Hello everyone!
Hope the proverbial garden mulching and weeding and tending has gone well! I am on a big field trip in a lovely area for the week. It is 2 degrees, with horizontal rain/sleet, and foggy… Everything is still beautiful of course, and the actual subject of the trip is fascinating but the big views and wide open vistas are not quite as impressive as expected. So I thought I’d share a few pictures of tiny beautiful things I’ve taken in the last few days. It is still very early spring here so plants are just contemplating coming out of hibernation, almost nothing is blooming yet, and there are barely any leaves out...
The first picture is of some alder catkins, with tiny new leaves and flower spikes. The second is the ubiquitous juniper bushes with new berries, they will be dark purple in a few months. The third is a little patch of lingon berry flowers (called partridge berries here)… They will be bright red berries by the end of the season.
This week’s prompt… Did you notice any particular tiny beautiful things this week? Or, alternatively, what tiny things did you start this week that might bloom into something new by the end of the season?
Last week’s goals below…
DEH
-Write (or transfer) 3000 words for Overdue essay.
-Write or polish 1000 "real" words for First Conference Paper
-Contact last writer with reviewer comments
-regular PT exercises, gym x4 (swim x2)
-finish booking 3rd summer trip
-file travel voucher
-get mulch for veg patch
-review essay for journal
-make a cake
Daisy
Take time to do project planning
Polish
and give talks and support students with theirs
Have
fun catching up with people at conference
Keep
admin work going while away
heu mihi
1. Write 3000 messy words
2. Italian x 5
3. Sit x 3; exercise as usual
4. Start reading the Legenda Aurea (because why not?)
5. Catch up on some lingering leftover work stuff
JaneB
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading
every day (with dinner, in waiting times)
** make a list of different making methods and projects I might play with this
summer
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
** braindump the steps for the living room and clothes projects
** braindump smaller house and environment things I would like to get done this
summer
** braindump where I want to get to with my personal finances
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* assessment-related bureaucracy
* meet with the MSc by Research student who is furthest from submission
* one block of summer teaching tasks
* one block of time on Icky Admin Task
RESEARCH:
* submit small group paper
* continue calm systematic exploration of the laptop problem.
* write draft text for first two sets of results from modelling problem
* schedule meeting for teaching related project
Julie
1. At least two days on Big Article - write one section, plan out
the rest.
2. Final sign-off on PhD corrections.
3. Submit request for funding for travel this summer and book if possible.
4. Two teaching meetings (one on assessment).
5. House/life admin: book more summer travel, travel insurance, organise and
post parcel for book club swap.
6. Self-care/fun: run x 3, find weights or Pilates class, read, journal,
theatre trip Friday.
Susan
1. Get through at least 3 microfilms
2. Empty storage unit / stop paying for it!
3. Attend meetings
4. Start on office clearout
5. Visit with friends
6. Deal with any lingering admin stuff on the condo purchase
7. Try to get more sleep
So envious of you getting to spend time somewhere really northern at the edge of Spring! It's getting too summery far too early here and it makes me (more) grumpy! I do love a tiny catkin...
ReplyDeleteTiny beautiful things - the details of Mr Shoutypants (the way his tail conforms to the shape of the windowframe when he sits in his corner of the window behind my desk, the scatter of white hairs on his chest, his determined head-butts). An acocado at the perfect point of ripeness. Early light on leaves. And not the week just gone, but the previous one, my most consistent collaborator and I were having a grumble about some misconceptions a lot of people have in our field which turned into a coherent research idea, so there's another grant to start slowly writing.
LAST WEEK:
I didn't go onto campus - the weather did cool off somewhat mid-week but I was feeling "heatsick" - nothing as dramatic as sunstroke or whatever, but headachy and upset digestive system and general ratty did not get enough sleep aches and pains. And I didn't actually NEED to be on campus. And working from home I got to properly put my feet up at lunchtime which helps with the achies (heat & fat self & perimenopause age = swelling of legs/ankles = extra joint pain for arthritic me) and the over-tired brain fog (for some reason I can sleep/properly doze much better in full daylight than I can at night when its hot). I actually got a reasonable amount of stuff done, even if it was using the old "just do this one thing for half an hour then you can stop" self-bribery method! And the weather should be more seasonally normal next week after a hotter weekend.
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading every day (with dinner, in waiting times) yes, yes two (my character in the discord D&D game got a new familiar, a little animated stone statue, so I had to sit down and draw him. And I started a cheap paint by numbers, but it is cheap so I may not carry on with it.), yes (D&D twice), and yes including some reading at 3am when it was Too Hot and my brain was running around being very upset about it all
** make a list of different making methods and projects I might play with this summer rough list made
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores no, but some done<.i>
** braindump the steps for the living room and clothes projects former done in note form, I forgot about the latter
** braindump smaller house and environment things I would like to get done this summer in note form
** braindump where I want to get to with my personal finances in note form
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* assessment-related bureaucracy yes
* meet with the MSc by Research student who is furthest from submission yes. sigh. I think she has more direction now... her other supervisor and I have basically had to sit down and create a section-by-section "what is the minimum needed to have a submittable thesis" plan for her because she had gotten herself into such a tangle with what to do and how to do it, and was considering quitting - which would be a real pity given how much work she's done and how long she's been working on it. But it doesn't feel great. pelased to say the other MSc student is making good progress at least!
* one block of summer teaching tasks yes
* one block of time on Icky Admin Task yes
RESEARCH:
Delete* submit small group paper no - STILL waiting on a couple of co-authors for the biographical paragraphs. Some local schools had half term holidays so I expect people were busy with that, and/or with grading.
* continue calm systematic exploration of the laptop problem. I have got a work around and it seems to be working on my official work laptop!!! A multi-day run of the programme is happening this weekend, and if that works, I'll then go see if the same fix will work on the older laptops I have around the place. My current guess is that the problem is a "windows interferes with other things" issue.
* write draft text for first two sets of results from modelling problem one set done. Took longer than expected, but I think it was worth taking the time - future sets will be easier to write about. I hope!
* schedule meeting for teaching related project no, but multiple emails were sent - and we got the news that we didn't get the small grant we applied for for this project. Sigh!
THE COMING WEEK:
I probably won't go onto campus this week either (which feels naughty) because I have multiple video calls every day with non-local people, and going to campus to sit in my office and mostly just talk on Teams/Zoom/etc, knowing almost no-one else will be around, seems pretty pointless and unhelpful to the environment or me!
SELF-CARE:
* 3x20 intentional movement, 1 x making, 2 x small things with people, reading every day (with dinner, in waiting times)
** make pretty list of different making methods and projects I might play with this summer: pick up one thing from it I haven't done for a while
HOME AND ENVIRONMENT:
* 75% of chores
** make nice looking lists of the steps for the living room, the smaller tasks and the finances
** braindump the clothes projects
** think generally about what might get done when
TEACHING AND ADMIN:
* more assessment-related bureaucracy
* one block of summer teaching tasks (which may need to be squeezed in in hours here and there around the meetings, sigh)
* one block of time on Icky Admin Task
* roughly map out what might get done when this summer, and prioritise if needed
RESEARCH:
* submit small group paper if people reply
* continue calm systematic exploration of the laptop problem.
* write draft text for second set of results from modelling problem
** schedule meeting for teaching related project
That looks like a lot done, despite the heat. And I love your list of tiny things you noticed. A perfect avocado is a thing of joy: I wish there were a reliable way of identifying one!
DeleteJulie, buy a green avocado and let it sit until the bottom of it goes flat. Voila, perfect avocado!
DeleteJaneB, I love your making, both the listed creative making and also the plan you made for your research student. I hope she appreciates it sooner rather than later, but regardless, it is a kind and very helpful thing to do for her, and at some point she will recognize that.
The field trip sounds fun, despite the mist. Hope it's productive.
ReplyDeleteTiny things I noticed this week: not sure if they count as tiny, but lots of poppies growing on the verges of roads. Also a lot of bees this weekend around my shrubs and my pot of salvia, which has just started flowering. And the first rose is out on my climbing rose. It has been very warm here, so a lot of time in the garden!
Last week:
1. At least two days on Big Article - write one section, plan out the rest. - ISH (did two days, did the planning, but wrote bits of sections rather than a whole one)
2. Final sign-off on PhD corrections. - YES
3. Submit request for funding for travel this summer and book if possible. - YES
4. Two teaching meetings (one on assessment). - YES (assessment one was very depressing - AI)
5. House/life admin: book more summer travel, travel insurance, organise and post parcel for book club swap. - YES, STARTED, NO
6. Self-care/fun: run x 3, find weights or Pilates class, read, journal, theatre trip Friday. - YES, NO, YES, YES, YES, YES (weird play, not sure I enjoyed it, but it was a night out)
Also: bought more plants for patio and planted them, organised gift for MIL's birthday, tried a new recipe, made a lot of salads.
This week:
1. Three days on Big Article
2. Meeting with one mentee, email the other.
3. Print reviewers' comments on 5,000 piece & decide on responses (revising piece is something to add to Session goals).
4. House/life admin: travel insurance, research activities for summer trip, post book club swap, look for new chair, FIL's birthday.
5. Self-care/fun: run x 3, find weights/pilates class, read, journal, carry on watching addictive TV series.
Bits of sections is good because then you have them both started and only have to finish! That sounds like an excellent week. Time in the garden sounds lovely, especially with roses--a climbing rose I bought last year died during the winter, sadly, and I haven't done anything else about flowers this year. Peonies are doing fine!
DeleteVery productive! And Salvia and a climbing rose evoke a lovely garden space, just what we've needed in the hot spell.
DeleteOh, wow! It's hard to imagine such chilly weather, but I bet in April I flew over where you are now and got a good look at the snow cover then so . . . . Tiny beautiful things will take some thinking about, b/c I feel like I'm dealing with having planted what I thought was zucchini and turned out to be kudzu (that is, I expected a certain amount of overrun, but this is another order of magnitude!). Oh, I know! My oldest brother (who, a few years ago, received a very-late-in-life diagnosis of autism) seems to have had coaching in how to communicate with neurotypical people and we had an actual conversation in which he noticed he was monologuing, stopped, and asked about me. That was really nice.* And another small thing that I hope will lead to lots of enjoyment is that I bought a bicycle!
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
-Write (or transfer) 3000 words for Overdue essay. YES (about 2000/1000; the 2000 include a topic sentence outline).
-Write or polish 1000 "real" words for First Conference Paper: 1000 words written, but they're still rough notes, not polished paper.
-Contact last writer with reviewer comments: YES
-regular PT exercises, gym x4 (swim x2): YES
-finish booking 3rd summer trip: NO
-file travel voucher: NO
-get mulch for veg patch: NO
-review essay for journal: YES
-make a cake: YES (brownies, actually, but whatever)
ALSO: bought bicycle, as above; did some reading/planning for fall classes; wrote postcards to 3 friends and a long e-mail to another; completed a jigsaw puzzle; attended small-town Memorial Day parade and observances (I enjoy this kind of thing--small is key, though).
New goals:
-file travel voucher
-get mulch for veg patch
-finish Overdue Essay (now TRQ)
-produce readable conference paper (also now TRQ)
-regular PT exercises, swim x2, bike x2, weights x2
-finish booking August trip
*He's not heavy, he's my brother; but sometimes he is heavy going.
That's a nice story about your brother. Wishing you many happy cycle rides - hope there are good paths and careful drivers where you live!
DeleteYay on the bicycle! Is it electric? or old fashioned?
DeleteAnd I'm glad you had a real conversation with your brother.
Not electric, but I would not call it old-fashioned! Hydraulic shifters and disc brakes take a little getting used to.
DeleteHave fun with the bike! Sounds like progress with multiple projects and a nice balanced slate of fun stuff alongside (and of course any week with brownies in it is a good thing)
DeleteSmall things: oof, have not been much in noticing mode, given how much I feel unsettled. But I love the way early spring works in cold climates, with the gradual greening, so enjoying thinking about that happening.
ReplyDeleteHow I did:
1. Get through at least 3 microfilms YES!
2. Empty storage unit / stop paying for it! YES!
3. Attend meetings YES
4. Start on office clearout NOT REALLY
5. Visit with friends YES
6. Deal with any lingering admin stuff on the condo purchase MOSTLY (there's always more)
7. Try to get more sleep SOME
I went back to my old home, emptied the storage unit, took stuff to the dump, and played the confused old lady to dispose of stuff I wasn't supposed to bring there. That had been hanging over me for ages! I also finished three reels of microfilm, and figured out a way to do it faster than I had been. So I will finish the things on Interlibrary Loan this week.
The condo purchase is chugging along, and there are a few additional forms to sign, and then just organizing the money. Closing is next Wednesday.
I also chaired the last meeting for the year of a committee for our university system; and I reviewed a bunch of (short) internal grant proposals. Two other smart women were also reading them, and we had an almost two hour meeting scheduled this morning in case we needed to discuss things, and finished it in 45 minutes. And I got the preliminary TA assignments done -- the most challenging part of the job.
It has been hard not having what is my space, and at my brother's, where I'm camping out, I don't have an external monitor and so have to work on my laptop only. (Sitting on the edge of a bed with a folding table as my desk. It is not an ergonomic working situation! )
In the week ahead, I'm again keeping the goals simple:
1. Finish microfilms
2. Clear out office
3. Meet with incoming chair to go over looming issues.
4. Have fun with friends
5. Make sure final pieces are in place for condo purchase
6. Set up internet, electricity, and gas for the condo.
6. Stay zen
Again, I'm sure I'm missing something, but it's a start!
Congratulations on getting the storage unit cleared out! I love it when we can subversively use stereotypes for good (dumb blonde, ditzy woman, confused old lady), so I hope you had fun with that. How much attention does the office need? Could you just hire a couple of students to clear it?
DeleteYou're making progress every week - but having both transitions at once must be a LOT to be juggling!
DeleteThat is a lot! Hand in there and keep going, this is a huge transition but hopefully the other side is in sight and you will feel light and unencumbered by the end! And you will have a lovely space to make your own in your new home... Sending all good thoughts!
DeleteI have a new laptop (from work) and it's making it REALLY difficult to post on Blogger--I "don't have access" when I'm logged into my work account--but I think I've figured out the work-around. I just need to remember it!
ReplyDeleteTiny beautiful things.... I'm sure there were many! The evening light through the living room, sunlight on the purple irises, the juxtaposition of lupine and bright yellow-orange day lilies that are part of my view from the dining room table. The lovely bouquets I picked! --I seem to be fitting in well with the garden theme.
Last week:
1. Write 3000 messy words - 2700, but that's good enough
2. Italian x 5 - Yes; this book is slow going, but the important thing is to keep plugging away
3. Sit x 3; exercise as usual - Sat x 2, but that's a start; yes to exercise
4. Start reading the Legenda Aurea (because why not?) - No, but I opened it this morning!
5. Catch up on some lingering leftover work stuff - Yes, I think
This week:
1. Add last few article summaries to Festschrift intro
2. Process two Festschrift article revisions
3. Process new journal submission
4. Write 5000 words (let's be bold!)
5. Italian x 5, exercise x usual, sit x 3
6. Clean my house a little more thoroughly than usual ahead of weekend visit from parents
Lupine and day lilies sound like a beautiful combination! I love bright colors in a garden. You've made good starts on a lot of things!
DeleteOh, day-lilies! My dad loved his day-lilies so much when we were children - I always feel slightly nervous around a big clump of them in case I spontaneously acquire a ball and throw it right in the middle of them or something!
DeleteWhen they retired and moved to the coast, he somehow switched and collected Sysirinchiums, some of which self-seeded all over their garden's paths and flagged areas (they have a long narrow garden which has evolved over the last 30 years into a series of "rooms").
Yay for excellent week and bold goals! Hope the writing is inspiring and fun!
DeleteGardens in spring and summer are just a delight, I'm glad you have any beautiful things to look at!
And one late check-in from the host… Yep, leading trips and doing anything else not super-compatible… But really fun and will be great in the long run for collaborations and all kinds of things. And also after this I can stay home for a month with a clear conscience! I am managing the admin stuff reasonably well, and the conference was fabulous. I am tired beyond all sense because all the admin work is happening at night after dinners. As host and leader those are not optional, and they are fun, but it is also a lot… Thank heaven for co-leaders who pick up slack when I sneak off from the really late nights!
ReplyDeleteLast week’s goals
Take time to do project planning SORT OF
Polish and give talks and support students with theirs DONE
Have fun catching up with people at conference DONE
Keep admin work going while away TRYING, MOSTLY OK
Summer plans need to change quite a bit too. Found out I did not get one grant I applied for (did not really expect it), and that I might be invited to go work for two weeks on a project I’ve been peripherally involved in, it is far away and very remote and will be awesome if it can happen. But of course schedule meet wrench as always…
This week’s goals
Stay on top of admin
Review data and future publication plans with field trip people
Continue planning and get a summer schedule sorted
Eat a few salads… Harder than it sounds when in back of beyond!
Sorry about the grant, but hope the awesome remote two weeks away works out!
DeleteUgh, how annoying about the grant! There is always hope...
DeleteI'm glad you had a fun conference, and am impressed with all the things you are juggling! Music and outdoorsy stuff must be marvellously energizing, considering all you do.
Delete