C. (Comment, never msg).’s Comments (group member since Jan 30, 2014)

C. (Comment, never msg).’s comments from the Gentle SPECTRUMS group.

As I said above, I cherish mail and our internet requires us to continue relying on it, for anything more than a few photos. You will love the treat coming your way, with that first season of "Corner Gas" episodes.

I didn't know you have a dog as well as cats and was sorry to read he had a scare. I had to look up the word, which I suppose means a cyst. I am glad the danger spot was removed. We worried about Spirit not eating as much but it is a dental issue, thank the Lord. I am busy too but have much more to say about "Stories I Only Tell My Friends". When I am into "The Joy Luck Club", I hope we read in tandem and add updates.

Today of our four kittens' big tenth birthday. I want so much for Conan to be back in time for us to stop worrying or missing anymore time with him. It would mean the world to have him here for this milestone. We always miss their brother, Love, who ascended young from heart failure. We will no matter what, pamper their sisters, Angel and Petal, tomorrow! I can't believe my babies are going to be ten! I saw each of them born and could say what time it was.

Leeanne, if you think you would notice "September 31", perhaps your copy did not have the chapter #44 error. That is my question. Your loans must last a month.

Ladies, I have a spare copy of "Artemis Fowl". If you believe you would like it enough to own it, I would gladly give it to either of you. It is a paperback in great condition.

Kerri, your birthday gift went out today! If interested, we could read "The Joy Luck Club" first. I am slow with the small print of Phyllis A. Whitney's "Skye Cameron".

I love mail and count on it, with dial-up internet unsuitable for transfering many files. In the future, you might have a book I need but trading is not necessary. :)

This book thankfully mentioned dates near the beginning of chapters, thus I easily skipped forward. In my Scholastic Books version, chapter 44 in the second paragraph references "September 31"! Does it for you, Kerri and Leeanne? And hoping you still have your library loan, Kerri's quote of chapter 27 is what I would like to see properly translated from you. It sounds off, doesn't it?

As for you, Kerri (once I understand what the heck "Mr. No Name", "free domain" was trying to write in chapter 27): the descriptions you praise are wonderful! "New wonders awaiting us at every step" really does sparkle. The whole place was certainly new to most of humankind and animalkind!

The professor's monologue of chapter 34 shows strength, bravery, and willpower that I enjoy. I will look at chapter 36 again to see the first few pages of writing that you loved.

Thank you: working in the translation department, as a cut & paste transposer of course material, was enjoyable and particularly memorable. I was a civilian contract employee at an air base! I returned there a few times and to the various buildings of an insurance company most of my years as a temp.

I liked almost all of my placements over 10 years: as a temp professionally for the agency, rather than a seeker of a job through them. Jennifer Lopez's job in "Monster In Law" reminds me of myself. :-) Most people couldn't stand getting called somewhere new nearly every day. My placements lasted weeks and months, often extended.

The agency took quite a cut, which is expected for wonderful placements. However, my jaw dropped the two times I saw my actual pay rate. It seemed too much. I would have been singing my way through the cost of living, if I had ever actually made more than $11.00\h ten years ago. Since we left the citiy, it wasn't worth the drive for low pay. I began writing (must get back to it) and keep house and land with our cats.

Where is the copy of "Artemis Fowl" you already read, Kerri? I imagine Leanne, you will borrow your Mom's book of "Avonlea"? Thank you for this pleasure at an important time for focus and peace for me, dear girls. If we have time, it would be great to converse about the books in the midst of reading them and not waiting for an overall summary. All input is enjoyed. Yours, Carolyn.

"It’s pronounced Aaa-vahn-lee, Carolyn."

Thank you, Leeanne! This is the benefit of you seeing shows and films. Do you still have "A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth"? I have been wondering how long your loans carry over. I want to find the "September 31" mistake and see if your chapter has the same. Also, the last paragraph Kerri quoted is beautiful but I can tell it did not benefit fully from a great translation. I would love knowing what it should say. I need time to catch-up and will shortly, for you can't borrow books indefinitely.

I would like to start "Anne Of Avonlea" next week, unless you need longer. I think Kerri owns it and was going to obtain "Artemis Fowl" too. No rush. I want to finally give myself over to the cultural phenomenon "The Joy Luck Club", after our Canadian one. :) I think it would read beautifully to segue two classics back to back. Then try Mr. Eion Colfer's science fiction adventure.

Soon, I would like to read "The Joy Luck Club", "Artemis Fowl", and the second Anne Of Green Gables story "Anne Of Avonlea", if you have them. I would like to know how to pronounce their town. Is it Aaa-vahn-lee or Aaa-vahn-lee-ah?

I haven't seen Kate in anything else and only know she is a theatre actress. It was in a documentary William Shatner did only a few years ago about the captains and what their lives are like.

I would love to have the conversation I propose in my last paragraph would people who know more than the first two series! Until "Picard" came along this year, "Voyager" was the most recent timeline and they did thinks with holographic technology, using the emergency doctor as a constant character of necessity. Similar to Amy Farah Fowler in "The Big Bang Theory", he was surly and became loveable and artistic, singing.

"Discovery", the second-most recent show is a great exception. Theirs is a ship in the traditionally referenced Klingon war, depicted for the first time. It is another pre-Kirk timeline, only a few years before he and Spok form a crew. However, Discovery is an advanced prototype, geting away from it needing to feel old-fashioned. We are with another captain, famous Asian actress Michelle Yeoh and her crew. In the new season Ron & I have been nuts to see, an emergency puts them far into the future. It is a whole new show again, except familiarity with the crew and fans don't know what to expect.

I am glad you are looking around because Netflix isn't the only place for films. If you were familiar with Torrents, you could download "The Motion Picture" free, then buy the blu-ray at Amzon or somewhere if you like it.

Chapter 19:
"No mineralogists had ever found themselves in such marvellous position to study nature in her real beauty. The sounding rod could not bring to the surface the objects of value, for the study of its internal structure, which we were about to see with our own eyes, to touch with our own hands. Across the streak of the rocks, coloured by beautiful green tints, wound metallic threads of copper, of manganese, platinum, and gold. These treasures, mighty and inexhaustible, were buried in the morning of Earth's history, at such awful depths that no crowbar or pickaxe will drag them!"

--> This is the profundity of appreciation people to have for the rare, secret place they were in. The natural, awestriking beauty, and one needn't be a scientist to recognize that the layers they descended through were tangible answers to questions that we have measured distantly with machines.

Chapter 27:
"I gazed at these marvels in profound silence. Words were utterly wanting to describe the sensations of wonder I experienced. It seemed, as I stood upon that mysterious shore, as if I were some wandering inhabitant of a distant planet, present for the first time at the spectacle of some terrestrial phenomena belonging to another existence. To give substance and reality to such new sensations would have required the coinage of new words. I looked on, I thought, I reflected, I admired in a state of stupefaction."

--> This is a beautifully impressive, original way of describing wonderment. An alien beholding a terrestrial phenomena, which known words could not express. You do not expect to find a great lake or ocean there! I will look for my other favourite quote, about beholding sea creatures who made it seem like Axel was looking at a dream.

"Substance" and "reality" are my replacements for nouns I believe the translator interpreted inadequately. He had written "body" and "existence"; the latter a repetition from the previous sentence proving that his vocabulary was limited. I recognized a frequent limitation of nouns and adjectives from which he drew.

I love each of your contributions to questions and reactions! I had only buddy-read a couple of times before this and find that I understand and fill in things so much better with partners. If you have your own conversation points to propose or questions, I would love to hear them. Please feel free to lead us.

Might there be safe spaces of crevasses for life, between the heated mantel and core? I am glad your loan was long and love what you imparted to us! I also am certain that readers were tempted to check Snæfellsjökull, haha. Many believe that some fiction conceals real events. "Treasure Island" is often theorized to represent numerous real events. I must read it if I have an unabbridged adult version and "Gulliver's Travels".

Your education about human history delineating live and extinct volcanoes scares me; even though eruptions are assuredly outside most of our lifetimes for wide spans of centuries. I think that may pertain to the premise of "Dante's Peak" (good old Pierce Brosnan). Would you girls risk a hike into a volcano crater that hadn't erupted since 1219? I would, only for a brief duration. I would not camp there long nor live near it. Unless a passage led out of it to the centre of the Earth or someplace.

I am fluent in both of those languages, especially French, if rusty. Even I would need to be much better versed in common phrases, than merely strengthening my vocabulary and correcting erroneous grammar. Unless we have indeed mastered other languages, our translating output should be our native language. Then we can interpret with all the eloquence and correctness. Internet and book dictionaries can only give us the right words. Fluency allows us to interpret the intent of an expression, message, or word. The job is of course to interpret more than translate, every context.

I worked in the translating department of the government several times as a temp and loved it. You had to be fluent in French, however rusty I was, in need of grammatical correcting. However the job was transposing existing translations into the right spaces, which only a reader of French would correctly recognized. We were required to cut & paste, never type, because typos are easy to make. Any short passages that we had to type by hand, were highlighted to bring to a team member for approval. I loved that whole experience for a lot of reasons and remember women and men there fondly.

Six years of French immersion school was my first valuable experience in switching between languages, with Spanish added in grades 9, 10, 12 I think and as my university major. In university, I double-minored in German and psychology. I barely know German, for 3 years in class aren't enough. I wasn't out in the real world like with French and Spanish. But it is something I am proud of, for all that I struggled in math.

The spot with a matching lake under the Meditterranean and a forest of plants nearby, was ample for foodstocking. Take time to build a cart they could wheel around or fashion some sort of awesome hemp or burlap storage cases they could sling. Retreat to the entrance, or carefully make a small blast to continue downward. I believe it was a lake and not saltwater, wasn't it? There was fresh water around too.

I could see taking a wrong turn but not for Alex to be lost long enough to be so far from his companions. They checked on each other and depended on each other, lonely and nervous in a strange place. Alex didn't veer off but stopped to look at something and his teammates kept walking. He took a wrong turn after trying to catch-up to them. Not watching each other for awhile on a straight road is natural but not to be lost by a turn that, when they deliberated and shared the decision of every crossroads. However, I enjoyed the sound phenomenon. We have such a thing in the centre of our Golden Boy parliament building in Winnipeg.

Did you find the error "September 31", or were dates different in the 1800s? Also, Greta was called the niece or "ward" at the end but "daughter" in the beginning. Not marrying your uncle's daughter would be way better but were either of these mistakes in the proper translation, Leeanne?

I wondered why there were miles of empty tunnels, when life abounded. I think the centre was space-limited compared to the Earth; however vast it was inside. Wouldn't you think animals if not large people, would trickle past the Mediterranean spot? I suppose Earth has numerous tunnels people don't know about but animals usually use them. However, the intention of discovering one wonder at a time, culminating in living creatures, was successful. I won't spoil that, when I catch-up my queue of 23 books.

We are blessed to not recall the first film, which I remember loving. We went into this classic story as new readers, prepared to be surprised. It also lets us discuss it purely, instead of a film comparison. I will look for passages I loved, for the next comment box, which the obviously non-English 1871 translator was careful to get right.

I found the science easy to understand, rereading a few times, basic adult science. It merely has vocabulary words and concepts for us to adjust to. That natural lantern coil they made is neat. Can you tell me what the "Ruhmkorf's coil" was made of?

The discovery of minerals on the walls was downplayed from the film but I see a beautiful quote that reminds me of it in the book; to go in another comment box. We might each add comment boxes of "quotes we enjoyed".

There are wonderful points about which to have a conversation and we have hit upon them all, as of Leeanne's entry! Please share what your educational edition says about the actual centre of the Earth and what ground-penetrating radar or whatever seismic measuring was used, theorizes that we would find there. I will look for favourite passages to add at the end.

Even this anonymous 1871 translator made sure to transpose and interpret them unusually well, I should say. Complicated translations are handled with care. Colloquial language and common words tend to miss the mark, when one's first fluent language is not the output, target language. Like I remarked before, Leeanne's translator is English. He needed to know French fluently enough to interpret what Jules Vernes wrote but his output quality was masterful, to the full strength of his linguistic ability and familiarity. I am trilingual but couldn't do justice to French of Spanish. However, after I brushed up a good while, I could do well at putting things into correct and eloquent English. Do you know what I mean? I imagine you know some French, Leeanne?

Aw! I see a hummingbird across from this office window, suspended atop a hanging-basket on our other building's wall (called "the library" on the main side and "the workshop" on the end). He or she was drinking Lilliput Zinnias! Speaking of Lilliput, are you familiar with "Gulliver's Travels" and "Treasure Island"? I mentioned the awesome movie premise of "Journey 2" with Dwayne Johnson and Michael Cane; wherein a combination of those classic novels with Jules' "The Mysterious Island" join together to make a map of the same island. It makes me want to read all three! I likely have at least a kid's abridged version of the first two but only 3 others of Jules'.

We agree that waiting for a shadow's direction, for 2 weeks I believe because it was the end of August when they entered the centre path, was an unsuccessful plot. I think "Journey 1" made travel timing urgent due to lava flow, no doubt crafted for the movie. However as discussed, that makes no sense to all of those preserved landmarks, bones, and living plants, animals, and people. Not unless it specifically had to do with the Mediterranean section, if using the Italian active volcano exit.

Two things I ponder: Do you ladies think it was set to erupt, or did due to the explosion to remove the rockfall? Maybe they could have carved through with less gunpower? The film made that exit an emergency, as if they couldn't last underground any longer. But secondly: if not for blasting to explore further into the Earth's core, doesn't it seem a given in the novel that they had the option to exit the way they had come, or from some other place they would have found at the centre?

The Earth's core is an argument I have glimpsed in a review or two. I believe they can be considered to have reached, survived, and explored the wonders under the Earth and proved corrected, new scientific and biological realities. To put it colloquially, I propose they could say they had been there and be eligible for souvenir t-shirts, haha! Not getting the other 4000 km into the Earth doesn't detract from that. Should I say I didn't officially see England and Scotland, because I only had time to traverse a certain span of regions? They made it, proved it possible and beheld that other world, even though they didn't see everything or every avenue.

Finally, I disliked Hans so much I wanted to slap him and I see from Leeanne that his maddening "indifference" was not a poor translation of his demeanour. Was he any more loyal or helpful than any other third party should be? I think they could have hired any other third person, even though I agree that third woman or man power was needed and lifesaving. His description came across to me that he was loyal to anyone with the paycheque. Of course once on the journey, he wouldn't let a teammate be harmed. His survival was their survival but also, he was as decent as most humans ought to be, rather than the saint they called him.

Yes, Jules could have gotten Axel (since that is the intended character) on the trip without the professor looking presumptuous and Axel looking like a spineless follower. In the end, we three agree that he appreciated the journey most. I am glad the professor got to see it and instead of saying so of Hans; Axel and his uncle were both needed. They corrected and reassured each other at important points and based in the marvels together. Had they gone independently or with someone else, each would have been elated to rush home and tell the other what they beheld and witnessed. Giant people, animals, and plants still around? I loved that! If age is cited for Axel's uncle, I wonder why Axel did not go back to look further into the Earth core, knowing it is safe, as long as you avoid sea travel and volcano channels.

I Kerri! Is "The Motion Picture" not on Netflix? I think it is from 1980. But owning the lot is well worth it and there are many blu-ray or DVD sets locally and on-line; easy to obtain. I am happy you replied to this thread. I initiated the conversation a long time ago with a good starter summary that is easy to follow, I think.

I deem it a must to get a taste of the original William Shater / Leonard Nimoy cast first, to understand the reverance in which they are held by all series that follow. Their films are the best introduction for being briefer and quickly improving their filming technology from their 1960s show. You wouldn't want that to hamper your introduction of personalities who shine and become like friends with good reason.

Definitely don't start with the Chris Pine / Zachary Quinto casts. They are excellent and I am glad they are here to continue great characters, adventures, and inventions. But you don't want to be the person who doesn't picture the original Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Spock first and understand whom the current casts are remaking and whose missions other original captains are emulating.

I appreciate all the casts but Captain Katherine Janeway is a favourite for me, whose mission is to get home: unique among them all. She makes discoveries of places, civilizations, and life that is very literally light years away from everyone else due to her circumstances of being blown an 80-year distance from Earth.

"Voyager" developped the holodeck to the next level more than anyone. The last show to succeed them, called "Enterprise", was a prequel set before Captain Kirk's stewardship, having to appear less modern. Captain Janeway had a holographic doctor made into a permanent castmate in their predicament, a feature meant to serve a brief contingency.

Thank you Kerri! We are proud of Gabrielle in Manitoba and her writing and translation are devine. I will have a duplicate to gift or well when I find my original, the same as "The Joy Luck Club". Would you like to read Amy Tan's or Rob Lowe's book together next?

I am going to read "Where Nests The Water Hen" by Gabrielle Roy a few books from now. I couldn't find my copy of it or "The Joy Luck Club" but bought them at my favourite charity fundraiser. I will also read soon "Stories I Only Tell My Friends" by Rob Lowe. The nature of it makes it more suitable to discuss only in e-mail.

Also in "Groundhog Day", which I know by heart, is the high school principal from "The Goldbergs" and their even better spinoff, "Schooled"! It is more poignant than the comedic tone implies. And darn it, come to think of it, it is another film about how to use your time effectively in a type of "quarantine"; like taking piano lessons and making friends! Similar to the kids of the novel "Flowers In The Attic", Bill Murray's character also excels at flipping playing cards into a wastepaper basket.

Yes, we ought to rewatch "Journey 1: To The Centre Of The Earth". Ron & I caught "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" on the satellite dish, with Michael Caine and Dwayne Johnson. That is a Jules Verne novel I need to acquire, as well as an unabridged "Ten Thousand Leagues Under The Sea", the story I am most keen about. A connection is implied in the film between the island novels of three authors of the same period: "The Mysterious Island", "Treasure Island", and "Gulliver's Travels".

I enjoy proving to have a good eye for translating quality, thanks to your information, Kerri. A translator who is named is the way to go, or I would rather read Jules Verne in French! The translations of Winnipeg's own Gabrielle Roy are impeccable, no doubt with an English-speaker as the better choice for the output language, like the person behind Leeanne's copy. I will read "Where Nests The Water Hen" by Gabrielle soon.

I am disgusted to discover that Kerri & I had the worst translator! I don't have time to reread anything because my home is blessed with the equivalent of Kindle books in quantity. However, to find that the 1871 English version dared to rewrite things almost demands that I restart the book some other time.

I may have been mistaken about the temperature glitch because it would be true of the book as well as the film. Surely the space under the Earth does preserve a whole culture of life and artifacts. It must only be the passage back to the top under the Mediterranean, leading to an active volcano, where lava courses through. But I wonder what you ladies make of waiting for the shadow, that I believe is a glitch for needless drama. Surely a mark at the entrance or in Arne Sussemann's notes could say: "choose the middle entrance". Or as I wrote previously, surely people made their way into the right one without instructions.

I will highlight some passages another time to this being long. As Kerri likes Hans, I'm keen to get out of the way that I loathe him; sorry! Any third person good at building would have served them. I loathed him more with each description of being "indifferent". He didn't deserve to behold an unknown place of wonder, if unmoved by it! I resented him for only caring about following orders safely and receiving his pay; however loyal and helpful he was. It was more than being a kind of person who doesn't show what they feel on their face: the repeated specification was "indifference". I loathe lack of expression, colour, and preference.

I disliked the professor too, even though Leeanne, you are right that it was poignant to cry over the difficulty to his nephew. He is so bitchy and selfish; once again, we could have chosen anyone with his scientific interest and education to better appreciate the voyage. No different than tHans: he had no sentimental reactions to nor patience for anything, except when the journey and their discoveries went his way.

The nephew argued rightfully but went on too long. Harry / Axel did not willingly join the trip and considered it dangerous and untried. We know from those long passages in Germany that his uncle was stupid and immature about skipping meals, until he concluded something he was working on. Politely waiting for lunch is one thing in Germany. Harry / Axel could not allow him to be rash to their peril in the Earth's core.

I propose that of the three, he is the only one with the character to appreciate where they were fully. When there was anything cool to see, his excitement abounded and he had the scientific knowledge to assess it. Yes Leeanne, his imagination of prehistoric creatures was wonderful! It did come true, didn't it? I was confused when Hans clarified that only two sea monsters were fighting. However, they really did behold the whale and sturgeon fish on their way there, didn't they?

It was I who finished saying everything I wanted about "Anne Of Green Gables". I built places easier to track our other great, varied conversations. However, anyone is welcome to add more Lucy Maud Montgomery input.

Kerri, this "new" category is for you too but the "old" has the detailing for you to see. I itemized a simple way to dig into the series, via the original films. See you in the other topic, where I name them. :)

Leeanne, "by the way", I have been in Georgian Bay near Orillia. You get the reference: Gordon Lightfoot town! My brother's in-laws cottage around there. I explored some crevasses, a suspension bridge, and the Huron church. I am glad you had a lovely day. In our wild and literary conversations, I love the personal sharing.

I was just thinking of "Groundhog Day" because it is one of my favourite films. What I did not realize, is that a certain Schitt's Creek mayor was the cameraman in it; hard to recognize because he is sane. Chris Elliott again! I did recognize the puddle-stepping principal from "The Goldbergs" and "Schooled", as soon as I saw him in the sitcoms. :)

I am at chapter 37 too. If Leeanne reached the body of water, I want to quote my favourite passage: about such incredulous beauty and discovery that coining new human words is necessary. Jules wrote most of his profoundly well-said things around that chapter. This is the beauty I expect of "10,000 Leagues Under The Sea".

Jules kindly prepared me for what a league is: 1 x 3 miles or 1 x 5 1/2 kilometres. :) A league was created to estimate how far one can walk in an hour. We may be finished before we talk about what stands out for us. Feel free to lead. Scholastic Books has no art. It seems they wanted 1966 students to just plain read.

I had to sleep and also turn off the lights for Ron but am invested in the story. I sense no resemblance to what I recall of the film, do you? They entail action and wonderment, whereas books need to build up what characters do and how they feel. I think the film was about a son and Dad wanting to find out what happened to his Dad. It seemed there was only one safe time to enter and exit the Earth's core, which is why they burst in sled fashion, on a last trickle of liquid. In the novel, water abounds.

Precious gems are only observed once. They were an astonishing, fortunate film feature: the idea that bringing one nugget of any gem back would boost a life. I love the Jurassic park-like possibility of completing the picture of knowledge and witnessing what we only knew as fossils, right down to fish and plants. I wonder how the first film(s) covered this adventure. I love a place where things are left in peace to flourish or hold records for us. It is a flaw of Brendan's film, if his plot is that lava would cover the place periodically. It can't alternate between boiling and preserving wonders.

I conversely detect a weakness of the beginning of the novel. It seems like anyone could explore the core any time, if they knew which crater. Three openings are always there. You could explore the right one by chance or elimination.

The only urgency of timing came from the excuse that a shadow needed to illumine the right entrance. "Arne Sasseman" (add necessary letters) could have included "use the centre entrance" in his instructions. Speaking of them: surely it is easy to recognize mirror writing and see words backwards.

It isn't only for me! Anyone would wonder if butterflies were loose in the house, without the detail of an enclosure. It was not the caterpillars whom I imagined would get out and I did wonder if loose leaves were appealing enough. In my experience, most cats aren't interested in toxic plants but certainly caution is wise until you know your adoped kitty well. You might grow potted milkweed in the enclosure. Thank you for your details and information, Leeanne.

I got stung a 7th time, by a stray wasp in the house! These spots hurt the first night, then are awfully itchy for a few days. I am not known to be allergic to anything and imagine itchiness is normal for anyone. We did not care to kill them and he thought it might be harmful to them to wreck any part of a nest by moving it, or hazardous to us even possibly at night. I agreed to wait for fall.

Lately they are already quiet. Maybe they attacked during a period of hatching young. I am uncertain if they are gone or used to us but am glad. Rain finally seems on its way today! Thank goodness for our shared work with hoses and watering cans meanwhile.

Later this afternoon, the dear turkey family of two Moms and 9 poult children visited our home. They not only browsed for something to eat but relaxed here awhile. We love providing a place for turkeys as well as whitetailed deer and their fawns to be safe and free of being pestered or startled by dogs.

One poult chick got into "Garden #3". The precious little guy likely flew over the low fence and even though he was perusing happily on the other side of his family, I knew I had to help him out. Animals, including our kitties, aim for where they see the house or us but the door is in the middle of the east side.

The little guy was naturally afraid at my approach. But rather than letting him press his head against the fence too long and trying to calm him, I scooped him or her up and tossed him or her back to the family. He ran to hide but I am sure everyone else saw that I had helped their kin.

When they were ready to glide out of our domain, one lady yelled to the little guy to join them and he or she did. I am so glad I watch creatures to ensure they are okay. I feel no lack of being a human Mom, by caring for and guarding animal sweethearts.

I am 100 pages from the end, in chapter 31. Please feel free to propose any discussion up to here, pending the chapter Kerri has reached.

The nephew is "Harry" in my 1966 translation. I am not a fan of going by last names and blanked it out, if that is what "Axel" refers to. Yes, his uncle (oh, they gotta stop calling him "worthy" and "learned", right!) had a good idea in curing his fear of heights. You do need to climb up, before and after climbing down.

"Lofty" is another word my "unworthy translator" exceeded too much, LOL. Did he not know "high", "height", or "way up high"? It is clear to me that he knew French better than English, the reverse of me. I myself know French fluently enough to transpose what an author is saying into beautiful English but would not know French colloquial expressions well enough. There is a gorgeous passage I would love to share when I know everyone has arrived at it and I have an acquatic question as well.

You can tell he or she took care to get beautiful sentences and facts correct but did not know common phrases. "Seek for" instead of "seek" is a regular mistake and adding "for the purpose of" instead of simply stating the action verb. I am riveted and can't wait to see where they go next. I would love to have your version, Leeanne: where the translator deigned to be named, replete with Earth core and author information!