Tuscany and Madrid

 I had a great conversation with a man living in Tuscany.  When I found out he had a 18 year son, we had no lags in the conversation.  I was able to teach him many phrases and new vocabulary like "leave me alone!", "out of touch!", "hope something clicks in his brain", "not good with his hands", and "chauffer."  We agreed that as fathers of teenage boys we were put upon, subject to gross libels, and made to feel like we were bad people.

I asked my interlocutor in Madrid, what he knew about Canada.  He mentioned hockey, lots of green space and that our PM was some young guy.

Workspace

 I’m in my Dad’s old basement study and furnace room. I’m waiting for students to book me.  Come on!!!

Said one of my students:  - Andis es muy agradable y simpático. Ha sido una clase muy entretenida English

Someone I follow on WeChat channels;

Her signature lyrics: Money Money come to me! Dollar Euro RMB!

Thursday 6:30 AM

 I overslept this morning. 

It’s day 218 of 2026.  What do you think of those apples?

Here are some interesting photos:

The bottom two pictures are products of my stunted imagination.

Who is the girl doing some scrubbing?

You can have your own facts.  But you need to prove them to me on universally recognized rules of evidence.

Wednesday 9:02 PM

 The beauty of the sky haunted a monk: so it was written in Essays in Idleness.

Lima and Vilnius

 It was my first time, this morning, to talk to someone in Lithuania and to someone in Peru.

In Peru, it’s Winter. Although their current temperature is about the same as Brandon’s.  It is supposed to be Summer in Brandon.  This morning, I had to pull my seat pants out of the attic where I had them stored for Summer.

Wednesday 5:55 AM

 I am a up and at ‘emer! I am achieving glorious feats of earliness! Hip hip hurray!

217

 It’s the 217th day of 2026. 148 days to go!

Going to talk to Lithuania!

Tuesday 6:30 PM

 What a difference 11 hours and 50 minutes makes?

I posted nine of these view photos in a Facebook group called View from my Window.  One commentator said the view was spectacular.

I bought six books at a Thrift store in downtown Brandon on the road just south of the tracks. I bought two books on French, Gulliver’s Travels, a Rudyard Kipling short story anthology, Sound and Sense by Perrine, and a Chinese study book.  It cost me five dollars.  I took advantage of a buy two get one free deal, a Tuesday discount, and a Senior 55 and over discount.  

Casablanca

 I just talked to a student in Casablanca.  The topics of cous-cous and Marakesh were brought up during the class.  I was completely enthralled to talk to someone from such an exotic locale.

So, since returning to Brandoon, I had classes with South America, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.  

I told the student to watch the movie Casablanca.

I advised another student to check out Kareem in Airplane!

Tuesday 6:40 AM

 

Where did the sunshine go? asked one of my morning interlocutor.

It’s coming I told him.