Well, it’s Wednesday. But today would be one of those between days even if it were a Monday. Everything is between. The trees here in Madison are partly turned, or not at all. The big trees on the church road are full-on scarlet, but the one in front of Sitterly seems to have not got the memo. When that one turns it is lovely, but not a leaf yet.
Between Seasons
My students are also solidly between seasons. The heat is not yet on in their residence hall and while the third floor is still quite warm they tell me, the ground floor is positively chilly so they are burrowing down in blankets and quilts and nobody wanted to get up today. Even my Writing Fellow overslept (to his embarrassment). It is harder for the commuters who have to get up and begin their day in chilly cars, like me.
We all agreed that the chill in the air is welcome when the sun is shining, but the energy level was pretty low at 9am. Luckily the students are between drafts and today was a writing workshop day so I had bought lollipops (Yum Earth’s vitamin C pops to be precise, always beloved by Writing Fellows and DSEM students and also a reward for walking up two flights of stairs to my office!). And that got us right into a discussion of how to decide on punctuation based on what you want to say rather than arbitrary rules that often make ugly sentences. For some reason students this year are fixated on the semi-colon, which is a powerful tool in the right hands:
Gratitude: “Everyone was tired; however, lollipops helped them stay alert”
Disappointment: “Everyone was tired; even lollipops didn’t help them stay alert”
Reality: “Everyone was tired, but the lollipops woke them up”
Humor: “Everyone pretended to be tired so they got lollipops!”
Like the students, I love that chill in the air and the transformations of the fall, and never tire of taking pictures of the turning trees. This morning as I walked from class back to my office there was a Northern Mockingbird singings its head off in the tree at the side of Sitterly with a Carolina Wren popping into the spaces between sounds. I am going to miss this bit of New Jersey, but the town planning board met last night in the most recent step toward the sale of this corner of campus for a housing development, so even if I stayed at Drew I’d miss this office and refuge. The money will help Drew, but this beautiful historic building will be lost, along with the home of a pair of red tailed hawks, song birds, deer, chipmunks, raccoons, and bunnies.
Between countries
But, even fortified by lollipops. I’m also tired. In a little while I’ll go give my digital writing class their first WordPress lesson and immerse myself in 75 minutes of utter chaos punctuated by “Do NOT delete anything until you know what it does! And don’t try to make site-wide changes . . .” Then I grab my suitcase and hop in an Uber on the first step of my flight to France for Fall break. Newark –> Chicago –> London –> Toulouse. Just over 19 hours of travel including the car rides at each end. But I used my American Airlines miles so the biggest expense is the Uber. And I get to fly though Newark’s Terminal A, which I almost never use and which is beautiful, clean, and efficient. And has the coolest decor on the ladies room–trees!
In London I will pull out my UK plug and charge my laptop, and open my UK wallet to use up a few of those heavy two pound coins. As the plane comes in to land in Toulouse out comes my French plugs and wallet with the much needed Euro for the luggage cart. And then 2 hours after landing I will be home. Just in time for an early dinner if there are no delays. But of course there will be delays.
My new weekly posts usually drop early evening European Central time on Wednesdays, which is 6 hours earlier in the US. This week I was thinking I’d be a day late, but then, as if on cue, Walter just posted this picture (note his caption).
So I think I’ll end here and imagine myself no longer between planes and places and sitting by that fire with Walter and Mia (and a nice glass of Carlos’ Eau de Vie.
