August 25, 2014 Photo (237/365): "Sage Bee"
"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee should not be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it, so it goes on flying anyway." - Mary Kay Ash. Don't let others set your limits. If you believe you can, you will.
August 24, 2014 Photo (236/365): "Butterfly"
"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." - Rabindranath Tagore
How strange it is to feel this way on the last night of "summer vacation"! School starts tomorrow and I should be feeling nostalgic, apprehensive, and melancholy; yet curiously, this final Sunday summer evening feels...normal. It must be because, for the first time in 43 years, I'm neither taking nor teaching classes. I'm working in an academic environment without the usual academic calendar. Only two weeks passed this summer when I didn't work on campus: the week of the 4th of July and our week in California (when, although I didn't work on campus, I did work at Google). So, voilà, it appears as though I've finally entered the "real world." Therefore, I will look back on the summer of 2014 not as a student or a teacher, but as a butterfly. I can't count the months, but I can count the moments this summer:
Mornings in my garden, enjoying coffee with my flowers
A few lunch dates with my mom or with friends
Taking time to read for pleasure
Occasionally working on the deck rather than at my desk
"Auntie" Camp and Apple Camp with my nephews
Sailing and watching fireworks on our boat
A long weekend with Eric in Wine Country
Late evenings grilling out, sipping wine, listening to music
Watching the sunset, the stars, and the meteor showers
It may not have been a typical 2-month break from school, but maybe these summer moments were time enough.
August 23, 2014 Photo (235/365): "Beauty is a fragile gift." - Ovid
August 22, 2014 Photo (234/365): "Packers"
Family fun at Lambeau Field: Green Packers vs. Oakland Raiders (31-21 :)
La Rentrée -- back-to-school, the end of les grandes vacances, "the reentry"-- I love this French expression! August in Paris is quieter due to the mass exodus of French citizens retreating to the countryside, the mountains, or the sea, leaving tourists in their wake. The French take their vacations quite seriously. Time away is deemed necessary for one's physical and mental health, in turn making time at work even more productive. Granted most Americans don't have five weeks of federally-mandated paid vacation, but whether we get away from our normal routines for a month, a week, or even just an extended weekend, the pace of life changes in the summertime. The days are longer. We spend more time outside. We slow down to be with family and friends, to linger over a meal or a beverage, to watch the sun set, the moon rise, the stars and the fireflies flicker. Yet, one day near the end of August, we start to feel another shift. It's subtle, but if we pay close attention, we notice that the sun is lower in the sky, the mornings are chilly, and the leaves have lost their vibrant verdancy, preparing for even more vivid color. C'est la rentrée!
As much as I relish summer's languid pace, late August makes me eager for change. As Jordan Baker told Daisy Buchanan, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby). I love the cooler weather, the cozy sweaters, fires in the fireplace, hot cider, and football games. School starts on Monday, and even though I never really left this summer, I'm almost ready for The Reentry. But first, my own annual ritual, my personal holiday: Il dolce far niete (I know it's not French, but Italian is a beautiful language too). Each summer I take one day before school starts again to enjoy "the sweetness of doing nothing!" Today's the day: coffee on the deck, the September issues, blogging and online shoe shopping this morning, followed by a back-to-school mani-pedi and The Hundred Foot Journey this afternoon. Then I'll be ready for La Rentrée.
