Life is Better on the Farm

MY BIRTHDAY WEEK...

I'm sitting here at the computer, waiting for a phone call from the farm 14-yr. old to let me know it's time to drive out to the high school and pick her up after the band gets back from tonight's football game.

I left work at noon today to have lunch with a couple of friends, headed to the Y from there to exercise on a full tummy, and then came straight home for a wonderful afternoon here at the farm...Man, did it ever feel good to get outside, breathe in the afternoon, and just chill out with the cats and dogs. Quietness, beginning-of-fall warm sun, flowers lushly blooming after a several days of soaking rain....a walk around the farm. What peace!

Tuesday, of course, was my birthday. Several folks at work brought some really sweet gifts by the office, and lots of people wished me happy birthday. Mary Ann gave me the gift of the day.... a bona fide vintage towel from "Mabel's Whorehouse --where they give double green stamps on Tuesday!" (I'll post a picture of it later) I love it! It's a nice addition to our office along with the switch plate of David that another colleague gifted Mary Ann...and until the dean returns from vacation next week, it will hang right at the entrance to our office. While the cat's away, the mice in A&S 237 play!! Over the course of the my birthday day, I taught 5 classes, had each class sing "Happy Birthday to me (in Spanish, of course...how self-celebrating is that??), shared wonderful conversation with Eliza over dinner, ate a half of a piece of six-layer chocolate cake, and got a birthday call from Samuel and my childhood friend (more like brother), Richard Randall. ... And like a kid, I got really excited when I went to the mail box and found a card from my parents, sister, and dear Japanese friend, Yuki Sento, in the mailbox. Yuki always makes her cards and NEVER misses any of our birthdays....

I send out a big thanks to everyone for making my 54th birthday a very special one. My wish for the world would be that everyone could know the level of love in their lives that I feel in mine. My gratitude and awe can't be captured in words.....I am greatly humbled by my many, many blessings.

In other news this week, students returned to class on Monday-- quite a relief for me since I greatly prefer to be in the classroom over being parked all day in meetings. My initial feeling is that I've got a good group this quarter...only a couple students seem a little intimidated by the openess of Spanish class, but I think I even got them to laugh with me today. My yoga class seems really good...Wednesday, we bounced on the exercise balls and got real silly as their bodies began to open up (unbeknownst to them)...My arts & humanities committee folks seem a bit overwhelmed and shocked to be back at work, so I have a little bit of nurturing to do to get their energy back....Meanwhile, Mary Ann and I looked forward all week to having our pictures taken together at what we thought was going to be one of those photo booths like we used to cram 10 people in and make silly faces. Turns out, a guy had a digital camera and took only one photo that he printed out and made into magnets for us. It was fun anyway, and we now have matching photos of ourselves over our desks.....

At some point soon I'll get to the Fall Farm update....there's lots to share...

Until then, love to all....

Namasté....T.