Subj : More Word Play
To   : Ardith Hinton
From : Paul Quinn
Date : Thu Dec 28 2017 12:20:32

Hi! Ardith,

On 27 Dec 17 17:12, you wrote to me:

 PQ>>  quietly studious.

 AH>           Interesting thought.  The kid in the song was anxiously
 AH> awaiting his new chompers because then... as he said with a lisp... "I
 AH> could wish you Merry Christmas." AFAIK he didn't complain about having
 AH> to read aloud in class.  :-)

There you go... it kinda proves the addage, "ah, youth, it's so wasted on the 
young".

 AH> WRT this example you clearly understand what the song is about, but it
 AH> may never have been widely known beyond Z1.

Yeah, I was thinking the same just this morning.

 AH>           In North America sled dogs haul things over the frozen
 AH> tundra, which BTW appears to be much like the taiga north of the
 AH> Russian steppes.  :-)

My only guide is a wonderful Ray Mears 'bushcraft' documentary made about 
living in various locales in Sweden.  The only four-legged sled prime movers 
were dogs.  The larger deer types were for breeding, herding and selling.  My 
bad for having a solitary information source.  :)

 AH> And perhaps we make more fuss about Christmas where it's cold & dark
 AH> outside.  :-Q

There is a big fuss hereunder as well.  In our predicament it's a matter of 
trying to keep cool.  Christmas day (and Boxing day) at this home, the home of 
my deceased wife's parents, in past years was the center-point of their family. 
 The day was spent under a mango tree.  A huge tree, giving enough shade for 
four family groups and kids (my brothers'-in-law familys and mine).

The usual entertainment for the kids included waterslides, wading pools and 
just playing under the running garden hose and chasing dogs or each other with 
buckets of water. Adult entertainment _always_ had an element of backyard 
cricket for a while till it got too hot.  (My in-laws were all local town 
sporting heroes.)  It was a lively afair with a yard full of people: 25-30, 
with occasional family friends visiting.

Upstairs, the TV would be booming the usual proceedings of the Sydney-to-Hobart 
yacht race -or- the Boxing day *Ashes* cricket match against the Poms.

Most Aussie familys have similar get-togethers at this time of year.  Maybe not 
at home, and most certainly not as large.  It's all about staying cool.  Even 
the food is cool. Only the 'snags' (i.e. sausages, for youse northerners) and 
onions are hot, on the barbecue.  :)

Oh.  We as a nation have disowned Rolf Harris.

Cheers,
Paul.

.... 'Beloe Zlato' (White Gold) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8slArpj_XU
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20110213
 * Origin: Quinn's Rock - Live from Paul's Xubuntu desktop! (3:640/1384)

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