nuntium duodevicesimum (18th post) school's (almost) done

School is done for the kids, last Wednesday. They were so sweet and wonderful, even hugging me- 8th graders and their curmudgeonly Latin teacher!  Tee hee.  We do get attached to each other after three years and it's always hard to let them go.  But at the same time, I'm going to graduation parties from seniors who remember back and want to invite me so I see them again, all-grown up and I can let them fly away.
And then there's the college students come home or the graduates from college who seek me out.  One yesterday (at a grad party) very sweetly yet purposefully introduced me to the young woman on his arm.  He did introduce me though as his "old Latin teacher" to which I said, "former!  former!  not old!"

Maybe the very best thing about email is getting one from one of these grown young men and women as they tell me about their lives and the great things they are accomplishing. 

Jeepers, I intended this to be a blog about tatting but it's been a week of the above along with the end of school with grades and big girl's birthday, plus my dear husband left for France yesterday morning with his students so there's been very little tatting.

So, on to tatting.  I have been looked at the 4 motifs of Frivole's Quatrain that I've done.  They aren't as nice as hers but look at how they are in my intended spot!

I'm very pleased and will love the runner there.  (Do notice too the top-down/bottom up Roman (tee hee) shades I made for this room; the Venetian plastering that my amazing sister let me help her do in this room too; and the radiator that the wonderful husband found, sand-blasted, painted and plumbed in).

I wish I could say that I will tat all day but there's school work left and tomorrow there's more but then it will be done.  So today's Latin is : paene confecta sum = I'm almost finished.

Here's a little story about the word "paene" which means almost.  I have loved this little word since about the third day of my Latin studies.  We had a little vocabulary list which included "paene" and "insula" = island. When I realized that 'paene + insula" became "paeninsula" and that meant "almost an island", I was SOLD.  Never again would I have to memorize gigantic words that seemed ridiculous, I could break them up and they would have little meanings together!

Of course, now I love those words and the hunt for the little Latin words inside.

And here's a new thing.  I've used vocaroo with my French classes for oral tests all year but never thought that I could use it for this blog.  Now, if you want, you can hear Latin with a classical pronunciation (different than Ecclesiastical pronunciation) too.  Just click!