10/14: chopping

...vegetables for lentil soup.  It took time that in some ways I didn't have (or shouldn't have spent in such a way), but I needed to do something like that--not schoolwork, with my hands, and aimed at making dinners easier for a few days.

10/13: the gift of insomnia

...helped me to get my grading done by 8 am this morning.  I woke up around 1:45 and couldn't go back to sleep.  After trying for over an hour, I got up and got to work.  The unexpected early start meant that I had time to fit in a morning walk as well as work on my other tasks (grocering, prepping for tomorrow, doing laundry) without anxiety.  But now I am very tired so I am going to bed where (I hope) I won't have insomnia tonight.

10/12: taking quick breaks

...from grading a pile of writing assignments by folding origami bats for Halloween.  I'd set myself a goal, knowing that when I reached it I'd get to fold another bat.  And it worked nicely as a motivation and reward.

10/11: a trio

A colleague I rarely see came by with apple/honey themed treats.

Chris made an origami mouse for me and came by my office to give it to me midday.

I offered my Origami + Epic artist's book workshop again, and it went swimmingly.

10/10: some notable things

As part of my lunch break at work I learned how to fold a fairly (for me) elaborate origami tato or envelope.  (The video I used is here.)

In my upper-level Latin class, the students did some very good careful analysis of Liz Clarke's graphic novel of Perpetua's prison diary.

I watched the sky go magenta with the Northern Lights, and Chris watched for awhile with me too.  I texted my mother (in PA, where they were more visible) and a friend here (whose niece and nephew are visiting, so I thought they might like to see it).

Later, Chris let me know that owls were hooting.  He hooted at them, and they hooted back.

Plus I saw a bat.

10/9: talking about age

...in The Titan's Curse in class today.  I didn't plan for it to emerge as a theme as much as it did--and I'm glad it did.

10/8: joining

...Chris' tree walk with his students this morning.  I didn't mean to.  I was walking on campus to put up posters for an event, and I ran into Chris with his group, so I tagged along for a bit since we were going in the same direction.

10/7: enjoying

...reading my students' posts about Riordan's wordcraft in The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters.