Back to school, on the other side of the desk!

[lunadelcorvo]

Well, first week and a half of school is done, and it's going great! I've two classes, both freshman, both humanities. One I've taught before, and I'm consciously trying to involve the students in more dialog. The other is the new course I mentioned, Utopia/Dystopia, and it's a true seminar-style course. I have them doing a lot of discussion, and close reading the text. They are a little uncertain yet, but I think they'll do well. And of course, I'm re-reading texts and finding new subtleties, which I love. So a new semester, and I am loving it!

Otherwise things are well, The garden is getting that late-summer shambles look, aided not at all by the dreadful heat which has kept me from doing much at all outside. The herbs have gotten pretty wild and leggy, so I've transplanted some of them into pots, so I can take them inside once it gets cold. Otherwise, I'm going to harvest what I can until it's time to start trimming back the jungle!

And finally, with the big windstorm we had a bit back, I jumped at the chance to do something I have wanted to do for ages! I have always wanted to have a tree or at least tree branches from with to hang all my suncatcher-y, crystal-y, dangly things from. So the morning after the chaos subsided, niblet and I headed out to scour the perfect branches. A few hooks, some drilling and wiring later, I have the 'fairy tree' I've always wanted! *squee!!!*





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Comments

[gypsytemptress.livejournal.com]

wow I just love that fairy tree. I can't stop staring at it. It's gorgeous!!! Just amazing!!! :) LOVE IT!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I will likely tone down the items on it once the initial thrill calms a bit, but one I had it up, I tossed everything I could get my hands on up there! LOL!

[mutantenemy.livejournal.com]

Your fairy tree is a very, very cool idea. I love it! And congrats on your first week and a half being a BADASS prof. ;-)

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

THanks! And I definitely don't know about BADASS! LOL I'm just happy if I can get a few of them to open their mouths once or twice.... *sigh* Seminars.....

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

That's an awesome idea! BEAUTIFUL!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Thanks, sweetie! *hugs*

(OMG, I am so pulling for your AC to get fixed, er, re-fixed.....)

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

(OMGOSH! ME, TOO!)

[sentimental13.livejournal.com]

Love it! Miss you!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I miss you, too. And kind of, I miss ME too. I'm sorry - I know I'm like the invisible woman these days.... I keep going round and round about the PhD program, and it has me in a weird place. On the one hand, I miss it. I miss classes, soaking up the knowin's and all. And I really want more grad hours (to say nothing of those nifty letters) because even though I'm not going after the 'brass ring' tenure track, it will give me more flexibility in what kind of teaching odds and ends I can do. But honestly the thought of setting foot back on campus kind of makes me want to crawl in a hole and hide! So I suppose I have been doing a bit of just that.... Plus, oddly, I find the loss of my mom still has me feeling a little - I don't know, off balance. Not depths of despair or anything, just...wrong footed, if you know what I mean.... So I have been sticking pretty close to home and family lately. (Social life, meh, who needs it?)

And I know that all pales in comparison to where you're at, so it's a crappy excuse for being a totally absent friend.... *headdesk* Mea culpa. I'm sort of having to get my head on straighter now with things starting up, so I will try to actually become visible on occasion. I do love, you sweetie, and I TOTALLY want to see this gorgeous girl of yours! *hugs*

[sentimental13.livejournal.com]

It's just life, crazy wild and insane life. Sometimes you don't want to see other people. I imagine if I had a husband (or even if her father and I were together) that I would be pretty well ensconced in family and not seeking so much from the outside. But as it is, some days I do want a little life outside of the two of us. It's hard to have an adult conversation with someone who doesn't talk.

That being said, I do miss you and can't wait to see you! Teaching is a new thing, but a good thing. I like it, even when it's frustrating.

ANNND, I thought of you when I read this:
http://www.medievalists.net/2011/08/29/researchers-discover-original-bacteria-of-the-black-death/