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Books About Life on a Farm Written Especially for People Who Like to Read! "Highly recommended reading." The Midwest Book Review Reviews & Readers' Comments |
LeAnn R. Ralph Rural Route 2 Author E6689 970th Ave. Colfax, WI 54730 (715) 308-6336 |
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by LeAnn R. Ralph One day when I was at the checkout of a grocery store, the clerk asked me if I wanted to drive up to collect my purchases. I scrutinized the two bags of groceries sitting at the end of the checkout counter. 'Wouldn't it be easier,' I thought, 'just to carry them out myself rather than go get the car, park it by the grocery pickup door, and then wait for someone to bring my groceries?' "Well," I replied. "It's six of one and half a dozen of another, I guess." As I carried my groceries to the car, I contemplated what I had said. Actually, I hadn't thought about that particular phrase in years. It was something my mother always said when she was trying to make a decision about the best way to complete a task. If the possibilities seemed about equal, she'd conclude "It's six of one and a half a dozen of the other." And of course, remembering one phrase started me to thinking about all the other phrases she used... In and out is the same distance. I used to hear this one whenever my play took me in and out of the house ten times in the same number of minutes. The dog used to hear it, too, whenever he went outside with one family member and came right back in with someone else. There must be a happy medium. This one referred to extremes, like the weather for example. Perhaps in the winter we would have minus twenty degrees one day, then the temperature would warm to 30 degrees overnight, and then we'd have a raging blizzard with two feet of new snow the next day. "Why can't we have a happy medium?"my mother would comment. "Something like 15 degrees and no snow would be nice." Between a rock and a hard place (sometimes interchangeable with Between the devil and the deep blue sea). Both sayings referred to being in a tough predicament. For example, if I wanted to go to a friend's house for the afternoon, then I wouldn't be able to go shopping with my sister. I'd hem and haw about such a situation for an entire morning, until in exasperation, my mother would say "Well, you're between a rock and a hard place, aren't you?" Don't sing at (or sit on) the table, you'll be married before you're able. I never could figure this one out, but I thought it made an interesting rhyme. Seeing as I heard about singing at the table fairly frequently, it makes me wonder if, as a child, I spent a lot of time singing when we were eating meals. I don't remember singing while I was eating. (I also don't remember sitting on the table, either, for that matter.) Red at night, sailors' delight; red in the morning, sailors take warning. My mother always said her father repeated this saying frequently. Again, I thought it made a nice rhyme. However, as I grew older, I learned there are certain, sound meteorological principles behind this one. My mother usually uttered the sailor saying at sunset rather than at sunrise because we had an excellent view of the west from our kitchen window. And my all-time favorite--- If it wasn't stolen and it didn't burn up, it'll turn up someday. My mother always said this one in Norwegian first, and then she translated it into English. I can remember a number of times looking high and low (another one of her phrases) for a particular item we couldn't find around the house (anything at all - catalogs; a special, seldom-used dish; a particular article of clothing). If we couldn't find it, she'd say "Oh, well - if it wasn't stolen and it didn't burn up, it'll turn up someday." Moms favorite example of this maxim involved a wrench her father lost in a field on our farm. A number of years later, apparently, her father came home, triumphantly waving the wrench and repeating the phrase in Norwegian. Sure enough, the wrench hadn't been stolen; it hadn't gotten burned up; and lo and behold - there it was, a rusty old wrench. I am sure there are other sayings my mother used, but I just haven't remembered them yet. Oh, well - if they weren't stolen and they didn't burn up, they'll turn up someday. |
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