Winter 'scape

So, here in Seattle, we'll get a total of eight hours, twenty-six minutes, and five seconds of daylight today, once the sun actually comes up in a little bit. We're within spitting distance of the shortest day of the year: this Saturday, the 21st, when the daylight will total out to 8:25:24. That will also be the start of calendrical Winter, so, when you think about it, Winter is a season of light: each successive day is longer. It is with that counter-intuitively optimistic thought that I begin Winter break.

Yesterday was Grading Day: finishing off and recording the assessment of all the final projects, presentations, and portfolios from my students. I have a bit of prep to do, but it will not be too onerous, and I'll probably make an event of it with a colleague. So there's pretty much three weeks of free time between now and my next work responsibility. Not quite eighty days of summer, but I'll take it gladly.

I imagine there will be quite a bit of TCB in there, as my whacked schedule over the past quarter has caused several home-base initiatives to falter (i.e., some chores didn't get done) but I hope to get in a lot of reading and a little creativity over this break.

And maybe that's all this relatively content-free post is about: reminding myself of that and publicly committing to not letting these days slip by without intentionality. Hopefully, you'll see some fruits of that commitment on these pages.

In the meantime, here's a picture from Geek Girl Con back in October: on of my former students won "Most in Character" for her Snow White. I think the little bird perched on her hand is what clinched it.