Christmas 2013: Part Two: Bloomington

Christmas in Bloomington was wonderful.

Joe, Jackie, Sarah, and Jacob were visiting too, which really made Christmas special.

We all got together with Nola and Mimi and had a Christmas book swap. I got this awesome book!

And we had a lavish farewell breakfast the day that the cousins left -- with Dad's eggs, potatoes, bacon, homemade biscuits, Christmas crackers, and a few small presents.

 

Merriment ensued.

We took the family portrait.

While I was in town, Mom and I got to hike at Lake Griffy.

On this lovely icy day.

We climbed all the way down these stairs at Leonard Springs.

And we had a fantastic brunch at the Punce with Nola.

And then it snowed. It snowed a lot. Right before David and I had to leave for our conference in Chicago. I was so happy to have this beautiful walk with Mom in the snow-covered, otherworldly woods. But I was less happy to drive through the snow-covered, otherworldly highways. They closed the roads in Indianapolis just after we got through them.

In Chicago, the snow stopped, but the temperature started to plummet. We stayed in our hotel almost the entire time we were there. This is the view from our room.

And the view looking down.

And this is all the sightseeing we did: the Magnificent Mile, glimpsed from the car window. Because it was on its way to -20. The day we left Chicago the weather forecast was calling for "Brutally Cold," "Dangerously Cold," and then "Just Cold." But luckily we were headed south.

Congratulations, David!

And We're Back

Back to work and back to spending time with Malinda. She missed us! Or maybe she's just really interested in The Handbook of Ugaritic Studies.

The Real Celebration

We stopped at a roadside stand and bought some fireworks on the way from Bloomington to Hillsville. But we didn't set them off on the Fourth of July. We waited one more day, and on the fifth of July something much more exciting happened.

David finished his book manuscript! He made all final changes and mailed it off. The next time we see it, it will be in actual book form.

Now that deserves some fireworks.

On Campus Again

We're back in Tallahassee and back on campus. Summer is over!

David and I are spending a lot of time this semester in this building, Dodd Hall.

I walk up this path almost every day.

 And hang out in the office that we share.

 It's time to start grading again.

I'm so glad that our basement office has this nice view for me to look at while I'm grading.

 We're moving all of our classically-themed things into the office.

 This is going to be the semester we get the whole office decorated.

Spring

Hello, Internet. I'm back and ready to post a little more frequently on this blog. Here's a quick summary of what happened while I was gone.

 Somehow I didn't post at all during spring, the most spectacular time of year in Tallahassee. But we were outside a lot of the time enjoying the season: the camellias blooming and carpeting the ground with their blossoms, the cherry trees, then the oriental magnolias, then the pears and dogwoods and poppies, and then native magnolia, wisteria, and masses of tiny pink-purple wildflowers in our back yard.

A cherry tree.

An oriental magnolia.

A camellia.

We did the Backyard Bird Count, but we saw this Baltimore oriole a couple of days before. He was so bright that it looked like he was glowing.

We gave Malinda the rest of the red felt that I used to make the Christmas tree skirt, and she spent a lot of time sleeping on it.

And one really exciting thing happened: David finished writing his book manuscript!

To celebrate, we spent Spring Break in Hillsville visiting David's family. Here he is with his cousin Sheree, his mother Ann, and his brother John.

Then It Was Fall

I drove back to Tallahassee and went immediately to campus.

I'm teaching in this building this semester.

It's the third week of classes, and look! I saw a fall leaf! Summer is definitely on its way out.

End of the Semester

I do enjoy grading the Harry Potter essays.

Nymphaion

This week David and I discovered a part of campus we had never noticed before: a little garden with a fountain at its center. I taught my Greek class here a few times.

The statues on the fountain are nymphs, which makes the whole place look like one of the ancient nymph shrines that I study, a nymphaion. Some of them were sacred gardens that could have looked a lot like this.

Tall pine trees overhead.

The ground is covered with the needles and seeds of the pines, and with the flowers that fall from the camellias.

Under the camellias, the flowers cover the ground.

There is even a black rock behind the nymph statues, which I would call a "rock-cut altar" if I found it at an archaeological site. People leave flowers on it. Maybe for the nymphs?

Hitting the Books

This week David is immersed in research for an article he is writing, which is also going to be a job talk for an upcoming interview. It involves some giant books.

While David Was Gone

One of the Bloomingtonauts had a very exciting and adventurous week. Unfortunately, it was not the one with the camera.

When David left for a conference in San Antonio, I was on campus teaching our classes -- both mine and his.

While David was in San Antonio, I went for a walk at Lake Ella.

I saw some cold little ducks.

And a heron.

While David was meeting with his book editor, I bought lots and lots of turnips at the farmer's market.

I taught more classes.

As David was flying to Atlanta, where he had a connecting flight, I was preparing a Greek lesson and eating Greek food.

When David found out that an ice storm had hit Atlanta and closed the entire city down, I was teaching my Greek class in this building.

In this awful classroom with a column in the middle of it, blocking a whole row from my view.

While David was snowbound in Atlanta for a few days, he took this picture on his cell phone: downtown Atlanta, normally crowded with people, now deserted except for one lone tourist wheeling her suitcase down the street.

Meanwhile, I made an enormous pot of soup.

And I played folk songs on my guitar.

While David was on his return flight from Atlanta, I was giving a lecture in this classroom.

When David came home, I was there to greet him.