Mid-summer has arrived and settled around me. June passed by in a gauzy marine layer that wrapped the city of angels in a cushion of grey coolness. The days have been measured, not by the ticking of the cuckoo clock, but by the pages of mid-century spinster lit. From park benches under oak or sycamore, or window seats here at home I am engrossed. I closed the final Barbara Pym novel and new companions arrived: Marjorie Sharp’s Cluny Brown and Muriel Spark’s A Far Cry From Kensington. “Oh Yes!” I say into the quiet day. Good, very good.
My nose is also deeply buried in vintage copies of National Geographic. Here I am mapping out a solo autumn adventure deep into Burgundy. There is a specific romance to imagining new buses and trains to ride, and unfamiliar streets to walk at dawn and dusk. Routes that will carry me into an old world. I time travel through the yellow bordered magazines and imagine the history in which I will soon inhabit.
A year into retirement, the habit of counting the days has finally slipped away, though the urge to track numbers, data, and weather patterns lingers like old architectural scaffolding in the brain. The immense relief of trading loud classroom life, and dictatorial administrators, to pursue the quiet wandering of my mind at home and in the wider world is a gift. I read, I write, I gather things and people of my choosing around me and build a warm quiet nest.
Online Class Updates
I’m currently in the process of overhauling my online offerings. Registration is permanently closed for all classes, though current members naturally continue to have access.
While I’m no longer offering new classes and don’t have plans to create more, I do provide free access to a growing collection of former classes. As I add to the free collection, I’ll announce it right here in a new post
The only caveat is that access is entirely self-service. I no longer offer support for registration, lost passwords, login issues, or technical questions. It’s a firm boundary, born out of my desire to keep my days completely free of online class administration.
Directions for accessing the free classes are provided on the various websites. I hope you enjoy exploring them.
Ticket to Venice – FREE indefinitely
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I’m with Sister!
You’re looking great. Retirements been good for you.
I love reading about how your retirement life is unfolding for you. It sounds just as it should be – a lovely gift of time after years of working. Thank you for the generous access to your old classes. I love going back to them.
I LOVE the pink light on the back patio! I will be over for my French onion soup tonight. I am bringing a lemon tart with meringue on top for dessert and some wine to drink. Make up the spare bed in case I get tipsy.
Sister!