Monday again, and I'm hitting the road--heading first for an overnight with friends in the homeland and then, tomorrow, to my first day of school. Gretchen is driving up with me: as she did last year, she'll be spending the first hours of class leading an intro physical theater session with the kids, an icebreaker and comfort builder before we settle into our cohorts for the afternoon session. It worked beautifully last year and I'm sure it will again.

So this morning I'll be pulling my travel stuff together, doing a few house things, going for a walk before I'm stuck in the car for hours.

It was a good weekend: a fun and busy class on Saturday and then I spent Sunday on home tasks--tore out the green beans and cucumber plants and stowed the trellises, pulled the beets and sorted roots from greens, cut down a few exhausted sunflowers, weeded and then spread compost in the freshly empty beds. I did the grocery shopping, and the Red Sox managed to win both games in a doubleheader, and T reinstalled the bookcase he was repairing: jobs were done, and we all feel self-satisfied about it.

As soon as I get back I've got to turn my attention to next weekend, when my Vermont family will be coming to visit (what will I cook? where will I drive them? is this house clean enough? are already battering at my thoughts). But until then I'm working to concentrate on the gifts of the north country--friends and forest and sharp air and bright stars.