3/8: connections

Comments by Meri & Honoré here at my blog, and mail from Fiona, Bee, and Carlos all in one day.  Wonderful people I've met online and have now known for years.  

There are more fantastic postal and internet friends I've made connections with, too, but it felt like such a bounty to have five touchstones to the larger world in a single day. 

3/7: getting it out (in a good way)

Something at school disturbed me today.  I could have stewed about it, and/or I could have gotten heatedly angry at someone about it.  I was angry and I was tempted to stew, but I managed to focus on writing a clear, professional, and not too long email explaining my concerns.

3/6: all done (for now)

It's a tight time of year.  The to-do list rules and keeps me from forgetting that certain balls are in the air and need to get caught.  Today's list is done before today turns into tomorrow, and I'm counting that a good thing.

3/5: good question, good news, good email

In today's class we discussed this question about the Odyssey:  Could it be that Penelope knows that the beggar is Odysseus in disguise?  There's no definite answer, but we gathered evidence for both sides and also considered the interpretive stakes.  The students were animated, and that was a welcome thing since we're in a low-energy part of the semester.

This evening I found out that my abstract for a conference in June has been accepted.  This morning I searched this very blog to find out when I had found out about the same conference in years past:  early March.  So I knew it must be soon, and then my curiosity was so quickly gratified.

A former student who wrote me a lovely email in the fall wrote me a quick note again today about some topical things.  It was wonderful to hear from her, and it was especially kind of her to write since I hadn't yet responded to her first message.

3/4: consolatory cheese

I had to leave work early this afternoon (not feeling well), but I also had to swing by the grocery store on my way home.  I am somehow not on the same wavelength as people who grocer in the afternoon--they always seem annoyed with me and where I am.  I usually grocer at night when the store has a different vibe, and today's experience reminded me of the goodness of evening shopping.  But evening shopping does not offer the opportunity of gourmet cheese samples, so that was my reward!

3/3: taking time

A round of papers came in on Friday.  I decided to grade them slowly over the next two weeks, just a couple a day, so that I would have time to spend with each person's ideas and prose.  I am hoping that focused and careful suggestions will help them with revisions and show that I took their work very seriously.  I have been enjoying my reading so far, getting to see how they pushed their thinking beyond what we've said in class.

3/2: to the rescue

There's a risk in taking my new medication every day long-term, so I've only been using it as needed.  It works so well that I have been able to go a few days between doses.  But today I definitely needed some:  I am grateful that it was on-hand, otherwise it would have been a needing-to-stay-in-bed-all-day day.

As the medicine was getting to work, I had some other help in feeling better:

Chris watched a movie with me.

Both Tilde the Kitten and Emma the Cat cuddled with me at different times.  (I think they could tell I needed some comfort?)

A friend who has seen some of my water photos on Facebook wrote to say she'd like to hang prints of some in her new house.  She and her partner are skilled in many arts and crafts, so her interest in the photos would have been a nice boost anytime but was especially so when I needed a smile this afternoon.  

3/1: pelicans

Pelicans migrate through our area but don't stay long.  Some years we don't get to see them at all.  Today as I rounded a bend of the lake on my drive to school, there they were:  a flock of twenty huge birds, all the whiter against the grey water and sky.