My trip up north went far more smoothly than the last one did: no bad weather (though my car thermometer did read eleven below in Harmony) and a full class of peppy and focused kids. Still, I'm glad to be home again, glad to have a day to pull myself together--laundry-wise, grocery-wise, desk-wise. With two more storms looming this week I need to cram the errands into today, and try to get my walk in as well, while the sidewalks are still semi-passable. I'll be teaching all weekend, so the home stuff feels especially pressing. But at least I won't have to drive to work while we're getting twenty inches of snow.

Teresa and I are starting to focus seriously on our summer teaching conference plans, and I've now acquired a stack of books that I'll start combing through for primary-source excerpts. It feels like I'm always immersed in teaching these days, either planning or executing: both take so much time. And on Friday I've got a meeting linked to that judging gig I've been doing . . . A certain breathlessness of mood overcomes me. 

A small poem draft has been sitting open on my laptop, and now and again I dip into it, to steady myself.