Alae jactae sunt

So it's decided: The family vacation is back at Singer Island again (albeit in a different--and reputedly newer and posher--resort) and monshu is on board. At least I hope so, given that I just bought him a ticket last night for a roundtrip into Fort Lauderdale. (Not as close to the island as West Palm Beach, but we'd just as soon do without the 1.5+ hours of additional flight time.)

Yeah, not remotely our first choice of a destination, but not last on the list either. Stepmom is promising more cultural excursions, and with her children not along this time, that might just happen. Sis' squirts are older, too, which means maybe they'll be interested in something besides sandcastles and waterparks.

I just want to get away for a while. monshu and I haven't been on a vacation together since Toronto three years ago, and my last adventure without him was Arkansas with Dad around this time last year. I was really hoping to get abroad again--it's going on a decade since that happened--but maybe next year. (Pretty please next year?)

WotD: chimney sweep

1. der Schornsteinfeger, der Rauchfangkehrer, der Kaminfeger
2. de schoorsteenveger
3. el deshollinador, el limpiachimeneas
4. el escura-xemeneies
5. le ramoneur
6. an giolla múcháin, an glantóir simléar
7. y glanhäwr simneiau
8. kominiarz
9. 굴뚝 청소부 (굴뚝 淸掃夫)
10. 掃煙囪工人 sǎoyāncōnggōngrén
11. 煙突掃除夫 (えんとつそうじふ)

Notes: This entry is really nothing more than an excuse for a place to contain the lovely word Rauchfangkehrer, which I stumbled across by accident today. (I suspect it might be a Vindobonism, though I don't have confirmation of that.) After all, there's no possible practical use for these words given that our gas fireplace doesn't even have a false flue.

According to Dad, Grandaddy has no use for chimney sweeps either. When the creosote buildup got to be too much, he just tossed a match up the chimney and started a flue fire. I remember thinking that you'd want to have a lot of faith in the structural integrity of the brickwork to do something like that.