bottle of wine has been opened — who knows, these words sound so good they just might go unchallenged.

All of these come directly from my letter tray to you:

POTIFTO (n): a tuberous vegetable unsure of whether it is a yam or a sweet potato

EARKITE (n): Barack Obama on a parasail

EFFOTEL (n): worst hotel you ever stayed in

ITOILET (n): the last place a person drops her iPhone before buying a new one

AOUEIII (int): universal bungee-jumping cry

TOETURE (n): the act of tickling a person’s pedal extremities to make them talk

RETOPIA (n): an idyllic place where enlightened Buddhists live their second lives

PREGOLD (adj): pertaining to the year prior to becoming eligible for Medicare

RAMENZA (n): drug approved in 2003 for treating allergic reactions to Japanese noodles

BEGTIME (n): the several-minutes-long period when one’s child, after being tucked in for the night, pleads for one more story to be read

TRAMPUI (n): honey-flavored liqueur favored by hobos

RAILODE (n): boxcar-themed poetry favored by hobos

SHPUZKA (n): loose outergarment worn in anticipation of drama, as in, “You cad!  I’ve never been so insulted!  Waiter, bring me my shpuzka and get me a taxi!”

QINEDAY (n): day of the week (in the European Union, between Monday and Tuesday) when U need not follow Q

ASSIBOU (n): the rude offspring of a donkey and a reindeer