Serious Sailing

A co-worker sent an email about an interesting project being undertaken by a farmer turned sailor. What caught my Latin imagination is the name of the boat that will be making its way down the Hudson River: it is called Ceres “for the Roman goddess of grain and agriculture, and also the figure atop the State House Building in Montpelier.” Ceres lives on every time we eat cereal, products of various grains. My own favorite use of cereal is to throw a cup or so into pancake batter, and now that I have finally bought a waffle-maker, cereal will be taken to new levels in my kitchen. My favorite cold cereal is Uncle Sam, and my favorite hot cereal is Red River, which I look for with great nostalgia every time I visit a Canadian market. I have vivid memories of standing by the great wood-burning stove in my grandparents’ cottage on a cool summer morning, watching the Red River bubble and boil until it was thick enough to eat, topped by brown sugar and milk. A serene cereal experience!

Plumbing the Heights

When I walked into my school building for the first time in August, I saw on a co-worker's car an oval Euro-style sticker with the letters Pb, with the place-name Leadville, CO in small letters on the bottom edge. Those familiar with the periodic table of the elements will recognize the abbreviation for lead (Pb) from the Latin noun plumbum, plumbī n. lead. I learned from my co-worker that Leadville is the town at the highest altitude in the United States, a fact which caused another flash of insight. Leadville has a high altitude, from the Latin adjective altus, a, um high/deep. I think of lead as a heavy element used for plumb lines to measure depth, and yet Leadville rises high in the Rocky Mountain State.