And Now, for a Non-Hurricane Post

Let me reflect on non-hurricane parts of life in the last few weeks.

--We went from this

to this

Now the whole interior of the house, except for the bathrooms, has had a fresh coat of paint.  The kitchen had a fresh coat in 2013--we'll likely wait to do the kitchen until after the remodel.

In the picture above, the wall with one window is a very light green, while the other walls are painted in shade that turns from a milky cream to a buttery cream to a sunshine yellow.  In some lights, the light green also looks like a buttery cream.  It's very interesting to watch the light and the color shift.

--The next phase of the Great Flooring Project starts on Monday--the floor in the pictures above will be stripped and sanded and stained to match the flooring in the bedrooms.

--We have a new fence:

--I have spent a lot of time keeping an eye on tropical systems.  Last night I had not one, but two dreams with a hurricane as part of them.  I woke up when a wave with dead fish washed over me in a parking lot of a hotel where I had traveled with my mom and dad--it wasn't a scary part of the dream, so much as an inconvenience because I didn't have many dry clothes with me.


--I had my last session with my ENC1102 (Intro to Lit) student.  What a treat this has been.  I told her that I felt sad that she didn't get the diversity of opinions that a regular class would have given her.  She said that she preferred the one-on-one attention, that she had learned so much.  It's the first time I've taught a graphic novel/short story/selection--my student liked the more traditional literature better.

We ended the class by reading a few poems together.  It is very strange to read "Dover Beach" with a huge hurricane chugging towards us. That poem is such a magnificent work of art--and even though the last stanza isn't cheery, I find it oddly comforting that ours is not the first time period that fits the metaphor of ignorant armies clashing by night. "Ah, love, let us be true to one another" . . .

--I've had some writing time.  I'm most pleased with a short story that I revised to fit into the current collection.

--I've also done some sketching with my special markers; here's my favorite from the last several weeks

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--What's missing from my list?  Time with friends.  We've had some outings scheduled that had to be postponed because of many reasons.  But I stay in touch by way of e-mail and Facebook.