Thursday, February 21, 2013

Leaning





Yesterday, after an aborted attempt at jogging due to frigid temperatures, I drove down Lilly's Neck.

For those of you unfamiliar with the lingo, Lilly's Neck is a narrow point of land that juts out between a couple of creeks, as opposed to someone's actual neck.  

I felt it was important to clarify that, because even though I know what a neck is (in this sense), I still find the terminology humorous because I tend to think of the literal translation first.  

We also have a Tick Neck that makes it almost impossible for me to think of anything other than a tick having a neck.  Which of course to the best of my knowledge they don't, unless all the pulling and twisting on one that's lodged himself in good produces something akin to a neck. 

I don't know.

(Dear Readers Reader, sometimes I exhaust myself with my tangents.  So it's not just you.  It's me too. Definitely.)





Do not adjust your dials.  In this rare instance, the camera was perfectly level.





During my little jaunt to Lilly's Neck, I discovered this delightful little shed leaning to one side.










For some reason, I want to say the shed is listing to one side rather than leaning.  But one time, in a conversation, I was describing a boat that was listing, but I also considered saying tilting. Either of which would have been fine. However, the unfortunate result of my indecision was "The boat was lilting."

To the best of my knowledge, much like ticks not having necks, boats do not lilt, they list or perhaps they might tilt.

Sometimes they lean.

But we can be reasonably sure they don't lilt. Unless they "sing or speak rhythmically with a fluctuating pitch" or "sing or play in a lively, cheerful manner" as the dictionary says beside lilt.

Ever since this event, I've always been cautious when saying something's listing lest it come out lilting.









Who here is old enough to remember the Lilt home permanents for hair?  Anyone? Who here was the victim of a really bad perm in the '80s to the point that the image staring back in the mirror was often mistaken for a poodle instead of a human?

Who here wonders how a post that started off about a cockeyed shed has drifted so far off course that it has already covered ticks, necks, fluctuating pitches, and bad home hair treatments-- all in the matter of a few paragraphs?

But wait.  There's more.







Actually, my confusing tilt with list to create lilt reminds me of a story my mother tells about a Gloucester High School Spanish class where the teacher called on her for the translation of a certain word.

My mother wasn't sure whether to answer town or city, so both spilled out of her mouth in the form of one merged word that was a most unfortunate response for a timid teenager.

T (ignoring the rest of the word) + (ignore the C) ity = Mortification.

It's simple math.

Clearly this ailment of Word Merging Malfeasance runs in the family.

Let's retreat carefully from the recesses of Chesapeake Bay Woman's deteriorating brain and return to the blog post, which is really trying to progress in spite of its author's transgressions digressions.


This is a zoomed-in of the shot above. In case anyone is still  reading.



Anyway.

Once I determined this lilting leaning, tilting, sideways shack was in fact doing all that and it wasn't me holding the camera lopsided, I became mesmerized and couldn't stop taking its portrait.

From all different angles and distances.

















The End.


14 comments:

DeniseinVA said...

Wonderful story about your mom, great post! The shed for some reason reminds me of The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Anonymous said...

Malaprop is my mother's middle name. She was once asked to host a fund raiser for a local heart fund charity decades ago...she looked gorgeous, stood up on the dais, flanked by flower arrangements, and welcomed the audience to "the annual fart hund ".

Re tangents...going off on them is the way my mind operates normally.

LLC

Annie said...

That house reminds me very much of a house that we actually bought on a farm once. It had a distinct lean, luckily not quite so far gone as that shed!! My husband tried to correct the lilt..oops the tilt, or lean, or list...by putting big strong metal restraining wires from the roof at one side to the ground at the other...which meant that as we walked down the hallway, one had to duck under three wires across the hallway, or lose one's head!! Needless to say I didn't invite many people home during that era of our lives! Not sure that the lean ever got corrected, but we were lucky to have acreage, and the house eventually got shifted off the property after we sold! We had a happy few years living there, milking a cow, growing some mung beans and sorghum and wheat, all after my husband's normal agricultural day time work. The boys enjoyed being at a one teacher, then a two teacher school. Good fun times!

deborah said...

I found your reasoning and wanderings quite normal, as that is just how I think. Oh wait, is that a squirrel? Love the lilting shed, it looks to have a new roof on it?

Anonymous said...

CBW your full of your self today great photo's an articles. That is about the lean I have before my first pot of the good stuff!!

Jamie said...

I'd say boats lilt. If you use the definition: to sing or speak rhythmically with a fluctuating pitch, think about about the sound it makes going over waves, there's a fluctuating pitch and a rhythm and the motor is the way a boat speaks/sings.

Meg McCormick said...

I totally remember the titty. I mean Lilt perms... though I was never brave enough to try one. My hairdressers at the time were perfectly capable of frying my hair to a kinky crisp right in the salon!

growing wild on waverly lane said...

Thanks for remembering the darkest day of my life in Latin II; it warms my heart that future generations will remember me for that Turrette's outburst. The actual quote was, "The bees flew to the *****." All the boys asked me every day, "where did the bees fly." Good times.

Daryl said...

did you say perms? every spring for easter/passover holidays my mother gave me a Toni home perm .. omg ... the stench of it, the sitting still of it .. the torture that didnt end with the process but continued with the tight curls that lasted only a few months ... my hair was straight thick and had its own agenda ... i shudder to recall ... but i take comfort in the lilting shed ... all my photos look like they are lilting

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Wild on Waverly aka CB Mother - I forgot the details (i.e. Latin vs. Spanish) but did not forget the most important part of the story! I think it's hilarious. It's one of my top ten CB Mother Stories.

Ann Marie said...

Let's not forget Tater Neck, Bar Neck, and the many other delightfully named Necks in and or around Mathews.

Also in case you wondered how Lilly's Neck got it's name I have tagged you on Facebook.

Anonymous said...

Re -- Old George was a much later Lilly...The Neck got its name because it was granted to George Lilly's ancestor in 1642. Adjacent Billups Creek got its name because the Billupses lived on the other side (their grant dated 1653). I'm descended from both families. Y'all were in my "neck" of the woods!!

AMN
Anonymous Mathews Native

Ann Marie said...

I didn't necessarily mean it was named after THAT dude just that it was named after the family.

Anonymous said...

All I can think is..."Go home, Shed. You're drunk!"