Heus Feist (Hey, Feist!)

Hey, Feist, I thought I'd drop you a quick line.

We saw you in Ottawa on Canada Day, and we thought you were pretty cool. I mean, to one degree or another, most of the other performers played cheerleader. And it got just a little thin. After all, we were all there on Parliament Hill because we love our country. It just seems kinda Canadian to leave it at that, and not get all booster, you know?

You just got up there on stage, said Happy Birthday, Canada,  and were great. Thanks for that.

Last night I was in Calgary, hanging out at the Stampede for work. I got an email from home in Edmonton. Our son, Alex, a fourth-year classics student at the University of Alberta, decided to do some Feist translation. (There's Old West, and then there's really Old West, I suppose.)

It's kinda blurry in the blog post, but what Alex emailed was:

English:
"When you comfort me,
It doesn't bring me comfort, actually."

Latin:
"Cum consolaris me,
Non est mihi consolans vera re."
(literally: "When you comfort me, it isn't comforting to me, actually.")


I changed it because:
"Cum consolaris me,
Mihi consolationem non fert vera re."
doesn't fit the song's melody as nicely. (But maybe it's closer to the original meaning. Lyrical translations don't always work perfectly.)

And I thought that was pretty cool. I sent him a note back, saying it was stunning.

And then I took a picture of the Calgary sky. It seemed the only thing I could do.

It's still cool to love your family, right?

Hey, Feist, you don't have to get back to me. You already have.

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