Now Playing: Bach, Sonata for flute in E Major, "Adagio ma non tanto."

Clover has taken to carrying my boots and Scott's house slippers around the house. The process is somewhat disturbing: one at first hears the thunk-thunk-thunk as she hauls them up the basement stairs and then her baby-like whining as she proceeds through the kitchen, across the dining room, and up the next flight of stairs. I'm always startled until I remember that our cat is neurotic.

This evening I cooked grits for the first time, unbeknownst to me. I was trolling the cupboard for something to eat, and I found a packet of what looked like couscous. Into boiling water it went, and when it started to congeal in a most un-couscous-like fashion, I was somewhat chagrined. They weren't bad with salt and pepper, actually. Scott is out this evening, so he didn't have the opportunity to laugh at my lack of culinary discernment.

The semester so far progresses fairly well. I'm trying to learn to remember that every opportunity I have is a gift of God's grace. By opportunity I don't mean merely opportunities to "minister" but each class session I teach, each line of Beowulf I translate, each colleague's poem I comment on. Someday maybe this will take away some of the pressure of perfectionism. At least that's my hope.