The lazy, hazy days of summer have been more like the wavy, crazy days of summer for me this year. Since I will be teaching full-time this next year I have been studying for my new classes. Trying to do a little each day has been my plan, but some days are just more productive than others. So, my first random summer moment is this moment with the ancients--see, even my footware has gone Greek!
I've already spent more time in or near water than in previous summers. On one of our outings we returned home to find this lovely belated birthday gift watiting, full of homemade goodies. Fun stuff--thanks Sis!
In the moments I'm not reading and taking notes, I'm trying to practice my drawing or calligraphy skills. The drawings are in various stages of progress and are inspired by the ancient myths, although drawn from various modern sources. The most unfinished one 
will be Circe, I think. Medusa needs better snakes in her hair. I did not know she was originally a woman, but she was a beautiful maiden, who, like so many maidens in the Greek myths, dared compare herself to a goddess. Since her chief attribute was her hair, Minerva changed the lovely ringlets to hideous snakes, and of course the girl's whole countenance, physical and personality, transformed unpleasantly as well. My version is obviously in the beginnings of the conversion, but some of the snakes could use more definition. The expression should probably be one of horror, but maybe she hasn't figured out yet, what is happening. Anyway, it's practice. I think I'm making progress, although I don't draw fast enough for effective classroom demonstration. Next task--drawing from life instead of flat sources...
Perhaps I should spend time drawing flowers instead of photographing them. Nah. I love taking pictures. When I see foxglove I always think of Agatha Christie and British mysteries where digitalis leaves end up in the salad and someone dies. Luckily there are only strawberries and raspberries growing near these. 
I could end with a shot of cherries, since we've been inundated with fruits, but I think I'll save that for another post. After all, our summer fruit adventures really deserve a post of their own. Let's just say I now know more about bugs than I really should--I'm a humanities teacher, not science! ;-)
