And......

...it's over. Another school vacation has come to an end here in Sheepland and tomorrow I trundle back to work until the summer vacation rolls around. I'm not complaining. I know I'm fortunate to have a career that allows for ample breaks. But, this stretch between the "now" and the "then" is always a long one and includes an almost impossible amount of work that needs to be finished on a strict deadline. And this must all be done whilst placating students who are already on vacation in their minds and hold me personally responsible for the fact that the law requires my continuing to educate them for another couple of months.

I dread it.

But, I've done it for nigh on twenty years or so and I suspect that I can pull it off again. And it's worth it, really. Walking out of school on that last student day knowing that I have finished all that needs finishing is a nice thing. There have been many years where I have had to return to school for two weeks to try and get it all done.

Meanwhile, I need to wrap up this school vacation. Truth be told, I thought I'd get more done. I had visions of a clean house, piles of finished handspun and knitted items and perhaps some thoughts on ending world hunger or something lofty like that.

Didn't happen...

To be fair, there was this whole "natural disaster" thing with which to contend. And who knew that the truck was going to have yet another meltdown while I was aspiring to greatness? There were obstacles here!!!! I did manage to finish two skeins of merino/silk blend, however. A sock was born while I was stuck at home waiting for the flood waters to recede and another was conceived. There was a good effort made at blending the lamb and silk combo but that little project seemed to get the better of me. I bore easily and hours spent at the drum carder was just not something I felt like doing once the sunny weather returned. I certainly made a dent, though. Enough so that I actually managed to get one bobbin spun up before the vacation clock ran out:

Looks kinda lonely, though. It needs another bobbin-full as a playmate.

This particular yarn is really very pretty. And yet it is merely pretty boring to look at on a computer screen, I fear. The subtle orchid shade of the silk shows in just the right light and recedes in less sunny locales. I think the yarn will ultimately be quite nice. I'd had some sort of reaction to it a couple of days ago that resulted in what I thought might be a hive or two. But yesterday produced none of the blotchies so I may be OK with this one. Or not...we'll see!

So that's all she wrote. Tomorrow marks the start of those last few laps in the race that is the school year as well as the nearing of due dates for many of the projects that I need to turn into my professor for class. I will transform from a laid back sheep to a busy bee for a while here.

Oh, and the "clean house"? Never got to it. At all. Things look worse now than they did before vacation started. Meh...

SA