So, so close

The last papers are graded. The learning portfolios have been reviewed. Course evaluations have been handed out. All that's left to administer are final exams next Tuesday and Thursday, and then my obligations here are over for the year. Well, there's also that pesky little 25-page paper due Wednesday for my own class, but we're just not going to think about that for the moment. (Though after I finish this post, I'm going to buckle down and try to crank some text out.)

It's been a very packed week and then some since I last blogged. Besides the blitz-grading, I was in Seattle last weekend, celebrating our ten-year dating anniversary by cleaning the new house in preparation for the move -- very exciting! D insisted on carrying me over the threshold, which was a memorable way to enter our home for the first time after officially making it ours. (I made him promise not to throw me over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.) After we were married, he also carried me over the threshold of our first apartment, but this felt different. In a good way, of course.

In other exciting news, while I was gone, Ludwig started to bloom (see above). I think he'll finish just in time for me to return him to D's parents -- somehow, I don't think I'll be able to carry him on a plane, so they're going to take him back into their care. I can't wait to have potted plants again. My apartment at Little U. doesn't get enough light to support many, so I haven't purchased anything, though it's been tempting.

We've been thinking about things to plant in our garden, which borders our tiny patch of side yard (small enough that D can mow it with an old-fashioned human-powered lawn mower in about ten minutes if he's really trying to stretch out the experience). There are already several small shrubs and what looks like a Japanese maple rooted in. Our irises will be ready to transplant soon -- they're greening up very nicely now that the weather has turned warm -- and I have a packet of wildflower seeds that were sent to me as part of some promotional mailing. Random, but we'll take them!

D recently went to a tulip festival a few hours north of Seattle. I didn't think I was a fan of tulips as the ones I'd seen before always tended to get sloppy-looking very quickly after the first spring rain, but these are gorgeous:


We may just have to get some of these too:


D got a few panoramic shots of the fields while he was wandering around. The space restrictions here don't do them justice, but if you click on the photos, you can see the larger versions.



Twelve days. Yes. And more news soon(er), I promise. I have a feeling I'll need a few breaks to keep my academic writing brain from getting worn out.