3/31: finally starting

...to write my essay on Wonder Woman.  I've been reading and taking notes, but for some reason(s?) I've had a hard time getting started on the essay itself.  Today I got the first third done, and I'll count that as a good thing.

3/30: morning, afternoon, evening

Smelling the lilac on my morning walk.

Finishing The Girl with All the Gifts.

Putting in my textbook orders for the fall.

3/29: paddling

...past a redbud tree on the lake this morning.  It was my first time kayaking in quite awhile, and it felt good to be back on the water.

3/28: getting wrapped up

...in reading M. R. Carey's Girl with All the Gifts this morning.

3/27: baking

...honey gingerbread cookies and using a hexagon cookie cutter.

3/26: watching

...the moon's reflection on the lake to the east as the sun set in the west.

...bats flying over our yard in the twilight.

3/25: a clear hour

...in which to take a walk without being rained on.  Every day there's more green, and today all the colors seemed more vibrant amid the grey.

3/24: after dinner

Doing some editor's work for a gorgeous poem that we'll be publishing at Heron Tree in a few weeks.

Helping Chris to bottle our apple wine, which turned out really well.

Going to the dock for just a little while at sunset.

3/23: relief

...as the evening went on after an afternoon and early evening of arthritis pain.

3/22: writing

...emails that I've been putting off.  They were hard or bad emails--I just sometimes get frozen when faced with emailing, and it was good to get unfrozen.

3/21: tidying

 ...my overfull, unsorted email inboxes.  It feels good!

3/20: moving

I walked after dinner, in the hour before sunset, and the temperature, the light, and the smell of spring were wonderful.  It all felt especially good after a somewhat sleepless night and a day spent in an online conference.

3/19: veggie reubens

...for dinner tonight.  We used to get them at one of our favorite restaurants, which is now--sadly and permanently--closed.  I'm really sorry we can't go there and order them anymore, but it's nice to know we can make them at home and honor the memory of the place in a little way.

3/18: silly, serious, and hopeful

A silly thing today:  buying this Hot Wheels Spring 2021 car.

A serious thing today:  reading All Kinds of Fur / Kins Fur by Margaret Yocom.

A hopeful thing today:  scattering seeds with Chris.

3/17: walking in the woods

...around our house with Chris.  We visited the wild plums and enjoyed other signs of spring.


3/16: a good day

The morning started off a little shaky.  Someone from the energy company was walking around our house, looking in our windows, and walking on our deck.  He didn't need to read our meter or do anything with our equipment, but (supposedly) he was hoping to get some directions--though he sure went about it in a creepy way.  Then we planned to go flying, but the airplane ended up needing to be serviced.  So we decided to head out to Cove Creek and try to leave the glitches behind--and we did! We saw lots of wildflowers, and I spotted a snake in a tree.  In the afternoon I wrote a bit, finishing up an essay that I'm glad to be done with.  After dinner we made banana no-dairy ice cream for dessert, and I went down to the lake for a bit.  I also finished Piranesi and am really glad I read it.


3/15: getting pulled in

...to Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

3/14: a flock

...of blueberry-lemon bluebird cookies.  I still get a bit nervous making cookies, but less so than I used to, and I'm glad my nervousness didn't keep me from dreaming these up and making the dream a reality. 

3/13: having a game night

...virtually with my mother and two friends.

3/12: enjoying

...the thousands of dogtooth violets blooming on the ridge.

3/11: a handful of things

Getting my audiobook glitch straightened out.  It required a call to customer service, and the representative was very nice.

Walking on the ridge and noticing the thousands of trout lilies.

Talking with a friend and colleague on the phone about a number of things, including the dark side or edginess of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Zooming into a short-story reading and listing words as the author spoke.

Reading Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, which my friend had mentioned in our phone call.

3/10: switching

...to Brian Eno's Music for Airports when my audiobook hit a playback glitch during my walk.  The music made me smile.

3/9: adding

...my latest bits to some collages which my sister and I are gradually putting together, taking turns through mail exchanges.  I love how they are shaping up.

3/8: taking

...my walk after dinner instead of in the morning--something that's possible now that the sun is setting later.  I enjoyed being out in the spring air, hearing birds chirping as twilight came on, seeing a bat, and catching some sunset color on the lake.

3/7: sipping

...the soy wine which Chris made--it's really good!

3/6: YouTubing in

...to some of the sessions of the Language Creation Society conference today.  I got to see a former student present about cleft sentences, plus I heard talks about the PIEbot program and making a conlang for corvids.  I'm excited for a few more presentations tomorrow.

3/5: thinking about

...a dark side of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

3/4: visiting

 ...flowers in the yard with Chris.  These are crocuses Chris planted.

3/3: Shakespeare, play & sonnet

I enjoyed reading some of Gregory Betts' The Others Raisd in Me today.  It's a series of 150 different remixes of Shakespeare's Sonnet 150.  

And I revisited Helena's Act 3 speech to Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream because Helena's image of the two of them embroidering together came into my mind and I wanted to track it down.  It was more wonderful than I remembered; I had to read parts of it out loud to myself.

3/2: posting

...newly edited versions of all the Trollope commentaries.  Hundreds of pages.  Finally.  Whew.  

I've decided to stay away from alcohol for a little while since I'm having some general trouble with light-headedness these days, but I feel like the occasion calls for some champagne or a non-alcoholic equivalent!

3/1: watching

...a mail-art friend's blindfolded poetry performance online in real time.  While blindfolded, he used rubber stamps of words and letters to create a visual poetry piece on a sheet of paper.  His son filmed him.  It was a sweet 20 minutes.