Latin Lesson 8 is posted, covering the use of the dative case for indirect objects, and adjectives ending in -er.  When I get time, I think I’m going to start doing podcasts to go with the lessons, so I can explain things a bit more and give more examples.

Photo from Flickr.com

It’s 65 degrees out today—very hard to stay sitting here working and not go wandering outside to start planning the garden or just sit outside in the sun.  Can’t wait for spring.

There was no blog post last night because I ended up doing some unexpected system triage.  I upgraded some software, and that upgraded a low-level library which a whole bunch of other programs depended on, so I ended up needing to rebuild a whole bunch of stuff.  As long as I was at it, I thought I’d go ahead and upgrade FreeBSD from 7.0 to 7.1.  That went fine, but when it booted, it froze when it tried to bring up the onboard network card (which 7.0 had happily ignored because it didn’t support it).  Turning the card off in the BIOS got things back to normal so I could continue on with my upgrades.  (Like I need gigabit speed on my home network anyway.)  So instead of a quick blog post and an early bedtime I was up late getting all that done, but it’s all shiny and new now. Read more »

I’ve been asked several questions about the Latin Mass (which I should really call the Extraordinary Form, since it is technically possible to say the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin) since I started going, and some come up repeatedly, so I thought I’d answer them here.  These are not official, just according to my understanding.  I’ve touched on some in other posts, but I think I can answer them better now. Read more »

Transported out of all restraint, Linden turned at last to Mhoram.

“And you,” she said, quiet as venom.  “You.  They called you ‘seer and oracle.’  That’s what I’ve heard.  Everytime I turn around, he tells me he wishes you were with him.  He values you more than anyone.”  Her anger and grief were one, and she could not contain them.  Fury that Covenant had been so misled; tearing rue that he trusted her too little to share his burdens, that he preferred despair and destruction to any love or companionship which might ease his responsibilities.  “You should have told him the truth.”

The Dead High Lord’s eyes shone with silver tears—yet he did not falter or vanish.  The regret he emitted was not for himself: it was for her.  And perhaps also for Covenant.  An aching smile twisted his mouth.  “Linden Avery”—he made her name sound curiously rough and gentle—”you gladden me.  You are worthy of him.  Never doubt that you may justly stand with him in the trial of all things.  You have given sorrow to the Dead.  But when they have bethought themselves of who you are, they will be likewise gladdened.  Only this I urge of you: strive to remember that he is also worthy of you.”

Formally, he touched his palms to his forehead, then spread his arms wide in a bow that seemed to bare his heart.  “My friends!” he said in a voice that rang, “I believe that you will prevail!”

Still bowing, he dissolved into the rain and was gone.

Rating:

Finally, my review of the last book of the second Covenant series.  When I first read it twenty years ago, I was sure it was the last book, period, because the ending is very final.  Surprise surprise, it turns out that when Donaldson wrote it, he already had the Last Chronicles planned out to follow.  Those are only half-finished though, and the last book won’t come out until 2013, so this will be the end of my Covenant reviews for now. Read more »

Well, the vigil, funeral, and luncheon were all very nice. I recognize most of the people in Angel’s family by now (even if I can’t always put names to them or place them in the family tree), so I could tell a lot of friends other than family came to pay their respects. There was a chilly breeze, but the sun came out and gave us a nice day for it. I was heartened to see that most people in Quincy still pull over and stop when a funeral procession is going the other way. The ladies at St. Anthony’s put on a great lunch; I was even able to get my fill without going overboard on the carbs. Read more »