Standing Akimbo

Today, a friend, Rosa and I along with Rosa's grandson and my daughter and grandson all went to Shipshewana, Indiana.....Amish country. Rosa and family are from Puerto Rico and had not visited Amish country before. Rosa graciously drove her lovely Honda station wagon which made for a very comfortable ride. We spent the first hour or so of our day at the largest flea market in the world. There were some very interesting things this time and we had great fun "window" shopping. As Rosa said, "We bought everything with our eyes." It's nice to come home knowing one didn't spend a wad. I had a delightful day and didn't really spend much money.

We ate lunch at The Blue Gate and enjoyed the peanut butter/marshmallow creme along with their delicious apple butter on the little bread loaves they served. Everyone seemed happy with the lunch of their choice so we were on to look at other things.

For Rosa, English is her second language and she does so well. Sometimes when I say something, I realize she didn't understand. We, who speak English, speak with so many idioms that a person trying to understand English is so easily confused. When we were traveling east this morning, I asked some questions about what she wanted to see. She shrugged her shoulders as only Rosa can do and said, "You call the shots." After she said that she asked, what does that mean, you call the shots. I explained she had used it correctly and that it meant that she was giving me permission to make the decisions. That led to a discussion about the difficulty of the English language.

I learn new things about the English language regularly. I recall about ten years ago when I learned to my astonishment that "taunt" means to tease or provoke and "taut" means pulled tightly. To that point in my life I had used taunt interchangably. I embarrassed myself. Recently, at my dad's house, he was reading two definitions for his daily crossword puzzle that were not yet solved. One was to stand with hands on one's hips. Mary said very confidently, "Oh, that's akimbo." News to me! Now I know and you know that standing akimbo is standing with your hands on your hips. Oh, you already knew that. Aren't you so smart.