Since I don't have reading to reflect on, I thought I'd do again what I did a couple of years ago - look back on the year of experiences using the categories I usually apply to books. So - here goes!
Something I Thought Would be Amazing but was only So-So – This time a year ago, I had just been asked to serve as the dean of a division at my university. I don't really have ambition to be an administrator, but I thought it would be a new path of service, so I said yes. (And I'll admit - the biggest attraction was the thought that I could collect and analyze data and make schedules. Charts and graphs!) I started right away trying to come up with plans for how to use what I've learned in nearly 30 years of teaching communication so I could be an effective leader. I went to the deans' meetings and provost council meetings in the spring semester until April, when the provost rescinded the decision, keeping me in the faculty instead. At the time, I was rather annoyed with how it all went down, but with the distance of a few weeks, I could see it really is a blessing to NOT be in that position.
 |
| Those things floating in the liquid are my SCOBYs. |
Best Discovery – Fermentation! Also at this time a year ago, I had set out a bowl of flour and water to become a sourdough starter. I've kept the starter going all year with only one period of neglect (we went on a trip, and I asked my daughter to take care of the starter but forgot to tell her how to do it; when I came back home, the starter was covered with a dark brown layer of "hooch" because she gave it water but no flour). Sourdough was the gateway; since then I've made a batch of sauerkraut, two batches of the Latin American pineapple drink tepache, and most recently, kombucha. I've been trying to break away from drinking Diet Coke because I know it's bad, and kombucha may be what makes it possible. One of my colleagues from work shared some of her SCOBY, and I just finished brewing my first batch. The kombucha I'd bought from stores was really tart, but this is sweet and subtle and lovely, just like the friend who shared her SCOBY.
I also got it into my head this summer to make wine from some of the blueberries that were a little less than perfect and thus not able to go to market. I decided to do this despite the fact that I'm not a drinker and don't know what wine is supposed to taste like. My sister loaned me her equipment and gave me a package of yeast to get started. It was fun to watch the process, especially once it was in the gallon jugs and the tiny bubbles were rushing to the top of the liquid. Making wine is a lesson in patience; four months after I first mixed up the blueberries and sugar, we finally bottled it and gave some to people who are familiar with wine for the moment of truth - would it be any good? The verdict is yes - with an asterisk. Since I didn't know what I was doing, I topped off the jugs with sugar water after racking (I thought that's what the online recipe said to do). I thought it was odd that there were no tiny bubbles this time around. Turns out, the fermentation was basically finished before I added that batch of sugar water, and the yeast never consumed the sugar. That means we made a very sweet wine. Some friends say it is a bit TOO sweet, others say it is really good. They all agree it has a very nice, fruity flavor. Will I make more? Probably. It's better than letting those blueberries go to waste (and there's only so much jam I can make!).
 |
| Do these people look tired?! |
Biggest Accomplishment – I mentioned above that I neglected my sourdough starter when we went on a trip. That trip was to Colorado to climb Estes Cone. My husband had climbed it the year he climbed the Grand Teton, and he suggested it as a quick break from the farm this summer. I've done some hiking, and that's what most of this climb was - until the last bit up to the actual summit. I had to do a lot of scrambling over rocks to get to the top. Many times in the last half-mile I told myself, "You CAN do this; you WILL do this!" When we got to the top, we had it to ourselves for a little while, long enough to sit down for a while and have a snack. It was a neat experience - my first time to climb a mountain. Jeff says he wants to go back and do Grand Teton again, but I think this mountain was enough for me!
Experience I Thought Wouldn’t be Much but was Actually Pretty Good - Our son and his fiance broke up this summer (probably for the best), and he's moved back home temporarily while he goes back to school (that's another story I don't have time for). When he originally moved out, I took his bedroom and made it into a sewing room. Well, he needed it back, so I needed to move the sewing room into our daughter's bedroom (she's living away from home now). I wasn't too excited about the idea because her room was smaller, the closet is smaller, the room has only one window. But it has actually turned out to be perfect. The room may be smaller, but it has four usable walls; the other room really had only two usable walls because one was taken up by windows and one by the closet. Everything seems to fit better in here. I still need to go through and purge some things, and I really need another bookcase (ha!), but I like it better to have the room here. I haven't decided what to do about the walls; our daughter wanted them a vivid shade of turquoise. I've thought about painting over them to tone them down a little, but I get to feeling sentimental and think that when I do that, my baby girl will really be gone....
Favorite Love Story - (Earlier today, I thought this was going to be so nice; something happened a little while ago that sort of soured me on this entry - more to come.) We have an old cat named Prissy. I don't remember how long it's been since she showed up in my husband's shed, pregnant of course. This summer, we had a new puppy dropped on us (one of the hazards of living on a country road), and we felt sorry for Prissy having to deal with this rambunctious intruder, so we've been letting her stay in the house all the time. This cat LOVES my husband. Every time he sits down, she comes to sit on his lap within 30 seconds. She sits on him while he's watching football and yelling for the Packers; she sits on him while he's playing his computer game; she would sit on him while he ate supper if he would let her. He's always been her person, but it seems to be especially true now that she's getting old. It's kind of sweet - except old cats do gross stuff, like puke on the arm of the living room chair....
I guess those are the only categories I will right about, because nothing comes immediately to mind when I think about Saddest Disappointment or Biggest Failure. I guess that's a sign of a good year, right? My biggest hope is that next year will be the same, filled with discoveries and experiences - and good reading.
