U is for Umbrella, Udder, Utter, Underwater, Unison, and University - abc Wedneday - U / Alphabe-Thursday - U

With the exception of the photos of a cow-udder, four kinds of otters and the killer whales from Wikipedia; and the goat's milk soap and Pricilla, the spokesgoat, from The Maaaaa of Pricilla; all photos on this post are taken by me, Christina Wigren.

It is already very late on Thursday June 10th, and the letter "U" is this week's stop along our journey through the alphabet, with Mrs. Denise Nesbitt's abc Wednesday and Mrs. Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. I was not sure I could find any U-words at all. But after consulting the dictionary, I found more than I needed! My U-words for this week are Umbrella, Udder, Utter, Underwater, Unison, and University.

This first photo (second from the top), is of Elisabet, hiding under an umbrella on her way to a birthday party with a pirate-theme. Here we see Erik dressed as a sleepy Captain Jack Sparrow under his umbrella.

Read what Wikipedia has to say about the history of the umbrella and its sun-protecting twin, the parasol. After all the crazy things that have happened in my off-line-life this week, I don't feel very clever or witty. This post will be a straight-forward picture-book about U-words. Click on the word Umbrella.

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My photos of a toy cow from the Dairy company, Arla

According to the Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary my next word, "Udder", is "an organ shaped like a bag that produces milk and hangs underneath the body of a cow, goat, etc."

My photo of a drinking glass from the dairy company, Arla.

Photo of cow-udder courtesy Wikipedia

But if you really want to know about how udders work and what you can do with milk other than to drink it, I highly recommend visiting Pricilla, the Spokesgoat for Happy Goats Soap. (Click on the image of the soap to get to this listing.)

Abby and Nora - Rich Goat's Milk Soap

This is a photo of Pricilla

and not Anna.
(This is not an ad, just things I like.)

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There is a verb in English, "utter" that means "to make a sound with your voice; to say something." But I thought of a cute, aquatic, furry animal that looks like these creatures from Wikipedia:

But these animals are otters! Oops! Wrong letter! We had that letter weeks ago! The Swedish name for "otter" is "utter" (plural form: "uttrar"). This is what it's like to live and dream in two languages! Sometimes I get it wrong! So we may as well continue to the next U-word...

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....which is Underwater! Here is Elisabet's "Underwater-box" or "aquarium" made out of a shoe-box, showing seashells, gravel, seaweeds, fish and a killer whale!

Jumping killer whales from Wikipedia

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The next U-word that I word that I would like to illustrate with my own personal photos is "Unison", which means: "(music) if singers or musicians sing or play in unison, they sing or play notes at the same pitch or at one or more actaves apart"(Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary).

Violin/viola-teacher, Sonja Nichols, is leading these children:

And here is Norrkoping's Suzuki Children's Orchestra playing string instruments at their Summer concert on Tuesday, supposedly play the same melody at the same time! (You can see Erik and his viola.)

My very last U-word is "University", for which I am still trying to get a paper written. This is a photo of the University of Linkoping's logo on the door to the branch of the university library that is in Norrkoping. I hope there is a special place in Heaven for kind, understanding and helpful librarians. A librarian named Sofia Engvall was very supportive when I was there yesterday. God bless you Sofia!

You can see my reflection in the window-glass! (I've got a helmet on my head because I rode my bike. Norrkoping is a small enough town to do that. I amost never take the bus)
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Now that I have finished this very difficult letter, I feel a whole lot better!

I hope that you do too!

Anna

First Commenter:
Pricilla of The Maaaaa of Pricilla

For more U-words at Mrs. Nesbitt's abcWednesday please click here.
For more U-words at Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday please click here.