Quilted stories, quilted life

Today, my very cool-looking husband and I went out on the motorcycle again with the purpose of chasing horses, like we go out chasing swallows and stars.

The week after graduation was inordinately busy with the start of classes, but I'm starting to get into a groove, which feels much more mellow now that I don't have a dissertation hanging perpetually over my head.

Before hopping onto the moto to search for horses, my husband and I walked to the Craft Center of my small college on the hill so I could (finally!) register for quilting classes. I've been wanting to do that since 2006, when I started here, but back then I couldn't get to registration and the class filled up. Last year, I purposefully decided to postpone quilting class until 2008 because the Monster had to have all of my attention.

With the Monster now laid to rest for a while, I can (finally!) start branching out into heretofore unexplored interests, like quilting. I'm not actually good at doing much of anything with my hands (other than typing), but I'm going to give quilting a try. I love quilts and I'd like to try to make at least something that reflects my taste in them.

(Next year, I'm thinking of taking the black & white photography class. In the meantime, I've signed up for a one-day photography workshop this coming weekend so maybe the pictures here will improve.)

My first class meetings were good. I seem to have strong, if small, groups and because few things energize me like teaching I had a lot of fun on Friday during my first classes. I also met with my advisees, who are a small, but eclectic group that I am hell bent on serving well.

Unlike these past summer Saturdays, yesterday was an errand day in the big city, and while I got a break to have a too-quick lunch with my lovely and very pregnant friend KG, most of the time was spent rushing around town before heading back up here to our tiny apartment where all our peludos and my husband awaited.

So today was our official day off and on the moto we went, trolling for horses. While on other trips we have seen maybe several dozen horses, today we only saw four that I could get close enough to photograph and only 2 of those yielded a photo good enough to post here.

After our largely failed mission with the horses, we did stop at a nearby orchard so I could stock up on the season's last peaches (this time they're white peaches, which are simply exquisite), and firm, tart apples, the fall's perennial fruit. This summer's fourth? fifth? sixth? peach cobbler is now in the oven. Perhaps to be followed tomorrow by an apple pie for my husband, who's not big on peaches.

Tomorrow, I return to yoga early in the morning and then have more meetings with advisees and class prep to look forward to. But at least the semester has started slow, slower than I can remember, which I guess is normal pace now that I'm not trying to be a professor and a graduate student at the same time.

Outside, the night is alive with the chirping and crackle and sizzle of insects. Inside, my husband watches motorcycle racing, while Geni snores loudly in the kitchen, Magellan sits regally, like the statue of an Egyptian cat, on the living room table, and Darwin stretches lazily on one of the arms of the over sized chair.

Rusty, who also sleeps, is now almost fully recovered from an obviously painful infection that had nearly closed his right eye (diagnosed by our new veterinarian in the nearby town). He is a changed dog. Today he brought his ball to my husband, who threw it so the dog could chase it for a few minutes around the tiny apartment, as my husband and I looked on agape. Gone is the pained, droopy dog of the past few months. Enter a nearly 15-year-old puppy.

I am staring at this glowing screen for a few minutes longer, about to call it a night. I'm still excited at the prospect that I'll actually learn to quilt because perhaps I'll learn to tell my quilted stories in a different kind of way.