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.
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