Sabbatical

 A study of the flowering (do we call an eruption, an emergence of pistils and stamens a flower?) bush in our front garden: 

Yesterday, after a quiet morning, I spent the afternoon doing some experimental teaching. Sabbatical is a good space to try something new. It was not easy and I have a lot to learn, but I love being with people--something being with book didn't leave a ton of space for this year. Afterward I was exhausted: We made rice and beans and went to bed early. 

Ladybird

The other day I finished my first Iris Murdoch novel, The Bell. The novel was plodding and slow-paced at the beginning, twisting and turning and picking up speed amazingly at the end. Picking up speed is the wrong way of putting it. At the end it just became more engaging and compelling and alive, but was told at the same even pace. Even the climax (heh) was told in this detailed, passive fashion. As Lauren Groff says in the introduction, the novel is remarkable in letting you into the perspective of so many of the characters, even the bell, which has a name. The novel treats religion, sex, and community, fascinating themes.  

Now I'm listening to some Flannery O'Connor short stories. It makes so much sense that an English professor familiar with Flannery O'Connor was one of the origins of disability studies as a field. Flannery is so attentive to differences and what we do with those differences. 

What to do in our last week? My goal is to do lots of work, enjoy lots of sites I haven't get to see so far, and do lots of packing. Why do these goals seem incompatible with each other? 

And now I really can't wait to get home to welcome the newest, freshest little one to our family.