Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

Early this morning Erin discovered a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak at our feeder (males are really beautiful — the females exemplify drabness). He’s been there most of the time since. Here’s a pilfered photo:

I’ve been feeling rather desperate the last few days, trying to quickly write a paper on a difficult, technical subject about which I know very little (on a priority, for those of you to whom that means anything). I handed the paper in a few hours ago. It is an exemplar of BS. I think it might be bad enough that its existence calls into question the Augustinian idea of badness as lack of being.

But there were a few brighter spots in the day. Last spring I became increasingly annoyed with my inability to ever find a White-crowned Sparrow, while all the other birders in Ithaca were constantly talking about seeing them. I never did see one last year. But this morning there was a lively, rather dapper-looking one at our feeder. He probably won’t stay around for long, though, since they only travel through here on their way to the Canadian tundra. But I got my sighting!

I’m not sure that this counts as a bright spot, but while walking back to my car from campus a squirrel threw a chunk of bark or something at me and hit me squarely in the head. The audacity!

On the drive home, I went by the field rented by Cornell Garden Plots. It was freshly worked and had just been staked to mark plot locations. It’s about time. It looks like tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day, so I shall be out gardening as soon as I’m done teaching my last section of the year.

Sydney

This may only be funny to one who has spent more than two months of the past year helping students work through the novel Persuasion, but I thought I would throw it out there, anyway. Many of my students cited this particular passage as a way of pointing out how the snobbish Sir Walter disparages navy men in the novel, but with a tiny error whole new worlds of meaning are conjured up:

Sir Walter disliked the navy for being “the means of brining persons of obscure birth into undue distinction.”

I now walk around snickering at thoughts of this powerful force called “the navy” pickling young cadets (in the sea, no less!) like a side of pork. Hehehe 🙂

To make the joke worse, elevating the lowly to positions of distinction is only one reason why Sir Walter despises the navy. The other reason is that it does terrible things to a man’s complexion. No, I’m not making this up: he doesn’t care for the weather-beaten look. But! if these men are brined they are going to be quite, dare I say it, well-preserved 🙂

Cackling with laughter . . .

Erin

I’m still feeling the effects of busy-semester stress, and grading my students’ final papers was almost more than I could bear yesterday.  But! the semester is now at an end, as is my role as a student taking classes.  All done!  Anything else I sit in on is just for fun.

I think it quite fitting that my last class was on Faulkner 🙂  It was so wonderful to hear lots of my classmates say something along the lines of, “Wow, I haven’t read him since high school, and I had no idea he was good.  What a wonderful writer!”  Yup, the man is good, and it’s nice to hear others say so.  For the last four years I’ve been enthralled with his writing, and I sincerely hope he remains at the center of my work as I continue on to different projects.  He’s definitely going to be on my syllabus this fall, even though the course is primarily about women writers in the South.  No, college roommates, you haven’t heard the last of him!  🙂

I’m a bit too tired for reflection on my life as a student, or to appreciate the warm feelings I’m having after reading Faulkner.  But hopefully I will soon have the energy.

Erin

I’ve been eating continuously for the last couple of weeks, and my appetite hasn’t helped me stay away from the end-of-the-year goodies that are all over the place.  No, before you jump to conclusions, I’m not eating for two.  But I’ve been having some stomach problems, and I just realized it’s that that made my eating life so out-of-control.  Way to help me in my attempts for some control over food temptation!  A sigh of frustration, and then I’ll move on.

The last few days have been full of food. We never have famine in this house, but for awhile I was really keen on plates of fruit-cheese-bread, just because I didn’t have time or energy to cook things, and neither, for once, did Sydney! But this weekend I made (not deep-fat-fried) falafal patties so that we could pack tasty falafal pitas throughout the week. Sunday there was a brunch at our church. Sunday evening my Victorian reading group got together for croquet (we didn’t at all resemble a British lawn club, but it was fun to pretend) and pizza and sandwiches, and we feasted at Sydney’s professor’s house this evening in celebration of the end of the class. Nice thing about the end of graduate classes: the profs often have you over for dinner at their place, bring in food to class, or, as my advisor did this afternoon, haul in cookies and chocolates so that we could end our discussion licking sugar off our fingers. The smattering of feasts continues throughout this week and next, with a couple more final-class celebrations. It makes for a hectic schedule at the end of classes, but it’s nice to take an hour here or there to talk with people who have been too busy working throughout the semester to swap stories with you.

I’m ploughing through my last round of grading for the semester. I got final papers today (stacks of paper cover my desk, but only temporarily!) and I said I’d have them back by Wednesday, so I’m working hard. But by Wednesday evening I’ll be ready to sit back and take things at my own pace. That pace, of course, is one that prepares me to write two lengthy term papers, but at least it won’t be quite so hectic!

Erin

We didn’t really have the time, but we desperately needed a break from class work, so Erin and I spent a couple of hours walking around in Sapsucker Woods (the woods around the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) this afternoon. It was a wonderful day for birdwatching — a warm spring day with the occasional shower. Lots of migrants are back and the woods were filled with singing birds.

One of the signs that spring is well underway is when the warblers start returning. We saw our first ones of the year today: a whole bunch of Yellow-rumped Warblers, one of my favourite species.

Erin managed to find a Brown Creeper, which is pretty impressive. It’s a perfectly common bird, but seldom seen since it blends in so well with its background as it spirals up and down tree trunks. I’ve only seen a Brown Creeper once or twice before in my life. As I recall, the team that won the World Series of Birding last year failed to see one, much to their chagrin.

We also saw some mammals on our walk. First, there was a shrew busily scurrying back and forth right beside the path. Actually, I’m not sure that we ever saw it. Mostly, we say a great deal of terrifically fast movement and heard it squeaking. You would think that something running back and forth would at some point be moving in neither direction and hence be visible. But, no, it was never anything but the most transparent of blurs. I see now why shrews can eat three times their body weight each day without becoming obese. Or, I see now why they need to eat that much. Next, we saw a vole repeatedly running out from its tunnel in the grass to gather something from the path. Erin thought the vole was really cute. I thought of all the beets and carrots and beans that voles ate in my garden last year. Finally, we got really good, close views of a muskrat swimming around in a pond.

The highlight of the day was also at the pond. Erin has been wanting to see a Great Blue Heron for some time now, but somehow I never managed to come across one when she was around. But today we were standing by the pond when we heard a splashing sound behind us and realized there was a hunting heron standing in plain view about thirty feet behind us. When we turned around he thought about flying away for a bit, but then decided the hunting was just too good. So we stayed and watched, impressed at his magnificent control of his body. I don’t know how something can stand so absolutely still in so many awkward positions. It took a while, but eventually he caught himself a little fish that was maybe close to two inches long. I was happy to have gotten my best view of a Great Blue ever and to have gotten my first view of one in the act of catching something. But more was to come and quickly. Almost immediately after swallowing the fish, he took a step forward, leaned way forward, held perfectly still for a few moments, and then shot out with his head. And retrieved a fat catfish that was probably a good ten inches long. This fish needed more work than the previous one. The heron stalked to shore with it, put it on the ground, and repeatedly pulled his head back, and then stabbed through it with lightning speed. I know now that I don’t want any part of my body in the way of a heron beak! He also walked back to the water several times to wash the fish. I’m not sure what the point of that was. Eventually the fish stopped flopping around and the heron took it back to the water to start with the really hard work: swallowing it. I was a bit sceptical of the possibility of that fish fitting through the beak of the heron. I figured the heron’s skinny throat was expandable. But what about the beak? It did take a long time with many failed attempts. But eventually it got it down and we got to watch this huge lump make its way down the heron’s throat. A few drinks of water finished the process.

I figured the heron would now be thoroughly satiated and would fly off to sleep off a very full stomach. He did fly off. But only because a gander whose goose was sitting on a nest nearby chased him off. And he only flew to the opposite side of the pond. Where he soon caught another fish of the same size. So apparently it’s not just shrews that eat a lot. But shrews furiously run about; herons stand motionlessly. So why aren’t herons fat?

The other question: why am I a philosopher instead of a field biologist?

Sydney

Chanticleer was great.  They sang songs from the 16th century, many from the 20th century, and at the end tossed out a few jokes and a few more relaxed numbers.  The only thing Sydney and I weren’t quite sure about: the middle of their group range is, I think, a bit on the high end of mine!  With three top-notch sopranos (and man, can those men wail), three more altos, and apparently a baritone section that primarily sings in its high range, things felt a bit unnecessarily high.  Very impressive, of course, but when some of those baritones actually showed off their lower ranges on occasion, it was so lovely you wondered why they didn’t stay there more of the time!  There was only one bass, and he was amazing.  His low “boum” made us smile, and he didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that he was all on his own as the rest of them went higher and higher.

Much fun in all 🙂

Erin

I ask whether Chanticleer is a men’s group or mixed voices, and Sydney replies, “Yup, that’s why they’re so good.” He’s been goading me with comments like that all week, just to see if I turn bright red.

I get tired and forget the name of a piece of music we’re listening to and he says, “It’s actually one of the most famous pieces ever written.” Thank you, dear.

I ask for a hug and he just gives me an incredulous look.  Well, what can I do with that?

These aren’t Sydney’s normal rejoinders, so don’t go accusing him of sexism, musical snobbery (although that would be fair), insensitivity, or inhumanity. But when some of us are stressed, we seek comfort.  Sydney, on the other hand, well . . .

Erin

Sydney and I are going to see Chanticleer (an early music men’s group) tomorrow evening. They have a large following, a ton of recordings out, and we listen to their music more than frequently. Sydney has wanted to see them in concert for quite a long time, and they’re actually coming to Ithaca! I sincerely hope we’ll be able to step outside our current duties and really enjoy the concert.

My professor handed back a paper with a comment about turning it into a publishable journal article. Woohoo! Of course, that means more work, but maybe after the semester’s over that will sound more enticing.

I’m really having some bonding time with my students these last few weeks. I’ve read four paper proposals from each of them, had a half-hour conference, read and commented on a draft, met with half of them again, am fielding questions through email, and will grade their papers early next week. It’s wonderful to talk paper ideas with them, rewarding to hear they appreciate me helping them work through entanglements, and wonderful fun to talk so much about Persuasion. I’m certainly learning the importance of choosing the right book for the end of the semester–it has to be one that I want to hear lots about!