20151009.0625

I had a busy day yesterday. Among others, I did address the call for submissions for "age appropriate" materials. Not all of the poems were about food, although the first one was, and I think I did decently at keeping out of the verse things that were asked to be kept out of it. (That said, I am sure a dedicated reader could find a way to make sex out of the words I put on the page. The numbers of ls and ts, particularly if in close association with os and us, could factor into such a reading, and I am sure that some of what I wrote could be read as euphemism for any number of acts. Had I written about tossed salad, for example, I am sure someone could say something against me. I did not, but I could have.) And I also cranked out a complete draft of the book chapter on which I have been working for some time. Whether or not it will read well to the editors, I have yet to find--although I think it will (obviously)--but it is ready to move along to the editors, which is all to the good.

My parents are up from the Texas Hill Country, come to Sherwood Cottage as it stands on the wind-swept plains. Ms. 8 was overjoyed to see them, giggling and spending no small amount of time cuddling up to them and snuggling on their laps. For their parts, they were similarly happy, coming as close to giggling and to the squee as I have seen from them in more than thirty years. They will be here over the weekend, and I am glad of it, as there is work enough for all to do and more, and it continues--I have stacks of papers to which I must attend, as well as a freelance piece, and there is some building work that has to get done over the longer weekend.

That it is a longer weekend is because it is fall break here, something about which I have commented before. Unlike last year, it does not coincide with homecoming weekend, which I lament; yoking the two together minimized disruption to classes, which is something I appreciate. As in my earlier comments, I am confused by the timing of the break (on a Friday rather than on the federal holiday observed, however fallaciously, on the following Monday) and the need for it, but I have every intention of exploiting the time. Obviously so, as noted above; there is much to do in it--and my mother-in-law is also coming up today, which promises to make things interesting for the weekend. I do not know whether to delight in having so many hands to tend to things so that I can tend to specific things or to be worried about having so many heads to butt against one another.

I mislaid my hard-hat a long time ago, after all. Perhaps I should buy another one...