Cold weather

"'I don't think Jerry steals horses,' Pa said.  But Laura thought he said it as if he hoped that saying it would make it so"--By the Shores of Silver Lake (sounds like some American liberals today!)

 

It's finally getting colder.  I brought out my warm autumn jacket and scarf on the weekend and my furry winter cap the other day.  Sunday it was warmer so I managed to get the last potatoes from the garden. (I got a few more beans, but they probably weren't good enough for eating.)

Friday night I saw The Birth of a Nation at the Carlton. (As I mentioned before, I tried to make it a History Book Club event, but nobody else was interested.) Frankly, it was pretty conventional:  William Styron's novel The Confessions of Nat Turner may be "appropriation," but it was far more original and imaginative.  At one point they even had the flashback montage cliche--of course, Cabaret had that too.

Today I've started reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's By the Shores of Silver Lake (for the third time) History Book Club.  It's one of my favorite Little House books, and I've already read about half of it!  It's the one where they move to Dakota Territory where Pa has a clerking job in a railroad under construction, then spend a winter in isolation and get a homestead claim near a place where they're about to build a new town.  I recall that there's a Silver Lake near my hometown of Sackville, N.B. 

At opera rehearsal tonight Beatrice came up with an exercise where we sang scales while extending our arms out and kicking our left and right legs in alternation!

On Duolingo I've been learning Portuguese business words ("loja" means shop), and just started learning political words.  Portuguese has a subjunctive mood in the future and pluperfect tenses, which I haven't seen in other languages.  I hope they'll soon be teaching nautical words, considering Portugal's illustrious seafaring history. 

 

I just learned on Youtube that the treaty of friendship between Portugal and England goes back to the 14th century!  Something else I've found on Youtube is a channel about dating different nationalities.  Seems that if you date a German girl she'll be brutally honest ("Don't you think it's time you got a haircut?") while a Mexican girl will expect you to walk with her on the outside of the sidewalk.  I don't know how true such generalizations are, but it's fun to watch.

I put a hold on a couple of books of Roald Dahl stories at the library, but the holds expired and I got fined two dollars.  They tried to phone me, but I hadn't updated my phone number! (I wish they'd email you too.)