Tag Archives: irish

Getting back to normal

Leave a reply

colgaffneyis stuff is out of our garage, and we have managed to get our stuff out of it as well. So we are able to put both cars in it. Still to do:

  1. Put away all the wool plaids that have been drying in the basement.
  2. Clean the rust off some of my tools that were caught in the rain at Mankato.
  3. Clear my workbench (At least far enough that I can use it).
  4. Finish the froe club that I made at Mankato. It is actually usable now, but the handle could use some more work.
  5. Revise the notes on Scottish and Irish Gaelic from my talk at Mankato. I was quite gratified by the interest shown by my fellow members. I will submit the notes to colgaffneyis newsletter and put them up on my website.

How long can you tread water?

Leave a reply

We had a good night’s sleep. For me it was one of the best night’s sleep ever at a colgaffneyis event. We were woken by the breakfast bell at 8AM, followed immediately by loud thunderclaps. It has been raining hard ever since.

Fortunately, our site (Jack McGowan’s farm) has a lodge house which we are able to use. We have retreated there until the rain stops, or we have to pack and go home anyway. We have some indoor activities to keep us busy. E.g., I gave a brief talk on the Gaelic languages which was well received.

Irish Class, April 13, 2009

Leave a reply

Irish Class, April 13, 2009

Rang Gaeilge, 13ú lá mí Aibreáin

Again most the lights in
the classroom were out this evening when I arrived. However, this time I was able to
find one of the building staff and get it fixed before class started. Much better!

(Looking at the cuts
on my left hand:)
I fought the saw, and the saw won.
Throid mé an sábh, agus
an sábh bhuaigh.

ilchineálach “miscellaneous”
scríob scratch, scrape f2
scráib scratch, scrape f2
sméar (black)berry f2

More on the special construction for the case of

Tá + verbal noun +
pronoun object

Continue reading →

Irish Class, April 6, 2009

Leave a reply

Irish Class, April 6, 2009

Rang Gaeilge, 6ú lá mí Aibreáin

At least half the lights in the classroom were out this evening. Casually looking around was no problem, but reading my notes or the fine print in the dictionary was hard. I felt foggy in my head, and made several stupid mistakes. I mentioned this to Wes, and he will try to get it fixed for next time. Just in case, I might bring a small flashlight.

Cleachtadh Aistrithe — Translation Exercise

Lit. “Exercise of translation”

Continue reading →

More of the weekend

Leave a reply

Today’s big event was a big change from yesterday’s: I helped staff a table for Gaeltacht Minnesota at St. Paul’s Day of Irish dance (An opportunity to help out and yet avoid Tuesday’s drunken mob scene). I don’t think I contributed much beyond moral support: MR and SH were both present most of the time, and being extroverts jumped in long before I could think of something to say whenever some visitor came by. However, I enjoyed it anyway.

A follow-up from yesterday: At the museum we saw another family from church. I talked to one of them after today’s service. His company does some work for the museum, which apparently was overwhelmed by the public response to Make: Day there. Also, they had many more requests for exhibits than they could accomodate. There may be another Make Day soon.

Irish Class–Monday Night, March 2, 2009

Leave a reply

Irish Class, March 2, 2009

Rang Gaeilge, 2ú lá mí Márta 2009

<!–

Fadas: áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ

–>

Am coigilte sholas na lae an 8ú lá Márta.
Daylight Savings Time on March 8.

Am time m3
coigilt saving f2 /keg’il’tə/ (Wes), /kog’əl’t’/ (FP)
solas light m1

Wes suggested that we look at Raidió Rí-Rá. The site
has some Irish text with sound files of it being read aloud by native speakers.

The plan to have our March 16 class at Merlins Rest is still
on. Wes and Mary are thinking about some exercise involving numbers. Open Mic there starts at 8PM.
This could be either a challenge or an opportunity :-)>

Listening exercise

Continue reading →