I’m on Vacation~!

What are you up to this month?

Above: IndoEuropean language estimated to be 8500 years old. Credit: Science, Michelle O’Reilly.

I’ve been busy recreating. What a great word, right? Re Creating. Recreation. Relaxing.

What do you do to relax / recreate on vacation? I love books. And chasing down the evolution of languages.

Have you read or listened to Proto yet? Highly recommended~!

This is an amazing listen. I’m on my second “listening” and have asked the BW to order me up a hard copy for the maps and some of the spellings I can’t quite pick up on the audio version. The movement of the people and their language is really incredible. And the story continues to unfold.

I’ll admit to a bit of bias. My chromosomes seem to indicate that my male line is descended from the Yamnaya: steppe herders who learned to smelt bronze, tame horses, and ride on wheels to the east and west of the steppes where they learned these secrets. (Yes echoes of The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, by David Anthony, one of my favorites.)

Proto is a great story, with lots of twists and turns as “Proto Indo European” (“PIE”), with its sister languages, arises, spreads, then evolves into many branches, all connected yet unique.

And that’s just the verbal language. What about the written languages? I’m still studying the Egyptian civilization and it’s hieroglyphic language, as well as it’s eventual evolution and decay. What about the Rosetta Stone? Wow, right?

Languages never last more than 500 to a thousand years. Yet they provide a record of where we were and what we did during the age in which the language flourished.

It amazes me how cultures that arose from the same roots eventually become bitter enemies. Is it the dialectic?

Anyway, I’m on vacation. That means I’ll try to post once a week if it works out.

That’s what Summer is for. Up here in the North we only get 5 or 6 months at best. So what did we do during those months when we were kids? We worked our ASS off! Planting before it was really warm, then cultivating, hoeing, making hay, building a barn or repairing a shed, always something to do. Then the scramble to harvest. But we still managed to have FUN~! Swimming in the Pool~!

I’ve finally got to that sweet spot in life. I only do what I want to do. But sometimes I can’t do what I want to do.

I wanted to haul the sailboat to Cleveland next week to compete in Cleveland Race Week, get the Tartan Ten registered and weighed and do a couple of starts with the class stars. But I finally realized I’m getting a bit old and have limits.

Above: our race track Wed. Night at NCYC. The course selected by the RC was the ONLY one that wouldn’t let us fly our spinnaker.

We raced Wednesday night at North Cape in a nice strong breeze, but we were short handed and couldn’t hold our narrow lead after the first mark, ending up second. It will be a lot tougher in the North Americans, with every T Ten in Town Trying To Tangle~!

Sail boat racing strikes the same chord that invigorated our forefathers who raced their horses across the steppe, conquering as they swept all before them.

Tonight the east wind is whipping across Lake James and the temp is on the chilly side. I can just hear my ancestors saying, “A great night for a raid! They’ll be huddled up in their huts, we can sweep in, steal the cattle, and be home before dawn! Those cattle grazed on OUR sacred grass! Let’s have steak for dinner!”

But since raiding is no longer looked upon with favor, and there’s no racing tonight, it’s time to share some things of interest:

You Tube Video of Mt. Kilauea eruption with lava fountains over 1000 feet high~!

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, narrated by Juliet Stevenson, is a classic. Her pronunciations are flawless, at least to this Midwestern ear. Don’t be afraid to skip back and relisten to a chapter or two. ‘Tis pure joy in my book. I borrowed the book/tape from our local library for free.

And don’t forget The History of Egypt Podcast! Can you believe that today we have all these amazing resources for learning and discovery at our fingertips~?!?!

So just thought I’d check in to say hi and hope you’re getting into summer. We’re counting down to our Great Greek Adventure: Seven teenagers and their parents in Athens and the Islands!

More Later, enjoy your SUMMER~!

Thanks for traveling along~!