My weekdays begin with coffee and Morning Pages; in
the background are the iced-over windows of winter.

I decided to make another time capsule of December 12, based on last year’s idea of capturing my day of 12/12/12. Last year’s date was picked because of the cool date, and I figured I’d just continue with the December 12 date. If I manage to do this over a few years, it should be interesting to see what each December 12 was like.

Already it was interesting to look back at last December 12, which was spent quietly at home, while this year’s December 12 was a day spent at the office, driving around, and teaching.

Breakfast – it feels corny to take a picture of my food, but it is such an important part of life, isn’t it? Houseguests tell us our breakfasts are iconic; always, on week days, there is warm oatmeal made with milk, a bowl of fresh fruit, an egg, juice and coffee or milk for the kids, all lovingly prepared by my husband who gets up an hour earlier than the rest of us. Lately we’ve switched to soft-boiled eggs which I have to prepare as I finally got the timing right.

Off to the right, these days, is a Geography Bee book that my son and I use for him to practice for the Geography Bee which is happening at his school this week.

My work station at the office – I’ve been lucky that I’ve always been close to a window, although here it’s a mixed blessing because this is a drafty spot. In this cold weather I wear long underpants to work and wear the extra sweater I keep at the office.

The view from my office window overlooking the snowy playground – it was a sunny winter day.

My walk back home – of course, while at work, I got carried away and didn’t remember to take any more pictures for this project until I was on my way home. Later I also forgot to take pictures of my drive to my teaching gig, but that’s probably a good thing.

Here I am with my Advanced Memoir class in the evening – once a month I teach at StoryStudio Chicago. It’s always a highlight and taking a photo with my students was a special treat. How often do we actually take photos of those places where we work and have some of the most meaningful exchanges with others?

There you have it, this was a rather typical Thursday for me these days.