It is 7:35, December 11 and I am sitting on the back deck watching the sun squeeze through the naked tree trunks. I am wearing a short sleeved Hawaiian style shirt, and socks. It is a bit too cold for shorts, so I have a pair of long pants on, keeping my legs warm. The wind is a bit cool, but not cool enough to go inside.

I handed in my last paper for this term yesterday. I left the school at one-thirty, and was home relaxing shortly after two.

I think I have all my books for a Southern Literature course now, 12 in total. I will try to read as many of them over the holiday, and hopefully, reduce the amount of work I will have next term. I have more texts to acquire for other courses, but they have not listed their books so far.

I will be taking a walk today, and taking some photos. I will update this page later, and add some images.

I am glad the term is finished, 1/4 of my masters!

Blog Brag: an update

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Just back from my walk to the lake (see the photos above). I started out with a sweater on, but I soon had to remove because I was too warm. I am now sitting in my office with the window open. Perhaps I enjoy being able to do this a little too much, but how often could I sit in my room up north at this time of the year?

I am going to get busy doing nothing now. I am looking forward to having the day off.

I hear the sound of a lawn mower, summer sounds in the midst of winter.

I was thinking as I was walking (I can chew gum and walk as well!) that the naked trees have reduced the sense of this being an alien place. It feels more like home now than in the past, however, just when I begin to feel complacently at home I see a sign on the side of a truck reading Raleigh NC, and I am once more unhomed.

Last day of term one

I have one short essay to write today, and the term is complete.

Yesterday was a long day, paper to hand in, exam to write, and a presentation to present. Today is going to be better, it has to be better.

The weather has been wonderful so far this week. Our high yesterday was 80, it is currently 56, and our high for today might, I hope, reach 78. I saw people walking around in shorts and tees. I ate supper on the back porch in short sleeves. I got off the bus and was heading home and met a jogger running down the street in shorts and no shirt. I was sitting in class just before writing the final exam and looked out to see some kind of bush covered in white flowers. Though we could use a long soaking rain, I am delighted by the weather. Interestingly enough, I have become fond of that phrase, and I have not suffered from my usual winter blues this year. There has been more sun, though it still gets dark way too early I have been able to get out and about more than usual. Last week I sat outside in the Court of North Carolina for half an hour soaking in the warm fall sunlight.

Tomorrow I am planning on spending the day doing a lot of nothing. I am ready for a rest.

Saturday update:
I am roughly 1/2 way through my rough draft on my big Romantics paper. It is a great thing that Charles Lamb was a prolific writer. For those of you who resist poetry, he wrote a series of essays under the pen name Elia, which have been collected as the Essays of Elia. An interesting side note, Elia is an anagram for "A lie." Charles had a wicked sense of humor, and not only did he tease his poor, older, mad sister (aren't all older sisters slightly mad?), but he wrote some quite vicious epigrams. He even trashed poor old Byron's remains when they returned. I hope to have a rough draft complete by noon, and then I can begin the revising stage. I left the essay way too late, but I could not find any way to begin writing until yesterday.

It was colder than snot yesterday morning. Our overnight low was 29 and we only crept up to 50 for a high. There was even a freezing drizzle warning out early yesterday, and I heard two women talking the day before about having seen some snow flakes falling at 6:30 when the were arriving at work. It is disgusting. Fortunately, some of the trees cling to their multicolored leaves, and the evergreens (magnolia and holly) remain green. Pansies bloom happily in small display plots, and some kind of rose tree/shrub on campus is still blooming so I am not totally depressed by winters misery.

All I have left for school this semester is the big essay mentioned up there, a short take home exam/essay, and a one hour final with presentation after. I have a book list for my contemporary southern lit course, and some of the books that I will need to read over the break. I hope to get my African Lit list soon, and work on that as well. The break may be long, but with all the work I need to do I will find it too short.

Time for me to head off and get started working. Wish me luck!