settling in.

Posted on August 11, 2015 by barefootrooster

I haven’t meant to not be posting; just so much going on. Here are a couple of snippets from the last week or so. As you can see, we’re starting to settle in.

My yellow table is back in the kitchen. The things you see on the table and on the walls come from at least 5 different people from all corners of my life, which is pretty cool. (Or at least I think so.)

This guy. That ear.

Smitten Kitchen sesame noodles.

Banana nut espresso muffins from Super Natural Cooking.

Me in my new home.

New chair, and my favorite little corner of my room.

Documenting that I wore blue, purple, and pink all at the same time. (Sort of an unusual color combination for me…)

Everything on this plate came from the farmers’ market last weekend. Everything!

we’re here!

Posted on July 31, 2015 by barefootrooster

We’re here! And there’s a big, lovely tree in this front yard, too.

I put down Boh’s favorite rug (which was on the lake house porch), and he immediately claimed a spot at the door.

He mostly stayed on my bed during my early unpacking, but as soon as I was able to acquire a new-to-us couch, he settled right in.

I am in love with the main room of this house — a big open space for living and dining and working. After five days of cleaning and unpacking, this room is starting to look like home. (Special thanks to my mom — she’s been here with me, and it wouldn’t look even half this good without her help!)

Had my first bowl of yogurt and granola–with peaches!–in the new house. Happy colors, happy dog, happy rooster.

saying goodbye.

Posted on July 19, 2015 by barefootrooster

A lovely lake sunset, from sometime last week. (After a good swim with a friend.)

Lounging on the Arts Quad, maybe for the last time.

A happy dog, on the couch we’re giving away.

A downy woodpecker — the one I like to think keeps coming back to the black walnut tree in my front yard, and sometimes taps on my porch windows. I stood under this tree and watched her for a solid 20 minutes yesterday morning. This sweet bird (and so many others) have kept me company here. (The yard was filled with birds yesterday–it’s like they knew that I’d packed my binoculars and bird books the night before.)

And this morning I took my mug of coffee down to the end of the dock.

I watched sailboats and swallows, and appreciated the morning calm.

This is the week that I say goodbye. And I’m excited about the next thing–a new home, new town, new job. But this place has been kind to me these last seven years, and I think it will be hard to leave. (Finishing up my summer grading this week, packing up the house, and driving south to my new home next weekend. Stay tuned!)

and it’s july.

Posted on July 11, 2015 by barefootrooster

I always forget how intense summer session courses can be. Three weeks of daily discussion sections have gone by in a flash, and it’s July. Yesterday I took my first swim in the lake. And Boh and I have two more weeks here in the lake house, and in our sweet small town, before we move on to our next adventure. Here are a few snippets from the last few weeks:

A porch pancake breakfast with friends who came to visit for the holiday weekend.

We had a dinner party! And a galette! (Tomato, corn, zucchini, scallions, and parmesan.)

Dick: The Game. (A Moby-Dick themed version of Cards Against Humanity. Yes, we are nerds, and proud of it.)

This face.

These falls.

These flowers, in between where I park my car and where our summer course was held. I’d turn the corner each morning and just breathe them in.

Packing. I started with the knitting books — I didn’t realize I have so many! The box pile is slowly growing, and the movers will be here in just under two weeks…

blueberry muffins and boh.

Posted on June 20, 2015 by barefootrooster

I can’t help myself. I take so many pictures of this sweet face.

Boh and I took a nice walk around campus at sunset.

On Thursday night I baked blueberry muffins.

Nerd fun arrived in the mail. (This is based on Cards Against Humanity — and a prototype of this that I saw on Twitter was called Cards Against the Humanities!) Looking forward to playing this with the rest of the staff of my summer course, perhaps during a lull in office hours? My summer teaching starts up on Monday.

Some impressive kite sailing on the lake, viewed from the park near my house.

Boh, napping under my desk during a conference call.

Morning sweetness.

And nighttime sleepiness. That’s been our week, friends. Quiet, and only sort of productive, but maybe just what we needed.

mostly boh.

Posted on June 14, 2015 by barefootrooster

No knitting this week, just a lot of pictures from walks with Boh. (My family was in town this week, and we spent a lot of time outside!)

But first, porch work and peonies.

This guy had to stay inside because he was howling at the gardener in my neighbor’s yard.

A statement necklace I bought a decade ago. I don’t know what prompted me to reach for it last week, but I love it with this blouse.

My brother and I saw this heron while walking Boh in the park.

Ears.

Our homemade ransom note Father’s Day card for my dad.

Boh being silly — asking for a belly rub while wearing his circle bone as a bracelet.

Tuckered out.

From a walk with my parents — the view from the crest of a hill.

I’ve been looking for brown heeled sandals, and I think these are the winners. (Not exactly what I was looking for, but I think the best I’m going to find in my price range. It’s possible that the only thing I’ve done today is confirm that these are comfortable enough to wear all day…)

And all this guy did today is nap! Hope you had wonderful weekends, friends.

second repeat complete.

Posted on June 3, 2015 by barefootrooster

I’m realizing that maybe the reason I’ve been returning to blogging more regularly has something to do with the fact that I’m not writing anything in my work life right now. (I mean, I’m deep into course prep and syllabus development, but I’m no longer writing a dissertation.) I’m sure I’ll be back into working through other research materials and beginning an article before too long, but right now, my writing is mostly blogging! (Another reason might be that there is way more daylight and sunlight, and lots more pictures of me and Boh frolicking outside…) So, here are today’s pictures (though we haven’t yet completed today’s frolic):

Coffee with my canine companion.

Reading what might be the final book for the seminar I’m teaching this fall. (With Boh’s help, obviously.)

Yesterday’s post-gym mimosa. Or, my attempt to solve the problem of how to finish an open bottle of champagne while living alone (and not all in one sitting). My argument is that when combined with orange juice, champagne can be a recovery beverage… And I’m sticking to it.

I finished the second repeat of the diamond stitch pattern, and the more I knit, the more I love this cowl.

Obligatory outfit mirror shot — temperatures are back up to springtime levels, though I did need a coat for the trip to the coffee shop.

I’ve mostly been working at home these last few months, but today, after a sort of slow start to the week, I decided to get out of the house, at least for the morning. It was a great idea. I read A LOT of pages, plus there is a heart in my latte! I appreciated this small affirmation of my plan for the day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Boh and I have a date with the park!

graduation weekend (and week), part 2.

Posted on May 27, 2015 by barefootrooster

Alright. You asked for regalia pictures, so here are a few:

Fancy robes, poofy hat.

And here’s a picture of my doctoral hood. (My parents were really into the hood; I had to stand with my back to them for several pictures.)

And here’s how I continued celebrating after they headed home: with champagne from my dissertation defense and a new nameplate, courtesy of a dear friend. (“Professor Rooster,” it says.)

Here’s my sweet dog being sort of silly — stretching out his back leg for a scratch.

And here’s my Avery cowl. I’ve knit a few rows on it–the counting makes it a bit more involved than most of what I’ve been knitting more recently, but I do think it will be squishy and lovely.

Course prep with a furry footrest.

More pesto and a sleepy dog.

Phlox along the path we walked on Tuesday.

Boh does a little light reading.

Here he is, in his first ever ride in my new-to-me car. Also his first ride in his dog hammock (that thing that goes between the front and back seats to protect the cushions and keep an animal from leaping into the front, not that Boh ever really does that). I was so sad to say goodbye to my 03 CRV, but it has needed a lot of work lately. So, new wheels, thanks to Mom and Dad Rooster. They’ve been planning to get a new car, and as a graduation present, they offered to trade in mine, which was considerably older than theirs. So Boh and I are getting used to our new ride. I know he looks nervous, but he really did settle right in once we got moving.

And this picture is in the running for what may be the greatest selfie I’ve managed to take of the two of us, mostly because of his goofy face! (We’re at our favorite spot by the creek here.)

Out cold, and using his bone for a pillow.

A strawberry buttermilk cake. Just because.

More napping.

Avocado, sriracha, and cheddar on toast, all put under the broiler. A favorite snack. I made some an hour ago, so you are all caught up on things here in Roosterland. More of an indoor day today because it is hot and humid, but Boh and I are planning a really nice walk for tomorrow.

actual knitting content.

Posted on May 21, 2015 by barefootrooster

The large milk bottle sculpture near the ice cream spot on campus.

An enormous salad of arugula, avocado, hummus, goat cheese, tomatoes, and kalamata olives.

A self-portrait (do I only snap these when I am wearing a chambray shirt?) intended to demonstrate how much I love the non-lipstick lipstick I bought recently through Mick‘s side project as a Beauty Counter rep. (Full transparency when it comes to ingredients in the stuff we put on our faces? Yes, please.) I never really learned how to wear makeup, but I can appreciate that sometimes it matters to look/feel a little more put-together, and this lipstick does that for me. Maybe you can’t tell that I’m wearing it, but I can tell. Granted, this picture is most likely from a day spent sitting on the couch and/or porch wrapping up my semester.

I am out of the frame here, grading. Boh is chomping on a tennis ball in my face, trying to distract me.

Oh, look! Knitting! (Somehow when I imported these pictures to wordpress, it mixed up the order. But I’m drinking my first cup of coffee after a late-ish evening drinking beer with a friend, so I’m not re-ordering them.)

A lovely walk in the woods with a dear friend who was back in town last weekend.

Silly, sweet, completely tuckered-out dog. I snap these morning pictures of him on days when he isn’t waiting at the front door to go outside after I put the water for coffee on. Sometimes the weather is lousy, sometimes he’s still sleepy from a big day of adventuring, and sometimes, as in this next picture, he’s waiting in order to ask for a belly rub before we start the day.

This animal is just too much.

New bright shirt for summer.

New favorite book. (I came home from a panel-thing on campus and didn’t even change out of my pretty dress. Just sat down and kept reading. I’ve been reading some post-apocalyptic stuff lately to find something to fit into a particular slot in one of my fall syllabi, and oh my goodness, Station Eleven is incredible and you will not be disappointed. Hard, hopeful, brilliantly structured, grand, and deeply human.)

Boh, being sweet.

A walk to our local waterfall. Creek level is high right now.

Knitting! I’m working on another bias stripe blanket for friends who had their second baby MONTHS ago. (Oops.)

Happy dog.

Homemade peanut butter cookies for a going away party.

The falls at night. I’ve never walked to see them at this time of day (8 pm? 8:30 pm?) and the light on the water was just breathtaking. I’ll be taking more evening walks this summer for sure.

pretty much all boh, all the time.

Posted on May 3, 2015 by barefootrooster

Sometimes, this dog is the sweetest.

And also, quite the ham.

Gorgeous sunset over the lake.

What my dear friend Champ calls a fake gin and tonic. (All the treating yourself, none of the gin.) Good for afternoons and work nights.

Boh, focused on the deer in the background. So. Focused.

Yesterday I got the official letter in the mail that says I’ve done all the things for the Ph.D. and “should be granted all the privileges of this degree.” (It’s for sending to my employer, because my contract is contingent on actually finishing, but I’m also interpreting it to mean that Boh and I are now required to take really good walks.)

Like this one, on a path you’ve seen many times here on this blog. It leads to the creek.

I brought fun reading, and Boh kept an eye on the folks fishing a bit downstream.

And would not sit still until he’d moved around some rocks and found a good stick.

And after a good dose of sunshine and creek water, we strolled back to the car.

Over moss covered logs, and past trees felled by the labor of beavers.

This guy was so, so tired when we got home.

And happy. (And after that, we took another walk with the friend of a friend staying with us this weekend. She has completely charmed Boh. And there was ice cream. Because sunshine and spring.) Another beautiful day forecasted for today. But first, pancakes.

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barefoot rooster

cockadoodle-doo: one rooster's ramblings

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