Adjusting

We're adjusting over here.

And by 'we', I mean me. And Lucy. This is what we both want to do all day.

I was all excited last week, thinking my students were angels. Then I required work and participation and college-level thought and the angel dust flew off and revealed the trolls. So I wallowed over the weekend and then they seem like angels again this week. G keeps telling me not to live quite so "day to day" and to try to take the "long view." Whatever that means. It's as if he's been through the first few weeks of the semester with me before...

An Acceptable Onslaught

We're adjusting over here. I tell you, it's a good thing I don't work at the writing consultant job until next week because it's all I can do to keep my classes straight and remember to check my email. Oh, the email. So many. It's an onslaught, I tell you.

But the students are precious and none of us want to kill each other yet. I need to hold on to this feeling because, oh dear Lord Jesus, it will change.

Seriously, though! My Mon/Wed class is a bunch of dolls and I can already tell that my Tues/Thurs class is adorbs as well. Tomorrow will seal the deal for me. It's so rare that both classes are good. Usually there's a binary: one is too chatty, the other is totally silent. One works hard, the other is lazy. One asks questions and interacts, the other resists and challenges (not in an educational way, more in a rat bastard kind of way). So, while I don't want to get my hopes up over here, they may or may not already be floating around the ceiling humming a heavenly chorus.

And look how my day started! If you look closely, you'll see The Precious - those shortbread cookies that Nat King Cole makes at Christmas.

We were hanging out at her place and the convo went like this:

NKC: Oh! By the way, I have some leftover precious cookies in the freezer.

Me: Give them to me immediately.

NKC (grimacing a bit): Hmm, you know. They've been in there a long time. I dunno. They may taste...???

Me: Give them to me immediately.

NKC: Do cookies get freezer burn?

Me: Give them to me immediately.

I'm here to report that they do well after being in the freezer for...let's not even think about how many months. They are crispy and flavorful, with only the slightest hint of...former frozen-ness. Hot coffee washes that slight taste right away, leaving only precious yumminess in its wake.

On another note entirely, this one has been the very picture of despondency:

Now that school is in session and I actually leave the house on a regular, you know, daily, basis, she doesn't have full run of the living room. She has to stay in her cage until one of us gets home. The lady bun bun doth protest, let me tell you. She misses being cage free. The other day I caught her reading I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings...

I have managed to make some serious progress in the backyard swamp land, though. While I have a long way to go, here's a mini update.

Before

Currently

Basically, it is being transformed from jungle swamp land to barren dirt. I'm keeping the three trees and that's basically it because everything else is just weeds. I have decided where we'll plant grass and where we'll have a mulch bed with painted wood borders. A deck make-over will have to wait, but it's already looking so much better. You can't see it now (I'll show you in future photos) but the ground is covered in a random array of large walking stones. None of them match and there's no discernible pattern. After all the brush is cleared out, I'm going to take up all the stones as well and plant (1) grass seeds, and (2) sunflowers along the fence line we share with our neighbor. We are prepared for the grass to take a couple of years to grow in. Remember last year when I renovated the front yard? You can hardly tell that there were ever landscaping stones at all: a year later, the grass has filled in almost all the space.

So, progress all the way around over at dawrighthouse. Despite what this one says.

Well, Ok Then

I survived the first day! It turns out that my classroom is a computer lab (which requires a special key card entry - and I didn't realize that), so when I showed up this morning, twenty five students were waiting for me in the hallway and we were locked out.

Fun times.

So we went on a field trip and held class outside on the lawn. Images of Jesus and the disciples come to mind...with less spirituality and more eye rolling. With less loaves/fishes and more worrying about sitting in goose poop. But still. The students were troopers and we had a good time and it turns out that I have more returning students than I thought! I had 7 returning students just in today's class! I expect about 5 in tomorrow's. I take this as evidence that, as a teacher, I'm doing something right.

I spent the rest of the day running errands, bonding with Virginia (as in Woolf, as in my BFF for the next 4 months), and doing chain gang labor in the back yard. Lucy and I are now foam rolling and checking email.

Cross your fingers for tomorrow!

The Reckoning

This weekend was an anniversary of sorts. I treated myself to a massage (pronounced, as always, the British way: MASS-ahgze), a process that is becoming more common these days. Making up for lost time, I guess. I spent my entire life abhorring the thought of massages until this time last year when the heavens opened and the angels sang out and the truth was revealed to me.

Today is The Reckoning.

School starts tomorrow. Help me, Lord Jesus. And my students, too. They're gonna need it. Did I tell you that in both my classes I have students who were in Comp I over the last couple of years? It's such an interesting feeling, knowing that I won't be in front of all strangers tomorrow and Tuesday, that there will be familiar faces. I appreciate that someone (multiple someones!) would voluntarily take another class of mine!

The syllabi are complete and printed. Here, my friends, are the detailed lessons and assignments through December. Done and done. Pass me the Virginia Woolf and a large glass of wine.

This is my version of the eye roll emoji...

Look what I saw on my way to the massage! Aren't they precious?

If anyone needs me, I'll be stomping around the house, in loincloth and ashes, whining and bemoaning the end of my glorious summer. I'll probably get myself wound up for a good nap. Lucy, meanwhile, is ready to have the house back to herself.

TGIF, people!

Down Yonder

Hello from Arkansas! Where the heat has subsided, but the humidity has not. My hair is as big as the broad side of a barn, but since I can move without sweating, I'm not complaining. We have been eating and visiting family members since I arrived, and this introvert is ready for a nap.

I managed to do lesson planning for the entire flight yesterday (a whopping one hour) and I rewarded myself by enjoying the view on the way down. The clouds were so low...

The breaks in the clouds gave us some good views from my hotel room, too. When we're not visiting people, we sit in here and watch the ducks...

I would just like to say that I got up at 4:00 this morning (read: panic) and lesson planned. That is - obviously - the bad news. The good news, though, is that I'm almost done and I'm ready to copy the completed, detailed, fabulous, wonderful, thorough syllabi this weekend. Juuuuuuust in time for Monday. But all's well that ends well.

Whew. Time for a nap.

Tailgating at the Opera

So, being from Arkansas, and graduating from a school that is a huge part of SEC football, one would think that I would have attended a tailgating event before. One would be wrong.

My first experience at this, ladies and gentlemen, was at a world class opera in Santa Fe.

See? Everyone does it. Apparently, it's all the rage.

This was our little group:

We got to the opera about 1.5 hours early, quickly set up, and then enjoyed wine, champagne, fresh fruit, cheese, veggies, baguettes, southwest risotto, marinated pork loin served with homemade chutney, and a variety of desserts. The weather had already started to cool down, so it was comfortable and relaxing. I mean, there were tablecloths. Some people brought actual china to eat on. It was a really...new...thing to see!

And it was my first time at the opera! Em's aunt is a season ticket holder and a musician, so she was able to tell us all about how a world class opera operates. We attended "amateur night," where the understudies (who were out of this world talented and phenomenal - I would never have thought that they were anything less than highly-qualified and experienced professionals) perform a variety of scenes from a variety of operas. So, the cool thing is that we got a preview of 8 different shows!

Getting ready:

The spectacular Santa Fe Opera House:

See the mountains on the right? The opera was partially open to the elements.

Ready for the show!

After this experience, I would highly recommend the opera as well as this particular venue! It was the perfect way to cap our visit.

Santa Fe!

Dudes, I have been off the grid lately. Em and I spent the last few days in Santa Fe with her family and I'm now plotting how to move there. It was amazing and G was worried that I wouldn't come back.

I had never been to New Mexico before (or, as I referred to it, NUEVO MEHEEECO!) and, let me tell you, I am a fan. We spent four days in Santa Fe. We had planned to explore Taos, but we never made it out of town because it was so beautiful. We took walks in the mountains every day with her aunt's dog.

We also explored the downtown plaza where there are lots of restaurants and shops. My favorite part, though, was the old structures and churches there. Did you know that Santa Fe is home to the oldest church in America? This mission was founded in 1610.

1610!!!!!!!!

I was also very excited to see this church, a European-style cathedral built right in the middle of all the adobe- and Pueblo-style buildings. Willa Cather wrote about this church in her book, Death Comes for the Arch Bishop, and ever since reading about it and discussing it in class, I've wanted to see it in person. It was remarkable. So out of place and so beautiful.

To give you an idea of the architecture, it's right next to the building below...look how different they are!

I couldn't get over it. We went back to the plaza before we left town and had a marvelous lunch, then took a few more pictures!

We stayed up in the mountains, slept with the windows open, played games with her family, had dinners on the portal, watched the magnificent sunsets, walked the dog, had wine as the storms rolled through in the afternoons. Basically it was all I've ever wanted from life.

We even went to the opera! But, more about that later because right now I'm busy being glared at by this one and packing up for Arkansas.

I am so not ready for school next week.

A Night Out

We took a break from the Olympics tonight and, like the good Americans that we are, went out to eat! We went to one of my favorite local neighborhood spots, Shells & Sauce.

We sat outside and could feel the heat dissipate as the cool evening air blew through. In Denver we only have a few more weeks of the heat; already there are "break days" of cooler temps in between the days of 90 (or higher) degrees.

These mozzarella sticks were the size of Twinkies. We were not complaining. But that was a lot of cheese.

My salad was out of this world and perfect for a summer night. Those are grilled peaches (tasty, tasty char!) topped with goat cheese. The arugula salad was tossed in raspberry vinaigrette and was served, as you can see, with onions, prosciutto ham, and pine nuts.

A few crispy Brussels sprouts, too...

After a leisurely dinner and dessert, we walked around Barnes & Noble, saw a few books we couldn't resist, and then came home to this one and the Olympics.

I'll give you all my King Sooper's coupons to lesson plan for me.

That is all.