Back in business...and school

This series of photos shows the makings of a great drink done right (with the help of a new turtle friend): a Black and Tan.My update:

I am alive...just getting back into the swing of things here in Jacksonville. I started classes and work on Wednesday. I still have one more class I've yet to go to (Monday night), but so far things are ok. As soon as I learn how to read Middle English, things will be even better!

I wasn't surprised when "The Canterbury Tales" were assigned for a class labeled Chaucer, but I didn't expect to read it in its original language. Here's a little stanza of Chaucer's poem, "Complaint to His Purse," so you can get an idea of what Middle English looks like:

To yow, my purse, and to noon other wight
Complayne I, for ye be my lady dere,
I am so sory, now that ye been lyght;
For certes but yf ye make hevy chere,
Me were as leef be layd upon my bere;
For which unto your mercy thus I crye,
Beth hevy ageyn, or elles moot I dye.

During our first class we worked on translations and pronunciation. Having some background in French (and English, of course with all of its roots) has helped some. Here is the translation of the above stanza for those who are still reading (it's ok Carly, I still love you) and find it slightly interesting:

To you, my purse, and to no other creature
I complain, because you are my dear lady
I am so sorry, now that you are light
Certainly, unless you make a serious expression to me
I would prefer to be laid upon my funeral pyre.
Unto you I cry for mercy for this:
Be heavy again, or else I must die.


And to catch up with how work is going...well, there was recently a small disaster in my department-the story is explained here. It's pretty much the last thing you would want to happen with a printed article. But what's done is done and I'm back on the copy editing stand.