5/31: finishing

When you complete a month of 100-word daily entries at 100words.com, you get called a "finisher," which I think is sweet.  Today I finished my May entries, each one focusing on a different piece of art.  Though I won't continue for June, I really enjoyed the prompt/excuse/chance to spend a little time looking at art each day.

5/30: revisiting

...some paintings Chris and I had seen in an exhibit a few years ago; we bought the exhibition catalog, and I pulled it out this afternoon to write about three of the paintings for entries at 100words. 

...the creek and cascade at Woolly Hollow.  It was just too magnificent yesterday not to go again today.  One of today's photos:

5/29: little holiday

Today was Chris' birthday, which is a good thing, and so I decided not to treat it like a work-day.  We bought cake and ice cream and went for a drive.  We stopped by Woolly Hollow, and all the rain we've been getting this month had the creek running, running, running.

5/28: three days in a row

Three evenings on the lake.  How lucky I am--to have time between semesters, to have a little boat, to have the ability to paddle myself around, to have the chance to see things like this, tonight's sunset on the water:

5/27: trio

I made cornbread with chocolate chips this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to having it for breakfast tomorrow.

It's great to be able to spend calmer time with Chris and the cats now that the chaos of the semester's end is over.

Today's expected rain didn't materialize so I was able to go kayaking this evening.  The air as it cooled felt like these colors.

5/26: out of it but okay

I mustn't have slept well last night because I've felt "off" all day, but I managed to get some sweet things done, and for that I'm grateful.

I finished Marion Fay last night and started to process my thoughts about it in my morning writing.

I readied packages for my mother and a friend and took them to the post office.

Chris and I met a friend for lunch.

I wrote a program assessment report that's due this week.

I contacted the Little Rock high school Latin teachers to see if they want to get together this summer and talk shop.  They've all already responded in the affirmative (yay)!

I spent some time with Agnes Martin's Islands for today's 100words entry.

I put away all my laundry (several weeks' worth).

I went kayaking.  It didn't seem like it would be a colorful sunset, but at the end it did this:

5/25: cooperative cleaning

We cleaned the common areas of the house today--much needed at the end of the school year.  Though it's not a glamorous "together" activity, it did feel good to be working alongside one another to make things tidier again.

5/24: a little list

Lots of time on the porch (nice for me, nice for the cats), writing postcards, finding it quicker and easier than I had anticipated to write some emails, reading Trollope, getting ice cream with Chris, watching a bluebird that didn't seem too concerned about our closeness.

5/23: sinking in

I just started reading a new-to-me novel by Trollope, Marion Fay, and I just want to keep reading it.  I'm really enjoying it and am also enjoying the fact that I'm enjoying it.

5/22: this morning's pages

In the summer I often try to write four not-formal pages a day, usually about whatever I'm reading.  I've done my pages a few times this week, yet it was hard since my summer reading/thinking hasn't really begun.  Though there are times when it's good to have to work to find things to think about and articulate, I was beginning to be impatient to have an overflow.  Today I did.  Seeing Antony and Cleopatra last night, discussing it with Chris, and then reading Garber's chapter on it in Shakespeare After All over breakfast primed my mental pump so this morning on paper I could go go go.

5/21: private showing

This evening Chris and I went to our local movie theatre to watch the broadcast of the Stratford Festival's production of Antony and Cleopatra.  We were the only ones there--luxurious.

5/20: making

...the honeysuckle jelly.

5/19: picking

...honeysuckle for honeysuckle jelly.

5/18: revisiting, eight years later

Chris and I were on a country road this afternoon, and we remembered that one May we had discovered a bank of sensitive brier along the roadside.  We drove slowly, and there it was, several generations later and in bloom.

5/17: sleep

For the past few months I've had trouble sleeping, often getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night.  On Friday/Saturday night I got less than 2.  But on Saturday/Sunday night I got 12--hurray!

5/16: sending them out

I've taken many hundreds of water photos over the years, and during that time I've had a good number of them printed as postcards.  So I have hundreds of postcards, sitting in a box.  Now I'm sending them out to folks on sendsomething.net.  It will take more than a month to send all the cards, even if I manage to write 10 a day, but it will feel so, so good to get them all into the world.

5/15: winnowing

...the inbox of my work email.  This might sound like no big deal, but I had let the inbox get unruly and unorganized, so major sorting and sifting was in order.

5/14: very quick outing

...in my kayak to watch the sunset.  Not a bad way to celebrate the end of the semester.

5/13: done (almost)

I finished all my grading earlier this evening than I had anticipated.  I'll upload final grades tomorrow morning (giving myself a night to sleep on them), and then I can begin tying up various loose ends of the semester.

5/12: treats eaten

The final exams in the beginning Latin and Greek courses are long, so I bring food:  I don't want people's minds to stop processing because their stomachs are calling for attention.  The Latin students today did a nice job of eating what I brought for them.  It made me feel good that they weren't inhibited about getting some treats when they needed/wanted them.

5/11: wading

It rained a lot (and I mean a lot!) yesterday and all through the night, and today the dock we share with our neighbors was a few inches under water.  But on my way home after work I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants, and walked out on the dock to watch the sunset with my feet in the springy lake water.  It felt good.

5/10: new to me

...Shiner's prickly pear summer beer.  We saw it in the store yesterday and decided to give it a try.  Chris isn't necessarily a fan, but I like it.

5/9: inspiration into action

A friend on Facebook posted yesterday about making orange cardamom shortbread; I decided then and there that I needed to make some myself.  This morning I did.

5/8: surprise

A miniature rose plant that we keep indoors opened a new bloom today.  Its previous flowers have all been pink; this one is peach.

5/7: while the students wrote their exams

...I finished reading a novel that I'll be teaching next fall.  It felt good to have ideas related to a new semester as I'm closing out this one.

5/6: cafeteria & catalpa

We ate dinner in the cafeteria; the free meals come in handy at this time of year, when things feel too harried to cook at home.  After we finished, we took a few minutes to walk off campus to a catalpa tree in bloom which Chris had discovered recently--amazing to see its flowers and to stand close to its trunk, hidden in its branches and green shade.

5/5: not 5 a.m.

The school year isn't over yet, but classes are done, so I didn't need to set the alarm for 5 a.m. to get up to prep.

5/4: students reading Greek

Wrapping up the Greek class today with the students translating the opening of Genesis and the beginning of the Gospel of John.  Nine months ago they didn't know the Greek alphabet; now they're using their Greek to read world-historical writing.

5/3: relief

At odds with myself and with the world.  What a relief to come upon some running water in the woods today.  I'm not sure why it felt that way exactly, but it definitely did.

5/2: floral company

Wild roses are blooming a few yards from the porch.  Since I've been reading and writing on the porch almost all day I've gotten to enjoy their sight and smell.

5/1: return and discovery

I felt like I needed to do something this morning in the office before I settled into work, and I decided to write a post at 100words.  I did a few months of postings many years ago, and since it's the first of the month I thought that maybe I should try to be a "finisher" for May (that's what the site calls it when you manage to post 100 words each day for a month).  Back when I used to post on the site I fell into a habit of writing about paintings, so that's what I did today.  I opened up a book I had on my office shelf and found a painting by Dosso Dossi which shows Jupiter painting butterflies!  What a great find.