Friday night, six weeks into the school year.  I’ve been so busy with work, I’ve had very little time for home or writing.  Friends, all, do not despair!  I will read your wonderful work…just as soon as I get one of those moments when I’ve run out of papers to grade, lessons to plan, or chores of other sorts for home or work.

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Last week was yearly flu shots–seems like those of us who had them all felt a little ill all week.  Well, that is one of the possible side effects.  Hopefully, feeling a little ill thanks to the shot will prevent being a lot ill later on.

Last weekend was a work weekend for my second job.  As I was setting up my days work, I realized that I have come a long way from the days when I hardly knew where I had left my tools or papers from one minute to the next.  I’ve always been more than a little absent minded–comes of having a rich inner-life.  When there is a lot going on in the head, remembering where one left the keys to the car/house/work becomes a little more difficult.  Faced with ten hours of straight-up work by myself, I would once have had a hard time prioritizing and an even harder time sticking with it.  Age doesn’t always bring wisdom, but it does bring the recognition of necessity.  Practice brings the ability to stick with a task till the finish–or at least till it is time to go home.

I tidied together a stack of the materials I would need to catalog, and mapped out mentally the other needed chores.  I put on some music–an empty building gets pretty quiet on the weekend.  I usually play instrumental, folk or filk music–something light, that only minimally engages my mind leaving thinking space for work.

Sunday brought a bittersweet task: a friend’s mother had passed away, leaving her home to him and his wife.  She had been preparing the house for them–planning various little things like selecting flowers, and creating little special items.  Her time came a little sooner than anticipated, and many things had been left undone–including instructions on how to care for the beautiful shrubs and flowers surrounding the house and out-buildings.  It is an incredibly beautiful place, with a House Beautiful interior, a butter fly garden, and bedding plants tastefully arrange outside.  Fortunately for me, most of them were specimens favored by my grandmother, so I had no problem identifying them.  A few, however, I photographed for later identification.

As mentioned, I’ve had little time to read and even less to write.  Even so, I’ve carried my camera with me everywhere.  It only takes seconds to snap a shot of something beautiful.  As I was driving home, later than I wanted (as usual), the sun was setting between two hills, lighting the cloud cover from beneath.  It was an incredibly beautiful sunset.  My camera does not like unusual lighting…but I did my best to try to capture it.

Keep writing, everyone!  I keep dipping back in, trying to read at least one or two items by everyone before I start nodding in my chair.  When the winter evenings become long, I want to have a nice backlog of interesting articles and stories to read.  I’m looking forward to it!