Early March update, a little late

Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville.  I'm appreciating the early signs of spring -- these days, when I run early in the morning, my running buddy and I see the sun rising.  We know that'll change with the changing of the clocks next week, but it's such a joy not to be running in the darkness these mornings, and we know that the mornings will continue to get lighter as March thaws into April: the rays of sunshine are also rays of hope. 

I'm also appreciating the trees that are budding out all around the city and our campus.  Most of the buds are just little brown nubs, but some of the trees are already flowery.

A show-off-y tree on my walk to school.

As much as I love seeing the cherry trees in bloom (as did the poet A. E. Housman), I also have been walking with a friend who is dismayed by spring's early start.  She's a geologist who is often out in the field doing surveys, and land surveys are apparently much easier to do when the trees are bare, because she and her team have greater visibility that way.  The early budding this year is going to cut short her survey season this year, a problem I'd never thought much about.  Once again, I'm very glad that I get to do math, which I can do in all kinds of weather.

Speaking of math, my class is going really well this semester.  I happen to have a really delightful set of students, which of course makes teaching much, much more fun.  Better yet, my students seem to be really bonding with each other and with me, both in and out of class.  One of the most flattering cases of this is a student who is from a far-away country -- a place where (she tells me) mean street dogs far outnumber pet dogs.  She is understandably terrified, just terrified, of dogs.  But she's set herself the task of getting used to being near my dog, Prewash.  For two different weeks in a row, she's come to my Friday-afternoon "dog days" office hours.  Two other students she's befriended sit on either side of her to protect her from having Prewash get too near.  My student has been rocking the self-directed "exposure therapy", and this last Friday, she even, of her own accord, touched the dog. 

Prewash does her part by sitting calmly and facing away,
being as un-scary as she can possibly be.

I have a lot of office hours each week, most of them with no dogs present, so it's really a sign of trust and mutual admiration that my students are working together with me on math, but also beyond math.  I'm loving it.

Nelson is working, too!  He's not working on dogs, and not on math, but on Arby's.  He had his orientation on Thursday, and started work on Saturday. Gooooo . . . Nelson!

At his orientation.

And Inkling has made it past the qualifying round in Sock Madness, into Round 1.  Whoop!

Inkling:  "I finished my socks (and wove in all 148 ends!)"

Here's what the socks look like inside out.

And finally, for all those who've missed seeing dog photos from Gosling (I raise my own hand here), we have a lovely recent update.  

Gosling: "Three pups enjoying the water and watching for ducks."

The upcoming week will have a bunch of good stuff -- book groups, running, trees and early-morning light -- and then I'll chop off the good stuff by giving a midterm exam, but that will take us into Spring break and clock changes.  Cross fingers that my students do as well as I think they are ready to do.  

And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.

Celebrating my dad's 87th birthday earlier this week. 
Happy Birthday, Dad!