Saturday, May 15, 2010

2010: The Summer of Kathy Shumate

My summer will begin with a long-planned trip to Scotland, the other land of my ancestors. Some friends and I are taking a Rick Steves tour in order to get the general lay of the country.
Since this is the first summer since 1994 that I do not have any work (thank you budget cuts), I am taking it as a sign that it’s time to get back to some serious work on my poetry manuscript. I will also be preparing to teach 308W at SDSU for the first time. I’ve decided to use Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre, so rereading and restudying literary theory is in order.
In the beginning of July, my nephew, who is a European Studies major at SDSU, will be returning home from his year studying abroad—in Paris—after taking the opportunity to visit some other countries. We are anxiously waiting to hear more about his adventures and experiences.
At the end of July, my niece from St. Louis is coming to visit before she embarks on her last two years of college—for some reason, she wants to be a teacher!
On the home front, I really need to get out in my yard, especially my front courtyard that looks like it is the secret garden gone wild. I hope to do some painting and redecorating in the house, take lots of walks with my poor dogs who are so neglected during the semesters with my crazy schedules, and put the cats on diets. And—sometime in between all that—catch up on some reading for fun: Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books (the last two), the latest No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency book, and whatever else comes my way.

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