yesterday, day one of my weekend, was spent mostly asleep or half-way there, working through a head cold most likely picked up at my new university job (read: teeming masses of teenagers). today, day two of the weekend, I woke up feeling less congested and slightly more energetic, but still happy to spend the day at home. here’s how i entertained myself:
Made breakfast, which actually was brunch because I took the time to do the hashbrowns right. Peel a potato, dice and boil the bits until soft, saute with onions, pastirma (a turkish dried meat like pastrami), salt, pepper, paprika. While the potato bits were boiling and frying I tidied the balcony and sat out there for my meal. Earl Grey tea.
Planned some lessons and marked 30+ student papers. The students had done an experiment in class in which they were in groups of 8 and within those groups they had to put themselves in order from who liked technology the least to who liked it the most (these are students at a Technical University, so most of them were on the technophile end of the scale). Then they had to write up their methods and results. Considering it was the first week of class, I was really impressed with what they produced.
Knitted. A few inches on a couple different socks, sitting on the balcony listening to my favorite weekend podcasts “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”, “Best Of The Left”, and “Car Talk” (I save the heavy newsy podcasts for falling asleep at night!) Actually before the end of the day the purple sock was finished. It’s for mom. It’s done with Classic Elite Alpaca Sox (60% Alpaca, 20% Merino Wool, 20% Nylon) and the pattern is Embossed Leaves from Interweave Knits Winter 2005.
The yellow one is for me. I love the yarn, Plymouth Yarn Sockotta (45% Cotton, 40% Superwash Wool, 15% Nylon), because I like the cotton which adds a bit of definition to the yarn. However it can also make the yarn a bit less elastic. I chose the Hermione’s Everyday Sock pattern (found on ravelry) but modified the top to have a picot edge instead of ribbing. I think the picot edge plus the scaly texture of the sock makes it look like fish. They will be my fishy socks, for wearing on days when I feel suspicious of the world.
Watched the rain. No picture because I blanked out, but there was a nice bit of rain midafternoon that was hard enough to be refreshing yet light enough I could still sit on my balcony (with the overhang) to enjoy it. And then the sun came out briefly. It was lovely.
Did some yoga! Yay for the yogadownload.com podcasts – they are 20-30 minute audio accompanied by PDFs that include pictures of the poses in order. Very professional and useful for do-it-yourself-yoga when you need a little guidance.
Took a shower. Evening showers for me these days, because I get up early and don’t want to waste time with the blow dryer or go to work with wet hair. The shower was improved by my newly knitted washcloth combined with my newly purchased Body Shop Satsuma Shower Gel. I think I really like evening showers, the hot water relaxes me and prepares me for evening mellowing and eventually sleep. I also really like how it shortens morning prep time.
Plans before bed are to turn off the computer* and read. Currently reading “Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith” by Gina Nahai, kindly left for me by my friend Jenney when she left Istanbul. That was a while ago, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get around to this book, but I’m very glad to have it now.
That’s all, a quiet peaceful day to recuperate and prepare for a busy second week of classes.
*I mean it about turning off the computer, but it’s much easier said than done. I can only do it if the mp3 player is fully charged and ready to provide a droning voice in my ear to fend off insomnia.
