Good morning.

I am having a good morning so far. I slept well, got some spinning done at the bus stop, and when I got to school, I found a crow feather and the email address of an old friend (hi Alex!). I already have notes for teaching today and a good idea of what I need to do. Today is Dendrology, otherwise known as the "stomp around in the grass and look at trees" class. (sarcasm) Oh no. What ever shall I do. Not the stomp around and look at trees class, anything but that. (/sarcasm) You might as well throw me into a pile of hand-dyed merino.
I hope the rest of the day goes as well as my morning has. The good night's sleep really goes a long way toward improving my attitude about things.
Oh, today I'll be teaching about fermentation. Mmmmmm...fermentation. Bread, beer, mead, wine, more bread.

I'm tired. Really, really tired.

I just don't know it yet.

Four hours of sleep last night, one cup of coffee this morning and a second in progress. I ride to school, blood moving through my veins. "Just ride," I say, "When you are riding, just ride." Maybe my shoulders let loose for a moment or two, but then tense right back up again as though I've put a thick rubber band around them.

I'm cheerful and friendly and it's genuine. I really do want you to have a nice day and a good morning. Also, I'm at work. I'm working. When I'm working, everything else gets left at home. It's not a bad morning. I had cake for breakfast. I don't eat sweets much, but cake for breakfast is a nice treat. The bitter coffee offsets the sweet and it's better that way. Too much and I feel terrible, but a little is nice sometimes.

I like teaching when I'm in there and the kids (only a couple of whom are actually older than me) are responsive. I found a major flaw in my next lab I'm supposed to teach and I said something, so I get to do it my way. Uncharted territory for me, but not really. Yes, that's a sentence fragment.

Second cup is half done. I had better study.



Gleocapsa, means "gluey box." Microcystis, "small bladder."

Lovely little blue-green things, lit from beneath. Fischerella is my favorite, named for a man named Fischer.

Today, I came home from the grocery store with ZERO plastic bags. None, zippo, zero, zilch. HA-ha! And all the meat I bought was hormone free and, get this, I made a meal plan for dinners for the week and shopped accordingly. Woot!
A successful grocery trip is always a happy thing.
I've been fairly productive today. I got a few more rows done on my man-sweater (remind me to update A Lace Maze is in Jest), went to the store, filled out paperwork for little bit's after school program, prepared for class, and came up with some questions for the Butterfly Guy re: being his lab monkey and thesis research.
The little one made me smile the smile of a very proud mommy today. We're in the store and she asks for a treat if she's good. I say that it would be alright by me. She asks variously for chocolate milk or vitamin water and when I tell her she has to choose one or the other today, she chooses vitamin water. Then, at dinner, she asked for more broccoli as a treat for eating her rice.
I win at life.