Slowing it Down

My non-teacher friends, the ones who work 5 days a week, 50 weeks of the year, are always interested to know what I'm up to during the summer. I spoke with one of those friends last night and one of her first questions was about my plans for the week.

Of course the summer brings great opportunities for travel and I'm certainly going to do a bit of that. I like travel, but I also like time spent at home. It's during the summer that I get to catch up on the things that have been left undone or half-done over the course of the school year. Like the pile of mail and papers on my dining room table-- I tackled that mess yesterday. Within two hours I had filled a bag of trash and filed papers in their proper places.

I'll take the rest of the summer to work my way through the house, one area at a time, to get rid of the clutter.

Yes, I will head out of town for two or three weeks this summer, but what I like best about these 9 weeks is doing what I want on my own terms and at my own pace.

Tuesday...ugh...

Tuesday has always been my least favorite day of the week. I'm sure I've written that before. The problem with this second day of the week (or third, depending on one's preference for framing the week) is that it's the day the memories of one weekend fade. The next weekend seems way too far away. The only Tuesdays that don't bother me are the ones that come during summer break.

So, in honor of this very last Tuesday of the school year I say...hip, hip, hooray!

Come to think of it, there is another Tuesday that never bothered me...she sat next to me on the bus in first grade.

My Protector

My cat, Scout, takes his job as my protector quite seriously. He spends a good deal of time acting as sentry from the second floor bedroom window. I always know something is amiss out back when I hear the thud of his 17lb self hit the floor upstairs. Next comes the scurry of all four paws down the stairs and to the backdoor.

He has a real problem with other cats prowling in his backyard space. Any cat that comes near is met with the low, guttural growls of my personal security force. The other cats I've had over the years never cared much about me, so it's a nice change to have a cat that shows such concern for my safety. Unfortunately, the past few nights there has been one wandering orange tabby trying to infiltrate Scout's feline perimeter. Orange Tabby shows up at about the same time each night--4:30AM.

Me-ow, that's way too early to be awoken by the sounds of a through-the-backdoor catfight.

Me Cuisine

It's funny how new things wind their way into one's life. For me one of those new things has been cooking. I've lived on my own for over twenty-five years and for most of that time my daily nourishment has come from an assortment of frozen food, cereal dinners and meals without vegetables or creativity. And then I joined a writing group.

The group has done more than raise my self-awareness as a writer; it's also forced me to come up with meals that others would actually enjoy eating. I've learned if you want to be a writer you need to write, and if you want to eat well you can cook it yourself without too much hassle.

Apparently, my friends have noticed. My birthday presents this year included a nice griddle pan, a grilling glove, two nice loaf pans and a cool chopping board with fold up sides that allow for the easy transfer of chopped things right into the pan at hand.

Today I opened up my salad container for lunch and a colleague noted how impressed she's been with the salads I've been eating each day. I watched her open a pizza from Lean Cuisine and smiled as I thought about how long it's been since I've bought a frozen meal. And then I poured my homemade salad dressing over my steak with goat cheese salad and enjoyed my lunch.