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08.23.06
- We’re back from Madison. Nice campus and nice town, from what little we saw of it. We came back through Winona (Historic island city! Once vied for capital of Minnesota!), driving along the bottom of the cliffs that line the Mississippi. It’s one of the most gorgeous stretches in the 6,000 or so miles we’ve driven this summer. We also stopped in Rochester to photograph around the Mayo Clinic.
- Mister Husband’s photos of Madison are here. Winona and Rochester still need to be edited and uploaded. I packed my camera and didn’t take a single shot the entire time we were out.
- This summer will be forever remembered in household lore as the Summer of Fish. (I should point out that I am mostly not responsible for this.) The tiny 2-gallon I set up in January has spawned around 100 gallons worth of tank space in the house. There is a Wall O’ Water in the dining nook/foryer/library satellite now, and I’ve been slowly building a new 28-gallon tank in my study. So Becky was right, we’re crazy fish people now.
- Speaking of Becky, I’m totally planning on living vicariously through her fall courses.
- There are students on this campus! I saw them with my own eyes! And there will only be more drifting in over the next two weeks. I think this means I can’t be in denial about the Fall semester anymore.
- And the fall twang is in the air already in these parts. When Mister Husband I were driving home last night through a section of the Grand Rounds, I wondered aloud how many more weeks of green we have left. Not many. This is actually good, because ...
- This year I’ve once again had to come to terms with the fact that summer often triggers depression for me. All those Southern years I thought it was the heat, but after three Tundra summers I’ve had to admit that it’s just the general concept of the season and relatively unstructured time that does it. Fall (both the season and the semester) is my favorite time of the year, with Winter as a close second. As soon as the winds changed and I started getting announcements for orientation, I perked right up. By the first week of October, I should be happy as a clam.
- Back-to-school stuff also thrills my little geek soul. I’m halfway through revising the syllabus for my Sci/Tech Presentations course. (Why can’t I just leave well enough alone? I’ve taught this twice already to good reviews, and could just leave it the way it is. But it can be better!) Today is the end-of-summer haircut and re-redification. Gotta weed the closet. Gotta buy some new folders. (Mmmm, office supplies!) Gotta finish putting my study back together after I blew it up to make improvements.
- Once again: mmmm, fall. Leaves and pumpkins and blankets and sweaters. I busted out with the hot tea again this morning. I notice that all my compatriots up here drink hot tea year around, even in heat waves, but I just can’t do it. (I can, however, drink iced tea in a blizzard, and do so every year without really thinking about it.) There’s a certain comfort in a boiling, red-enamel teapot, scooping leaves into the diffuser, steeping and waiting and then, finally, sipping.
Comments
1. I love office supplies. I love moving into a new office and putting up pretty things.
2. I'm actually going to be a guest participant in Becky's grad seminar on the day they're discussing my BRILLIANT essay on the erotics of authorship. Okay, it's not brilliant, but it raises interesting ideas, donchathink?
Posted by: susansinclair | August 24, 2006 1:41 PM