Summer grumblings

Monday was the longest day of the year so naturally on Tuesday morning my adorable husband felt the need to inform me that the days are starting to get shorter already. GAAAAH! Don't remind me! We're almost done with June and what have I accomplished? I mean, aside from attending to my mother's final days and welcoming my new grandson into the world? It would be easier to account for what I have not accomplished so far this summer.

I submitted a short humor piece to a publication but haven't done more than a few hours of writing on my big scholarly project. I've read a few academic books but haven't found any really interesting or original ideas; instead, I've been getting increasingly annoyed with the poor copyediting running rampant through books published by highly reputable presses. Obsessing over other scholars' writing flaws isn't going to get my project any closer to completion.

I've been canoeing exactly once, but we'll go out again tomorrow if weather permits. How did I end up with so many meetings on my schedule in the middle of summer? And why do they have to be spread out over so many days? I need a few uninterrupted writing days, but where are they?

I have walked a lot but have not met even the fairly low bar of 12 miles per week except for maybe twice. I worked on updating some syllabi early in the summer but I haven't done a lick of work on the brand-new course I'm teaching this fall except to try, in vain, to find a time to meet with my team-teaching partner. He's available only when I'm out of town, and vice versa.

Is my house a mess? Yes. Have I kept up with the birdfeeders, the mowing, and the little sewing project? Not a bit of it. When was the last time I walked up to the butterfly meadow to look for indigo buntings and yellowthroats? Don't remember. What have I been doing to fill my time? Don't know.

At this point what I need to do is spend the month of July doing nothing but work work work. Except for that canoe trip. And the family reunion. And the baseball game. And some birding outings. And visits with friends. And meetings. 

Maybe it's time to give up this summer as a lost cause.