There's something to be said for the hours of late afternoon and early evening. Most of the world spends these hours either rushing from place to place or cursing the traffic that prevents said rushing. They are rushed, squashed and downtrodden.
But suddenly, they are all mine.
With grad school behind me, and having said farewell to my weekly piano students, I am discovering all sorts of things to do in the evenings:
- Walk. These days I have the freedom to go just about anywhere -- no one is going to mess with a dingo -- and, thanks to a prong training collar, can even enjoy it without a battle of wills. Especially loving the Indian Summer weather that enables me to stay out for an hour without getting gross and sweaty.
- Cook. I especially enjoy the challenge of using up CSA veggies: tonight I made a velvety, warm broccoli soup with local cream and smoked salt. And some baba gannoush, topped with tomatoes and mint from my own backyard. Currently working my way through my parents' thoughtful birthday gift.
- Read. After a love-hate journey through the Game of Thrones series, I picked up the books and got pretty thoroughly engrossed in the impossibly complex plotline, complete with gratuitous sex and violence (though not nearly as much as in the TV show!) I know it's half garbage, but the other half is great character development. Hey, I'm still reading Homer, Hemingway and Wilde for school!
- Listen. My brother got me the most ingenious little invention: it does a great job of magnifying sound from my phone, so I can listen to podcasts while I garden or drive or clean.
- Pray. Most dear to my heart is the opportunity to attend weekday Vespers at my parish. The last time I went regularly was over a decade ago, before I had even met my husband.
Most happily, very little of this time is spent staring at a screen (I have it on all day at school) and I have enough hours to myself that I can stop happily in plenty of time to clean up and go to bed. Sleep is a gift in a class by itself!
