Autumn contrasts

I looked out the window at work today (the paper I’m writing is driving me nuts and so I needed a contemplative time out!), and I noticed two different species of ivy growing up the wall.

They provoked an “oh, wow!” reaction in me, so I had to go out and take a photo or three.

There was such a contrast between the two: in form they looked very similar (in fact, there are actually some differences between the leaves), but the disparity between the colours was stunning. The dark green was lounging on the top of the wall, while the one on the lower part of the wall was the darkest, most vibrant autumnal red I’ve ever seen.

In the morning sunlight they looked gorgeous. I’m curious now about whether or not the green one is deciduous; if it is, it’s leaving it very late in the season to show its true colours.

I’m not entirely sure that the window gazing helped with the paper, though. This paper has gone through a number of incarnations in its past, and now I’m trying to make it tackle some more significant ideas than I had originally envisaged. Trouble is, the ideas won’t stay pinned down: they’re big and slippery. At least, with sabbatical, I have the time to think about it in an extended way, instead of the stop-start few-minutes-at-a-time efforts that are all I can usually manage in my regular routine. I think the paper is getting there, but there yet remains some major panel-beating to be done.

I’m still sharing the office with the linguists. There is absolutely no animosity—indeed, we’ve had some friendly conversations—but we all know that I’m the intruder … and I know that they know!

What I don’t know is whether they know that I know that they know, or whether they think that the reason I arrive at work before they do is to ensure that I can claim priority and defend my territory (as opposed to the true reason, which is to beat the traffic and try to get more work done … the former of which I manage, the latter of which is a bit lacking in evidence).

All I can say is “Hooray for Cary Lewincamp’s music”. I brought all of his CDs with me (on my iPod). He’s a very talented Tasmanian guitarist and composer, and his nice gentle guitar music offers several advantages in my present circumstances: I can work to it, it is very musical, I can shut out the outside world (linguists included) by wearing headphones to listen to it, and, being wordless, I am unlikely to sing along inadvertently!