Thursday morning update.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love working at home? Uninterrupted quiet. Looking out my window, where I can see the Chevy parked at the curb, trees upon trees upon trees with their bare gray limbs, birds alighting and taking off, a bed of tulips in the across-the-street neighbor's south-facing lawn, our lawn thinking about becoming a meadow. I can get up to pour myself another cup of tea from the pot I've made. The dogs asleep on the couch. At the other end of the house, I'm washing the sheets. It's pretty much heaven.

So, as of Thursday morning, I have accomplished:

• the viewing of three movies with college daughter (Charlotte's Web, Bridge to Terabithia, and Breach--that last I'd already seen, but it was pretty good the second time--I like stories about spies, as I knew something about it as I was growing up, and also one of my high school acquaintances was the sister of Christopher Boyce, who was either the Falcon or the Snowman, I can't remember which).
• I have drafted, with counterintuitive, a proposal for a chapter in a book about multimodal composition.
• I have responded to a bunch of student writing (still have more to go, but that's okay! I'm up for it!).
• Have watched (or listened to the historian and running son watch) two abysmal performances by the Utah Jazz.
• Have gone to the dog park twice.
• Have cooked dinner several times.
• Despite having plenty to do, have managed to keep panic and stress at bay.

All to the good. Basically, spring break is doing its job.

Some more things I will do before this week ends:

1. go to a poetry reading tonight (Andrea Hollander Budy at Westminster)
2. see a church basketball game--region championships!
3. have breakfast, etc. with college daughter and college niece
4. write a little every day
5. do some more reading of student work
6. make dinner some more times
7. help host running son's Court of Honor (the completion of the Eagle Scout story, oy!)
8. see several more movies with college daughter and the historian

There was a moment at the beginning of the week when I thought the week would be too busy to be restorative. But it turns out I was wrong.