5/31: a bat!
We walked to the dock after sunset this evening and sat there as it got dark. One bat zipped and circled, flickered and flapped and flew around as we talked and watched.
5/30: a quiet rainy day
A quiet day at home as it rained off-and-on outside. I spent time on the screened-in porch with the cats, made egg-lemon soup, read and took notes for a paper, watched funny TV with Chris, proofread for Project Gutenberg, and took an after-dinner walk with Chris without minding about getting a little wet.
5/28: starting to work
...on a conference paper for early June. Of course I've been thinking about it off and on since the fall, when I submitted the abstract. But it felt good this morning to be re-reading materials and taking notes.
5/24: empty is good
I have a basket where I keep postcards, notes, mail-art, etc. from sendsomething and IUOMA that I need to respond to. The basket is now empty; all arrears have been addressed. This hasn't happened in years.
5/22: writing
...postcards in response to things I've received from sendsomething.net. There are nice people out there in the world.
5/21: inside and outside
Inside in the afternoon: drinking tea and having a long conversation with my brother on the phone.
Outside in the evening: seeing the moon rise and the first (for me) fireflies of the year.
Outside in the evening: seeing the moon rise and the first (for me) fireflies of the year.
5/20: clarity
This morning I wrote myself into some clarity, working through my thoughts on Aracelis Girmay's Changing, Changing.
This afternoon I started to make the list of things I really want to accomplish this summer (and in the rest of 2016).
This afternoon I started to make the list of things I really want to accomplish this summer (and in the rest of 2016).
5/19: lotus blossom binding
Last year I came across a tutorial for a Japanese stab binding that looks like a lotus blossom (you can see it here). This morning I finally tried it.
5/18: thankful
...in the morning for the chance to sleep in and then read and write.
...in the afternoon for finishing the last of the bureaucratic work for the school year.
...in the evening for the sunset and moonrise on the lake, for bats over the dock and whipporwills at the top of the hill.
...in the afternoon for finishing the last of the bureaucratic work for the school year.
...in the evening for the sunset and moonrise on the lake, for bats over the dock and whipporwills at the top of the hill.
5/17: feeling topical
...because the novel I'm reading--The Vegetarian by Han Kang--just won the Man Booker International Prize for Fiction.
5/16: clear head in the morning
...clear enough that some creative thoughts could shine through, and because I didn't need to hasten to school to prep I didn't have to block them out.
5/15: -ings
Making biscuits for breakfast. Resting. Writing some postcards. Watching TV. Doing laundry. Playing Scrabble. Hearing Tilde purr as I crinkle long sheets of craft paper over her (which she loves). Kayaking. And now I'm off to do some reading (of The Vegetarian by Han Kang).
5/14: thinking
...concretely about how to make a booklet I've been mulling over (less concretely) for a few months. Now that school is out I have time to tinker.
5/13: others eating ice cream
It used to be the case that at the last full faculty meeting of the year the administration arranged for an ice cream sundae spread. That practice has gone by the wayside, so I thought it would be nice to shift the tradition by having ice cream at the last departmental meeting of the year (which was this afternoon). I picked up a variety of flavors and toppings in the morning (after a good deal of himming and hawing and finally going to a second store for a better selection), and it made me really happy to see people enjoying their scoops, going back for seconds and thirds.
5/12: taking to the air
I filed my grades in the morning and went flying with Chris in the afternoon.
5/10: after-work pleasures
Meeting a colleague for dinner.
Finding two picturebooks I had ordered waiting for me in the mail.
Finding two picturebooks I had ordered waiting for me in the mail.
5/9: at school
Some good moments at school today: the final session for my Vulgate class (at which the students shared some interesting ideas and projects); the last of the individual manuscript readings with students in the library; a card and box of candy left waiting for me outside my office door; less time and difficulty writing the Etymology test for tomorrow than I had anticipated.
5/8: thinking and writing
...about Pride and Prejudice. I've read the novel a good number of times over the years, but this is the first time I read it with the explicit intention of analyzing it and trying to see how it ticks. I finished it last night and enjoyed writing about it this morning, processing my ideas and realizing that I have yet more to process. I'm sure Austen scholars have already worked through the same issues and features I'm mulling over, but I like going through the paces.
5/6: morning, afternoon, evening
Grading at home in the morning, on the porch with the cats.
Hearing my students read medieval manuscript leaves in the afternoon, in the library and without needing to go into my school office at all (a bonus).
After dinner, walking in the creek and taking water photos of the little waterfalls at Woolly Hollow, which I haven't visited in almost a month.
Hearing my students read medieval manuscript leaves in the afternoon, in the library and without needing to go into my school office at all (a bonus).
After dinner, walking in the creek and taking water photos of the little waterfalls at Woolly Hollow, which I haven't visited in almost a month.
5/5: on the water
It was too windy to kayak this evening and I was probably too tired to paddle in any case, but a neighbor took us out on his boat and we enjoyed the air and water and light. It seemed a fitting way to celebrate the memory of Chris' mother on her birthday--she would have been very glad that we went for a jaunt.
5/3: latin leaf
I got to spend time transcribing a 13th century Vulgate Bible leaf today. It's from the book of Apocalypse/Revelation, and it has some differences from the traditionally edited text (which kept me on my toes).
Here's a digital image. (The handwriting is so small that about 10 lines fit in a vertical inch.)
Here's a digital image. (The handwriting is so small that about 10 lines fit in a vertical inch.)
5/2: reading & enjoying
...Chris' paper about Twain's views of argumentation in his book about Shakespeare.
5/1: morning, afternoon, evening
Morning and evening: on the porch at home. Beautiful weather.
Afternoon: at school copying, collating, and stitching pamphlets of my Etymology class' word studies. Putting the booklets together went a bit more smoothly than I had anticipated, and it feels good for the stack of them to be done.
Afternoon: at school copying, collating, and stitching pamphlets of my Etymology class' word studies. Putting the booklets together went a bit more smoothly than I had anticipated, and it feels good for the stack of them to be done.
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