June

June is finally here and the peony glory is fading. These were some of the last beauties I cut from my garden recently. The peony has to be one of the most beautiful of flowers, and these baby pink ones are my very favorite, especially because of their sweet perfume.

This past weekend was one of the most gorgeous weather-wise in recent memory, especially welcome after a brutal winter that didn't seem to want to end. Though I think that's probably the case every year for me: it always feels like winter doesn't want to let go. I've been in Ohio now for 13 years but I don't think I'll ever get used to winter.

This month is a busy one with a trip to Massachusetts planned for next week for the Hawthorne conference, and then I'll teach part-time for three weeks in the summer bridge program for which I'm faculty co-director. Unfortunately, the summer teachers program that I direct didn't make this summer so I won't be teaching that.

June may be busy but I've been able to keep July and August free of commitments (except for a short trip to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary in early July!) to demonstrate to myself that I've learned to appreciate the privilege of having "time off." After all, that precious availability of unscripted time was one of the reasons why I decided to pursue a Ph.D. Work life is already so over-scheduled (and I'm not even juggling human children and a demanding job) that it feels simply wrong for me to over-schedule the summer, the one chunk of "free" time that we have available to us in this profession. It took me a while to learn that lesson, but better late than never.

And I'm very much looking forward to the work of thinking about and producing scholarship during this time, as well as of planning my two new courses in the fall: a new senior seminar that I'm modeling after my Honors classes, and a new Journalism class that will be a first at the college. This latter class is going to be the most work but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Hail June, then, for all its expectancy of fun and challenge and warm weather. Flaming June is a painting that hangs at the Ponce Art Museum, and one that speaks to all the promised beauty of this month.