I'd Rather Be....

I've been waiting weeks to find a substitute teaching assignment. This morning, the search ended with a "job available" notification on the subfinder website. Details: "Boys Gym 7:30 a.m. -3:30 p.m."

Not only was it already 6:30 a.m. when the job was posted (and I still had 2 boys to put on the bus, one to run to school, and a shower to take), but this week is Homecoming Celebration in our schools. Costumes, silliness, pep rallies, decorated hallways.

I shuddered and quickly closed my web browser.

You see, it's another beautiful, sunny September day and I'd rather be...

...putting winter clothes into drawers and storing away summer clothes.
...walking outside with the sheep dog.
...catching up on sheep registration records.
...filing.

The list goes on.

I'm grateful for every second of these precious days of beautiful weather and time to work around the house.

Fridays with Canisius

This is the end of Week 4 of a 16-week semester. I'm teaching now at a private, residential college where the students are polite, bright, and well-educated. The campus is clean and I have access to BIG, powerful computing equipment. There's even free coffee (and sometimes donuts) in the faculty lounge.

I love this job.

On Fridays I treat myself to lunch in one of the campus dining halls. The menu item I chose today was a grilled chicken sandwich with pesto, roasted red pepper, sauteed mushrooms and spinach, and fresh tomato. Even the seeds on the sesame roll were delicious! The side was a "minestrone" pasta salad with sweet pepper, red onions, and kidney beans. Also delicious.

My oldest son and I commute together on Fridays. He studies computational physics at another university in the same city. I drop him off first and then use the smart phone navigation to go across the city via multi-lane highways. The other drivers strike me as distracted. The speed and swerve in an urgent rush to make it to an appointment or to work.

I enjoy listening to music and chatting with my now "adult" son to and from his campus. We talk about people, the news, and literature. We don't really talk about Physics.

Generally we make a stop on the way home for a treat like strudel from a local farm market or cheesies from the deli. Last week we stopped to shear a sheep for a local farmer who needed a hand.

I know that we are living through a short season. The 16-week semester is 25% complete.

I will not continue to teach in the city in the "Spring" when the weather makes an already treacherous drive even more dangerous.

I do not enjoy city driving.