It’s a beautiful, sunny day and, wouldn’t you know it, I’m leaving for the airport to hop in a plane in a couple of hours. We did make some use of the nice weather earlier, though, and the kids and I played outside while Olof finally put the summer tires on the car. We also made a pile of miscellaneous stuff to be taken away in the semi-annual “big trash” collection. If not for Olof’s intervention, said pile would probably be twice as large, but at least we’re getting rid of some annoying eyesores such as the broken clothesline and our old dryer.

I’ve got a busy week ahead of me, with lots of writing to do, so it’s a good thing that Thursday is a holiday. I’ve already laid claim to the entire day, and possibly some of Wednesday, which is a half-day, to hole up away from the kids with my thesis proposal. I need to get a pretty good draft sent to my advisor so she can give me some last-minute tips before I submit the real deal on the 17th. I’m a little dismayed that I’ve left everything so late, but I suppose there’s no sense crying about that now.

Tomorrow I’m attending a guest lecture given by Amanda Vickery, a well-known British historian. I enjoy her writing, but in my previous course I took issue with what I see as improper manipulation of primary sources in some of her work, so it should be an interesting day. I’m not sure if I’ll be brave enough to bring up my criticism of her, but we’ll see what happens. I’m assured that she’s very down-to-earth and not scary, but still.

After that I have a quick meeting with some classmates for a group assignment, then I’m back on a plane home just before six in the evening. Usually I get home very late, long after the kids are in bed, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow being more normal, hopefully with an early-ish bedtime for me. I’ll be spending six consecutive nights in my own bed, and I plan to enjoy them to the fullest.