12/31: an even-er keel

This week has had some frustrations, anxieties, and sadnesses, but today was calmer.  I am grateful that I got to spend time doing some of my favorite things--walking, reading, writing, designing pamphlets--and being with some of my favorite people--Chris and the cats.  I also spent some time completing my end-of-year charity donations, and that felt good.

12/30: picking up

...the new door for our screened-in porch.

12/29: picking out a new door

...for our screened-in porch.

12/28: in the air, on the ground

In the morning I went flying with Chris.  The white in the photo is shining water in the furrows of fields; the blue is the reflection of the sky.

In the later afternoon we walked at Woolly Hollow, with a pause at Gold Creek as the halfway point.

12/27: spotting

...the profile of a cedar waxwing while on my walk.  They visited our yard for berries last week; today they were busy in a neighbor's yard.

12/26: a greeting

As I walked on the ridge this afternoon, I passed a neighbor who was walking with her two young grandchildren.  My neighbor said, "Hello, Rebecca," and then the smaller of the boys also said, "Hello, Rebecca" in such a sweet way.  He doesn't know me, but it was really clear that he wanted to be friendly so he echoed his grandmother.

12/25: experimenting

...with our holiday pierogi casserole.  This year we added vegetarian "bacon," sauteed the onion and "bacon" together first, and used ditalini instead of egg noodles.  It turned out really well.

12/24: semi-colons

I've been reading Lawrence Weinstein's Grammar for a Full Life, and (alas) I'm mostly finding it disappointing.  But today I read what he wrote in praise of semi-colons, and I share in his enthusiasm.

12/23: innovating

...on the fly by using lemon wafers (rather than vanilla ones) to make rum-balls this afternoon. 

12/22: an unexpected holiday card

...from one of my parents' former students who knew me when I was little.

12/21: a lantern

Chris bought me a great LED lantern to use in my (light-less) book-storage unit in town.  I've also been using it when I go outside at night since it's better (and more fun) than a flashlight.  This evening I used it while walking down to the lake; I liked swinging it as I stepped.

12/20: flashing

...wings of geese as they flew low overhead in the late afternoon light.

12/19: sending out

...the last of the holiday cards.

12/18: car-care

I haven't been driving my car much at all these days (months!), but an oil-change and some other TLC was overdue, so we took it into the shop.  As I was driving it home, I could immediately tell it was running more smoothly.

12/17: preparing

...envelopes and packages for holiday mailing for tomorrow.  I'm a little later at putting things into the post than I wanted to be, but getting it done is good regardless.

12/16: making candy

...from scratch.  Two batches came out well.  One batch is a little soft but good.  One batch got burned.  Ah well--a learning curve.  I'll try again tomorrow.

12/15: using

...a very little bag my mother made for me out of some old denim jean pockets.  It's the perfect size for my phone, and this afternoon I wore it to hold my phone so that I could listen to an audiobook while I was sweeping the house.

12/14: after midnight

It's almost 3 am in the morning of 12/14--I haven't been to sleep yet.  It took me much longer to do the recording of my conference presentation than I had planned.  But it's done now and sent, and hopefully it'll work without issue.  And--also hopefully--having stayed up late means that I won't feel pressed in the day ahead.  I may still worry about the presentation itself in other ways, but it's largely out of my hands now.

12/13: holiday dinner

It's St. Lucy's feast-day, something we always celebrated in my parent's house when I was growing up.  It made me happy that Chris and I had a fitting dinner for a holiday today:  vegetarian "sausage"-apple stuffing and cranberry sauce.  It was the first time I tried that particular stuffing recipe, and I'll be making it again.  (Though not for quite some since since one recipe yielded so much--we'll have leftovers all week!)

12/12: finishing

...a full draft of my PowerPoint slides before heading to bed.  It took longer than I thought, but I'm glad to not leave more assembly for tomorrow.

12/11: three

Morning:  Seeing bluebirds while on my walk.

Afternoon:  Revising my paper. 

Evening:  Having a technologically-connected game-night with my mother and two home-town friends.

12/10: scanning

...images for my conference presentation and appreciating new details that I can now add to my talk.

12/9: less busy

The grocery store was less crowded than I've seen it in months.  I was grateful for the relative calm today.

12/8: taking some time

...to tinker with a wordless pamphlet idea.  I need to finish my conference paper, but I was itching to do something visual and non-verbal.  It was a good break, and I'm hoping that I'll return to my draft tomorrow refreshed and ready to wrap it up.

12/7: late night / early morning laughs

...as I watched all the episodes of The Other One in a bout of insomnia. 

12/6: trying out

...another new-to-us walk, this time one connecting the Cobblestone Trail and Chamber Trail in Fairfield Bay.   

12/5: connecting electronically

...to watch a Minnesota Center for Book Arts book-binding tutorial this morning and to play a game of Skip-Bo with my mother this afternoon. 

12/4: glad for good prose

...by Wilkie Collins (I'm listening to The Woman in White as I walk each day) and by Margaret Mahy (I just started The Catalogue of the Universe).  It's always great to feel like you're in the hands of an expert guide through words.

12/3: getting through

...today's chunk of paper-drafting more smoothly than anticipated.  Perhaps I've been thinking about it for so long that my thoughts finally crystallized?  (Here's hoping I haven't jinxed the next few days of paper-writing by feeling glad about today.)  

12/2: writing

...some cards for the Angel Card Project with Chris.

12/1: turning down

...a professional opportunity that I wouldn't enjoy and that would stress me out.  It felt good to recognize and own that I wasn't a good fit for the position.

11/30: amazed

...by the shifting shadows cast on my home-office floor by a tree moving in high wind outside my window.

11/29: talking

...on the phone with my brother for quite awhile this afternoon.

11/28: back out

...on the lake.  I'm still taking it easy with kayaking because my wrist continues to be iffy, but I braced it today before I went.  While I was out, I saw geese, cormorants, ducks, and a heron.  And I enjoyed the afternoon's cloudy sky reflected on the water.

11/27: more walking

Today Chris drove us up to the Buffalo River near Yellville, and we followed a long-for-us trail (4 1/2 miles) that took us to a very large cave previously used by Native Americans for shelter.

After we finished that trail, we took a shorter one to an overlook with a view of the river.  It had been busy in the early afternoon, but no one was on it by the time we were there.  We stopped at the overlook to watch 50+ vultures gathering, swooping, swirling, and gliding as the sun set.

11/26: walking

....along a trail by the Little Red River in Shirley, Arkansas.  It was a new-to-us path, and we were glad we chose it for today's holiday walk.  A dog from a house near the trail kept us company pretty much the whole time.  

I took this picture at the farthest point of the walk, at a small old cemetery.  I was looking out at the bare trees with the light on the river below them, and this is how my camera caught the moment.

11/25: today it was Simon the Cat

...who was an amazing cuddler while I read.  His company made me smile a lot, and it's a far cry from the days when he was a stray who wanted contact but was afraid to make it.

11/24: a trio

Avoiding the blues (which seemed like they were coming on strong this morning) by walking the Gold Creek trail twice with Chris.  (It's basically a loop, but when we had covered the loop once we turned around and walked back in the other direction.) 

Taking notes on some thought-provoking things in secondary scholarship related to the talk I need to start writing.

Enjoying a few slices of the Pennsylvania nut-roll that arrived in the mail today.

11/23: afternoon and evening

My morning trip to the grocery story had a good number of glitches, but then I was able to read and write myself back to some sort of smoothness in the afternoon.  And this evening I made chocolate chip cookies with cinnamon and Old Bay seasoning, something I've been meaning to try for awhile; I may have overbaked them a bit, but the taste is good.

11/22: Phineas the Cat

...is an amazing cuddler.  He and I were contiguous for much of the day as I read a book and watched TV with Chris.

11/21: visiting

...the Big Creek Natural Area for the first time this afternoon.  We walked both trails and were glad to see the creek from high above and then spend some time right next to it.

11/20: finding a focus

...while doing my Friday afternoon writing by looking at how the D'Aulaires present the story of Pandora in both words and images in their Book of Greek Myths.  They really put her in a number of patriarchal double-binds! < Not a happy thing, but interesting to trace out the how of it.

11/19: finding

...a voicemail message on my phone from last week that I didn't notice (and so didn't hear) at the time.  It was from an old friend; he was calling out of the blue and telling me about some Greek he's been translating.

11/18: driving into town

...to take my walk in a different place.  The change of venue felt good.

11/17: watching

...a dance concert online.  The choreographers--all BFA seniors at Rutgers--did a great job of creating pieces to be streamed, building the aesthetics of filming into their works.

11/16: enjoying a return

...to The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  I read it in the 80s and again in the 90s, and I recently decided to download an audio version of it to listen to while walking.  It's 24 hours long, so that's nearly a month of walks--hurray!

11/15: going to

...a new-to-us place:  the Indian Rock Cave in Fairfield Bay.  There were some petroglyphs!

The marks at the bottom of the photo are modern graffiti.  The diamond designs are petroglyphs.  Various tribes used the large cave as a meeting place over centuries.

11/14: after some rain

...smelling autumn leaves and late-blooming honeysuckle.

11/13: watching

...a cloud as it moved across the space of a window-frame.  I made myself slow down and breathe as it went.

11/12: finishing

...listening to Mark Twain's Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson.  Chris teaches it in one of his classes and has long urged me to read it.  Listening to it as I walked took longer than reading it would have, but I was glad to have my experience of the text slowed down and stretched out over more days.  Today as we got dinner ready we especially talked about how the "Author's Note" at the end works in light of the whole piece.

11/11: reading and thinking

...about scholarly articles:  one on reception theory, one on Greek and Roman monsters, and two on Classics in the Harry Potter series.  It feels good to be in conversation with other people's thoughts and to have my own.

11/10: making

...a recipe (here) for peanut brittle with sesame, ginger, and sriracha.  It turned out really well!

11/9: a good gathering

...of good things.

Photographing leaves on my morning walk.

Seeing and reading about some work by Matt Siber.

Finishing a full draft of a long-lingering piece of writing on the uses of Classics in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Learning that a friend got offered a job at her interview this morning and started training immediately.

Listening to a podcast about sparrows and snapping shrimp by a college friend whose voice I haven't heard in over 30 years.

11/8: going up

...Petit Jean Mountain today.  It was overcast, and the filtered light plays interesting color tricks with the reflections on the water. 

We also started listening to C. S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength.  Its depiction of a faculty meeting in the 1940s made us laugh out loud with its relatability.

11/7: talking with Chris

...about Trollope and Twain as satirists whose ethical edges are often unappreciated or even ignored.

11/6: a phone conversation

...with a student who is finishing their Odyssey alteration project.  I'm supervising eight students who signed up for this project, and a reflective conversation near the end is part of the process.  This is the second one I've had, and I really enjoy hearing the students talk about their work.

11/5: listening

...to a podcast in which a friend of mine was interviewed.  It was so great to hear her voice as she talked about her work!

11/4: good reading

I sat on the porch this afternoon and finished Bridges of Clay by Markus Zusak.  I cried, and I can't remember the last time I cried reading a book.

After dinner I read Chris a chapter from Moominsummer Madness.  We always enjoy Tove Jansson's novels, but this chapter--in which the Moomins et al. move into a floating theatre--struck both of us as perfect.

11/3: quick help

...from AAA when my car battery needed a boost this afternoon.

11/2: putting aside

...electronic devices and letting myself / making myself read without the urge to check anything, text anyone, or play a digital game.

11/1: words

This morning I finished Marjorie Perloff's Unoriginal Genius, which concluded with a discussion of Kenneth Goldsmith's Traffic.  Right after I finished, Chris played me some of an ongoing AI conversation competition, and that seemed somehow perfect after reading about Goldsmith's transcription of traffic radio broadcasts.  Throughout the day we popped in to hear more of the AI conversation, and this evening I Zoomed in to listen to an Ontario-based reading series with six writers.  I especially enjoyed Angela Rawling's Anthropocento, composed from words and phrases (in multiple languages) she heard at an international environmental conference.

10/31: trying out

..a new camera on the blue moon.

10/30: an afternoon out

We drove up to Heber Springs in the afternoon to visit Bridal Veil Falls and Collins Creek, figuring they would be less crowded on a weekday than on a weekend.  On the drive back we finished listening to Perelandra.

10/29: a good day

I've been having some off days with low spirits and trouble focusing, but today turned out okay.  I read a novel while eating breakfast.  I went for a late-morning walk in the rain and took some pictures of leaves.  After lunch I wrote Trollope commentary then read some of Marjorie Perloff's Unoriginal Genius.  For dinner I tinkered with a sauce I made yesterday for vegetarian Mongolian "beef," and the results were good.  After dinner I wrote more commentary and read more Unoriginal Genius.  Chris showed me the bats living in our bat-box, and all three boy cats played with me and the string toy.

10/28: a new-to-me venue

...for early voting.  I usually go to the public library near campus, but one of our neighbors said that there were no lines at the polling station in the municipal event center where she works, so I decided to give it a try.  I was in and out with no more than 2 minutes of waiting.  In these COVID days I'm thankful to have avoided a line.  I'm also really grateful for early voting flexibility and for the people who work the polls to make it possible.

10/27: reading about

...Walter Benjamin's Arcades Project.

10/26: a surprise

...from Chris:  a steel tongue drum that makes wonderful sounds.

10/25: preparing

...for the start of a new week by making chocolate-raisin-flaxseed breakfast cookies.  I'm already looking forward to having them tomorrow morning.

10/24: outside

Geese overhead and some autumn colors in the Ozarks.

10/23: coming across

...this turtle on my walk.

10/22: antidote for grumpiness

I usually buy "real" animal figurines, but this week I was feeling so unsettled, angry, demoralized, etc. that the "Grumpy Dragon" (that's the name it's sold under) seemed right.  I thought it might somehow help me deal with my feelings--by acknowledging yet externalizing them in and through an unreal creature?  I don't know.  There was one in stock across town, so a few nights ago Chris drove us there after dinner so I could buy it.  (I think he thought I might not buy it after all if left to my own devices; he was probably right.)  It turned out the first one I bought was broken, so we had to go back and exchange it.  Now the grumpy dragon has taken up residence on my desk, and today I took him outside for a few pictures.  So far he seems to help my spirits!

10/21: quintet

Time on the lake this morning.  Wonderful light.

Good news about the village monument in my childhood hometown.  It had gotten knocked down by a driver a couple of years ago, and today it was finally restored.

A new job for a friend.  She started today.

A mouse and a bat featured in Night on Earth, which Chris and I watched during dinner.  The bat drank from a night-blooming cactus flower.  The mouse made a victorious cry after fighting a scorpion.

Two owls hooting.  Chris called me onto the porch so I could hear them.

10/20: adding

...radishes and carrots to the salad I made for dinner.  Chris called it rabbit salad.  I called it leporine.  The crunch was good.  

10/19: working through

...an array of tasks today, even with some trouble focusing at certain points.  Recently I've been not-very-successful at using my daily to-do list as a schedule or agenda, so today was a kind of victory.  The last thing on my list is "read," which I'm happily heading off to do now.

10/18: watching

...a documentary about Merce Cunningham with Chris.  I especially enjoyed the clips of Summerspace, with choreography by Cunningham and design by Robert Rauschenberg.  I also was grateful for the chance to share thoughts and impressions about Cunningham's work in general with Chris, as we were watching and after.

10/17: heading out

...to Woolly Hollow in the afternoon.  I needed to widen my orbit a little, and it felt good to revisit the creek.

10/16: the pier & bridge

I've often stopped at the pier and bridge on my way to campus to take pictures of the reflections on the lake, but this semester I'm working at home so I haven't been there in awhile.  This morning I drove out and took a few photos.

10/15: taking

...a camera on my walk today.  I photographed some leaves, flowers, and tree trunks, but my favorite picture is this one of part of a shipping container.

10/14: the annual wonderfulness

...of the aster patch and its winged visitors.

10/13: taking

...a backroad as I was driving home today from Morgan.  It reminded me of the roads in rural Pennsylvania where I grew up.

10/12: sitting outside

...in the downtown park and reading for pleasure.  I finished my errands a little early and had a half-hour before my hair appointment, so I enjoyed my book in the autumn sun and air.  And just for fun I sat near a sculpture of a girl reading.

10/11: watching

...a leaf in the wind.  It was dangling from a single strand of a spider's web that I could barely see--so the leaf looked like it was floating, dancing mid-air.

10/10: fixed by noon

Last night we had to sleep in a hotel because our plumbing was on the blink.  Chris got us first on the list for the plumber this morning, and the problem was fixed before lunchtime.  It was something we definitely couldn't have taken care of ourselves, and I'm very thankful it wasn't a full-day or multi-day job.

10/9: creative exercises

I did an Odyssey remix in the morning.  I took a page from the Butcher & Lang translation and used words from that page to make a 9-word sentence:  the first word had 1 letter, the second had 2, the third had 3, usw up to 9.  Then I found a way to arrange them on a page in a way that would enact their meaning somewhat.  It was really fun.

In the evening I did a Crystal Bridges workshop on collage composition, and the first activity was inspired by Ellsworth Kelly's Brushstrokes Cut into Forty-Nine Squares and Arranged by Chance.  That was a happy surprise.

10/8: heading out

...onto the lake after dinner.  I think it was one of the best sunsets I've seen while kayaking.

10/7: spending some time

...collaging at the end of the day.  Pinks and purples. 

10/6: a smooth exchange

It seems like my work interactions have been mostly glitchy over the past months (alas), but today--when I had to go to campus to get a large-format scanner to use--the hand-off went smoothly and pleasantly, and I am so grateful for that.

10/5: being grateful

...that Chris planted a large pot of autumn zephyr lily bulbs a year or two ago.  The pot is right at the end of the walkway from our house, so we've been enjoying the flowers as we've been coming and going.  Their bright white makes me smile, and though they look delicate they must be resilient to flourish amid the fall's fluctuating temperatures.

10/4: starting

 ...a new print novel:  The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan.  I decided to read all of The Blood of Olympus series and The Trials of Apollo series in time for the release of the final novel in the Apollo series this coming week.  It's meant following a pretty strict reading schedule over the past month and spending a lot of time in Riordan's fictional world of teen and tween demi-gods, but it's been good overall, and it feels nice to be in the home(ish) stretch.

10/3: starting

...a new audiobook, Borne by Jeff VanderMeer.  I've been interested in it since it came out, and the time finally felt right for diving in.  I enjoy the getting-to-know-you stage of beginning a book; so much seems possible.

10/2: heading out

 ...onto the lake at night with Chris to watch the moon on the water.

10/1: out of the house

Chris and I went flying in the morning.  I read outside in the afternoon.  I walked in the evening and then went to the pier to watch the moon rise.

9/30: morning & evening

I knew I wouldn't be able to take a walk this evening because I had a Zoom lecture on my calendar, so I went kayaking in the morning and enjoyed the light.  I took a lot of photos!  Here's one:

And I also enjoyed the lecture this evening, sponsored by the Arkansas Art Center.  It was great to learn about African American women artists who work with/in abstraction.   I want to see more of Howardena Pindell's work for sure.

9/29: being expeditious

...in writing a number of emails.

9/28: good things

I had a difficult day, including, I'm sorry to say, a mini-meltdown in the hour before lunch.  But there were good things about the day, too, and I'm so grateful for them.  A colleague immediately reinforced an email I had to write about something our department chair did wrong.  Since the colleague is also on sabbatical, I would have understood if she hadn't written; it was very nice that she took the time so I didn't have to be a lone voice.  Chris talked with me on the phone when I was having my meltdown and then went grocery shopping with me in the afternoon.  Throughout the day I made progress on a pamphlet-formatting problem that's been vexing me for weeks.  The evening air was perfect for a long walk, and I enjoyed watching the sky's colors as I listened to my audiobook.  I'm listening to The Owl Service by Alan Garner, and in this evening's installment one of the main characters has her own meltdown of sorts and a friend helps her through it.  It made me think about how good Chris is to me when I have troubles.

9/27: a surprise

Our Dutch pear tree has autumn blooms,

9/26: thinking about dragons

 ...in literature and their uncanniness.

9/25: adapting

I was looking forward to Crystal Bridges' paper-sculpture workshop to be held via Zoom this evening.  I had had a kind of frustrating day with some work-related issues and some problematic papers at an online conference, and this workshop was going to be a kind of compensatory treat.  As a bonus, Chris said he'd join in too, so we would be doing something together.  But when the time came, it seemed like there were technical troubles on the hosting end, and we couldn't connect, though we tried several different ways.  I was disappointed, so we found a paper-sculpture tutorial on YouTube and did it instead.

9/24: learning

 ...that Ellsworth Kelly used chance to determine the arrangement of squares in Colors for a Large Wall.

9/23: trying out

 ...a kind of digital collage this morning, using a somewhat aleatory Odyssey remix I did yesterday evening.  Both the digital collage and the aleatoric approach were new to me, and I enjoyed them.  They made me feel like I could breathe better.

9/22: coming across

 ...some poems by T. E. Hulme.

9/21: another year

...of good things.  It's my blogiversary, and I'm glad that this blog has given me a daily nudge to pause and remember something positive over the past 12 years.  As a celebratory treat I'm eating a packet of Annie's Sour Bunnies, which are sweet as well as sour, and that seems fitting for the blog's project and perspective.

9/20: morning and evening

I went kayaking in the morning and walking in the evening.  It was great to be out and about in the early-autumn air.

9/19: baked goods

Today I finished the last of the flaxseed raisin breakfast "cookies" I had made.  I enjoyed eating them this week and look forward to making them again soon.  This afternoon I tried a new-to-me recipe for lemon shortbread.  I think it's my favorite of all the shortbread recipes I've used over the years, and I look forward to trying it with some other flavoring and spices.

9/18: cool enough

 ...to take my daily walk outside rather than on the treadmill.

9/17: noticing

 ...the clouds more.  It reminds me of the days when I photographed clouds rather than water.

9/16: this evening

I had an off-kilter afternoon, but this evening I got a boost from writing cards to some Cheyenne Elders and listening to Messiaen's Oraison for ondes Martenot.

9/15: smooth

Re-editing and reformatting the Trollope commentaries has taken much longer than I anticipated, but I've been enjoying thinking about all the novels at nearly the same time.  (The original commentaries were done across the course of more than a decade.)  Today's commentary on Dr. Wortle's School was especially smooth, and it was great to remember moments from that novel, the students who wrote the commentary with me, and instances of Trollope's smartness and goodness.

9/14: picking up

...a paint pen I had in my campus office so that I could work on a page-altering project at home.

9/13: ordering

 ...prints of photos.  I stopped regularly ordering prints over a year ago, and now I'm trying to play catch-up.  It's interesting to go through all the pictures I've taken in the gap and choose ones for postcards.  I put in a big order today, which gets me mostly through the 2019 backlog and into early 2020. 

9/12: a morning survey

...of the dewy spiderwebs in the yard.

9/11: a night sighting

 ...of some spiderwebs.  When Chris saw them, he called me out to see them too, and he held a flashlight while I took some pictures.

Chris also shined the flashlight further into the yard so I could see the glinting of a spider's eyes.

9/10: finally

A little over two weeks ago, I went to the doctor to get my annual prescriptions renewals.  There was bureaucratic/computer trouble with one of the prescriptions, and the rigmarole was stressing me out because I couldn't fix the situation myself and the resolution was taking much longer than it should.  Today it finally worked out.  I now have my medicine and can cross trouble-shooting the prescription off my to-do list decisively.

9/9: signing up

...for a folded paper sculpture online workshop later this month.  I'm excited for it already.

9/8: a good afternoon

 ...with words.  First I edited commentary for Trollope's Bertrams, and then I put together a cento of sorts using William Cullen Bryant's translation of the Odyssey.

9/7: creative connections

In the morning I talked with a student on the phone about her Odyssey alteration project.

In the after I set aside a little time to do my own erasure of an Odyssey passage.

In the evening I wrote some prompts which students can use for their Odyssey alterations, and I enjoyed listening to the online recorded concert by the Praeclara Ringers.

9/6: remembering Roman Holiday

I was reading Rick Riordan's Mark of Athena on the porch this morning, and the set-up of one scene reminded me of Roman Holiday.  A few paragraphs later, it became clear why:  Riordan explicitly presents Rhea Silvia and Tiberinus as if they were Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck from the film.  It was such a sweet and unexpected touch.

9/5: hinges

I'm working on two pamphlets that use hinges to add pages to an accordion fold.  Hinges are so useful but also vexatious.  Among other things, they can bulk up a project, and that's one of the things that was getting me down.  Then I tried using onionskin to make the hinges, and that de-bulked them!  I'm really happy with the results so far, and I hope the exclamation mark on that last sentence isn't premature.

9/4: waiting for me

I went to campus today for the first time in a long time, and mail that had piled up in the campus post office had finally been distributed.  There were three notes from students (one current, two alumni) waiting for me.  What they wrote was kind, wonderful, and unexpected.  I am so grateful.  If I'm honest, I think I really needed those comments, and that adds another layer to my gratitude.

9/3: it's the time

 ...of year for winged things on the alium.

9/2: drawing

 ...with my eyes closed during an online workshop.  While the session wasn't exactly pitched for me (it was better for people who are used to doing representational drawing and wanted the "freeing" experience of drawing without watching what they're doing), I'm glad I gave it a go, and I'm kind of charmed by my sight-free drawing of an eye.

9/1: "sick toys"

There was a box of special toys and stuffed animals that my mother would give us when we were ill.  Today my under-the-weather-ness got the worse of me and I couldn't do much.  But I did read a lot of Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune, and the harpy Ella felt like a new "sick toy" friend.

8/31: feeling prompted

 ...by an email I wrote to students about their Odyssey erasure / remix / alteration projects to work on an Odyssey erasure myself.  I returned to a passage I've erased before, but this time I used a different translation with a very different result.  And while I was sweeping the house this evening I thought of a good pamphlet format and binding for it. 

8/30: being on sabbatical

Today a particular goodness about being on sabbatical struck me:  I'm ill, but because I'm on sabbatical I don't have to worry how I'm going to fare teaching tomorrow.  I'll still do work tomorrow, but I'm working on independent projects, so it's easier to adjust as necessary for illness.  That takes away a layer of stress when I'm not feeling well.

8/29: taking a turn

...for the better in the second half of the day.  The morning and early afternoon held unexpected frustrations.  But then I ran some errands, and I think it was good to get out of the house.  When I got home I used our immersion blender for the first time and made tofu mousse.  And this evening I solved the printer problems that had been part of my vexation in the morning. 

8/28: morning, afternoon, evening

Morning:  Once again, Quiet Writing time really got me into some good thinking and discovering.

Afternoon:  Realizing that one of Trollope's Classical reference had some sexual innuendo for those who recognize its connection to Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis.

Evening:  Doing an online painting session and then watching a funny movie with Chris.

8/27: eye and ear

A happy thing that caught our ears today:  Tilde the Cat playing with a toy (something she doesn't often do).

And something that caught my eye today:  yellow leaves among the green through a rainy-day window.

8/26: remembering and finding

...a poem that I heard out loud one spring in the mid-80s:  "The Magellanic Clouds" by Diane Wakoski.

8/25: being the first

...appointment of the day at the doctor's office.  It meant getting up at 5:45 in order to be there by 7:00, but it was worth it.  It was nice not having to wait long or worry about the doctor having gotten backed up, and I was able to be done and back home before 9:30.  I had fasted in order to have blood tests done, so when I got home I broke the fast with a celebratory chocolate spice roll, eating it on the porch with Chris and the cats.

8/24: a good sign for a good day

I saw the blooming lotus flowers on the lake on my way into town this morning.  It must have been a good omen for the day.  My shopping went pretty smoothly; I navigated the ridiculous number of traffic circles without a hitch (some of them stress me out); Tilde the Cat's vet-visit to get her stitches removed was quick and easy; I made a prototype of a new pamphlet; I wrote a lot of electronic messages and replies (it can be hard for me to overcome my self-consciousness, but I dove in and did it).

8/23: baking

...no-yeast cinnamon rolls again.  This time I used cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, and chocolate chips in the filling.

8/22: looking closely

I bought a deck of OuiSi cards, and this evening Chris and I experimented with them, making connections among the photos.  Articulating some of the similarities I saw between cares was harder for me than I expected!  Most of the deck's photos were taken in New York City, and a good number of them show wear and tear on metals, so here's some wear-and-tear-on-metal that I photographed on Friday, when Chris and I went to the outdoor range.  I was struck by the pealing paint and weathering on some of the targets, so I pulled out my phone and took pictures.

8/21: reading, thinking, writing, talking

I read more of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights over breakfast early this morning.

Sitting on the porch after that I thought and wrote about the visual poetry presentation last night.  There was a lot to process, and I kept thinking I was done writing about it, and I'd turn a page and realize I had more to work through.  I liked having the time and space and energy to be persistent in following out my thoughts and questions.

When Chris came home from teaching we talked about some of the ideas from a slightly different perspective, sparked by something he said to his students today, and that was great too.

I also had phone calls with my mother, sister, and a friend.  That's a lot of telephone contact for me for one day, but I was glad for each conversation.

8/20: Zooming in

 ...for a reading of visual poetry by five practitioners in the US, Mexico, and Chile.  Each had a different way of presenting their work via camera and sound, and I was glad to experience it all.  A lot to soak in and think about.  (And as a bonus, from the 45-person pool of presenters and audience I've had previous contact with 3 of them; I felt good, thinking that I am somewhat connected to a "community" beyond my sometimes-seeming super-circumscription.)

8/19: hearing an architect

 ...talk about his philosophy of designing buildings in terms of emphatic solids and emphatic voids.  I'm not sure that's how I think about architecture or want to think about architecture, but when I saw photos of his work I could clearly see how he puts his view into practice.  And it was interesting to spend some time doodling and designing using his approach.

8/18: walking inside

I loved walking outside this spring, but it's been too hot this summer for daily walks outdoors.  Usually I turn to the city's indoor walking track each summer, and though it's technically open for business, they're limiting users (which makes sense) and having to take a bunch of other precautions, so I haven't felt like I should go:  why make things harder for the workers and/or take the walking spot that someone else needs more than I do?  why spread any germs in the community unnecessarily?  Luckily, Chris had bought a streamlined treadmill for the house over the winter.  I've been using it almost every day now.  I'll be glad when the outdoors and the city track are options again, but in the meanwhile I'm so grateful for the in-house substitute.

8/17: moving on

 ...to editing/reformatting the commentary for The Small House at Allington.  It's made me remember the specific students who wrote the commentary and how fond I am of this book in general.

8/16: admiring

 ...the drip pan from our toaster oven, with baked-in drips and oven cleaner.  It can't be used for food and cooking as-is, but I like the kind of landscape it presents.

8/15: reading

...this sentence in Olga Tokarczuk's Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft:  "Constellation, not sequencing, carries truth."

8/14: Venus and Adonis

Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis came up this afternoon as I was writing commentary for Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? (Trollope uses the poem in two consecutive chapters).  Reading more of the poem to get context for the bit that Trollope quotes made me want to read all of it, and I suggested to Chris that we read it aloud since we just finished our latest read-aloud project (The Memoirs of Moominpappa).  So after dinner we read it, alternating between us stanza by stanza.  What a strange poem, an odd and beguiling mixture!  When we finished, we talked about the poem and what it could be doing, a conversation which was good, even if we still have lots of lingering questions.

8/13: rescuing the morning

I went to bed feeling out of sorts, and I woke up with some of the same disheartenment.  The electricity went out right before Chris and I got up to make coffee--but, happily, I have some Greek instant Nescafe, so I could make an ice coffee with water that was still cold in the refrigerator.  Also in the refrigerator:  fresh figs which Chris picked yesterday!  And then I decided to write about the cause of some of my consternation--a poem and a painting and the way they came up in a writing workshop yesterday--and (hopefully) get it mostly out of my system.  It worked.

8/12: the resilience

 ...of Tilde.  She was bright-eyed, walking, and even jumping today even though she had a surgery yesterday.  Our vet has told us in the past that cats heal faster than humans, but it still amazes me.  And I'm glad that she doesn't have to spend the time laid up that I would have to if I had had a similar operation.

8/11: Tilde et al.

We found out yesterday that Tilde the Cat needed an operation.  It wasn't a complete surprise:  we had been waiting for two weeks to see if it would be necessary.  Once it was a sure thing, Chris and the doctor got her scheduled right away for this morning, and by early afternoon we heard that the surgery was over and that she was awake.  She's home now, staying in a little "apartment" we made for her in my bathroom so that she doesn't need to mix with the other cats and can have everything she needs nearby.  I'm grateful for Tilde, our vet, Chris, and my childhood best-friend, who texted me throughout the day to check in on Tilde's progress.

8/10: making & baking

Making:  a collage for a mail-swap.

Baking:  a batch of peanut butter cookies to send to Chris' father. 

8/9: cutting through a knot

 ...of worry/wonderment about which envelopes to order for a new project.  And then I realized that I could request a sample of each of the possibilities so I don't have to make the decision without really seeing the options in person.  It's difficult to judge color and texture online, and I end up feeling like I'm gambling when choosing.  Now samples are on their way, and I won't have to keep my fingers crossed when I make my decision and finally place an order.

I know this might seem like a weird thing to write about as my good thing of the day, but I tend to get wrapped up in worries, so anytime that I can think of a way through or out I'm glad!

8/8: two things

Making no-yeast cinnamon rolls that were really good (recipe here, though I didn't add the frosting).

Finding this sentence in Anna Botsford Comstock's How To Keep Bees:  "Keep the cellar dark and the air sweet."

8/7: reading

 ...a tête-bêche novel (Lauren Oliver's Replica) and thinking about the relation between its form and content.  

8/6: remembering

...former students as I edit/reformat their Trollope glosses.  Some of them graduated in 2005, but by reading their words I can hear their voices--and that is very nice.

8/5: participating

...in another Crystal Bridges sketchbook workshop, this one run by Ryan Tate.  I appreciated his advice that lines are easier to pull than push.  This may be obvious to some people, but it was news to me.  I "push" lines a lot when I doodle, so it was fun to try a new way.

8/4: small and large

A little bunny hopped past me then paused in the grass as I walked down to the lake this evening.  Its eye was so big.

8/3: editing

...and reformatting old Trollope commentary.  I had meant to do this earlier in the summer (and had started), but my brain was too blurry from and distracted by other things.  Now I'd like to get it all done in the next 2 weeks (or less)--a tall order, but possible, and I'm looking forward to it.

8/2: choosing the verbs

...for the cover of Heron Tree volume 7, one from each of the poems in the issue:  begin, cleave, connect, dissolve, eat, fill, find, fly, hear, hold, hum, lift, look, mourn, release, remain, rip, run, shine, snap, step, surround, trace, wait.

I always pick one word per poem for the front of each volume--most often I've done nouns, but I felt like action words were somehow better for now.

8/1: healed enough (I hope)

I hurt my wrist--through a combination of things--and so didn't go kayaking for the past month:  I didn't want to make it worse through the motion of paddling.  But it seems like it's getting better and tonight looked like it was going to be a nice night on the water, so I decided to give it a go and my wrist held out okay.  This is a pixelation of the sunset on the water:

7/31: porch morning

It was cool enough this morning to spend time on the porch, mostly with Tilde the Cat, though Chris and the other cats also came out for awhile.  I read some more of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which I remember loving as a younger person and have wanted to reread; Chris' reading it right now gave me the incentive to actually do it.  Then I decided to do my Friday writing early and take advantage of the unexpected chance to write in nice air.  I wrote about allegory in Yõko Ogawa's Memory Police and similes in Henry Green's Concluding, and I think that helped me bring the odd experiences of reading those novels to a close.

7/30: experimenting

...with pop-up-book folding and cutting techniques and learning by doing.  It wasn't always comfortable and entailed a lot of trial-and-error, but even so it was a good thing.

7/29: blue sky and white clouds

...reflected on the lake as I drove by this morning.  Shimmering.

7/28: another round

...of collaging on the cards that my sister and I are mailing back and forth.  It was interesting to see what she chose to add and then decide what I want to contribute this time.

7/27: diving in

...to the last selection of similes for my share of a collaborative Melville project.  I only meant to do a little preliminary work this evening, but then I got pulled in as I tried finding ones that worked as a sequence but also spoke to my partner's prior sequence.  I ended the night with a full set.

7/26: coming across

...some color books on Project Gutenberg.

From A Color Notation by A. H. Munsell:  "Two dimensions fail to describe a color." And "The tuning of color cannot be left to personal whim."

From Colour as a Means of Art by Frank Howard:  "As it is impossible with pigments to rival the brightness of light, it has been found necessary to adopt some method of forcing the effect of colours, so as to conceal or to supply a compensation for this deficiency, and apparently to produce the vigour of truth."

From Field's Chromatography by Thomas W. Salter:  "Blue and green have been termed discordant, and in painting they may undoubtedly be made so. Yet those are two colours which nature seems to intend never to be separated, and never to be felt, either of them, in its full beauty, without the other—a blue sky through green leaves, or a blue wave with green lights through it, being precisely the loveliest things, next to clouds at sunrise, in this coloured world of ours."

7/25: watching the livestream

...of Aeschylus' Persians from the theatre at Epidaurus.  And Chris watched, too.

7/24: the crunch

...of radishes.

7/23: getting into

...Trollope research this afternoon and realizing that I'd rather be doing it than anything else right then.  My job troubles at the end of the semester had been making me uneasy about my academic work, as if it too was colored by that unpleasantness.  I'll be glad if that's beginning to feel less the case.

7/22: attending

...a Zoom sketchbook workshop facilitated by Daniel Coston and sponsored by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

7/21: doing practical things

...out in the world (appointments and errands) and inside the house (cleaning).  And thinking about "impractical" things, like fairies, abstract comics, and asemic writing.

7/20: clearing

...off my work tables in my home office so that I have room to think.

7/19: sky smudge

We drove into some farm fields south of town, where it's dark and flat, to see the comet.

7/18: a beautiful chapter

...about the disappearance of roses in The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder.

7/17: some smooth interactions

...online and on the phone.  Summer and COVID have meant that I'm interfacing with other people less in general, so I'm out of practice, but today's exchanges were all good, and that gives me hope.

7/16: letting myself

...get lost in pamphlet-making.  I had an idea mid-afternoon, and I just went with it, working on it until bedtime.

7/15: making

...a pearl couscous recipe a second time, with some tweaks.  In addition to the pearl couscous cooked in broth, it includes chopped onion, melted butter, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, pistachios, pine nuts, golden raisins, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  I put it on a bed of greens lightly tossed with oil and vinegar.  I think the recipe is a keeper, and I'm grateful to Chris for suggesting the cayenne.

7/14: going through

...all the pamphlets I've made in recent years, making sure I have two copies of each to save and seeing how many extras I have to send out.  Some I've sent out entirely, so I'll remake two of each of those in the coming days, and then I'll have an archive as well as a browsing collection.  Having a browsing collection was Chris' idea, and he was kind and supportive as I show-and-tell-ed him through the big stack.

7/13: finding

...my translation of the opening of one of Cavafy's poems on the sidewalk at school today.

7/12: in the home stretch

...of The Deerslayer.  It's been harder for me to read than I had expected; I couldn't get consistent momentum.  But Chris (who finished reading it a couple of weeks ago) and I have been talking about it as I've been going, and that's been great.  The project of the book is stranger, and more philosophical, than I thought it would be.

7/11: seeing

...a photo of my assembled high-school home-room, 1984-1985.  I have a probably intentional, bad attitude, "I'm not into having my picture taken" expression on my face, but everyone else looks so incredibly sweet.

7/10: maybe

...just maybe, a truly unpleasant, anxiety-inducing situation at work drew mostly to a close today.  It lasted 11 weeks, and may take me almost that long to recover from.  While a slow re-set is not a great prospect, I'm glad that I can at least try to get into re-set mode now.  And maybe sooner rather than later I'll stop feeling nervous and queasy every time I open my work email, wondering if some new chapter of yuck awaits me.

7/9: refinding blueberry lane

Years ago Chris and I were driving randomly on backroads and came across Blueberry Lane.  Today I was at odds-and-ends after doing some (more!) troubling email for work, and we thought we should go for a drive.  I suggested that we try to get to Blueberry Lane again.  So we did.

The first two photos were taken on Blueberry Lane itself; the last one shows Cadron Creek from a bridge we crossed to get to the lane.

7/8: Q & A period

I listened to a Zoom presentation today.  Although the lecture was full of information, it didn't highlight ideas, signal themes, or mark milestones in the argument.  But people used the question and answer period really nicely to prompt the speaker to make possible connections between his information and bigger, richer questions.  That was nice to witness.

7/7: adding

...my next snippets to the collaborative collage cards my sister and I are sending back and forth.

7/6: putting cardamom

...in the shortcake batter when making strawberry shortcake for dinner.

7/5: timing

I woke up shortly after 4 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep, so I turned to The Deerslayer--and as night became morning I was reading Cooper's descriptions of dawn.

7/4: reading the last chapter

...of Finn Family Moomintroll out loud with Chris.  There was a summer party with fireworks in it, which made it unexpectedly à propos for today.  And parts of it were very lovely:  the ruby!  the wishes!  When we finished, Chris went online and ordered the other books in the series so we can continue reading soon.

7/3: actually arranging

...some similes from Moby Dick as part of a collaborative project that had lingered long in the hypothetical stages.

7/2: thinking about

...the various ways the word "as" works:  expressing a time relationship, signaling a simile, completing a comparison, showing extent, qualifying or particularizing, helping to introduce a conditional clause of comparison, offering a reason or cause, showing purpose.  Sometimes the categories of usage seem quite separate, but as I've been looking at Herman Melville's uses of "as" in Moby Dick, I'm realizing how often they blend into one another.

7/1: starting

...to listen to The Radiant Road by Katherine Catmull.  I loved her Summer and Bird back in 2013 (I wrote about it enthusiastically here and here), and I'm excited to see how this novel of hers will go.  Hearing the first chapter made me eager to continue tomorrow, and it made me want to revisit Summer and Bird too.

6/30: the moon

...reflected on the water at the end of my time kayaking.

6/29: a morning walk

...in the rain.

6/28: trying

...a recipe for tofu "coddies," supposedly reminiscent of the codfish cakes that were a Friday dinner staple during my Catholic childhood.  They weren't as wondrous as I remember actual codfish cakes being, but they were good, and nostalgia gave them a boost.

6/27: being surprised

...by a very dramatic interaction in a book I've read before.  I can't believe I had forgotten the scene!

6/26: Odyssean images

One of my students had a scene from the Odyssey painted for me as a sabbatical present.  The painting is now done, and he sent me a photo of it today.  So kind and cool of him!

And I spent part of my Friday writing time with Manuela Adreani's spread of Odysseus and Leucothea.  Though it's not how I picture of the woman-turned-goddess and what she adds to the Odyssey, there is much that's arresting about the image.  (It made me gasp a little when I turned the page in the book and came upon it.)

6/25: perching on the electrical wires

Bluebirds.  And the sun as it set turned their rust-colored throats a blazing red.

6/24: coming across

...a dung beetle rolling its ball on my morning walk.

6/23: dipping into

...some similes in Moby Dick.

6/22: finishing

...a revising/editing/proof-reading project that has taken much longer than anticipated.  Now I can move on to more interesting work!

6/21: working

...on writing a Latin paragraph for the incoming students' placement exercise.  I used a scenario from a poem by Propertius:  the narrator is on his way home from a party and is accosted by a troupe of Cupids who chastise him for spending the night away from his girlfriend.

6/20: re-reading

...a piece I had written in 2003 and realizing that the thinking holds up, though my writing is better now than it was then.

6/19: morning, afternoon, evening

Listening to Perelandra with Chris on our 3rd weekly road trip.

Zooming in to a Children's Literature professional meet-up.

Making the annual moon & June cake with Chris.

6/18: receiving

...a very nice email from an undergraduate at another school, asking about my Hedwig and the Angry Inch paper from years ago.

6/17: just pie

...for dinner.

6/16: unexpectedly

...cooler than I thought it would be this evening.  I needed to get out of the house and away from my worries, so I was grateful for a temperate walk, sightings of a new-to-me orange flower and a new-to-me spider, sweet-smelling air, fireflies, and an audiobook offering the relief of a sure, sheer narrative.

6/15: book-ending

...my work today with Trollope:  I read some chapters of Can You Forgive Her? in the morning, and I wrote and revised some Trollope commentary this evening.

6/14: kindness

...with good humor from a mail-art friend.  I wish my interactions with people were less fraught with worry on my end, and I'm very grateful when easy grace from others on their end makes me feel okay.

6/13: trying

...a new game of dominoes (called "Sniff") with Chris.  And also trying a new recipe (walnut/tomato pesto) for dinner.

6/12: reading

...snippets from Absence of Clutter by Paul Stephens, which I just received today.  Stephens quotes "The New Art of Making Books" by Ulises Carrión, so I went and read it (here)--which made me want to say "yes!" out loud a lot.  (Though in other places I wouldn't go as far as Carrión does; there are still things I love about the "old art" of literature.)

6/11: my little boat

I power-washed my kayak this morning and took it out this evening.  And I realized I've had it for 12 years now--that's a good thing.

6/10: coming across

...a tarantula during my evening walk.  I've only seen one "in nature" five or six times.  It's always exciting and I love the look of them.

6/9: receiving & sending

I got a great email from a friend today.  Plus a postcard from another friend.  Both helped me to feel like a person in the world who is connected to other (and wonderful) people in the world.

I also sent a (hopefully) final email about a situation at work that has been a grey cloud raining stress over my head since the end of April.  I'm glad I sent it this evening rather than wait until the morning for another re-read and round of tinkering.

6/8: especially appreciating

...wild bergamot, mullein stalk blossoms, and black-eyed Susans on my walk this morning.

I'm also ending the day appreciating a colleague who generously shared her experiences with me (and listened to my own) this afternoon, as well as my sister, with whom I talked on the phone this evening.

6/7: talking with

...my friend & poetry collaborator.  We hadn't spoken in months because we've each been busy with other things.  But our schedules are less intense now and our chapbook has been accepted for publication, so it was time to decide what steps to take for our next projects.

6/6: zipping out

...to the public pier to see the light of the rising moon on the water.

6/5: outside, inside

We decided at breakfast to take a drive into central Arkansas and spend time at the outdoor range.  It was a good decision.

When we got back, I realized that I had time for Friday afternoon writing in air-conditioned comfort (very welcome after a hot time outside).  To keep myself from dwelling on unpleasant things in my writing, I wrote about some of the images in the adaptation of the Odyssey illustrated by Manuela Adreani (a book that arrived yesterday).  That was also a good decision.

6/4: knowing what to try

Trouble at work continues (though the "at" is metaphorical since I'm working at a distance), and a fresh wave of trouble came this afternoon.  Although I was shaken by it, I knew what techniques to try to rebalance myself:  talking with Chris, taking a walk, brainstorming a concrete response, watching diverting TV shows with Chris, watching comforting TV shows on my own, starting a book that I know is going to have a good ending.

6/3: a good interruption

As I was getting some mail ready in my home office Chris called out that the light outside was interesting so that I could pause to take a look.

6/2: making

...deluxe nachos for dinner.  (It's becoming a habit.)

6/1: lightness

Some things made me feel lighter today:  a morning walk listening to a new-to-me novel (The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield); a talk with my mother after that; mail readied for the post; registration for an online meet-up in a few weeks for children's literature researchers; a hair-cut (after 3 months!); a conversation with a friend in which we laid a plan to read Trollope together this summer.

5/31: writing

...to two former students:  one because it is his birthday day, the other because he asked for some of my memories of him in Greek class 20 years ago.

5/30: Emma's cry

...for french fries!  He likes to eat them, but we haven't brought any home for months and months.  Today we went through a drive-through, and as soon as we brought the bag with fries through the door of the house, Emma smelled them and started meowing insistently, reminding us to give him some (which we did).

5/29: out

...on the lake in my kayak for the first time in quite awhile. 

And Chris had changed the innertubes on my kayak cart so that they'll never need pumping, which meant that I didn't have to pause before heading to the dock.

5/28: like pennsylvania

I went walking this evening after we had some rain in the afternoon.  The air was moist but not too hot, and everything smelled green.  It felt like I was walking in Pennsylvania rather than Arkansas.

5/27: drinking

...blood-orange mimosas with Chris.

5/26: receiving

...quick email replies from nice colleagues at work.

5/25: making PDFs

...of some poems for Heron Tree.  I enjoyed the chance to be in the poems by typing them, and I'm grateful to the poets who sent them our way.

5/24: watching

...a raccoon, two herons, and a soaring kite from our windows.

5/23: getting to ten

I'm very achey today, so it was a good day to use Barbara's suggestion of working toward 10 things.  I:  1) finished Tom Brown's School Days and talked with Chris about similarities between its reception and Little Women, 2) walked on the ridge while listening to Venetia, 3) talked with our neighbor Betty, 4) got some pamphlets ready to mail, 5) texted my mother (for her birthday) and some friends, 6) watched TV with Chris because we both weren't feeling up to much else, 7) packed some school books from the semester to take back to campus and clear (physical and mental) space for new projects, 8) verified my replacement credit card, 9) registered the Jeep, and 10) started reading a new novel.  

I miss Barbara's wisdom and perspective; I'm grateful our paths crossed, and I'm glad that every time I have a "keep going until you reach 10 things" day I especially think of her. 

5/22: three

Walking in the morning (to beat the rain).

Working out a pamphlet problem in the afternoon.

Cleaning my bathroom in the evening.

5/21: having some thoughts

...about Tom Brown's School Days and writing them out while on the porch with Tilde this morning.

5/20: tilde sitting

...on my lap while I read this evening.

5/19: a moment

...of complete delight at seeing two rabbits hop across the road as I walked.

5/18: receiving

...a wonderful email from a graduating student.

5/17: trying

...to keep negative thoughts at bay--by actively talking them down, collaging, and tinkering with pamphlet formatting.  Now I'll try by sweeping the floors while listening to an audiobook.  Making the attempt is a good thing, even if it doesn't always work!

5/16: beating the rain

...by walking in the morning.

5/15: writing a report

...about the book groups I ran this year at school.  This is one of my usual year-end bureaucratic tasks.  This morning I enjoyed doing it because the reading groups this year were so good; I was grateful to have a chance to remember that goodness.

5/14: being unexpectedly transported

...to the hill of the Uffington Chalk Horse by the opening pages of Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes.  I had no idea that the book would start that way, and it was such a pleasure to remember a morning and afternoon spent with Chris in that landscape two decades ago.

5/13: finishing

...the grading for the semester.

5/12: having a late-breaking idea

...for a pamphlet format in the evening.

5/11: some good amidst a lot of not-good

I was treated very unfairly and hostilely by a parent of one of my students today.  It was horrible, and it was public.  But I made chocolate/peanut butter energy bites as well as tofu "tuna," and I took a long walk and got absorbed for 2 hours this evening in making the Etymology test for tomorrow.

5/10: baking

...a blood orange breakfast bread.  I made it near the start of our remote-teaching/learning time, and I thought it would be fitting to make it again now that we're in the final week of the semester.

5/9: forward and backward

Chris and I walked the trail at Woolly Hollow to Gold Creek.  Then Chris went to the car while I backtracked to the beginning on the trail.  Today I brought the bison along.

5/8: three

Making some flower-themed mini-collages to clear my mind.

Enjoying a new-to-us peanut soup recipe.

Seeing a bunny twice during my evening walk.

5/7: reading and writing

I read a little part of the Myth students' final assignments today in which I asked them to choose 3 things from the course that they were especially glad to have done, read, encountered, or thought.  They choose nice things and it was heartening to read them.  (Especially at a time when I really need to be heartened.)

I also wrote them each a note to let them know I got their final assignment and to wish them a good summer.  Some of them wrote me sweet emails about the course and/or with their return good wishes--which they didn't need to do, but I am so grateful they did.

5/6: on the deck

A friend called me while I was taking my evening walk.  Once it grew too dark to keep walking, I stayed on our deck and kept talking with her.  The fireflies came out, the moon rose, and the air was filled with flowers.

5/5: reading

...the Etymology students' analogies for language:  the ocean, a volcanic island, air, wind, the seasons, a rose, a forge, Mandalorian beskar armor, building a house, a garment we knit and patch, a garden, a pothos plant, a plant, roots of a plant, living/evolving organisms, a role-playing game, a vine.

5/4: enjoying eggcorns

...that I've seen recently:  spreads a new light (for sheds a new light), harps back (for harks back), and basic tenant (for basic tenet).

5/3: nearing the end

...of assignment-sheet grading.  I only have one more day's worth for each class to do.  (Then, of course, final assignments, but I'll have a bit of a breather before I need to begin those.)

5/2: walking

...at Cove Creek.  It's the first time I've been out of the neighborhood for a non-essential reason in a month and a half.  (We choose Cove Creek because there are rarely other people there so we knew we wouldn't have to worry about distancing.)  I brought my little donkey along.

5/1: better

My head was in a not-good whirl from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday evening, but today it was better.  I wrote my way into clarity--not Quiet Writing but bureaucratic communication that made me feel saner as the words came together.  And then, after some grading, I talked with my sister and read aloud from Finn Family Moomintroll with Chris.

4/30: kindness

...from some friends and colleagues when I found myself overwhelmed by some badness.

4/29: getting through

...a tough day, with Chris making sure there were some good moments amidst the not-so-good.

4/28: a breather

The beginning Latin class has 4 lessons per week.  I gave them today off:  we needed a little break.

4/27: seeing things

...as I drove into town this afternoon:  fancy evening primrose, crimson clover, a scissor-tailed fly-catcher.

...in Shakespeare's sonnet 35 that I hadn't noticed before.

4/26: quicker grading

The grading I had set aside to do today went more quickly and smoothly than I had anticipated.  It meant that I was even able to go for a little walk this evening.

4/25: of her own accord

...Tilde came onto the bed this afternoon while Chris and I were watching TV and the other cats were with us.  She rarely does this anymore since she's stand-offish with the younger cats.  But today she was happy to join us, and I was happy she was there:  all six of us together.

4/24: receiving

...a letter from a stranger as part of a letter swap I joined.  It was so nice to read.