the end of the Big Bend trip and the first week of classes

In the morning I got up early and packed and went for breakfast. I was restless, first to get gas, and then to get a move on, but at the gas station, the ranger told me that I should do either the Grapevine Hills or the Lost Mine trails so I calmed myself and headed back up to Lost Mine and had a wonderful hike of about an hour. Then it was time to drive and I headed for Marathon (which was much dingier and smaller than I remembered) and then on to Uvalde, where I walked around the downtown area and then went into the courthouse, a fairly unassuming place. I drove on and got to the Holiday Inn Express around two and by two thirty I had returned the equinox and then I sat down to send my outlines and rules out. I still hadn’t heard from CEA so I cancelled the Thursday classes on the 27th of March. I hope I don’t have to cancel the Wednesday class because they are already one class short because of the MLK holiday. I returned to the room for a nap and then went for a long walk on a section of the riverwalk headed toward the museums. It was very pleasant. Back in the room, I called Gyorgyi and found out she had broken her wrist on the icy stairs at her mother’s. Sean has been helping her a lot (he quit his job at the food co-op) and I’m glad of that. Gloria said that wrists can be real tricky to heal and G’s doctor already mentioned that. I know I have to be real careful living in the hollow. If I were to fall that would be a major problem. For dinner I went to Mi Tierra in the Marketplace near my hotel (and the dinner was very good) and then I went back to riverwalk for another long walk and a tiny scoop of strawberry ice cream. I also put all my outlines and rules on D2L without my page of guidelines so I was impressed with that. In the morning I struggled up at 5:30 and was ready for the cab at 6:15 and at the station by 6:30. Fortunately the train left just about on time and I was able to take a mile walk in Fort Worth and a shorter one in Dallas. I have been doing my lumosity training for almost a month (about 15 training sessions) and my scores have gone up. I started at a dismal 13th percentile and I am up to 43rd percentile, with memory my strongest feature. Speed is my worst, and the pinball prediction game is very tough for me. I wonder if it all a bit of a scam but I hope it does help. I do enjoy most of it. Now that my break is almost over, I am glad that I wrote six poems, especially the one for Kate, which I think is one of my best. Today, Saturday the 25th of January, I have fled from Radford till tomorrow and though it is not a great day down here in Charlotte, I was able to comfortably ride my bike and play 12 holes of golf. I shot very well even though I played with my heavy jacket on with the hood up. My first week of classes is over and I think it is going to be a good semester. My 203 class has only about 10 so there shouldn’t be any disruptive students sitting in the back. Both 310s are pretty full as is the 321, but I should have fewer than 70 students, which will be a real break. Gyorgyi is recovering slowly from her broken wrist and when I spoke to her on Friday to invite her to come down with me to Charlotte, she was miserable and I felt bad for her. I should see her next weekend. My printer is still not fixed but I was able to get everything I need printed at the computer center. I finally spoke to Cathy Gallo and she is doing okay but things are not the best with her health. I hope to have dinner with her soon. I haven’t heard from Amtrak but I hope they will refund most of my ticket price, at least one thousand. I have a head cold but I am getting around and I hope to go out to dinner in downtown Charlotte a little later.