Wishing for quiet time

I thought the last few weeks, with IB exams finished, wrapping up loose ends of the year, I thought the last weeks would be calm and quiet. I thought I would have time for myself, for writing and thinking, exercise and sitting doing nothing. There certainly were a few calm days, but things have reared back up, as the outlines of the upcoming school year begin to crystalize–I am planning new student orientation; I am helping onboard a couple of new staff members; I’ll be teaching a new class. Now I feel like I need an extra week tacked onto this school year to prepare.

A week from now, the students will be gone (home, or those who cannot travel, off to host families). We’ll be getting Covid tests on Friday, which will meet the requirements to fly to the US Monday morning unless the ever-mercurial regulations change. We’ll have six weeks to spend with family and friends, get vaccinated. I’m not looking forward to the logistics of travel, but I am looking forward to being there.

Today the clouds have returned, but we’re coming off perhaps two weeks of the most brilliant summer weather: blue skies and sun, shorts and T-shirt weather. I have been doing a lot of my writing on the patio. Last summer, we were stuck here. We felt trapped. This summer, although I am thrilled to be able to see family, I am sad we won’t be here to see this place’s most beautiful season. So it goes. We can’t be there for everything.

In the spirit of the quiet time I’m missing, I’ll just leave with a few pictures. Enjoy the coming week. I’ll post again just before we fly out.

Making stock. We roasted a chicken recently, and coupled with lots of scraps and pumpkin seeds we’ve been saving in the freezer, we were able to boil up a lot of good stock to freeze and use next fall.
Those new pine needles are growing well, many still with their little caps.
Evening walk
Miso soup last night with the flower of some volunteer chives we have growing in the garden. I ate the flower, and it was such a strong onion taste, it hung around for almost an hour! My husband refused to eat his.
Cow parsley is coming into bloom. It’s the next in the yearly succession of spring flowers.
Morning mist walking down to campus
We made this bean-barley-lentil salad and covered it over with basil, tomatoes, cheeses, and olive oil. This was based on a salad we had in Italy a couple of years ago and loved, and in the warm sun and with a bit of accordion music playing, we felt transported.
The last sunlight of the evening.

Best wishes for the coming week. Be well, and keep writing.
Jimmy

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