6/29: a note
It was a day of not-good-news about a dear family friend and neighbor. But a thank-you note from a postcrosser in Slovenia made me smile.
6/27: annual tradition
We made this year's Moon and June cake today. That is always a good thing, and it's fun to think back to the June evening in 1992 when we made the first one.
6/25: sounds of summer
Birds, frogs, and crickets echoing out onto the lake. And as I was paddling into the dock, our two young neighbors talking with each other, and then with me, as twilight came on.
6/24: quick
A bureaucratic task I had been putting off took less than half an hour once I finally set my mind to doing it.
6/22: metamorphosis
I've been working on the design for a little pamphlet of anagrams entitled metamorphosis, and today I was finally able to start production.
6/21: suggesting
...two possible collaborative creative projects to a friend, and her liking both of them.
6/20: a good solstice
Flying in the morning with Chris.
Reading "The Land of the Blue Flower" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Making a nice salad for dinner with lettuce, apple, walnuts, vegetarian "chicken," and crystallized ginger.
Kayaking at sunset.
Taking a quick shower after kayaking and then driving to the dock to watch the full moon rise.
Appreciating the excellences of the cats.
Reading "The Land of the Blue Flower" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Making a nice salad for dinner with lettuce, apple, walnuts, vegetarian "chicken," and crystallized ginger.
Kayaking at sunset.
Taking a quick shower after kayaking and then driving to the dock to watch the full moon rise.
Appreciating the excellences of the cats.
6/19: stretching
I'm still feeling the effects of our long drive to and from Columbus: my pinched nerve seems to be acting up. Not a good thing, but doing my trusty stretch DVD today seemed to help.
6/18: cleaning and wondering
...out a closet with Chris.
...if my mother in Pennsylvania was watching the fireflies at the same time that I was watching them in Arkansas. (It turns out that she was--she texted me to tell me, just as I was wondering.)
...if my mother in Pennsylvania was watching the fireflies at the same time that I was watching them in Arkansas. (It turns out that she was--she texted me to tell me, just as I was wondering.)
6/15: morning habits
While I was working on my conference paper earlier this month I didn't write in my morning notebook, and I didn't write in it while on my trip, either. So today it was a special pleasure to write (and even write my thoughts into some clarity!) on the porch this morning after drinking my coffee and reading the NYTBR. And then I showered in my own shower. I know that traveling can be a good thing, but it also feels good to be at home.
6/14: home
The sun tired us out yesterday as we were driving, so we stopped early for an extra night on the road. Which meant that it felt especially nice to finally return home today.
6/12: serpent mound
It's one of the largest effigy mounds in the world, and its curves are great (even if they did defy my attempts to photograph them). A Native American gathering was taking place next to the state park, and I loved hearing the drums and singing and watching some dancing.
6/11: done
...with my conference. This morning's keynote talk on picturebooks and comics was thought-provoking, and I enjoyed the mental exercise. In the afternoon my talk was grouped in a session with two others, and our three papers worked really well together--it might be the best grouping that I've ever been part of in a conference. And the location--in a hotel right off the Columbus Commons--was the best venue for a conference I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot).
6/10: another wonderful dinner
...this time at an Ethiopian restaurant in Columbus. We used to eat at Ethiopian places regularly during our last two years in Los Angeles, but since then we've lived in areas without easy access to that cuisine. Though I've tried to make it myself, it's just not the same, so it was great to have some familiar tastes in a new-to-us location.
6/9: food
...for thought: a conference talk on a 19th century picturebook mentioned some things that attach in interesting ways to my ideas about Hawthorne's Wonder Book.
...for my body: dinner at Wolf's Ridge Brewing. It was a really lovely meal.
...for my body: dinner at Wolf's Ridge Brewing. It was a really lovely meal.
6/7: driving
...rather than flying means that I don't have to worry about making my packing as compact as possible.
6/6: senses
The sight of a butterfly and a bumblebee as I walked down the hill to the mailbox.
The scent of rosemary in the air as Chris watered the plants outside.
The sound of crinkling brown paper that Tilde likes to play in.
The feel of needle, thread, and fabric as I hand-sew.
The taste of (very small) sundaes Chris and I have been making for dessert a lot recently.
The scent of rosemary in the air as Chris watered the plants outside.
The sound of crinkling brown paper that Tilde likes to play in.
The feel of needle, thread, and fabric as I hand-sew.
The taste of (very small) sundaes Chris and I have been making for dessert a lot recently.
6/5: talking about margaret cavendish
Margaret Cavendish was included in the course on utopian thinking that Chris and I taught together for the past two years, so when an historical novel about her was published this spring, we decided to read it and have our own two-person book-club. We both finished it today, and though we were pretty disappointed / frustrated with the book, it was good to talk together about it--and her.
6/4: summer work
Getting my conference paper ready counts as work, but I get to do it at home--on the porch, with Chris and the cats, while sipping lime water, coffee, or even gin and tonics, and sometimes pausing to take pictures in the yard.
(This last one is a redbud leaf seen from below; the raindrops are shining through from the top.)
6/3: trio
Morning: finishing A Lady and Her Husband by Amber Reeves.
Afternoon: running errands, including buying some of the new planet stamps from the post office, then returning home to make a simple-yet-nice dinner with Chris.
Evening: doing my writing for the day.
Afternoon: running errands, including buying some of the new planet stamps from the post office, then returning home to make a simple-yet-nice dinner with Chris.
Evening: doing my writing for the day.
6/2: fixed
One of the tires in my car has had a slow leak for months. I took it to our usual garage some time ago to get it looked it, and they said there wasn't a problem. Still: I kept having to add air to the tire every few weeks. Today we went to a new auto shop, and in addition to doing some other maintenance work they found and patched the leak--hurray!
6/1: alliteration
I started to write my conference paper today, and I had fun with alliteration. Perhaps too much fun and some of it will need to be edited out, but at least it got me going.
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