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.
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