every day, one good thing: November 2021

11/30: getting out of my head

...for a bit, while working through some ancient riddles for a reading/discussion tomorrow. It was nice to be me, to be thinking, and yet not to be worrying. To use my head to look at the world rather than be so caught up inside myself that I can't see out.

11/29: changing the format

...for a test in the Mythology course so that the students have more choice in how they prepare and answer. I decided to make the change a few weeks ago (and I told the students about it then), but one of the benefits was visited on me today. Making the actual test was so easy and unfretful!

11/28: explaining

...to a friend some of what I've done in one of my classes this semester, and being really grateful for her enthusiastic reaction.

11/27: deciding

...to take it easy after a morning of errands made it clear that I was not feeling well. By evening I felt like I was getting better and had maybe succeeded at nipping a cold in the bud.

11/26: cranberry cake

We usually make a fruit cobbler for Thanksgiving, but this year I didn't have time to go grocery shopping until right before the holiday--and then I didn't want to deal with crowds at the store to get fresh berries, so we decided to make something with what we had on hand: cranberries. I tinkered with an online recipe (this one) by adding orange extract, cinnamon, and cardamom, and though it's not cobbler, it tastes cobbler-like. We enjoyed having it yesterday and again today (and, no doubt, again tomorrow).

11/25: a red rose

...blooming outside the kitchen window.

11/24: a quiet day

Sleeping in, reading the NYTBR, taking a walk, working on photos, and generally hanging out with Chris and the cats.

11/23: caught up

...on grading. In past years I've used the Thanksgiving holiday to catch up, so it feels like a victory this year to be caught up before the holiday begins. (Technically the holiday began at 5 p.m. today and I only just finished grading now, at 8 p.m., but I think it's close enough!)

11/22: working late

...at school. It's something I've tried not to do this semester, but tonight it helped to have the quiet and focus of an empty building and to leaving knowing that I was mostly prepared for tomorrow morning.

11/21: finding a little time

...to do printing for pamphlet-making. It's a pamphlet I designed months ago, and I look forward to putting it together over the next few days. I also had an idea for a new pamphlet, and it was fun to mull over words for it as I took a morning walk.

11/20: another selection

...of several good things.

I worked on finding a photo for this year's holiday card. Stressful, but it's now done and ordered.

I had to do schoolwork this morning, which is something I try to avoid on Saturdays. It got me in a bit of a funk that I had a little trouble pulling myself out of this afternoon. I finally managed to right myself and went walking.

For dinner we had vegetarian ruebens, and I made the Russian dressing spicy.

For our Saturday cleaning we decided to each work in our home offices. I sorted through some boxes of things that had piled up since the start of the pandemic.

Among the accumulated things I found a postcard with a bluebird front and center, facing outward. I pinned it up on my bulletin board.

11/19: several good things

...on my birthday.

We got up early to watch some of the lunar eclipse.

I did a little stage experimenting with a friend-and-colleague so we could present an example of the day's planned activity to our students before they tried it themselves. The activity involved interpreting collages made earlier by the students into stage action, and it was fun to choose one and figure out how we wanted to make it work.

Chris and I went to Collins Creek in the later afternoon, and no one else was on the trail.

We watched a pink and purple sunset as we drove west toward home afterwards.

I made banana cookies with two bananas that needed to be used before they went off. We have lots of treats right now, so we put them in the freezer for later--but only after we each had one and a half.

11/18: finding

...some quizzes I had misplaced. For an hour or two I really thought I had lost them permanently.

11/17: before and after dinner

Before dinner: a piece of rosemary shortbread sent by a friend.

After dinner: some pieces of Pennsylvania nut roll which I mail-ordered as my birthday gift-to-self. (It's not my birthday yet, but I couldn't resist starting to celebrate early.)

11/16: looking at

...some of Odilon Redon's paintings of Phaethon driving the chariot of the Sun.

11/15: being glad

...that I made tomato cobbler yesterday, enough for Sunday's dinner as well as tonight's. All we had to do was reheat, and that was a welcome relief after a harrying, not-so-good day at work.

11/14: a few inchies

I miss the days of having an inchie collage station next to my work area at home; I cleared it away in the course of my sabbatical as my various projects needed more space. Today, though, I took some supplies off the shelf and made a handful.

11/13: a morning walk

...at Cove Creek with Chris.

11/12: staying late

...at school to watch the fall pay (Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Orlando). I used the extra time in my office to do some grading and to send students information about where they currently stand in two of the courses I'm teaching. It felt good to get this done, a weight gone before the weekend.

11/11: beautiful

...autumn colors, making my drive to and from school lovely. It had seemed like fall wouldn't be very colorful this year, but today proved otherwise.

11/10: hearing

...students' thoughts about Victoria Turnbull's Pandora. It's a busy time of year, and I didn't really have time to squeeze in a co-curricular gathering, but I did it anyway because I love this book. I wanted to share it with people and see what they thought. It was a good 50 minutes in a difficult day.

And there was a good 10 minutes in one of my classes as the students energetically discussed the interpretive implications of dividing Antigone's roles among 3 actors. I had a migraine during class, but I forgot about it as this conversation was going on.

11/9: horseradish sauce

...on my tofu-fish sandwich.

11/8: a few sweet moments

...in a hectic day. An advisee who was grateful for a meeting. A student who was delighted when I told her Chris and I just have fruit cobbler for our Thanksgiving meal. A few minutes at the pier in the morning and at the dock in the afternoon.

11/7: using my left leg

...to balance on while longboarding. Yesterday I tried to balance on my left leg rather than my right, but was too shaky so spent most of my time with my right leg firmly planted on the board. Since I was a little more sure of myself today, I spent some time getting used to balancing on my left leg as well. I can really feel a difference between the legs: I'm right-legged as well as right-handed. But I could also feel a difference between yesterday and today: hurray for learning.

11/6: longboards

Over the years I've entertained the idea of getting a longboard, but the desire was never strong enough for me to actually purchase one. Recently Chris had a dream that we were both longboarding, and that prompted us to order boards for ourselves as birthday presents (a late present for him, a slightly early one for me). This morning we tried them out on the city's biking/walking trail.

11/5: every night this week

...we've had rice balls for dinner and Earl Grey lavender cookies for dessert. I made batches of both of these things on Sunday. It's been a busy week, so it was great to come home after work and only have to prepare salad.

11/4: spending time

...with Rita Dove's poem "The Bistro Styx." It's been years since I'd last read it, but I decided to give it to my Myth students as an extra credit option so I wanted to revisit it myself. I'm glad I did, and I hope some students choose to do the extra credit and spend time with the poem. I'll be interested in their thoughts about it.

every day, one good thing