Grades are in, I am planning (as one of my students asked me yesterday) on running FAR, FAR away for a few days.

So I'm doing the usual pre "Fermeture Annuelle" (as I think of my August break...though the REAL "Fermeture Annuelle," like in France, is much much longer than what I take*). I'm cleaning house today, and later on (once the dew has dried), I'm going to mow and edge the lawn (we are getting a brief break in the rain showers today so I have a chance to do it. AND it is cooler, so it should be tolerable to do).


(*Honestly, I think six consecutive weeks of idleness would drive me mad. I'd have to take a class or do some kind of home-repair project or something. I couldn't just sit for six weeks. Even knitting and quilting would pall after a while.)

Right now I can do the "big clean" (as opposed to, "this room is driving me crazy, I need to pick stuff up"/"the kitchen floor is all spotty, I need to scrub it" sort of limited-clean I ordinarily do). Part of it is that I have time, part of it is that if the house is clean, ants and other vermin are less likely to come in during my absence, and partly because it's nicer to come back to a clean house than a messy one.

If I can gear myself up for it tomorrow, I'm going to do the same to my office. Or at least get a start on it.

I'm also contemplating what projects and what books to take. I'm almost done with Twelfth Night (I should post on that tomorrow maybe), and I finished the most recent Campion I was reading ("Mystery Mile." And it does come out well in the end and no one dies who shouldn't have to die, which is always a relief in those mystery stories. Though poor Campion does get a bit banged up in the process of saving the world from the Simister gang...)

So I need something new. I had toyed with re-starting "Bleak House" (I read about half of it a year ago and put it aside when something else distracted me) but as it's an old, hardback book out of the collection of Dickens' Works that I bought a few years ago at an antique shop (for a shockingly low sum), it isn't very portable.

So I'm going to have to look at the shelves and see if there's anything new that grabs my attention.

I'm also thinking about projects. Of course I'm going to take the new sweater (Hm, should post a picture of the progress tomorrow, I've already finished the ribbing for the back) and work on that, and the two pairs of socks currently on the needles...not sure what else. I go back and forth between ideas - yarn for toys (I want to do The Deadliest Crab from Knitty and have yarn on-hand for it, and I also have some of the DangerCrafts patterns I want to do). And socks. I have several socks in mind, including a neat fern-leaf lace one called Kew from an older issue of Knitty (and I now have the just-right yarn for them: Lorna's Laces in the color "Huron," which is a mix of blues and greens that should look nice with the lace pattern)

It's really a strange feeling to be (briefly) shed of responsibilities. But I kind of like that. It's good to put the load down once in a while. And Sunday evening, I will be on a train headed north, for not quite 10 days of relaxation, not having to contemplate, "What do I cook for dinner, and how do I make what I want in small enough quantities for one person?" Not even having to drive if I don't want to.