Sunday, October 25, 2015

Late fall beauty


This fall has been one of the most beautiful in recent memory. The days have been glorious (not too cold, not too hot) and we've had many opportunities to make the most of the afternoons by taking long walks in different metro parks around the city.

Today, we went to Slate Run Metro Parks Wetland section and, again, enjoyed a lovely time, and the quietude of nature in fall. That is, except for the hundreds of tiny frogs, who plopped in the water each time we walked by, announcing their presence with their leaving. This little fella, though, stayed put and seemed undaunted by my husband's lens upon him.


This week, I turn 54 on Thursday, and while I appreciate the comment of the stranger who said she did a double take when looking at the birth date on my license because she couldn't believe it, I've lived each and every hour of that half-century-plus. And I am grateful for all of it, and excited for what's to come.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Falling for fall



The summer went by in a blur after I accepted a position as full-time Associate Provost, which entailed not only moving from my tiny office to another, larger and prettier one (about as spacious as my third-floor studio apartment in Cambridge when I was in grad school, whose heat source was the oven) but a huge learning curve in terms of new responsibilities.

I'm enjoying learning a lot and really appreciate this new opportunity but it has seriously set back my book revision project, even though I decided not to teach this semester (though I will be teaching my Fear class in the new year). I kept my advisees so I get to see students on a regular basis, which feels good, and I am looking forward to being back in the classroom next year though I will have to see how that balances with the full-time schedule.

A demanding job makes the free time even more precious and rare so it was great that we got to ride the motorcycle to one of our favorite farm markets recently. All will soon close down once we move from fall to winter but, for now, we still have farm markets to visit and locally grown apples and pumpkins to enjoy.

Also awesome recently, at the end of September, was the Supermoon, which I didn't get to see at night, but I did get to see before dawn when I usually get up on Mondays as I'm getting ready to come up to my small college on the hill.