Happy Halloween!

Even though this was Southern Man's weekend with eleven-year-old daughter he hardly saw her at all other than on the drive to fetch her on Wednesday (her Fall Break was at the tail end of the week) and to return her on Sunday after church. Grandma had her Thursday and Friday while Southern Man worked; Friday evening she went to her old church's "Fall Fest" and had a great time running around with friends; Southern Man's sister had already bid for her on Saturday and they went to the "Corn Maze" (an annual tradition) that morning and a neighborhood trick-or-treat fest in the evening; and on Sunday Grandma nabbed her again for services before returning home early for "official" trick-or-treating in her Mom's neighborhood. It's a longish drive to make every other weekend - three hours up and three back - but that's two three-hour blocks of nonstop chatter and singing and road games which is always a lot of fun. And the little Hyundai gets 33 MP on the highway no matter how conservatively or aggressively it's driven.

And what a week it was. Pretty much every committee upon which Southern Man sits met last week. Much of Monday morning was consumed by a student fair. Two-thirds of Southern Man's deans are "in transition" so there were additional multiple meetings and gatherings and a very nice farewell luncheon on Friday. And on top of this unusually busy week Southern Man has major, major reports due on Monday so he'll go in before dawn tomorrow to knock the rest of that out. It will be a relief to get back to the simple pleasure of teaching.