Part of me wants to do nothing more than sit on my back porch and sip coffee. But, i'm off and running again to help break down the encampment of the residency over at the UNC-A dorms. When that is all done, the summer will seem much quieter. I'll miss the excitement though.~w

Last night was the big dinner and tonight is the final residency performance of the summer topped off by the music of the Dead Poets band. If you're in the area you should come by Jubilee at 7:30pm for a great evening of entertainment. Adults are $5, children are FREE! I am told that my 5-3/4 year old friend and sun -- i mean son -- of one of the residency directors (who just also happens to be the drummer in the band), will be performing his first SOLO performance in the open mic. Granted it won't be his first appearance on stage by a long shot, but he's always had dad or someone on stage with him. However, he may have problems with that, because his 3 year old brother is sure that he should help his older brother. All in all it should be a wonderful evening. Sometime tomorrow i think i'll actually try to get some rest and catch up with myself.~w

Boy, it looks like i missed out on some party last weekend. Swords and shields and everything, including a watermelon. Wow. Makes driving 3,375 miles last week look like nothing to do.

Yesterday i was wrangled into scheduling my first Poetry & Technology for the classroom workshop. It all got started in a rather confusing way, but i should be interesting. Basically, i'll be driving to Virginia by myself to conduct a 1/2 day inservice with teachers showing them how they can send their students on a internet poetry hunt and then how to take the poems they find and turn them into scripts and then performances. I just need to nail down the timing on the pieces of the activity between now and then to make sure it will all fit into the time allotted. It'll also be my first time flying solo, so it'll be interesting.

Other than that...i need to get to work catching up with everything.~w

I'm home!

We made it in last night at nine after a full day of driving. I'm a little on the exhausted side. I got in and immediately went out again for food since shopping and cooking were not things i could handle doing when i got here. Today...it's back into the swing of the third and final residency for teachers and working on typing up poems for the anthologies and shopping for groceries and...

Sometimes it's easier to be on the road because you don't have to do things like wash dishes. Then again, i miss my cat and my friends when i'm away for too long.~w

Had some lovely oysters for dinner last night and now we're on our way home today. Rodney's in a hurry to see his honey, so no dallying this morning. I wish i had longer to trop up and down the stairs of this lovely hotel room in the middle of the French Quarter. I'll have to do that priceline thing again when i have more time.~w

Happy Birthday Mom!!

It's a bit wet here. I'm glad i don't live in Houston. I had a nice visit with Ciro, my old tour partner and friend, and met some of his new friends who are now all science teachers rather than poets. Still they find interesting things to talk about. Everything is bigger in Texas, rainstorms, bbqs and cockroaches included. We finished the day by meeting up with Rodney for a sumptuous dinner of Peking Duck from the Golden Duck restaurant near Ciro's house. Today we do a show and workshop over at University of Houston Clearlake and then head for home stopping at New Orleans for the night. I'll be glad to get somewhere dry again soon.~w

We made it to Houston amid thunder and lightening last night. I have now driven about 2,200 miles since i left on Tuesday. My old travel partner and friend Ciro met us for sushi dinner at my favorite sushi place in Houston, Miyako. Yum Yum! Then we got some wine and Rodney, Ciro and i sat around chatting at the hotel and catching up. It was a good evening overall. Ciro is determined to take me to meet his new friends in Houston (even though he keeps telling me he doesn't have any friends here) so i suppose i'm going to a barbeque where there'll be a bunch of science teachers today. But basically, for all intents and purposes, even though i'm not at home, i actually have a whole day off. No driving or nothing for me today. Wheeeee!~w