2021 Life Logs, Day 86: Just a Saturday
Date: Saturday, March 27, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 57, Low, 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
While I was finishing up writing about the four-day passage from the Marquesas Islands to the Society Islands in French Polynesia, I read in one of my logs from those days that Mark was reading a really fascinating little book. It was “The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At The Turn of the First Millennium” by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger. The book gives the background for many of our English words. As that point in our trip, we were struggling with French and the various Polynesian languages. Reading that book made Mark reflect on the fact that most of us know so little about our own language. The chapter he was reading on the passage was dealing with how the names of the week originated. The Babylonians named the days of the week after the five planets they recognized, plus Sun-day for the sun and Moon-day for the moon. But what about Saturday? It comes from Saturn, the ancient Roman god of fun and feasting. I suppose it should be Saturn-day. Whatever, I did not engage in any fun or feasting today. I guess I can count writing as fun since I am enjoying it so much, but I believe the ancient Romans were thinking of a different kind of fun.
There was one special highlight today. The daffodils just outside my front door bloomed. I love those yellow blossoms.
I alternated writing with doing some outside work. I borrowed Jed’s loppers that will cut through a branch that is almost 2-inches in diameter. I was trying to clear the paths that Shadow and I walk in the woods surrounding the cottage and somehow pulled a muscle in my right thigh. I honestly can’t figure out how I managed to do this, it really hurts when I walk. I am hoping a good night’s rest will take care of the problem. I knew I should have just stayed inside and kept writing!
Passover began at sundown today. Heather and Jed were planning to have a Seder at nightfall, but they were so busy today that it was just going to be too stressful to get it together. So, we will just have a first Seder on the second night of Passover.
