I actually knew the “fun fact” about white pines because I learned it from my 2nd grade teacher. And you can remember that they have 5 needles because there are five letters in WHITE. Did you know that they’re called Weymouth Pines in England?

So you’ve given into peer pressure and started reading Twilight? I recently saw a Swedish vampire movie called “Let the Right One In” which I’m sure is 1,000 times better than the Twilight movie. It was one of my favourite films of the year.

That Lakes Region puzzle looks pretty awesome. Where did you get it?

And Long Way Round! I’ve had that since it came out (2004 I think?) I’ve been a Ewan McGregor fan since he played Obi-Wan Kenobi. And such an amazing documentary. My dad loves it too (he’s a biker).

PS - I have the “sequel” (Long Way Down). I can lend it to you if you don’t feel like getting it off Netflix.

My wife would disagree.

Following a cursory Google search, I’ve discovered that some suggest that the use of subjunctive after “il est probable que” is probably due to influence from the expression “il est peu probable que.” So it may sound right to some native speakers, even though it is prescriptively incorrect.

On the other hand, Italian uses the subjunctive after “È probabile che”… so I’m guessing that French did at one point in time as well. Italians also use the subjunctive after “Penso che” and “credo che.”

Verseau: You seriously clicked through to “All Sizes” to see what we’ve been working on? Bless your heart.

You’re right that the textbooks (and more specifically that beautiful packet) put probability on the indicative side, but I, too, have had French natives ask me about it. In fact, it was the source of a somewhat heated dispute at my AP training in Aix. I had to go look it up in Larousse before she’d give in.

I do remember that massive subjunctive packet you gave us in French IV, though. That thing was awesome. Recently, a French intern here at USC was tutoring a student at a French Club rendez-vous organized by yours truly, and she actually asked me with help on one of the questions in the student’s homework. She asked whether I would use the subjunctive or indicative after “il est probable que” — and, thinking back to that French IV subjunctive packet, I remembered that it took the indicative (right?).

Oddly enough, the French intern herself said that she would use the subjunctive, but she wanted to give the student the “proper” answer. So I guess my French is more correct than the native speaker’s.

Anyway, nice photos, all. I actually wanted to take a shot of the full moon as well, but it didn’t turn out great. I just hope there’s some snow on the ground when I’m back home in a month.

Pan’s Labyrinth is amazing, isn’t it? (Gotta love those European Spanish accents). I was a bit underwhelmed by In Bruges, although it did make me want to visit the city. :p No Country for Old Men is also great (one of the best movie villains), and Sin City is stylistically awesome, although not really the kind of movie I can watch over and over. (By the way, have you seen the Kill Bill movies? Easily my favourite films of the past decade). I only saw Children of Men once but I thought it was good.

Did that map of New England in the conference room use to be in the library? I can remember being annoyed by how disproportinately small and mutated Maine was on it. Maybe that says something about the leadership of Newfound, I dunno.

Speaking of haircuts, never - under any circumstances - go to “Hair Excitement” in Tilton. I went there for a haircut before starting the new semester, and I got easily the worst haircut of my life. It’s going to take a least one “repair haircut” and a few months to get it acceptable again. Of course, I can never, ever get the haircut that I want.

By the way, where is that view of Squam? Also, your comment about imagining what those woods looked like 50 years ago reminded me of what you said in your interview about going back in time to see what New England looked like before European settlement. Personally, I’ve always been fascinated by the amount of farmland you see in photos and paintings from the 1800s - I’d love to see what NH looked like with all those open spaces.

I find it amusing that it’s taken you this long to get a book on avoiding procrastination. Actually, I’m trying to avoid procrastination this semester as well, and so far it’s been working well despite my busy schedule (haven’t pulled any all-nighters yet!). Another one of my goals is to lose the weight that I put on here last year, which I had already lost in England. So your Toll House cookies picture isn’t helping. The only chocolate I’ve had has been in Fiber One granola bars.

And breakfast on the porch looks lovely.

I wish I could follow your example of short posts with lots of pictures. Much more interesting than my long rambling posts.