Thursday is one of
my favorite days. That is because I go to
Albion
in the afternoon. Hardly anybody bothers me there. The students I
see are -- generally speaking -- fairly well put together, don't have
crummy insurance that gets in the way of what I am trying to do, and
they all get better fairly easily. Oh, and they seem to
appreciate my efforts. Once a month, I have training
seminar in which I get to act like an expert. Anyway, today I
ended the day feeling fairly relaxed. I solved the problem of
keeping the doors on the new barn open. The Amish guys had left a
couple of spare concrete blocks. I was able to pick them up with
my good arm, and prop the doors open. Now the horses can get out
of the wind.
The person we hired to take care of the horses, whilst we convalesce,
is thinking of boarding her horse with us. That would be pretty
neat. We wouldn't charge her anything, just so long as she helps
keep the place clean (i.e. mucks the stalls) and does feeding and
grooming while we are away or indisposed. And it would give
Yvonne someone to ride with when I'm at work.
As I am writing this, I feel warm and full and content. We got a
kind of mini-table/tray thingy that makes it easy to eat in
bed, so I prepared dinner for Yvonne and she didn't have to get
up. My coworkers left some more food. In fact, I think they
messed up because we got two different dinners. Some had to go in
the freezer. This largesse reaffirms my faith in humanity.
(Which sometimes is shaken, as illustrated in my
political blog.)
The word "largesse," by the way, is derived from the vulgar Latin word
largita, which meant
"abundance." The phrase "vulgar Latin," in this context, refers
to the everyday speech of the Roman people, as opposed to literary
Latin. It is a meaning distinct from the modern use of the
word "vulgar." It is derived from the Latin word
vulgaris, which meant "of or
pertaining to the common people." The
etymology of "common"
is rather more convoluted:
common - 13c., from O.Fr.
comun, from L. communis "shared by all or many," from L.
com- "together" + munia "public duties," those related
to munia "office." Alternate etymology is that Fr. got it from
P.Gmc. *gamainiz (cf. O.E. gemæne), from PIE *kom-moini
"shared by all," from base *moi-, *mei- "change, exchange."
Used disparagingly of women and criminals since c.1300. Commons
"the third estate of the English people as represented in Parliament"
is from 1377. Common sense
is 14c., originally the power of uniting mentally the impressions
conveyed by the five physical senses, thus "ordinary understanding,
without which one is foolish or insane" (L. sensus communis,
Gk. koine aisthesis); meaning "good sense" is from 1726. Common
pleas is 13c., from Anglo-Fr. communs plets, hearing civil
actions by one subject against another as opposed to pleas of the
crown.
That's all for now.