Free Time

The crunch time of my summer starts at about nine o'clock tomorrow morning when I welcome 85 students into our crumbly building for the next three weeks. I've been trying to think of jokes to tell at the opening assembly but they all seem too lame to post online. Last week presented its share of problems (for example, getting a phone call that one of the 85 students has a severe nut allergy right as I returned from the Food Bank with about eight flats of peanut butter to get us through the three weeks.) It should be a pretty busy few weeks, and hopefully after the first couple of days my nerves will settle down. (Hopefully, also, the actual pinched nerve in my neck will settle down, but that is another story.)

Here is what I plan to do in my off time:

1. Drink iced coffee. Once when I was little, I saw my Aunt Donna make herself iced coffee and the image has really stuck in my mind. I remember that she brewed a small amount of strong black coffee and poured cream into it which swirled into paisley shapes before dissolving. Then she splashed the whole thing over a fat glass of ice cubes. I have been experimenting some with the technique. Iced coffee is definitely my elixir of the summer.

2. Work on my little water color children's book about chairs. I don't know how to paint but it is really fun to pretend I do. I mix colors in my plastic palette and use really expensive paper.

3. Watch Monk. The latest season of our favorite detective show comes out this month, and since we don't have TV but we do have Netflix, we are really looking forward to it.

4. Read more short stories. I just finished Pam Houston's book of short stories, Cowboys are my Weakness which was really, really good. I think I'm in the right frame of mind to read lots and lots of short stories.

5. Travel to weddings. This weekend Sumanth's brother is getting married in Michigan and we are both in the wedding. (I'm a little bit worried about the dress that I'm wearing in the wedding. I read some of the reviews of it online and they really varied--one person said, 'This dress makes me feel like Audrey Hepburn. I just sit in front of the mirror and stare when I'm in it,' and one person said, 'This dress looked great online but the minute it hit my body it looked like cheap garbage. I couldn't stand to keep it on.' . . . I'm not asking to feel like a Hepburn, but I hope it's OK.) In two weeks a good friend from high school is getting married and so we are going to Ocala for that.

6. Swim in the ocean. Or at least go and walk around when it isn't so terribly hot.