All Hallow's & Idioms

Such a fun day on campus~you never know if an idea will fly or not, but our scheme for every teacher to do an idiom worked well. Can you guess them all? 

One of my favorite students~he's from Lebanon and worked for the UN in Syria for a few years before coming to Virginia to finish his doctorate.

We had a fab chili bar potluck (and I'm pleased to say the vege chili was a hit)~I didn't have my phone on me during lunch. And I was gifted with this pretty scarf from a Colombian student who is off to college in January.

And now I'm happily in my condo on this stormy night~safe from all trick-or-treaters.

almost to All Hallow's Eve

I think I've posted this vignette before, but it makes me so happy. And, after a day of horrific traffic and crashing technology at school, it was nice to come home to an oasis of peace.

The beginnings of chili~we'll see if the vegetarian version beats the others at tomorrow's potluck.

lunch bunch

The boss treated us to lunch today~delish.

from the rising of the sun

to it's going down...

Some days the best part is that you made it to sunset~and it helps when you some gorgeous trees with which to admire the ending of the day.

secrets

“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats, 

and if some of these can be inexpensive and quickly procured

 so much the better.”

~Iris Murdoch

A little surprise from my afternoon tutee.

A nice card in the mail from an aunt, a penny found, and a lily that opened this afternoon.

Exhaling into the weekend.

guess what?

More leaves!  

More crunchy steps.

More beauty.

I love the woodsy scent of damp leaves.

I wonder why just the one turned colour~and no, I'm not really questing for a scientific explanation.

splash o' colour

When the days are this gorgeous, I crave being outside.  

Stopped at Meadowlark for a post-work walk. 

Little sparkles from mirrors hanging in the fairy garden tree. 

Um-hm.

days of dazzle

I know there are beautiful plants/objects/produce all year long, but there is something about autumnal prettiness that makes me swoon. Admire my delicious-smelling pears~the clerk assured me that they taste as good as they smell.

scenes from the day

One upside to sitting in traffic is that you have plenty of time to take photos of beautiful leaves and a clear sky.

Since there are several October birthdays in my class this session, baked some chocolate goodness to share.

A p.s. days later~don't put brownie mixture into cupcake wrappers. It was like they were glued into the paper. They were devoured regardless, but I won't do that again.

crunch, crunch

Finally deemed it cool enough to wear boots for the first time and I kinda found some leaves to step on.

Don't know why it's taken me so long to try to make chilequiles, but here is my first attempt. Didn't have the right kind of cheese, but they're still tasty.

why Nouf will always be my favorite student

Because she periodically supplies me with these divine little bits of fried dough, soaked with orange honey. Until I meet a student who provides free liposuction, she holds top place.

Our admin team's contribution to today's world potluck. 

We are bursting out of our classrooms this session~50 students, representing 14 countries. Jamaican and Qatari applicants should be joining us next month.

Brisk and breezy weather seems to have moved in~the heat may have been turned on briefly tonight. Heading into the best season of the year!

seasonally appropriate

Just a gorgeous day of complete laziness and enjoying being at home.

out/about

I knew it had been awhile since I had a good city wander, but until looking at my photos~didn't realize that it's been almost six months.

The weather is coolish which is perfect for long walks.

As many other people had the same idea to visit The Mall, I cut my visit short.

But I still saw some scultpures, fall gardens and an interesting new photography exhibit. A quick jaunt to Trader's and the bliss of no alarm clock tomorrow rounds out the day.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, or life in flow

I have zero idea how to pronounce this Hungarian name, but even since my days in Psych 101, I have wanted to spend more hours living in flow.

Happy to say that today was one of those days.  May it continue.

sands of time

Sundial in a garden visited over the weekend. 

flipping numbers

Very fun preposition dominos today; in which I gave totally wrong directions, but the students made up their own rules and it all worked out. Lots of laughter with this group of students. 

Aunt Helen is in town, so we celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks early~and she's not saying whether she's 67 or 76.

Either way, we had a delicous meal and yummy cake, all gracioulsy provided by my sis.

Beautiful muffins that my middle niece was determined to put on the dinner table around 4 p.m.