November in Vermont ~ A Photo Essay by Christine DePetrillo

If a photo is worth a thousand words, here are five thousand words for you. I love Vermont at all times of the year, but each month has its own treasures for the eyes.

Where is your favorite place to spend November? 

Toodles,

Chris

www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com

WORDS by Jannine Gallant

Words - You gotta love them! At least I love them, and I imagine most authors feel the same way. One thing that bothers (disturbs, troubles, perturbs, riles, acerbates) me about my daughter's high school English class is the fact that they don't seem to learn vocabulary any more. Back in the stone age when I was in high school (Okay it was the late 70's, but my kids assure me I'm older than dirt!) we were given 20 words a week to learn. I don't mean spell; I mean learn. We had to be able to pluck the correct word out of our memory and use it in a sentence. These were odd, esoteric words I'd never heard before. (I'm pretty sure esoteric was one of them. LOL) Because I had literally hundreds of words drilled into my head, I can say without vanity that my vocabulary is excellent. I'd love to see our kids learning words. Maybe it would encourage them to talk more instead of texting. (Ha! Ha!)

Are you guilty of thumbing through a thesaurus to find the perfect (consummate, unparalleled, penultimate) word. I can spend ten minutes deliberating between amble, saunter, and stroll to describe how the dog walked across the yard. A big fat waste of time? Maybe, but that's how I'm hardwired. I love words. Occasionally, when my long suffering CP tells me she had to go look up one of my little gems, I'll be moved to change it. Not often, though. LOL

Is your thesaurus your best friend? Do you use the online version or a trusty hardback? Which is your favorite? My college roommate gave me a paperback copy of Roget's Thesaurus for Christmas in 1982. I'm still using it despite the fact that it's literally falling apart. I love that thing!

To find lots and lots of my favorite words in book form, check out my website and blog. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Ciao!