I flew back to Boston this morning. I always try for a window seat, and was pleased that I scored one. (Even better, the seat next to me was empty.) The flight landed right around noon, and I enjoyed watching the plane’s shadow growing below us as we landed.
I’m off to bed now. It was a long day. (Again.) Tomorrow I need to get my thoughts organized to tackle the week’s miscellaneous commitments. (Work projects, political postcard projects, household projects, and more.) For tonight, I’m just going to enjoy sleeping in my own bed.
Oops. I apparently completely forgot to post yesterday. What with leaving home before 4 in the morning, travelling, meeting up with and hanging out with my sister, then rushing to get some work done for a couple of deadlines, I went to sleep with apparently nary a thought for my poor blog. It was only this evening as we poked our heads into a Tibetan shop that I reflected on my post mentioning the Tibetan prayer wheel that I realized that a whole day had passed since I’d last posted.
Anyhow, I took a ton of photos yesterday, but will only share a few for now. 1) a duck and 2) the neighborhood where we are staying and 3) my “office” where I worked last night (in the upper bunk of the room in the hostel/hotel where I am staying with my sister.)
Tomorrow will be another full day. I’ll have more time with my sister, and then will head up to Maryland to visit a friend from high school. (So we’ll see if I remember to post.)
I shouldn’t stay up too much later, as I have an early flight. I’m meeting up with my sister in DC for a few days, and then visiting a friend in Maryland. I have to get on the road for the airport before 4 a.m., which just doesn’t seem right. I’m still packing, which turns out to be a challenge, because I apparently need to pack for multiple seasons. It looks like there will be some nice weather a couple of days, but when I head home Monday morning, there may be freezing temperatures.
Speaking of not being sure how to dress for the season, I noticed this small tree displaying some wardrobe confusion yesterday. Note the spring-like blossoms. And the fall foliage. On the same tree. (See the little springy rosy blossom buds peeking out from behind the autumnal yellow leaf?) I feel you, little tree.
I’ll hopefully still remember to post while I’m away. I have a lot of work to get done, too.
I’m pretty sure I’ve had nightmares about missing an election. Happily, there were no impediments to me casting my vote today. It’s been a hard day to focus on work, feeling like the future is in the balance. In spite of that, I was fairly productive.
I woke up extra early today, hoping to catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse. I set the alarm for 5, and somehow woke up before the alarm. I bundled up and went outside in the dark to look for the moon. After some wandering the yard and up towards the street, I came to the conclusion that the moon was too low on the horizon for me to see from our heavily wooded neighborhood. I was not motivated to go out driving by myself to seek out higher ground. Eventually, the sky lightened and turned to pink with the sunrise, and I went in to drink my morning tea and do the crossword puzzle.
It’s been a long, long day. I know that most of the country’s election results won’t be in for quite a few hours (if not days) yet. However, I’ve already seen the fantastic news that Maura Healey has been declared governor of Massachusetts. So at least there is some good news to hold on to.
Shortly after I posted last night (hitting the publish button at 11:59 p.m. or so), I headed to get ready for bed. I started by removing the necklace that I had chosen to wear. As I looked down at the pendant in my hand, the stone evoked the image of the slice of blood orange I had just shared in my post minutes earlier.
It was the first time I’d worn it, after getting it for myself last year. It had caught my eye at a local artisan market. Its sunny yellow called to me on a gray rainy day. (Probably also not a coincidence that sunniness attracted me, since I was deeply entrenched in promoting a local clean energy campaign that featured a lot of images of the sun.) I was entranced by the stone, with it’s elaborate repeating pattern looking like tiny flowers or slices of candied lemon. The vendor, who was the artisan who had designed and done the silverwork for the pendant, identified the stone as fossilized coral. I had never come across this before, and I was smitten. It was only a couple of weeks before my fiftieth birthday, so I indulged.
I didn’t do a good job of keeping track of the artist’s name. (Though looking at my Venmo record, I think I found her name. I can’t find a website for her, though.)
Above are more photos of it, with different colored backgrounds. (Left is on top of the marigold-colored velour top I wore it with. At right it’s on top of one of my new notebooks.) I realized that I probably need to put more effort into finding good light for taking photos of jewelry.
On a completely different note, I am stressed about the upcoming midterm elections. I have not been as closely involved with any campaigns this season. I had imagined that I would be doing some sort of campaign work, such as holding signs or canvassing. But in the end, I haven’t. I came close a few times, but ultimately I decided that I need to conserve my energy. I have a lot on my plate now, with multiple research projects, as well as substantially increased responsibilities in my town government. I’m also still recovering from Covid, and even after more than a month of testing negative, I’m not yet back to 100% and still have a cough when I get tired. I feel like I am making excuses, but I also know that my energy is finite. (It’s a hard truth for me to accept.)
Only 4 days into November, and I already almost forgot to post. The truth is I’m feeling stretched a little thin and worn around the edges. I have a lot going on, and still somehow feel like there’s more I should be doing, or more I should’ve done. I think this mostly means I’m tired and should get to sleep. I have to get up early and have a long day ahead tomorrow.
So, I fall back to that fall tradition of posting a photo of a leaf instead of staying up later to write. I enjoyed the way this leaf looked as if it were floating. (As well as how it looked a little frayed around the edges.)
It was a long full day, but a good one. I had a bit of a mini-reunion in Boston over lunch with several friends from grad school, as one of them was in town for a conference. I got a bit of work done in the morning, and rounded out the day by watching a web lecture on the state of democracy. During which I doodled, and explored the colors of my new set of 30 gel pens. I determined that they do indeed have 30 separate colors of ink. (See below for color test and 3 stages of doodle. The light for taking photos wasn’t great, so you can’t see the full range in the image. Plus some of the differences are quite subtle.)
Here we are, more than half way through November, and this is my first post in close to a year. I realized about November 3rd that I’d missed my annual tradition of at least *trying* to blog every day in the month of November.
Life has been very busy and very full. I have a new job that, even though it’s technically part time, has me constantly rushing to catch up. (I’m teaching a course as an adjunct, and basically building the course as I go along. The opportunity only came up a few weeks before the start of the semester. Plus I’m commuting into Boston 3 days a week. And I still have a bunch of research group and community commitments. It’s been a lot.) So when I remembered that I’d missed my NaBloPoMo tradition, I didn’t spare too many wistful thoughts.
But then today is a special day for this blog: Happy 15th birthday little blog! I’ve missed you, and hope we can catch up soon.
It was just this morning that I recognized the significance of today’s date for my blog. And then a little bit later in the morning remembered the other significance of this date. This was the date I lost a dear friend, 14 years ago today. This blog will always be a little bit tangled up with my memories of her, and the grief that sometimes still catches me unawares.
Just this Friday, I found myself thinking of her, through a funny meandering path of thoughts and memories. We have developed a family tradition of having pizza on Friday nights, and I put together a special one to deal with my difficult dietary constraints, and with a bunch of vegetables. (Because I like vegetables.) Theo was helping me prep for the pizza, and was cutting an onion. And as Theo struggled with the burning and watery eyes of cutting onion, I found myself singing the Flight of the Conchords song, “I’m not crying.” (And then I found myself thinking of Elizabeth, who I believe was the one who introduced me to that band.)
“I’m not crying No, I’m not crying. And if I am crying It’s not because of you It’s because I’m thinking about a friend of mine who you don’t know who is dying. That’s right, dying. These aren’t tears of sadness because you’re leaving me. I’ve just been cutting onions. I’m making a lasagna. For one.“
So all of this is why, rather than getting my blog a cake (or reusing a photo of a cake), it felt more fitting to share some sliced onion.
This highly unusual year is finally coming to a close. And though there are parts of it I wish I could do differently, I’m not sorry to see the end of it.
2020: a confusing year.
I didn’t so much manage to keep posting regularly this month. I fell short of that goal, much like a lot of my other goals for the year. So, I suppose it’s a fitting end. I did manage to post every day in November, plus another 15 posts (16 if you count this one), so there’s that.
My 2020 posts were a little sparse.
I fell short on my reading goals. I planned to read at least 52 books. I finished 40. I barely read any physical books at all, and mostly listened to audio books. (I still count those.) The book group I was in sort of sputtered out after a few zoom meetings. I didn’t even try to follow the Read Harder Challenge list from Book Riot, after successfully completing it in 2019. I found I didn’t have the concentration to read books much of the year.
I walked the dog pretty much every day, and kept reasonably active, but I wouldn’t say I especially accomplished any fitness goals.
I accomplished a few professional goals, but fell short on some others.
I did a lot of volunteer work, but dropped the ball more than once.
I did a few creative projects, but never got off the ground on a few others.
I had one trip to California in February to see my mother, for which I am very grateful, but pretty much all subsequent travel plans were cancelled.
My family has stayed largely well, but we have had our grief, too. I have meant to write a post about a significant loss, but haven’t found the time or energy to do my feelings or the person justice.
I put a lot of time and energy into the US elections, and the results were mostly good, but we are still living in this weird reality where a bewilderingly sizable percentage of the population does not believe in the results. I feel like I still need to hold my breath until we are past the inauguration.
With two vaccines already being distributed in the US for the coronavirus, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I know a number of people, who all work in some healthcare profession, who have already gotten their first shots. But with the gross mismanagement at the federal level, only a tiny percentage of the population have started to get vaccinated. At current rates it will be many, many months before it becomes available to me or my family. The tunnel appears to be quite long. And cases are continuing to rise oh-so-alarmingly.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it appears to be still quite a long, dark tunnel we’re in.
Today, we have broken with our tradition of taking the train into Boston to see the ice sculptures, eat at one of our favorite restaurants, and generally be tourists in the city. Instead, we’ll stay home, and stay warm and safe.
Seeing the ice sculptures in Boston: One of many traditions set aside this year.
In a year of big challenges and big stress, I have come out mostly okay. I feel like I was very busy all year, but didn’t get all that much done. The year took a lot of energy. In some ways, it was a huge accomplishment just to make it through, and have any products at all. My family has been mostly okay. We have jobs and a home. So I have much to be thankful for.
So now, I welcome the new year with some degree of hopefulness, but also with some wariness and weariness that come from the awareness that we are not yet out of the woods.
We did get to go for some walks in the woods this year.
Here is a more cheerful photo of woods, since I don’t like to end on such a melancholy note. I do actually really like the woods.
Wishing us all a safer, healthier, happier new year!
collecting tokens 