Etiolated: Weak Imported Play and Vegetables

The Beaverbrooks, 0-5 losers to the Atlantic Puffins, left St. John's with a favorable impression of the local hockey team, as well as the music and pub scene, but the team was less impressed with its weak performance and the days-old etiolated imported vegetables. (Newfoundland can grow stout hockey players, but the province's acidic and stony soil aren't conducive to cultivating first-rate greens.)

"O Canada" and the Orphic Dimitri

Dimitri Kotsopoulos, the only Greek Canadian on the Beaverbrooks, would often sing "O Canada" before home games. His orphic voice, so low and commanding, offset his lack of goal-scoring prowess.

Benoit, Seamus, and the Breakneck Steps

Benoit and Seamus would awake at dawn, jog to Vieux-Québec, and then conclude their pre-training camp workouts by sprinting down and then up the Breakneck Steps of Petit Champlain—before les rues would inspissate with tourists.

Sedulous: A Penchant for Pursuit

When Jean-Pierre Giguère—most respected for his sedulous forechecking—scored the game-winner, his teammates hooted with delight and thrust their arms toward the rink's rafters, domicile of the hockey gods.

Belauded: Much Ado About Mediocrity

The belauded St. Andrews Beaverbrooks, resting on the laurels of early-season success, have lost six straight games and now coast toward mediocrity in the Atlantic Hockey League.

Dundrearies and Duh Playoffs

Benoit, the team captain and comedian, stood on his dressing room chair and issued his annual mandate: "Men, we need to play more like a team—no one here padding your stats, eh?—so we will all complement our playoff beards with dundrearies.

"Dungarees?" a rookie, unaccustomed to Benoit's French accent, asked.

"Non, you oaf," Benoit replied and then glanced at his best friend, a smirking Seamus J. O'Sheehan. "DUNN-drear--ease," Benoit repeated as he drew imaginary lines from his large ears to his jaw bones. "We let our side-uh-burns grow wild, eh?"

Georgic: Curious?

H. Holm photo, Nova Scotia Photo Album: Halifax

Seamus J. O'Sheehan's grandparents, accustomed to the georgic lifestyle in rural Nova Scotia, didn't warm to the notion of selling the family farm and moving closer to urban congestion, to Lower Sackville, some twenty-five clicks from Halifax.

Oriflamme

Seamus J. O'Sheehan's oriflamme, a Celtic harp tattooed on the instep of his left foot, reminds him that his family is always with him.

Gráinne's Garden: Scarlet Pimpernel

When she wasn't working to secure endangered children or preparing her signature pot roast and noodle dinner, Gráinne often found peace in tending to her garden, which was punctuated with Scarlet pimpernel and blue-eyed grass.

Cerebrate

Cerebrate is my new favorite word. I mean, think about it...

Tonsorial: A Clerical Error

Seamus J. O'Sheehan, a bookish and reclusive red-headed sixth-grader at St. Kevin's Parochial School, pondered a career as a monk—until he read about one religious order's practice of tonsuring its new disciples.

Florid: Seamus, Sweat, and Superior

His face florid after an hour-long work-out, Seamus J. O'Sheehan's confidence swelled as he realized he would be ready for tomorrow night's hockey game in Wisconsin, against the Superior Sturgeons.

Yawp: Benoit Bemoans

Benoit, tired of the seemingly purposeless skating drills, slapped his stick on the ice and yawped: "When do we get to play hockey, Coach?"

Welkin: Welcome to Heaven, Gráinne

When Gráinne, a selfless volunteer and devoted mother, passed away, those who knew her well heard the welkin ring as their friend, their mother, their champion passed through Heaven's gates.

Vanward: A Fictional Account

Seamus J. O’Sheehan, a vociferous reader even at nine years old, found the fourth-grade reading material at St. Kevin’s Catholic School uninspiring, but he reckoned he could convince Ms. Donnelly, the school librarian, to provide him more vanward books like Island of theBlue Dolphins.

Luciferin and Enlightenment

Fireflies and jellyfish reveal themselves just as the universal luciferous power that whispers to us the truth of things.

Skirl: Sweet Music

Nova Scotia is not so far away that I can almost see the "new world Gaels," their convex cheeks puffing life into their bagpipes as they synchronize my soul with the skirl of "Amazing Grace."

Silly Season: A Fictional Account

Benoit's intermittent alcohol-induced behavior, which transformed a shy teetotaler into an outlandish drunkard, lasted two years—a period he would later refer to as his silly season.

Tucket: A Poem

A departure from the sentence, but to not dismayI crafted a poem for today's Word of the Day

There lived a kind trumpeter on the isle of Nantucket
He stood on the dunes, tooting mellow tunes
While his son shoveled sand into a bucket
Then a friend from Methuen, carrying balloons
Hiked onto the scene, with a smile so serene
The trumpeter welcomed him by blaring a tucket

Sciential

The Internet affords the erstwhile novice novelist a a sciential pool of opportunties to fortify his stories with credible content.