12/31: learning
...how to fold an origami duck. I mostly find reading origami directions and diagrams confusing, so I opted for a YouTube video tutorial (link here). I was a bit frustrated with my first try, but then I made a few more (and Chris made one alongside me too). I was able to do the fifth one without looking at the video at all.
12/30: 2 traditions
One tradition: stollen. Though I don't usually make it, it's something that I grew up with and like. This year I decided to give it a try, and while I was looking for recipes online, I found one that doesn't use yeast (here's the link). I didn't make it for Christmas--being under the weather as I was--but I finally felt well enough today to give it a go. It doesn't quite taste like the stollen of my memories (my mother says that I need to include cardamom next time), but it's really good.
Another (more recent) tradition: game night by app and phone. It's been a few years since I've been able to visit my childhood hometown and play cards with my mother and some long-time friends, but occasionally we convene by conference call as we play Skipbo on our phones/computers/iPads. We try to do it around one another's birthdays. This year we were too variously busy around my November birthday and my friend's early December one, so we waited until now, which gave the gathering a holiday feel too.
12/29: 3 things
Feeling better than I have in over a week.
Having Chris back at home.
Watching a video of a recent dance piece choreographed by my brother-in-law and costumed by my sister.
12/27: in spite of
...being fuzzy-headed with my lingering cold, I got some good reading (about creative criticism, plus the NYTBR and Landmann's Incredible Voyage of Ulysses), writing (about Christmas as a holiday and about the past year), thinking (about my upcoming presentation and assignments for next semester), and working (on Heron Tree) done today.
12/26: finally
...feeling well enough to walk outside a little bit, though I did only part of my regular walk. After that, I went down to the dock for sunset, something I haven't done in quite some time.
12/25: an echo
...of other Christmases: I spent the afternoon reading, with a cat in my lap and within sight of colored lights. Much about this Christmas is different from the Christmases of my childhood and teenage years, but this similarity feels real, solid, and right.
12/23: writing
...quick emails to two students to let them know I enjoyed reading their final assignments.
12/22: using
...a big and beautiful mug which Chris and my brother-in-law made for me 10 years ago. It's so big that I don't use it for drinks, but it's perfect for soup.
12/20: doing
...some holiday things: baking cookies, turning on the colored lights, and arranging our cubist tree of green-gold-silver blocks.
12/19: dealing
...with a stolen credit card number. Fortunately, not too much had been charged, and the person at the credit card company worked fast to get the problematic purchases flagged, my card frozen, and a new card sent.
12/17: reading
...The Skull out loud to my mother while she looked at the pictures, and then talking with her afterwards about it.
12/15: a good feeling
...confirmed. When I heard about Jon Klassen's new book, The Skull, I knew I wanted to read it. I finally did. And I loved it. I especially liked that it had a Gretel moment, one in which the main girl character does something decisive (and unapologetically violent) to get rid of a menace.
12/12: weaving
...other activities into a day of grading: a walk, a bit of reading, some pamphlet folding.
12/11: arriving early
...for a medical appointment, and prepared to wait until my scheduled time. But they were able to fit me in almost immediately.
On the drive back we stopped at the liquor store, where we picked a new-to-us gin. When we got home and tried it, it reminded us of a wonderful gin we bought years ago while visiting a now-closed small distillery in Washington state.
12/10: worth waiting for
...tomato cobbler, that is. I got a bit of a late start at chopping the tomatoes and onion, and then it all bakes for an hour, so our dinner-hour was later than usual, but I was glad for the comfort of the cobbler. I think it's been 2 years since the last time I made it.
12/8: one more time
...with the medieval manuscript leaves. After I finished the last of my one-on-one reading/translation sessions with the Latin students, I took a few minutes and read each passage one more time myself.
12/7: an email
...from a friend, to whom I had just been thinking I needed to drop a note (but hadn't yet).
12/5: grocering
...in the morning--not something I can usually do during the work week. It was nice to be able to avoid the weekend crowding.
12/3: finishing
...two things today: the Gaither Sisters trilogy by Rita Williams-Garcia (so glad I listened to it!) and a collaborative collage with a friend which we were constructing by snail-mail and text.
12/2: not being laid low
...by the COVID vaccine. I got it on Friday after work so that I'd have the weekend to recover from the chills and aches that came with the vaccine at other times. But (knock on wood) they haven't arrived.
12/1: putting together
...paper puzzles which I made from print-outs of medieval manuscript leaves. It was a great way to spend time with the words in their calligraphic forms.
11/29: cancelling
...office hours because I felt unwell. It was nice to remember that I don't have to just tough it out.
11/27: noticing
...how the upper-level Latin students were faster today at coming up with Latin Scrabble words than they were at the start of the semester.
11/26: Salvadorean
...hot chocolate! I needed something warm but not caffeinated, and I was going to make instant hot chocolate before I remembered that a friend brought me some chocolate tablets from El Salvador. I added cinnamon and water and boiled it all together--hurray!
11/25: doing
...some crucial and overdue tidying in my home office. There's more to be done on that front, but a lot of problematic clutter has been cleared away from my work surfaces.
11/24: realizing
...that the students can do the final step of their bookbinding project on Monday: gluing the sewn book block to the cover. I had to finish the sewing (due to time constraints), and I was going to do the gluing as well--but then I thought that it would feel more like their book if they were the ones who glued it together.
11/22: taking it easy
...since I didn't feel well. I made a collage, read for pleasure, watched a fashion reality show with Chris, and did some bookbinding. The bookbinding was for school, but it wasn't word-based, computer-based, or grading-based, so it was a break from my normal kinds of work.
11/21: quiet time
...in my school office this afternoon, working while most everyone else had either left for Thanksgiving break already or had also decided to work quietly in their offices.
11/20: catching
...a lucky break. When I left the house this morning, it was raining a little, and I didn't think it was worth going back into the house to get a raincoat. I figured my umbrella would get me from the parking lot at school to my office without too much trouble. But on my drive the rain became heavy, and I really wished I had a raincoat. Darn, darn, darn, I thought. Once I pulled into the parking lot, however, the rain stopped! Just for a few minutes, but those minutes were all I needed.
11/19: finishing
...The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub. It was a birthday-treat-to-self to linger over it this morning instead of getting right to work.
11/18: beginning
...to listen to P. S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia. I had listened to its predecessor, One Crazy Summer, back in September, and it felt good to be revisiting that family. I am grateful that Sisi Aisha Johnson's is the reader for the trilogy.
11/17: getting to know
...a particular page from a 13th century Bible containing part of the Book of Daniel. I first read it in 2004, and every so many years I get to translate it with my Latin students. Each time I return, it's like meeting up with an old friend. The page has mistakes as well as additions and corrections made by a later reader (and some of those "corrections" seem like new mistakes). Its writing is very tiny and highly abbreviated. Its verso is hard to read because it's the rougher side of the animal skin and the ink didn't go on as smoothly. I love it. When I had some time to spend with it today before the students came to class, it moved me into a zone of both comfort and alertness. Thank you, 13th century scribe, and thank you, later reader/annotator. You had no idea that you would be/were/are a good thing in my day.
11/16: reading
...a student's draft of a paper on the different contexts in which the Latin word rubor ("redness") is used.
11/15: having woken up
...early. Not necessarily a great thing, but in this case useful: I was able to finish and return all the remaining student drafts by 8 am this morning.
11/14: having done something
...ahead of time. When I had a little chunk of unexpected time at work last week, I put together the information sheet for the beginning Latin students' second recording assignment even though it wouldn't be handed out until tomorrow. And, wow, was that a good thing. Having it done "bought" me time to work on reading drafts for another class this evening.
11/13: talking about seeing
...sunsets with a student. She said she was planning to go somewhere this evening to get a good view.
11/12: some normalcy
Before an evening of schoolwork, I did some usual weekend things: walked, talked with a friend on the phone, swept the house, and tinkered with photos.
11/7: discussing
...Paradise Sands by Levi Pinfold in my Picturebooks class. I'm so glad I decided to include it on the reading list.
11/6: receiving
...an unexpected Facebook message from a friend. It added a smile to my Monday morning.
11/5: making arrangements
...for travel in early January. I had been putting it off, but it needed to be done, and now it is.
11/4: finding and making
...a recipe for carrot orange cookies (link here; I left out the cranberries). They taste very similar to a cookie that I like at one of the local bakeries but that I don't buy very often. The bakery isn't expensive, but it feels expensive to me, and now I can make a whole batch of cookies for less than the price of a dozen.
11/3: coming up
...with a new-and-hopefully-better way for students to do their remaining assignments in the Picturebooks course.
11/2: having an excuse
...to walk across campus: a meeting in the library at noon. I enjoyed the warm sun and cool air as a break between kinds of work.
10/31: coming home
...from work--to Chris, the cats, and some nice cheese which Chris prepared so that we'd have something to nibble on while making dinner.
10/30: mail
...from a pen-friend in Chicago, which reminded me that she also sent me good mail that arrived after my very bad Friday.
10/29: taking the time
...to make a little collage this morning. I really needed the time with color, shapes, and low-pressure creativity.
10/28: stopping on a lark
...to get donuts while running morning errands. Chris called it a micro-holiday.
10/26: seeing
...some students working intently with words during an "exquisite corpse" workshop, and appreciating Chris' presence there too.
10/24: forgetting
...my phone at school. That's not usually a good thing, and I was pretty frustrated that I had to go back to get it. Chris drove me so that I could pop into my office quickly without having to park. And just as I was walking up the stairs, someone was coming down. That someone had had a tricky time in a recent meeting, and I told them that I appreciated what they had said. They were very grateful. It made the extra trip worth it.
10/23: a student rescuing
...a moth. I couldn't catch it with my hands, but she could--and she took it outside.
10/22: finishing
...comments on all the students' analyses for the Picturebooks class. I thought I'd have one that I didn't get to today--but then I managed to do it too.
10/21: at work on Latin
...materials for the Vulgate class by 6 am this morning. I couldn't sleep, so I finally decided I might as well get up. I enjoyed working in an unrushed way not possible during the week, and I made some headway in deciding how to approach the last third of the course.
10/18: splitting
...a veggie burger with Chris at Big Orange, which was a welcome pleasure in a day of glitches. It was one that I've ordered before (with fig jam, cheese, and arugula), but Chris hadn't had it before. He said it was good, and that made me happy too.
10/15: not freaking out (too much)
...when my newest computer's display started to malfunction. I tried a few fixes suggested online, and when none of them worked, I booked an appointment at the Apple store on Wednesday.
10/14: toasting
...the eclipse with Chris. He had eclipse glasses for us, and I made elderflower and mint gin and tonics.
10/13: going out
...onto the deck when Chris knocked on the window. He was holding a little bird who had gotten stunned by flying into one of our big windows. The bird flew onto a nearby bush when it had recovered.
10/9: having time
...to write a complicated assignment description while the upper-level Latin students were taking a test.
And they seemed to have enough time to do what I was asking them to do on the test without their having to rush. (Gauging that can be tricky.)
10/8: finishing
...Rick Riordan's latest Percy Jackson novel. It was like spending time with old friends. And there is something sweetly wise about the book.
10/7: two things
Chris and I saved a bird. It was stunned and having a very hard time on the road (unable to right itself and wriggling on its back). We brought it home in a box then put it in a safe place so that it could (hopefully) recover without the danger of being run over. Later in the day it seemed to have flown off.
I booked a flight and hotel for a trip in December (my first since January 2020!), and then my mother called and we made more plans for the trip.
10/6: stopping
...at the lake this morning to take a few photos in the wonderful autumn light. It's something I used to do all the time, but it may be a year since the last time I stopped at the pier on my way to work.
10/4: receiving
...a copy of Myth Match. A few days ago I was thinking, "Surely someone must have done an exquisite-corpse-like picturebook with mythological creatures," and after some Google searching I found Myth Match. Of course, I ordered it right away, and it arrived today. It's pleasing to the hand and eye, and I especially like that the words do a mix-and-match thing as well as the images. Nicely constructed.
10/3: getting word
...that the co-curricular found poetry work I do with students received permanent approval to count toward the engaged learning graduation requirement. Now I won't have to do bureaucratic filings on the front end every time I want to offer an opportunity and have it count.
10/1: having the weekend
...to restore my equilibrium after I got thrown for a loop at the end of the work-week on Friday.
9/30: writing
...a list of notable things from the past 6 months and seeing how many of them had to do with teaching. I guess it's not surprising, given how much time I spend working, but I've had some tough times recently at school, so it was heartening to see realize that good work-related things could rise out of that.
9/28: being grateful
...for Thursdays. I don't teach until the afternoon, so unless I have a meeting or an off-campus appointment, I can have some hours of quiet, concentrated work.
9/26: enjoying
...the little Latin stories which some of the beginning Latin students wrote for extra credit.
9/25: receiving
...a quick, generous, and affirmative reply from an old friend to whom I had written, asking if they'd be up for talking with a student interested in their field.
9/21: noticing
...some evidence for verbal dictation in the manuscript of the Codex Amiatinus, "mistakes" and departures from the text that could be best accounted for if someone was trying to copy what they heard rather than what they saw. Who knows at what stage of manuscript transmission it happened--it could be that the Codex Amiatinus is copying those "mistakes" rather than making them for the first time--but it's still cool to see in action, and even though the action was centuries ago!
9/20: my upper-level Latin class
...was sympathetic today when I explained some technology issues that I encountered right before class, and then they were enthusiastic about the prospect of making collages for extra credit.
9/19: doing
...two things that I had been putting off: writing an email (that I thought was going to be difficult but turned out to be fairly easy) and creating an extra credit assignment (involving collage, that I was worried that the students might find too odd). The students may still find the collage assignment odd, but I'm okay with that now. And the email got a quick and energetic response, which buoyed my spirits.
9/18: wrapping up
...the Latin summer project with the students. It was nice to hear their final thoughts and reflections and to see them enjoying the fact that they did it.
9/16: a Saturday without
...having to work on my evaluation dossier. I swept the floors, took a walk, collaged on my own and with Chris, read for pleasure, tidied a little, and let myself not do anything school-related.
9/15: learning
...about Agnès Varda's The Gleaners and I from a student, then watching it this evening with Chris.
9/14: dusting off
...my uncial hand-lettering. It was fun to write a few alphabets and words today as I was thinking about an uncial assignment for the Vulgate class.
9/13: finding
...this short video about the Codex Amiatinus (link), which I'm asking the Vulgate students to watch for Friday. They'll also be reading a portion of the codex from its digitized images, and it was good luck that I chose a portion that has some differences (one of them quite striking, I think) from the version of the Vulgate we've been translating.
9/12: this afternoon
...I uploaded the last of my 5-year evaluation files. And then we had a good conversation in the Myths & Picturebooks class. A double hurray.
9/10: both mornings
...this weekend I've been able to take an hour-long walk outside. And both days I've enjoyed listening to One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia as I've walked.
9/8: an hour and a half
...of quiet work in my campus office, after teaching and before a meeting. I drafted the next installment of grammatical commentary on the Book of Ruth.
9/7: stopping by
...the optical shop just to see if my new glasses had come in even though I hadn't gotten a text that they had. They were there--hurray! I really like them.
As if that weren't enough of a good thing, Chris got me a lot of treats when he was in town today: a vintage children's picture dictionary, an old 45, some Mexican baked goods, plus new tires and sparkplugs for my car!
9/6: telling students
...about the blue Aldine Vergil. Here's a link to an image of one copy. I didn't realize that the only other currently known copy is the one I saw when working in the Special Collections department of the UCLA library!
9/4: working
...in a less-harried pace than anticipated today because I finished the draft of my evaluation letter yesterday. That meant that I could have the morning as a "holiday" and turn to schoolwork in the afternoon and evening.
8/31: hearing
...a whippoorwill this evening, something I don't remember having heard as late in the year as this before. Chris noticed it first and called me out onto the porch so I could listen too.
8/30: figuring out
...(or at least hopefully figuring out) the due dates for individual assignments for the Picturebooks class--quite a puzzle!
8/29: making collages
...in class with the Picturebooks students as we tried out Molly Bang's principles for how images work.
8/26: starting
...my evaluation dossier. It's something I've been putting off, but now I have to do it. It's due in a little over 2 weeks, and I'm glad it's now underway.
8/25: hearing
...the Vulgate students' thoughtful responses to some questions I gave them about their reading practices, uses of memory, and reactions to the physicality of books.
8/24: unexpected
...agreement in my department about a possible change in policy. I thought it would be contentious (and hence stressful), but wow it wasn't. Things may get thorny as we propose the change beyond the department, but at least this first step was smooth.
8/23: meeting
...my Vulgate class for the first time. I know all of the students in there, though they don't all know one another. I'm looking forward to our gelling as a group. Today they asked good questions about the course in general and worked intently on some Latin Scrabble boards (not playing for points, just getting back into the swing of Latin).
8/22: reading
...Press Here by Hervé Tullet with my picturebooks class and hearing their thoughtful responses.
8/21: returning
...a new pair of glasses that wasn't right for me and ordering a different pair. I wasn't excited about doing it, but I had to (the glasses were giving me a headache), and it wasn't as awkward or difficult as I anticipated.
8/20: losing then finding
...a stack of postcards. I had put them in logical-yet-unlikely place. Usually I get very angry at myself when I misplace something like that and can't find it. Today I worked hard not to get as rattled. It was nice that it worked out, but it's also nice to know that I would have been okay if I hadn't found the postcards. It was also a wake-up call that it was high time for me to do some office organizing, particularly of my photo postcards, so I did.
8/19: a syllabus
...and syllabub. I finished writing a second one of my syllabuses this afternoon, and to celebrate I made syllabub with vegan cream, lemon, and violet liqueur.
8/16: receiving
...a little handmade bag from my neighbor as a thank-you for loaning her son a book he needed for a class. (It's rare that being a Classicist can be helpful to a neighbor!)
8/15: going out to lunch
...with Chris. We haven't gone to a restaurant together since late February or early March 2020!
8/14: spotting
...a large moth when I went outside with Chris after dinner to look at the fig trees. The moth was hanging on one of the fig leaves, and the "eyes" on its wings had silver dots in their centers.
8/13: enjoying
...serendipity. I was reading an article in an old Artforum about Ulla Wiggen, and the writer (Ina Blom) mentioned Young-Girl theory. I had to look it up, and I found an overview online (link). As I read it, I couldn't believe the way it resonated with--and added to--some things I had been thinking about Taylor Swift. Not that Taylor Swift comes up explicitly (the original piece was written in 1999), but the connections seemed uncanny (or all too canny). It felt really gratifying to have different parts of my experiences intersect in such an unexpected and timely way.
8/12: finishing
...listening to all of Taylor Swift's albums in order. I had only known a handful of her songs, but she's been in the news so much this summer that I thought it might be interesting to take myself through her recording career. Thanks to the first-month-free deal from Spotify, I was able to listen to each album over the past week. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but I definitely know her sound now, and there was a pleasure in setting myself the project and then finishing it.
8/10: getting mail
...from someone I haven't corresponded with in a long time. A nice surprise to find in my mailbox just as I was heading to school for my first back-to-school meeting.
8/9: taking pictures
...while moving. Usually on my walks I stop to take photos. Today I took them as I was in motion, and I really like some of the effects I got that way.
8/8: a photograph
...of two grown-ups dressed as ghosts on a walking path flanked by yellow trees. I don't know who they are. A post-friend from sendsomething sent the picture to me; they had taken it, and I don't think they knew who the ghost-people were either (though the ghost-people were obviously happy to pose for the camera). I set the picture up by my desk; it will keep me smiling for some time to come.
8/5: working on two pamphlets
...today. They've both been in the works for awhile--one since this past December and the other one for years--and now I think they're ready to go into "production."
8/4: morning, afternoon, evening
Morning: making a collage I really like, then walking while beginning to listen to Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron.
Afternoon: doing the Trollope glosses I assigned myself for today, then having time to quiet-write after that.
Evening: organizing a kitchen drawer with Chris, then working on a pamphlet that I've been thinking about for years (and letting go of a part of it that seemed crucial but would ultimately be distracting).
8/3: being grateful
...that I'm still in "summer." Today I:
- read articles in Artforum- reworked a pamphlet
- walked- wrote Trollope glosses
- texted with a friend who was writing at the same time this afternoon so we would be writing buddies
- made chocolate mousse using some leftover dairy-free whipping cream- read a few chapters of Moominvalley in November out loud with Chris- put together a collage- finished listening to Provenance
- did some laundry
I like the spread of activities that a summer day can hold.
8/2: being so pleased
...with the postcard-sized prints of the collages which Chris and I did together. They look really great, and I'm excited to send them out!
8/1: being stopped
...from saying "good morning" today. That might not sound like a good thing, but when I first walked into the main room, Chris said something like, "Wait. Don't say anything until you say 'rabbit rabbit.'" Then he explained that it was good luck on the first day of the month. I'll take any luck on offer! And after that I wished him a good morning.
7/31: 3 things
...dropping off picturebooks to be put on reserve for my seminar this fall. It feels good to have done enough planning at least to have this taken care of.
...reading an article in Artforum about Hilma af Klint's envisioned temple/museum. The how of the article was interestingly connected to the what.
...meeting up with a friend who's been away since early May. We got gelato and had a 2-hour conversation.
7/30: recreating
...our standard order when we used to go to the (now closed) Mean Bean Café: veggie reubens, chips, and peanut butter pie. We make veggie reubens relatively frequently, but it's rare that I make peanut butter pie--it's dangerously good.
7/28: watching
...and hearing Ella Fitzgerald's "One Note Samba" performance in Montreaux, 1969. Oh my goodness. (YouTube video here.)
7/27: picking up
...new glasses. I chose them last week while my eyes were still dilated from the exam, so I wasn't seeing very clearly--and I've been worried that, when they were ready, I'd find out that I made bad choices with my compromised sight. But the two pairs I picked up today are nice! And hopefully the third pair will be good when it arrives too.
7/26: having made
...enough food for multiple days' lunches and dinners. It meant that I didn't have to do much in the kitchen today, when I was feeling under the weather.
7/25: listening
...to a presentation about Emily Dickinson's collection of sheet music. It was hybrid in two ways: it was online and in person (I attended virtually), and it incorporated traditional lecture with the performance of some pieces.
7/23: going through
...years of digital photos and deciding which ones to order--then actually ordering them.
7/21: beginning
...to write commentary on the uses of Classics in Phineas Finn. It took me 2.5 hours to write 6 glosses today. That's a bit daunting (given that there are about 170 glosses to write), but there was also an element of fun. For instance, I got to think about how Trollope was combining elements of an Aesopian fable and a Hans Christian Andersen story to set up some imagery that will connect with a poem by Juvenal later in the novel. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's mine.
7/19: getting some nice feedback
...on book descriptions I wrote for a Classics and children's literature website.
7/18: writing
...all afternoon, while a friend in Indiana was writing at the same time--writing buddies at a distance. (We texted one another at the beginning and end, and once in the middle.) I left the trickiest of my three writing tasks until then end. It seemed risky, as if I'd run out of steam and convince myself that I was done for the day. But it helped. By the time I got to it, I was more comfortable in words.
7/17: two
...more long overdue things done: an eye appointment for an updated prescription, and a reply to an unexpected email (received months ago) from an old friend.
7/16: outside and inside
An outside good thing: I drove to Woolly Hollow this morning and spent time photographing the creek before it got too hot. I hadn't been there since May.
An inside good thing: Chris showed me how to use the carpet shampooer, and I tried it on the bedroom rug. It's belated--I should have learned to use it years ago--but now is better than not.
7/14: my abstract
...on "creative deformance" and Greek tragedy was accepted for presentation at the annual Classics conference in January. I'm bummed that the conference is not going to be online (I'd rather not travel, and not to Chicago in the winter time), but there are some ways in which an in-person presentation would be easier. And overall I'm glad that I'll have a chance to talk about the various found-poetry-inspired activities I've done with students recently.
7/13: two things done
...that I wanted to accomplish this summer: opening a CD and writing an essay about Annie on My Mind. Chris and I went to the bank today and got the CD set up, and I finished (and posted) the Annie on My Mind essay this evening. Chris read the essay yesterday evening and gave it a thumbs up, and that really helped me push through with some final edits today.
7/12: tasting
...a Monte Cristo sandwich (made with vegetarian "meat"). The sandwich is mentioned in one of the acts of California Suite, which my father directed in the mid-1980s. I helped to run the lights for the show, so I got to know it well. Sometimes I just exclaim the line from the play, "and a Monte Cristo sandwich!" Today we each made one for dinner. It was so good--I definitely shouldn't have waited 30+ years.
7/11: being delighted
...by a photo my sister texted to me. I've been sending her purple or pink Pantone postcards, and the one that arrived on her end today perfectly matched the shirt she happened to be wearing! She sent me a picture with her phone camera so I could see the serendipity.
7/9: finally
...sending out copies of a pamphlet I had designed in 2020 but had never mailed to more than a handful of people at the time. A pile is now ready to be posted tomorrow.
7/7: slowly
...the marks (hurts? scars? wounds?) from my June surgery are fading. This week there's been real progress on that front. It might just be the passage of time, but I'm going to credit the onion skin and vitamin E lotion I started to use.
7/5: going
...to a local business--an olive oil shop--and buying some special things. I used two of them (lemon infused oil and a vegan fig "salami") in a salad with romaine, green onions, and grapes--and it was probably the best salad I've ever made.
7/3: continuing
...to work through my correspondence basket, and feeling grateful for people's kind mail over the past months.
7/2: having company
...when I woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep: Trollope's Phineas Finn.
7/1: a very good sunset
...viewed from our porch.
6/30: sticking up for myself
...in a phone conversation with my mother. It didn't feel great at the time or afterwards, but it was still good to do.
6/29: re-doing
...the cover of a pamphlet I worked on earlier in June. Now I don't need to wonder, "Should I have redone it?"
6/28: hearing
...this great bit-of-a-sentence while listening to The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher today: "The words made a little space that belonged to her...."
6/27: expanding our "museum"
...of security envelope inchies. I had a pile of envelopes that I hadn't cut samples from--until today.
6/26: a pamphlet-making morning
I read an article in Artforum while eating breakfast, and it got me thinking creatively, so I designed a pamphlet. I wasn't sure what to call it, so I picked up the third volume of Emily Dickinson's collected works, opened to a page--and there it was: Not seeing, still we know.
6/25: more writing
This afternoon I finished the second book overview I needed to write. I am very glad that these are done, a weight of worry lifted and myself emotionally extricated from a tangled situation.
6/24: writing
...one of two book overviews that I want to get done this weekend. They've been weighing on me for almost a year (!), so it's high time that I liberated myself from that weight. With one done, it's half-lifted now, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow when the other is done too.
6/22: finding out
...that the Library of Congress has digitized (and made available) the whole Codex Amiatinus. I will be using it with the Latin students in the fall!
6/21: an alternative celebration
...for the solstice today. I had thought I'd kayak at sunset as a way of celebrating the sun, but my wrists hurt a lot, so I didn't want to risk more strain. Instead, I sent out a lot of mail that was somehow sun-related, and that felt good and appropriate. I also made summery cocktails for Chris and myself at dinner time: orange gin, elderflower tonic, and mint. Oh! And one more thing: I filmed the flickering shadow of a tree branch moving in the light and wind, and then I texted it to some dear people with a solstice greeting.
6/20: power-washing
...my kayak. Because of my hurt wrist I haven't been kayaking regularly, but I'd like to go out on the lake tomorrow for the solstice, so I washed my kayak this evening and was pleased to see the dust and dirt stream off as I sprayed.
6/19: back to a different time-table
...this week. Though it was good to do the online epigraphy program last week, it was very nice not to have to wake up at 5:15 a.m. today. I shifted doing some Latin-related work to the afternoon (writing prompts and guidelines for the Classics students who are doing a Latin project this summer) and the evening (listening to a bit of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while following along in the Latin translation).
6/18: a handful of good things
I went walking for the first time in a week. Last Monday through Friday I had the online summer school in the morning so couldn't walk then, and yesterday I was just too tired.
I started reading Annie on My Mind for the third (or fourth?) time, preparatory to writing a short essay about it in the coming week. I love the book.
I finally worked through some photos that have been on my camera since early May!
I sorted my correspondence basket in hopes of writing notes in the coming days.
I spent time with Emma the Cat on the bed. This isn't a rare thing, but it's always good.
6/17: celebratory cocktails
I had planned to make a new-to-me cocktail (prosecco, lemon juice, violet liqueur) on Wednesday, after my long day. But I was too worn out, so I didn't. Then I planned to make it on Friday, after the end of the epigraphy program. But I was too worn out then as well. This afternoon I made the cocktail--one for me, and one for Chris--and we sipped as we played a game with the Getty OuiSi cards.
6/16: finishing
...the online epigraphy course and William--An Englishman. Both were worthwhile ventures, but both took a toll: the epigraphy course, physically and mentally; William, emotionally. (I had no idea what was lying ahead when I wrote about an early chapter in William a few days ago!)
6/15: on the mend
I had a bad reaction to the dressing the medical office put over my incision last week. Two days ago I realized what the problem was and made adjustments. Today's the first day my skin hasn't felt like it was burning. Fingers crossed that I've turned the corner.
6/14: getting through
...a tricky day, even if gracelessly. I knew it was going to be a long one: I had to get up at 5 to be ready for the online epigraphy program, and once it was done (at noon), I needed to get ready for my Johnny Floyd presentation, give it, and participate in the rest of that Zoom meeting. It was all made more complicated and stressful by the fact that there was a sudden, strong thunderstorm right before the epigraphy sessions started, and our power went out at home. So I had to get ready to go to school to use the internet there today, and I scrambled to pack everything that I'd need for the epigraphy program, my presentation (an extra computer plus microphone set-up), and food. I ended up being off-kilter and wrung-out before 8 am. But my school ID still had "free" money on it from the semester (I thought it would have expired, but I figured I'd check just in case), so I was able to use that to buy a Coke from the machine. Getting through the day is its own sort of silver lining, but I'll count the free Coke as a silver lining too.
6/13: a good chapter
...in William--An Englishman by Cicely Hamilton. I'm still near the beginning of the novel, so I don't know what to make of the book as a whole, but the chapter about the young (urban and political) couple going into the forest on their honeymoon will stick with me.
6/12: first day of school
...kind of. I enrolled in a week-long intensive program on Latin epigraphy offered online by the University of Oviedo. Since some of my students wanted to do it, I thought I'd do it too, and I applied for a grant from our school so we could get our registration fees paid. It's 5 hours a day (starting at 7 am) all this week. Today I was especially excited by endotaphs and a pair of medieval gloves inscribed with embroidery.
6/11: also overdue
Following yesterday's belated closet-cleaning, I did some organizing in my home office today. As was the case yesterday, today's tidying was only a start, but at least it's a start.
6/10: long overdue
I spent the afternoon working on tidying my part of our clothes closet. Although more needs to be done, a basic straightening-up is a good first step, so I'm going to look at the glass as half-full (or, probably more accurately, one-quarter full).
6/9: a thank-you for a thank-you
I participated in iHanna's postcard swap this spring, and if people who sent me a card included a return address, I mailed them a thank-you in return. Today I received a thank-you for my thank-you. It was a card that made me laugh, which I appreciated on a day when I seem to be fighting an infection from yesterday's procedure.
6/8: over sooner than expected
An outpatient procedure I had took about half the anticipated time today. The doctor was kind of a jerk, so it was especially nice not to have to spend longer with him.
6/7: retrieving
...my copy of the Latin translation of The Wizard of Oz--Magus Mirabilis in Oz--from my in-town storage unit so that I can do the same reading-in-Latin-while-listening-in-English project with it that I did with Alice in Wonderland. When I got home, I browsed a bunch of audiobook options on Audible to find one that seemed like it would be a good fit.
6/6: assembling
...copies of a pamphlet I began designing in 2020. This is the second "backlog" pamphlet I've worked on this summer, and I have a few more to go.
6/5: juicing an orange
...for a small glass of fresh juice mid-morning after a doctor's appointment.
6/4: reaching
...the last chapter in Alicia in Terra Mirabili, which I've been using to follow along in Latin as I listen to Alice in Wonderland in English. What a delight! I did a chapter a day, and it was a treat every day.
6/3: hearing back
...from the remaining poets who needed to okay the PDFs of their poems for Heron Tree volume 10. It's a strong collection of poems, I think, and it's nice (as well as unprecedented!) to have all the PDFs done by this point in the year.
6/2: ordering frames
...for some quirky, colorful artworks that Chris bought. I'm glad that the pieces will be part of our daily view.
6/1: finishing
...the last tasks of the 2022-2023 school year. It happened one day later than I had hoped, but it's still a victory.
5/31: smooth
The drive to Little Rock for a doctor's appointment was uneventful, even though I thought traffic might be frazzling at lunch hour, and the doctor's office itself got me through quickly.
As a bonus, because I got to Little Rock early, I went to Target, where I found some nice striped socks and some good notecards for Angel Card sending.
5/30: transplanted
When the county resurfaced the ridge road this spring, they removed part of our hill on which Chris had planted lily bulbs. They pushed the removed dirt to the opposite side of the road, and one of the bulbs managed to re-root there. Today two of its pink blooms were open.
5/29: celebrating
...Chris' birthday as well as the fact that we're not at the animal emergency room with Tilde this year.
5/28: pamphleteering
I revised a pamphlet I had preliminarily designed a couple of years ago. I like the revision, and now it's ready to go!
5/27: wild blackberries
...in the yard. After my morning walk Chris showed me where we could pick some, and then we ate them on the spot.
5/25: enjoying
...listening to M. R. Carey's Book of Koli. As I walked this morning, I reached the part in which the AI character recounts her process of growing sentience, and I thought it was so well done.
5/24: listening to
...the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland in English while following along in the Latin translation--Alicia in Terra Mirabili--by Clive Harcourt Carruthers. A lot of Carruthers' word choices made me smile. I'll be excited to see what he does with some specific word-plays in future chapters.
5/23: fresh mozzarella
...on La Brea Bakery bread plus pesto, tomatoes, and pepper (with Greek olives on the side). For the second dinner in a row. (We finished the cheese and most of the bread tonight or else I'd happily have this combination for a third dinner tomorrow.)
5/22: getting a green light
...for the presentation I put in for yesterday. It's in a few weeks, and though I could give a presentation on the topic today if I had to, there will be a pleasure in planning it carefully and pushing my thinking farther.
5/21: putting my hat in the ring
...to participate in a late-breaking presentation opportunity in a few weeks. I don't know if it will come through for me or not, but I decided to give it a try rather than continue to wonder if I should give it try.
5/19: running an errand
...in the middle of the afternoon without needing to plan how it would or wouldn't fit with the rest of the day.
5/17: a cool enough morning
...to take a walk without having the heat wipe me out. Soon that won't be possible, so I was especially grateful for it today.
And I photographed the dotted line made by a snail on the road.
5/16: 4 hours
...of an online workshop this afternoon. I wasn't feeling well physically or emotionally, and I think having the workshop kept me from focusing on my woes overmuch.
5/15: seeing
...some artwork--one piece with rabbits! another with goats!--which Chris had bought for us.
5/12: taking an alternate route
...back to campus after going to the post office downtown because I wanted to stop to take a picture of an apple blossom mural I had spotted earlier in the week.
5/11: trying out
...a tripod that should make it easy for me to take good pictures of artwork and picturebooks using my iPhone.
5/10: abandoning a plan
...to read or listen to all of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books. I so much wanted to love them, and I was excited that they might give me a chance to return to Barsetshire in a new way. There were funny, smart, and interesting moments in the five I've read or listened to so far, but the misogynistic moments are more frequent and mean than I can take. It felt freeing to realize that I didn't have to grit my teeth and get through more of them, that the tidiness and convenience of the plan shouldn't outweigh the discomfort of following it to completion.
5/9: using a curve
...of sorts on the Myth tests. It's my standard sort of curve: I average the median and mean and make that a grade in the B range. The practice strips away a layer of did-I-make-the-test-too-hard worry, and a reduction in layers of worry was welcome today.
5/8: being pleased
...with my Latin students' performance on their final exam (and I think they will be too).
5/6: grading assignments
...is now done for the semester. I still have the finals in all 3 courses plus an independent study meeting, but the independent study meeting will be fun, and the finals will be straightforward to grade because informational.
5/5: giving the final final
...of the school year in the morning: Latin. During it, I read the Myth students' ekphrasis projects and reflection pieces, and afterwards the last student who turned in the test chatted with me for a bit.
5/4: at the beginning and ending
...of the day: a rose opening this morning, a whippoorwill calling in the early evening dark.
5/3: writing sentences
...for the Latin test. I wanted to create a set of sentences on the same basic topic so that students would focus less on sheer vocabulary and more on changes in form and syntax and how those variations affect meaning. This morning I wasn't sure what I wanted my general scenario or theme to be. Then I thought of a poem by Catullus, and it was smooth sailing after that.
5/2: repeating
...trips across campus to the library. The first time was because I was being pro-active. The second time was because I forgot something the first time. The third time was because a student forgot something. It was a beautiful day so I didn't mind the excuse to be in the air and sun.
5/1: finding
...an Aesop fable to use on the students' Latin exam. I considered a lot of possibilities, but I'm glad I kept looking until I found the one I ultimately chose.
4/30: already deposited
Our tax refund, that is. Last year and the year before that, we had to wait until December to receive our refunds. It was because of COVID, IRS short-staffing, and the fact that we had to file extra forms by paper rather than electronically. Even knowing all that, as the days (weeks, months) wore on, I would get worried that something else was wrong with our filing. I guess it's still possible that we could be audited, but it seems unlikely, so I'm just going to enjoy the fact that 15 days after we filed--all electronically this time--the amount due back was in our bank account.
4/29: some color therapy
...by way of collaging this morning and afternoon. I really needed to try to clear my head and let some bad feelings quiet down, and I hadn't planned to make any collages, but I felt the pull. I think that was myself trying to help myself out. Though my head is still cluttered and the bad feelings are still there, the intensity lessened. And that helped me get a number of things done today: a walk, a review (leading to a revision) of my various lists, the submission of an abstract, a little work on Heron Tree, a bit of laundry, tidying up, and some schoolwork.
4/27: coming up with an idea
...to do some abstract art-making of our own in the last Myth class meeting, after looking at some more instances of abstract, myth-related art.
4/26: considering
...different meanings of "for" in use in Shakespeare's time and at work in sonnet 27.
4/25: a kind of abstract
...painting of Orpheus by Paul Klee. In Myth class we tend to look at more figurative images, but it was good to have a change of pace.
4/24: an unexpected answer
On the phone today Chris asked, "You know who I love?" I guessed, "Tilde," one of our cats. He said, "Lily Dale!" from The Small House at Allington, which he had started to listen to earlier in the day. I love Lily Dale too, and I am so delighted that Chris is getting to know her. The unexpectedness of it made me laugh, a welcome moment in a day with some troubles.
4/23: trying out
...a new-to-me camera app on my phone. I had been using the built-in app, but it automatically adjusts the photo (supposedly "enhancing" it), and I don't like what it does. Though the new app will take some getting used to, it was nice to be free of the extra layer of the phone's decision-making when I took some pictures on my walk this morning.
4/22: sleeping in
...until almost 9:30! I can't remember the last time I came close to that; it hasn't been for months at least.
4/20: fresh paving
...on the ridge road. The potholes, cracks, textures, and various shades of grey had become my walking companions, but it's better to have things smoothed out in an even layer.
4/19: noticing
...some interesting language use in an Orthodox Greek hymn that a student asked me about. The Greek equivalent of the word corpsify was applied to the underworld/Hades: Jesus corpsified Hades!
4/17: taking 20 minutes
...in a very busy day to make flaxseed breakfast cookies to last the rest of the week. It meant doing one less work thing than I could have, but I think I needed to claim that bit of time for a non-work part of myself.
4/16: adding
...lemon zest to rice about 2/3 through its cooking time. It made a perfect pairing with vegan sisig for dinner.
4/11: using
...a new-to-me translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses for the Myth class. I needed a change, and I think this is a good one.
4/10: preparing
...a bestiary passage about hedgehogs for the Latin class. I knew I wanted to translate it with them this semester, but I thought we'd do it later. However, a student who is in both Etymology and Latin with me did a study of the word urchin for Etymology, which is related to the Latin word for hedgehog, so that brought it to the mental forefront. And when I realized that the passage contains two result clauses (something we had just learned about), that was the clincher.
4/9: replying
...to individual students' feedback from a midsemester survey. It felt good to get it done (finally). And thinking through my responses was a kind of pedagogical exercise, prompting me to articulate and be sure of the reasons behind what we're doing and how we're doing it.
4/8: making
...cinnamon rolls, and adding some fruit peel left over from Christmas (!). Using peel in the filling mix was something I've been wanting to try, and I'm glad I finally did it.
4/7: bringing colored paper
...to Etymology class so that people could choose whatever color they wanted to write their word-webs on. I think a pop of color did us some good.
4/6: playing Brian Eno's
...Music for Airports during a workshop this afternoon. 15 people quietly listening and making word collages.
4/4: taking a minute
...to get out of the car and smell the lilac blooms before driving off the ridge to school. It's going to be a hot for the next few days so the lilacs are going to fade fast. It was especially nice to do today because my childhood friend's reminiscence yesterday (yesterday's good thing) was about the smell of lilacs.
4/3: an exchange
...on Facebook with a friend from my elementary school days, reminding me about 8th grade antics.
4/2: photographing
...more shadows. I'm not necessarily satisfied with the results, but I can't stop doing it on my walks.
4/1: filing
...a curriculum proposal that has been on my mind for weeks now. I had some sort of mental block about doing it and so kept putting it off. As I put it off, I felt worse and worse about it, and that reinforced the block. Finally I checked some bureaucratic information and found that today is the cut-off for submitting that kind of proposal. So I pulled myself together and got it the heck done.
On Thursday I wrote and submitted a different work-related proposal that I had been putting off, so now I feel doubly relieved.
3/31: a credit card reader
...on the vending machine at work. It could be a problem (I like snacks, and I like snacks that aren't healthy), but this week it was great in a pinch.
3/29: at school, at home
A good thing from school: I mentioned to some students that there's a college policy allowing them to take 1 course (with a few restrictions) per year on a pass/fail basis. Most of them hadn't heard of the policy and were very glad to know about it.
A good thing from home: Chris got me when he heard the whippoorwill this evening, and I was able to listen to it more clearly and for a longer time than a few days ago. It seemed like a good omen on this first evening of posting a poem for Heron Tree volume 10.
3/28: a walk
...around campus at the end of the day with a colleague. I was a little too loopy (due to lack of sleep and a long day), but it was good to be in the air and sun and to share words, time, and thoughts.
3/26: nine days
...in a row of walking outside for an hour, possible because of spring break. In the past week we've had all sorts of weather: mittens some days, no coat necessary on others, spring in-between-ness for the rest. I miss going to the indoor walking track sometimes, but it's nice to not have to drive to walk, and as long as it's not too hot I enjoy being in the day's weather.
And an extra good thing added later in the day: Chris motioned for me to come onto the porch in the early evening so I could hear a whippoorwill. I don't think I heard one at all last year: Chris had heard one a few times, but by the time he got me so I could listen, the calling had stopped. This one stopped almost as soon as I heard it too, but I did get to hear it--hurray!
3/25: taking a break
It's been very much a working spring break, but I took today off. A gin drink--made with elderflower tonic, a lemon slice, and a pink gin which Chris brought back from Arizona--tasted like spring and aided the slip into relaxation.
3/24: a silver lining
...to getting up very early this morning? A work-related dream or the rainstorm or a combination of the two woke me up, and I couldn't go back to sleep. In my dozy daze over coffee I worked on an example cento to give my students as part of an extra credit assignment. They can opt to make a cento using lines from a character in one of the tragedies we'll be reading; so that I wouldn't step on any of their toes, I made my example using Calypso's speeches from the Odyssey. I liked what emerged, and maybe my unsleepy sleepiness helped the process?
3/20: a full day
I read a NYT Book Review, typed a list of recent happenings to send to mail friends, got some things ready to post, took a walk, watched two more acts of Galatea, did an erasure of Shakespeare's Sonnet 35, tried out some formatting ideas for a pamphlet of the erasure, drove into the office to pick up a book, went to the storage unit to get some other books, grocered, read a book of cut-up poetry, graded, visited the dock at sunset, and graded some more. When I head to bed in a bit, I'll read some of my current novel. All good things.
3/19: finding a fun passage
...for my Latin students' second recording assignment. (They did a Latin version of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse for their first recording this semester.) I thought about using the Physiologus account of the hedgehog (which I love), but then I found a Physiologus passage on the unicorn and decided to use it instead. The students already know all of the grammar involved in the unicorn passage, so we'll be able to translate it as one of our first things after returning from spring break.
3/18: beginning to watch
...a production of John Lyly's Galatea on YouTube. I like the idea of watching it in little bits over the next few days.
3/17: a second honey bun
Yesterday I was hungry at school, so I bought a honey bun out of the vending machine, which now (both wonderfully and dangerously) takes credit cards. The machine coil didn't fully release my purchase, and the contraption was too big and heavy for me to shake. I almost walked away but then decided to try my luck and buy a second bun. Perhaps I'd get at least one. Both came out, and I ate one right away. This morning I unwrapped and ate the second one while taking a break from Latin prep around 9 am. A bit early for a snack, but I needed the pick-me-up, both sugar-wise and pleasure-wise.
3/16: coming up with some new questions
...about the Homeric Hymn to Hermes to ask the students and myself.
3/15: talking with a student
...about her Homeric Hymn to Demeter ideas and some of my own. It was an unexpectedly packed afternoon of office hours, and this was a good note to end on.
3/14: getting up early
...isn't necessarily a good thing, especially when "early" means 4 am. I just woke up then and couldn't fall back to sleep. But it meant that I got more done at school today than I thought I would!
3/13: getting an idea
...for spring break reading: Barbara Pym. I had read a number of her novels in high school, but I haven't read or revisited any since then. Today in the break-room an English professor mentioned that she was going to a Pym conference later this week, and that made me download an ebook of Excellent Women to read once break begins.
3/12: so glad
...that I did my grading yesterday. I try not to do school-related work on Saturdays, but I decided to grade yesterday so that I wouldn't feel pressed today. And it's a good thing! Because I've been tussling with arthritis and exhaustion all day today; grading on top of that would have led me to tears.
3/11: interweaving
...work and leisure today: grading a test, reading a novel, spending time with Chris, taking a short walk in the rain.
3/9: good colors
...on a grey day: the blooming trees (white! purple! pink! yellow!) amid the rain, and the marled socks that are now among my favorites.
3/8: finishing
...Kalynn Bayron's This Wicked Fate this morning. I was prompted to read it by the Black Magical History Month celebration sponsored by Black Nerds Create. I'm a little bummed that I didn't manage to finish the novel *during* Black Magical History Month, but such is life. The timing ended up being fortuitous in another way, though: in Myth class on Tuesday we talked about Hesiod's positive presentation of Hecate in the Theogony, and Bayron also presents the goddess positively, though perhaps toward different ends. It put me in the mood to write an essay, and that is another good thing.
3/7: realizing
...that I didn't need to have the Etymology tests graded before calculating that class' midterm grades. It seems obvious, but it wasn't. And when I realized I could do it that way, a weight lifted.
3/6: hearing
...a student connect her past work in my Etymology course during her freshman year with her current work in a Literary Theory class as a senior.
3/3: trying
...a new warm-up activity in Latin. Friday might not have been a good day to try it; folks were tired, and I thought they would consider it more fun than they seemed to. But I'm glad I did it (it's always nice to have a new idea and put it into practice), and I'm going to try it again next week.
3/2: being glad
...that I changed the assignments in my Myth course for Hesiod's Theogony. I decided to have an informational day (today) and a separate interpretive day (next week). I think it will help students to think about (and hopefully appreciate) the poem more.
3/1: filing
...my annual faculty review form. Though I told myself I wouldn't leave it to the last minute, I did. But it was do-able without rushing in the time I gave myself, and it felt like a weight had been lifted once it was done and sent.
2/28: tweaking
...a favorite brunch for dinner. Old version (from my childhood): crepes, applesauce, sausage, butter, maple syrup (all rolled together). Today's version: crepes, blended berry sauce, chopped pear, vegetarian sausage, vegan butter, maple syrup (all piled together).
2/27: a thank-you note
...from a student. I felt like I didn't deserve it today, but I will try to deserve it tomorrow!
2/26: almost
...done with typing my comments into the students' corpus assignments. I have 3 more (out of 19) to go. I had been hoping to finish them this weekend, but I'm not too far off, and I'm going to consider it a victory-for-personal-selfhood to stop working before it gets too late.
2/25: getting through
...my first full reading and preliminary grading of the corpus assignments from my Etymology students. I'll have to do another pass tomorrow to double-check my grading consistency and type in the comments I've handwritten on paper copies, but at least I finished the first pass today without working into the wee hours (whew).
2/24: dinner waiting
...for me when I got home. I usually make dinner, and I enjoy doing it. Chris then takes care of all the clean-up. But today he made the dinner--before I even got home--and did the clean-up. So welcome at the end of a packed week and at the start of a packed weekend.
2/23: the Sappho workshop
...which I'd been planning with a colleague happened today. And it was good. The students seemed into it, and the aleatory techniques we had worked out yielded sweet results.
2/21: adding
...chopped celery, sliced grape tomatoes, green onions, and little more soy sauce to my Momofuku noodles for dinner.
2/20: a government holiday
...today, coinciding with a day of no classes at school. I still have to go in to work this afternoon, but I worked a little at home this morning. Then I took double advantage--of my flexibility and of the road crew's holiday absence from the ridge--to take a walk.
2/19: seeing
...a review of Selby Wynn Schwartz's After Sappho in the NYTBR (last week's edition--I'm a bit behind in my reading). It seemed a good omen for the Sappho workshop in the coming week.
2/18: noticing
...a recipe for pear patina in a cookbook of ancient-inspired recipes, and giving it a go this evening. We used honey from our hives and prune wine that Chris had made.
2/17: doing some planning
...that was a little overdue for some upcoming assignments in my Latin and Etymology classes.
2/16: some good moments
...with the Odyssey today: reading it on my own before class and noticing some new-to-me things; asking a very specific question about Waterhouse's Sirens painting and its difference from similar ancient depictions; hearing the thoughts of a student who is usually more quiet in class.
2/15: nice email
...from two people on a day when reassurance was especially welcome. They weren't trying to reassure me, which makes it even better that their good words had that effect too!
2/14: flowering
The winter honeysuckle near the carport; I smelled it before I drove to work this morning. The Japanese quince on campus; I passed it on my way to and from my office. One of the magnolia trees outside the Life Sciences building; I saw it from afar.
2/13: doing
...one of my favorite activities in Etymology for the first time with this group of students: making a word web, building off a single word by changing prefixes, bases, and suffixes to create other words. The task today was to get from transparent to infinite, and more of them seemed to have fun in the process than I had anticipated. That's a nice way to have one's expectations countered!
2/10: being asked
...a follow-up question. On Wednesday I made a quick positive comment in class about bats. Today a student stayed after class because she wanted to know why I like bats.
2/9: tinkering with
...some word remixing, first on my own this morning, then with a colleague mid-day, then on my own after dinner. These weren't long sessions at all--just a few minutes each--but I am grateful that they were part of a day that was largely vexatious in other regards.
2/8: inceptive -sc-
I love the Latin -sc- infix, which signals that something is in the process of happening but isn't completed yet. Crescent, rubescent, iridescent!
2/7: having an excuse
...to look at the Greek of the Odyssey. A student in Myth class had asked a question about some of the Greek in Book 5, so it was a pleasure today to dip into it, see what the Greek was doing, and have some new-to-me thoughts.
2/6: working on two holidays
Now that the winter holiday is over, we're applying a protective coating to the 114 wooden blocks which we painted shades of green, silver, and gold for our cat-proof Christmas tree. It will take a little longer than a week to do, since each side needs two coats, and on weekdays we can only manage to do one coat, but it feels nice to have this stage of the project underway.
And this evening I finished writing Valentine's Day cards.
2/5: thinking about
...the katabasis in Nicole Kornher-Stace's Archivist Wasp in comparison to the katabasis in Vergil's Aeneid.
2/3: collaging
...words from Dickens' Little Dorrit, Woolf's Orlando, and Thilly's History of Philosophy into a sort of little triptych.
2/2: letting myself
...read Books 5, 6, and 7 of the Odyssey as I prepped for class. I could have taught the class without re-reading, since I've read and taught those books so many times now. Because I especially love them, however, I wanted to give myself the treat of reading them and having new thoughts about them. It means having 2 hours less to do some other tasks, but I think it was worth it.
And also letting myself read the first issue of the Telemachus comic in the morning. Not at all necessary for work, but related, and also worth it.
2/1: getting a meeting switched
...from in-person to remote for tomorrow morning. The roads may be icy, so the switch takes pressure off the "should I drive in to school, should I not" double-guessing game.
1/31: having time
...to try a new recipe for dinner (creamy spicy miso pasta; recipe here) because school was closed due to weather.
1/30: turning out okay
...prints for my Valentine's Day cards, that is. I had been stressing out about them, but they arrived today and are really nice. I also stressed out because the colored envelopes I ordered to go with them arrived last week and had to be sent back because they were the wrong, wrong color. But some reckoning this evening shows me that I have plenty of envelopes on hand in pink and purple shades. I don't know why I tied myself up in a bit of a knot about all this, but I'm glad the knot is now undone.
1/28: a new Eno
Well, new-for-me at least. Music for Airports is pretty much the only album I've listened to at all in the past 3 years. I love it and am glad I can carry it around with me on my phone. I was getting ready to play it this afternoon as I tidied my campus office. Then I thought: why not get another Brian Eno album to listen to? So I downloaded his second album in the Ambient series and listened to it. Then I listened to it again in the evening, as I was working through some photo-editing at home.
1/27: faster on Friday night
I needed to set up a bunch of assignments in Microsoft Teams for my students, and during the school-week the wait-times during loading seemed long. I decided to try tonight from home, and it went much quicker. Less overall traffic to slow things down? Whatever the reason, I'm glad that something that I thought would take an hour took 20 minutes instead.
1/26: noticing
...new things about the opening books of the Odyssey as I prepared for today's class. One of my favorite fresh observations: how Athena at the end of book 2 both compares and contrasts with Eurycleia at the end of book 1.
1/25: at home, at school
At home: smelling the blooming winter honeysuckle!
At school: enjoying the smarts of a 2-line Latin poem by Martial.
1/24: dolphins
...in the art we looked at in Myth class today. Two of the images were ones I found and used for the first time last year. I like them a lot, and I was excited when I remembered them for this year. The students did a really nice job of talking about them too.
1/23: a childhood food
...for dinner: crepes topped with (or rolled up with) applesauce, sausage, and maple syrup. My mother would make this as a special brunch, and I love it. I used to make it more frequently but fell out of the habit when our grocery store stopped carrying "tubes" (for lack of a better word) of vegetarian ground sausage. When I recently spotted it back in the store again--after years--I picked some up. I made crepes yesterday, and we had the special brunch for dinner. There were leftovers, so we were able to have it for dinner again today.
1/22: hemming
...a pair of pants for tomorrow. A sweet, small activity. And I'm still using the sewing machine that my parents gave me when I graduated from high school in 1986!
1/20: a better day
...after a tough evening of work and too-short night of sleep. I'm glad to end the work-week on a calmer and more positive note than seemed likely yesterday.
1/19: walking in the sun
...around campus with a colleague as we talked about offering some found poetry workshops this semester.
1/18: a little bit of a breather
...this evening, after 3 packed days. It gave me time to read some Heron Tree poetry submissions, write a few notes to go in the mail tomorrow, and--yes--finish cleaning my bathroom.
1/17: receiving
...a loaf of sweet bread from El Salvador. My colleague and friend visited her parents there over winter break, and her mother sent it back with her to give to me. It is so good and was such a fantastic treat to have as dessert after a long day at school and before some hours of evening work. I'm already looking forward to having some for breakfast tomorrow.
1/16: and still more writing
This time syllabuses, but also a reply to an amazing email from a former student.
1/15: more writing
...and imagined writing. I replied to another former student's email today, and I felt the makings of an essay gathering in my mind after finishing Echo after Echo by Amy Rose Capetta.
1/14: writing some notes
...to wonderful people--friends, family, former students--who have written to me in recent months.
1/13: three good things
One from the morning: The lull in construction continued, so I was able to take my walk.
One from the afternoon: I printed, cut, and folded copies of a pamphlet I had designed in August but hadn't had time to produce.
One from the evening: I read an offprint of an article by a former student that he had sent to me.
1/12: two good morning things
We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast!
And there was no construction on the street today, so I could go for my morning walk. Soon enough weekday morning walks on the ridge won't be possible--since I'll be back to teaching--so I was especially grateful I could get one in today.
1/11: two outings
In town this morning we went to the bakery then walked on a new-to-us part of the Tucker Creek path.
In the late afternoon we drove to Heber Springs so that we could watch the migrating swans at sunset.
1/10: a handful of good things
Visiting the cascade with Chris and being the only people there.
Shopping in a very uncrowded grocery store. (The music being played in the store was very agitating, so having fewer people there really helped me not get edgy/anxious.)
Ordering a new iPhone. (It needed to be done weeks or even months ago, but at least it's finally done now.)
Watching the sunset at the dock while listening to Brian Eno's Music for Airports. (A good pairing.)
Talking with my brother.
1/9: reading
...Paradise Sands by Levi Pinfold, and enjoying thinking about it, its illustrations, and its similarities to and differences from particular myths and fairytales.
1/8: finishing up
...my online conference-going. I enjoyed both panels that I listened to today, so that was a particularly nice way to end.
1/7: icing
...the Epiphany teaberry pig cookies which we made yesterday evening. I didn't add lemon extract to the cookies themselves this year, and I missed that taste to balance the teaberry, so I mixed some lemon with confectioner's sugar and gave each little pig a coat.
1/6: talking with my sister
...about some unhappy things that happened with my conference presentation today. I am grateful that she picked up the phone and put her evening on hold in order to talk with me.
1/5: visiting
...Woolly Hollow with Chris. It had been quite some time since I had gone! I forgot my boots, so we didn't linger by the bigger creek and cascade, but we enjoyed walking along the smaller Gold Creek. Chris made little movies of the water, and I took pictures.
1/4: receiving
...some specialty paper I had ordered. The company inadvertently sent it to the wrong address; I noticed this when I looked at the tracking information I had been sent. I contacted them about the problem, and they were able to get the package re-routed so it arrived at the correct address today. I was worried that it was going to be a rigamarole to get the order refunded and/or resent, but it ended up being quick and smooth, delayed only by business closures for the New Year holiday.
1/2: working through
...photos I've taken over the past few weeks when I've gone down to the dock for sunset.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)