Friday, November 16, 2012

from morning until night

Ack. I've been so busy trying to juggle various activities that I haven't found time to take any new pics.

Okay, I'll try showing a typical day in my life in metaphorical pictures. (After all, metaphors and analogies are a major topic that I discuss with my students).

When the alarm clock wakes me up, I let my sweetie go on sleeping (LOUDLY - she seems to snore most in the morning).

Our menagerie of creatures demands to be fed.


I quickly shower while one creature or another scratches the bathroom door.

I dress quickly and go down to the kitchen, accompanied by the herd.

I look out the window, hoping to see this:


This week, however, whenever I look outdoors, I see a scene like this:


Sigh. I put the kettle on for tea, warm up some of Spouse's homemade food for the dogs (meat & vegetables run through the blender -- they love it).

Spouse comes down to the kitchen in due course, we drink tea & eat breakfast, then we bundle up and go out the back door to the car:


We manage to get the snow & ice scraped off the car, remind ourselves that we desperately need a garage (next on our list of home renos), then she drives me to work.


I go to my office, which actually feels like home, especially since I brought in a space heater to warm it in winter. I gather up whatever I need for my first class, and go to face my audience:


(Please note that I now have a better hairstyle than when this photo was taken. I found an excellent hairdresser who works out of her home, so the price is reasonable.)

In the afternoon, I usually wish I had time to write creatively (even a book review or blog post), but have to spend most of my time marking student essays. Sometimes my mind wanders:


But I resolve to soldier on and continue the fight to improve the composition skills of young adults:


I comfort myself by remembering the results of the recent U.S. election:


Then Spouse picks me up after work, or I take the bus home if she is too busy.

Yesterday after work, we went to the fundraising Steak Night of the English Students Association, where we indulged in food, drink & revelry:


Today there is no revelry on the agenda, so I hope to do some writing! I have 3 book reviews to write a.s.a.p., an editing job to do for a former student (why did I agree to this?), plus more revisions to make on my article on teaching vampire fiction (deadline: early December).

I sometimes contemplate my technological ineptitude, and wish I could do a better job of wowing students with bells & whistles in the classroom, or wow potential readers on-line.




Spouse is better at this stuff than I am. At home, we will cook something, then she will check her Facebook messages and play games on imaginary farms and zoos while I read, mark, edit & revise. Even when we're not conversing, we will enjoy a cozy evening in our warm house, surrounded by our dogs and cats, while the wind howls outdoors.

It's a good life. :)

3 comments:

  1. I love this, Jean! Especially the photo illustrating your mind wandering!

    I've been away from winter so long, it's hard to imagine dealing with ice and snow, shoveling and power outages, mittens and boots... though I lived in that kind of environment (albeit less extreme than Canada) for most of my life.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Thank you, Lisabet. One of these days I will post an actual photo of the snow & ice here in Saskatchewan - not much different from the photos I posted. It's a good season to enjoy central indoor heating. :)

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  3. Hi Jean!

    I'm late coming to this, I just now found it.

    I see your mind and mine wander into the same places . . .

    Its amazing to see snow and ice, and presumably a moose when you look out your window. Where i am its so different. Its still in the 70s. I'd be interested in reading your article on vampire fiction when its done!

    Garce

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