Friday, April 27, 2012

X is for Xenodochial, Xyloglyphy and Xilinous


- It was my pleasure to be xenodochial (hospitable to strangers) in hosting a family of chickadees in my back porch bird house.  I loved watching mom and dad chickadee coming and going with pine straw and other leafy bits to make a nest.  It was easy to tell when the eggs hatched, because mom and dad set about bringing food in to hungry little beaks.  I last saw them on Wednesday morning.  Then on Wednesday evening, with a pang of sadness, I realized they were gone.  But I expect they'll visit my back porch again and hopefully remember the kind woman who left them alone back there except to quietly water plants. 

- Back when I had two cats (both gone now), people often thought it was a good idea to give me cat related paraphernalia as presents.  Not that I was ungrateful, but it was mostly cutesy stuff I wouldn't put out in my house.  I still have a couple of those items packed away and might post about them sometime.  But the item above, a lovely example of xyloglyphy (wood-carving), is one of my favorite gifts ever.  I love how the artist captured the lines of a cat's haunches as she lay sleeping.  (Gift from beloved friends.)


- This is how your cotton clothing begins, in snowy cotton fields like these seen on a drive through south Georgia.  It's lovely to see a xilinous (of, like or pertaining to cotton) industry like this thriving again in Georgia.

Note:  These "X" words are brought to you by this website: http://phrontistery.info/x.html.  Hopefully I've used them correctly in these sentences.  I was seriously stumped on X words having anything to do with good things and so was happy to find this site.  And I managed to find three positive words beginning with X - most of the others had to do with dryness, disease and ill-tempered women.  :)

Day 24 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, featuring the letter "X".  Three things that give me pleasure.  

Happy Friday and see you tomorrow, I hope. 


21 comments:

Cloudia said...

Cotton and wisteria - I Do Declare!


Warm Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral

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LL Cool Joe said...

My mother in law is into penguins, unfortunately she gets penguin gifts all the time now. Some are lovely, most are tacky and horrible, so I'm sure she can relate to your cat paraphernalia.

I love the wooden cat too.

Snaggle Tooth said...

Congrats on helping chickadee chicks off into the world- They grow so fast I guess!
So xenophobia isin't a good thing?
"fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign."
You always embrace the knew to be learned stuff- good for you- This is an excellent X entry! three words I didn't know- (I knew Xenophobia tho from psych class).

That cat carving is terrific- I love wood carvings- I should do some! Pertaining to cotton- wow there are words for everything- I try to only wear cotton- So comfy.

Leonora said...

I was in my forties the first time I saw a field of cotton. It was so novel to this New Yorker that I made my husband stop the car. I still have those stalks of cotton.
Good job on the challenging letter "X"!

Ileana said...

I was wondering what you'd be showing us for X...a tough letter.

You introduced me to the new word, xenodochial, and wow, that kitty carving is amazing! Lovely, detailed work!

Pretty snowy cotton fields...and once again, you've introduced me to another new word. I go away feeling a little more educated today, thankyouverymuch! :)

Happy Weekend, chica! xo

Granny Annie said...

Wow, you found three "X" words of interest. Good for you. The chickadees had to appreciate your xenodochial:)

We have a beautiful xyloglyphy of a duck.

Xilinous was not a favorite word because it reminded me of the time I chopped cotton. Now there is a story for my blog someday.

I was inspired by your search for "x" words so I looked up my favorite scrabble word, "xi" and found too many different definitions. The easiest for me to understand was that it is a Chinese surname.

Elephant's Child said...

I love your X words and sadly know only too well the joys of receiving cat gifts in and out of season. Some I love, the majority - not. Which is, I realise, very ungrateful.

Louvregirl said...

EXXXX-cellent X-words...but just how did you get to X already???! Where does the time go, Lynn!?
Hope that your weekend gives you an X-tra boost!
I did not know that word pertaining to cotton. How 'apropos' it is to think about cotton down here ( It is probably just starting to grow!)

P.S. Lynn~ Are you sure that you don't want my two cats? They are very cute (and not much trouble!)

Joanne said...

I feel like I learned so much from this post! I'm going to use these in a sentence today.

happygirl said...

Great job with the x words. You excel in vocabulary. You exceeded my expectations in this experiment. I am excited to see how you finish up the alphabet. :)

Dana said...

Great X words. Really enjoyed your post!

Lynn said...

Cloudia -

I suppose that does sound very southern.

Joe -

It's the only cat item I have sitting out. I think sometimes people don't know what to get you and they just look at what you like.

Snaggle -

No - xenophobia doesn't sound like a good thing. All those X words - just goes to show that there's a word for everything.

You should do some carvings and blog about it.

Leonora -

It's also neat to see the cotton all baled up. There are always wisps of it flying around.

Lynn said...

Scarlet -

I'm glad you liked my post - X turned out to be easy once I found that website with x words. :)

Happy weekend to you, too! xo

Granny Annie -

I use xi all the time in Words with Friends, too. :) I'm glad you liked all the x words.

The Elephant's Child -

I can only imagine the crazy cat things you have gotten, too. Oh my - it's an epidemic!

lg -

Noooo! Everyone is always trying to give me cats. :)

Joanne -

Hey - I like that. :)

happygirl -

Thank you - I haven't visited other challenge blogs nearly enough. Maybe this weekend. That was supposed to be part of the package.

Dana -

Thank you and thanks for coming by my blog!

Jannie Funster said...

Well done, very creative!

Wow, the birds went so fast. I wonder where they're off to?

I thought it was a REAL cat at first glimpse. So cute, I love when they lie like that.

Happy Friday to YOU too!

xoxo

Louvregirl said...

Meow.

Riot Kitty said...

Wow. You are bloody creative! There's no way I could have come up with these. By the way, since I like cats, my entire extended family still thinks I'm 8 years old. For years, I have gotten cat pillows, cat dishes, cat journals...all kinds of useless stuff.

Betty Manousos said...

great job with the X words!
such gorgeous flowers, too.

what a delightful post, lynn, i totally enjoyed it.

have a blessed weekend from start to finish!

big hugs!

Dino said...

"xenodochial" - What a fantastic word, the perfect antidote to xenophobia which has been done many times for the X post.

http://dpfinnie.com

Lynn said...

Jannie -

I think those birds are in Hilton Head (South Carolina) - that's where I'd go. Or Hayesville. :)

xo

lg -

Nice try. :) Hehe.

Riot Kitty -

Thank you - it turned out to be easier than I thought. I'm stumped on z.

When I left my corporate job, they had a big party and I ended up with some presents, like a birthday party. I had to stand there and open them. Someone took my picture smiling with a crazy cat figurine. Inwardly I was thinking - what??? :)

Betty -

Thank you - x was fun. :) Hugs to you.

Dino -

Yes - there was a word just opposite - perfect for my blog.

Chatty Crone said...

You came up with quite a few good ones. sandie

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynn .. you've done seriously well with these X words - new ones to me .. hope the brain can remember them!

Excellent descriptions and photos - I love your cat .. and quite understand - she was a present worth promoting to the world ..

Cheers Hilary