Ye gods ! Snow is a weird thing: very dangerous, and yet so uplifting !
It started snowing a bit on Thursday, just enough to make a few odd snowballs, but by noon most of it had melted away, much to the regrets of the pupils at school, much to my rejoice, the supervising teacher at noon, and ideal target of course :-p
But no one counted on Friday: when I got out of bed, the world was white, and getting even whiter. During classes, it was snowing heavily, thick flakes, ideal to play with. The kids’ anticipation got almost unbearable: recess = snowballfights ! Yet I had to teach Latin, and yes, they obeyed. In fourth grade, I couldn’t resist tho: not that I could go outside without being killed by both the snowballs and the principal, but I could create a snow intermezzo: went down to the internet room, looked up Horace Ode I 9, printed that, copied it, and we read it in class. It’s all about this weather (keep in mind that Horatius lived 2000 years ago in Northern Italy, close to Mount Soracte) (not gonna put the Latin here nor the Dutch version).
You see how [Mount] Soracte stands out white
with deep snow, and the struggling trees can
no longer sustain the burden, and the rivers
are frozen with sharp ice.
Dispel the cold by liberally piling logs on
the fireplace, and draw out more generously,
o Thaliarchus, four-year-old unmixed wine
from the two-handled Sabine jar.
Entrust everything else to the gods; as soon as
they have stilled the winds battling on the heaving
sea, neither the cypress trees nor
the ancient ash trees are shaken.
Leave off asking what tomorrow will bring, and
whatever days fortune will give, count them
as profit, and while you’re young don’t scorn
sweet love affairs and dances,
so long as crabbed old age is far from
your vigor. Now let the playing field and the
public squares and soft whisperings at nightfall
(the appointed hour) be your pursuits;
now too the sweet laughter of a girl hiding
in a secret corner, which gives her away,
and a pledge snatched from her wrists
or her feebly resisting finger.
They liked it (usually is read in 5th grade) much to my liking.
Right now I’m at home, watching the snow once more: glad I didn’t go to Antwerp for an Elanor show, the roads are just too slippery with this snow falling. I suppose I’d better get dressed and clear the pavement outside. And I’ll feel a lot more at ease when Bart gets home from work: I don’t like him being out with the car in this weather.
Thursday evening most fun was had: Cthulhu game once more, and it’s nearly turning into a soap opera. We lost two characters tho, one of them being randallsilver‘s. He was pretty pissed off, stupidly got shot. Hey, whomever of you understands Dutch is most welcome to read our adventures at www.nyarlathotep.be, complete with pictures of me, Randall, and Grimlach/Nihil.
Yesterday after school I went -as usual- to Faust, and we had some coffee and some long talks once more. Then I picked up Bart and went for food: quiche with goat cheese, apples and honey – yum ! – in this nice little restaurant. We ended the day by watching some manga DVD: Blood The Last Vampire. Nice drawing there, tho the story itself wasn’t too great.
This weekend nothing much has been planned: need to help Bart with a site that is due shortly, and maybe pop in on my grandma who’s in the hospital. Her cancer is getting worse again. But to put it bluntly, as one of the doctors once said: she should have died two years ago. We’re glad we still have her, and apart from that one leg, she’s in very good health and spirits.
Oh, and one last remark: I hate it when Bart forgets to turn on the heating in the morning: I slept long, got up at 11.30h and it was like 12° in here. Has now gone up to 17°, but that is still cold. Grr !