It’s an exciting day at Morning Bray Farm. In just a few short hours, we’ll be sitting on our back patio with Carson enjoying Maryland blue crabs that have come straight out of the Chesapeake Bay. To mark the occasion, we share with you the Merlin Dialect.
If you’ve grown up or lived in Maryland for any part of your life, you’ll find this hits rather close to home.
The Merlin (Maryland) Dialect is spoken by a mixed population which inhabits a triangular area on the western littoral of the Chesapeake Bay, bounded roughly by a line commencing at Towson’s Toyota, then westward to the Frederick Mall, thence following the western border of the cable TV franchise and the string of McDonald’s along Route 50 to the Bay.
All of these lands and the natives thereof are known as the Land of Merlin.
They divide it further into semi-tribal areas called Cannies “COUNTIES”
(e.g.,Ballmer Canny, PeeJee Canny, Hard Canny, etc.).
The dialect area is centered on a market center called Glimburny, where the people come on weekends to trade their goods.
Because of the numerous words and phrases common to both the Merlin Dialect and modern English, linguists have long postulated that there is some kinship between the two. Speakers of Merlin Dialect are all able to understand standard English from babyhood, chiefly because of their voracious appetite for television. However, they invariably refuse to speak standard English, even with outsiders who obviously are not understanding a word they say.
LESSON 1 – VOCABULARY
Ballmer – Our city
Merlin – Our State
Arn – What you do to wrinkled clothes
Bulled Egg – An egg cooked in water
Jeet – How we say “Did you eat”?
Chest Peak – A large nearby body of water
Colleyflare – A white vegetable
Downey Owe Shin – Summertime destination “Down to the ocean” (such as Ayshun City)
Faren Gins – Red trucks that put out fires
Hi Hon – How we always say “hello”
Meedjum – The grassy area between lanes of a highway
Nap Lis – State of Merlin capital
Ole Bay – What our crabs taste like
Oreos – Not a cookie, but our baseball team
Payment – That strip of cement that you walk on
PohLeese – Those guys in uniform that git ya when you’re speeding
Share – Hot water that cleans you in the morning
Flares – Such as tulips
Tarred – What happens when you work too hard
Warsh – What we do with dirty clothes
Warter – What we drink (can also be Wooter)
Brawl – Broil
Sem elem – Seven Eleven
Allanic – an ocean
Arnjuice – from the sunshine tree
Arouwn in all directions – norf, souf, ees, and wess
Aspern – what you take for headaches
Bald – some people like their eggs this way
Bawler – what the plumber calls your furnace
Beeno – a famous railroad
Calf Lick – bleevers are Protestant, Jewish, and .
Canny – a state gubmit division, such as Anne Arundel or Prince George’s
A few of you shared kind comments about my hat in yesterday’s post. A couple of you suggested that my hat needed a flower. Since it’s a Maryland kind of weekend here at Morning Bray, Don went out and picked one of our Black-eyed Susans and slipped it into the brim of my hat with a ribbon.
The Black-eyed Susan has been the official Maryland flower since 1918 when it was designated the “Floral Emblem” of Maryland by the General Assembly.
We’re thinking that Big Red might be a good nickname for Ellsworth on riding days. He continues to improve and gains confidence each time we put the saddle on him. And, while we’re really proud of Big Red’s accomplishments, it looks like Bernard is his biggest fan.
Because we had the luxury of having my mom here to take pictures over the weekend, we discovered some things that may have otherwise been overlooked.
I was seriously shocked to see this picture. Because I was so focused on Ellsworth Big Red, I had no idea Bernard was back there sucking on the saddle pad.
It finally got to the point that we had to put Bernard out of the corral so we really could focus on Big Red. Love you, Bernard. ♥
Fergus stayed in the corral with Big Red to offer moral support and to receive butt scritches from Don.
Big Red was quite pleased with and deserving of his carrot rewards…
…and the extra love, praise and attention he received.
We ended on a positive note (I asked him to walk and he walked, then asked him to stop and he stopped).
Of course he enjoyed a good brushing afterwards…
…and provided his signature contented sigh when his biggest fan returned to the corral.
Remember the scene from Footloose where Kevin Bacon’s character plays chicken with a tractor?
Fast forward to 2010, Bernard and Morning Bray Farm…
Fergus and Nigel thought Bernard had lost his marbles.
Bernard, really?
Here too? No, Bernard, you can not chew on the tractor. ♥
While we were spending time with the boys over the weekend, Don said, “I can’t wait to see Linda’s reaction when she sees Ellsworth.”
It’s not as if Carson doesn’t see the boys on a regular basis, but it suddenly hit home as I was brushing Ellsworth what a remarkable transformation he’s undergone. Look at the difference between his hair here shortly after he came to Morning Bray Farm in September:
And this past weekend:
His hair is soft and smooth and beautiful. He’s healthy!
It didn’t take us long to see how miserable parasites cause donkeys to feel and what a difference proper care and regular grooming makes. Ellsworth is noticeably more at peace today than he was last fall. He doesn’t bite or scratch at himself anymore. Instead, he now often sighs deeply and contentedly.
And he smiles a lot more than he used to.
Yesterday, we traveled north (about ten miles west of Taos) to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Standing 650 feet above the Rio Grande, it’s the fifth highest bridge in the United States.
The bridge span is 1,280 feet.
In 1966, the American Institute of Steel Construction awarded the bridge “Most Beautiful Steel Bridge” in the “Long Span” category. The bridge was built in the cantilever truss style and is the second highest bridge of its construction in the country.
Funny how last week in the hot air balloon, I was cool as a cucumber. Walking across the bridge yesterday, my legs felt like jello. Go figure.
Monday is Baby Kassie’s 11th birthday. Umm, someone… hello? Honest, she was three years old just yesterday.
Kassie came into my life in June of 2002. An acquaintance asked me to take care of Kassie for a week while she went on vacation with her family. I was puzzled when she told me, “If you like her, you can keep her.” What?!
Back then, it was just Enzi and me. The day the acquaintance brought Kassie over, the first thing Kassie did was attack Enzi… full-on barking, snarling, snapping and biting. Poor Enzi was understandably terrified. The first thing Kassie did when she came into the house was pee on the floor. I remember the acquaintance saying very softly, “Oh Cassie, no, no.” Wow, ahem.
A stake and chain were included in Kassie’s “overnight bag.” The acquaintance told me I could put Kassie outside on the chain and leave her there all day. Kassie was used to that, after all. The first thing I did after the acquaintance left was throw the stake and chain in the trash.
Eight years later, I’m so happy I didn’t listen to those who told me I was crazy to take Kassie on. I will forever be grateful to the Baby for teaching me a very important lesson in life.
“If you wish to be loved, love.”
|
 Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD) |
She’s my baby, my Kassie, my little baby Kassie. ♥
Morning Bray Farm 