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.
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