Whatever. It is busy. I am busy. Nothing too out of the ordinary for the penultimate week before school starts, but certainly enough to notice. This week all the faculty come back. Next week, as a friend said, we get to hear the pitter patter of the feet of students. That is always a good sound.
As you might have gathered, there are a few trees around here, and those trees are also present on the campus. Apparently two years ago they cut down about one-third of all the trees on the central part of campus to open it up a bit and so you could see the other buildings. Still, there are more trees on this campus than another campus I have been on. Here are a few shots from a quintessential Michigan summer day. In the third photo you can see my building framed by the trees.
My house continues to show small signs of progress. All the boxes, cameras, and things are in their proper room, though of of course they aren't all unpacked. I have six months, right? I found a great drafting table for my "office" which is just the room between rooms that also has the stairs. I think I will call the upstairs the tiki room for a lack of any better name for a room that really has no purpose. Weirdest space in any room in any house ever. I think I will call it my shooting room because of all the cameras…haha, get it??? Shooting room??? Geez I crack myself up. Actually it is kind of fun. It has two huge closets and a very large skylight. And patterned linoleum and flowered wallpaper that together make my eyes hurt. So, I guess it is about typical for Jason's house. Call Martha Stewart!!!
Socially and all that. Well, I am in the north woods. What can I say. That is OK. I wonder what winter will be like. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest, a friend said that Washington was a place for people who liked to read and who had dry skin, a reference to the frequent rainy weather. I wonder what they would say about Michigan? I am not going to buy a snowmobile!!! I am just not. However, I am seriously looking at a snow blower--does that make me a native? Probably not. It does, however, make me smart.
And I think that you should have indoor hobbies. I have found mine. I bought a printing press, and just as happened before, I almost immediately had three presses. They are like Lays potato chips--no one can have just one. So today I cleaned them up, got any rust off, and tried to get them ready to print. They are actually in pretty good shape other than rollers. I have to wait til payday and then some for rollers--I need four, and that is at least $500. Yes, I know how many copies I can get made for that and yes, I know that I could just buy an Epson printer and a whole lot of ink for that. But what fun is there in doing that?
There are two Sigwalt Baltimorean #10s and one Sigwalt Ideal #3. Aren't they cute? They make cool squeaky noises and clanks when you cycle them. The two small ones can print business card size and a little bigger, and the larger one can print up to 4X6, but the way it is designed allows it to print stationery and larger things. Cool, huh? I have a big house, though, so I want at least one if not two more presses. I would like to have a 6X9 or so and what I would really like to have is a proof press. Maybe I can start a home for orphan presses. You know, like a pet rescue place except for presses and misfit type. Hey, it will be a long winter. And I love the smell of ink and California wash in the morning.
I will disappear into the swirl of back to school stuff this next week or so, but that is typical. I do look forward to this time of the year, though when it coincides with being new it does make it a bit more stressful. I am really trying to do this without red wine--we will see how that goes. So far, it has been OK. I'll let you know on Thursday how that has worked out.
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