I’ve been in Lander, Wyoming for the past few days, at Wyoming Catholic College, for one of their twice-yearly Latin immersion weekends. The students all speak Latin from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, cycling through various activities. This weekend it’s readings from the Fathers, games in Latin, talking about love, little skits, nature walks (which I run), firing catapults and crossbows and such, baking, and horseback riding (again, all in Latin). The zeal of the students for the language is remarkable, even astonishing. For more info on the program, take a look at the article WCC composed about their Latin program.
It’s cold here, of course. Waiting for the bus to ferry us back from Red Canyon, I had a snowball fight with the students. And today, Sunday, it’s snowing again – about an inch so far.
For the Feast of St. Francis. It’s nice to get scientific corroboration of what the mystics already know.
http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2009/10/nature_and_compassion.php
I heard Mike Francesa hammering on this idea during his radio program today. He saw no drawbacks to the idea – letting top seeds choose their opponent in the first round of the playoffs as a reward for having the best record during the regular season. It certainly would work well for baseball. He said, “I don’t know why people haven’t thought of this before.” I don’t know where he picked up on the idea (and I doubt it was from me), but we published this idea here more than a year ago. It’s still a good idea, and I’m glad to see him giving it some traction.
The photo is overexposed as usual, or the image would make you weep for the gift of eyes. There are layers upon layers of mountains going into the distance, all invisible in the Canon haze. It’s been beautiful up here, though it is autumn: cold, windy, damp, raw, the smell of rot in the air and the end of everything in your eyes. The mice are besieging the cabin, looking for food and warmth, and I’ve been sitting in front of the stove, book on my lap, trying to put some weight back on after a week of near-fasting.
The next eleven days will be the glory of autumn, and then the winds will come and strip the maples of their leaves. Carpe vitam.
I’m glad I got this opportunity to honor a Richmond Hill landmark. And the stories – the Holocaust survivor, the Vet coming back from Nam – it was just too good. I’ve been visiting that fish for more than 25 years.
http://gothamist.com/2009/09/24/same_fish_in_queens_petshop_for_41.php
And Louie’s tricolon abundans – “That fish! That effin’ fish! Is that effin’ fish unbelievable or what?” Worthy of Cicero.
This is the 365th day this website has been up. I have to thank mattw and mr. tween for encouraging me to start it, handling all the technical details, and for being my two commenters. As a result of having this place to put up some of my thoughts, conversations with friends have been jumpstarted literally from Woodhaven to Wyoming. Friends who are too far away knew something of what has been going on in my mind, and ones that had dropped out of my life were emboldened to drop me a line and say hi again. And I even have had a friendship or two start here. It has exceeded expectations, and I find myself grateful for it.
Viral Fish.
06-Oct-09Where the Great Fish dwelleth.
I heard from a friend that the story I penned for Gothamist about the Great Fish of Richmond Hill still had some legs and was getting traffic, and since I doubted this traffic was coming solely from Gothamist, I decided to fish around the internet and see where the story had gone. Sure enough, if you want readers, write animal stories. These were just the hits that came up on the first page of a google search. If you add original content, they will link. And I must tip my cap to whoever came up with the assonant and apropos bon mot, “Buttkiss refuses to kick bucket.”
http://www.pawnation.com/2009/10/01/buttkiss-the-41-year-old-pacu/4
http://www.supercoolpets.com/archives/2009/09/same_fish_in_queens_petshop_fo.php
http://heydano.blogspot.com/2009/09/buttkiss-fish-in-same-petstore-for-41.html
http://captainstlucifer.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/cockroaches-cher-and-buttkiss/
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?s=4fac39766c5db8f9c7779e08fc7af001&t=275374
http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2009/09/buttkiss-refuses-to-kick-bucket.html
http://popculturemadness.blogspot.com/2009/10/41-year-old-fish-defies-nature.html