Gird Your Loins

If my co-authors agreed, not one of the recipes would stand as written.  I'd turn this from a rewrite job into an entirely new book.  I girded my loins, spat on the old Underwood, and began to type up my suggestions - clickety-clack - like a determined woodpecker. 

Chapter 3, Part 7: Operational Proof, My Life in France.

And so The Book begins!  Julia Child's famous book!

For those of you just like me who do not know what 'gird your loins' and 'spit on underwood' mean, I bet you'll be interested to know.  I've looked it up just now, and am interested, but not at all surprised with my finds.

'gird your loins' - phrase meaning to prepare or draw up strength.  The literal meaning is taken from the Bible where travellers would raise their tunics and fix them to their belts so that they could have freedom of movement. 

To 'spit on the old Underwood'... that I have NOT been able to discover.  Perhaps one of you knows the answer?  There was no clear (and by clear I mean intelligible) answer when I googled it! 

Anyway, on topic, isn't this excerpt lovely?  She reminds me a lot of myself, in a way.  If I get put to a rewriting or editting task, I seem to inevitably turn it into something else, despite my intentions.  I'm either flowing, typing away furiously, "like a woodpecker", or slothfully dabbing the keys here and there when a drifting inspiration lands.  This latter image is the most often true to me.  So Julia Child is an inspiration, even if purely because she flows with ideas!  Maybe I ought to gird my loins in case inspiration is coming my way...