A very dear friend of mine has suggested that my Christmas collection of stories could be called 'stories that warm the cockles of your heart.' I like this idea so much and so I am going to dedicate them to her and that will be the title of the collection.
For those of you who aren't familiar with this wonderful expression I looked up the origin. It seems to date back to the seventeenth century. There are three possible explanations :-
1 it could be due to the resemblance of the shape of cockles to the shape of hearts.
2 It may be a corruption of the Latin word, cochleae, cochleae cordis or the ventricles of the heart.
3 it might have an Irish Gaelic origin inspired by molluscs opening when exposed to warmth, notably as in cooking. You know you should never eat a mollusc that has stayed firmly closed during the cooking process!.
Number three is definitely my favourite. Whatever the origin the meaning of the expression is lovely. It means to provide happiness and bring about a deeply felt contentment. There is a lot of kindness in the world and when it appears it always warms the cockles of our hearts.
I hope you'll enjoy my stories. Today just a quick poem for bedtime which my mother used to sing and some photos of warmth and cheer.
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise.
Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby:
 |
| Candle light is always cheerful to see |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment