5/26-5/31: away and back again

After his conference Chris went to New Jersey, where I met up with him and some of his family.  A little trip felt good, and it also feels good to be at home once more.

From the plane:

At the boardwalk:

At the beach:

And Margate's Lucy:

5/25: three

Putting away all my laundry.

Talking with a friend for hours.

Hearing that Chris' conference presentation went well.

5/24: morning journalling

I like to write in a journal in the mornings, mostly thoughts about whatever I'm reading.  But during the school year it's hard:  I've tried getting up an hour earlier to make writing time--but that would sometimes mean getting up at 4:30 a.m., which I can't do and stay productive for the rest of the day, so now journalling is a seasonal activity.  This week I started journalling in the mornings again, and for the past few days I've been writing on the porch--with my coffee, the cats, and the cool sweet air embroidered with bird songs.

5/23: reader reports

Today I got the second of two reader reports for an article I've submitted for publication.  Both reports were complementary and supportive, and the second one was especially wonderful to receive.  Whew.  There's revising to do before publication (that's par for the course), but I'm happy to move on to that stage of the process.

5/22: on the water at last

Good weather + enough free time + energy = the first kayaking-at-sunset of the summer.

5/21: another winner

It's no secret that I enjoy the books Persephone publishes, and today I finished another one of their volumes:  The Hopkins Manuscript by R. C. Sherriff.  It's a bit different from other Persephone titles.  In general, Persephone's books tend to be domestic, relatively realistic, often focused on female characters, and often written by women.  The Hopkins Manuscript doesn't really have any of those characteristics (though maybe it would count as "domestic" in some sense), and as a man's first-person account of the moon crashing into the earth it might seem far afield from Persephone's usual territory.  Yet I see how its sensibility is in keeping with Persephone's other offerings.  And I loved it.  It was emotionally difficult to read--a satire too true--but it was perfectly done.

5/20: ending the semester

It's been over a week since graduation, but the spring semester always takes a while to wind down--there are loose ends to wrap up and the year itself to reflect upon.  Today I made progress on the loose ends (by pressing my way through more paperwork) and on reflecting (by having dinner and a long conversation with a friend).

5/19: emails emailed

I get nervous about writing business-y emails, but today I gulped the nervousness down and wrote a bunch of them.