That's a lot of work. We have weeds, quack grass and heavy clay soil every which way you look. Sugar isn't easily made of clay.
This day, which in practical terms was my last teaching day, dawns warm. Really warm. The storms have moved east and slowly most of the cloud cover followed.
Breakfast, a very early one, is on the porch. No sweater needed. Warm.
I set out to campus on rosie, despite the fact that I have to pick up boxes of treats for my very last ever Family Law class.
One more class after that and then the teaching day is over! Sure, there's work ahead. The summer will have chunks of it throughout (I know: for this I took a pay cut?). But the regularity of it will not be there. With the end of classes, I regain control of my time. Time to concentrate on the essentials, like -- the weather! A high of 87 today. 87!
People complain that it is too hot. How quickly we forget January, February, March!
Ed and I celebrate the end of my teaching semester. No, no party, no drinks downtown, no dinner out. We go to the Flower Factory where you can find just about any perennial that'll grow this side of the Mississippi.
Ed patiently waits while I drag a cart from one greenhouse to the next, picking out old favorites for the new flower beds we're creating.
The hot winds howl and turn daffodils into leaning towers of Pisa. But I persevere.
Back at the farmhouse, I do a celebratory supper of, well, our stuff. Salad. Market oyster mushrooms and scrambled eggs. Asparagus. Smoked salmon bits. tomato. Some ancient bagel for Ed. Our kind of meal.
And as it is still so light, so warm, so delightfully summerlike, we go right back outside to work -- lay chips for the new bed, and rototill the parts chipped over last year. For this, Ed takes out his baby tiller and we work long and hard to get it started. As the sun sets, I plow on.
...until it is too dark and I think that maybe I'm plowing under good rose bushes and budding coreopsis. Not quite like sugar, but still, the beds are tilled and nearly ready for planting.
happy spring and summer and flowers!! so good to know it's finally not just warm, but hot. ox
ReplyDeleteNina, I can't stand suspense - why is this your "last ever" family law course?
ReplyDeleteLove today's pictures.
Regards, Kerry
Diane -- hot today anyway! :)
ReplyDeleteKerry -- I had started to explain this here, on Ocean and then I erased it all, figuring it's too much detail for most readers. I agreed to take on the teaching of the required Trusts and Estates curriculum. That is a huge chunk of teaching -- hundreds of students each semester. I'm letting Torts and Family Law go in exchange. There are enough others who can take over those classes and not anyone else who can step in to do the Trusts and Estates stuff. I've been teaching Family Law for so long that at once I feel a certain amount of sadness to be moving on to something else, but at the same time, I like change. (I'll also stay with Property -- a class I truly love to teach.)
Don't people realize that when they mulch a garden's soil to a "sugar" consistency, they kill off all the good stuff in the soil...all the living stuff... not to mention the lovely hard-working worms and bugs that aide the plants in growing better. My next door neighbor is like yours, too, he mulches for hour upon hour in a tiny square garden area right outside my window! Loud, horrid noise and his dirt is all stone dead by the time he plants. Stupid-o!
ReplyDeleteNo, not family law! You were the one professor who managed to teach in such a way that was both theoretical and practical, hence making it my favorite law school class! T&E was my second favorite, so I'll have to give you some leeway there. All the best to you in your new teaching endeavor, though I think the Law School is missing out on a phenomenal teacher of Family Law.
ReplyDeleteWow, no more family law ever? That sounds to me like a busy summer/fall writing All New Lectures!
ReplyDelete