12/31: under the wire
I had set myself today as a due-date for posting online my past conference papers and course reading lists related to Classics and children's literature. I posted the course reading lists during the spring semester, but the conference papers took longer to pull together--partly because I was somewhat blocked about doing it, partly because I spent the summer working on a new project, and partly because I unexpectedly needed to use my Friday Quiet Writing time this past semester for other things. But I've been working over the past ten days to get it done, and today I finished reformatting/revising the final paper and putting them all up on Pegasus.
12/30: a very helpful library aide
...at the county public library. She directed me to a section I couldn't find and then helped me locate my books. They were Dungeons & Dragons manuals that I had used in a conference paper, and I needed to get the page numbers of the illustrations I referred to. But she didn't know that--she just knew I was looking at D&D stuff, so she made sure I knew that, although the manuals couldn't be checked out of the library, she'd be happy to help me make copies so I could be sure to leave with the information I needed. Very nice of her to be thinking of the needs of D&D players, even if I wasn't one!
12/28: holiday sandwiches
...made with lettuce, cranberry sauce, hummus, horseradish, and slices of vegetarian field roast (which we call "beast").
12/27: revisiting
...old conference papers as I prepare to post them online. And it's a quiet pleasure to re-see what I thought and how I wrote about it.
12/23: using my "money"
Each semester we get dollar-credits toward food at work; it can't be converted to real money, and it disappears if we don't use it. This past semester Chris and I ate less often in the cafeteria than usual, so we had a lot of credit left. In the final days of the semester I used mine to buy (many) small bags of potato chips and little bottles of apple juice in the campus snack shop. It took me three trips, filling up a tote bag each time, and that made me feel a little foolish. But today, as I ate some chips and sipped some juice, I was glad I took the time to do it.
12/22: the bases
Earlier this week I was thinking that I might need to use my "bases" approach during winter break, trying to include a little bit of exercising, house/self maintenance, professional work, and contact with the outside world every day. Today I touched all the bases without thinking about it: I walked on the ridge, swept the house, worked on Heron Tree and other writing, and talked with a friend on the phone.
12/17: final meeting
Today was the last class meeting for the Ancient & Modern Drama course. I really like the final assignments that I designed, and the students did a very nice job sharing them.
12/16: for family & strangers
Today I sent my brother, sister, and mother their Christmas presents, and then I wrote 35 notes to people on the holiday Angel Card list.
12/15: two days' break
I usually try to keep my Saturdays work-free, and this weekend I did the same for Sunday, too. It's going to be a nutty three-and-a-half days of exam-giving and grading, so it feels good to have taken a breather before this final push begins.
12/14: three things with Chris
Chris and I have been busy with different things this past week and haven't seen as much of one another as usual. But today we went for a walk at Cove Creek; roasted nuts spiced with rosemary, cayenne, and brown sugar; and played a close game of cards.
12/13: nut roll
I was sick in the days around my birthday in November so I didn't remember to order some celebratory Pennsylvania nut roll for myself from a bakery in Johnstown. Last week I remembered, and it arrived yesterday. (Actually, three arrived: I ordered multiples this year so I could freeze some.) I took a few slices on my overnight jaunt to Little Rock, and it lovely to wake up and have some this morning in my hotel room. Back at home Chris had some for breakfast, too, and I think he's beginning to see the wonderfulness of this particular baked good.
12/11: at the end
It was a less successful day than yesterday in terms of work done, but at the end I bound some pamphlets while watching Poldark.
12/10: managing
...to write practice questions and answer keys for the Latin final exam today. It was good to get them out this evening and so not have to worry about finishing them up tomorrow morning.
12/9: sending out
...a PDF of all the altered pages of Sophocles' Antigone which my students did. Every page of the play got altered, and several of the pages got altered a few times. It was great to see scans of all the pages gathered together in one place and then to share it with the whole group.
12/8: weekend pause, weekend tasks
A pinched nerve made me less energetic this weekend than I would have liked, but it was also a probably good incentive to take a break before the last push of the semester begins. Today I managed to finalize my latest pamphlet and also sweep the house, and before I go to sleep I'll finish reading The Grammarians.
12/6: rereading
...a paper I gave in 2016 and remembering how much I like part of the way The Midas Flesh ends: with a sober realization that wrong done can be catastrophic and irrevocable but its consequences can nevertheless be struggled against.
12/5: travel writing
I met with a student today to discuss a project she's been working on: she went to Greece over the summer and has been writing short pieces about her time there in the styles of different travel writers, both ancient and modern. She had been having a hard time modelling herself after Pausanias, but she did it, and it made me smile.
12/4: reading
...for pleasure: the picturebook Pandora by Victoria Turnbull and the start of The Grammarians by Cathleen Schine.
12/3: both going and returning
I stopped at the lake for a few minutes on my way to work and on my way home from work.
12/2: mostly practicalities
I started the day at a deficit: I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 a.m. and needed to get up at 5:30. But I worked through lots of tasks nonetheless: course preparation, hotel reservations, flight booking, emails, various meetings, a haircut, pharmacy refills, baking to use some blueberries before they went off, and getting pamphlets ready to mail. I did have a little freedom to think on my drive to school, when I meditated on a Medusa painting--not Caravaggio's, but one I like better (it used to be attributed to Leonardo da Vinci but is now thought to be by a Flemish painter). And soon I can go to bed and try to catch up on Zzzzzs.
12/1: morning walk
I knew that the day would be nutty with various preparing-to-return-to-school tasks, so I made sure to go walking in the morning, even though I prefer the afternoon or evening. I was glad I choose the morning today because the wind was high and the air was bracing. I don't really miss northern winters and their day-in-day-out cold, but I enjoy the air here when it reminds me of how nice it can feel to make one's way in the chill.
11/30: a backlog
...of New York Times Book Reviews. I usually read each week's issue when it arrives, but recently I've let them stack up. I've enjoyed working through them over these vacation mornings. I like to read reviews for books I know I'm never going to read (e.g., non-fiction and even most fiction), but today I also came across a few things that I bought right away.
11/29: Chris and our vet
Tilde the Cat has been having some trouble, and today Chris decided to take her to get checked out. We assumed our in-town vet would be closed for the holiday, so he was preparing to drive her to the emergency clinic about 45 minutes away. But before he left he checked our vet's office, and they were open and willing to take a look at Tilde. It turns out that she probably has a UTI, which makes me especially grateful that Chris took her and the vet treated her before the weekend.
11/28: almost rain-free
My walk this morning. I realized that if I wanted to walk outside I needed to do it early because once the rain arrived it was likely to stay. And for two-thirds of my walk the rain held back; I didn't mind finishing the last third as it came down.
11/27: baking
...a cranberry orange walnut bread so I'll have it to eat for breakfast in the upcoming days. A student gave me a similar bread as a gift last spring, and it was so tasty. I'm glad I found a recipe that seems to come close to what I remember.
11/26: smaller
...than usual: my Latin class in the late afternoon. Most of the campus was already cleared out for Thanksgiving break. But the students who stayed for class and I had a good time and worked through a lot (translation, grammar, scansion, interpretation, discussion of secondary sources). Their cheer was wonderful and I am grateful for it and them.
11/25: not as crowded
...in the grocery store as I was expecting. I must have hit a lull before the evening pre-holiday shopping went into high gear.
11/20: soup
...for a second day at dinner-time. I'm not glad that I have a cold, but I'm glad that soup has been there to make me feel better!
11/19: running a grammar session
...for a couple of the Latin students as a chance for them to solidify some things in English.
11/18: to some avail
I've written a number of reasoning-heavy emails about business stuff recently, and today it seemed like perhaps some of them worked.
11/16: good sights
We were on our way to Crowley's Ridge by 10:30 this morning. We walked through the woods there and around the lake; we wandered in an old cemetery; we stopped to look at a field of tall grasses gleaming in the sunlight; we watched thousands of blackbirds wheeling and V after V of geese crossing the sky.
11/15: a quick conversation
...about ekphrasis with a colleague. I don't know him well, but whenever I talk with him he's kind and upbeat and interesting.
11/14: after work
...I met up with an artist who asked to meet me (we have a mutual friend). She invited me to stop by her house on my way home from work, and another artist was there, too. They asked me if I'd be willing to contribute my photographs to an exhibit they're going to propose. (!)
Not long after I arrived at home the power went out, so I had to head back to campus to do my evening work. It can be fun to be on campus after-hours. I especially enjoyed reading my students' centos based on characters from Sophocles' Antigone.
11/13: time after
...my doctor's appointment to do some unplanned shopping at Trader Joe's. We used to go to Trader Joe's all the time when we lived in Los Angeles; only now has one opened up in Little Rock. It was fun to find some favorite products on the shelves.
11/12: Paolo Uccello's painting
...of St. George, the princess, and the dragon. It's something I've thought about, off and on, since 1987, and today a room of students wrote quietly about it and then shared some of what they saw in it. Not for a test or course or a grade.
11/11: workshopping
One of my classes today was an altered text workshop. I liked us all sitting together quietly for 50 minutes, each intent on our separate projects.
11/10: finishing
...a big chunk of paper-grading. One student especially made the most out of the chance to do revision, and that buoyed me up through this last stage of the process.
11/9: making lemon cookies
...before focusing on grading-grading-grading. I'm still not great at knowing when to take cookies out of the oven, and I always seem to leave them in about 2 minutes too long, but I've made progress in recent years.
11/7: something Chris saw
A V of geese against the moon. I didn't see it, but I'm glad that he did (and that he told me about it).
11/6: a forced break
...from work. When I got home, we had no power in the house. So we went out for a leisurely dinner, and by the time we returned the power was back on. It was nice to have an excuse to pause for awhile, but it was also nice to have the electricity back in order to do some evening work.
Also a forced break of sorts: an afternoon discussion with students about Perpetua's Journey. Though it was "work," everyone who was there was there by choice, and we just spent an hour focusing on words and images for nothing other than the pleasure of focusing on words and images.
Also a forced break of sorts: an afternoon discussion with students about Perpetua's Journey. Though it was "work," everyone who was there was there by choice, and we just spent an hour focusing on words and images for nothing other than the pleasure of focusing on words and images.
11/4: words and images
I started the morning by watching a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5PNz-aPKoE) that pairs Ancient Greek words with a modern staging of a choral ode from Sophocles' Antigone.
This afternoon I talked with a colleague and friend about an ekphrasis project we're doing together.
And this evening I finished working through the images in the graphic novel version of the Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis.
This afternoon I talked with a colleague and friend about an ekphrasis project we're doing together.
And this evening I finished working through the images in the graphic novel version of the Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis.
11/3: morning and afternoon
A morning paddle on the lake, and an afternoon spent working through the photographs I took on the water.
11/2: Jasper
I did something I rarely do: set my alarm for a Saturday morning. I wanted to leave the house by 10 so that Chris and I could be in Jasper by lunchtime. The place we had planned to eat was too crowded, so we found homey cafe where we got warm coffee (served in 1970s cups), corn fritters, and grilled cheese. Grilled cheese is a vegetarian go-to choice on the road, but the corn fritters were a nice surprise. Then we poked around in a thrift shop, where I found a vintage Smoothie Mixer and Measure, and headed on to Triple Falls, a new-to-us waterfall.
11/1: original and translations
Today I had some extra time and so got to work on a translation-comparison assignment for next week. I got to choose a Greek passage from Sophocles' Antigone and think about how to explain its workings to a class of students who (with one exception) don't know Greek. And then I got to compile published English translations of the passage for students to compare/contrast. This is all a good kind of work.
10/31: good moments
I woke up to find unpleasantness awaiting me in the inbox of my work email--and I got caught up in answering it before I even fetched myself coffee and breakfast. Though the unpleasantness continued to distract me throughout the day, I tried to focus on and appreciate good things: texts from a friend, a walk across campus in the sun, two of my students' Halloween costumes, kindness from some students and colleagues, a nice project proposal a student had written, time to start reading a graphic novel presentation of Perpetua's diary, a stop at the bridge on my way home to photograph the reflections of colored leaves on the water, awesome cats, a Halloween card from my sister, a Halloween cookie that Chris brought home for me, an evening with Sophocles' Antigone--and not checking my work email before I head off to bed.
10/30: a good moment
...in an awkward day: I was at a faculty book discussion, and the person leading the discussion had us brainstorm under the categories thoughts, questions, and epiphanies. I mentioned that in children's literature people sometimes do something similar to get children talking about what they read by using the categories patterns, puzzles, and surprises. One of the other faculty at the meeting was interested by that because his son is reading but not necessarily processing what he's reading, and these categories might generate good discussions with him.
10/29: hearing
...my students' thoughts about Latin epitaphs as a genre or discourse, and having some thoughts of my own.
10/28: chocolate biscuit cake
It's been quite awhile--more than a year--since I made one. This weekend I made two of them to take to one of my classes today. There was a little bit left for me to bring home for dessert.
10/27: an unrushed Sunday
...so much so that I'm worried there must be some big thing I'm forgetting to do for work tomorrow. But I enjoyed having a day of lots of little things: texting with a friend, preparing mail, taking a walk, reading poems, sweeping the house, watching Mr. Robot with Chris, and cooking some mushrooms just because I like them.
10/26: shopping with Chris
I meant to go grocery-shopping alone this afternoon, but my arthritis was hurting and so Chris and I decided to combine errands so I'd have company and not have to drive. Before we went to the grocery we stopped at Tractor Supply for Chris to pick something up--and I chose this little elephant, which Chris bought for me.
10/25: writing by hand
...at Quiet Writing today. Recently I've been doing computer-writing on Friday afternoons; today it was a pleasure to hear the pen moving on paper. And I enjoyed the brainstorming/course planning that I was doing by writing, too. I started to work out an idea for an Antigone project with students that's not quite like anything I've done before, and I'll be excited to see how it goes.
10/24: 113
...drafts of papers by first-year students read and commented on this semester so far. Whew. I'll know to restructure the assignments if I teach this particular course again, but I'm proud of what I've done and of the fact that I didn't cut corners in providing feedback. For the rest of this semester we'll be focusing less on formal analytic writing, and that will be a nice shift for me and the students.
10/23: finishing
...at school a little earlier than I expected because my last appointment of the day emailed me to cancel. It was a student I would have been happy to see and work with, but I didn't mind getting to head home a little sooner than planned and have the chance to make dinner in a less rushed way.
10/22: taking advantage
...of a rare, one-night lull in my evening work-load to do some book-binding.
10/21: a little gift
...from Chris. He stopped at an antique store this afternoon and bought me an Aldine Speller for grades 1-4 from 1922. It includes a story about stars and daisies that starts like this: "One night the little stars were cross." I love that.
10/19: working it out
My new pamphlet design hit a snag last night and I nearly let the project go, but after sleeping on it I came back to drawing board this morning with a new formatting idea. After some more trial and error, I ended up with something usable. It feels good to learn through a process and for it to feel like a process that's getting somewhere.
10/18: making it a break
It's tempting to work almost all the time on school stuff; it seems never to end. But after writing a recommendation letter this morning, I decided to treat fall break as a break--so I prepared photos and pamphlets for the mail, did some leisure reading, worked on a new pamphlet, and watched episodes of Mr. Robot with Chris.
10/17: heading out
...onto the lake for some kayaking in the afternoon. It's fall break so I could make the most of a sunny and warm-but-not-hot day.
I also enjoyed getting to do some schoolwork this morning in a leisurely way.
I also enjoyed getting to do some schoolwork this morning in a leisurely way.
10/16: stopping
...at the pier this morning. I think it's the first time this school year I've pulled over to take some pictures.
10/15: the other side
...of the work curve. On Monday night I was grading until a bit past midnight; tonight I'm done before 9 p.m. Usually I try to arrange my assignments so that grading is relatively evenly distributed, but I misjudged scheduling assignments for a new course I'm teaching and so I'm having to adapt to more fluctuations. Although I'll be glad when the uneven grading peaks and valleys are over (at the end of this month), for now it's nice to know that a late night of work will be followed by a lighter load the next evening.
10/14: wearing
...a sweater that I really like plus a button that I made to help me through a meeting this afternoon.
10/12: back to the track
I've really missed the walking track, but I'd been too sick to go for a few weeks. I was so glad to return this evening and start listening to Perelandra.
10/11: getting un-thrown
An inappropriate late-in-the-day email from a co-worker threw me for a loop. I wrote my response and forwarded my concerns to people higher up so that I wouldn't brood about it all weekend. And then I read A. E. Stalling's new translation of The Battle Between the Frogs and the Mice out loud, because it was too rhythmic and ringing to read silently. Emma the Cat sat by me and listened.
10/10: explaining
...to a colleague how I had made some glass bubble magnets for her years ago. She's kept them on her filing cabinet at work all this time, and she'd like to make some for Christmas presents this year.
10/8: not stopping
...at the lake to take pictures in the morning, but enjoying the sight of the light and water, clouds, sky, and rising fog nonetheless.
10/6: the cabinet
...I bought over the summer proved its usefulness yet again today. I got it so I could store all my bookbinding supplies in one place, rather than have them spread out in various boxes at home and at school. This morning when I had to pack for a notebook-binding workshop on campus, it was so easy to gather all the stuff.
10/5: some hours of pleasure reading
My illness last week extended into this week and has set me behind with grading in a way that makes me nervous. But I was too tired last night to do any, so I let myself start a novel. And I finished it this morning. And it was fun, and it was fun to let myself enjoy reading it.
10/4: thinking about the Chorus
...in Euripides' Iphigeneia at Aulis, and seeing them as a negative example rather than a model for an audience's reaction.
9/30: two reminders
...of my father in the mail today: an article from the NYTimes (about Kathleen Ryan's fruit sculptures) that reminded my mother of him, and a note from one of his Fine Arts departmental colleagues (thanking me for a pamphlet I sent her). Of course he's never really far from mind, but these seemed like especially sweet ways to remember him.
9/29: catching up
...with Simon and Baz, the main characters in Rainbow Rowell's Carry On, which I read as a lark four years ago. A sequel just came out, and it was good company while I was in bed sick.
9/27: getting ready to sleep alone
Usually it's Chris, me, and two of the four cats sleeping in or on the bed, but I hardly slept yesterday night so Chris and the cats moved to the futon in my office for tonight so that I can get some rest.
9/27: round robin
In one of my classes today we finished our unit on Greek drama. I asked the students to write down three things that they were especially glad they encountered, explored, or did during our time together. Then I asked them to share one of those things with the group. Both their sharing and their written lists were so nice!
9/26: better
The vegan cookies I thought hadn't turned out so well last night seemed better this morning. I'll be taking them, plus two batches of other kinds I made this evening, to school tomorrow, and I hope the students will like them.
9/25: a variety
Feeling at ease with my beginning Latin class.
Having some good office hour meetings.
Writing to an alum with a question and hearing back from him almost immediately.
Drafting an email that I've been thinking about for almost a week.
Meeting with a friend to do some planning for a possible trip with students.
Making two different kinds of vegan cookies. (With mixed success, but it was still good to do.)
Receiving a note from a publisher of chapbooks and artist books who just received some of my pamphlets and had nice things to say about them.
Having some good office hour meetings.
Writing to an alum with a question and hearing back from him almost immediately.
Drafting an email that I've been thinking about for almost a week.
Meeting with a friend to do some planning for a possible trip with students.
Making two different kinds of vegan cookies. (With mixed success, but it was still good to do.)
Receiving a note from a publisher of chapbooks and artist books who just received some of my pamphlets and had nice things to say about them.
9/24: Hawthorne
In the 3rd-semester Latin class we try to give students a taste of the various kinds of activities that Classicists do. Today we did a little reception studies work, with the students looking at the conflation of Eve and Pandora in Hawthorne's Wonder Book. What goodness that book has brought into my life over the past decade!
9/23: class planning
I liked one of the activities I planned for (and did in) today's Latin class: generating a set of simple sentences that used the same basic vocabulary to illustrate all the syntactic phenomena we've covered so far.
I had a sweet lesson planned for my Ancient & Modern Drama course, but it involved watching a short video, and the speakers in the classroom didn't work. Ugh! But luckily I had over-prepared for class and so had some back-up questions we could pursue instead. Hopefully on Wednesday we'll get to watch and discuss the video.
I had a sweet lesson planned for my Ancient & Modern Drama course, but it involved watching a short video, and the speakers in the classroom didn't work. Ugh! But luckily I had over-prepared for class and so had some back-up questions we could pursue instead. Hopefully on Wednesday we'll get to watch and discuss the video.
9/22: down to the dock
...at sunset. I used to go almost every night, but I've fallen out of the habit. I didn't stay long, but I was glad to see the almost-autumn light on the water and smell the almost-autumn leaves on the air.
9/21: waking up
...to an email that said that my latest pamphlet was "really f---ing good." I'm not sure I've ever liked a use of the F word more!
9/20: a good end to the week
A great moment in class when the students' faces and exclamations registered how their view of Aristophanes' Lysistrata shifted upon considering that the original actors would all have been men.
Good office-hour meetings with students.
Time at Quiet Writing spent on my sabbatical proposal.
A wonderful dinner with a friend at a new-to-me restaurant to plan an ekphrastic project.
Some laps at the walking track, marveling at sentences while listening to Out of the Silent Planet. One passage included a reference to Polyphemus that made me smile a big smile.
A piece of chocolate cheesecake from a whole cheesecake given to me today as a gift.
Good office-hour meetings with students.
Time at Quiet Writing spent on my sabbatical proposal.
A wonderful dinner with a friend at a new-to-me restaurant to plan an ekphrastic project.
Some laps at the walking track, marveling at sentences while listening to Out of the Silent Planet. One passage included a reference to Polyphemus that made me smile a big smile.
A piece of chocolate cheesecake from a whole cheesecake given to me today as a gift.
9/19: Thursdays
For years now my Thursdays are lighter teaching-wise than the other days in the week, a breather for which I'm grateful. Thursdays often become my doctor-visit day or my catch-up day or (like today) my run-some-errands-in-the morning-before-work day.
9/18: Persians
It's been a long time (at least 15 years?) since I last taught Aeschylus' Persians. I liked how today's class conversation about it went, and I'm enjoying reading the students' analysis of specific passages they chose to focus on.
9/17: having time
...for a working dinner with a colleague and then grocery shopping before doing some grading at home. And although it was a full evening, it didn't feel overly packed and I didn't feel rushed to get through it all.
9/16: putting some pamphlets
...into the mail this morning. The formatting took some unexpected turns this weekend after I had thought I was all done with it, and today I was content with the outcome and happy to send some copies out into the world.
9/15: taking a few minutes
...to photograph this sheep figurine outside, just for fun. It had been awhile since I had taken pictures of one of my animals! I like the texture of the lichen compared with the texture of the sheep's "fleece."
9/14: rice pancakes
...for dinner. They are one of my favorite things to eat, and it had been too long since I had had them.
9/13: week's end
It was a work-week with some bumps in the road, but it ended smoothly. Two good class meetings, an office-hour session, nice student work on quizzes, quiet writing with colleagues, walking at the track while listening to Out of the Silent Planet, and then the harvest moon over the lake.
9/12: talking
...with students from my Latin class one-on-one. They've been coming in to do individual pronunciation practice, and I've enjoyed the chance to chat with them and get to know them better. They are nice people.
9/10: hearing
...myself say a phrase the way I've heard a friend say it, and then texting her to tell her. It made me feel like she was closer than 980 miles away.
9/9: a new pattern
I collect snippets of the patterns used on the insides of security envelopes, and Chris gave me one I didn't have.
9/8: the juxtaposition
...of Euripides' Iphigeneia at Aulis and Sophocles' Philoctetes. They are two plays I love and have often taught, but not so closely alongside one another. As I read and prepare to teach them back-to-back, I'm noticing lots of great comparisons and contrasts.
9/7: a good correspondence week
One great letter and two great emails from people who really "get" me. I am lucky to know them and am so grateful that they sent words and thoughts my way.
9/6: brainstorming
...prompts for ekphrastic writing. I meant to do business-related work during Quiet Writing, but then I really felt like I needed to do something more idea-full, and that was the right choice.
9/5: lunch
...with a friend! (And I'm packing a lot of gratitude and warmth and enthusiasm into that exclamation mark.)
9/4: violet, lilac
...magenta, pink, and peach. The shades across the sky as I watched the sunset through the windows at the walking track.
9/3: cantaloupe
...as part of breakfast and as part of lunch. A taste of summer, even as the school year gets underway.
9/2: ekphrasis
I've been listening to The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith and enjoying its ekphrastic passages about (fictional) paintings. Today I realized that, even when Smith is not being obviously ekphrastic, much of his narrative and descriptive technique in this novel yields the feel of ekphrasis.
9/1: choosing words
...for the front page of Heron Tree volume 6. I usually take one word from each poem in the collection, and this year's words are: ancestors, anvil, blackbird, bone, bowl, continent, dogwood, dusk, eyes, flint, fogs, grass, halves, laundry, loss, morsels, name, needle, number, paths, ravines, ribs, room, silt, surfaces, teeth, tongue, tunnel, veils, veins, waves.
I woke up with some sinus trouble and have been under the weather all day, so getting this done feels good. Word lists always seem to cheer me up--there's magic therein (and I should remember that so I can call on it when I need it!).
I woke up with some sinus trouble and have been under the weather all day, so getting this done feels good. Word lists always seem to cheer me up--there's magic therein (and I should remember that so I can call on it when I need it!).
8/31: nice feedback
...from a colleague about a translation I did for her. I made a somewhat unusual/unexpected choice at one point and wasn't sure what she would think of it, but it seems to have struck her just the way I hoped.
8/29: more casual
On Thursday I only have my intermediate Latin class in the late afternoon, so I could sleep until 7, be a little less urgent about getting ready for work, and not rush preparing in my office. I also felt like I could wear clothes that were a little more casual since the class is a smaller group, most of whom know me pretty well already, so I don't need clothes to convey anything in particular.
8/28: returning home and finding
...that Chris had made a tasty snack for us to nibble on while we made dinner.
8/27: Latin underway
Both of my Latin courses convened for the first time this semester. It was fun to see the intermediate students, all but one of whom I've taught before. We got right into translating and talking, and it felt good to dig in. All the beginning students but one are new to me, and it was really nice to meet them.
8/25: the similes
...in Elizabeth Cook's Achilles! And the exquisite account of the funeral of Achilles, with sea nymphs in attendance!
8/24: writing
...a lesson plan on the porch with my morning coffee plus some cats for company. It's a plan for a low-stakes, ice-breaking vocal activity that I hope the students will enjoy on Monday. I came up with it in June when I taught one of my mother's summer classes, and I realized I could retool it for my first-year seminar class.
8/23: reshuffling
...the spring schedules for two of my advisees so that they can take a required course for their majors a semester earlier. They were both really happy, and I'm grateful for a colleague in the Pyschology department who made it possible.
8/22: showing a new student
...a very nice building on campus and enjoying her enthusiasm for it as she imagined using it as a place to study in the upcoming year.
8/21: today's handful
...of good things:
Eating little white-powdered donuts at breakfast because a character in Orphan Black liked them.
Seeing some students, some new, some returning.
Going out to dinner with Chris and not feeling like it was just a pause before doing more work at home.
Watching some fierce lightning while driving.
Walking at the track and wishing I had it in me to walk even longer so I could listen to more of my audiobook.
Eating little white-powdered donuts at breakfast because a character in Orphan Black liked them.
Seeing some students, some new, some returning.
Going out to dinner with Chris and not feeling like it was just a pause before doing more work at home.
Watching some fierce lightning while driving.
Walking at the track and wishing I had it in me to walk even longer so I could listen to more of my audiobook.
8/20: a handful
Reading a few articles in Frieze magazine with my morning coffee before getting ready for school.
Speaking up in a faculty meeting to preserve a space for valuing intellectual work. I did it in a jokey way so as to be less edgy, and happily Chris chimed in of his own accord.
Meeting with a colleague to plan a shared session with students tomorrow.
Making some inch collages to occupy my mind and hands and eyes.
Seeing a bat while driving home from the grocery store.
Speaking up in a faculty meeting to preserve a space for valuing intellectual work. I did it in a jokey way so as to be less edgy, and happily Chris chimed in of his own accord.
Meeting with a colleague to plan a shared session with students tomorrow.
Making some inch collages to occupy my mind and hands and eyes.
Seeing a bat while driving home from the grocery store.
8/19: reading and hearing
Reading this: "The painting has such regard for realism that it even shows drops of dew
dripping from the flowers and a bee settling on the flowers--whether a
real bee has been deceived by the painted flowers or whether we are to
be deceived into thinking that a painted bee is real, I do not know." (from the Imagines of Philostratus the Elder, translated by Arthur Fairbanks)
Hearing from a colleague that his daughter (who graduated maybe ten years ago?) thinks of me as one of her favorite professors from her time at college. It was kind of him to say so (and a welcome vote of confidence at the start of a new school year).
Hearing from a colleague that his daughter (who graduated maybe ten years ago?) thinks of me as one of her favorite professors from her time at college. It was kind of him to say so (and a welcome vote of confidence at the start of a new school year).
8/18: smaller circle
...of talk this weekend: mostly me, Chris, and the cats, plus a phone call with a friend. Welcome after a week of meetings and facing a week of more meetings.
8/17: in the kitchen
...making peanut butter cookies, basil simple syrup, and vegetarian cream chipped beef.
8/16: after work
A harrying day at work, but in the evening I went to the track to walk and then stopped by the pier to watch the moon on the water.
8/15: Chris as company
It was a day of meetings. Chris wasn't going to come but then decided to, and I was glad he was there, even if we didn't get to talk much.
8/14: two Gothic novels
...underway: I'm reading one set in the US (Dragonwyck by Anya Seton) and listening to one set in Ireland (The Darkling Bride by Laura Andersen). Thinking about the books lent extra atmosphere to tonight's almost-full moon.
8/12: returning
We had a good time away, but I'm grateful for a smooth trip back and for the welcome our cats gave us.
8/11: trees
We spent the day mostly among trees. The house we rented is surrounded by them; the hikes we've taken have been through woods; and willows were heavily featured on the gravestones in the old cemetery we visited.
A little pond below the house:
From the headstone for Lucy Hazard (1775-1839):
A little pond below the house:
From the headstone for Lucy Hazard (1775-1839):
8/10: Shadow Brook
Today we visited Shadow Brook, so named by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his Wonder Book, a book close to my heart. Here's a close-up of light, water, and rocks there:
8/9: learning
...yesterday about Sol LeWitt was a sweet kind of learning, full of head and heart in a rich and humane way. Today's learning via Laurie Anderson's dystopic and assaultive virtual reality Chalkroom was of a harder kind. But I'm glad I got through it, and I'm glad for the conversation with Chris that helped me process my thoughts, hurt, and anger.
8/8: three
morning: Seeing 4 deer on the driveway as we headed out.
afternoon: Spending time with Sol LeWitt wall drawings.
evening: Looking down from the pedestrian bridge in Readsboro, Vermont.
afternoon: Spending time with Sol LeWitt wall drawings.
evening: Looking down from the pedestrian bridge in Readsboro, Vermont.
8/6: finally listening
...to Patti Smith at the Minetta Lane. I had downloaded it back in the autumn when it came out but then just kept it on my "for sometime later" list until now.
8/5: taking breaths
One of my medicines makes me jittery in an un-fun way. It took months for me to realize that it's the medicine that causes the feeling, but now I know. So today when it happened I was more able to take breaths, tell myself what was happening, and not let the feeling take over.
8/1: noticing
...some interesting use of person and focalization in Isabelle Miller's Patience and Sarah.
7/31: working through
...some communication & technology glitches with my doctor's office. I wasn't completely graceful in the process, but I did it nonetheless. (And if I hadn't started the process there'd still be no progress.)
7/29: glad
...I went to the walking track. I almost didn't because my arthritis was hurting, but it felt good--maybe the pain medicine started to work; maybe moving helped (it doesn't always); maybe it was luck; maybe it was a little bit of all these things. And on the way I caught the segment of This American Life about a woman's relationship with Little Women during her difficult younger years.
7/28: making
...a very quick cardamom rosemary shortbread. Next time I'll halve the amount of sugar in the recipe and I think it'll be even better.
7/26: cool(er) weather
...than usual. July is usually a month with temperatures in the 90s and 100s, but we've had some 80 degree (and even some 70 degree) days this year. Especially wonderful for kayaking after dinner.
7/25: submitting
...an abstract I've been working on. It's not due until September 1st, but it was finished and I didn't want to spend another month tinkering with it or second-guessing myself, so in it went.
7/23: laughing
...with Chris as we listened to the audiobook of Mr. Harrison's Confessions by Elizabeth Gaskell.
7/22: finally
...going to my doctor for a check-in.
...getting a package ready to mail off tomorrow.
...tinkering with some plumbing to stop a small leak.
These things should have happened weeks ago, but they're done now.
...getting a package ready to mail off tomorrow.
...tinkering with some plumbing to stop a small leak.
These things should have happened weeks ago, but they're done now.
7/21: cleaning out
...a work/storage area that had gotten overgrown with office supplies and computer stuff. Chris helped me face it this afternoon and get it in order.
7/20: energy in the refrigerator
I found a recipe for no-bake "cookies" using peanut butter, oat bran, and dates. We keep them cold in the refrigerator, and I love pulling one out for a quick bit of energy.
7/19: morning, afternoon, evening
Getting a tricky part of my abstract written early in the morning.
Going out for lunch (and beer) with Chris.
Having an aha moment with a pamphlet after coming in from kayaking.
Going out for lunch (and beer) with Chris.
Having an aha moment with a pamphlet after coming in from kayaking.
7/18: first spins
Chris has been building a pole lathe, and today he and I tried it for the first time.
7/16: moving
...from the reading-and-thinking phase of a research project to the structuring-an-abstract phase. I'll still be reading and thinking, but it's time to shape my thoughts a bit. It's a bit uncomfortable, but I had to start this next step sometime.
7/14: settling on
...the perfect-for-me proportions of sugar, water, and instant coffee for a Greek iced coffee. And shaking a little water with the sugar and instant coffee in a jar beforehand creates a perfect foam.
7/13: discovering
...that I could extend the paper tray on our home laser printer to fit legal-size paper. It made today's pamphlet-printing much easier--no hand-feeding each sheet!
7/12: 3 things
I was going to make orange-cranberry cookies. I didn't mention that to Chris, but when he went to the store this afternoon he bought orange-cranberry cookies himself!
I worked on a pamphlet, and the final "aha" moment felt like a breath and a breeze, a lift and a lightening.
I went kayaking in the evening. The way out was hot--the wind was with me so I couldn't feel it. The way back was wonderful, paddling into the soft cooling air.
I worked on a pamphlet, and the final "aha" moment felt like a breath and a breeze, a lift and a lightening.
I went kayaking in the evening. The way out was hot--the wind was with me so I couldn't feel it. The way back was wonderful, paddling into the soft cooling air.
7/11: 10+ things
There were some things that were hard about today (arthritis! worries about self! sadness about patriarchy!), but Chris was good company and I held myself to Barbara's idea of keeping at things until you've done at least 10. Here's some of what I managed today.
Finished The Guineveres.
Wrote an email to a friend; texted some friends as well as my mother; received an email from a former student; wished another former student happy birthday.
Reserved viewing times at MASS MoCA.
Went to a flea market store with Chris, where we found great steel rulers. Mine breaks inches into tenths, which is great.
Deposited $51 worth of change at the bank (they weren't thrilled that I had rolled it--who knew that wasn't standard practice anymore?).
Made rosemary-basil-mint simple syrup.
Set up a new shelf in my room.
Photographed a glitch in an order from Moo and emailed with them about it.
Made some one-inch circular micro-collages.
Put my home office in order.
Gathered some recycling.
Watched Orphan Black with Chris.
7/10: coinciding
I'm working on a collaborative poetry project with a friend, and mostly I try not to predict what he's going to do; being surprised by another mind is part of the point, after all. But yesterday, as I made one choice, I wondered if (and even a little bit hoped that) he'd make a certain decision in response. Of course it would have been alright if he hadn't, but it was super fun to wake up this morning, check my email, and see that out of 80 possibilities he chose the one I was wondering about.
7/9: putting up
...my 1-inch x 1-inch collages on my new storage cabinet using magnetic tape. There are more than 400 of them, made over the past 18 months.
7/8: trying out
...the macro settings on a new camera.
I often see this kind of bug on flowers, but I didn't realize how detailed and colored it is until I took the picture.
I often see this kind of bug on flowers, but I didn't realize how detailed and colored it is until I took the picture.
7/7: finding
...a favorite paper-doll set from my youth, based on Disney's Alice in Wonderland. For instance, I love the pantsuit that gives Alice Cheshire Cat stripes!
7/6: without a plan
I usually map out my days. Sometimes it doesn't go according to plan, but I at least start with an idea of a possible structure. Today I just winged it.
7/5: binding
...32 notebooks using upcycled manila folders for covers and paper that had been printed on one side only for pages. I'll leave them out for free on campus at the start of next semester.
7/4: stowing
...my bookbinding materials in a big new cabinet. I'm thankful for Chris doing most of the work of putting it together yesterday (I helped), so today it was ready to be filled. It feels good to have all that stuff out of boxes and in one place.
7/3: listening
...to Molly Harper's Even Tree Nymphs Get the Blues and enjoying how it turns on the head some mythological traditions about nymphs.
7/2: ambient sounds of two kinds
Brian Eno's Music for Airports.
And then the frogs and cicadas making themselves known in a great clamor as I sat on the porch and talked with a friend on the phone.
And then the frogs and cicadas making themselves known in a great clamor as I sat on the porch and talked with a friend on the phone.
7/1: receiving
...a great piece of mail today: someone sent me their favorite double-simile from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.
6/28: a beautiful use
...of 3rd and 1st person pronouns in the opening paragraphs of Mary Stewart's Rose Cottage.
6/27: spending part of the day
...thinking about some of my favorite novels: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Framley Parsonage, and A Room with a View. They are part of Pamela Regis' discussion in A Natural History of the Romance Novel, and it was fun to see them all brought into contact/conversation with one another.
6/25: reading
...a novel whose main character is named Penelope; hoping that the name is supposed to have some Homeric resonance; reaching a section which mentions the Odyssey explicitly.
6/24: smoother
My outbound trip to Pennsylvania had some glitches: stressfully short layovers and delayed luggage. My inbound trip back to Arkansas was smoother: a shorter travel-day overall yet still including time for a leisurely lunch with beer in the Atlanta airport.
6/23: cock crow
Early this morning I took a final-for-now walk through the estate gardens and stood under a gigantic weeping beech as the roosters crowed.
6/22: morning & evening
My mother and I walked from Ebensburg to Revloc on the Ghost Town Trail in the morning. And in the evening we sat under her weeping willow tree, watching fireflies and drinking elderflower cordial.
6/21: company
One of my mother's cats has been enjoying keeping me company when I read on the sofa in the living room. Years and years ago, when I was in high school, one of the family cats would often sit with me when I read in the same place.
6/19: talking
...with Chris on the phone while sitting on the little island in Lake St. Francis, a special spot from my childhood.
6/18: trying a variation
...of a favorite card game with friends, based on teams instead of individual players.
6/16: playing around
...with ideas for book-bindings and settling on one that will work for a project this week.
6/15: picking
...pink elderflowers to make a cordial. And as I was sorting through the flowers I found this glittering be-pollened spider:
6/10: meeting
...nice people. I took a very small plane from Pittsburgh to Johnstown, and the one other passenger as well as the gate attendant were so fun to talk with.
6/6: in person
A weird thing happened with our state income tax this year: we owed some money so sent it in with our tax form in April--but the state sent us a check back refunding the money and then later sent a notice saying that we hadn't paid our taxes and owed the money plus a penalty and interest. I called the revenue office twice to try to sort it out, but both times the people I talked with on the phone weren't helpful (at all). So we decided to go to the office in person, and the people we met with immediately understood the problem, acknowledged it was an error on their end, and waived the penalty and interest. I'm glad it's straightened out (knock on wood), and I feel lucky that we have the flexibility in our summer schedule to do that sort of thing.
6/5: near and far
Good things today included two close-up and two from farther away:
- Simon the Cat cuddling with us
- Chris and I choosing a book to read together
- playing Words with Friends with my childhood friend
- receiving a note from a mail-friend whose contact and kind words I was especially grateful for today.
- Simon the Cat cuddling with us
- Chris and I choosing a book to read together
- playing Words with Friends with my childhood friend
- receiving a note from a mail-friend whose contact and kind words I was especially grateful for today.
6/4: a wild chapter
I was listening to Tess of the d'Urbervilles as I walked this morning, and I got to the part where Angel carries Tess in his sleep. I did not see that coming. And it was a moment when Thomas Hardy felt like Wilkie Collins.
6/3: doing things
Some days I seem to spin my wheels. Today, not so much. I read, wrote notes (both for business and pleasure), worked on Heron Tree stuff, touched base at school with someone retiring this week, ran errands, made cookies, and did some cleaning.
6/2: waterfalls
In Artforum this morning I saw a picture of one of Pat Steir's paintings for the Silent Secret Waterfalls series. And then I spent some time taking pictures at the cascades at Woolly Hollow.
6/1: while I was drinking tea
...this butterfly was hanging out upside down on the other side of the window. (With thanks to Chris for pointing it out to me!)
5/31: the last day
...of my being chair of the Classics program at school. This morning I sent in the program's annual assessment report as my last official thing. I've been the chair (either formally or informally) for 19 years, and I am so ready to not coordinate bureaucratic tasks for awhile.
5/30: sharpening
...some thoughts I've been having about a possible conference paper. It's a fun part of the process, especially because I've given myself ample time to work on the idea before the abstract is due.
5/28: finally reading
...The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh. I'm a long-time fan of Harriet the Spy, and I don't know why I never read this second novel containing Harriet. In a way it's fortunate that I waited until now; its themes feel especially resonant with my thoughts and worries these days, and I'm not sure that would have been as much the case if I had read it earlier.
5/27: listing
...the books I've read so far this year. I've kept a record since 1985, and though I don't often go back and look at it, it would feel odd to stop. These days I tend to add to the list a couple of times a year, pausing at the end of May, August, and December to write down titles. Today I did the reckoning for January through May: 53 books. And I may manage one or two more before the end of the month. Though I don't equate quantity with quality, the sheer number reminds me what steady companions books are and have been for me.
5/25: in the mail
I put a dozen more Of the May pamphlets in the post today. It ended up being the only thing of substance I did today because a bad case of vertigo has been with me since I woke up. If I was going to get only one substantial thing done today, I'm glad it was this, something for pleasure.
5/23: three treats
One for the mind: Hearing crew as the past tense of crow (as in "The cock crew again") while listening to Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
One for the body: Googling "super-easy peanut butter cookies," finding a recipe with that exact name, and making it right away.
One for the heart: Using beloved cookie-stamps from my childhood while making the peanut butter cookies. Last year my mother sent them to me, saying something like "I think these belong with you."
One for the body: Googling "super-easy peanut butter cookies," finding a recipe with that exact name, and making it right away.
One for the heart: Using beloved cookie-stamps from my childhood while making the peanut butter cookies. Last year my mother sent them to me, saying something like "I think these belong with you."
5/22: reading
...Jefferson's Garden by Timberlake Wertenbaker in one sitting so that it could be a little like seeing it in a theatre.
5/20: another new-to-me recipe
...tried: socca-based pizzas. And dessert was a cinnamon roll cake I made yesterday.
5/17: no cold medicine
...today--hurray! It took a full week to get over this illness (knock on wood), and it felt so good for my sinuses not to be at the forefront of my awareness today. I even got a modest to-do list done.
5/16: finishing
...reading a novel while still lying in bed in the morning. Turns out the novel--Apocalypse Baby by Virginie Despentes, translated by Sian Reynolds--took quite a turn in the final portion, making it an odd way to start the day. But it got and kept me thinking for hours. It's the second novel by Despentes that I've read this week, and I'm glad to have finally given her work a try after having put it on my possible to-read list a couple of years ago.
5/14: revisiting
This morning I happily revisited an email I got last night in which a friend sent me a picture of Emily Dickinson's garden.
5/10: no meeting
...this morning, so I was able to go grocery shopping and head home (and to bed, sick!) sooner rather than later.
5/9: Phineas
...the ginger cat has taken to laying alongside me in bed, nestled in my arm with his head on my shoulder and his front paws stretched to my neck and face.
5/8: celebrating
...Chris' mother by going out to dinner in her memory: eating Mexican food, drinking margaritas, and doing a little reminiscing.
5/6: things done
I did a variety of things today: I proctored the Latin final, reading Myth essays while the students took their Latin test; I spent my remaining free "dining dollars" in the campus snack shop (I bought lots of little bags of potato chips!); I drove across town to get a book from storage to loan to a colleague who is going to read it out loud with his daughter; I did some grading and grade-calculating; I met with a student; I wrote some emails; I talked with my mother about visiting Pennsylvania this summer; I tinkered with a pamphlet. Sometimes I don't like the random texture of these exam-period days (with no classroom teaching yet plenty of stuff to do), but today it felt fine, maybe even good.
5/1: 3 Hs
Its being May Day made me think of Hawthorne's "Maypole of Merry Mount," so I re-read it over lunch and was glad I did.
I saw a hummingbird perched on a wire.
Honeysuckle filled the evening air.
I saw a hummingbird perched on a wire.
Honeysuckle filled the evening air.
4/30: wrapping up
...some student projects by getting to visit with each student for a little while and talk about their experiences.
4/26: the last
...Quiet Writing session of the semester. I was really sleepy, but I kept at it and wrote my way to some good thoughts!
4/24: revising
...a translation from English into Latin of "You'll Never Walk Alone" that I did a couple of years ago. I smoothed out some lines that had been okay but glitchy.
4/22: less frustration
...in the day as it went on. Usually it's the opposite, and I am so glad for this change! A good book discussion group and some good emails are helping me end the day on an up-note.
4/21: watching
...shifting shadows and light on my work as I sat on the porch this afternoon and the wind moved through the trees' new leaves.
4/20: reading
...Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, in preparation for a book discussion group on Monday.
4/19: a sunny afternoon
Walking across campus in the spring green and sunlight was so good after a Thursday of greyness and rain.
4/18: a relative pause
...in the relentlessness of my April to-do list. Perhaps I scheduled assignments wisely for once?
4/17: second try
Last week's bookbinding session with Chris' group of young men on probation had some hiccups, so we tried it again this week. It still had some issues, but we were able to get the books finished, and I think has to pretty much count as a victory.
4/16: spontaneous
...clapping from one student when another student in Latin class translated a hard sentence without a hitch.
4/15: awaiting me
...at my office this morning: a surprise bag of home-baked snickerdoodles from a former advisee.
4/14: one week later
Last Sunday I thought I'd cook some quinoa, rice, and lentils to pack for lunches during the week--but then I never got around to it. This Sunday I did.
4/13: in the evening
Usually we do taxes on the Sunday morning before tax day, but tomorrow I have a book-binding workshop, so we decided to do them tonight. I dislike the whole process (not the paying-taxes part but the bureaucratic paperwork part), but it was better to not face it first-thing in the day and to stop half-way through to make pomegranate gin and tonics.
4/10: looking forward
...to a small book-discussion group at school in a week and a half. One of the students in the group saw me in the cafeteria today and told me that they really liked the novel we'll be talking about.
4/9: good things in classes
We had ice cream day in Latin and it was sweet. Then in Myth I had a new-to-me thought about the poetic metamorphosis of Ovid's Phaethon via simile.
4/8: planned and unplanned
An alum swinging by my office unexpectedly this afternoon.
A friend and I meeting up for dinner and gelato.
A friend and I meeting up for dinner and gelato.
4/6: out in the morning
...to the nature trail near campus. I wanted to try to photograph the redbud reflections again.
4/5: reprieve
I had been thinking my office hours would be full this afternoon, but only one student ended up coming. I do like it when I have the chance to work with students one-on-one during office hours, but the past two weeks have been so busy that I didn't mind having a little unanticipated quiet time.
4/4: trying a new way
...of teaching Euripides' Alcestis by locating moments from the play on a spectrum running from "humorous" to "serious" with "discomforting" in the middle.
4/3: opening my office door
...and being greeted by the bluebells which a friend brought me yesterday.
3/31: letting
...myself do not-work until the evening. In the morning I readied lots of postcards for the mail; in the afternoon I made some inch-square collages and then went for a sun-filled walk with Chris on the nature trail near campus. On the drive into town we saw a deer in the woods, a sweet sight.
3/30: two Davids
I met up with two friends named David today. One David I ran into unexpectedly at the state high-school language competition where we both turned out to be volunteering. The other David and I had a nice phone conversation which we had arranged earlier in the week.
3/29: redbuds
The redbuds popped into bloom this week. It was a busy, tiring week, but seeing the redbuds throughout it gave me a boost.
3/28: a good talk
...by a former student, on the animation of statues in Greek and Roman literature.
3/26: two
At home: seeing a bluebird almost as soon as I walked out the door this morning.
At school: talking with a student about a Plato erasure and bookbinding project.
At school: talking with a student about a Plato erasure and bookbinding project.
3/25: the calmest part of my day
...was reading Joel Agee's translation of Prometheus Bound. The play itself is not at all calm (Prometheus suffers under the cosmic tyranny of Zeus!), but I really like this play and Agee's translation of it. I'm grateful to have had the chance/excuse to re-read it tonight, polish up old thoughts, and collect some new ones.
3/24: looking back at break
I made a list of things to do over spring break, and--as usual--it was overly ambitious. But I got enough of it done to feel fine about it. And I'm glad that by not doing all of it I gave myself the chance to rest a bit and keep chasing away a cold that's trying to take hold.
3/23: visiting
...with a former student (now a professor himself), his spouse, and their two pug dogs. We met up for a nice walk around campus when they passed through town this morning.
3/22: enjoying
...doing some prep work for next week and then hanging out with Chris because we both weren't feeling well.
3/21: time to try
...some new recipes. A cabbage/pepper/parmesan dish for lunch and then coconut jasmine rice and Mongolian "beef" (using a vegan beef substitute) for dinner.
3/19: a walk with Chris
...down to the dock near sunset time. We spotted flowering wild plum trees peaking through the forest on the way down, and we were happy to see bats on the way back.
Here's the rising moon on the water:
Here's the rising moon on the water:
3/17: outside
I spent yesterday indoors, resting. Today I sat on the porch with the cats, walked for an hour, and visited the dock near sunset. On my way to the lake I took this picture of the bridal wreath at the bottom of our hill.
3/15: in passing
I crossed paths with some students and had quick conversations with them. They seemed genuinely happy to see me, and I'm really grateful for that.
3/14: spring!
In the air: strong winds carrying the smell of blooming trees and flowers.
On the ground: the white crocus that sprouts each year among the purple ones.
On the ground: the white crocus that sprouts each year among the purple ones.
3/13: more manageable
This year's Myth class is (by design) half the size of the class in years past. This makes class discussion easier every day, but this week I felt how much smoother it made the grading of their tests! I didn't have to set aside large chunks of weekend time to get them done; I could enjoy lingering on their answers to think about them instead of needing to keep moving-moving-moving; and I can get them back to the students more quickly (which I know they will appreciate).
3/12: a turn
...for the better in how today went. I talked through some things one-on-one with students, re-establishing (I hope) some inter-subjectivity. And a really disturbing display in the library--something that had overwhelmed me with its thoughtlessness and harmfulness yesterday--had been changed to remove the problematic part.
We looked at the Homeric Hymn to Demeter in Myth class; I brought long paper for the class to use as we mapped the poem's narrative, and the students had great things to say when we looked at the opening lines in Greek. It's not a class where you need to know Greek, so most of the people in there were working from a word-by-word Greek/English interlinear hand-out I had made, and they did keen work analyzing it.
When I finally got home Chris had gone grocering and bought (among other things) a cake!
We looked at the Homeric Hymn to Demeter in Myth class; I brought long paper for the class to use as we mapped the poem's narrative, and the students had great things to say when we looked at the opening lines in Greek. It's not a class where you need to know Greek, so most of the people in there were working from a word-by-word Greek/English interlinear hand-out I had made, and they did keen work analyzing it.
When I finally got home Chris had gone grocering and bought (among other things) a cake!
3/11: being lucky
...to have bad days awash with unpleasantness and unthoughtfulness and to realize that I'm nevertheless warm, dry, fed, loved by a few people, and able to read, write, think, see, and walk. Those are all wondrously good things.
3/8: writing
...about Sofonisba Anguissola's "Chess Game." I spent my Quiet Writing time mostly putting together some comments on a friend's poetry manuscript, but when I was done I had 10 minutes left and so filled a page with thoughts and questions about the painting.
3/7: much better
I didn't take the time at the beginning of the semester to clear some clutter from last semester. Now that we're halfway through another semester, I thought it was high time to do so, and I found myself with the leisure today to reshelve books, tidy piles, and do some sorting. The office feels so much better now.
3/6: less dizzy
...today than yesterday. It makes it much easier to get things done and to enjoy the doing of them.
3/5: a treat to self
Last week I ordered some lavender infused coffee. It was a bit pricey as coffee goes, but I wanted to give it a try. When it arrived yesterday, Chris said that his mother (who passed away in 2005 and whom we very much miss) would have approved of my treating myself--that made me feel like I had a guardian angel for my little pleasure.
I woke up around 3 a. m. this morning with vertigo and couldn't fall back to sleep until (of course) it was time to get up and get ready for school. So it was a day on which a special new coffee was a particular pick-me-up. And it was so good. I'll definitely be buying it again.
I woke up around 3 a. m. this morning with vertigo and couldn't fall back to sleep until (of course) it was time to get up and get ready for school. So it was a day on which a special new coffee was a particular pick-me-up. And it was so good. I'll definitely be buying it again.
3/4: finishing
...writing a letter of recommendation much more quickly than I anticipated, giving me the chance to go to bed a little early and (hopefully) sleep away a cold.
3/1: seeing
...one of my students' excitement as she works on her illuminated manuscript presentation.
2/28: the magnolias
...on campus beginning to bloom. A happy sight as I walked between buildings in the afternoon.
2/27: being able
...to clear the evening of other work so I could read Daphnis and Chloe for a book discussion group tomorrow afternoon. It's been almost seven years since the last time I read it, and it was good to revisit it with different eyes.
2/25: characters as setting
Students wrote discussion questions for class today, and one student asked how character and setting each contribute to tone in today's reading assignment. Another student suggested that the characters and their interactions themselves become a setting. It was a good moment.
2/24: listening
...to the last installment of Michael Butt's BBC adaptation of In Search of Lost Time. So well done, and I'm grateful for two sunny days this weekend so I could walk and listen.
2/22: good omen
An eagle flew on my right on my drive to school this morning, and it turned out to be a good day (despite the fact that I left the house thinking that it wouldn't).
2/21: among
...the frustration of a broken computer in my school office and bureaucratic vexations, I am grateful for some good things:
Putting together ancient and modern images related to the Odyssey that "talk" to one another in very clear yet interesting ways.
Listening to Heap House!!
Charting ways in which Rick Riordan uses ancient sources in The Sea of Monsters. I have not given him enough credit in the past for doing some really thoughtful adaptation work.
Reading Sarah Moss' Ghost Wall.
Putting together ancient and modern images related to the Odyssey that "talk" to one another in very clear yet interesting ways.
Listening to Heap House!!
Charting ways in which Rick Riordan uses ancient sources in The Sea of Monsters. I have not given him enough credit in the past for doing some really thoughtful adaptation work.
Reading Sarah Moss' Ghost Wall.
2/20: some sun
Yesterday, even well into the night, there were times I couldn't believe the rain was coming down so heavily for so long. I was glad for sunshine today!
2/19: starting the day
...with good things.
On weekdays (and, let's face it, most days) Chris gets up earlier than I do. Before I wake up he readies the coffee machine with water, coffee, and my cup so that all I need to do is turn it on when I get out of bed. It's pretty amazing to have it all waiting for me, day after day.
Yesterday I looked at some art while drinking my coffee, and I was especially glad to find this (link) work by Dora Wheeler, picturing Penelope and wrought in silk and embroidery. Perfect blend of form and content.
This morning I couldn't face listening to the news on my way to school so I downloaded a new audiobook: Heap House by Edward Carey. My drive to work is only 10-ish minutes long, but that's enough time to get excited about entering a new world.
The dogtooth violets by the garbage pail are blooming so for the past week I've gotten to see them when I take out the trash each morning. That's an extra boost to a mundane task.
And the pelicans seem to be lingering on the lake longer this year. I saw four of them this morning.
On weekdays (and, let's face it, most days) Chris gets up earlier than I do. Before I wake up he readies the coffee machine with water, coffee, and my cup so that all I need to do is turn it on when I get out of bed. It's pretty amazing to have it all waiting for me, day after day.
Yesterday I looked at some art while drinking my coffee, and I was especially glad to find this (link) work by Dora Wheeler, picturing Penelope and wrought in silk and embroidery. Perfect blend of form and content.
This morning I couldn't face listening to the news on my way to school so I downloaded a new audiobook: Heap House by Edward Carey. My drive to work is only 10-ish minutes long, but that's enough time to get excited about entering a new world.
The dogtooth violets by the garbage pail are blooming so for the past week I've gotten to see them when I take out the trash each morning. That's an extra boost to a mundane task.
And the pelicans seem to be lingering on the lake longer this year. I saw four of them this morning.
2/18: two at school
A good discussion in one of my classes, including my being able to articulate the "project" of the course in a clearer way that hopefully will help us as we move forward. What are we doing? Generating an analytic inventory.
The smell of the flowering narcissus filled my office all day long.
The smell of the flowering narcissus filled my office all day long.
2/17: laughing
...with Chris about how we both sprained our wrists scooping too-hard ice cream! (The sprains are obviously not good things, but it was such a silly way to get hurt, and it happening to both of us was kind of hilarious.)
2/16: movie day
...at home with Chris. We really needed to relax and let ourselves get lost in something other than work.
2/15: writing a complete draft
...of an abstract during my hour of quiet time in the library this afternoon.
2/14: unexpected treats
Chocolate cobbler at dinner in the cafeteria, a Gertrude Stein valentine from a dear friend, and wide-open tulip cups in the laundry room.
2/13: forms of amo
In anticipation of Valentine's Day the beginning Latin students did an activity with forms of the verb "to love" and little heart stickers. And then I had fun putting them all up on the bulletin board in the classroom before heading home for the evening. (The bulletin board definitely needed a make-over, since some of the things pinned up on it have been there for more than a decade.)
2/12: white and red
I have a couple of paperwhite bulbs in my office, and one of them started to bloom today.
And Chris recently bought us some tulip bulbs, which we've been growing in water and keeping in the laundry room (to protect them from the cats); this morning there were red flowers to greet me when I went in to do my ironing.
And Chris recently bought us some tulip bulbs, which we've been growing in water and keeping in the laundry room (to protect them from the cats); this morning there were red flowers to greet me when I went in to do my ironing.
2/11: a quick sighting
...of a rabbit jumping in the rain as I was driving up to my house after work.
2/10: enjoying
...a new tea: black tea flavored with lemon and lime. Without soy milk it's a bit sharp-tasting for me, but with a little soy milk...ahh.
2/9: sunny
...just long enough in the afternoon for me to take my walk and listen to the "Guermantes Way" installment of the BBC Proust adaptation.
2/7: trying new things
I used Hinds' graphic novel adaptation of the Odyssey as a way for us to work through books 14, 15, and 16 today in my Myth class. We looked at what Hinds focused on and what he changed or left out as a way of better seeing his project as well as Homer's.
And this evening I used a note-taking-while-reading worksheet that I made for my Myth and Percy Jackson class. I enjoyed using and found it helpful, and I really (really) hope that the students did too. I'll find out tomorrow!
And this evening I used a note-taking-while-reading worksheet that I made for my Myth and Percy Jackson class. I enjoyed using and found it helpful, and I really (really) hope that the students did too. I'll find out tomorrow!
2/6: staying at school
...this evening to focus on work and get through my bad mood without taking it home to Chris and the cats. Moving through tasks helped, as did a kind email from a student.
2/5: nice questions
...from two students today about Fagles' translations of the Phaeacians' names in the Odyssey.
2/4: so thankful
...for the kind, wonderful people who write to me through sendsomething.net! People in my in-person life haven't seemed very supportive of me and my efforts lately (exempting, of course, Chris!), so it's extra amazing to receive a note from a years-long postal friend starting off with "Hello, beautiful!" As if a sweet person with a huge smile just walked through my door, glad to see me.
(And I don't mean to sound sorry for myself. I know it's not other people's jobs to be supportive of or enthusiastic about me. Still, it's so nice when someone is.)
(And I don't mean to sound sorry for myself. I know it's not other people's jobs to be supportive of or enthusiastic about me. Still, it's so nice when someone is.)
2/3: listening
...to the BBC adaptation of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. I listened to "Swann's Way" during Saturday afternoon's walk and to "Within a Budding Grove" during today's.
2/2: taking time
...to make valentines. I had thought I'd work on them gradually over the past few weeks, but evenings have been full of class preparation. So instead I ignored the fact that my work to-do list is nearly endless and spent much of the day cutting, folding, and sewing cards.
1/31: Classics unexpectedly
I picked up the Cecilia & Kate novels by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer as a lark. There was a little Latin and Greek woven into the first one--but the second one has lots of nods to Classics! During most of the day things are too busy to do any leisure reading, but at the end of the day I've been reading them until I'm too tired to keep my eyes open, and then I squeeze in a few pages while drinking my morning coffee. It's nice to feel how the writers of these co-authored books must have been having fun.
I also like reading them because they remind me of a dear former student who loves Wrede's dragon series.
I also like reading them because they remind me of a dear former student who loves Wrede's dragon series.
1/30: first results
This evening I read the first submissions of a new kind of writing assignment I'm trying with one of my classes this semester, and I am pleased with the results!
1/29: Nausicaa and Elizabeth
I love teaching book 6 of the Odyssey, and it was part of the reading assignment due today. I think (and hope!) some of the students enjoyed seeing how savvy Homer's Nausicaa is.
Then I finished listening to Kiersten White's Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein on my drive home this evening, another presentation of a young woman and compelling in its own way.
Then I finished listening to Kiersten White's Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein on my drive home this evening, another presentation of a young woman and compelling in its own way.
1/28: helping verbs
On their homework my beginning Latin students did a really good job of navigating all the helping verbs necessary in English to translate all the different tense/voice combinations they know.
1/27: tinkering
...with a flyer I designed last night. This morning I realized how I could re-arrange the words for a little better balance and focus.
1/26: deciding
...mid-morning to go flying in the afternoon with Chris. We've had a lot of rain lately, and the water in the fields reflected the blue of the sky.
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