unwarranted complaints and understated joy

I wish I had more time to write, but I barely have time to eat these days. Not that I'm complaining - work is pretty good, teaching is fun, the dissertation is moving forward (if slowly), home life is fantabulous... Well, actually, yeah, I *am* complaining a little. Ever since I started the Ph.D. program, my "free time" hasn't really been free time; it's time in which I feel guilty for not working on the dissertation, or for not getting "life stuff" done while I'm procrastinating on the dissertation. I've only really been free of that guilt once in 3 1/2 years: on my honeymoon. I'm tired of feeling guilty for baking bread instead of analyzing arias. The thing is, I *like* analyzing arias, I just don't like being *compelled* to analyze arias.

But these are just minor, selfish, petty complaints. My life rocks, and I know it. It would just be nice to have a little time to smell the roses, that's all.

And with that whiney rant over, I'll turn to the good stuff.

There's a lot of good stuff. Our trip to Maine was wonderful. True, we only got one sunny day out of four, but the other three were spent in wonderful pursuits like bookshop browsing, movie watching, craft making, and brewery touring. "Touring" is a bit too mild a word for what we did: we spent the day drinking and eating BBQ and drinking some more. It was awesome. I will laugh about that day for years to come.

The fall weather has made for some very cozy nights in front of the fire, and has served as a lovely background to a few small dinner parties. I can't keep myself out of the new kitchen, so the house constantly smells of baking bread and roasting vegetables. The days are short now, but the evenings are comfortable; I can feel the nesting urge creeping upon me as the sun sets. At 4pm.

I'm looking forward to the coming months. We have holiday plans in place, full of family and friends and railway adventures. I get all excited about the prospect of cooking large quantities of food for the people I love; I can't wait to get started. I should have been a chef.