The Remarkable Disappearance of June

In my head, it is still sometime in the late and too-warm Spring, a year or ten in the past, anytime (really) besides --is it already?-- July? of whatever year it is. President Obama made great waves when he wrote the wrong date in the Guest Registry at Westminster Abbey, but, really, it's a very understandable error. Time flies, and I have this summer forgotten the day of the week (numerous times), the date of the month (often), the month itself (more than I'd like to admit), and even the year (as my husband will tell you with great glee). Time, this summer, is a winged horse on steroids.

June, it seems, has come and gone, my days primarily occupied by seminars and books in the Folger Library, one of my favourite places in the world. In addition to its learned staff and wonderful books, the Folger also has a lovely Elizabethan Garden, pictured below, where I ate my lunch nearly every day.

While I read books and took notes, I. stayed busy volunteering for a nursing home near the house in which we were staying. Among other things, he painted an enormous recreation room and made many friends.

Most mornings, I walked up to the Folger from the L'Enfant station metro stop, located about halfway down the National Mall and very near to the Air and Space Museum (my personal favourite). There were several possible routes, the most pleasurable of which afforded this excellent view of the capitol building:

In the early morning, it's not uncommon to see hundreds of sprinklers watering the lawns outside the capitol building, Library of Congress, Folger Library, and others.

Near the end of June, we received the definite news that we'll be returning to the UK for another year next fall. This is less positive for I., but I'm very pleased and looking forward to teaching and researching as much as possible while there. In the meantime, as we make plans for our return, we're catching up with some old friends, visiting some libraries, and generally staying quite busy (but not out of trouble!)

The road ahead: