dual personalities

This week went by in a blur, kind of like this

Or am I?

In addition to classes and the usual spate of meetings, most of my time was taken up in preparation for the ‘War and Peace’ conference that  a colleague and I organized with our sister university down the road. We hosted it. Given our War Studies program and their Peace Studies one, we figured it would be profitable (and let’s be honest, look good) if we got our students together for a day of stimulating discussion and paper presentations. My colleague designed a beautiful poster featuring this detail from a painting  by Battini:

I don’t think the dragon approves of the lady

It all went off without a hitch; students were on time, appropriately dressed, well prepared, and (mostly) had intelligent things to say. The university president and provost both showed up and seemed very pleased (everyone loves cooperation between institutions). None of them would have guessed how much work went into scrounging for funding, fighting for rooms, negotiating food, strong-arming students into participating, bribing students with extra credit to attend, dealing late withdrawals, advertising, writing up the program and press releases, and getting everything printed and distributed. My department secretary deserves a raise. My colleague and I deserve a spa vacation. It was worth the effort.

I don’t deal with super busy all that well — never have. I’m too much the low energy introvert, I guess.  How my super busy sister and nieces manage, I’ll never know! I think they are much better organized than I am. Perhaps they rely on music, too. I managed to avoid a nervous breakdown mostly because I discovered “The Weepies” on Spotify.

Indie duo, The Weapies

Youtube won’t let me embed their tunes, but I can link. I particularly recommend Antarctica. This is some great ‘head-dancing’ music, but it’s also pretty gentle.

In other news, son # 2 had an epic tea-making disaster that left him with a very large second degree burn on his right arm. He has moved home temporarily so that someone can change the dressing twice a day as is required. He seems to be mending quite well,

blisters now drained and skin peeling

although his violin playing has taken a hit. And needless to say, we’ve taken on the tea making duties!

Here’s hoping you have some blossoms in your weekend. Would it sound too much like complaining if I shared the weather forecast with you?

Saturday Night

Lowering and thickening clouds. A steady snow developing overnight. Low 29F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 80%. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.

and for Sunday

A wintry mix in the morning will transition to mainly light snow in the afternoon. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 80%. Snow and ice accumulating 1 to 3 inches.

Roll on winter! I think I need to go listen to the Weapies.

Have a great weekend!

This week was my Spring Break. One colleague went to Hawaii; another to Europe. And of course, my dual personality is vacating in Maryland with her wonderful daughter. I worked, shoveled snow, mopped up from the leaking family room ceiling, and dreamed wistfully of Spring. I don’t mean to complain, but this  is the view out my dining room window this morning.

another 3″ expected today

We haven’t seen the ground for months, let alone a green growing thing; no crocus shoots, no buds, just grey and white, ferocious wind and plunging temperatures. It’s getting old (oh, wait, I guess I am complaining). Still, a friend gave me some beautiful, red tulips

and I binge-watched one of my favorite TV shows, Wonderfalls, which struck just the right chord.

It’s equal parts quirky, laugh out loud funny, and romantic. You should see it whether or not you are experiencing an existential crisis.

In typical Chamberlin fashion I put off doing the things I least wanted to do (i.e. grading) and spent a huge amount of time on things that shouldn’t have taken as long as they did. Oh, well.

A high spot of the week was my husband’s Friday afternoon lecture for the SLU Faculty Cafe series. The event was very civilized with wine and canapes followed by Duncan’s stimulating discourse on  Joshua Kirby.

Gainsborough’s portrait of Kirby

No kidding. I’m quite taken with Mr. Kirby. He was a stand-up guy among the 18th century’s rakes and ne’er-do-wells, some of whom were his friends (I’m talking about you, Mr. Gainsborough!). Kirby was a sober, devoted Church of England, middle class family man, who parlayed his natural affability and a talent for architectural drawing into a secure life among the day’s elite. And he had a really nice face. You can read all about it here.

Well, that’s about it for my week. I went no farther afield than the office, but I did get to sleep in a couple of times and I did get some reading and writing done. All in all, it’s been a pleasant spring break, but I sure am looking forward to hearing about my dual personality’s adventures, aren’t you?