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.

Winter Night on Campus

The park is filled with night and fog,
The veils are drawn about the world,
The drowsy lights along the paths
Are dim and pearled.

Gold and gleaming are the empty streets,
Gold and gleaming the misty lake.
The mirrored lights like sunken swords,
Glimmer and shake.

From Spring Night, by Sara Teasdale (I left out the depressing verses, since they aren't fitting for my life right now, but you can read the whole poem here.)

Bloomingtonautica Retrospective 2010

The year in review (from left to right, top to bottom):

1. Campus in January
2. Gluten-free baking in February
3. A flock of ibis at Wakulla Springs in March
4. Flower photography at Maclay Gardens in April
5. Birdwatching at St. Mark's in May
6. Seaweed on Kiawah Island in June
7. Shopping for used books in July
8. Vegetable market on Lake Erie in August
9. Reunion in the Rocky Mountains in September
10. Live oaks in October
11. Long days on campus in November
12. A warm cat for a cold December.

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.

Holiday Wrap-Up

Here are a few things that happened while I was in Bloomington for our second Christmas celebration.

I opened presents with my family. Will and Brenda gave everyone pictures that they took on their trip to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. In this clip, they are giving Granddad a photo of the Sphinx.

Margaret and I sang some songs.

Temporary Librarian and I went for a walk in the woods.

I spent New Year's Eve (and the morning of the new year) with Jennifer and John in Indianapolis.

This is John pointing to the place on his family tree where the name of his new baby will go. Two days later, baby Rowan was born.

Back in Bloomington, David and I played some board games with my parents, Will, and Brenda. Here one of the teams attempts to spell "caravan" backward. Several other things happened -- a lovely brunch, some great conversations, more Indiana scenery -- but I didn't take pictures of them. And finally the Bloomingtonauts returned to Tallahassee and started the new semester.

Moving Forward to 2011

Moving Forward

The deep parts of my life pour onward,
as if the river shores were opening out.

It seems that things are more like me now,
that I can see farther into paintings.

I feel closer to what language can't reach.

With my senses, as with birds, I climb

into the windy heaven, out of the oak,

and in the ponds broken off from the sky

my feeling sinks, as if standing on fishes.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Robert Bly

New Toy

Gifted

On Christmas morning it was starting to snow.

Presents were stacked up under the tree. Guess which ones are from the Bloomingtonauts!

We all sat around the tree.

Ready to open our stockings.

David and I got some amazing presents.

Lucky slept on the presents.

And at the end of the day, everyone was happy and tired and surrounded by piles of boxes.

Christmas Refractions

The tree in Hillsville is sparkling with ornaments and lights.

David's family hangs prisms all over the tree to catch the sunlight.

In the morning, light bounces all around the room.

And there are brilliant rainbows everywhere.

Including my nose.

Southern Lights

This is what Christmas looks like in Tallahassee. We don't have snow, but we do have spanish moss, which is nature's tinsel.

This is in Ponce de Leon Park, where I walked around tonight admiring all of the live oaks lit up with Christmas lights.

It's especially spectacular when you look up.

Deck the Walls with Pods of Narwhals

This is what I did with all of the narwhals I cut out of card stock: brushed them with glue and covered them in glitter.

And more glitter.

I made silver, blue, and dark gray glittery narwhals.

Then I hung them around the living room.

I might add lights later to bring out the sparkle, which the camera doesn't capture very well.

But now we have lots of narwhals frolicking around our living room, and it's starting to look very festive and nautical.

Card Catalog

If you -- or your blog -- had an entry in a library card catalog, what would it look like? Make your own here.

Winter Inspiration

So maybe it's because I've been eating these cough drops, or because David and I are reading this book out loud.

Or because I've been wearing this awesome necklace that Jennifer and John gave me for Christmas.

But this season I am feeling very inspired by icy winter seas.

And narwhals. Narwhals seem very Christmasy to me, maybe because of this one in the movie Elf.

I'm dreaming of a kayak trip like this one, except that obviously I would be helping to conserve the endangered narwhal instead of harpooning it. Meanwhile, I want to decorate our place so that it looks like a glacial sea festooned with pods and pods of narwhals.

We're going to need more narwhals.