Bounty

I'm thankful to have emerged from the flurry of the heart of the holidays with a feeling of bounty. Yes, I was overwhelmed and tired at times. Yes, too much driving was involved, but our time was bountiful. There was a bounty of family to enjoy -- it was wonderful to watch Q to see how his relationships with different family members have evolved over time.

There was a bounty of generosity -- giving, receiving, etc. Throughout, Q was gracious and not greedy, which I consider true success for many reasons.

There was even a bounty of fun Q activity -- most notably, cleaning with his partner dirt tiger, Grandma Kathy and daily "middle of the night" (aka early morning) walks with Grandpa Iv. He looked forward to both of those activities like nobody's business. In fact, upon reminding him last night that he should sleep until the late morning, he noted that he would of course, because he only woke up early in Maryland because "I'm just so tempted by Grandpa Iv to go on a walk with him." Early rising, but what could be better, right?

On the material front, among other things there were some yarn acquisitions and a Royal ball winder, which will make life MUCH easier. Pics to come in my next post.

I leave you with wishes of bounty, peace, and thankfulness...

Greetings from the depths

....of work, that is. It's a super duper amazingly busy week in the teaching world for me. I am doing the main lecture in my course that I am the teaching fellow for. Two times. That's an extra six hours of teaching. The first session was tonight, and it went well, I believe.

Then, add to that two sessions of another course, where I'll be running class for a small group. Six more hours of teaching.

On top of my usual two hour-long sections which take enough prep in and of themselves.

So, fourteen hours of teaching. Doesn't sound like much, but boy does it take me out of me. But I do so love it.

So for now, I'm waving from the depths of "busyness" and looking forward to emerging triumphant on the other end.

Oh, and that December project is still forthcoming. And 'twill be fun!

World AIDS Day

Just wanted to have today be a day of pause to remember all of those lost to AIDS. To remind everyone that it is still a vital fight -- for all communities, as HIV/AIDS infection rates rise in groups often thought to be at little risk for contracting the disease.

Perhaps visit my aunt's AIDS foundation in Venezuela

Or donate here.

Or just recommit yourself to making a difference somehow -- attending to candidates' stances regarding funding for HIV/AIDS research, keeping yourself abreast of the facts, reaching out.

Just don't forget.

This is it!!!!

I'm done! I did 30 posts in 30 days (aka NaBloPoMo)

You'll see a little celebratory badge on the sidebar.

And for all those eagerly awaiting (hah!) the little december experiment, details are coming soon. And we'll have a few day breather at the end of the month to let folks recover from recent posting blitzes prior to starting up with a newly fashioned blitz.

Meanwhile, I think I cast on for my first socks tonight. Probably Thuja. (I just have to tackle the winding of yarn first. Not my fave activity....until my lovely winder arrives, that is.)

Coming down the pike

In a few short days December will be here. And with it the end of NaBloPoMo. Of course, being the nerds and cravers of structure that we are (oh, and the goody goodies too), Mere and I wanted to create a December project along similar lines.

So we're cooking up a December blog-fest involving bounty, giving, creating....a theme to directly counteract the greed and consumerism that is so often the focus of the month.

We'd love others to join us on this journey so will have more details and a way to sign up to participate in the fun forthcoming. After just a bit of editing. If you have any particularly brilliant ideas related to this vague description, let me know!

The start of the giving

I've been seeing this pay it forward project around "blogland" lately and have always hesitated to join in. But today I bit the bullet. I left a comment on a blog I've been following of late and so here I am making the same offer!

Here's the generic version of the instructions:
The idea of the exchange is I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this blog post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog - this means you must have a blog, sorry blogless readers.

So, comment away. I'm interested to see where it leads. And it's certainly a good start to the giving, the hand-made focus, and the joy that I'm hoping to create in the coming month.

Tea!

Today, amidst the hectic storm that is our family's Tuesdays, arrived some tea. Lovely tea. In lovely containers. Wrapped as well.

A peaceful wonder and delight in the day.....

By the way, Mere and I are hatching plans for a December blog project.