It's been a week for heaven's sake, where is she?

John and I have a slight tension in our relationship. He would prefer to stay home and do nothing all summer, so he can get research done. I think of summer as a time to cram in all sorts of adventures and vacations. We've had twenty plus years to awkwardly compromise.

This year, we did nothing in July—no trips, no visitors, no major family outings. The kids and I did a ton—swimming, drama camp, play dates—but John actually got some concentrated work time.

In August, we have three trips, Rose's birthday party, and house guests. A trip isn't just the three days away, it's the planning and prepping and hauling the cookstove out of the basement and setting up the tent in the backyard, so it can dry off. So, it's cut into my blogging time.

Plus, we had houseguests for the first time. This was fabulous. Our tenant let us borrow her apartment in the basement while she was away, so our friends had their own space to sleep in, but otherwise hung in our house. It was so great to get up in the morning and have kids to play with and at night, the friends didn't have to leave at 7:00! We actually had time for grown-up conversation. But conversation takes away from staring at the computer time.

John and I are also starting two evening dance classes, just in August. Yeah zydeco!

And there's the poetry fest. I'm actually doing it. I've written 12 postcard poems with 19 to go. But even though it would be within the rules of the game, I can't just dash them off. My goal, after all, is to work on my skills. So, I do a freewrite, then I shape it into a poem, then I let it sit for a few hours or days, and then I craft it a bunch more. I'd say, an hour a poem, not counting the pobiz part of addressing, stamping, mailing.

So, figure a slow August.