I finished the summer teaching on Wednesday night, and calculated and uploaded final grades yesterday. And then I took a day off, more or less. I had an appointment with The Physician in the morning, in which I was informed that I'm entirely healthy. (This is happily coupled with the fact that my spouse is feeling much better after some medication adjustments. Back story here.) Then Mister Husband and I went off through the cities, tracing our way through a road system that is entirely broken not only by the bridge collapse but also by construction season. Getting anywhere in this town is going to be rather interesting for awhile. But we were never lost, and scooted through a few new-to-us neighborhood that we're going to have to come back to. Used bookstores have been pillaged. Paper Source has been visited. Shrimp, scallops, crab legs, and beer have been consumed. I am (gasp) proceeding through the last of the Harry Potter, despite my rant last week. The fridge is full of fresh corn, tomatoes, eggplants, and champagne grapes.

I am ready to soak up the last five weeks of summer. That also means appreciating having a lot of empty hours for research. Article deadline in 10 days. Another article that I’ve been twiddling around with for almost two years now, and I really want to get out the door before September. Conference paper due in October. Several days of archival research to do, at least. (Probably more than that, since some of it involves some issues to do with attic Greek, which I am unlearned and painfully slow at.)

August is generally my least favorite month, but I keep reminding myself that this August is all time, and it's time I don't have to sell my soul for. I'm determined that it will be lovely.