Today was bitterly cold. The high was three, and it was negative one when I drove to campus. And with the windchill it was about negative 3000. Today I had multiple meetings, all in different buildings. So I had to venture outside more than is ideal. There is a slightly cranky mood on campus because it's almost absolute zero outside and it's the last week of the term. But given this, people are holding up pretty well. The two-week break will be a good thing.
In other news, I was talking on the phone today in my office and out of my window I saw a bald eagle fly by. I've seen eagles from campus before, be never one from my window. The eagle was definitely one of the day's highlights.
maybe my favorite winter term memory of all time was doing some physics homework in TAB early one morning with coffee and a fresh pumpkin chocolate chip muffin, then looking up out toward the snowy ocean and seeing a couple baldies perched in the bare trees. i was stricken; that moment was one of the first in which the specialness of the college experience i was having hit me over the head hard enough that my eyes were opened to it.
ReplyDeleteheres a pic of a Santa Barbara baldie i took last fall. not great or anything but thought i'd share. http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/2365/p1010228dd4.jpg
hope it warms up! i won't gloat about our current weather or the floral aromas that are permeating our atmosphere.
I think I know the feeling you're talking about. Every now and again the beauty of MDI sneaks up on my and strikes me so powerfully I can almost physically feel it. Seeing an eagle often does it. I used to feel a little weird getting excited about eagles, since they're the US national bird and are associated with nationalism and the ugly side of patriotism--e.g., the department of homeland security's logo. But eagles were seen as speical long before the US came on the scene. And I imagine people will find them inspirational after the US is gone.
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