3/31: doing a homework assignment

In my seminar course, the students have assigned the reading homework for the next 3 weeks so that we're reading material directly related to their in-class presentations and papers. They made interesting selections, and I'm off to do tomorrow's reading before I call it a night. It's fun to being doing homework that I haven't myself assigned for a change!

3/30: dogwoods

In the waves of blooms that are spring, it's now the dogwoods' turn. The blossoms are yellowish because they're new; over the next few weeks they'll whiten before they give way to whatever comes next.

3/29: je pique!

Last year I came across "The Prayer of the Goldfish," an amazing poem by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold, originally written in French. Upon recently remembering that it had been about a year since I discovered it, I decided to order one of her books so I could read more of her work. A translation of Prayers from the Ark and The Creatures' Choir arrived today. It was not a purchase I'll regret!

The first poem I opened to was "The Hedgehog," from The Creatures' Choir. This was a happy thing, since hedgehogs make me smile, and especially hedgehogs in literature. The opening line of the poem reads: "Yes, Lord, I prick!" Fantastic. And even more perfect in the original French: Oui, Seigneur, je pique!

3/28: nice reaction

The beginning Latin course had a midterm right before spring break. The students were pretty exhausted, and a wave of viruses had just come across campus--not ideal test-taking conditions. Nevertheless, they did very respectably on the midterm.

Today I wanted to give them a chance to sink back into Latin and even to raise their midterm grades. I passed back the tests marked but not corrected, and they were able to spend the class making corrections and checking in with me in order to earn back partial points. They looked so delighted when I explained to them that they could earn points back--it was worth doing pedagogically of course (they learn more by making their own corrections than by my making them), but it was almost worth doing simply to see such happy faces. How often in life can mistakes be so profitably undone?

3/27: an on-ramp of a day

Tomorrow is the return from spring break, so I've spent today creating a smooth-ish transition back into work. Truth be told, I did work every day of spring break except yesterday, but the proportion of work to non-work favored the non-work. Now the balance needs to start tipping in the other direction. To that end, I said goodbye to break & hello to school by:

- allowing myself to be fairly low-key today; it's the last rest-up before the end-of the-semester push, so I've been giving myself the comforts of soothing low lighting and lots of warm beverages to fight off a spring chill

- mixing work and pleasure by grading papers and doing prep combined with writing postcards and reading a book for fun

- going on a walk--slightly shorter than the other walks this week, but still a walk (making my walking record 9 days in a row, and reminding me that an exercised RR is a happier RR--something I need to keep in mind during the craziness that is April)

- doing my laundry; all my clothes (except my dry cleaning) are now ready to wear!

3/26: neighborly exchange

We really like the neighbors who live closest to us, but we haven't chatted with them much at all recently. This evening after dinner, as Chris and I were walking around our yard looking at the various growing things, they called us over to give us a bottle of wine. I went back into our house to get them some honey. And then we talked for a little bit, which is always a pleasure with them.

3/25: a week of walks

I'd like to say that I take a walk every day, but when school's in session that's not usually the case. Since we've been on break this week, I've been able to walk every day for 7 days in a row. The company has been variable--Chris, the dogs who live on our ridge, our neighbors, or Trollope on my iPod--and I've enjoyed the variety.

3/24: better book

When we lived in upstate NY we loved using the Peterson field guide to identify wildflowers, but it's not as comprehensive a resource for Arkansas, so we've been using a book on Arkansas wildflowers specifically since we moved here. The downside of the book is that it's organized by scientific family rather than by color--and if I knew enough to know the scientific families of wildflowers, I probably wouldn't need a guide book. I usually have to page through the whole book when I want to find something, which can be a little frustrating. Today in the store I saw a new Arkansas wildflower book which is organized by color, and we purchased it right away--hurray!