Miscellany
I have never so looked forward to the end of summer. We usually get about an inch of rain per week. We've had less than an inch, total, since June 15. We're supposed to have seven or eight days above 90. We've had five or six days below 90 since June 15.
It's the heat that's doing in my garden. Watering produces an overwhelming amount of grass and weeds, while the vegetables drop off before ripening, or never really develop at all. And my yard? The grass as moved from the light brown of straw to the dark brown and black of scorched earth. Most trees are dropping their leaves. Many bushes look dead.
Dev and I decided to postpone our England-Scotland trip until the spring, when his godmother can go with us. Because we did so much traveling in the first half of the year, we're not anxious to fill that October slot with much of anything. We may take a weekend in Chicago or--at most--a trip to someplace like Niagara Falls. (That would be in addition to my likely solo trip to Charleston to see That Man. :)
I can see half the top of my dining table. This is progress. I've managed to limp along this year with almost no business organization--the lack resulting from the fact I haven't a designated office and/or desk space. Next week is to remedy that. I still don't have an office space, but do have a Cunning Plan to bypass the lack. Really, the only reasons I need that sort of work space is to a) process bills, paperwork, and contracts once a week, and b) store all relevant paperwork. I don't need an office, or even a desk, for that. But I do need to employ organizational skills and discipline. Damn it.
I've been having the usual drop-your-shoulders drills and talks with my first-year adult karate students. All the adults understand they shouldn't tense their shoulders, but it takes awhile for shoulder-relaxation to become more natural than tension. When they run kata, I go around and tap tense shoulders (touch bypasses language processing, so it speeds learning), and in self-defense, I demonstrate how their tension makes them weaker rather than stronger. Last night was a combination of frustration and amusement on the issue. And I know that once they get the shoulder tension under control, we'll have the same learning process with hips and lower back. Kids don't usually have those issues. (They instead tend to throw their energy forward and/or down.)
Best news: For the first time ever, Dev has expressed excitement about college. We spent yesterday morning talking through his plan for finishing high school a year early, then looking at the website for Vincennes University--the campus he was on for law enforcement camp. He had me request an information packet, and even sent texts to his friends about choosing his goal. I can't explain just how huge a step this is. Now the key is to quietly and not-to-enthusiastically support him in that direction. Too much excitement on my part is the fastest, surest way to make him run the other direction.
It's the heat that's doing in my garden. Watering produces an overwhelming amount of grass and weeds, while the vegetables drop off before ripening, or never really develop at all. And my yard? The grass as moved from the light brown of straw to the dark brown and black of scorched earth. Most trees are dropping their leaves. Many bushes look dead.
Dev and I decided to postpone our England-Scotland trip until the spring, when his godmother can go with us. Because we did so much traveling in the first half of the year, we're not anxious to fill that October slot with much of anything. We may take a weekend in Chicago or--at most--a trip to someplace like Niagara Falls. (That would be in addition to my likely solo trip to Charleston to see That Man. :)
I can see half the top of my dining table. This is progress. I've managed to limp along this year with almost no business organization--the lack resulting from the fact I haven't a designated office and/or desk space. Next week is to remedy that. I still don't have an office space, but do have a Cunning Plan to bypass the lack. Really, the only reasons I need that sort of work space is to a) process bills, paperwork, and contracts once a week, and b) store all relevant paperwork. I don't need an office, or even a desk, for that. But I do need to employ organizational skills and discipline. Damn it.
I've been having the usual drop-your-shoulders drills and talks with my first-year adult karate students. All the adults understand they shouldn't tense their shoulders, but it takes awhile for shoulder-relaxation to become more natural than tension. When they run kata, I go around and tap tense shoulders (touch bypasses language processing, so it speeds learning), and in self-defense, I demonstrate how their tension makes them weaker rather than stronger. Last night was a combination of frustration and amusement on the issue. And I know that once they get the shoulder tension under control, we'll have the same learning process with hips and lower back. Kids don't usually have those issues. (They instead tend to throw their energy forward and/or down.)
Best news: For the first time ever, Dev has expressed excitement about college. We spent yesterday morning talking through his plan for finishing high school a year early, then looking at the website for Vincennes University--the campus he was on for law enforcement camp. He had me request an information packet, and even sent texts to his friends about choosing his goal. I can't explain just how huge a step this is. Now the key is to quietly and not-to-enthusiastically support him in that direction. Too much excitement on my part is the fastest, surest way to make him run the other direction.