2/28: favorite part

I'm doing an independent reading course in Greek with a student this semester; we get together once a week to go over his translations of portions of the Iliad. Today we read through the conversation between Achilles and his mother, Thetis, in book 1. It's beautiful and sad and interesting--my favorite part of book 1 for sure, and one of my favorite parts in the entire Iliad. It was great to have the opportunity to revisit it in the original.

2/27: symmetry on sunday

I was playing around with the OmniSketch app on my iPad. It has a feature that replicates what you do along various axes so that you can have a symmetrical design. I felt like the "symmetry" prompt at daisy yellow gave me some "permission" (=excuse?) to experiment. Here are two of my electronic doodles:

2/26: returning to the forbidden room

I'm going to be giving an afternoon talk about the fairy-tale Bluebeard on Wednesday, and this weekend is my only real window for having time to pull my presentation together. I've just spent a pleasant morning and afternoon working through Bluebeard-inspired texts and related images--though it feels odd to use the word "pleasant," because the story itself is so dark. Still, the tale has been a consistent part of my mental furniture since I was young, and it had been awhile since I had spent any time meditating on it, so I enjoyed the opportunity to dust off this particular piece of mental furniture and see if I could discover any new drawers or details in it.

2/25: next door neighbor

For many years the same colleague had the office next to mine; a year and a half ago he moved into a larger office on a different hallway, and I got a new neighbor at work. We've been in close proximity for a year and a half now, and though we're not exactly friends, we're comfortable colleagues. I admire her pleasantness and professionalism, and I'm really grateful she's next to me.

2/24: enjoying the d'Aulaires again

Like many people, I have vivid memories of paging through the d'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths when I was young. The distinctive style of the d'Aulaires' illustrations and the size of the book itself tend to make a lasting impression. Because of its popularity I included it in my Myth & Children's Literature course. This evening I've been enjoying the smartness of the d'Aulaires' art in a way I never could have understood as a child. I'm glad for this opportunity to revisit an old favorite and see it with new eyes.

2/23: designing

I got to design a poster today to advertise a campus event. Not what you'd expect in the job description for "professor," but it was really fun to get to put something together that's appealing to the eye and communicates well. (And I've already gotten nice comments about it.) I love the feeling of having made a tangible thing that's now separate from myself.

2/22: a few little things

A blue-bird flew across the road as I drove to school.

My Latin students had a challenging quiz, and the median grade was a solid B--a good showing.

I gauged the presentation time for the material in today's Myth class almost perfectly.

Coca-Cola did wonders for helping me to chase a headache away.

Some daffodils are opening up in our yard.

I received 2 postcards with Gerber daisies on them.

2/21: showing

When I came home from work today and was walking from the driveway to the door, I noticed that some little purple crocuses which Chris had planted were beginning to open up. He hadn't notice them himself, so I was happy to show him that his bulb-planting efforts hadn't gone in vain.

And he had something to show me, too: a cluster of blue-birds in the meadow between our house and the bee-hives. They flew away when we approached, but not before I got a good view of a few of them at fairly close range.