20150519.0731

I am back at Sherwood Cottage from my adventures at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. It was, as ever, a good experience, although it is also, as ever, good to be home.* Waking up in my own bed is something I appreciate greatly. Waking up with my family about me is also something I appreciate greatly. Being away from doing both, even for so good a reason as being at the 'zoo, is not the best thing. This is not to say that I do not appreciate having gone and having done as much as I did at the conference (and I was busy, indeed), and it is good to get away from the quotidian from time to time, but it is also good to get back to daily life--at least for me.**

I will likely spend a portion of today compiling my last sets of notes from the conference. Sunday was a day of rest, more or less, and yesterday was a driving day, so neither saw me attend to that particular task. Once I get that done, I can write up my reports for this webspace and the Tales after Tolkien Society blog. I had thought that I would be updating the latter at Kalamazoo, but that did not happen. I will be updating it from Kalamazoo, however, and those updates will necessarily be different than those this webspace gets. Please continue to look at both, and feel free to post comments or send along materials for posting to the latter.

Today will probably also become a reading day. I have a stack of things over which to pore, things neglected in favor of teaching and freelancing and conference prep, and I may be able to catch up a bit on some of them. It will take some doing, but without the work of class prep and grading, I should have a bit more time for things. It remains to be seen if it will work out...

*Comments about earlier conferences can be found at the links below:
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2010/05/201005181140.html
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2011/05/201105171536.html
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2013/05/201305141836.html
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2014/05/201405080857.html
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2014/05/201405090830.html
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2014/05/201405101100.html
http://folgha.blogspot.com/2014/05/201405111126.html

**I am aware that such a statement bespeaks a certain degree of privilege. Not everybody has a good home situation. Not everyone has a home situation.