Category: Everyday
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Between
Between bad weather and good, winter and spring, overworked and relaxed, busy and casual…. Feeling a bit mixed on the whole. The weather has been sharply cold, then today it is sunny and relatively pleasant. The many stressful, big things to do are either done or in train, since Thursday – all weekend I’ve been…
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Snoo
It snew… … uh… snowed. While I was working, finishing the cover letter, revising the papers for Thursday’s undergraduate class, planning the Powerpoint for tomorrow’s postgraduate presentation. I didn’t notice it at all, not while it was happening, but when I went to bed the street behind my apartment looked strangely bright and – I…
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Changeable
Up in the night (you know why) and saw the sky – very strange: the clouds like a dark orange against a dark dark gray, moving very fast, chased by the winds off the north sea. Looks almost like a weird negative. 5 am – well the weather shifting with spring, the days getting (too…
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In the quiet night
Morning: green tea, hot chocolate; a strong English breakfast at a nearby café (I didn’t eat the blood pudding though, it just seemed… optional). By which time I was oddly shaky: so much caffeine and sugar and strong food, and my body was getting a bit overwhelmed… so some afternoon sleep. And tonight: again, a…
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Epifanie
The Feast of Epiphany, the last of the twelve days of Christmas. The day when it all ends. Today the tree came down… the small handmade ornaments (some by family, some from China and Germany when I was there, some discovered in various places) went into plastic bags, the whole holiday into a fairly small…
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Morning; and teaching
Bright, windy, very clear: beautiful. When I came here I was told that what I experienced (as this was the coldest place I’d ever lived – Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Adelaide – except perhaps Berlin of course, and this is probably even colder if less gray) as ‘cold’ was locally known as…
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Midwinter
The tree is a haze of small lights; I’ll keep it up until Epiphany, as usual. A cluster of candles, cinnamon and clove, melting to a puddle on a plate. The chicken casserole in the oven for such a long time – I added some chili peppers to the recipe, just enough to heat it…
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Far
I will admit: I’m not completely happy with the Christmas Alone thing. It’s not bad; I’m not depressed. And I will have a leisurely lunch-and-afternoon with V. and her family; and if only I’d gotten organized I could have gone to see my family this week (they’re all gathering in Washington this year – actually…
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Holiday
Holiday stuff…. Pandoro from an Italian student, M. (although I can’t imagine why he shipped it all the way from Austin, Texas, where he’s on a year abroad – after all they sell them around here). Already put the powdered sugar on it, going to have a couple of slices as a snack. A very…
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Shortest Day
The winter solstice was 12:22 a.m. GST – this morning. It didn’t feel like the shortest day. I’m sleeping too much the past several weeks, because I’ve been careless about my thyroid medicine (as well as missing not one but two antiretroviral doses when I went to Liverpool, which, in AIDS medicines is really going…
Paul Attinello 