A glorious day!

What--what momentous event has shaken me out of my blogging lethargy? Has my book been published? No. Did we get another dog? No. Did we win a lifetime supply of bacon? No.

I don't think I mentioned a tragic event that marred our tranquil lives here in the Boro. The passing, back in the spring, of MAH's beloved Casio digital watch. If you know him well, you know the joy he took in his treasured 20-year old "classic" Casio. He never needed to get its battery changed. Yes, it had begun to show its age. To change the time he needed to whack the button on something hard (and mutter a prayer). But he loved it. It fitted him in every sense. And, then, one day, it finally . . . died.

Now, readers, as you will see from the photo below, the Casio was not exactly . . . well, let's just say it's not the watch I would have picked out for him. So when it died, I too mourned, but it was a chance for an, um, upgrade. We looked at new watches. But none of them were satisfactory. We put it off. Maybe we will find one for Christmas, we said. On the plus side, he did actually begin to carry his cell phone around just so to have something to tell him the time (which also made it easier to get in touch with him).

And, then, this morning we stopped by the Kohl's for me to pick up something boring. "You could go and look at the watches," I suggested, jokingly. He had looked at the watches at Kohl's before. But, then the clouds opened and a miracle occurred. When we rendezvoused at the register, he held in hand, beaming . . . a brand new Casio. Almost exactly like the old one.

Yes, there it is. And see the price? Only $25.00. Still a bargain (although MAH pointed out that he paid about $11 for the original. The price has doubled in 20 years. He purchased it at Jamesway. Remember Jamesway?) But wait, when we checked out we discovered the watch was on sale--$18.25, people.  Here they are, side by side:

 
 

Who could have imagined this much happiness for only $18.25?

Bulleted list of latest

• Did I write about our trip to Charlottesville? Don't think so. Will have to correct that.
  
• We saw the "Star Trek" movie--I think I did write about that. Liked it.
  
• Last night caught "Big Trouble in Little China" on TV (finally) (Tivo-ed it nearly live so we could ff through commercials). Had heard this was kind of a "so bad it's good" movie. I think I can agree with that.
  
• Have ordered ten pounds of blueberries from local Kiwanis (sp?) club. Proceeds to charity. Will arrive in a few weeks. Freezer is still jammed with berries. Don't know how we will fit in new ones. Have been accused of being a "berry hoarder." There is some rhubarb in there too now.
  
• Finally finished my involvement with my mother's obsessive writing project. Peace reigns on that front.
  
• Our own raspberries are doing great except that animals tear whole branches off in an effort to get at one ripe berry. Grrr. Must get you photos of crazed squash plants which are taking over our vegetable beds.
  
• I had put Netflix on hold until July 15 in the hopes that my work would be mostly done by then. We'll see.
• MAH is bearing up well under the disappointment that we are not going to Pizza Hut for the buffet lunch, as had been mentioned as a possibility for today. I pointed out that we have a lot of food in the house that needs eating (vegetables, anyone?). I think tonight's dinner will be the last of the frozen wild salmon fillets that we bought last summer through the CSA. These last ones are the most scrawny and ill-shaped of what were, in general, a scrawny and ill-shaped bunch. But it was very convenient to have them available in the freezer.
  

So I never posted here about

actually finishing the book, huh? Funny, I thought I had. Yes, that last week was one I don't think either one of us would want to repeat, and I did pull an all-nighter on 5/31-6/1, but the book was turned in on time, and I think (or thought at the time), that it's pretty good. But most importantly, it was turned in. I wish that I had really been able to comfortably take some time off after that, but no. Which is not to say that I didn't take time off, because I did. It's just that it's not comfortable because I have two more chapters due to other people, and a workshop to teach next week.

And I'm very anxious about the outside reviewer's comments, which I should be getting in a matter of a week or two. I will have a couple of weeks to respond to those, then after that comes the blue line. So it's not like the whole thing is over. They better get someone to review it who knows what he or she is talking about, because I'm prepared to get ornery if I get ill-informed comments.

So, yes, I did relax a little. Took out the summer clothes. Cleaned up the house. Finished that scarf I started knitting when we were down in Florida. We went to see "Star Trek," which was great. We visited Mr. P last weekend and saw David Byrne (again) at Wolftrap, which was awesome (and I looooooved that cocktail he's invented. Must get him to cough up secret formula). Ordered some books and DVDs online. The CSA has started up again, so we've got the Tuesday schlep out to the farm on the schedule.

My mother has been very aggressive in her demands that I work for her on her project, which has been a bit unpleasant. I don't mind helping. I do mind being bullied and guilt-tripped.

So it's been a bit of a let-down because I wished that I could really relax and celebrate my accomplishment, but I can't because there's so much else I should be doing. My fault for saying "yes" to things, as MAH points out. So, yes, it was climactic and anti-climactic at the same time. But David Bryne was great.

MAH says I'm in the home stretch

So it must be true. One chapter left to write, half an introduction, and a preface. The good news is that I think for the most part it's pretty good. It won't be a revelation to most of you, because you have a clue, but it should be useful to lots of people in smaller places, or people who are just nervous about knowing where to start. And I do think even people who are pretty knowledgeable would find something new in it for them. The goal is to finish up the actual writing over the weekend (ahem, well, plus Monday), and then all this week is editing, formatting, etc. Then it gets sent to the publisher over next weekend.

Still have not yet done the emergency trip to Friendly's. Maybe this week. Also contemplating making plans to celebrate on Sunday, assuming I can get it all shipped off in the afternoon. Will keep you posted.

What MAH will be doing this fall

Keep forgetting to tell you that we ordered--at MAH's suggestion--150 tulips bulbs. A nice thought, yes? But not if you have to plant them all. Which is what he will have to do this fall. Just think of the series of posts that will inspire!

Work on ms. delayed yesterday due to mothership drama(s). Today I vow no distractions!

I don't think that's what a pea shoot is supposed to look like

Yes, I know, there should be a picture. But there isn't. Yesterday was the first CSA pickup, so our fridge is once again full of bags of green things. The usual spinach, lettuce and kale, joined this time by pea shoots. Well, really big mature looking stalks. I went to my big green book to look up what to do with them, and the description of tender young stalks did not sound like these grown up things. Also they were described as having a taste like peas/spinach. Ok. MAH does not care for peas, so he was not excited. Um, I don't think we'll be doing much with those. Clearly (in my completely uniformed opinion), they waited too long to harvest them and they are really too old. (Just as I think happened with the garlic scapes last year.)

The rhubarb was not very red at all, so also disappointing. But I stewed it up with some strawberries and it will be good over ice cream. The rest looks delish. Huge bunch of dill. We have tiny tomatoes on our own plants already and the berry bushes are going crazy with flowers and little buds, so we'll see.

Book is progressing slowly, but I think the quality is pretty good overall. The public discourse in our profession seems to dominated by circus animals these days, but that is not my problem, nor are the doings back at the mothership (thank God).

Oh, and a while back I finished a disappointing book about Krakatoa. It had gushing blurbs. Do not believe them. It's an interesting story, but this should have been a long New Yorker article, not a book.

So, that's a quick update, but it's better than nothing. Back to work.

Crazy week last week

Yes, I'm trying to devote every waking minute to getting the book done (tick, tick, tick), but for some reason last week we had more social engagements than in the previous few months put together. To recap:

Tuesday: Dinner get-together with grown-ups and remaining students from our trip to Italy two years ago. (See many previous posts.) This was a few days before graduation for the last of the kids who were on the trip. We didn't really get to know the kids very well, but it was still nice to see them and, of course, the other adults, who we spent more time talking to. Everything was lovely, and talking to them and watching them talk to each other reminded me that I'm very glad I'm not that age anymore. The evening ended with a slide show on the computer of pictures taken by the groups "official" photographer, accompanied by audio from their concerts. Sigh. Want to go back to Italy. Was reminded of how relaxed we were there. (Extreme contrast to current stress.)

Wednesday: Lunch at the country club! Yes, as you may remember from last year, for the ladies' group I'm a member of, they always do the last meeting of the year as a luncheon at the country club. Last year I was a brand new member and didn't know anyone. This year, having given my first paper and gone to some meetings, I knew some people. We had assigned seating and I was not at the table with my two sponsors, so I talked to new people. One of whom I really liked. I need to get out more and do lunch with people like her. At one point they were talking about whether or not they had cleaning people. Yes, at the country club, talking about "the help." But the food was very good and I liked my luncheon companions.

Wednesday: After dinner there was a meeting of the group of people working on organizing the archives of the local Catholic Church. MAH got invited to this a while back, and I think I wrote about going along as well. We are the only people with any real expertise, so we really are making a contribution. MAH said, quite rightly, that I really didn't need to go along this time, but I really did kind of enjoy it and I think I help out and that it's better to have two of us. So I went, and yes, it was very productive and I feel like I'm doing some good. They are an enthusiastic group and it will be very rewarding to see them make progress.

Thursday: Champagne brunch sponsored by the faculty club. You may remember, if you're a long-time reader, that two years ago this was held on the day we got married (down at the court house, for the first time), so it's kind of an anniversary thing for us. It was held indoors this year because the weather was iffy. Food seems to always be the same menu, but we have no complaints. And all the champagne you can get your paws on, so no complaints there either. Needless to say, I cannot resist an open bottle of champers so not much work was done last week.

So I tried to be as productive as I possibly could in between and over the weekend. MAH did all kinds of things outdoors--moved plants around, dug things up, moved logs, cleaned gutters, and God knows what else. Oh, and he managed to sneak out and get me roses for our anniversary, which was on Sunday. We decided to actually go out to celebrate it this week--the plan is to go tonight. This week we have nothing on the schedule--oh, wait, that's not true. Tomorrow I have to go out to the farm for our first CSA pick up. The tyranny of the vegetables is about to begin! They say we will be getting some rhubarb, but I have no faith it will be any good. But you'll hear all about that soon, I'm sure.

Wish me luck--the goal is to get all the chapters written by the end of this week. That's five chapters and an introduction in . . . six days? Can she do it? We'll see. Ciao!