Olga and I were back at the cemetery yesterday, where, as you can see, it's still quite grassy and flowery despite it being mid-October. I love that big mound of nasturtiums. They're one of my favorite flowers, and we never grow them, and I don't know why.
The dog and I had a nice, quiet day. I had French class in the morning, where we were introduced to the futur simple tense, which is different from the futur proche. I still say everything pretty much in present tense. These tenses just blow my mind. I have definitely noticed that I don't memorize as easily as I used to. I have a terrible time with verb conjugations, even the bedrock ones -- j'ai, je vais, je veux, je sais, je suis -- good lord, they all look the same!
Dave is working with students all weekend. He's trying to help them prepare for honor band selection, first rehearsing and then recording their submission tapes. So in the evening I ate peanut butter and watched "The Eyes of Laura Mars," a somewhat terrible late '70s movie with Faye Dunaway in which a photographer inexplicably begins seeing through a murderer's eyes. How this happens is never precisely explained, which is what I love about '70s movies. They don't bother with details. They just dance.
I got a box from Amazon on Friday -- some tennis balls and a backup Kong for Olga, and a book for me. I wanted a book set in Lisbon to read when we go next month, but quick -- think of a novel about Lisbon. Or Portugal, for that matter. It's hard, isn't it? The only one I could think of, off the top of my head, is "The Night in Lisbon" by Erich Maria Remarque, which has something to do with Nazis. So that's what I ordered. It probably all takes place in Germany, except for, well, The Night. (I could have ordered Jose Saramago, I guess, but I didn't think of him until later.)
The nasturtiums are pretty cascading over the grave. I've grown them once or twice. I prefer things that naturalize and come back every year without any action from me. I admire your attempt at learning French or any language for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI love Olga and her doppelganger.
ReplyDeleteWould that be a doggelganger?
Give yourself another ten, twenty years and get back with me about memorization. Study languages now while you still can.
I guess that Olga likes to walk in cemeteries as there are plenty of bones around! And now I know what you should say when Dave asks, "Whaddya want for Christmas?"
ReplyDeleteANSWER - "A packet of nasturtium seeds."
OLGA and the cement pup, so good! Nasturtiums grow here too well, I love them and put them in salad, but the aphids REALLY love them and there are not enough lady bugs in the world to keep up. I threw some seeds out one year, Mr. Man hated the flowers so he tore them all out. BUT they came back year after year until the final gasp this summer and Mr. Man with his spray. They can be invasive and stubborn. You are to be commended on learning French beyond the simple stuff! (Is any of it simple) You have a flexible brain, youngster!
ReplyDeleteOh, Olga, you goofball :) Can't be serious even in a cemetery! ha ha
ReplyDeleteAnd what Mary Moon said about memorization. I took French in school starting when I was 12, so a lot of it has stayed with me, but I would NOT be able to soak it up now like I did then. My hat is off to you.
I love those nasturtiums, too! Too bad they sort of take over a garden -- otherwise, I'd plant them, too.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a single book about Lisbon -- how weird.
French is so hard. I was a French major in college and can attest to the difficulty of memorizing all those verb conjugations even when you're in your late teens and early twenties and memorization skills are supreme!
Oh my God, I loooooove that second photo. How did you get Olga to pose like that? (Please tell me you took hundreds of shots and this is the only one that turned out *just right,* because I can't imagine any dog of mine posing so perfectly like that.)
ReplyDeleteBrill second photo.......a classic
ReplyDelete