Determined to be dull

My dog and I both brought home treats from our walk this afternoon. When we were nearly home, Hopeful pounced on either a muskrat or a groundhog--I didn't really want to look too closely at the kill. She was one happy critter. The dog, not the groundhog. Or muskrat, as the case may be.

I came home with something less tangible: a little sunburn on my face. It's not much of a burn and I could have avoided it if I had kept my baseball cap on my head, but after a long, cold, gray winter, the sun felt so good that I couldn't resist charging up my solar cells.

Yesterday my students reminded me that summer is coming quickly: only four more weeks of classes (plus finals, senior week, commencement, and a teaching workshop) before we're free! This year I'm aiming for a perfectly boring summer.

I won't be attending any conferences or planning a wedding this summer, and I certainly don't intend to have any major surgery or chemotherapy (although you never know). I don't plan to travel, unless I drive a few hours north to help my daughter and son-in-law fix up the house they're trying to buy. I plan to spend my days walking, gardening, and writing, and if I can get at least six students to sign up for my summer Nature Writing class, I'll do a little teaching too.

It sounds pretty dull, but last summer pretty much exhausted my quota of life-changing events, so I think I'm due for some dullness, some time to sit back and recharge my batteries, starting with some solar energy. Here comes the sun!