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.
...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.
4/22: keeping
...collage supplies on the table next to my desk. That way I can pause and make a quick one-inch collage (or two or three) when I need to step away from grading for a minute.
4/21: OED time
I'm grateful that every four years my Etymology course gives me an excuse to poke around in the Oxford English Dictionary. Today I was double-checking words to see what meanings were circulating in Shakespeare's time.
4/20: everyday words
I asked each of the Etymology students to write a short paragraph about a word (its history and development) that they've encountered recently in their daily lives. Everybody then read everyone else's and made connections. I wanted them to think about etymology beyond an academic context, and I wanted them to share a little window into their world since we're now separated. And two of them explicitly mentioned that they liked the spirit of it.
4/19: enjoying
...the enjoyment of words in Alan Bradley's Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I began listening to it this evening as I swept the floors.
4/18: comforts
It was a bad arthritis day, so I mostly stayed in bed. I finished reading one novel and got mostly through another; I hung out with Chris and the cats as we watched shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime; and I was grateful that the CBD gummy bears work quickly to take the edge off pain.
4/17: not writing but...
I haven't been writing on Friday afternoons because the grading is just so much, and I don't think I'd be able to relax at my desk, knowing I had so much work waiting for me. So I took a mid-afternoon break to walk instead. There was still the pile of work, but because I was away from my desk I could bracket it long enough to enjoy being out in the air and moving in the world.
An iris I passed as I walked:
An iris I passed as I walked:
4/16: at the end of a phone call today
...a friend said something like, "I really appreciate how good you are at metaphors. It's your thing." What an amazing thing for them to notice and say!
4/14: more kitchen experiments
Last night before going to bed I made a batch of no-bake chocolate/flax/oatmeal "energy balls." They're more like candy than the name suggests. It was my first time making them, and I enjoyed eating some of them today.
Chris recently said that he would like a tuna melt, which is a little challenging since he doesn't eat meat and doesn't like chickpeas (which people seem to think makes a better tuna-fish substitute than tofu). So I combined aspects of a bunch of different "tofu tuna" recipes and came up with something that I think really worked. And we had tuna melts for dinner.
Chris recently said that he would like a tuna melt, which is a little challenging since he doesn't eat meat and doesn't like chickpeas (which people seem to think makes a better tuna-fish substitute than tofu). So I combined aspects of a bunch of different "tofu tuna" recipes and came up with something that I think really worked. And we had tuna melts for dinner.
4/13: another new recipe
Today I made a French grated carrot salad, and it was really refreshing. I added grated radishes because we had some on hand, and I think it was a good tweak.
4/12: enforced relaxation
Almost as soon as I was done with the Heron Tree weekly posting, the electricity went out and stayed out for hours. There were more tasks on my to-do list for the evening, but they needed more light than a flashlight, candle, or computer screen. So I took to my bed and finished reading a novel.
4/11: trying a recipe
...for chili "paneer" with tofu. It was a good to take a break from worksheet-making-and-grading and do something new-to-me in the kitchen.
4/9: at the end the day
I got caught up on some grading. I fell behind at the beginning of the week, but now I'm going to end the week in a better place. It meant working an hour later than I wanted to this evening, but I think it was worth it.
Before stepping away from the computer for the night I was poking around in Anna Comstock's How to Keep Bees. And I found this:
Before stepping away from the computer for the night I was poking around in Anna Comstock's How to Keep Bees. And I found this:
"One privilege that was always granted to us children on this day was that of having 'our fingers made.' As the wax was cooling the finger was dipped in it, and the film was cooled while the finger was held very still; then the film was slipped off, a crucial point in the process, and used as a mould into which was poured the cooling wax; and presto! there was the finger as natural as life to every crease and wrinkle, but with a death-like pallor that rendered the row of fingers thus made a fascinatingly gruesome collection, as if they had been chopped off with a hatchet."I recognize the practice (I loved doing something similar as a child with candle wax), but I am so struck by the description and simile at the passage's end!
4/8: good news
An abstract for a paper was accepted! Who knows if the world will be back to traveling and business meetings in January 2021, but I'm glad that this abstract got a nod. It includes a discussion of Victoria Turnbull's post-human, post-patriarchal Pandora, and I love that Pandora so, so much.
4/7: this afternoon
...I finally wrote emails to some students who are working on an Odyssey alteration project I'm supervising. It made me realize how much I like each of them, and though I'm sorry I'm not seeing them--now that we've all dispersed for the semester--I'm excited that they're working on this project at a distance, and I'll be excited to meet up with them in the fall.
After dinner I took a walk down to the dock:
After dinner I took a walk down to the dock:
4/6: taking the time
...to walk after dinner, even though I had more than enough work to return to. I listened to more of Jess Kidd's Things in Jars as I walked, and I enjoyed hearing the phrases "soot glitter" and "smoke dew."
4/5: while walking
...along the ridge today I paused to take some pictures of the amazing rust on a barrel:
4/3: this week
...the trees have gone green. Since we've been working at home, we've been able to look out our big windows and watch it happen.
4/2: a morning sighting
I slept very poorly--I was so stirred up by an email I received yesterday that my mind couldn't settle. I was half-dozing, half-waking early this morning when Chris came back into the bedroom to tell me that we could see deer out the window. So I got up quietly, walked to the window, and watched the deer nibbling new green growth.
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