Laboring Away

I hope everyone had a fulfilling Labor Day. As is typical for my career in academia, I had school-related stuff to do throughout the morning and afternoon. I was somewhat shocked to learn today that the University of Tennessee does not hold classes on the holiday; in my previous lives at three other institutions, no one has taken a break on Labor Day. I last had nothing to do on the first Monday of September when I was a senior in high school, although in my family, Labor Day was generally the day that we partook in such thrilling activities as hedge trimming and laundry.

Sandi, with her fancy new banker's hours, did not have to go to work today, so she spent the time weeping over my absence. Between bouts of unmitigated bawlage, she was able to take care of a hefty backlog of junk mail and other stuff that had accrued in the course of our home study cleaning. She also baked some excellent blueberry mini-muffins, which served wonderfully to bridge the culinary gap between lunch and supper. Upon my joyous arrival home, I was sent to the grocery store to acquire everything we were unable to get during our weekend shopping trip. Along with our usual mish-mash of foodstuffs, we had to purchase supplies to make a couple of desserts for the upcoming extended family dinner. We decided to make a harvest apple upside-down cake and some rocky road brownies for the occasion; well, Sandi will be doing the baking, since desserts are strictly her province. My job during such endeavors is the performance of an elaborate interpretive dance for motivation. This keeps me as far from the oven as possible.

I hope the week and month find you all well. Have a great week!