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.

5/26: bergamot

...blooming, and visited by bumblebees.

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.

5/20: the 4th time

...was a charm for an illuminated page design I was working on.

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.

5/18: resuming

...a painting project that was on hold during the semester.

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.

5/14: learning

 ...that code and codex are doublets. (It seems obvious now!)

5/13: all 6 of us

...hanging out together in the bedroom:  2 humans, 4 cats.

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).

5/7: finishing one set

...of exams.  Two more to go.

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.