Well, this year's grad school Residency is finished. A week of 7 am-7pm hours, and 80-plus students and 5 faculty in attendance, who arrived last Sunday and departed Friday afternoon. The best way to get through Residency is to consider these folks house guests. All the students were great and the faculty who came went out of their way to talk to students and not just huddle together.
We have a focus group for each program, and I ask what worked, what could work better, and what they would suggest for improvements. All the focus group members gave us thoughtful comments, a couple of which were surprising because they think that a proposed curriculum development is less important than we thought - and they gave us what they think is a better alternative. (And I sold $600+ of maple syrup for the Howards!)
*************
The stovewood arrived. A large pile in the driveway. Just enough room for cars. I would be stacking it were it not for several days of rain.
*************
I caught a nasty cold at Residency because I refused to accept the reality of unseasonably cool weather. Didn't wear a jacket, didn't turn on the furnace, didn't light the woodstove. Until it was too late, of course. But I stayed inside since Friday afternoon amd most of Saturday. Then I couldn't stand being inside any longer, put on a lot of waterproof/water repellent gear, and weeded in the garden. My excuse is that fresh air is good for you. And I don't seem to be worse for it.
*************
I didn't get to mow the lawn before Residency began. And it's been raining some of every day since last Wednesday. Lord love us. The grass is over my ankles. Half is mowed, the other half gets mowed this afternoon.
*************
Alice is coming Thursday and staying through Sunday morning. What a treat this is - she's never been here. Unemployment is treating Alice well. I'm thinking of things for us to do, and must make a Plan B in case the weather falls apart again.
*************
What do you do with asparagus that's been aging in the refrigerator? If it's not too old you make a delicious salad. Cook the asparagus. Cut off the tips and cut the green part of the stems into small pieces. Combine with RED (not pink) canned salmon. Add mayo and chopped scallion and other appealing seasonings to taste. Chill well. DELICIOUS, especially on a bed of home-grown lettuce.
*************
Would there be a blog post without a garden update? The weather changes have really messed up most plants' blooming timetables. The peonies have not bloomed yet (astonishing) but are full of buds. The tomatoes, beets, green beans and squash are slow to develop. The lettuce is overflowing! The spinach is outstanding, and I will plant more. Snails (little less-than-an-inch critters) have invaded everything. For the first time, I've purchased snail deterrent.
"Beverly Sills" iris, left; Tradescantia "Sweet Kate", right. (Click to make the pictures bigger, use your Back button to return. )
Hostas galore, peonies about to pop open, and a preview of the rose-and-delphinium display
No comments:
Post a Comment