Imbolc Waning Cold Moon
The snow has stopped. Our neighbors, the Perlich’s, had relatives visiting today with snowmobiles which they happily drove on the Perlich’s lot. I hope it was to make Greg feel better. By city ordinance snowmobiles cannot come below a street about a mile north of us, but in this situation I won’t complain.
Chapters 2 and 3 in Wheelock completed. That means I’ve copied declensions for 1st and second declension nouns, taken a shot at learning them, but count on repetition over time to cement the case endings. I’ve also read about grammar, syntax and word order. Then Wheelock has sentences from Latin writers like Horace, Catullus, Phaedres. My job is to translate them. At the end of the Latin sentences are sentences in English to be translated into Latin. After this, once for each chapter, there is a paragraph, again from a Latin man of letters. Today it was Horace. I don’t recall yesterday’s.
This work demands nose to the grind stone type studying. Create flash cards. Review flash cards. Copy declensions. Use declensions. Learn grammar. Use grammar. Translate from and into. It feels like real studying, which it is, I guess.
So far, I like it. A lot, actually. In fact I’m a little surprised at how much I like it.
The novel keeps on spooling out, nearing mid-way or somewhere close. I plan to write on it during the retreat using my handy net book and my take along keyboard. I suppose I’ll study some Latin there, too. Very appropriate at a Benedictine monastery where Latin is still a living language. Sort of.
