First: Hello Donna, Sara and Cindy.

I don’t know if any of you have noticed, but tea mugs make a huge difference. I have two mugs I use the most: A mug with all the presidents of the United States on it (a present from one of my faculty) and a glazed clay mug I bought at the pottery sale last year. The US mug is your common, white on the inside glazed porcelain, very nice. The clay doesn’t really. It really changes the flavor, adding an earthiness or it or even softening the edges of the flavor. Sometimes I drink my Earl Grey from it and the tang is a lot gentler. There are some teas I prefer drinking from it…it makes Bigelow’s Plantation Mint, always a huge favorite, and brings out the flavor of the mint even more, softening the black tea slightly. On the other hand, I don’t like the Numi Jasmin from it as much, because the flavor is so delicate you don’t want it to be softened or made earthy.

I do have a small collection of tea cups. I pick them up at yard sales on occasion, but I only rarely use them for tea. I use them for juice, mostly, or put them on the sink to use in the bathroom instead of disposable Dixie cups. I think they are really beautiful, I love the patterns, the shape.

Next Monday marks three weeks left of the semester. I only have a few things left on my list to do. The Honors Dinner Monday, the field trip…whatever odds and ends need to be done for the beginning of the summer semester. I am sad in some ways, because some people will be leaving, some faces i won’t see for months on end. but i am also excited. There is something about this time of year that feels like the beginning of something nice, just like Fall does. It won’t be, mostly, as teeth grittingly stressful as the last few weeks have been, and everyone is in a better mood. I want to see if i can’t plan my summer so there is a balance between me doing all my work quickly and perfectly (which includes making sure everything is organized for Fall.) and finding ways to make it as fun as possible. I also want to walk more. Last summer i tended to just eat at my desk and write during lunch.

I started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone awhile back, and I didn’t like it. I thought her writing was terrible, and all sorts of things. I started reading it again, and now I’m hooked. It really is good, isn’t it? And now I’ve allowed myself not to think about it, and to remember that this is for kids, not adults, I’ve given myself permission to just plunge right into the wonder of it. Really good stuff. I bought Chamber of secrets, and if I keep reading, I might be able to be caught up by book 7.