Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “starts with ‘ho.’” Find a word that begins with the letters “ho” and use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Ho fame. Sounds like a stage-struck sailor. It means, I’m hungry. Or rather I have hunger. In Italian.
I love words and languages. I find them fascinating.
Why do we personalize that growling noise in our tummies? I am not Hungry. But then I don’t have it in my hands. What would that look like.
Take all the gendered items in the world. Can you imagine a roomful of people deciding if the table is feminine or masculine. And sometimes the appearance of an object might imply one or the other, but when you get it wrong you learn shape or personal use doesn’t genderize.
And don’t get me started on word order. Spanish, Italian, etc. go one way but step over to German and the hole I fall into is of my own making.
The only saving grace I have is listening to the brave souls learning English. I can hear their mistakes in our word order and now get it right in theirs.
However lessor-heard languages like Navajo, Gaelic, Latin, Esperanzo are even more difficult.
Who decided how each language goes?
Now I’ve given myself a headache. I can think of nothing else to say but Ho, ho, ho. But let’s get through Halloween Eve, first.
Sorry. Bragging time. I rarely talk about Duolingo. I play with it every day. Some days I enjoy it so much I don’t want to stop. Others I barely make it through one five minutes. I have a lot of languages plus math and music. By the way, the music sucks! Some languages seem easy for me. But others are nearly impossible for me.
I learned music as my second language. Not available on Duolingo. No longer used in most churches who gave up hymnals in favor of lyric slides. I learned to carry my part while Dad sang bass, my mother sang soprano, my dear aunt sang a beautiful alto. Another man in the congregation sang tenor (sometimes too low and awful an octive higher). I could sing with those females but felt sad my dad was alone with his booming deep gorgeous vocal line. I did learn second soprano. I am privileged to feel competent on those female lines thanks to hymnals.
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 1st 2024, is “train.” Use it as a noun or a verb, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
Thank you, Linda!
Train
Some people wake up and see their day full of organized plans like this.
It’s peaceful to know where the train is taking you.
On a good day I wake to
Mostly my trains have a spiderweb network of tracks that overwhelms me.
This blog helps me focus. In case you think yarn and weather is all I deal with, just know it’s just about all I concentrate on before life and distractions take me elsewhere.
Oh, speaking of weather
This is how 2024 started in Christmas Valley. Freezing Fog. It looks like snow. But it isn’t. And you can only see just beyond the porch.
Rosey at 20 finally likes me and my lap as much loved as her main human’s, my hubby.
Leg warmers are getting more colorful. Wow, they’ve reached 10 inches of 24. Among other projects.
So, I need to train my brain on the personal possibilities of this new year.
My stationary bike goal has increased from 5 miles in 30 minutes to more miles in less time. Today I reached 5 in 28. So win!
I know last year I planned on podcasting. Stagefright won. So it goes back on the list of things I still feel I want to do.
Besides German, Spanish, Italian, French, Scottish Gaelic, Latin, Esperanto, Japanese, Navajo, Hebrew, I’d like to add a couple more to my Duolingo list so that I am always doing 10 lessons a day. And I want to get more serious about my American Sign Language classes. My brain loves working on languages.
Hello editing. You are cruelest of all. I’ll do what I can and finished products will go see the light of day on the podcast.
I still will continue working on getting healthier.
My diamond paintings are calling so tomorrow I will play.
Why did music find itself this far down the list? With a new ukulele, I’m trying to learn to make my fingers fit the chords needed. But daily practice might get me there, right?
The recorder is calling. No more trying Carols. Now I can enjoy whatever music strikes my fancy.
Okay, piano. I hear you. I will turn around from the diamond painting table and tickle you on occasion.
Singing loud and proud and dancing like no one is watching sneak into this list.
And that’s not including the bins of organizing I’m already doing.
And I want to get over my phone fear and try to enjoy socializing a bit.
There are only so many hours in a day but all these trains want to leave the station and make their way to improvement and new possibilities. There has to be a way. Some things must be daily Duolingo and blogging (no longer on a struggling list but on the ‘it happens’ like eating list).
The list looks like last year. More has been added. Few trains ended their tracks. My brain and strength expand to meet the fun.
While my friends in Carson City and Reno were showing me their sudden snow and near blizzards, I took this out my front window. It was windy but we didn’t get the snow predicted either yesterday (except that sideways bit around midnight) or today. Forecasts yesterday for the 10-day had us under snow except for Sunday and Monday. NOW we have no snow until next Wednesday. Life is looking good!
Meanwhile, still making toys and hats and nearly finished with my brother’s first sock! I know once the weather is warmer I will be out walking. And I think the chair yoga with Adrienne and gentle chair yoga that I do with my husband should have me ready to get out there more. Then knitting will be done less often.
You know, I often get discouraged in that I expected this part of my life to be like the Jetsons. We don’t have folding flying cars. We do have robotic vacuum cleaners and video phoning. I can talk to two friends and at the same time! Even when they aren’t in the same location. I can talk to my adult children on holidays even though the roads make it impossible to visit in person. Today was one of those days when my friends and I chatted for hours.
Our newest idea? To try and communicate to each other in Spanish, even if it is only in written form. One of the friends was in Guatemala for a few years so she is far more advanced but rusty. I have blogged about learning from Duolingo. I’ve dropped all but Spanish and German. At one point I was up to Japanese, French, and High Valarian besides the other two. But I felt I wasn’t doing any of them justice. I can’t give up on either Spanish or German as I have had classes in each. The trouble is I often translate to the wrong one. Die-s and la-s and Der-s and el-s get messed up.
My goal is to keep my mind alive. If I can learn to communicate well with others in these other languages all the better. My biggest dream/nightmare is when my mind goes and I’m trying to communicate with the nursing staff I end up saying something in either or both those languages instead of English. LOL! Okay, maybe not so funny if I really need to say something important like my head hurts or I have a broken leg.
Anyway, I think I need to go to the library and pick up something about letter writing in either language. Any suggestions? Have any of you done the Duolingo or another system of language learning? How’s your weather? Is it Spring yet?
Working on my series: Haven.
Doodler (zendoodle.com)
Music major: voice and piano
Mom of four great adults
Reiki II practitioner
I have been on disability/retired for 10 years now from depression, anxiety and fibromyalgia.
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