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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)