Snow Day!

Yesterday was a snow day for most of the city since the schools were closed. At the seminary the offices were closed from midday as the whirling white wet flakes continued to fall through the afternoon and evening. It was a damp wet snow--the kind that weighs down branches and leaves. Outside our building on the pine tree we released quite a few that sprang back upwards. That tree is a haven for many birds but there were none visible yesterday.

It was a great opportunity to catch up on projects and arrange assignments. I wrote emails and invited a visiting scholar at a nearby institution to tea. Her new book is very good and it would be wonderful to meet her. I agreed to select some artwork by next week for a new book out in July. The publishers have decided that a piece of art should accompany each chapter and be related to it in some way. A great idea! Then I arranged a meeting with a colleague and friend. I had a good conversation with another colleague also marooned elsewhere by the snow. We agreed on the agenda for an upcoming committee meeting, and discussed pedagogy and curriculum projects. Then I worked diligently on and sent off a grant application for next academic year. Finally, I rang a friend in Florida to thank her for making a donation in memory of my father to a charity and we arranged to see each other at Passover. All in all, a productive snow day.