* The garden was beautiful the other day. I kept thinking as I strolled through, "La saison s'achève." This doesn't have an easy translation in English. Something like the season has passed the pinnacle, or the season is over. Much better in French. Pics today courtesy of the beauty from Thursday.
* Feeling so old lately. It's like the genetic switch has been turned on for aging. When you're young, everything regenerates itself so easily, you feel invincible and you bounce back so quickly from things (notably alcohol abuse). Every day now there's a new spot on my face or a new pain somewhere. That fall I took back in April when I was horsing around with my cousin is still plaguing me. Four stinking months later.
* There's something changed mentally too. I can feel myself getting set in my ways and getting cantankerous when I can't have them. I find myself looking scornfully at ragamuffins and the "squeegee beggars". Get a job I've muttered more than once. And sadly, I don't think about what I want to do with my life anymore, I think about how fabulous it will be when I finally get to retire. (19 years if all goes according to plan.)
* I have a feeling a new pup will give me a new spring to my step, but I've got to honor my agreement with Serge. Can't do it until October.
* My nose has become super odor detector. I can smell an unwashed human from 10 yards now. As soon as your sweat starts to ferment - a smell I used to think of as "man" - I will notice it and if I love you, I'll tell you that you're starting to stink. Every morning, there's at least one unwashed guy on the bus who sweat in the bed and didn't shower in the morning. I don't love him so I don't say anything.
* Uh-oh, I've found another series to watch. Weeds. The first disc of any series is only 99 cents at the video store to get you hooked. Well it worked. There's several seasons over there, so I'll be watching that for the next few weeks. (And Californication? Awesome. It's a drag there's only one season available right now up here. I hurt myself several times with the guffawing.)
*To give you an idea of the challenge I presently have at work. (The following exchange in French because I was trying to get him to understand the parts of speech.)Me: C'est quoi le verbe dans la phrase suivante: Je vais au magasin.
Him: Être?
Me: Non, ecoute une fois de plus: Je VAIS au magasin.
Him: Vais, vais.......Je ne sais pas.
Me: (With a huge grin) C'est le verbe "aller".
Okay so those of you who have no idea what that is, I asked him what the verb was in the sentence "I go to the store." His response was the verb "to be". Then later on (he really is improving despite my whinage around here) he was translating a phrase in his head and thought "ses choses" meaning "his things" but since ses is a homonym of both "c'est" and "ces", he looked up "ces" in his notes and proudly responded: These things! It was so cute but geez if you are lame in your mother tongue, it's a very uphill climb to learn a second language. I know I had to relearn English somewhat when I learned French.
14 comments:
I'm so smart, I understood all the french in your post! :-)
Weeds - just sent you an email about that.
Happy weekend
Sometimes I wonder if my aches and pains have to do with illness or getting older. I never expected to live this long so I don't worry about it too much. Hang out with more young people!
I was totally in awe when my sense of smell started to come back super strong after quitting smoking. It's so much more heightened, is your sense of taste better too?
Try to stay out of a rut, nothing will age you faster or get you more set in your ways. Once that happens, you ARE old!!
Great pictures. I have heard people (ok honestly it was a sales pitch on the radio) talk about the peak of summer. It sounds like the same thing.
I don't know what to tell you about the crankiness. I'm more tragic than cranky.
em
October isn't that far off. You could start thinking about breeds at this point . . .
The thing that really throws you in French or any romance language is the very object arrangement.
Classically demonstrated here in RI's French Canadian population back in the day by the english phrase spoken by a an FC:
"Throw me down the stairs the mop."
Once you get past verb/object issues you can pick up any of the languages fairly easily.
It's funny, studying Italian right now brings back the three years of Spanish I took in high school almost 30 years ago.
More to the point when I was a young child my paternal great grand parents spoke nothing but Italian. So even today certain phrases light up like you wouldn't believe.
Sounds like your student is a bit of a dolt in any language.
I have a sore pinky finger and have no idea why it hurts. It's been sore for a week. Now THAT'S a sign I'm old!
Your senses are picking up just in time for them to drop off again due to age. :o)
Une saison s'achève, une autre commence... Ack, not yet!!
Great pix. :)
Those are gorgeous shots. Did you mess with the color on the third one? It looks alien.
Speaking of pictures, maybe that's how your student thinks: in pictures. He might remember better by using stories he can picture in his head. Just a thought.
When you feel old, go do something new. Works for me, and I'm a lot older than you are.
The Season has achieved his highest glory and it's all down hill from here.
The first picture is of the Castor Bean plant. It's seeds are very poisonous. Many states have outlawed it's growth. It used to be called the Mole Bean plant and was used to kill Moles. ed
When going to dinner at a restaurant and you are led to a table immediately bessie the restrooms or the kitchen, you know your old. That makes me more than cantankerous, more like temper tantrum. And, since I'm 80, I speak from some experience, getting old is a bitch.
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I'm still fond of caniches, personally, but I love my little bulldog beyond all measure. I think, though, that taking some time to decide upon a dog is a good thing. You need to find one you can feel some sort of connection with.
I've always been sensitive to people smells, so I suppose there's some sort of irony in the fact that I developed a nasty sensitivity to pretty much every deodorant/anti-perspirant under the sun. Good thing I love a good shower or bath.
Oh, poo. Age Schmage.
You're simply old enough now to appreciate the value in a walk through a lovely garden...and you sure picked a sweet one this time. I love the butterfly shot!
Your photos are terrific.
You (and I) must both fight the temptation to turn into old curmudgeons. When I feel like saying "Get a job" to the beggars, I instead remind myself how fortunate I am to have a relatively sane mind that allows me the dignity of work.
All of our lives we were once younger and more resilient. At every given moment we are as young as we will ever be. It's best to enjoy the moments now.
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