Did you think my upcoming schedule was insane? So did several members of my family. As a result, I am not going to Vermont next weekend. That trip is rescheduled for January, and I'll spend next weekend doing what makes far more sense: prepping for four houseguests and a week of meals.

I am both disappointed in myself and deeply relieved. It was a ridiculous plan that was once marginally less ridiculous. Before I knew that the Chicago kids would be arriving on Monday, before I was forced to schedule a Covid shot on Thursday, I had some wiggle room on either end. But the schedule evolved into absurdity.

Now, with a different sort of week looming, I'm feeling much calmer. I'll still be heading north tomorrow, but now I have time to recover, if needed, from my shot and still clean house, acquire sheets, shop for groceries, and maybe even fancy things up a little. During the summer and early fall I dried bundles of flowers, herbs, and grasses, and I've been slowly arranging them in vases around the house. I want to add some autumn color--red dogwood stems and such--and I've been laying out new patterns of shells and stones on windowsills and mantle. As you can see, my vision of "fancying things up" is humble.  But it still requires care.

Today will be a desk-work day: editing, mostly. With my sudden gift of extra time yesterday, I was able to deal with student drafts and a college recommendation, which lightened today's load considerably. And Tom and I even had a chance to go for a brisk stroll along the Eastern Prom and up through our old Munjoy Hill neighborhood--so much better to hang out with my beloved than to be rushing off to Target to buy sheets. I slowly made minestrone for dinner; I finished my book about Cabeza de Vaca and started reading Philip Roth's Everyman. Every little sweetness counts.