10/31: morning stops

Recently I've been pausing more often at the pier on my way to work.  Different light and shadows than sunsets at the dock.

Yesterday I photographed this:


 And this morning the wind was a little rougher so the same basic shot became this:

10/30: on the same page

A good thing:  being in synch with a friend at work.  She asked me a professional question about the theatre production she's directing, and we had the same impression/answer.  Then she asked me a personal question, but very obliquely, and I knew what she meant without having to think about it.  And that she thought to ask me that question--at that particular time and in that particular way--means a lot.

10/29: morning mandala

I was walking to the car this morning and saw that a spider had made this:

10/28: on either end

A nice paper by a student at the start of my work-day.  A very smart idea from a student at the end of my work-day.

10/27: sunrise & sunset

As is clear from this blog, I'm more of a sunset person than a sunrise one, but today I got to enjoy wonderful colors at both times.

Sunrise colored clouds as seen from our deck:


Sunset painted water as seen from the dock:


10/26: moving through and on

I did something today that didn't go particularly well.  In ways it might have gone embarrassingly not well.  But I got through it, I am trying not to overly worry about it, and tomorrow is another day--I'm trying to focus on those good things instead of on the going-not-so-well-ness of the thing itself.

10/25: eating the alphabet

For lunch I made pancakes in the shape of the letters of the Greek alphabet!

10/24: pausing on the way to the car

Be-dew-ed spider webs, seen as I was walking from the house to the car in the morning.  Nice to start the day with a little magic.

10/23: waking light

I wasn't feeling well this morning so I stayed in bed a little longer than usual and got to see an amazing sunrise through the window.  A little later in the morning I noticed that Bryan, a friend of mine in a different part of the state, had posted a colorful sunrise picture on Facebook; I'm glad that the sunrise was good where he was too.

10/22: a welcome reminder & no waiting

At work today we got an email reminder that it was the last day for getting a free flu shot on campus.  I had completely forgotten about it but like to get the shot each year, so receiving the reminder was perfect.  And when I got to the place where the shots were being given, there was no line.

10/21: four good things before 9 a.m.

Reading Clark's journal entry for this day in 1804.

Seeing a string of 40 antique cars on the road to work.

Pausing to take pictures at the foggy lake.


Smelling the camellias as I walked onto campus.

10/20: late can be okay

When my alarm rang this morning, I accidentally turned it off rather than set it to ring again in 10 minutes.  So I ended up sleeping an hour and 15 minutes longer than I had planned.  It seemed a not-so-good way to return to work after fall break--but it turned out to be fine.

10/19: three in a row

Kayaking is hard to make time for during the school year, but I managed to get out on the lake Friday and Saturday after dinner and today after breakfast.  That will have to hold me in good stead for awhile.  It was especially nice to be on the water this morning--almost no one else around (I saw two boats but they weren't close), amazing skies, and different light on the water.  A cloud photo from my outing:

10/17 & 10/18: work & pauses

Bookbinding as Friday's task & grant proposal reading as Saturday's.  Both substantial projects, but happily punctuated by phone calls from Chris & Katy, as well as cloud-watching, aster-patch-watching, and kayaking.  And in the process many, many pictures taken!

Here are just two:  



How lucky that fall break fell at the height of the asters' activity so I would be at home and able to observe.

10/16: at home

I spent much of academic year 2013-2014 at home because I was on sabbatical.  The cats and I worked out a good rhythm together.  By contrast, since school started in August, I feel like I've been using the house as a pit stop.  Today and tomorrow are "fall break," and the breather is giving me a chance to enjoy being at home.  Today I slept in, read Artforum, did some much-needed housekeeping, paid bills, wrote notes to friends, hung out with the cats, ate vegetarian orange "chicken," and kept going outside to look at the many winged visitors to the aster patch.  It might seem odd to have black and white pictures of butterflies, but the black and white made me focus on the patterning rather than the color.

10/15: so big

I noticed a good number of butterflies while walking on campus and then while driving home.  But the best was yet to come:  as I was eating my dinner and looking out through our long windows the biggest butterfly I have ever seen flew toward the windows and up, the light making its wings look like stained glass.  I know I saw it, but even now I can't quite believe it was real--it was that big.

10/14: geese

...flying so low over our house that we could hear their wings flapping.

10/13: little talk

The director of this semester's play at school invited me to come and talk to the cast.  The play is Timberlake Wertenbaker's Love of the Nightingale, which is based on the myth of Procne and Philomela, a powerful tale in Ovid's Metamorophoses.  I loved the chance to share some of my thoughts and to see the students so intent about the production they're working on.

10/12: year three begins

This evening I posted the first poem in what will be our third year of publishing Heron Tree.  It feels good that we've gotten this far with the journal.

10/11: housekeeping weekend

We designated this weekend for house-cleaning in advance.  Today we focused on the common areas of the house.  It feels good.

10/10: a snapshot

A friend posted on Facebook a picture of his baby looking intently at a board-book I had sent.

10/9: reading

I got more reading done today than I had anticipated--all work related, and all good.  I look forward to a time (December?) when I might be able to read something for leisure again, but in the meanwhile I am lucky that so much of my reading for work is enjoyable.

Also good on the reading front:  I bought Chris a book I thought he would like (Straw in the Sun by Charlie May Simon), and he read the first chapter while drinking his morning coffee.  When he finished the chapter he said, "That was one of the best first chapters I've ever read."

10/8: eclipse

Our alarms rang at 5:00--that's Chris' regular wake-up time, but a bit earlier than usual for me since I wanted to see the eclipse.  It took me some time to wake up; in the meanwhile Chris went outside and found the best viewing spot.  If I had gotten up even earlier (around 4:30?) I could have seen the moon part bright, part dark--but we did get to witness the last bit of its slide into full eclipse.

10/7: 5 minutes to spare

A long list of tasks for the day, but I managed to move through them all and be done 5 minutes before my mental turn-off time, which gives me the chance to write this before calling it a night.

10/6: grateful

...for a very quick stop on my way to work to look at the misty lake:


...for the word enneapetalous, which I discovered today.

...for coffee and chocolate cookies in my office as I prepared to teach.

...for a sweet, crisp apple after I taught.

...for a session with a student in which we focused deliberately on Greek accents.

...for the extraordinarily nice people who work in the college cafeteria.

...for the (emotionally) difficult read of an article about the limitations of radical utopian thinkers when it came to women.

...for Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, which responds to those limitations.

...for a walk to the dock with Chris; it was a brief pause amidst work, but we got to see this together:

10/5: smartweed sunday

Although I had plenty of work to do this afternoon, I needed to get out of the house for a bit to clear my head.  Chris drove us out to Woolly Hollow State Park.  The Pennsylvania smartweed was blooming, which makes me happy every time I see it.


10/4: morning, afternoon, evening

Texting my mother and siblings to wish them well on St. Francis' feast day. 

Combining a business meeting with Chris and a nice lunch out at a new-to-us restaurant.

Deciding against kayaking (regretfully but wisely) yet going to the dock for sunset and seeing this:

10/3: something tilde likes

I discovered this week that Tilde the Cat likes to have her belly rubbed! My Dear Cat Wilkie would swat or nip whenever I tried to touch or brush his stomach, so I kind of trained myself not to pet cats there in general.  But it turns out that Tilde loves it.

10/2: the rain...

...waited until I was back at home this evening.

10/1: a good evening

We had fallen out of the habit of making salad as part of our dinner--and when I say "we," I really mean "I" since I'm the salad-maker--but on tonight's plates salad returned.  Hopefully, a habit resumed.

I walked down to the dock with Chris, only planning to stay for sunset but knowing that Chris would probably stay later since a number of folks congregate there on Wednesday evenings.  One of said folks came by in his boat and picked us up, promising to return me when I needed to get home.  So I had an unexpected half-hour on the water.


And then I talked with my sister, as part of our standing plan to call one another on the first Wednesday of the month.

Finally a little playful cat-time with Tilde and Emma.