7/29: SSL & https done
Blogger takes care of security certificates and automatically directing people to the https version of this blog (thankfully!), but that's not the case on some other sites I manage (alas). Getting SSL certificates for them turned out to be easy, but switching everything on them over to https was less easy. I knew it wouldn't be a matter of just clicking a few buttons, so (embarrassingly and shamefully) I've been putting it off for a year, but it (really really) needed to be done. So Chris agreed to help me, and we did it together this evening. The updated sites seem to be working fine now (fingers crossed and whew).
7/28: Trollope commentary
A friend and I are done with our commentary on the uses of Classics in An Old Man's Love by Anthony Trollope. We had read and discussed the novel last summer and started writing commentary over the winter holiday break--and now it's finally all written, edited, and published.
7/27: twice
After an off-kilter morning and some lingering jaggedy-ness in the afternoon I went out in the evening to kayak under the full moon. It was good and cleared my mind. And then when I pulled into the dock Chris and one of our neighbors were there--so we three went back out on the water in our neighbor's pontoon boat to enjoy the moon some more.
From my kayak:
From the boat:
From my kayak:
From the boat:
7/26: sipping
...a drink on the porch amidst occasional hints of a night breeze: tequila, lime juice, basil/mint syrup (which I made), and seltzer water. When we first moved to Conway, a senior colleague in my department used to invite us over for dinner frequently--and he made great cocktails. (In fact, he's the only person I know of whom I could say "he made great cocktails!") For a bunch of reasons those dinners stopped happening, but my drink tonight makes me remember them fondly.
7/24: knowing what to do (and then doing it)
I got a weird email today--not bad, but odd, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I knew that if I went kayaking it would be on my mind the whole time, so I decided to go to the walking track instead, with the idea that listening to my audiobook would distract me and help me let it go. And it worked.
7/23: a beautiful view of Siberia
...received on a postcard in the mail today. Mountains and a field of flowers from Dasha.
7/22: a handful of good things
Yoga in the morning--almost every day this week.
A conversation with a friend about a collaborative project.
Using the public library and hearing part of a one-woman accordion concert while there.
Meeting up with a former student, her spouse, her son, and her stepson.
Getting out on the lake at sunset time. Most Sunday evenings I have to do Heron Tree posting, but we're on a publishing hiatus so I was able to be on the water. And I saw a heron in a tree.
A conversation with a friend about a collaborative project.
Using the public library and hearing part of a one-woman accordion concert while there.
Meeting up with a former student, her spouse, her son, and her stepson.
Getting out on the lake at sunset time. Most Sunday evenings I have to do Heron Tree posting, but we're on a publishing hiatus so I was able to be on the water. And I saw a heron in a tree.
7/20: spending a little time
...with the Imagining Language anthology: reading bits of Christopher Smart and Gerard Manley Hopkins and seeing an ideogram project done by Michael Winkler.
7/19: pausing
...while making dinner to admire an onion slice. (The photograph doesn't do it justice.)
7/18: out
...on the glowing water. I thought it would be too rainy to kayak, but by sunset the stormy weather had moved on.
7/17: putting up
...a little shelf with Chris. It's in the laundry room and it's the new home for the Schleich animal figurines. I'm glad we'll be able to see them there each morning when we iron.
7/16: revising
...my thoughts about Zachary Mason's Metamorphica a little bit. I read The Lost Books of the Odyssey with a student this past semester and really enjoyed the experience, so I was cautiously looking forward to the publication of Metamorphica this summer. "Cautiously" because I worried that the book would be more of a perfunctory reprise (applying the same touch to Ovid) rather than something fresh. And mostly I am disappointed (as a reader) and frustrated (as a researcher of classical reception). But I found a few of the longer stories in the last half of the book more interesting. I'm glad for them and for the chance to change my mind (but still wishing that ZM had held off on publishing the book until all the stories were equally strong).
7/15: finishing, then...
This afternoon I put together the collection of the poems in Heron Tree's Visual Poetry in Black & White series (you can see it by clicking here). I enjoyed working on this series a lot.
Because I did my Heron Tree work in the afternoon I was able to head out to Woolly Hollow after dinner. It had been too long since I'd been there.
Light on the creek:
Pines at the start of the trail:
Because I did my Heron Tree work in the afternoon I was able to head out to Woolly Hollow after dinner. It had been too long since I'd been there.
Light on the creek:
Pines at the start of the trail:
7/13: Tilde
...sleeping on my armchair. It used to be one of her places of choice, but she's circumscribed her movement around the house a lot because she likes to insulate herself against Simon. Her branching back into this old area of hers is a hopeful sign.
7/12: emailing
...two friends who had emailed me this week. As email has gotten to be more and more a "work thing," I write personal, friendly emails less and less. That overall trend isn't going to change, but I'm glad I got these two emails written and sent.
7/10: reading variously & receiving variously
For sheer pleasure, for research, and for my "book club" with Chris. It's a good day that not only includes reading but even has different kinds of reading in it.
I also got four emails--one from a friend, one from a colleague, one from a former student, and one from a former-student-now-friend--each wonderful to receive in its own way.
I also got four emails--one from a friend, one from a colleague, one from a former student, and one from a former-student-now-friend--each wonderful to receive in its own way.
7/9: righting myself
...after a nightmare. I had a hard time going back to sleep and then was off-kilter all morning and into the afternoon. But I concentrated on some tasks and things got better in time for me to truly enjoy kayaking after dinner without even a remnant of the bad dream and its wake.
And as an extra sweet thing: one of our neighbors' boys was out on the lake in a speedboat with a friend, and when he turned the wheel over to his friend he said something like, "Watch out for that kayak up there," meaning me. The boat was far enough away that I'm pretty sure he didn't think I could hear him. And though I don't mind boats coming close (I like the waves), I really appreciated his thoughtfulness.
And as an extra sweet thing: one of our neighbors' boys was out on the lake in a speedboat with a friend, and when he turned the wheel over to his friend he said something like, "Watch out for that kayak up there," meaning me. The boat was far enough away that I'm pretty sure he didn't think I could hear him. And though I don't mind boats coming close (I like the waves), I really appreciated his thoughtfulness.
7/8: finishing
...the publication of the individual poems in the Visual Poetry in Black & White series at Heron Tree. I enjoyed working on this project, and I like how each of the poems in the series inhabits the page differently, shows something else about how the look of a poem can communicate.
7/7: wind on the water
...while kayaking. It made it a fun challenge going out, and I appreciated the extra push helping me back.
7/6: thinking about manuscripts
Today I wrote up some advice about reading Latin & Greek manuscripts for some of my students--it's been something I've been meaning to do, and I'm glad it's now done.
I also found an online digitization of a manuscript (in Greek) of Aesop's fables now at the New York Public Library. I may use it in my Greek class this fall.
I also found an online digitization of a manuscript (in Greek) of Aesop's fables now at the New York Public Library. I may use it in my Greek class this fall.
7/5: in a day
While I was kayaking last night I had part of an idea for a new pamphlet. This morning I got working on it, and this afternoon I finalized the formatting and content. I'm grateful to the now-defunct "24 hour zine thing" for giving me a push and confidence back in 2009. I'd made a few booklets before that, but I think the "zine thing" made me feel like there are other people out there doing their own similar things and even if we didn't know one another we were still somehow a community.
7/4: getting out
...onto the water. I haven't been kayaking much in the past ten days because of heat advisories and storm warnings, but I managed to head out this evening. And I'm glad I did; I was getting a little stir-crazy at home, and the walking track was closed for the 4th of July holiday. This green of the reflected trees near the shore-line makes it look cooler than it was, but it was still a really pleasant way to spend the last hour and a half of light in the day.
7/2: making a list
...the night before of things I wanted to get done in the day, and then getting most of them done before lunch.
7/1: appreciating Phineas
It's coming up on a year since we brought Phineas home. He's definitely cat-sized rather than kitten-sized now, but there's still a kittenish spirit about him. And I love that he loves to cuddle as we're watching TV.
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