8/31: visions of sugarplums

I got an unexpected gift today from a colleague: a cookbook of vegan desserts! I just spent some time paging through it (and fantasizing). Finding some of the ingredients may be a challenge, but I'm going to pick one recipe to make this weekend and then I'll head down to Little Rock for the not-usual-grocery-store-stuff if necessary. And yes, there is a recipe for sugarplums in the book, though I'm not sure it'll be the absolutely first one I try....

8/30: public walking

One of my favorite things about Conway (where I've lived for almost a decade now) is the McGee Center. There's a community garden and a skateboard/bike park outside. Inside there are racquetball and basketball courts with a track above the courts looking down onto them. I love to walk there. I hadn't been in awhile, but I went today before doing the week's grocering. I like the cross-section of people one sees there. I like the architecture. I like that it's "a clean, well-lighted place."

8/29: company across the quiet/miles

I had insomnia early this morning; around 4 a.m. I finally gave up trying to sleep naturally and got out of bed to take some medicine. While waiting for the pills to work (which takes about an hour and a half), I wrote a bunch of postcrossing postcards. Though I don't know any of the folks I'm sending postcards to, reading their profiles, choosing cards that they might like, and writing to them made me feel less lonely in those quiet hours between night and morning.

8/28: a happy hello

I ran into a student today who was in two of my classes last year but not any this year. He saw me before I saw him, and he gave me such a spontaneous and genuine greeting that it immediately gave me a little boost.

8/27: fish and a solution

This morning Chris and I went kayaking early, since we didn't have to head to school right away. As we turned the bend around an island in the lake, we saw dozens of minnows leap out of and then back into the water, making sweet and perfectly coordinated arcs.

This evening Chris and I had dinner with a friend, and (unfortunately) I needed to debrief with them a bit before I could let a problem from my day go. My friend suggested the perfect solution: I can't implement it until tomorrow, but it is so spot-on.

So today I'm especially grateful for little leaping fish and problem-solving friends!

8/26: buying time (and two other things!)

I found myself with an unexpected pocket of unscheduled time at school today, so I managed to complete all today's tasks and a good number of the tasks I had scheduled for tomorrow. This means that I bought myself the time to go kayaking early tomorrow morning; I can afford to be at work an hour or two later than normal. (I have to remember that I am lucky to have a job that occasionally allows me such flexibility.)

I wrote the entry above, then went for a walk with Chris. After our walk (on which we saw fireflies and a bat--hurray), I needed to write a diary postcard for an exchange I'm part of. That made me reflect on my day and realize that there were two other particularly good things that merit mention. One is that this morning I got a very kind call from a colleague who put my mind at ease about some things that were troubling me last night. The other is that a mail-friend sent me an invitation/encouragement to participate in the "Worldwide Moment" this year. Anyone can join in by signing up at worldwidemoment.org, but I wouldn't have known about it if he hadn't spread the word, and it's just the kind of thing I'd like to do.

8/25: august ice cream

I'm trying to cut back on desserts in general and to limit myself to one ice cream dessert a month. Today was it for August! We went to get frozen custard as a treat after our first day of classes.

8/24: ducks in a row

Today was a day of bureaucratic bits and bobs, with some meetings with students mixed in. Classes start tomorrow, and I'm really pleased that things seem (mostly) ready to go.