“My garden is my greatest joy,” Helen Keller shared in a 1930 interview with Hazel Kinscella for Better Homes and Gardens. “I feel that I am in the seventh heaven when among my plants. I feel the little heads pop…
Lagniappe (pronounced LAN-yap) is defined as an unexpected gift given to a customer as a bonus, a compliment, or simply for good measure. Mark Twain wrote about lagniappe in Life on the Mississippi (1883). Lagnaippe is "a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word--'lagniappe'..." English speakers learned the word from French-speaking Louisianians, but they in turn had adapted it from the American Spanish word la ñapa.
Twain went on to describe how New Orleanians completed shop transactions by saying "Give me something for lagniappe," to which the shopkeeper would respond with "a bit of liquorice-root, ... a cigar or a spool of thread." It took a while for "lagniappe" to catch on throughout the country, but by the mid-20th century, New Yorkers and New Orleanians alike were familiar with this "excellent word."
So, there you have it!
“My garden is my greatest joy,” Helen Keller shared in a 1930 interview with Hazel Kinscella for Better Homes and Gardens. “I feel that I am in the seventh heaven when among my plants. I feel the little heads pop…
Some say it’s one of the holy grails of the botanical world. But in our world, in Kodiak, Alaska, Himalayan…
June 20, 2022
Every major holiday has its classic color scheme. For example, Halloween decorations are generally orange and black. As for Christmas,
June 15, 2022
One day, during the Christmas season, I was pondering the act of gift-giving. I reached out to a friend. “Do…
June 15, 2022
Sunday morning, the day after Christmas, I poured a cup of coffee and glanced over at the weather station unit…
June 13, 2022
I first hit the ski slopes when I was five years old. Well, sort of. It was common back then…
June 13, 2022
If plants could talk, the Peace Rose could tell a tale as gripping as a World War II spy novel.
June 9, 2022
YAY! It’s summertime in Alaska! We can joyfully open our windows and doors. Uh oh. A bumblebee flew through the…
June 8, 2022
Today is a gloriously sunny day in Kodiak, Alaska. We endure snappy winters for days like this. And as much…
June 7, 2022
It was in the mid-1980s when I ordered seeds for the first time. What a mess! I was totally overwhelmed…
May 31, 2022
When it comes to comfort food, the potato holds the top spot. But there’s more to the potato than meets…
May 22, 2022
I’m Marion Owen. I work, relax, and love life in Kodiak, Alaska. I’ve worked on research ships, created photographs that hang in The Smithsonian, given up cheese and meat, and enjoy watching bumblebees and snowflakes. And somewhere along the line, I co-authored the New York Times bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul. I’m learning how to not do too much. To be authentic, embrace joy, and not burn the oatmeal.
Thank you for being here,
