Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Every single morning I truly can't believe I get to wake up in this little house. I think about how often I said I would never buy a house, and I know if I had continued with that mindset I wouldn't be out here in the quiet, able to look up at night and see the stars. I wouldn't see the streaks of pink and blue across the sky as the sun rises. I wouldn't see the eagles that fly over. Not a great picture by any means, but it's one I'll enjoy for a long time. And it also shows just how dirty the  camera lens is! Definitely time to clean that. I've also seen another very large bird in the area the last few days. Yesterday I was sitting on the back steps, enjoying the warm afternoon and soaking up some sun, when I heard the screech. I looked to the right and saw a large, I mean large, bird flying my way. It was too big to be a hawk, so I'm thinking it might have been a golden eagle. My neighbor said they fly through at times. I've only seen a golden eagl...

I've missed this space so much! So, where to start? My landlord asked the neighbors to leave. When he stopped by to tell me they were moving out, I asked if I could move back into that unit. The smile on his face was all I needed as an answer. He told me I made his day. He then clued me in about the conversation he had with them, telling them he wasn't going to renew their lease, them being angry over this, the mom of the young man calling my landlord to plead with him to let them stay, him not budging, them saying fine, they'd be out by the end of the month even though their lease isn't up until the end of May. He told them he'd give them back the last month's rent, which I thought was really nice (though if I had to guess, the last month's rent was paid by the mom of the young man, so it will really go back to her). They've been in the process of moving for the last two weeks, with a moving van showing up this morning to get all the big items. I wi...

After dropping Ado off at the vet this morning for a spa day, cycle me whispered, "Cycle to work." So I laid out my cycling gloves and my knit hat. I switched all of my must-have items from my purse to my pannier. All set to leave I started for the door, and worry me whispered, "But you have to leave early to pick up Angel Baby. Cycling will make you have to rush." For a minute or longer I stood at the door, my hand on the knob, trying to make a decision. Cycle? Drive? Cycle? Walk to Uptown and catch the bus? Drive? Seriously, my indecision was absolutely ridiculous. I drove. Only because it would save me some time. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot and got out to walk inside, cycle me said loud and clear, "See how beautiful it is out? You missed a great ride this morning."  I couldn't disagree. The sun shone, and the air was noticeably warmer. The biting cold from the last few days was gone. I should have cycled to work. The beaut...

Back to work today. To be honest, I was totally ready to get back to the routine of designing the curriculum, teaching, figuring out how to get the writing center moving forward, and seeing all my friends. I've missed all of them very much. I saw them a couple of times during my leave, and we texted at times, but not seeing them on a daily basis created a hole in my life. They're wonderful people I am so glad are my friends. I did run into a problem first thing. I turned on my computer and began working on a document only to have Word crash on me every single time I opened the document. I tried other documents. I tried creating new documents, but each time, Word closed out on me after about five seconds of being up on the monitor. This is really weird to me since my computer was off the entire time I was gone. What could possibly have happened to the program while the computer was off for seven months? Thankfully, I can work from home tomorrow, doing all my Word doc work from...

See what happens when life throws curve balls at you? Well, they may not have been all that curvy, but they were enough the last couple of weeks to keep me from blogging. I've thought about blogging. I even opened up a new post at one point. I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and actually write. I guess that would be a strike. The same kind of thing was happening with my writing. I thought about story ideas. I opened up a story on several occasions with the intention of working on it. Three minutes later, after staring at the words on the page, I'd close the document. Strike two. Thankfully, now that the semester has begun, things are starting to fall into place and I don't feel nearly as discombobulated as I had been. I'll give myself a ball there. So the count stands at 2-1. If the first week is any indication, my classes are going to be fun. I have some sharp students. Each class has its own personality, which changes things up nicely. If they were all th...

Every semester I always marvel at how quickly it seems the sixteen weeks go by. Sixteen weeks ago I was getting ready to hand out all the required paperwork and go through my usual this-is-how-the-class-will-work spiel. Now I'm returning the portfolios that demonstrate each student's successful or maybe not-so-successful semester. The portfolios mean a lot to me, maybe even more than they mean to the students who write the papers, the journal entries, the reflection essays that make up the final collection of work. As I go through them, I see the improvement made by those who want to do more than just slide by. I remember the days we worked on certain papers, the exercises I had the students do to improve their writing. I always wonder what I could have done differently to help those who are borderline; they completed all the work, but their writing shows they either didn't put in the effort needed or they just don't get the concepts that make up the course. These situa...