Sunday, December 29, 2013

Rackle: What's in a Name?

I continue to puzzle over the name "Rackle," as I would expect Jim to do, too. Where might it come from?

It's an adjective meaning "impetuous or headstrong," though it's also got another flavor—it suggests mimicking a seizure.

Both meanings, in different ways, are entirely appropriate for Elenor.

Elenor and Giant's Causeway

I would like at some point to be able to post pictures of Elenor exploring Giant's Causeway. I'd like to be able to show off her hair flying in the wind as she pressed forward in a truly outlandish red jacket of the kind only she could locate at a yard sale. What a truly remarkable instance of natural beauty! (The jacket, the Causeway, or Elenor? Any and all, of course.) Very few people were aware of her passion for Northern Ireland's finest tourist attraction.

Rackle first mentioned her interest in the Causeway to me in 2007. She was always passionate about discovering new and striking features of the nonhuman world, and I certainly understand her delight in this one.