Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Yesterday I was in need of something sweet and chocolaty, so I went to my favorite vegan YouTuber and found a recipe for brownies . Since I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, I hopped into the Jeep and drove to the closest store, which is 16 miles away. The lengths I go to just for brownies.  But in the end, they were so worth the time and effort. And now, I am indulging for my mid-morning snack.  Today is gloomy and gray, with rain, sleet, and wind. A good day to stay inside. Even the boys didn't want to venture out just a bit ago for a potty break. Both stood at the door, peering out, then turned and went back to the couch to settle in for a nap. I kinda want to join them, but I'm supposed to be available until 12:30 for virtual office hours. So far, I've not heard from any students, which is usually the case. I'd like to think this is because everything I put into the LMS they access for online learning is so incredibly clear they don't have any questio...

That hopeful song of spring being just around the corner has been playing this week. Tuesday the sun was shining, giving off warmth though the wind was competing with it. I walked to Uptown to catch the bus, getting a mile and a half in before classes. Yesterday, more sun, so another walk to Uptown to catch the bus to work. Such a wonderful way to start the day. This morning, sunny, warming up nicely. Ado and I walked twice before 11 am. Both of us were very happy campers. I realized today I've not blogged much this month. It's already the 22nd and this will be blog post two for February. I've been working on the piece I started quite a while back, focusing on getting at least 1000 words a day. Seeing the wordcount increasing each day is incredibly exciting. Today I spent the afternoon printing out what I have so far . . . having a hard copy, feeling the weight of it in my hands, makes me want to do nothing but sit here and keep working. I'm resisting the urge to go...

I'm starting off the New Year with a very, very, very rough draft of my short story collection finally completed. The last story of the collection took me three years to write. I started over writing it four times as the first three attempts just didn't capture what I was hoping for. Months between starts and stops passed by. Then, recently, just before the end of the semester, as I was calculating grades for one of my classes, the way to write the story presented itself to me. I started writing it the first day of break.                                                                               Today, putting the last period in place on that story was one of the most satisfying feelings I've ever experienced. I still have a lot of rewriting to do to get everything right, I still ne...