Recently in Latin Category

After all day on the road, we finally arrived at our first destination: Williamsburg, VA. Our plan was to spend the next day somewhere in the Historic Triangle. I was given the task of choosing between Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown. After much debate I concluded we would probably enjoy Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown the most. Before driving to Jamestown, however, took a drive around the College of William and Mary. It's a lovely school and I remarked that I didn't know why anyone would want to attend any other college. To which my husband replied, "Money and snow." Oh. Right.

We spent the rest of the morning at Jamestown Settlement, travelled the Colonial Highway, and then spent the afternoon at Yorktown. You can buy joint tickets to Jamestown and Yorktown.

Here are some of our photos from the fort area of Jamestown Settlement:

This is a tower erected in 1957 to mark 350 years since the founding of Jamestown.

Here is S as he leads us into the fort:

I was really quite surprised at how large the James Fort was.

I did not expect that the colonists would be able to construct such a sizeable fort.

There were many wonderful living history reenactors at Jamestown Settlement. Everyone kindly answered all of our silly questions, such as why every board in the fort was covered in Roman numerals.

This patriotic gentleman gave a wonderful demonstration with his weapon.

The children were allowed to try on "real" armour.

We went into the colony's church.

We also watched nails being made in the forge and spotted some Latin on the wall. Click the picture for my poor translations.

Jamestown Settlement is so large that I am dividing it into three parts. The next part will be the ships.

As we near Reformation Day, October 31, when Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation by nailing his ninety-five theses on the Castle Church door, I find this article on Wittenberg fascinating.

What caused the spiritual death of the birthplace of Protestantism? The Socialism of East Germany.

Just as Wittenberg rises slowly from the despair of Socialism, America descends willingly into its depths. It is as though Wittenberg proclaims our fate, as did many tombstones of yore: eris quod sum - what I am, you will be.

I Iove mottos, especially Latin ones. This fascination began, I think, when I first heard E Pluribus Unum. Ever since that day back in elementary school, I have longed for a family crest with a Latin motto. The other day I was reading the Latin Phrase page at Wikipedia (everyone wastes time at Wiki, right?), when I found Semper ad meliora - Always Towards Better Things. As I'm always trying to improve myself and learn more, I thought this would be a fitting personal motto. It can't be our family motto, though, as it turns out this family I married into already has a family crest and a motto: In Domino spes mea - My hope is in the Lord.

By the way, if you're interested in creating your own family crest, try here or here.