Salem, MA

12 May 2014: Monday found us in Salem, MA, a place I hadn't been to before. We had a blast.

Students at The House of the Seven Gables.

Hawthorne Birthplace.

Pretty flowers at The House of the Seven Gables.

Duck statue at The House of the Seven Gables. 

The Custom House. As a Scarlet Letter-loving nerd, this really excited me.

 Hawthorne statue in Salem.

I'll focus my specific "year of thanks" shout-out on my friend/colleague, Tim, who joined me as a second chaperone (not that you need chaperones in the traditional sense when traveling with college students). I am really so blessed to have him in my life. He's smart, kind, funny, and always there for me when I need him. Having him on this trip made it exponentially better--for me and the students.

It was inevitable. He proposed at the Witch Museum. Ha!

Lovely travel day

11 May 2014: Sunday found us traveling most of the day on our way to Massachusetts. It was a lovely day to travel, which made some of the tension and traffic much easier to handle.

Graduation

10 May 2014: Graduation is a day that makes it quite easy to feel thankful: for my job, my friends/colleagues, and for the students who have achieved so much. And, for the heck of it, I'll include this picture of some of my favorite colleagues.

Lots of catching up...

Here comes a barrage of posts...I was out of town on that Prominence of Place trip last week and didn't want to post from the road. (Because I didn't want robbers to know I was gone or something crazy like that.) Anyway, here we go...

"Why Developmental English Breaks My Heart"

9 March 2014: I went to graduate school with the woman who wrote this. She was a couple of years ahead of me. She's amazing--one of several women who served as role models for me in those early grad school days.

Happy hour!

8 April 2014: After a workshop on Thursday, my colleagues and I got together at the Blue Moon Cafe for some drinks. We sat outside at a long table with two benches and just talked and laughed. It was a lovely reminder of how many cool people are in my department.

A day with no appointments...

7 May 2014: I am catching up on some posts and found myself straining a bit to actually remember Wednesday--how I spent the day, what I got done. And then I realized that, with the exception of a car inspection in the morning--I had *nothing* on my planner for that day. It was a lovely, relaxed, lazy day. Now the truth is, I don't do very well with lots of these kinds of days; I need structure and a regular schedule. But every once in a while, it sure is nice.

Time to garden...

6 May 2014: I spent much of Tuesday finally cleaning up the flower beds, spreading mulch, and generally getting the yard ready for summer. It was tiring (and sometimes gross) work, but I am grateful for the time and energy to have done it.

"In the Thriving Season"

5 May 2014: Today I'm thankful for this moving poem by Lisel Mueller, which I hadn't heard before. I am especially appreciative of it on a lovely spring day, and on the day when a couple of old friends (poets themselves) shared the news of their baby's birth.

Catching up on EW

4 May 2014: I spent a couple of hours (!) yesterday catching up on back issues of Entertainment Weekly. We're talking going back 12 issues. That's how busy the semester can get at times. Anyway, I let myself spend part of Sunday reading non-work-related stuff and it was lovely. So thankful for lazy summer* Sundays.

*Yes, "summer" means something different in academia.

DONE!

3 May 2014: The spring 2014 semester is done (except for some meetings next week and graduation next Saturday). I finished my grading yesterday, but had to wait for a tardy colleague to get me some capstone grades before I could submit my last set. Now that that's done, I have plans for some fun stuff today: dinner and a movie with friends. I also have work to get done for the summer session, which starts soon, and for the trip to Massachusetts I am taking with some students in a week or so. But for now...chair dancing!

Dinner with friends

2 May 2014: I know I've used this one before, but I am so thankful for the great group of friends I've started having dinner with on certain Friday nights. Last night, we tried a place in town I've never been before (and this is pretty extraordinary given how small Shepherdstown is!) and it was really good. An excellent way to end the semester!

Warm and sunny...

1 May 2014: April showers really do bring May flowers? I dunno, but after days of cold rain, the sun really came out today and warmed everything up. Instantly, my mood improved. So thankful.

Wrapping up ENGL 446

30 April 2014: My ENGL 446 class had its last meeting yesterday during the final exam time. We had a few more presentations to get through and also used the occasion for a celebration of sorts. People brought food (so many chocolate chip cookies!), etc. When the presentations were over, folks were a bit reluctant to leave, myself included. It's been a strange, often difficult semester (for a number of reasons), but that class was always a bright spot (my classes always are, but this one really was). I'll miss it and I'll miss seeing them. I think some (most?) of them feel the same way. That's a bittersweet feeling to have at the end of the semester, but I'll take it any day over "thank God that's over!"

(Alternate post: an equally sappy meditation about all the amazing students who are graduating this year. I'll save that one for graduation day, maybe.)

Cheesiest "year of thanks" post yet...

29 April 2014: Serious cheese alert. We're talking multiple layers of cheese involving high school nostalgia, Bette Midler, and Glee. Consider yourself warned!

So I was watching Glee on Tuesday night, and Rachel sang "The Rose." (Side note: hard to believe it took them this long to get to that point!) Instantly, I was brought back to eighth grade choir, singing that song. I mean, it all came back--every word, the way the teacher unabashedly loved the song, the harmonies, visual memories of the actual sheet music, even the way we all begrudgingly came to love it. And those memories--eighth grade was a pretty epic year in my mind--are still so wonderful. It's awfully nice to have them to go back to.