Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Stop thinking, start sighing.



In my last blog posting, I wrested with prepositions. By the lake? In the lake? On the lake?

It reminded me of first-year German: "aus, ausser, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu!" (Phonetically, that would be "Owss, ow-sir, bye, mitt, knock, zite, vaughn, tsoo", and they are the prepositions that are always followed by the dative article.)

I get way too deep into this stuff. Way too many grammar lessons framed by rigid language rules. Latin students get "Amo amas amat, amamus amatis amant" for "I love, you love, he loves, we love...."

The evening light last night was gorgeous. To get these grammar lessons out of my head, I headed out for a walk on the Park Point beach in the backyard. Big thunderheads were rolling by along the South Shore. Some Emerson Lake and Palmer popped into my head, from "Roundabout":

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky
And they stand there.

And if those mountains coming out the sky weren't enough, the sun was putting on quite a show behind the Aerial Lift Bridge:



With an ELP Moog synthesizer riff rolling through my head, I could only sigh, with the cool warm water ticking my toes, "Um yum hmm aah."

5 comments:

Bayfieldwis.com said...

Isn't that a YES song?
Or am I wrong? Same era however.
One thing I love about the North land is the classic rock. KQDS and others. The demographic group for
the area is our era and therefore
they play the songs we like.
I looked it up and I think the largest population group was 38-55 years or something near that?

There is nothing better then a few good friends and good music playing while driving up the North shore. The thought of the long weekend hiking and eating excellent food.

Andrew Slade said...

Jeepers, you're right, it is Yes. I get my 70s prog rock groups mixed up.

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy the music on the North Shore and also the WTIP Public Radio from Grand Marais.
Some excellent radio shows also
from Pubilc Radio and UMD Broadcasters.

Bayfieldwis.com said...

How about "Lucky Man" from Emerson,Lake and Palmer for living
on Park Point during the summer??
I wouldn't want to be there in the
winter however. But then again
watching the ice heave up would
be interesting. I didn't get onto
the Minnesota Point this weekend
as Grandpa's Marathon had downtown
a mess.

Bayfieldwis.com said...

How about "Lucky Man" from Emerson,Lake and Palmer for living
on Park Point during the summer??
I wouldn't want to be there in the
winter however. But then again
watching the ice heave up would
be interesting. I didn't get onto
the Minnesota Point this weekend
as Grandpa's Marathon had downtown
a mess.