Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for August 14, 2016

Mimsy, pooters, chthonic, Ah!, philtrum, palate, exsanguinate..(Ah! is the element of surprise.)

Ah! Yes, uranium is the element of surprise!

Sigh! I haven’t played marbles since I was seven (maybe eight) years old, and that was many decades ago.But I’ll just guess (have not cheated by trying to look up answers on a search engine or in Wikipedia, etc.).Taw, ducks, black, uranium, pontil, punty, rust….

I was told there would be no surprise tests.

The PUNTY or shooter is the marble used for shooting.Marbles that are shot at are called PINGO.When held under a RUST light, some (not all) oldMarbles will fluoresce due to glass made withROOSTERS in it.A TOAD is the mark left from where the marble wasSheered from its SHRINK (the iron rod used to hold orShape soft glass).Old marbles DUCKS. This is due to the presence of ironand other minerals that undergo oxidation.okay…I think I aced it.

My possible question is, How does Teresa know so much about marbles? Marbles is a boys’ sport.

Teresa has finally lost all he marbles.

Does anyone else remember frying marbles? We’d roll a marble around in a black iron skillet till it was good ‘n’ hot, then dump it into a glass of water. It would fracture wonderfully on the inside, but would usually remain whole.

Come to think of it, I think there is a sack of marbles in my nephew’s toy drawer – I’ll have to give it a shot.

I don’t know how to post images (like Happy) but I did find a bunny INSIDE a marble here:http://marbleforum.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

How to Make Fried Marble Jewelry:http://www.ehow.com/how_5140766_make-fried-marble-jewelry.html

The TAW or shooter is the marble used for shooting.

Marbles that are shot at are called DUCKS.

When held under a BLACK light some (not all) old marbles

will fluoresce due to glass made with URANIUM in it.

A PONTIL is the mark

left from where the marble was sheered from its PUNTY

(the iron rod used to hold or shape soft glass.)

Old marbles RUST. This is due to the presence of iron

and other minerals that undergo oxidation.

I don’t know about the price of vintage marbles, but fancy handmade new ones can cost $300-$600.

Keep this up and we will end up with an illustrated story in the world of H.P. Lovecraft and the style of Douglas Adams where a brace of missiles turns into a Cthulhu and a bowl of petunias in the halls of Arkham’s Miskatonic U..

With the Olympics going on, one might say, “And this is for all the marbles”.

Thanks to Sumo and Happy for marblelous finds. (Hearing Billy Crystal… “They look marblelous!!”)