every day, one good thing

1/31: tba

2012-01-30T20:59:00.001-06:00

I haven't recorded my good thing for 1/31 yet, but please feel free to post a good thing from your day in the comments!

1/30: over the bridge and in the mail

2012-01-29T20:00:00.005-06:00

I had an unexpectedly free hour at school today, and Chris was free at the same time, so we walked across the footbridge to the bookstore and the bakery. Chris got scones, I got a muffin, and we both got to spend some time together in the sun and breeze.

When I came home today, I found three more postcards in my mailbox from a pen-friend. She's on a "reading retreat" in the mountains of West Virginia, and she's been writing to me while there. Very cool--both that she's writing to me, and that she took herself on a retreat like that.

Also in the mail was a lovely piece of work by Barbara, which I had admired when she posted it on her blog. What a surprise to have it in my hands! (Thanks, Barbara!)

1/29: no coat!

2012-01-28T20:15:00.003-06:00

No coat necessary outside this afternoon. We poured some honey for the bees who were flying, and then we walked in the sun.

1/28: turn-around

2012-01-27T09:10:00.003-06:00

I started the day with low spirits--I think more out of exhaustion than anything else. But I managed to pull myself (somewhat) together mid-day and get (some) things done without spinning down and out. Whenever I can reverse course, I count it a victory.

1/27: fog lifting

2012-01-26T23:16:00.002-06:00

After two days of grey and rain (physically & symbolically), this morning was bright and clear. The fog rising from the fields and dissipating was a cheering sight. And I saw a bluebird just as I was getting in my car to drive to work.

1/26: returning

2012-01-25T22:09:00.001-06:00

...to home and bed after being at work for 15 1/2 hours today.

1/25: re-reading

2012-01-24T21:07:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness am I glad that I am having a chance to re-read the Aeneid this semester! I have not previously been a fan of book 5--which is mostly taken up with athletic competitions. Today as I read it I had so many thoughts about why the book is interesting and how it contributes to the whole. Other scholars over the centuries have probably written about all the things I noticed, but it's different to discover things on one's own. I feel lucky that in my job I have the opportunity to return to texts over and over again and see more and more.

1/24: copy room conversation

2012-01-23T22:15:00.002-06:00

I am on friendly terms with a woman who works in the Business Office. We say hello and occasionally chat a little--not much, because she's very no-nonsense at work. I like her manner. Today in the copy room we talked more than usual, as she told me about moving her mother and step-father from Chicago to Arkansas so they could be closer to her now that they're older. The way she talked about it--caring and sensible, clear and smart--made me admire her all the more.

1/23: old and new

2012-01-22T17:24:00.003-06:00

Today I had the pleasure of returning to Vergil's Aeneid, which I haven't taught in awhile but which I definitely enjoy. The happiness of meeting up with an old-friend-of-a-text was paired with the nice surprise of a new-to-me translation by Sarah Ruden, which moves really well. It's not as poetic as the Latin (in my opinion), but it feels very nice.

1/22: in a fog (in a good way)

2012-01-21T20:25:00.005-06:00

It was the right weather for listening to more of the Grimms' tales during my afternoon walk on the ridge.

1/21: today's trio

2012-01-20T20:35:00.003-06:00

An unexpected email from a stranger who had recently read and enjoyed an article I had written on Twombly's Fifty Days at Iliam.

Listening to "The Fisherman and his Wife" and "The Valiant Tailor" while walking at the track: I'm trying to read or listen to all of the tales recorded by the Brothers Grimm this year, since it's the bicentennial of the tales' publication.

While driving back from the track, I heard on the radio a Celtic tune which Chris first introduced me to in 1991.

1/20: the blueberry's back

2012-01-19T20:31:00.002-06:00

I ran out of my blueberry flavored coffee at the end of last semester, but yesterday I got a new shipment in the mail. I keep it at school as a daily morning treat, and I was glad for it today.

1/19: teaching Trollope

2012-01-18T20:27:00.004-06:00

Though I'm teaching more courses than usual this semester and am nervous about the work-load, the topics of the courses are appealing to me, and that's a good thing. In particular I'm pleased about the senior seminar I'm running on Classics in Trollope's novels. This evening--in preparation for tomorrow's class--I got to read Trollope (one of my all-time favorite authors) as part of my job. That makes me a lucky person indeed.

1/18: 1/2 hour

2012-01-17T20:45:00.005-06:00

Still mayhem-ish here, and I think it's going to be a chaotic semester: due to a staffing disaster, I'm teaching my normal load plus half of another professor's load. (I honestly don't know if I can do the work of 1 1/2 people, but I'm going to give it a try.) It's going to mean more evenings spent at my campus office than usual. But at least it's quiet here in the evenings, and tonight I'm ready to pack up and head home a half an hour earlier than yesterday.

1/17: hearts

2012-01-16T19:38:00.003-06:00

It was a day of mayhem: meetings with students, syllabus preparations, and lesson plans. But waiting in my mailbox on campus was a card from a former student. The notecard has 70 small hearts of different colors on it--I think I needed every single heart today! So nice of her to send it, and I kept it propped up on my desk so I could see it and smile often.

1/16: lots of bits

2012-01-15T20:59:00.005-06:00

I've been clipping teeny pieces out of catalogs and magazines for the past week. This evening I put them all together:

It was my end-of-break hurrah. Tomorrow I'll put it in the mail to a friend and I'll be back in my office on campus.

1/15: inner clocks

2012-01-14T19:17:00.002-06:00

Wilkie came into my office and meowed to remind me that it was time for his evening medicines (and his evening drink from a special water bowl, the real attraction). His internal clock is pretty accurate; night after night, around 9 p.m., he starts looking for one of us to give him his meds.

And thinking about that made me realize that I've gotten to rely on my own inner clock a lot during this between-the-semesters break. I've only had to set my alarm for a handful of days. That's going to end soon, but I'm grateful for some natural rising.

1/14: almost unbelievable

2012-01-13T19:03:00.003-06:00

A honeybee and a crocus, each doing their thing--in January!

1/13: time with traditional tales

2012-01-12T19:47:00.002-06:00

Working on an abstract about two versions of the Orpheus myth in which the Orpheus figure is a woman.

Listening to Grimms' Tales while walking.

Starting to read Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox.

I do love stories, and new versions of old ones....

1/12: contact

2012-01-11T19:53:00.002-06:00

A phone conversation with a friend I've known since 1983. We fall in and out of touch, and I'm glad we're in touch right now.

1/11: anglo-indulgence

2012-01-10T17:40:00.003-06:00

I've been doing some school-work today, though I've been hindered a bit by a headache. As breaks I've read some Jane Austen fan-fiction (P. D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley) and watched the first episode of Downton Abbey's second season. Thanks go to Barbara for pointing me to the series! I didn't think Chris would be interested in watching it with me, but he was, so that was a sweet extra good thing.

1/10: beginning the transition

2012-01-09T21:19:00.003-06:00

I've certainly been working over the break, but not in my campus office. Today I was back on campus for a full-day workshop. The content was interesting, and a group meeting was a nice way to mark the end of break and the beginning of back-to-school. I got to talk with people whose paths I normally don't cross, and that was a pleasant thing.

1/9: unexpected ending

2012-01-09T21:15:00.002-06:00

Not quite "and they lived happily every after" at the end of The Princess and Curdie. I finished listening to it while walking at the track this evening. I'm glad MacDonald concluded the novel as he did, in a way that balanced the scope of its amazing beginning.

1/5-1/8: off-line

2012-01-04T22:40:00.003-06:00

I was in Philadelphia, a city which I enjoy. I didn't see much of the town, though, since I was at a business conference: my colleagues and I mostly stayed in the hotel's meeting rooms. But we were next to Reading Terminal Market and so ate lunch there everyday, and we ventured down to Serrano for dinner one night (a restaurant which my brother introduced me to some years ago). After that dinner we walked back to the hotel via the Liberty Bell, one of my favorite bits of Americana--and which one of my colleagues had never seen before. We were too late for the museum, but we could still see the Bell itself through the windows. I also met up with some friends from various pieces of my past, and it was nice for them to be part of my present, as well. All in all, our business was smoothly conducted, and these other good things were icing on the cake.

1/4: new phone, new roof

2012-01-03T19:45:00.002-06:00

Thank goodness for insurance, and for our being able to have it. Today it pulled through for us twice: our home-owner's insurance is going to cover (most of) a new roof since our current roof got damaged by hail, and my iPhone stopped working, but we had gotten extra insurance on it so the guy at the Apple Store just handed us a new one.

And thank goodness for Chris, too, who took the lead on these practical things as I've been getting ready to go out of town on a business trip.

1/3: sips & sniffs

2012-01-02T19:04:00.001-06:00

Chris and I went to a new-ish Greek restaurant for dinner, and I noticed that they had Turkish coffee on the menu. I mentioned this to Chris because--based on my memories of it from my now-long-ago time in Greece--I thought it would be the kind of thing he'd like. He ordered some. I didn't have much myself (it would have kept me up all night!), but I loved smelling it and stealing just a few sips from his cup. It is amazing stuff. I have to go back sometime earlier in the day and order just a pot and some baklava....

1/2: problem-solving

2012-01-01T18:05:00.005-06:00

Sad to say, I woke up on 1/1 with an "oh, no!" Last week I thought I had solved a complicated course-scheduling problem, but I had forgotten about a certain consideration. That consideration must have wormed its way to the surface during sleep, so (alas!) a work-related problem was pretty much the first thing on my mind in the new year. My poor conscious brain couldn't solve the problem, though I tried off and on throughout yesterday, but I must have done enough thinking around and about the issue that some solutions could work their way to clarity overnight, and I woke up this morning with two different possible approaches. At least one night of unconscious problem-solving offsets one night of unconscious problem-raising.

And I'm slowly chipping away at Medical Etymology. I've developed a good system for making it through the words (I've done about 500 of them so far), and taking the words apart (or building them up) feels a little like working math problems. (Not everyone's idea of a good time, I know, but I used to enjoy math back in the day....)

1/1: in twos

2012-01-01T08:17:00.001-06:00

While Chris and I ate our breakfast we watched two deer eating their morning meal outside.

12/31: last time for 2011

2011-12-30T20:55:00.003-06:00

Last trip out on the lake for the year. I hope the first paddling of 2012 won't be too long in coming.

12/30: in the world

2011-12-29T20:40:00.003-06:00

I've been staying mostly sequestered over break, and it's been nice, but today I needed to head out for a variety of reasons. And, as is often the case, I was struck by just how pleasant people can be. The people at the coffee shop where I met a friend, the friend I met there for a conversation in the sunshine, people at the walking track, the woman who works at the post, and the young man at the cash register at the store. I am grateful for all their smiles.

12/29: some good ones near the end

2011-12-28T19:51:00.002-06:00

2011 hasn't been a record year for me and movies. We've gone to very few because nothing seemed to call out to us, and we haven't even ordered that many from Netflix. But we've chosen some goodies in the past few days: Trollhunter, Meek's Cutoff, and (Christmas-themed, but in a dark way) Rare Exports. Two of the three are Scandinavian films (Trollhunter from Norway and Rare Exports from Finland), so maybe I should check out more Nordic cinema? And Meek's Cutoff was a sharp reminder that there are American filmmakers out there who are doing very interesting things.

12/28: vegan version & someone else's good news

2011-12-27T19:54:00.004-06:00

Our Meyer lemon tree was ready to be harvested, and we weren't sure what we wanted to do with the fruit. We thought of lemon curd, since Chris has fond memories of it from his time in England, and we enjoy it from time to time in the States, too. It turns out that most lemon curd uses eggs, which Chris prefers not to eat. The world-wide web to the rescue! Several recipes are out there for vegan lemon curd. We tried one of them this evening, and the preliminary taste tests are encouraging.

And I found out this evening that a former student of mine was named an "artist to watch" by artinfo.com. This made me very happy. He came back to campus to give a lecture this fall, and I loved seeing his work and hearing him talk about it, so I knew he was doing good stuff. It's nice that other people think so, too! He's such a good spirit--it's nice when spirits of that sort get some wind in their sails.

12/27: back to light

2011-12-26T20:15:00.003-06:00

A longish walk in the late afternoon, with lovely sun and clear skies after yesterday's rain.

12/26: activities & attention

2011-12-25T17:02:00.002-06:00

It was wonderful to be outside yesterday, but today's been rainy--a good day to be indoors, doing indoors things: learning more medical etymology, working on a new abstract comic, and finishing The Little Prince in Latin.

I had forgotten how The Little Prince ended (I have a talent for repressing sad endings to books and movies), so I cried as I came to the conclusion. Wilkie came to guard me, to make sure I was okay. Faithful friend!

12/25: good sky day

2011-12-24T19:31:00.008-06:00

On the ridge in the afternoon:

On the dock at sunset:

12/24: settling in

2011-12-23T18:25:00.002-06:00

Getting ready for some holiday time by straightening the house, doing some cooking, and enjoying one another's company. It makes me happy when all four of us, two humans two cats, are all on the bed together, and I can hear Wilkie purr.

12/23: comfort food

2011-12-22T20:50:00.002-06:00

Tonight's dinner: pierogi casserole. I'm Polish but didn't grow up eating pierogis, except at friends' houses. One of my parents' former students brought my family pierogi casserole once, though, and ever since I've lived on my own, I've enjoyed making it now and then. Chris likes it, too, and today we tinkered with our normal recipe (which is more of a feel than a recipe), and we enjoyed the results.

12/22: a strange treat

2011-12-21T20:28:00.002-06:00

The Met's sometimes surreal, sometimes stark, quite stylized, and not-so-much-for-children production of Hansel and Gretel. We watched it here in town at the movie theatre as part of the Met's broadcast series. It was an interesting experience to hear music I remember from my childhood while watching such a grown-up vision of the story.

12/21: holiday habit

2011-12-20T21:08:00.002-06:00

During the semester I don't seem to be able to write in my journal in a steady way, but I miss taking the time to slow down and reflect. Over summers and holidays it becomes part of my routine, and I'm glad to be returning to it this break.

12/20: wide-ranging & long ago

2011-12-19T20:08:00.003-06:00

A phone conversation with a friend this evening, touching on so many topics and a pleasure throughout.

I also got a holiday card from a childhood friend today. On the back of the envelope she had put a sticker depicting a set of ice-skates, and she added a hand-written note: "Remember when we used to?" We had done a good amount of skating on frozen lakes during the winters of high school, and it was nice to know that she remembered those times as much as I do.

12/19: water, weather, and friends

2011-12-18T20:52:00.002-06:00

Some quite not-good news from work today, but both Chris and a departmental colleague were supportive and sanity-inspiring. They actually saw the not-good news as having a substantial silver lining--and it is probably the case that they are right.

And the weather was nice enough that I could venture out on the lake in my kayak to take a break from email and worry. Here's the glorious water:

Here it is again, digitally altered:

And again:

12/18: toggling between languages

2011-12-17T18:54:00.004-06:00

One of my new students this year told me that over the summer he listened to the English audiobook of Winnie the Pooh while following along with the Latin translation. I thought it was a clever thing to do, so I decided to give it a try. This evening I listened to the first half of The Little Prince while reading the Latin at the same time. A cute way to build vocabulary, see idioms at work, and increase reading speed.

12/17: the right one

2011-12-16T21:14:00.002-06:00

I have a deadline coming up for submitting an abstract to a conference. I've been mentally tossing around ideas, and I even started to type some preliminary outlines for various possible papers. Everything I thought of seemed okay, but for whatever reason nothing grabbed me as the paper I want to be working on now. This afternoon I think I finally found something that feels right, and a sign of that was how easy it was to sit down and tap out some thoughts on my laptop.

12/16: a day of many--untimed--parts

2011-12-15T20:20:00.003-06:00

Beginning a new book, mailing packages, going out to lunch on a lark, cleaning (or at least beginning to clean) my home office, walking with the neighborhood dogs, addressing holiday cards, and working on medical etymology (which means learning some truly crazy words)--all without wearing my watch, the sign that the semester break has truly begun.

12/15: out loud

2011-12-14T19:35:00.003-06:00

I was working through a problem today, and Chris said what he believed was at the heart of it. He was right, and I immediately knew he was right, but I had been avoiding the crystalline articulation of it. It was good to hear it--the first step in owning it and moving on.

12/14: early & late

2011-12-13T19:52:00.002-06:00

I woke up early on a day when I could have slept a little later than usual! Not a great thing, but I used the extra time to be leisurely with my coffee and then to take a walk on the ridge. Some of the neighborhood dogs kept me company, and they put me in good cheer.

This evening I decided to keep on working until I had all my grading for the semester done. I'm glad that I gave my efforts a final push: I especially enjoyed the last two sets of assignments I read, and tomorrow morning I won't wake up to grading.

12/13: before the end of the week

2011-12-12T18:46:00.003-06:00

This is the fourth December I've kept this blog, and I just reviewed a few entries from past years. In 2008 and 2010 it looks like it took me nearly till Christmas to finish my grading for the semester--that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it was good of me not to rush it if I was feeling tired and pressed. It seems that I was more timely in 2009. This year I'll at least even the score, and (as in 2009) I'll be able to be done just a day or so after final exam period ends. Taking time in the past, when needed, was a good thing--but not needing to take extra time is also good.

12/12: across (many) decades

2011-12-11T12:53:00.003-06:00

I enjoyed Molly Hughes' childhood memoir so much that I started reading her account of her late teens and twenties, A Victorian Girl of the 1880s. Today I read about her two terms as one of the first students of a new teacher training college for women at Cambridge. The excitement and interest of those days lept over the more-than-century distance.

12/11: spiced tea

2011-12-10T19:26:00.001-06:00

A gift from a student. I'm enjoying sipping it today.

12/10: reciprocity

2011-12-09T19:58:00.002-06:00

I went with Chris this afternoon on an errand, and this evening he went with me on another one.

12/9: home-schooling

2011-12-08T19:00:00.003-06:00

I'm home-schooling myself! I am going to teach a Medical Etymology course for the first time this summer, and though I know all the Greek and Latin involved, I'm not familiar with all the medical-specific combinations of the Greek and Latin elements. So it's time that I start learning them. I began working through the textbook this evening.

12/8: home and school

2011-12-07T19:10:00.003-06:00

At home today: banana bread for breakfast (a gift from a student) combined with cloud-watching and bird-watching. Last December we saw an amazing number of ducks and geese, and this morning's sightings made us think that the same might be true this year. The sky was so beautiful that I took my camera outside to snap a few photos, and while I was out some geese flew overhead and fairly low:

At school today: my upper-level Latin class met as a group for the last time this morning. They talked through their final projects in such a good-natured and thoughtful way; what a sweet final meeting.

12/7: one on one

2011-12-06T19:59:00.002-06:00

For two of my courses this semester there's a final assignment involving a one-on-one meeting with me. I had a few sessions today, and it can be really pleasant to meet with folks on an individual basis, work intently on something together, and have some chit-chat before and after.

12/6: inside and outside

2011-12-05T19:06:00.003-06:00

Outside good thing: First little snowfall of the season. Ah, when snow is pretty and sweet (and neither a worry nor a nuisance).

Inside good thing: Molly Hughes' memoir, A London Child of the 1870s. I'm usually not a memoir-reader, but this one is lovely, and I'm so glad I bought it (from my new favorite press, Persephone Books).

12/5: green tea

2011-12-04T19:33:00.002-06:00

Ordered it with my dinner tonight. (Why, though, does it never taste as good when I brew it for myself at home? Is restaurant green tea a special blend somehow?)

12/4: mini-project

2011-12-03T21:23:00.002-06:00

I haven't had much time to be arts-and-crafty lately, but today I put together a little something for a co-worker. It turned out well (I think), and it felt good to be making something with my hands.

12/3: preparing for spring

2011-12-02T20:28:00.003-06:00

Chris dug the holes; I dropped in the bulbs.

12/2: double success

2011-12-01T19:00:00.004-06:00

I managed to grade a whole set of Latin tests over lunch today so I didn't need to bring them home to grade this weekend--and the students did well on them. It's not that I expected them to do poorly; it's just that at this time of year they have so many other tests, papers, presentations, etc. that you're never sure if they'll have a chance to keep study well. I'm glad they've managed to keep the Latin ball in the air so far during their end-of-semester juggling.

12/1: three boys

2011-12-01T06:35:00.001-06:00

All three boys--one human, two feline--were sleeping and cozy today when I left for work.

11/30: three latin classes, three good things

2011-11-29T19:26:00.007-06:00

I'm teaching three levels of Latin this semester, and today I have a good thing related to each of them.

It's always a (fun) challenge to find Latin passages that the beginning students can read without too much grammar help from me--I know I can write Latin for them myself, but it's nice to give them something REAL to read. Today I found a Latin version of the country mouse & city mouse story from the 17th century that's manageable. (There's a Latin version of the same story from the 1st c. BCE, but it's too tricky for beginners.) In any case, I hope the class will enjoy the tale--preparing a hand-out for it today made me smile.

In my intermediate Latin class we've finished our main text for the semester and are spending the last few class sessions reading some short poems by Martial about the Colosseum. It's great to spend time with the poems as I prepare to teach them--they pack a lot into a small space--and today I felt like the students started to see how the poems are doing interesting things. It's only our third day with poetry (we had been reading prose before), and so they had been a little vexed at the new complications that come with translating poetry; today maybe they saw why the vexation is worthwhile.

Right before the Thanksgiving break my upper-level Latin students and I had a book-binding workshop, since part of what we're doing this semester is studying the history of the book as a physical form. This evening I read their reflections on the book-binding workshop, and they did some careful thinking about the books they made, about the process we used, and about what books as physical objects are.

11/29: discoveries

2011-11-28T18:16:00.007-06:00

I've written before about my morning apple-cutting ritual to reveal the star at the core. Almost every day I think, "I should take a picture of this sometime." Today I did. The light was poor, but here's today's particular apple-star:

And almost every day as I cut my apple I think of two lines which I came across when I was in high-school: "There's part of the sun in an apple / There's part of the moon in a rose." Over the years I've googled the lines but couldn't find their source. Today I realized that I should try searching specifically in GoogleBooks--and I discovered the author: Augustus Wright Bomberger. The poem in which these lines appear was published in a 1913 edition of The Outlook.

So today's good things are celebrating my daily morning-star discovery by finally taking a picture and--also "finally"--finding a name to attach to those lines!

11/28: morning migration

2011-11-27T19:46:00.002-06:00

On my way to work this morning I saw these geese. I didn't have time to pull over and take a picture, but I snapped this through the windshield while waiting at a stop sign:

11/27: enough

2011-11-26T19:06:00.003-06:00

I had a long list of work-related things I hoped to do over the break. I got a good number of them done, but I realized on Thursday that I needed to give myself some down-time, too, in order to be prepared for the last bit of the semester. I'm glad I made that choice, and I'm glad I still got enough done to feel okay heading into tomorrow.

11/26: magic in the corner

2011-11-25T18:51:00.002-06:00

Heading out on a rainy day, I saw these water-drops caught in a spider web in the corner of our car-port.

11/25: afternoon out

2011-11-24T16:11:00.004-06:00

On the trails at Cadron Settlement Park.

The creek at the start of our walk:

Sugarberry bark:

The path at one point:

The quiet curls of dried leaves:

And a few berries:

11/24: tradition with a twist

2011-11-23T19:32:00.003-06:00

When I was growing up, our family would assemble "Thanksgiving bouquets" each November: we would collect dried plants and branches, and my parents would arrange them in vases to decorate the house. I have lots of memories of our driving around Cambria County, PA, with clippers in the car, ready to snip interesting grasses or frizzled flowers and take them home. Chris and I don't make Thanksgiving bouquets, but I think my experiences have led me to enjoy photographing dried plants at this time of year. Here's a picture from today's walk.

11/23: having a crush

2011-11-22T18:24:00.005-06:00

...on a UK publishing house: Persephone Books. They specialize in republishing 20th century books that have fallen off the radar, most of them by women. It's their edition of The Making of a Marchioness that I enjoyed so much nearly a year ago (and recently re-read). I signed up for their lovely Persephone Biannually newsletter; I received it today, and just paging through it and the catalog they sent makes me excited to dig in. I discovered that their store is just a short walk away from the place where I've been staying when I go to London; next time I'm there, I'll be sure to stop by. They run a lot of events at the shop and in general seem to want to create a community around their publications. They even have an internet forum/book club for people to read and post about one of their books each month. I know it's smart marketing, but I also feel like they really care about these books and want to make connections with other people who might enjoy them. Yep, I'm smitten.

11/22: revisiting seneca

2011-11-21T19:14:00.001-06:00

My students in the beginning Latin class take a pronunciation quiz at the end of the semester, and today we started practicing the passage they'll be tested on. It's an excerpt from a philosophical letter by Seneca, and I just love it. I felt lucky to get to say the Latin words out loud.

11/21: not going out

2011-11-20T20:37:00.002-06:00

Once the end of the semester draws near it gets especially tempting to eat out. We're tired and busy, and sometimes it's just okay to not cook for ourselves. But today we resisted the urge and had a great dinner at home: salad, ravioli with pesto, and fudge for dessert.

11/20: not really a weekend day

2011-11-19T18:41:00.004-06:00

I worked on campus today for basically a full weekday's worth of hours: not normally the best news for a Sunday, but today it was a good thing. It helped me catch up, and my tomorrow will be much happier as a result.

11/19: part picnic

2011-11-19T10:20:00.003-06:00

We got lunch to-go at Sonic; I got a grilled cheese with pickles (which I find very comforting). We drove to a pier on the lake and ate while looking over the water. A big blue heron flew by.

11/18: being remembered

2011-11-17T20:01:00.002-06:00

By a childhood friend. We're not in frequent contact, but she does send me a birthday card every year. This year's card was waiting for me in the mail when I got home after work. Just seeing her handwriting made me smile.

11/17: mistakes and corrections

2011-11-16T22:48:00.009-06:00

Mistakes and corrections are regular parts of any teacher's life and any student's life, but today I got to spend time with very special mistakes and corrections: mistakes made around 1200 on a leaf of the Latin Bible by the scribe who was creating the manuscript, and then corrections of (some of) those mistakes, sometimes by the scribe himself and sometimes by a later reader. It was so (so!) fun to analyze where and why both the mistakes and corrections were made--not because it gave me a feeling of superiority, but because it provided a glimpse into the real human workings of two people long, long ago. When have mistakes given so much pleasure? Thank you, medieval Italian scribe; thank you, later reader/emender of an unknown time and place. You two made my day. If your manuscript had been perfect, it would have been much less sweet.

Here's an instance where the scribe seems to have corrected himself:

If you look at the line that starts near the top of the big red E, you'll see [E]Rat aut[em] danihel. The aut[em] danihel has dots underneath it, because it's a mistake. The scribe accidentally started to repeat something he had already written--just two lines above it you'll see Erat aut[em] danihel. The dots--or puncta--tell a reader to disregard it; it's been puncta-ed out, which is the origin of "expunged."

And here's the later reader at work:

In the middle line shown you can see two things squeezed in, written in a different color ink. The first one is an e with a bar over it (meaning est or "is"), and the second one, which looks kind of like a z (or a 7 or a 2), is a sign for et ("and"). The reader decided to break one clause into two by adding a verb and then a conjunction.

11/16: panis angelicus

2011-11-15T19:43:00.001-06:00

In my beginning Latin class we translated Aquinas' Panis Angelicus and then listened to Sting and Pavarotti sing César Franck's musical rendition of it. I liked it a lot, and I think they did too. (You can see/hear it here.)

11/15: cookies for breakfast

2011-11-14T19:42:00.002-06:00

Leftovers from our bakery-run yesterday.

11/14: second wind

2011-11-13T21:41:00.002-06:00

My get-up-at-5-a.m. catch-up plan mostly worked, but by 2:30 this afternoon I wasn't thinking very clearly. Chris and I quickly nipped off campus to go to the bakery and get some cookies for a reading group meeting we were having with students before dinner. I also got myself a cinnamon roll. The combination of the cinnamon roll and good conversation about the book we read did the trick for me: energy, smiles, and coherent sentences returned.

11/13: taking time anyway

2011-11-12T19:44:00.002-06:00

Even though--from a work perspective--we didn't have the time for it, Chris and I took a walk in the late afternoon, and it was the right thing to do. I'll have to get up super-early tomorrow to compensate, but I don't think I'll regret having spent that time in the autumn air, strolling while listening to Chris talk about Mark Twain.

11/12: wilkie's weight

2011-11-11T22:19:00.002-06:00

Our cat Wilkie has been having some health issues for almost a year now, and as part of monitoring his situation we weigh him regularly. Today his weight was the highest it's been in a long time.

11/11: on the radio

2011-11-10T20:22:00.002-06:00

The Bee Gees, just as I was reaching home. So I smiled a double smile: one for seeing the lights on in the house and knowing that Chris & the cats were there, and another for hearing the sweet Brothers Gibb.

11/10: not good--but good!

2011-11-09T21:18:00.002-06:00

My alarm clock stopped in the middle of the night, and I didn't wake up until the sunlight coming into the bedroom woke me up. So I started the day an hour behind, but I got an extra hour of sleep. Happily, despite my late start, I got everything done in time and am even ready to turn to "bedtime reading" a half-hour earlier than usual.

11/9: in the text

2011-11-08T20:07:00.001-06:00

I had a good time today getting swallowed up by the Latin text I'm teaching tomorrow, an apocryphal add-on to the Book of Daniel.

11/8: not just me

2011-11-07T21:12:00.002-06:00

(Today's good thing is a little odd in that it's a good thing that came out of a not-so-good thing.) My joints have hurt (a lot) all day, and this morning I couldn't understand why I hurt so much. Then a few other people mentioned that they felt the same way and that they thought it was because a storm front was moving in. It didn't make the pain go away, but it did help to know that I wasn't alone.

11/7: bookends to the school day

2011-11-06T17:34:00.003-06:00

Yellow ginkgo leaves which seemed all the yellow-er against a grey morning sky.

And a student working at the pizza place on campus who gave us a free taste of a peach & gorgonzola flatbread special.

11/6: a collection of good things

2011-11-04T07:37:00.001-05:00

Starting the morning in the comfy robe provided by the hotel I stayed in.

Getting so caught up in the novel I was reading (Swamplandia!) that my time in the airport and on the plane seemed short.

Seeing the autumn leaves on the drive home from the airport.

Smelling the air on the ridge when I got out of the car and thinking, "Yes, this is home."

11/5: change of venue

2011-11-03T21:40:00.000-05:00

I'll be in Atlanta on Saturday, giving a paper at a conference. It's a quick jaunt--I'm looking forward both to being out of town and to returning so soon.

11/4: time for an addition

2011-11-03T19:34:00.004-05:00

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I realized that it would have been nice to add a particular illustration to the hand-out for my paper tomorrow. This morning I got my luggage packed with enough time left over to scan the picture and make a revised hand-out. Now no chance for regrets of the "If only I had...." variety.

11/3: three things

2011-11-02T18:22:00.006-05:00

1. I took my car in for an oil change and check-up today, and it turned out that some not-minor work needed to be done. I am grateful that we had the money to pay for it without having to worry or feel squeezed. When I was a child and money was tight in our family, things like car repairs were sources of anxiety, and I am glad that (luckily, for now at least!) that isn't the case.

2. I got enough advance-work done at school in the last two days, so I don't have to bring any grading or prep on my conference trip this weekend.

3. When I booked my flight to the conference, I got myself on a plane that leaves early tomorrow afternoon--which means that I have time to pack tomorrow morning and don't have to think about it tonight.

(And whenever I post three things I think of Meri and her blog; it's good to prompt myself to recognize more than one good thing in a day.)

11/2: powerfully fragrant

2011-11-01T20:36:00.002-05:00

We have a new lemon tree, and it'll be spending the cold part of each year indoors. Today a couple of its buds opened and the scent is unbelievably strong (in a good way). I'm amazed that so few blossoms can make their presence so known.

11/1: flu shots, candy bars, and free books

2011-11-01T09:10:00.002-05:00

Flu shots were free at work today. I know it won't completely keep me from getting ill this winter, but at least I'll feel like I took preventive action.

My parents used to take us for flu shots every November, and by the time I was in high school I had developed the habit of bringing a bit of chocolate along to eat right after I got the shot. Today I slipped two little candy bars into my coat pocket, one for me and one for Chris, and we ate them on a bench next to some rose bushes after we had made our way through the shot line.

And another freebie of the day: two copies of A Little Latin Reader. I had ordered one as a desk copy, and the publisher sent me a second copy as a substitute for a different book. So I gave one to Chris, and he translated the first sentence in it (a piece of Pompeian graffiti) on the spot.

10/31: good timing, good time management, and a sweet spur to memory

2011-10-30T16:07:00.005-05:00

I just finished my evening's work, and I've just started getting sleepy. In addition to doing my schoolwork this evening, Chris and I made a trip to the grocery store and I cooked up a chili for tomorrow.

It's Halloween, but we don't get any trick-or-treaters at our house (too far off the beaten path). However, our building's housekeeper at work showed me a picture of her grandson dressed up in his Halloween costume as a bat, and that made me smile not just because he looked very cute (and he really did!), but also because when I was about his age I went as a bat for Halloween myself.

10/30: in the sun

2011-10-29T19:54:00.004-05:00

A bright walk in the farmer's field below our house. Chris' idea, a good one.

10/29: a view and a treat

2011-10-28T20:28:00.002-05:00

After dinner this evening we drove out to Petit Jean Mountain to watch the sunset. Then we went to Waffle House, where Chris had pecan pie and I had an eponymous waffle.

10/28: box of bounty

2011-10-27T20:51:00.002-05:00

Chris, a colleague, and I recently received a grant to develop some courses, and now we're allowed to start spending the money. I ordered a big box of books, and they arrived today. On the one hand, I'm excited to dive in. On the other hand, I also like the feeling of knowing they're all waiting for me, surprises packed between the covers.

10/27: gift of christmas past

2011-10-26T21:11:00.002-05:00

As one of my presents for the holidays in 1989 my parents gave me a facsimile edition of the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry. It's travelled with me all over: from Pennsylvania to upstate New York, then to California and back to upstate New York before coming to Arkansas. It's a lovely book and a steady, friendly presence on our bookshelves. I have some good memories of paging through it with a friend at college and also with Chris over the years. Today it came in handy for class. Thanks, parents.

10/26: colors

2011-10-25T21:15:00.003-05:00

I thought that we might not see much autumn display this year because it had been so dry at the end of the summer: sometimes when that happens, all the leaves turn brown rather than red, orange, and gold. But as I drove to school today, and as Chris and I walked this evening, I was grateful to realize that we really are having a pretty fall season. Everything seemed glowy.

10/25: email

2011-10-24T21:30:00.002-05:00

I try not to email students when I'm at home (so that neither they nor I will treat 24-hour access to one another as the norm), but tonight I was grateful that I could send them a quick note. I gave a too-long homework assignment, and it was nice to be able to email them to tell them not to do one part of it. Thanks, technology.

10/24: a voice

2011-10-23T21:22:00.002-05:00

I don't often check my phone for messages, and today I realized that a friend had called me yesterday and left voice-mail. I'm sorry I missed her call, but she left a long message which gave me time to really appreciate hearing her voice.

10/23: a modest goal achieved

2011-10-23T09:29:00.002-05:00

Making a vegetarian Caesar salad dressing.

10/22: off-plan

2011-10-21T19:07:00.001-05:00

I had thought I would hole up this weekend and work-work-work on school stuff.

But in the afternoon Chris and I decided to do some bee-keeping, and in the evening we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to the last night of races at the I-30 Speedway below Little Rock.

It was good to let myself depart from the plan.

10/21: delayed departure

2011-10-20T20:57:00.002-05:00

I was feeling a bit unwell this morning so decided to work at home (where I could be warm and cozy longer) before heading to campus. Curled up in my home office, I got through my work more efficiently than I thought I would, and it was so pleasant to be home for just an hour longer.