Week Three

Wow. So here's a little story. Friday afternoon of my first week of classes I get an email from North Idaho College: Do I want an online technical writing class? Yes. You bet I do.

Am I already fairly busy with my new classes at Gonzaga?  Yes. You bet I am.

But I love tech. writing. And I love online classes. So, for the last couple weeks I have been scrambling to get everything going, but I'm almost on top of things.

I'm loving my Monday, Wednesday, Friday walks to Gonzaga's campus (two miles from our place).

Luckily, the shortest route is over the river and through the park.

Don't worry, I'm carrying my pink pepper spray in case I happen upon any weirdos.

Even though it's a little earlier than I would prefer, the walk is beautiful. Yesterday, I saw seven deer (not pictured).

And my office is adorable, very cabin-like. I spend my office hours pretending I'm on a fishing trip in the Upper Peninsula (of Michigan).

And look, a non-paper door sign. Talk about luxury!

After this weekend I should finally start having some free time again. 

Oh and I forgot to mention, I spent one of these busy weeks working on the layout for issue two of Sundog Lit. Here's the cover I designed:

I've certainly been making up for a winter break of pure laziness. Joe's been on-and-off sick this entire time. Maybe his looming thesis has something to do with it.

One Last Thing

This blog post is my final effort to avoid planning my spring classes. I can't possibly put it off any more. I've done a really good job procrastinating. 

I've done laundry and knitted scarves.

I've attended events for Joe's creative writing program.

I've baked giant cookies for friends' birthdays:

And, of course, before I could get to work, it was absolutely necessary to buy new school supplies.

  

They don't exactly scream college professor, but they make me happy, so my students will have to forgive me. 

I'm a little bummed that my first ever literature course (that I was so excited to teach) has been cancelled due to low enrollment. 

But I'm happy to only be making the trek to Coeur d'Alene two days a week and to be able to bike to my other campus three days a week.

Okay, here we go. Massive streak of laziness over.

Bustin' out the Big Boots

 It looks like we brought a little something back from Leavenworth with us.

The day before yesterday we woke up to find we had gotten six beautiful inches of snow overnight.

 That's about two Cedrics (stacked vertically) of snow.

He still hasn't taken his Lederhosen off. Here he is enjoying the day.

Apparently his branch perching abilities aren't as strong as they used to be. 

Sorry, Cedric!

The snow has turned mostly to slush by now (boo!) and Joe has started his new semester. I'm taking the week to plan classes and finish the layout and design of issue two of Sundog Lit.  

This semester, I'm teaching the most of amount of classes I've ever taught, and two of them are brand new to me. Classes haven't even begun and I've already had a few teaching nightmares!

More Leavenworth

I always forget how re-energizing leaving town can be, how quickly goosebumps can form when you drive out of a flat expanse of dry land to find valleys and mountains and rivers.

I always forget how entertaining new things can be--things like restaurant signs that declare the burgers to be "durn good," or things like miles and miles of orchards that label their plants with roadside signs: concord grapes, alfalfa, mint, etc.. 

And I forget how much fun it is to count how many hawks you can spot perched on the poles alongside the highway (13) or how many times it turns out to be a bald eagle instead (1) or how many coyotes are poised elegantly in the nearby fields (3).

And while I'm accustomed to seeing them by now, I will always love the magpies with their awkwardly long tail feathers and their shiny blue wings ruffling around in the wind with so little grace.

It's even better when your destination turns out to be as beautiful as some of the things you see along the way.

For instance, we were delightfully surprised with the lodge we shared with our family.

 It was right on the water, so I went to bed each night by the sounds of the Wenatchee River.

And when I woke up, I could stare at it out the giant living-room windows.

We even saw a bald eagle fly by. 

The house also had my dream kitchen.

The night we got to Leavenworth, a few of us went downtown to see the lights (and some of us went to sled).

Cedric loved the lights and the Bavarian-themed buildings.

If it hadn't been so snowy (not a complaint) you'd be able to see the mountains in the background. Instead, here is an adorable shop that decorated their tree with actual soft pretzels. 

We really enjoyed our time in this winter wonderland, and we made sure to take a walk up the road our lodge was on (Icicle Road) to see what we could see (a blue heron, trees, river, and snow).

 

On the way home, in order to see even more of the new and beautiful, we took a different route--US 2, which looks quite a bit different than the US-2 we spent so much time driving in Michigan.

 We knew we'd see some excellent sights as we drove up this incline.

 And we probably would have if the entire drive didn't look like this:

Oh well, it was a beautiful weekend, one filled with family, food, and beautiful sights. 

Weekend Trip!

Today we packed up the truck and took off to meet my aunt/cousins for a weekend in a giant riverfront lodge. Where did we go? Here's a couple hints:

I made some snowy pine tree sugar cookies to take along--they seemed appropriate.

 And Cedric got out his lederhosen.

We drove west, through miles and miles and miles of tumbleweedy flat land until we finally found some hills.

Which eventually turned into mountains. 

 Which eventually turned into Leavenworth!

Which eventually turned into lunch and beer tasting at Icicle Brewing Company.

Which eventually turned into Cedric's first pickle. 

Which eventually turned into us finding family at a large lodge on the river just a mile out of town (the picture is us leaving downtown).

Which is about to lead to falling asleep in our room to the sound of the Wenatchee river.