Vex. To cause someone to feel annoyed, frustrated, or worried.

Example: You take delight in vexing me by deliberately using bad grammar.

Portmanteau. A large suitcase or trunk that opens into two equal parts.

Example: That portmanteau will not fit in the overhead bin and must be checked.

Naught. Means zero or nothing. It can also mean to ruin, disregard, or despise.

Example: Her behavior tends to set propriety at naught.

Foible. A weakness or eccentricity in someone's character.

Example: She loved him in spite of his foibles.

Parvenu. A person who has suddenly risen to a higher social or economic class, but who has not gained social acceptance in that class.

Example: He was treated like a parvenu at the country club dinner.

Sentinel. A soldier or guard who keeps watch; to keep guard or watch.

Example: Bennett heard a strange noise and asked the sentinel to stay close.

Moribund. At the point of death; dying.

Example: Kathryn was unsure how to save her moribund career.

Beslobber. To smear with spittle or anything running from the mouth.

Example: In this drunken and beslobbered state, the lieutenant returned to the ship.

Nonplussed. Bewildered or unsure how to respond.

Example: Anna's hot and cold behavior has left me completely nonplussed.

Loquacious. Means talkative or continually chattering.

Example: Jane was pleased that her new assistant was not particularly loquacious.

Forbear. To refrain or resist; to be tolerant or patient if provoked.

Example: My approach this year has been to forbear and maintain a professional demeanor at all times.

Erudite. An educated or learned person; scholarly with an emphasis on knowledge gained from books.

Example: "Not everything is in your books," Steve told his erudite friend.

Mellifluous. Means smooth or sweet and is generally used to describe a person's voice, tone, or writing style.

Example: Patrick O'Brian's style is best described as mellifluous, sweeping the reader along from the first words.

Redolent. Fragrant or sweet smelling; strongly reminiscent or suggestive of something.

Example: These words are redolent of earlier times, when language was more formal.

Denouement. The final resolution of a story or a complex series of events.

Example: Will the denouement be explosive or serene?

my humility

I was journaling today about my beliefs and how I am staring to practice them, what I ended up saying about prayer is that “I do not want to pray unless it is giving thanks to the earth for all the gifts she allows me to have; like food, water, shelter, and even my body. I give thanks to the sun for light & heat, the moon for her gentle light in the night & for the gravity to keep us here, & to the universe for everything else. Since I know that I create my own reality threw my thoughts, words, and actions there is no reason to ask a “higher power” for any kind of change in my life.

Nature is the body of my God.

I see Nature is neither inherently “good” nor inherently “evil”. I see her as amoral and impartial. Judgments like “good” or “evil” are context-dependent and arise from an observer who has a certain perspective of the scene.

Nature does some pretty “awful” things like giving terminal bone cancer to babies, having a mother gazelle watch as a lion eats the intestines of her still crying baby, etc.
So while we can point to Nature’s beauty, harmony, and love and call that “good” — we can just as easily point to her decay, pain, and suffering and call that “bad”.
But I see Nature as neither [or both at once] — because she must be taken in the totality of all things.

You couldn’t highlight the good bits and call her “benevolent Mother” — and you couldn’t highlight the nasty bits and call her “scorned Witch”. There’s an impartial balance and a refusal to “take sides” in Nature.