BACK TO REAL LIFE, I THINK

so, my time-out has come to an end.  at least that's what i think right now.  i'll know more by this time tomorrow.  monday is my most difficult teaching day, so i'll be plunging back in full bore.  i'm not at all sure i'm ready, but spring break is over and i'm not crying ALL the time, so i guess i'll give it a try.  i've been doing everything my well-meaning friends have suggested:  eating better, getting a lot of exercise, taking the anti-depressants regularly, sleeping a lot, trying to pay far less attention to the news.  there's only three weeks left in the semester, i'm going to make a run for it.

the weather has done its usual Delaware spring thing, gone from cold, bleak and rainy to just almost too hot.  we've spent a lot of time this weekend in the yard, trying to beat back the rampant growth that all the rain produced, transplanting some stuff, planting other stuff.  but mostly, weeding.  i should have done more mowing than i got around to, but why, after all it's just going to keep right on growing.  we pay a guy to do our front forty with a rider mower, but i try to keep the back forty under control.  right now i'm losing the battle bigtime.  one problem is that i actually love a lot of the spring lawn weeds:  the violets, the things that make clusters of little blue flowers, even the dandelions.  they're happy, i'm happy, i'll mow when i can. 

i've also been reading during this week, especially during the rain.  i've written about what i'm reading in The Biblio Philes  (this entry and one before it)  and i'd love to know if anyone else out there has read His Dark Materials.  it's a British fantasy series for young people that doesn't seem to have made much of an inroad in this country, although it's been somewhat of a cause celebre in England.  it's spellbinding, to say the least.  and New Line Cinema is planning to make two films from the series, so eventually everyone will have heard of it.