progeny

Diagramming Sentences

I know some of you remember diagramming sentences -- possibly with fear and trembling, possibly otherwise. For a delightful essay on what is close to a lost art today, see
http://www.kittyburnsflorey.com/events.htm

I especially loved this bit: "the mostly doomed attempt, so beloved in the early days of
English grammar, to stuff the unruliness of English into the well-made boxes
of Latin and Greek, which is something like forcing a struggling cat into
the carrier for a trip to the vet."

And then there is the citation of a wonderful comment from H. G. Wells on the style of Henry James: that of "a magnificent but painful hippopotamus resolved at any cost upon picking up a pea." (How did I, as an English major, miss that?)

A Random Friday Post

Some fun places to go this weekend:

WDVX -- Straight from the mountains of East Tennessee

and

Folk Alley -- more cool music

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Love,
Laura

...

And on a different note:

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Big News

Well let' see if this works. For the record: Sarah will be getting married to Todd Watts on May 14, 2005 here in Hendersonville at St. Joseph's where she grew up. I have arranged for blocks of hotel rooms at AmeriSuites and also the Holiday Inn express for the 13 and 14th for any of you who can come. (Your'e all invited, of course. More info and phone numbers on this later, this is just an experiment to see if I can get this thing to work. Love, Nell

Ig Nobel Prizes

The 2004 Ig Nobel prizes were awarded yesterday. All Things Considered had a very funny piece about them this afternoon, and you can read all about them here.

Happy Friday.
Laura

Two months

Dear Everybody,

The family blog has now been up and running 2 months. I wanted to take this opportunity to see what everybody thought. We've had 32 posts and 90 comments so far-- and more than 1600 hits (these are not all from me checking multiple times a day at work because I am bored). Pretty cool, huh?

So... any comments? Anybody heard from Uncle Will? Does anybody want another account for a different e-mail address or fambly member? Does anyone hate the color or design and want me to change it? Do you want me to add a link to your webpage? Is there anything that would make it easier for you to use?

Any thoughts or comments, please let me know. I hope you all are having fun with this. Post often!

Love,
Laura