The wind-down and the run-up

Life in academia is sweet this time of year (well, perhaps not for students, but I digress). Work is quieting down considerably - no one wants to start an ambitious project days before a major recess, so time is spent wrapping up loose ends. A lot of people (not me, but other people) get invited to a myriad of holiday parties, brunches and lunches right around now, too, so work is in short supply. I have been spending my days alternating between wrestling with a GIS problem that is intractable and not readily soluble, and doing some advance work for a couple of ambitious projects that won't begin in earnest until the new year. None of it is deadline-oriented, and it's nice to be able to spend some time just laying a bit of groundwork.

Things seem under control on the home front - I painted the shelves of my new bookcase before I left for work this morning, and I hope to move it into the studio tonight and fill it with my art books and some papers and supplies. My pretty lighthouses will sit on top, and I think that eventually the studio will kick ass. I'm going to get a nice carpet remnant for the floor, and perhaps over the break we'll get the desk upstairs and into Bryan's room. With the exception of the tree, which isn't up yet, the house is decorated for the holidays, 99% of the shopping has been done, the cookies have been ordered, and I feel more or less in charge for a change. Heh.

There's snow on the ground, too, and possibly more to come in the next few days; the notion of a white Christmas does have its appeal, but man, I wish it would warm up. Just a little.

'Tis the season...

We woke to snow this morning. Not a lot (sadly for Jim, not quite enough to merit use of the snow blower), but it was stuck to the ground and to the trees, and it looks quite like winter. It's been bitingly cold for the last couple of days, too - we went to a late movie last night, and I nearly froze when we came out of the theater.

I'm more in the mood for Christmas this year than I normally am, maybe because Thanksgiving was so good, and it served to remind me that the important things in life are almost never things at all. My shopping is nearly done, and I spent a productive day painting my new bookcase. Right now dinner's in the oven (baby back ribs rubbed with spices and cooked in beer, yum), the laundry's almost done, and in spite of the fact that the house looks like its usual upside-down self, I'm fairly content. Jim spent a long time practicing his banjo this afternoon while I painted. I love Sundays.