There are hardly any at this point. I mean, there are things we think we’ll do, but honestly, we’re still sort of worn out from the spring.

Michael’s in Indianapolis the rest of this week at some stewardship thing, and we’re talking about time at a north Florida beach some time in July. David will be here for a few days in July, as well. Somehow I’ll get to Knoxville, see everyone, and deliver Christopher’s big box of baseball cards I just discovered in the basement, while he’s still in Knoxville and before he really and truly move himself (as opposed to just his stuff, which has already relocated) to Atlanta. David goes to England in late July, giving me a near-stroke, even though it was my bright idea. We’re still thinking Quebec in August, although every time I get in the car with the two little ones for over an hour or "sit" in a restaurant with them, I change my mind. So we’ll see about that. Katie doesn’t start school until 8/21 so we have plenty of time.

I have two small projects I need to finish this summer – contributing part of a children’s book, and then working on a project for a section of the USCCB. I am intensively reading history, having given up in understanding the present. Or, more correctly, I have decided that the only way I can understand the present is by immersing myself in the past. Which is probably why I was a history major in the first place.

I have all sorts of invitations from various places to write things, but I can’t think of anything to write about. And some of you thought this DVC was just a not-so-subtle ploy of mine to reap in millions. Well, not only did I not reap in millions, my brain got drained. But yes, I’m working on the fiction. It’s coming. I have a plan. The problem is, whenever I lie down to try to go to sleep, another short story pops into my head and sleep is just a dream for a long while after that…

ht