Expression: On my mind

If something (or someone) is on your mind, it means that you're thinking about it (or him/her). For example:
You: "Do you have a minute to chat?"
Your friend: "Sure! What's on your mind?"
Your friend is asking what you're thinking about. Sometimes people say "I have a lot on my mind" which means that they have many things, and probably heavy ones, to think about right now.
There's a famous song called Georgia On My Mind.
Here are the lyrics for this song:

Georgia, Georgia,
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind

I say Georgia Georgia
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear
As moonlight through the pines

Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you

I said Georgia,
Ooh Georgia, no peace I find
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind

Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you

Georgia, Georgia,
No peace, no peace I find
Just this old, sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
I said just an old sweet song,
Keeps Georgia on my mind

The Georgia that Ray is singing about is in the United States, in the south. I was born there, and my parents live there. I'll be visiting them very soon, so they're on my mind! I won't be blogging again until the first week of May. Until then, I hope you have a great couple of weeks, and that you only have wonderful things on your mind!

Cushy

My word of the day is cushy. This is an adjective that means not demanding, easy, comfortable. Last night I had a wonderful dinner with a wonderful friend. In addition to great conversation and lovely food and wine, it was also a pleasure to be with her cat.

It seems to me that a lot of cats, at least the ones who live with nice people, have cushy lives. They get to be very independent, and do more or less exactly what they want to in any moment. Now a little snack, now a little nap, now I want to play... This seems cushy to me! Cushy is regular, so you can say cushy, cushier, the cushiest. For example, "Bob's current job is much cushier than his last one."

P.S. This post is dedicated to Vera and Hunter, with affection and appreciation.

April Fool's Day

Today is April Fool's Day, on which it's traditional to play a little joke on people.

Some people are easy to play a joke on, and we call these people gullible. This means that they will believe things that other people wouldn't. I know one person who is a great fan of this day, someone who has played some legendary jokes on gullible people, and I wonder what she's going to do today...

For people who enjoy satire, I recommend The Onion, always a source of unreal and humorous news. Also, 1000 Awesome Things has a nice post for today, which really gives a great example of what April Fool's Day is all about.

Expression: Poker Face

If you have a poker face, it means that your expression doesn't tell anyone what you're thinking or feeling. Obviously this is useful in poker, because the other players don't know whether you have good cards or bad ones. But a person can have a poker face at any time, in order not to show his or her emotions. There's also an adjective form: poker-faced. Here's an example: "When she heard the news she remained completely poker-faced and simply thanked us for telling her."