Definition of potpourri – 1: a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent. 2: a miscellaneous collection. The second definition above pretty much describes today’s blog, a collection of miscellaneous thoughts and info that I’m sharing because I don’t have anything else to talk about today.
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After reading yesterday’s blog, I Played Hooky, two people told me I must be confused because I wrote about seeing dolphins, manatee, and an occasional small shark from our dock on the Intercoastal Waterway. They said in looking at a map of the area, we are on the Indian River, and rivers are freshwater, not saltwater. Not exactly correct. Wikipedia explains it in part by saying: The Indian River is a 121-mile long brackish lagoon in Florida. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, which in turn forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Indian River extends southward from the Ponce de Leon inlet in New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County southward and across the Haulover Canal and along the western shore of Merritt Island. The Banana River flows into the Indian River on the island’s south side. The Indian River continues southward to St. Lucie Inlet. Brackish water is a combination of freshwater and saltwater, which explains the sea life we have, along with alligators.
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Something else that comes up now and then on the same subject is that I call it the Intercoastal Waterway, but the correct spelling is Intracoastal. That is true, but around here, the locals say it and spell it Intercoastal, so I do, too. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
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Someone who read Tinder Street, the first book in my historical family saga, wrote to tell me that they were disappointed that I referred to a Negro doorman in the book and that I should have said African American. No, that scene took place in 1917. There was no such term as African Americans in those days. That term had not been invented yet. They were Negroes. I write the way it fits the book and the character, and I’m sorry if that offends anyone, but it is what it is.
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Speaking of books, if you enjoy easy reading mysteries, my pal Donna McNicol has some great deals going on for a short time. You can get all three of her C’Mon Inn mystery books, Paradise Down, Paradise Dead, and Paradise Drift, as well as book one of her Klondike Mysteries, Not a Whisper, and her romance, Home Again, for just 99¢ each today and tomorrow. That’s a lot of excellent reading for next to nothing.
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Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing, for an audiobook of Dead Letter by Catherine Bender. The first book in the M. Falcon mystery series, it’s the tale of amateur detectives in their golden years with a treasure trove of unexpected skills and unconventional tactics, including a sweet wheelchair bound grandmother type who is a master computer hacker, a semi-retired actress who seizes the opportunity to live her dream of being a super spy, a homeless veteran, and other blue hairs who are not content to rock their lives away in boring retirement. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – If these last months have taught us anything, it’s that stupidity travels faster than any virus on the planet, particularly among politicians and bureaucrats.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
It’s a given that you need to be accurate with the time period you are writing about. Your thought for the day fits right in.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
That’s spelling / Interpretation interpretation is simply because they don’t leave the state
the U.S. Constitution and the federal government has power over interstate commerce, meaning commerce between the states, and the states had power over intrastate commerce, meaning commerce within a state (this is also consistent with interstate versus intrastate highways).
The Intracoastal Waterway, by all rights and definitions, should technically—to be correct by the use of the prefixes inter and intra—should be named the “Intercoastal” Waterway, as it is just like an interstate highway, being used to travel between and among the states. It would be proper to call a waterway, like the Okeechobee Canal that crosses the state of Florida—and provides travel within the state—an intracoastal waterway.
So if you don’t leave the state you feel free To call it Intra
but if you travel from one state to the other feel free to call it Inter
But the name of the ICW is the Intracoastal Waterway for one simple reason: BECAUSE THAT IS ITS OFFICIAL NAME. Maybe in the beginning, someone labeled it the “Intracoastal” because it was providing travel within one state, and it just evolved to its present name, but it is today, officially named the Intracoastal Waterway