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.
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