EDLM diary 2/20/20
Up before 6, to shower and get ready before the girls get up for school at 6:30
Where did that plastic bit on the shower drain come from?
After dressing I face a kitchen with unfinished dishes. Last night got away from me. An empty dishwasher is great to see on moments such as this. I make some tea, a cuppa for me and a pitcher for my wife.
In the midst of washing dishes the spray nozzle breaks off, showering me and the kitchen with a high-velocity stream of water. It takes me a second or two to realize what’s happening, resulting in a nice, wide spray of water all over the cabinets.
I carry some laundry upstairs and fold it. “After enlightenment, the laundry” goes an old Zen saying.
Tea and conversation with my wife. Should we go to Pittsburgh over spring break, just because?
By 7:45 I’m out the door, taking one daughter to school and the other to an orthodontist appointment. My daughter calls the orthodontist’s place “the happiest place on earth.” She’s convinced they’re running a pyramid scheme. I’m convinced they’re straightening her teeth. En route, my wife texts to tell me an old friend is on NPR talking about soul singer Percy Sledge. I’ll have to find it later and listen. I suggest we start a collaborative drawing while we wait. She begins with a nice outline of a butternut squash. Waiting begins with a butternut squash. Why not?
I take ortho daughter back to school and go in search of gasoline and a car wash as my wife is leaving for an academic conference today. The gas is easy to find, the car wash less so – the line too long at one place, and not working at the other. I give up. The wife will drive a dirty car. Oh well.
I come home, fix myself a breakfast of a bagel with veggie sausage and cheese. I read my wife’s conference paper at her request, and I add suggestions. My wife leaves to go see a friend for coffee. My daughter texts my wife’s computer a message in French.
I read St. Augustine and John Donne for class tomorrow. I answer some emails.
I received a wonderful message from a student. She found something that related to our class as she was thinking through some of the issues and thoughts a reading was raising in her and wanted to share it. Her excitement at her discovery was palpable (the headline in ALL CAPS made sure I didn’t miss her excited tone). When those kinds of things happen, I know I’m doing my job as a teacher. I wrote her a nice response with a further link to carry on the conversation.
I’m trying to turn my life into a near-constant spa environment, so the ambient music and essential oil aromatherapy get going while I work. Why not?
A pair of shoes I like are wearing out. I buy another pair of something similar.
I watch a series of videos on 6-minute workouts from The New York Times. Maybe I’ll actually do them.
I remember it’s EDLM day and begin this diary.
Needing some exercise, I take the dog around the neighborhood. She’s eager…until she isn’t, and then it’s like something spooks her and she pulls and scrapes the ground to get home as quickly as possible.
Al Green’s “I’m Still in Love With You” is on auto-play in my head….”wrapped up in your love…don’t you know that I’m still in love with you….”
I get out a salad. I cut up a pineapple. Where does the core stop and the fruit begin? My wife returns home and I help her get ready for her trip.
My wife has left for her conference. I have my lunch and do some reading.
Post-lunch I do some reading of student work. They’ve submitted midterm self-assessments, so it’s interesting to see what is working for them and what’s not. It’s a new experiment this semester.
Took a guitar break. Everything sounds off today.
3:00 – the girls got out of school.
Took my daughter to her violin lesson, and my other daughter to the grocery store. We are in search of glow sticks for the middle school dance.
We go back to pick up violining daughter. The girls want to get a toy for the dog to help her settle down. We do. Debate ensues, and now we have a rolling bamboo ball that drops dog food as it rolls around.
Younger daughter is still struggling to understand that clarinet practice is her homework, too.
We settle in for the evening, just the three of us. A dinner of left-overs.
The girls do some dog training. I go back to the guitar. It’s sounding better now. I’m not sure why that is.
The girls are reading and eventually we head bedwards and call it a night. I’m in the midst of reading Joseph Campbell. I think I’m looking for some ideas as to why I make art. I like that I’m doing something humans have done for tens of thousands of years. I like the connectedness of that. Campbell’s work makes me feel connected, too.
Good night!