Outpost: The End of the Road

Soundtrack: new Calexico, old Lyle Lovett, Townes, Tom Russell.

Cast of characters: javelinas, bobcat, chatty great-horned owls, vermillion flycatcher, nightime braying donkey, helpful park volunteers, friendly park visitors, lots of prickly vegetation.

Setting: desert, river, mountains, a hot spring along the border, endless sunshine (except for the nightly 12 hours of moonlight), cold nights

Plot: apparently, blessedly, none.

Let it Snow

Just in the (Saint) nick of time, winter comes to Fort Collins. Stay safe out there everybody. Looks like we might have a white Christmas after all. Naturally, due to my charmed life, I get to drive south out of it in a few days.  

Today, Happiness is...

Had a particularly enjoyable today for a number of reasons. Let me count the ways.

After yesterday’s shock during my perusal of my job performance plan for the year, seeing a number of incidents of grander expectations than in the draft versions, today I put on my cowgirl boots and said, heck yes I can do all that. A small part of that included making the decision to learn how to create my own Access databases. That may not sound happiness-inducing, but the actual making of the decision and finding someone to loan me the right book indeed brings intense satisfaction. I have two projects that requires such skills and instead of whining and moaning and looking for someone to do it for me, I’m just doing it. Kick that, cowgirl!

I dusted myself with glitter for our office holiday party.

I wore the pretty party dress for our office holiday party.

I made delicious egg salad bites (egg salad on/in small bites of veggies) for our office holiday party.

I completely skipped our office holiday party to drink tea with our dazzling DAZZLING records officer from DC here to help us enter the digital 21^st century. Jason is not from Washington, he’s from the future. And I’ve immensely enjoyed learning more about what he’s doing. (If digital records management sounds less than happiness-inducing, let me refer you to my reaction to Access databases).

I find it very enjoyable to watch geese land on the pond out the window as their butts slide across the ice. Very controlled butt sliding upon landing.

An after-work meeting with my community diversity small-group group about our project plan. I’d drafted a plan and we sat down together to fill in the holes and get it ready for submission to the powers that be. My compatriots both liked and appreciated what I had done ahead of time and also had wonderful, substantive additions. Yay! Must say, I can write a project plan.

Came home to a Christmas card in the mail from a dear old friend.

Finally, I got an email that one of the library books I was wait-listed for was available: Orhan Pamuk’s Silent House. I just picked it up, venturing out in the dark evening. On the cover is a glass of tea in the ubiquitous Istanbul tea glass. Warmth is running through my veins as my own tea kettle hums.

And tomorrow is my Friday off. Admittedly with a list of things to do, but room for tea and book.