Good Morning everyone, for some reason I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so have been pondering these questions :).
Still thinking about #1, #2, and I know one of the dws. I think I can answer the rest.

Annette

Good morning to you, too, Cynthia. It's cold, still, and dry here in northern Michigan today --- 17ðF when I got up. (That's not minus 17, thank goodness..)

I think I may be able to get some of these right today. Still scratching my ahead over 3 and 8, but they may come to be in time.

TM

Good morning All!! I am feeling rather smart, after reading these - I'm pretty sure I know 3, 4, 5 and 8. I am 100% sure I know 2, and have one answer for #6, and 6 for #7. Interesting story about #5 - I once dated a gentleman who was Swiss by birth, and had a drink of t his- darn near took the top of my head off, but do remember the story of the pear, and think it's pretty cool. Of course, feeling smart is usually a fleeting illusion for me!!

Nancy.

Have answers for many of these. Still pondering #1 and #3. Know one dw word off hand and 6 punctuation marks. Maybe #8.

I've come up with three DW words and DH has two others that are scrabble words and then there are the derivative DW words. Always interesting to share a home with a wordsmith.

I thought you might all know a fair number of these without waiting for the final bell (or clue as the case may be).

Feeling good with only two weeks to go until break! Of course, I have tons of work to do outside of teaching before then: two kids to test and write educational reports on, two IEPs to write and hold meetings to finalize, etc. sigh. Actually, I don't have a full two weeks because I am out the morning of the 15th for the dentist and then taking off the 17th to see the last film of The Hobbit. We are so sad the series is ending; we have enjoyed them all. It was such a treat to be able to visit NZ in 2004. Beautiful place-waterfalls everywhere we drove. We were constantly pulling off the road to take pictures or explore.

Cynthia

Bobbie, three DW words in standard English and not counting derivatives.

:)

BTW, if you need a hint, #4 is often paired with one of #3's answers.

John and Kelly [son's sweetie] dropped off The Wild One hours ago as they ran a quick errand. Sheesh. I don't really mind though because they so rarely have time on the weekend for fun since he works every Saturday and most Sundays. Still...

Cynthia

Let's see if I am on the right track on any of these.

1. What I am thinking of reminds me of an upcoming British and Canadian holiday.
2. Does this one provide wonderful fall pictures?
3. Dunno yet.
4. I'll bet we all get this one right. Through some odd quirk of nature, I don't care for these.
5. I have a couple of pear trees so maybe it would be fun to try this trick.
6. I'm sure dweeb isn't standard English, but I have thought of three other words. One of them could apply to pear trees, though not to mine.
7. I'm up to ten, although I'm getting into territory where I'm not sure if the marks I'm thinking of are considered punctuation.
8. I'm sure I've read this one somewhere, but it's not coming back to me.

Am I getting warm, Cynthia?

TM

OK:
1. no clue!!
2. I believe Nic Wallenda crossed this last year.
3. I thought I knew the answer to this till TM said it might be paired with #4 - I was thinking spicy.
4. sweet, and for me, additive in season
5. to the orchards!!
6. only came up with one - not dweeb - lol
7. still only 6 but haven't really had time to concentrate on it
8. only one that can think of and can't imagine it any way other that raw and fresh

Nancy.

1. I think TM's clue has given me the answer.
2. Perhaps global warming is causing this one to get smaller and thus moving backward? Or I'm all wet.
3. I may know one of these if it is a bit prickly. And the other is a favorite regardless of the color or size.
4. Like many people I am now allergic to these tiny morsels. Still can eat them in very limited amounts. Planted some of the alpine ones in my garden which produce until frost. A treat, if I can get to them before the neighborhood kids get them. (They have my permission.)
5. I have seen how this is done. Tried something similar with a paper sack and apples. Think I've heard of watermelon being treated this way to make square melons!
6. Got all three and have given clues for each.
7. I have nine; still thinking.
8. Thought I had this one then realized it is often processed so need to think again.

The bell just rung on #1 for me - lol.
Bobbie, if I am correct for #8 - think of a period in your life!!

Nancy.

7. Up to thirteen.

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Sun, Dec 7, 14 at 17:48

2. Nancy has widened my choices/options.
6. Ha, ha, dweeb is one of the scrabble words.
8. Still thinking---need more clues.

John just left after picking up the dog. He and Kelly were at Sears and he picked up a little something for me- yikes! A two-pound Whitman's Sampler! I have never seen one so huge. 88 pieces of candy. That is just not helpful. He should have brought me a salad instead! Ha.

Have any of you ever done any acting? I always heard that in crowd scenes, extras were just supposed to repeat the name of one vegetable to make it sound like idle chatter. Not sure if it really works. Works in pies, though. Now the other one, not pie material, but yummy antway. Those are good tips.

You are all doing very well! Floating like butterflies, stinging like bees. ;)

Cynthia

88 pieces! One for each key on the piano.

Got the Ali clue. :-)

Does number 8 start with an A?
DW's idea.

TM

I think I've got #1 now, try L for #8 :). I'm still hung up on #2, I'll go back and see if I can pick up a clue.

Annette

Think I have #2. DS son stopped at a landmark on his way to Montreal. And this one is moving backward due to erosion as something falls.

O.K. here 's what I've come up with :).
#1 boxing
#2 Niagara Falls? still pondering this one
#3 asparagus and rhubarb
#4 strawberry
#5 The pear is inserted in the bottle when small while still growing on the tree, cut loose when ripe.
#6 dwelling, dwarf and this one took awhile dwindle :)
#7 period, comma, exclamation point, colon, semicolon, hyphen, parenthesis, apostrophe and brackets
#8 Lettuce

Annette

1. Boxing
2. Niagara Falls
3. Asparagus and artichokes (with both perennial and annual varieties).
4. strawberry
5. bottle is put over small pear while on tree and removed from tree when pear is mature size
6. dwarf, dwindle, dwelling
7. period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, colon, semi-colon, hyphen, brackets, apostrophe, quotation marks, dash, ... (ellipsis), slash (/) and maybe underline? or accent marks though can't think of any English words that use accents
8. Will go with lettuce but how about wilted lettuce salads that are sold in the deli? I have seen canned pickled lettuce in the Asian products section of the grocery store

OK, here are mine:
1. Boxing
2. Niagara Falls
3. I was thinking peppers - I think Annette is more correct, as I cannot think of an application for peppers and ...
4. Strawberries
5. Poire William - it is an eau de vie that starts with the bottle over beginning fruit.
6. dwindle 1st came to me then after a while dwell
7. . , ; : ' " ? - ! () () [ ] - 15
8. lettuce

Nancy.

Shall I wait for TM? I can give him a little longer.

Cynthia

You are so nice to wait for me. My answers are.

1. Boxing
2.Niagara Falls
3. Don't know
4. Strawberries
5. The bottle is placed over the pear when it's still very small.
6. I got dwarf, dwindle, and dwell.
7. Period, comma, question mark, exclamation nark, apostrophe, colon, semi-colon, parenthesis, quotation mark, hyphen, and dash. (11) What about the asterisk, slash, tilde, and caret? Are any of those considered punctuation marks?
8. DW suggested avocado, which sounds good to me, but I think it's likely that ready-made guacamole is probably available, so that's out. I think that the others have this right.

TM

Bobbie you might be onto something about the lettuce thing, there is an asian lettuce grown for it's stem rather than leaf. I just rummaged through the seed stash in the fridge and found a pkg. of Asparagus Lettuce (Lactuca sativa "Tai Ko Tsoi"). My memory is failing me, or better still I had to delete some things to make room for more LOL.
My neighbour purposely lets some of his ordinary lettuce bolt and then cooks the stems, I've had some, delicious. So when I saw Ricters had this chinese lettuce in their seed zoo listings I ordered a pkg.,I must remember to plant it in the spring.

Annette

Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus Lettuce

Here you are:
1. Yes indeed, boxing it is.
2. Niagara Falls does move backward every year through erosion. The rim is worn down about two and a half feet every year.
3. The answers I had were rhubard and asparagus, but it seems Bobbie is also right about artichokes being perennial, so kudos to her!
4. Strawberries-thought this one woukd be pretty easy for all of you.
5. The bottle is actually placed over the blossom and then the pear develops inside the bottle-very cool and creative, I think.
6. Dwarf, dwell, dwindle
7. Period, comma, colon, semi-colon, dash, hyphen, question mark, exclamation point, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipses
8. Lettuce

Nice job everyone. In the spirit of the season, four stars for all of you!

Cynthia, who has six and a half days left to teach before break! Half day off for dentist and personal day off to go to The Hobbit on opening day next Wednesday! Woohoo.

I love Santa and his stars!!

Thanks for the fun Cyn!

Nancy.

Ditto here :). Another fun weekend you guys.

Annette

Asparagus and rhubarb! I should have thought of those, especially because I have some asparagus growing in my garden. For some reason, the image of Santa and the stars isn't showing up on my iPad, so I'll just imagine something really cool.

Thanks for the fun, Cynthia.

TM

Hurray for the Santa and stars (They are cool, TM.)

Didn't even think of rhubarb and I grow and love eating raw rhubarb. I've had artichokes on the brain lately. Need to get a bottle of artichokes to add to my salads. My sister-in-law gets tiny artichokes in the CA Bay area. They are tender and delicious and one eats the whole thing. All we get are large ones.

Hmm, they must hand pollinate the pear blossom before putting it in the bottle or there would be an empty bottle. Or maybe the bottle top is left open enough for pollinators to enter. One year I put paper bags over tiny apples to prevent insect damage. Worked well but not too practical for a whole tree.

I had fun with the punctuation marks. Thought parenthesis and brackets might be lumped together as one. Did you notice I tried to use all the punctuation marks in my third posting?

Thanks for the questions and stars, Cynthia. I have other commitments for Wednesday but my heart will be with you at The Hobbit and hope to see it later.

Oooh, Annette, that Asparagus Lettuce sounds interesting. Now I wonder if that is in the canned lettuce the stores carry. Will try to remember to check next time I am at the store. I will be interested to hear how your crop produces and how it tastes.

Ho, Ho, Ho, see you next week.

Double post

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 23:29

Yes, Bobbie! I did notice that! I was trying to work them in to my posts as well! Noticed Nancy's string of marks as well! wow-too many exclamation points there.

TM, Chuck and I loved your piano keys reference! That was such a cool connection. You are quite the Renaissance man-a scientist with a musical connection as well. Excellent. I am not on my iPad-not sure where it is, or I would repost Santa for you. If you have a little square at the bottom of the post, try clicking on that. It happens to me sometimes too with photos. Sometimes the empty box brings up the photo and sometimes it doesn't. So sorry.

Cynthia

I've gone back and read through the postings. LOL, !!! everywhere!!! Also how glaring the waterfall clue is now. Ha, ha.
Can't believe how many clues I missed.