12/30: taking
...a little get-away trip to Prestonrose Farm and Brewing Co. and then an overnight at the lodge on Mount Magazine. I had the indoor pool to myself; it had been a long time since I had been swimming and I'm really happy I thought to pack my swim stuff.
12/29: baking
...a loaf-cake with dark chocolate, cinnamon, cardamom, and beets, using some of the candy-cane beets my sister sent us for Christmas.
12/28: outside and inside
I enjoyed my afternoon walk on the ridge, but--more importantly--I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine who recently suffered repeated heart attacks went for his own walk this afternoon too. That is good news indeed!
And some positive movement on the Feline Front: all the boy cats were with us on the bed watching TV this evening, and Chris decided to get Tilde so that we'd all be together. She wasn't thrilled to see that Simon was curled up next to me (and it made her not want to crawl into my lap), but she stayed with us for almost an hour without losing her patience.
And some positive movement on the Feline Front: all the boy cats were with us on the bed watching TV this evening, and Chris decided to get Tilde so that we'd all be together. She wasn't thrilled to see that Simon was curled up next to me (and it made her not want to crawl into my lap), but she stayed with us for almost an hour without losing her patience.
12/26: twice
In the wake of November's romaine/e-coli scare, we had fallen out of the habit of making salads with our meals at home, but now we're back on track with the greens. I was happy to have salad with lunch and dinner today.
12/25: celebrating
...the holiday in our own way: reading, watching a movie, pamphlet-making, cooking, walking. And this year we're also celebrating the fact that Simon the Cat lives inside with us now. Last year we were feeding him outside, coaxing him to come up to us and get used to us (a long process), and worrying about how he was faring in the cold and wet weather.
12/24: a handful of goodness
Cleaning up a bit (more to do, but glad to get some done).
Thinking through a new pamphlet idea (which may come to fruition tomorrow).
Making chocolate pistachio truffles with Chris (the pistachios being his excellent idea).
Reading two very different books in conversation with Dracula (Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum and Chase Berggrun's RED).
Deciding to go down to the dock on the seemingly unlikely chance that the sunset would be colorful (and it was).
Thinking through a new pamphlet idea (which may come to fruition tomorrow).
Making chocolate pistachio truffles with Chris (the pistachios being his excellent idea).
Reading two very different books in conversation with Dracula (Terry Pratchett's Carpe Jugulum and Chase Berggrun's RED).
Deciding to go down to the dock on the seemingly unlikely chance that the sunset would be colorful (and it was).
12/23: trying
...a new recipe, for lentil-pomegranate-walnut stew. And it made a perfect dinner. (You can find it here.)
12/22: filing
...my report as an external reader of a dissertation. I'm glad I did it, but I'm also glad it's done.
12/21: simultaneously seeing
...a colorful sunset and a full moonrise while driving home with Chris (after some hours of art-seeing at Crystal Bridges, another good thing).
12/20: coming across
...this sentence written by Lyn Heijinian: "Form is not a fixture but an activity." Jessica Baran quoted it in a review of a Ruth Asawa retrospective.
12/19: getting out
...of a bad mood (caused by a silly work email) by walking at the track this afternoon. I was starting a new audiobook so my mind couldn't wander back to the annoyance too much without losing my bearings in the story.
12/17: almost empty
...my correspondence basket, that is. I got more than 50 pieces of mail ready to post tomorrow.
12/15: sipping summer
I drank the last of the honeysuckle simple syrup in some seltzer this evening.
12/13: working through
...some new committee business via email. It's an unfortunate time for new business to arise (since exam period ended yesterday and people are scattering), but everyone on the committee was clear and prompt with their emails and we got done what we needed to. I don't take it for granted anymore when things work smoothly!
12/12: experiencing anew
...how fun it is when students schedule their Latin pronunciation quizzes as the last thing they have to do before they're done with finals. By that point they're relieved that all the big tests are in the past and they're ready to chat, decompress, and launch themselves into their holiday when they're done.
12/11: receiving
...good news about my poetry collaboration: the first of the pieces from it was accepted for publication.
...a book for people who like diagramming sentences. That's me.
...a book for people who like diagramming sentences. That's me.
12/10: taking advantage
...of the good weather and an unexpectedly free-for-both-of-us stretch of the afternoon to go flying above the fields near our house.
12/9: back to Pratchett
I finished Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series in January (post here), and though Tiffany doesn't show up in any of the other Discworld novels (that I know of), some of the other characters in the series do. So today I started listening to Equal Rites, which includes a young Eskarina Smith and a younger (though not necessarily young) Granny Weatherwax. It's already proving to be a good decision to return to this world for a bit.
12/8: walking
...at the public track for the second day in a row. I decided to go this morning since the weather is supposed to turn nasty later. And I'm glad I did. My audiobook (Elizabeth Gilbert's Signature of All Things), kept me company, but even while listening I kept another track of my brain running and crystallized a kernel of an idea for a sabbatical project. (I don't have to put in the proposal for months, but I like knowing what I'm thinking myself toward.)
12/7: launching
...a student into a project in London, looking at illuminated manuscripts of the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom at the British Library. The project has been a year in the making--designing it, writing a proposal to get it funded, doing a variety of preparatory work. Today we had our last meeting before she gets on a plane on Monday. I appreciated the chance/excuse to spend time with the Divine Liturgy's Greek myself over the past few months (the adjectives are amazing!), and I'm excited to hear how her project goes.
12/6: putting together
...the last Greek test without rush or worry. It feels good to do quiet, deliberate work.
12/5: an email
...from a student, thanking me for a note and photo I sent her as a thank-you for help she had given me. So nice to feel the flow of good will back and forth.
12/4: amidst
It was a day of feeling pressed and stretched, physically and emotionally--sadly desperate for someone who is so lucky. But amidst it all:
It's the birthday of a dear, dear friend whom I've known for over 40 years. I didn't get to celebrate with her back in Pennsylvania, but my mother invited her over for dinner and cards and left a message for me afterwards, saying it all went well.
And I made a new pamphlet, content and form, start to finish.
It's the birthday of a dear, dear friend whom I've known for over 40 years. I didn't get to celebrate with her back in Pennsylvania, but my mother invited her over for dinner and cards and left a message for me afterwards, saying it all went well.
And I made a new pamphlet, content and form, start to finish.
12/3: printing out
...a dissertation I'm an external reader for. The turn-around time is quick, but I'm looking forward to the task.
12/2: from nothing to something
It was a pamphlet-making afternoon. I didn't mean for it to be, but I was noodling around with an idea that I've had for awhile, and it came together. (It's not the pamphlet I started to imagine on 11/18 and wrote about here--that one still needs longer to bake after it reached am impasse over Thanksgiving break, but I also had a, hopefully, good idea about it this morning.)
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