11/30: a pheromone

...that seems to help our anxious kitty Tilde calm down.

11/29: putting together

...two change-of-pace activities for classes tomorrow (one for Latin, one for Greek).  We're in the home stretch of the semester, and I think we'll all be glad to spend a little time tomorrow doing something different.

11/28: an unexpected hour

...without work to do this evening.  It wasn't enough time to go to the walking track, so I read some articles and looked at pictures in the new Frieze.

11/27: a Tuesday without

...a Latin quiz.  (Though weekly quizzes are good, I think the students and I are glad for a break.)

11/26: getting to read

...Beatrix Potter's "Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse" with my Greek class as part of our unit on Aesop.

11/25: getting over

...a disappointing book by finishing it in the morning and starting a new one in the afternoon.

11/24: kayaking

...in the afternoon.  I'm glad this little holiday break didn't go by without my getting on the water.

11/23: enjoying

...the cold air during a morning walk.

11/22: outside

Sunshine, stones, colored leaves, and an aching body that moved among them.

11/21: many good things

An early doctor's appointment at which nothing bad happened.

Coffee and pastry with Chris before going through an exhibit at the Arts Center.

Simon and Pippin choosing to curl up with me.

A walk in the afternoon sunshine, and a second walk (down to the lake) closer to sunset.

Time trying out pamphlet ideas.

Unrushed time with Chris.

11/20: watching

...the beginning Latin students fill out Scrabble-like grids using their vocabulary and forms.  It was the most intent on quiet work (that's not a quiz) they've been all semester.

11/19: breakfast

An annual gift-to-self: a pastry nut-roll shipped to me from the part of Pennsylvania where I grew up.  (I can't find any bakery in Arkansas that makes them.)  The shipping costs almost as much as the nut-roll, but it's worth it.  I'm already looking forward to having more tomorrow morning.

11/18: thinking

...about a new pamphlet, prompted by a review in Artforum that quoted Dorothea Rockburne:  "Dancing taught me the way the body folds...and how folding produces emotion."

11/17: curling up

...with a novel.  Vexed at feeling under the weather, but glad to have a word-world to visit.

11/16: light

It was grey, cold, and wet earlier in the week, so I especially appreciated the sunlight today.  Here it is on the morning lake:

11/15: seeing through

...other people's eyes as I read my Greek students' assignments on the graphic novel Book of Revelation this evening.  (Though I am enjoying Aesop, I am sorry to be letting Apocalypse go, and this was a final hurrah with it!)

11/14: student exclamations

...about the snow as we watched it coming down outside during our Latin class.

11/13: arrival

...of some art supplies, little gifts to myself for my birthday.

11/12: cancellation

This morning I found out that my early-morning-in-Little-Rock-doctor's-appointment tomorrow is cancelled.  I'm glad--I had one of those today and one in a week is enough!

11/11: afternoon in the office

I've been trying not to go into my school office on the weekends, but today I thought I'd be more focused and efficient if I did.  I enjoyed doing the dictionary work for my Aesop prep, and I got comments written and sent on some students' drafts.

It was also good that I decided to go because I noticed that my car needed gas:  much better to have gotten it today than tomorrow morning, since I have to leave the house around 6:15 a.m. and am glad I don't have to push it up even earlier to accommodate a gas stop.

I gave myself the little treat of stopping at the dock on my drive home to take some pictures.  Here's one:

11/10: on an afternoon walk

...with Chris in the woods and along the field's edge.

 



11/9: receiving

...a postcard from a stranger wishing me "a fabulous life."  A wish I was especially grateful for after a hectic day; it helped me reorient.

11/8: Sappho

I'm preparing materials for a dinner/reading tomorrow focused on Sappho's poetry.  I appreciate having an excuse to spend time with her words.

11/7: enforcing a time-out

Work was crazy and I was feeling crazed by the time I got home.  Chris suggested we go to the Indian restaurant for dinner, and though I had plenty of work still to do in the evening it was so good to take the time to pause and talk and regroup.

11/6: Aesop

Next week we'll starting translating Aesop's fables in my Greek class, and I enjoyed preparing some materials today, formatting passages and making vocabulary lists for the students.

11/5: hearing

...the Greek students' second round of thoughts about the narrative techniques of the Book of Revelation.

11/4: little donuts

...that Chris bought.

11/3: new to us places

...in Heber Springs:  Bridal Veil Falls and the Collins Creek trail.

11/2: getting ready

...for another round of Greek manuscript reading with my class on Monday.  I loved spending some of my lunchtime working through it.

11/1: this afternoon

A successful trial run of making vegetarian "caviar" with black lentils.

And some lovely autumn colors in the yard: