Through the past brightly
So this is the New year And I have no resolutions For self assigned penance For problems with easy solutions
— Death Cab for Cutie from “New Year”
Tonight I trod in starlight I excuse myself with a grin
I ponder the moon in a silver spoon And the little one alive within.
And here I sit the retired writer in the sun
The retired writer in the sun — Donovan Leitch from “Writer in the Sun”
REMUS, 1/1/22 » Day One of the New Year. So far, so good.
I heard tell of a man who took a plunge from a ten-story building. As he dropped past each floor, he’d say, “So far, so good.”
Deb and I managed to stay more-or-less conscious past midnight last night and rang in the New Year with a tasty bottle of Roederer Estate Brut from the Anderson Valley. From where?
The Anderson Valley is a sparsely populated region in western Mendocino County in Northern California. Located approximately 100 miles north of San Francisco, the name “Anderson Valley” applies broadly to several rural communities in or near the alluvial terraces along Anderson Creek..
In the heart of Anderson Valley, lies the town of Boonville. Boonville is best known as the source of the Boontling folk language. Bottles from the local Anderson Valley Brewing Company are labeled with the motto “Bahl Hornin’” which means “It’s good drinkin’” in Boontling.
Boonville, despite its small population, has a reputation for countercultural ideals. The town serves as the setting for the novel “Boonville” by Robert Mailer Anderson and is mentioned in “Sourdough” by Robin Sloan. Some believe Boonville may be the setting for the novel “Vineland” by iconoclastic writer, Thomas Pynchon.
Deb and I were widely regarded as the Counter Culture “Duke and Duchess of Tuolumne County” back in the day. Not surprisingly, we were quite fond of Mendocino County, which lay to the north and west of our ranch, and Boonville in particular.
Mendocino County is part of the so-called “Emerald Triangle,” a region in Northern California, so-named due to being the largest cannabis-producing region in the United States. The region includes three counties in an upside-down triangular configuration: Humboldt County on the coast, Trinity County, inland and Mendocino County to the south
Growers have been cultivating cannabis in this region since the 1960s. Growing “weed” in the Emerald Triangle is considered a way of life, and the locals believe that everyone living in this region is either directly or indirectly reliant on the cannabis industry. Cannabis is now legal in California, Michigan and several other enlightened states. Huzzah!
Boontling is only spoken in Boonville and was created in the 1890s. Today, it is nearly extinct, and fewer than 100 people still speak it. It has become somewhat infamous, at least in local circles or within the legends of California, owing to its small-town nature and curious-sounding nomination, as well its limited speakership.
Here now for your entertainment and edification. are a few examples of Boontling for you to casually toss around the next time you find yourself in the Anderson Valley.
• almittey: n. A burp, esp. a loud one; one who burps loudly. (This was the name of a local woman who distinguished herself for her habitual noisy belching).
• barney: v. To embrace or hug; to kiss; to “smooch.” (An affectionate Boonter named Barney addressed women he knew with such names as “darling‘” and often kissed them both in greeting them and in saying goodbye).
• boo: n. Potato. (Borrowed from Pomo Indian bu.) Example: The dehigged kimmie gormed boos ’n weel bomtooks: The poor man ate potatoes and wild grapes
• cock a fister on.: v. To get into a fight; to start a fight. Unusual combination of merged verb cock—on (see cock) and fister (a fist-fight).
That will get you started. You can eat a potato, belch loudly, kiss the nearest woman and get into a punchup with her boyfriend.
Whew, all that merely from mentioning our New Year’s Eve gargle. What’s more, it suddenly occurs to me that although I’ve had many widely disparate careers in my life, since retiring, my only occupation is writing. I get paid to write. I’m a damn writer. Only took me 70 years.
Happy New Year.
And so it went.