Greetings, friends. It’s been a while since I have posted anything here, and there’s absolutely no good reason. It’s just that I’m stuck in one of those loops where I have plenty to say, but I keep feeling as if I have to write a Real Post, or a Good Post, or a Post into Which I Have Put at Least Some Noticeable Effort. And yet I do not feel like really crafting anything most days.

Since school has been out, I have been doing as follows: wake up, get up if I feel like it or don’t if I don’t; eventually go for a run/walk/bike ride or do some other form of exercise; sit on the couch watching TV while I wait to stop sweating; eat, read or watch TV or nap; shower at some point; have a happy hour drink or two while reading on the patio; have dinner and hang out with CW for the evening. It’s a rough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Before anyone gets all stroppy about teachers having summers off and bilking the taxpayer, please note that our paychecks also take the summer off. Furthermore, I will have you know that the reading I’m doing is in preparation for my late-summer class, so technically I am in fact working.

I seem to be a little defensive about all this free time.

Anyway. I thought I’d post a little something here to break the silence and to natter on a bit, and then maybe later this week I’ll come up with a Real Post as above described. Or I won’t. We’ll see. I do have things to talk about, though! For example, I was going to go into great detail confessing all my Secret Single Behaviors I have developed over the past 13 years of living alone — you know, all the things I’ll have to curtail when I start cohabitating with my soon-to-be roomie. I also plan to tell you all about the fun books I’ve been reading, of which there are many!

I am currently reading In the Woods by Tana French, for example, and I have been sucked right in. I’ve been told the ending may piss me off (please don’t comment on that here until I’ve finished the book, thanks!), but I’m not too worried. Books with endings that tend to piss people off are often (but not always) my cup of tea. See Gone, Girl for further evidence.

My patio herb garden is looking really good so far — fingers crossed! I don’t seem to be gifted with a green thumb, so I’m really just hoping for the best. I’ve got basil, Rosemary, cilantro, sweet mint, and yellow-pear cherry tomatoes that are just starting to flower. Hang in there and keep growing, little guys!

Oh, also, today I made a pretty great find during my bike commute: a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses lying in the bike lane, miraculously intact and not noticeably scratched! They have a translucent, Piet Mondrian-inspired frame, which is not what I would choose if I were to spend money on something like sunglasses (which would be entirely unheard of — my price ceiling for that sort of thing is usually about $15), but I think they’re pretty cool. There’s no real way to try to return them to their owners, so I guess I’m keeping them. Lucky me?

I also have this happening in my house right this very moment. That’s right: three adorable puppies hanging out in a sunbeam. Don’t be jealous now; it doesn’t suit you.