OK, my blog's not publishing. This is to make it think there's something new to post. Bear with me. Here's the word of the day from December 29th last year to keep you amused. For no real reason than scumble is a lovely word.

scumble \SKUM-bul\ (verb)
1 a : to make (as colour or a painting) less brilliant by covering
with a thin coat of opaque or semiopaque color b : to apply (a colour)
in this manner
*2 : to soften the lines or colours of (a drawing) by rubbing lightly

Example sentence:
Joan squinted critically at her self-portrait, then scumbled the
outlines of her face with her finger, and she found the vague dreamy
effect of the smeared edges was much more to her liking.

Did you know?
The history of "scumble" is blurry, but the word is thought to
be related to the verb "scum," an obsolete form of "skim" (meaning
"to pass lightly over"). Scumbling, as first perfected by artists
such as Titian, involves passing dry, opaque coats of oil paint over
a tinted background to create subtle tones and shadows. But although
the painting technique dates to the 16th century, use of the word
"scumble" is only known to have begun in the late 18th century. The
more generalized "smudge" or "smear" sense appeared even later,
in the mid-1800s.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

I think my vision is scumbled after last night's beer. For more words of the day, go here.