nuntium centesimum quadrigesimum quartum (144th post) 25 by the 25th

We got a little snow outside but so puny it's not worth a picture.  On the other hand, it's colder today than it has been in 9 months with wind chill below 0.  If you are in a gentle clime, wind chill is where we calculate how it "feels" when you add the wind blowing on your face to the actual temperature.  Brr.  I'm staying in!

Here is my 3rd of 25 by the 25th.  It could happen!

motif #23 - not to "snowflake-y"

This is from Tatting for Today, another by Marion Leyds.  I'm not sure why I would think this was a snowflake.  Hmmm.

Now I've got my eye on Frivole's Céleste.  I bought it at once but ....beads.  What is my ridiculous laziness about beads?  I love them on tatting, I have a bead spinner that just loads those beads right up so what's the deal?  I think it's because so much of my tatting is stolen time.  I tat whenever and wherever but there isn't very much "just sit down in my chair" tatting.  I tat at the ortho, while in the car waiting for my daughter to get done with rehearsal, in meetings(!), in restaurants while waiting for food, anytime my husband drives us somewhere and it's not dark- quite a challenge these days when it's dark by 5:00, anywhere I can squeeze it in but there's not very much "hey, I think I'll go tat now."

Someday!



Read on for a why-I-love-middle-schoolers story.
So, middle schoolers are the best people in the world.  They're funny, charming, growing, awkward, gawky, beautiful, happy, mad, goofy, sad, silly all in about a minute!  Every day I teach the kids ONE Latin word/phrase that exists in English but is actually Latin.  So this was the day for "etc.  - et cetera".  First there's surprise that this is Latin, and we go through that yes, English is a jumble of many other languages.  Then we talk about how the abbreviation is ETC, not ECT which so many people do, but I point out that the first word is ET which means "and" and the second is CETERA which means "the others" and since those two are the words behind the abbreviation, ECT just doesn't make sense, then we would mean "ec tetera"- haha.  Okay?  Okay.  Everyone dutifully writes this down.  We use the expression in a few sentences and everyone seems to understand.  We're ready to move to the next activity and one of the boys raises his hand.

"Mrs. Vitt, how do you say it in Latin?
"Hmm?"
"How do you say "et cetera" in Latin?
"Et cetera."
"What's the Latin for "et cetera" though?"
"That is the Latin, Name-Removed."
"No, what is the LATIN (said with some irritation)?"
"The Latin is "et cetera"."
At this point the other 6th graders are trying to help poor Name-Removed and me. They are chiming in on all sides.  Finally, I quiet them and say,
"Name-Removed, the whole point of these kinds of words is that they are BOTH Latin and English. So the Latin is "et cetera"."
He looks at me with a supremely patient expression.
"I knooooooooow.  But how do you SPELL the Latin?"
At this point, I burst into giggles and can't talk.
He shakes his head.

And that is why I love going to work every day and have for the last 25 years.  I've taught high school too and they are fun but nothing, like this.

nuntium centesimum quadrigesimum tertium (143rd post) nix/snow

What do you think about the fact that word in Latin for snow is nix and that's the name for one of the get-rid-of-lice shampoos?

Makes me giggle.

Okay, Kristen, here's number 2!

BORING snowflake, definitely NOT my favorite, also from Festive Tatting? Lizbeth size 20
motif #22

What does say about me that I think the outer rings should have an odd number of picots so that I can put my wonderful-got-them-at-Michaels-on-clearance-last-year hooks in a picot instead of the ring itself?

Today was the 4th day with new 6th graders- they have to take one trimester of Latin in 6th grade. They are so fun!  I love middle schoolers, their enthusiasm is so contagious.  They told me they were sad that there's no Latin tomorrow (we have a rotating schedule so every fourth day there's no class).  Imagine, they're sad there's no class.  Tee hee.

nuntium centesimum quadrigesimum secundum (142nd post) snow in Minnesota

Well, hello there.

There's currently no snow in this part of Minnesota but the newspeople are giddy with the prospect of snow on Thursday- as if this doesn't happen every year, tee hee.  I like looking at snow.
It's so fun to read tatting blogs and see what everyone is doing, so many beautiful things, especially doilies, wow!  Someday when I retire, I'll be like the Queen of Romania and sit with so much tatting that it spills off of my lap!

Kristen has been given a challenge by her brother to tat 25 motifs by December 25.  She's invited people to join her so here I am, on the other side of the world, trying to do the same.  Won't you join us too?

Unfortunately tatting these days is squeezed in here and there so I can't remember where some of these snowflakes are from- please know that NONE of them are my own pattern and I have either found them in my books or on the internet.

Here's # 1:

It's Lizbeth white, size 20.  I think the pattern is from Festive Tatting.
#21 in the official 25 challenge

Anyone else want to join in?



Latin for today: squama = snowflake