The flowering tree is beautiful in its snow dress. But hope it didn't harm it. Somewhere under a big pile of snow here in New England are my snow drops.
Un ours blanc suivait un ours noir. Moralité: Les ours se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas!
Typical terrible French calembour or pun. It plays on the pronunciation of the word ours in the singular and in the plural. In the singular un ours the S is voiced and in the plural des ours it is silent, which make it sound like jour, day, and you get, more or less, the French proverb or axiom, les jours se suivent et ne se resemblent pas. Or, in English, Days (Bears) are following each other but don't look alike! Ouf!
Yesterday I read in various places that nowadays the words ours (masc.) and ourse (fem.), whether singular or plural, are all pronounced with the final S sounded. As recently as the 17th and 18th centuries, ours was pronounced with the final S silent in both the singular and plural. Les prononciations se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas ! The distinction between ours singular and our' plural was ruled obsolete by the Académie Française nearly 100 years ago.
In English, for Les jours se suivent et se ressemblent (how boring!), we might say "Time goes on and one day is much like the next." For the opposite, where the days are more interesting, we might say "What a difference a day makes!"
Beautiful photos, Ken, but I think we have you beat in the snow department. We're expecting our third major March snowstorm of 8-14 inches tomorrow. The first one gave us 12 soggy inches on March 7 and the March 13 storm dumped 2 feet of snow on us. The soggy (and heavy) snows are much worse because, along with strong winds, they topple trees and branches and cause power outages that can go on for days. We sometimes call them "widow makers" because heart attacks can happen when shoveling out sidewalks and driveways. Does any of that remind you of Illinois winters?
Bon courage, Bob. We haven't had the coldest winter ever, or the greatest amount of snow, but has it ever been wet! Gray day after gray day. As for Illinois, I well remember the heavy snowfalls, even blizzards we lived through in Champaign-Urbana in the late 1970s. I remember that the heater core in my old Opel froze once, so cold was it outside. I was trying to drive you and other friends home one night, and with all of us crammed into the car — and breathing — all the windows frosted over and we had no visibility. Since the heater or defroster wouldn't work, I had to roll down the window and drive with my head stuck out to make sure I didn't run into anything. Mostly, though, I liked the weather in Illinois. Often dry cold in wintertime, not too hot in summertime. They are likely having some heavy storms with hail and snow in coastal North Carolina tonight. Weird.
I have no recollection of the car ride with your head outside the driver's side window. As Mark Twain once opined, "I shall soon reach an age where the only things I remember never happened at all" (a paraphrase). But I do recall some brutal winters in Champaign-Urbana, so your recollection of the event is highly likely.
The flowering tree is beautiful in its snow dress. But hope it didn't harm it. Somewhere under a big pile of snow here in New England are my snow drops.
ReplyDeleteThe pink flowering tree seems to have survived the freeze and ice. It doesn't have as many flowers on it this year as in past years, however.
DeleteUn ours blanc suivait un ours noir.
ReplyDeleteMoralité:
Les ours se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas!
Typical terrible French calembour or pun. It plays on the pronunciation of the word ours in the singular and in the plural. In the singular un ours the S is voiced and in the plural des ours it is silent, which make it sound like jour, day, and you get, more or less, the French proverb or axiom, les jours se suivent et ne se resemblent pas. Or, in English, Days (Bears) are following each other but don't look alike! Ouf!
Yesterday I read in various places that nowadays the words ours (masc.) and ourse (fem.), whether singular or plural, are all pronounced with the final S sounded. As recently as the 17th and 18th centuries, ours was pronounced with the final S silent in both the singular and plural. Les prononciations se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas ! The distinction between ours singular and our' plural was ruled obsolete by the Académie Française nearly 100 years ago.
DeleteIn English, for Les jours se suivent et se ressemblent (how boring!), we might say "Time goes on and one day is much like the next." For the opposite, where the days are more interesting, we might say "What a difference a day makes!"
Anyway, good luck with your weather today.
Wow, we never expect to see a flowering fruit tree with snow covering it!
ReplyDeletePeople around here talk about having 6 or 8 inches of snow one year, not that many decades ago, on May 10.
DeleteA snow like that in May would stick in ones memory! We had a blizzard on March 13 that people still talk about.
DeleteI remember one year on the N.C. coast where we had snow on three Saturdays in a row in March. We kids were thrilled each time.
DeleteBeautiful photos, Ken, but I think we have you beat in the snow department. We're expecting our third major March snowstorm of 8-14 inches tomorrow. The first one gave us 12 soggy inches on March 7 and the March 13 storm dumped 2 feet of snow on us. The soggy (and heavy) snows are much worse because, along with strong winds, they topple trees and branches and cause power outages that can go on for days. We sometimes call them "widow makers" because heart attacks can happen when shoveling out sidewalks and driveways. Does any of that remind you of Illinois winters?
ReplyDeleteBon courage, Bob. We haven't had the coldest winter ever, or the greatest amount of snow, but has it ever been wet! Gray day after gray day. As for Illinois, I well remember the heavy snowfalls, even blizzards we lived through in Champaign-Urbana in the late 1970s. I remember that the heater core in my old Opel froze once, so cold was it outside. I was trying to drive you and other friends home one night, and with all of us crammed into the car — and breathing — all the windows frosted over and we had no visibility. Since the heater or defroster wouldn't work, I had to roll down the window and drive with my head stuck out to make sure I didn't run into anything. Mostly, though, I liked the weather in Illinois. Often dry cold in wintertime, not too hot in summertime. They are likely having some heavy storms with hail and snow in coastal North Carolina tonight. Weird.
DeleteI have no recollection of the car ride with your head outside the driver's side window. As Mark Twain once opined, "I shall soon reach an age where the only things I remember never happened at all" (a paraphrase). But I do recall some brutal winters in Champaign-Urbana, so your recollection of the event is highly likely.
ReplyDelete