Fall in New Hampshire in Tea at the Cabin in the Woods

It seems like I get carried with life and forget to take the time to write or focus on the good things. In my new office I can look over the town baseball field and see Town Hall nestled in the brightly glowing reds and oranges of early fall, shading the picnic tables and bleachers. I wonder how many baseballs have broken windows of the old town hall over the years?

The air is just cool enough you need a sweater or light jacket, but tonight there are frost warnings. I will have to cover the tomato and pepper plants before it gets dark this evening. There are still many growing but taking a lot longer to ripen. My age is beginning to catch up with me as I backed away from the big garden this year. My bones are just too weary to spend hours upon hours weeding and harvesting. I settled for a few nice planting boxes this year. Maybe next year I will add a couple more. I think I will add a grape arbor this fall and in a couple years should be able to harvest my own grapes. We have wild grapes which are absolutely lovely and make fantastic jelly, so I am going to try to propagate a few vines from those and hope it works. If not, I will break down and purchase some vines. Big plans.

I have come to a decision to retire next year after classes are over - well really in June 2020, meaning next after next school year. I was going to wait until I was 66, but that puts me at 2021 and I really don’t want to go that much longer. I love my students and feel great in the classroom, but all the work as Department Chair and chair of the Faculty Development Committee, teaching overloads, etc… is taking a toll. There is a reason we need to hire younger people for this job.

OH MY GOD! I just looked up and there is a young woman with hair that looks like a bright candy apple red plastic wig! OH NO! It’s actually a male student! He has a full beard and he’s African American. Is there a new trend I have not been told about? This is so strange. It isn’t even Halloween yet. HAHAHA…

Anyway, I have a lot to write but I can hear students gathering outside my door discussing the quiz I gave a little while ago, so I guess they want to talk about it. It’s really not that hard if you read the book and come to class. Later