I suggest keeping your emergency kit very near

Why? It is a Friday and I don't have any meetings to attend -- none, nada, zero, my presence is not required on campus. I may CHOOSE to go there and work but it will be a choice.

So how am I celebrating this meeting free day? I am starting with a morning of coffee and watching birds. The first 45 minutes of observation: more than 2 dozen pine siskins (I am not very good at counting groupings of more than 15 or so), 3 male purple finches, 2 goldfinch, a chickadee, male hairy woodpecker, a red-breasted nuthatch, a dark-eyed junco , a white-breasted nuthatch-- all those and things are just starting to get busy at the feeders. The chickadee has been especially fun to watch as it is exploring the plants on my deck which are surviving the frosts far better than one would expect

I am also watching a shower of gold as several trees in my line of sight are dropping leaves at a pace that makes it look like a snow storm is underway. There is little or no breeze so the leaves are falling rather than blowing. Very pretty to watch.

I am feeling much better than the earlier part of the week. I seemed to have fought off whatever bug was attacking and from now until the 27th I only have to hold one in-person class thanks to hybrid lasses and Thanksgiving break. I have lots of work to do in that time but I get a break from talking to folks who clearly don't want to be sitting there and most of the social work aspects of my job. I also get a break from my colleagues and campus politics for part of that time.

One mildly stressful thing I need to do in the next week or so is to put together the photos for my presentation to the photography club I attend. I was semi-drafted to present a show based on my trip to Australia. I would feel a lot less nervous if I were schedule to present bug photos, wander through the woods photos or something that represented better work. Oh well, I'll distract them with stories.

I also want to do some spiritual/inner working things. It feels like the right time to take stock and chart some aspects of the future. I want to map out goals and plans (HAI level one in April, Elvinfest in May, Oklahoma trip in June, possible group process conference in Kansas City in July, ASAs in Boston in August) for the coming year.

( Initial capture of things I want or need to do between now and the start of the end of semester sprint )

packages in the mail to

interactiveleaf
dr_nebula
honeyswtrose
becky_gardens
foolishfiddler
tru2myart
lilerthkwake
bluestocking7
celestialsight
crystal_tree
brandedeclipse
spydielives
aumonae
egyptian_spider
silvergoldberry

They are going my the least expensive means which in most cases means media mail so it might take them a bit to reach you. I hope you all enjoy.

contented sighs

I have a tummy full of Indian food --mmmmm, mmmmm

After a week, I picked a package up from the post office --- a collection of things from my sister

I stopped at the local Sprint store where a very nice young woman by the name of Allison made a call and figured out that I needed a different plan to use Sprint for my Internet connection at home. Plan has been switched in a few hours, I can try again to rid my life of comcast. I am still not sure I have the final combination of services that I need but one step at a time.

Filled the finch feeders again as my little feathered friends are quite the little piggies.

Now I am going to spend a bit doing a bird count and then choose the next task on my list to tackle.

I enjoy days like this that are a mix of simple pleasures and productivity and I HEART red-breasted nuthatches -- they are just so darn cute and fearless to boot.