It's sunny today! Still colder than I'd like - 34 degrees out there now - but when I took Wally for his morning walk, the birds were chirping like crazy; clearly they've begun arriving from the south in substantial numbers. It feels like spring, and spring, for me, will become summer in the blink of an eye: four and a half weeks and counting until the day-to-day responsibilities of classes are over, and three weeks after that, and I'm done.

This summer will be unlike any other summer since my childhood, in that I will have no work responsibilities whatsoever. On the tenure track, there was the expectation that summer was for doing research; I was supposed to write articles then. In grad school, I didn't work at scholarly pursuits in the summer, but we needed money, so I worked at other jobs. When the kids were little, I didn't work in the summer - but I felt guilty.

So this will be the first summer for quite some time where I have no responsibilities, either real or shirked.

The sense of freedom this gives me is heady. What will I do? How will I structure my time? Will I have a Hemingway summer, spent writing in the morning and swimming in the afternoon? (Sounds appealing - but what on earth would I write about?) Will I go fishing in the morning?? (Aaah, fishing. I got a CD of fishing music over the weekend; I am really looking forward to having time to do that again - although my gear is a mess, my flies are completely disorganized, and I doubt I could cast if my life depended on it . . . ) Will I stay up late at night, working on database projects for next year? Will I take movies and edit video? Will I garden?

So many enticing possibilities! (So little time!)

Ah, well . . . there are at least four and a half weeks to go before I'm released into that space, starting with today. It's nice and sunny, and I did bring the folding bike back to my office this morning - but I actually have to prepare for class today and then grade, grade, grade . . . miles to go before I lie on the beach, and I better start trekking . . . (nonetheless, I must note that I soldier forth with a smile on my face, anticipating pleasures to come . . . )