Various, mostly grading.

Saturday was graduation at BVU. It’s my fourth year here, so a fair number of graduates had been in my classes as freshmen and sometimes once or twice in later years. Yeah, I got a little misty-eyed at one point. It could have been sentiment, it could have been the grading I have yet to do, but a couple of tears were shed.

I am actually anxious to start gardening, which is a sentence I never thought I’d type. I’m going to put in an asparagus bed, plant lilacs along one section of backyard fence, put in a couple of tomatoes and peppers, finish the front rock garden with catmint and Japanese iris in one section and spider wort and impatiens in the other sections, with a section already set aside for some type of outdoor seating. I’m going super cheap this year — the river rock I need I’m taking from a big back bed (where the asparagus and other veggies will go and the tomatoes, peppers, and Japanese iris are the only plants I’ll have to pay for (yay for fellow gardeners who share their established plants). The seating will either come from a yard sale if I find a score or just wait until next year — I want something comfortable enough to sit on for some time and read or knit. I may also put in some rhubarb. I was contemplating putting in a cold-tolerant, blooming cactus garden, but just looking at the list above, I’m thinking I’ll save that for next year.

I’m also going to set a few mornings a week aside to write fiction, all summer long. My plan is to complete a really slip-shod rough draft of a novel, which I can then polish over the school year.  I’m coming around to the idea that the only way to get it done is to get it down quick and then tinker with it, and fortunately I love revising.*

I’m planning two trips this summer — about a week in Peabody visiting sister Linda and family (if she forgives me for the snarky birthday card I’m about to send) and a week at Scattergood School for the Iowa Yearly Meeting (that’s Quaker talk).

What else? Oh, this evening when I was walking Ricky, we passed a boy about 6 years old who asked if he could pet the dog. He asked me about Ricky’s blue eye and I explained that he’s half husky and half beagle. The boy said, “A blue eye and a brown eye, that’s crazy!” I said well, Ricky’s a crazy dog. Then the boy said, “My dog is half poodle and half…..reindeer!” I agreed that was a crazy dog, indeed.

Finally, check out A Walk on the Mild Side, a new blog by my online f/Friend Nate. Leave him an encouraging comment, maybe a compliment about his wise choice of title emulation.

*Because I’m 1/2 German and all Virgo and probably not medicated quite enough and fiddly tasks fascinate me.**
**Until the point that I lose my temper and invoke Gene T. Schaechterle, demigod of creative swearing.