I was totally thinking you were fluent in Anglo-Saxon--you sound so knowledgeable about it all. :) I took a semester-long course in it during my senior year of undergrad, more because I loved the prof than because I had a great interest in it, though it was fun. (The prof gave us tea each time class met. We provided cookies. Class was in this seminar room from the 1800s, all wood-paneled and with big windows, and it was basically the most awesome thing ever.) We found that reading things out loud really, really helped--once you get the basics of the vowels and consonants down, you're halfway to understanding much of what exists.
Although I do wonder sometimes if European gulls are perhaps slightly more musical than the ones on the NW coast of the US.
I spent my junior year on the southwestern coast of England. Although I have sadly never been to the PNW, I can say with authority that no, European gulls are not at all musical. And they are really incredibly obnoxious at six o'clock in the morning when you've forgotten to shut your window. (Plus, they mug you for your sandwiches.)
That's very cool that your family is so into boats! My mother's father was in the Navy, and she grew up in Florida and did some boating, but it definitely never rubbed off on me.
Canoes are untrustworthy little monsters sometimes.
Gaaaah. Although I think it was less the fault of the canoe in principle than it was the crappy canoe outfit that hosted our class trip--they just herded us into boats and shoved us into the river (running extremely high and fast due to excessive rain earlier in the week). Not only did they not tell us how to steer, but they didn't even tell us how far it was to the put-out point or which side to take when the river forked. But yes, my friend and I managed to tip our canoe not twenty-five feet from the put-in point, resulting in a long, cold trip down the river. Thankfully, the canoe outfit did provide life jackets, or I seriously and without hyperbole believe there's a good chance I would not be typing this today.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 12:28 am (UTC)Although I do wonder sometimes if European gulls are perhaps slightly more musical than the ones on the NW coast of the US.
I spent my junior year on the southwestern coast of England. Although I have sadly never been to the PNW, I can say with authority that no, European gulls are not at all musical. And they are really incredibly obnoxious at six o'clock in the morning when you've forgotten to shut your window. (Plus, they mug you for your sandwiches.)
That's very cool that your family is so into boats! My mother's father was in the Navy, and she grew up in Florida and did some boating, but it definitely never rubbed off on me.
Canoes are untrustworthy little monsters sometimes.
Gaaaah. Although I think it was less the fault of the canoe in principle than it was the crappy canoe outfit that hosted our class trip--they just herded us into boats and shoved us into the river (running extremely high and fast due to excessive rain earlier in the week). Not only did they not tell us how to steer, but they didn't even tell us how far it was to the put-out point or which side to take when the river forked. But yes, my friend and I managed to tip our canoe not twenty-five feet from the put-in point, resulting in a long, cold trip down the river. Thankfully, the canoe outfit did provide life jackets, or I seriously and without hyperbole believe there's a good chance I would not be typing this today.