I have received some excellent news from the Ethan Frome and Macbeth teacher. In true central-Mainer style, one student, misled by local usage of the term sled, wrote a paper intimating that Ethan and Mattie had tried to commit suicide on a snowmobile. (Now this leads to the question: would Lady Mac be more likely to ride a sled or a snowmobile? I think one could make an argument for either version, though I really cannot picture her in snowmobile suit and goggles in the style of an Alaskan governor. I think she requires flying black robes and trailing blood-red capes and streaming hair and a ridiculous amount of eyeliner and such.)

At the moment I am working on a poem about the myth of Phaeton. It's making me happy thus far but is going to be arduous.

Dinner tonight: shepherd's pie, which oddly enough my children love and is actually interesting and delicious when made with fall garden vegetables and good beef.