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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Re-entry Burning Up

91º on the way up to 108º (before any heat index), Monday says 111º, hard not to be alarmist, hottest summer on record, biggest drought since the 50s, crops turning to dust in the fields while I make my feeble effort to keep the new hydrangea alive


So, it's been a while Dear Reader.  June was an amazing month for poetry at the desk of the Kangaroo, July not so much.  C. and I took two trips with a week off in between. 

We headed up home to visit family in Iowa, celebrating Xmas in July with the little nieces and nephews.  Lots of kiddie pool and sprinkler fun time and a half peck of peaches we brought up from southern Missouri that made everybody smile.  Then, it was off to the city, New York City to be exact.  A week of playing tourist and seeing some amazing art and national treasures.  Sadly, I returned from NYC with a terrible cold that resulted in, you guessed it, a fever! 

(Perhaps the sickly speaker was tired of being ignored?)

For the past week this is how I've felt.
Science Photo Library

I'm finally feeling back to rights healthwise and mindwise and it's time to start up with school again.  I've got meetings today (yes on a Sunday), Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Then all day the following Monday.  All un-paid service (official start date is Aug 16) to my department, my division, and my institution, because I believe in the vision of higher education for all and if I would choose to stay home I wouldn't be hurting myself so much as failing to ensure that our students' needs are met. So the next time you hear someone say that teachers of any level are underpaid, please give them my number.  I'll explain it to them like they are six years old.  :)

In the meantime, I did hear from the sickly speaker the other night and think I have the nubbins of the final poem for her series.  I still have one more "general orders" poem that I want to write as well.  Hopefully, I can get back into a groove now, although that groove will be the modified one of the academic year rather than the luxury of June.

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

Glad to hear of your summer doings. So sorry to hear that the exterior heat is matched by interior heat...except for the poetry fever!!

Sandy Longhorn said...

Thanks, Kathleen! I'm not back up to speed on blog reading but will be soon!