A Few more Statements of Thanks

11/16/20: Can I be helpful for cooking? Chili, quinoa, and broccoli to go with tofu dogs. 

 11/17/20: So glad I finished a video for the Green Team today! Thanks, indeed, for the time to complete this. 

 11/18/20: Thanks for students and their hard work! 

11/19/20: Today I am so thankful for a warm sunny day and Jazzercise online. 

 11/20/20: Thank you for the wonderful hike at Fox Ridge State Park! 

 11/21/20: I am thankful for today’s e-devotion from Wesley Methodist Church: “Help us all to walk more gently on your earth and live more gently with each other. Amen.”

Thanks for the First Half of November

 

11/1/20: Thank you for continuing virtual church services, even after you resume an in-person meeting! 

11/2/20: Thanks to an understanding Zoom book study group for How to be an Anti-Racist, who all allowed me to turn off my video after talking with family members planning to celebrate Thanksgiving in a large group during Covid. 

 11/3/20: Today I am thankful for peanut butter, yummy peanut butter that makes apples transform into decadent treats. Spread a little peanut butter on a flax, oat bran, and whole wheat pita, add a little all fruit jam, and you have a dessert made in heaven. Delicious! 

 11/4/20: Our Illinois Governor and legislature voted in election day as a holiday this year, so I am thankful I was able to enjoy the unseasonably warm November day, cleaning out vegetable beds in the garden and trimming a few branches. It felt good to be outside, even getting in a short bike ride to mail a card and benefits form and enjoying my long dog walks even more! 

 11/5/20: Thank you for summer in November for happy dog walks and time to work in the garden after school. 

 11/6/20: Thank you for a fun RISE Conference committee, who all make it a celebration on Zoom when we meet. Thank you for long drives and new discoveries and spurts of research creativity, too!  

11/7/20: Thank you for a quick morning without ablutions to prepare me for a fun morning of raking and blowing leaves for our Helping Hands day. 

 11/8/20: Thanks to the continuing good weather, I’m digging into my summer clothes for church dresses and shorts. 11/9/20: Thanks for one more day of sunny 70s giving me a perfect day to wash windows, mulch leaves with my mower, and naturally fertilize my garden beds with compost! 

11/10/20: Thanks for a good Tuesday of excellent grading, class prep, and reading. 

11/11/20: Today I am thankful for completing tasks and checking off items on my to-do list. 

11/12/20: I am thankful for sunshine today and good walks and students who show up for conferences. 

11/13/20: I am thankful for time today. With grading completed, I started creating a video for the Green Team at.Charleston’s Wesley United Methodist Church. 

 11/14/20: My thankful moment today happened on a drive into the country where we saw a huge buck running through a backyard in that rich neighborhood on the hill above the horse farm.

11/15/20: Thanks to November rain and wind to blow it away and blow in the sun for a few more days of fall. 

Life in Two Lines

Even though work overwhelms me now, each day begins with journaling--in my list journal I fill in as the day progresses and my two-line journal recently filled with little things I give thanks for. 

That means this blog has been on hiatus, overshadowed by online teaching responsibilities, student Zoom conferences lasting till 10:30 at night, constant responding, and revised lesson plans. Because our tenure includes service and research here, my weeks are also filled with meetings--Making Excellence Inclusive RISE Conference meetings, creative writing committee meetings, department meetings, English education meetings, and too many others to count. 

Yet, I still add to this meeting list each week, participating in a church book study reading How to be an Antiracist and two church committees--Church and Society and Green Team.

So, I'm making excuses for missing two weeks of blogging in October and waiting until November 15 for my first blog this month.

That's all I can say.