Saturday Snapshot -- Life

Oftentimes when I'm avoiding my blog, it's because I don't want to deal with my emotions. I'm  not pouring them out to readers because I don't actually want to face them.
Instead, I try to find joy where I can.
So I'll join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs.

I took an afternoon to read a book on my front porch during a sunny day this week. And the cats decided to join me.

I love that Tybs was peeking around the flower. Life can seem idyllic, if you're a cat.

I'll be reviewing the book that swept me away for Dreaming of France on Monday, so I hope you'll check back then.

And here's a photo of my son on his way to a job interview, looking handsome in his new suit.

It's raining here today, so it looks like an inside day for me. I've already run five miles in the rain. I plan to make a pineapple upside down cake, take a warm shower and finish grading for the end of the semester. Maybe I'll even do some writing. Have a good weekend.

Nature in the City

Sitting on my front porch this afternoon grading papers, I took great joy watching a silly bird trying to build a nest in three different places. From looking it up, I would guess that it's a Carolina Wren. But it could be any kind of wren. It has a loud, musical call and did not seem to mind flitting closer and closer to me.

We have two Black-Eyed Susan hanging plants on the front porch and Earl recently attached a bird house to a nearby tree.

This little bird, with a sharp beak and long tail, flew into both plants carrying sticks and leaves. He also stuck his head into the bird house and looked all around before discarding that idea. Luckily, for the black-capped chickadee, who actually went in the birdhouse to see if he could fit. He's a little chubbier.
The weather, at 81 degrees, is perfect and in the garden along the front of the house below me, I could see peeks of pink zinnias and purple asters along with a strand of purple delphinium.

The colors and the birds helped make the afternoon of grading papers much more pleasant.

Later in the day, the cat realizes birds are building a nest on his front porch. He is quite perturbed.

Quiet Mornings

Shhh. Don't tell anyone, but I love, love, love the mornings when I don't run.
This week, I've skipped running three days in an attempt to avoid some pending injuries.
When I run, I have to go early, before 7 a.m., or I just won't go. I'm that kind of person. Exercise in the morning or the rest of the day is history. And, of course, if I don't run early, I can't stop sweating in time to get in the shower and get ready for work.
Even when I don't run, I wake up early. This morning I got up about 6:15. I made myself a cappuccino, started the full dishwasher, and settled on the front porch with a book.
The air is finally cool enough so that it feels good to go outside. I wave to neighbors as they walk their dogs. I sip my cappuccino in the big Paris cup that Spencer bought for me on the top of the Eiffel Tower.
As I sit enjoying the quiet of the morning, a hummingbird hovers near the hanging plant with its simple yellow flowers. I don't reach for my camera. I simply watch the compact little body with the wise eyes for a minute before he zooms away.
The whole day stretches before me. I have to go to work and I'll return home for a few hours before Earl must leave for work.
I'll catch up with the kids who are mostly all sleeping when I leave in the morning.
They came in to kiss me goodnight the night before and in my sleepy state, I must remember to ask them about curious comments they made.
Spencer with his promotion at work making salads instead of bussing tables. Grace who went to Ezra's party with her friend Bethany. Tucker who came home from a surprise 16th birthday party for his friend Josh and said it was fun until the food on the table caught on fire. All of those things I'll have to catch up on.
But the quiet of the morning surrounds me now.
I pick up my empty coffee cup, grab the morning paper and discard them on the table inside the house.
Then I crawl back into bed with my sleeping husband, because I can.

Rainstorm

I wish you could be with me on my front porch right now.
The light is dim because the rain falls in a steady whoosh. Splatter, splatter, split, splat. Then the drops hit the metal awning, bum, bum, bum.
The sweetest breeze blows across the porch. The air feels like a peppermint patty tastes.
The birds still squawk, undeterred by the rain.
I have a cup of English Breakfast tea that I sip as I watch the rain run across the dark pavement below.
Sometimes the breeze blows a mist of rain across my shoulders, making me shiver with delight.
In the distance I hear the grumble of thunder, like someone in a house next door complaining. An occassional burst of lightning brightens the sky, like the flash on my camera.
The best part about sitting on my front porch is that the rain gave me an excuse not to run this morning. My aching and bruised legs propped on the wicker chair in front of me, my tweaking knees and twinging lower back all are thankful for this rainstorm.

Porch Work

I'm sitting on my front porch with my knees propped up on the wicker chair across from me working on my computer. The birds screech and warble. The breeze flicks through the trees, moving the branches.

I see trees and weeds growing in the clover that I should get up and cut, but I don't move from this spot.
A bird swoops across, letting the wind lift him from below before he settles in a tree. Then the wooden wind chimes clank a few times. The sun shines hot, but this place on the porch is shaded.
I have papers I could grade, but I'm taking the day off. I can get to those tomorrow. Today, I plan to work on revising my novel. I've revised (again) the first 50 pages. Today I will finish 50 more. Grace is reading it, looking for typos or missing information. When she finished the second 25-page section, she handed it back and said, "Do you have more? I really want to keep reading."
She may have only said that to make me feel better, but I hope she actually enjoys it, and like a book you don't want to put down, wants to read on.
So think of me on this Memorial Day Sunday, sitting on the porch, feeling the breeze sweep across and reading through my novel with the title revised (actually changed back to the first title) The Summer of France.
Hopefully, it will be coming soon to a bookstore near you. You'll be the first to know.

Good Things; Bad Things

There are some very good things about my job. For instance, this fall I teach 15 hours for one college and eight hours for the other college. That's about 23 hours per week of actual class time where I have to be gone from home and instructing students. And this year I'm actually making a decent living at what is essentially a part time job.
The bad thing is that the grading and class preparation are always hanging over my head. If you're going to become a college professor, pick a subject other than English. With English, there are all those papers to grade. I wish I were a math whiz. I'd just have students color in the circle of the correct answer then I'd watch those answer sheets whir through the grading machine and I'd be finished.
I grade papers and answer emails every day. I don't take off Saturday and Sunday, or Monday through Friday. Those papers are always hanging over my head.
Except for this week.
The one college I teach at just finished on Friday. I worked like a mad woman to grade all the papers, enter the grades in the gradebook, then into the online system then to make copies for the registrar and the Dean. Now I'm finished and classes don't start againg until...Monday.
But, hey, for this weekend, I'm free!
My four classes at the other college turn their papers in online by Sunday at midnight. I had already graded their papers for last week, so until Sunday at midnight, I am ignoring any papers that get turned in and any emails that come into my college mailbox. I'm not even checking my email there.
Suddenly, for two whole days, I have freedom from grading.
I ran with my friends this morning - 8.5 miles -- because I felt so liberated from my responsibilities. I sat on the front porch and listened to NPR.
My only commitment for the day was a graduation party, which I attended for half an hour. Now I'm back to my computer.
My goal is to make some revisions to my novel -- to go at it with gusto.
And I'll tell you about some major changes that I have to make because of a lack of preparation, another time.
For now I'll focus on the good things. I have time to work on my novel and I have a gorgeous day to sit on my front porch while I work. A nice glass of wine should make it just about perfect.

A Glimpse of Fall

I'm sitting on my front porch in my running clothes. I had a nice run this morning and now I'm grading papers. I love to sit with my computer on the front porch to hear the birds singing and watch the leaves flutter in the wind and reflect the sunshine.
But after I had settled, I had to go back inside for my fleece. Then I added some fuzzy socks on my bare feet and warmed up a cup of hot cocoa.
It's 59 degrees and is only supposed to reach 76 degrees today.
I love this perfect weather.