Yesterday was the first full day of summer vacation–I have to return to school for a half-day Monday, but that is more formality than doing any real work. I spent the morning catching up on mail and other chores, and then began editing the summer issue of Visions of Paradise, which I hope to finish in a few days so I can start the important job of summer, which is editing the Tibet book.

My plan is to spend mornings writing/editing and doing all other work in the afternoon, including household chores, practicing guitar and cooking. I would like to do one other activity in the learning/arts area to replace all the time I spent learning statistics last summer. I am considering sketching. I took an adult school course in “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” a half-dozen years ago, but I have never really had time to practice it. So hopefully this summer I can do that for an hour each day.

This is a dinner party weekend. Last night we went to a barbecue at Kathy & Dave’s house, and that was enjoyable. I only had time to talk with Kathy though, not with Dave, which is too bad since Dave shares a love of history. His prime interest is the Civil War while I much prefer non-American history, primarily pre-modern times. But it is still enjoyable talking history with somebody, since I do not have too many friends who share my interests.

Tonight we are going to Hoboken for dinner at Veda and Joe's house. We have not seen them since they were at our house a year ago, so it should be a fun evening catching up on our lives. Veda is one of my very favorite students ever. I am thrilled we have stayed close for so many years.