Tuesday morning Nicole was scheduled to take Rachel and Flavia to school. She couldn't find any teaching jobs compatible with that task, but there was a different position at Daniel Bagley She called to see if she could come in after drop-off, and they agreed. Only then did a math position at Hamilton pop up. However, Bagley called back to say someone else had taken the position, so Nicole was free to teach math after all.
Eric asked to take the bike to school today, but with time enough to walk, so he and Colin climbed on and I delivered them ahead of the bells. They and Lydia were planning to walk to Spanish, but we forgot to send a snack along, so after my afternoon meetings I took the bike and met up with them. They climbed on the bike and we rode to Big Howe, where they could eat their snacks before walking on to Spanish.
Meanwhile, I rode alone, with a basket full of helmets and a couple backpacks in the panniers, down to SPU to drop off our ballots, and then back home to finish up work.
I heard Nicole and Rachel come home sometime later, but I did not see them until after Nicole had also picked up the other kids from Spanish. Then she ordered from Red Mill, having promised milkshakes in exchange for the walk to Spanish. After dinner, Rachel had a piano lesson, to which Nicole once again provided transportation. Rachel won't be able to do Friday because she has a scrimmage scheduled.
I read several pages of Les Chouans this evening, after some Bram Stoker. There was lots of farmhouse vocabulary, including fange, bahut, rouet, and engrais, but the word of the day is going to be orme, because I am partial to trees. It is the elm.
I resorted to reading to Colin and Eric to calm down the latter. We haven't done that in a while. I started a couple things, but Eric wanted a Choose Your Own Adventure, so I obliged. He sat on my lap, and drifted off on the last page.
3 comments:
I don't know what "fange" is.
My Petit Robert marks both literal and figurative definitions of "fange" as literary. Literal definition, which applied in Balzac, is «Boue presque liquide et souillée; bauge». But it defines "bauge" as «Gîte fangeux» so I guess you just have to know. My French-English dictionary also labels "fange" literary and translates it as "mire".
I think Balzac described the same location as a "marais", and Mlle de Verneuil crossed it like a stream hopping from stone to stone, if I read and remembered correctly.
Merci. I'll try to keep out of the "fange"! Perhaps that word could be applied to the dangerous swamp in "The Hound of the Baskervilles."
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