A Short Month of Stress!

A former boss of mine used to claim that February (and November) didn't exist. This year February proved no exception; it has been lost in a blur of writing and panicking!

My husband is wonderful, and bought me a beautiful bouquet of lilies to celebrate one of my small academic successes.

Having finished a draft of my thesis last month, I spent most of this month drinking copious amounts of coffee and trying to revise my conclusion. Said revision took the form of index cards, for a good long while, and required several long trips to the wonderful National Library of Scotland, which has a tremendous collection of old books.

Color-coding is always helpful:

Lent began. I was sick twice in February, and so missed both the transformation of our church into a wilderness and--because I was teaching--our Ash Wednesday service. However, I. and I have joined a Lent group, and are enjoying the chance to meet with others in a small group setting in addition to enjoying our weekly services.

I've also just finished a paper for my next conference, which is unique in that it asks us to write papers a month before the conference, then read the papers by other members of our respective seminars. I'm looking forward to the fact that I won't have to present my paper, but crazily nervous, as the finished panel will essentially be one long question-and-answer session.

My weekend included a long afternoon in our new favourite coffee shop, with an armload of crazy books about Shakespeare and the sonnets and an abundant supply of caffeinated beverages. In the photo, you can see most of the features that make this our favourite shop: the beautiful arched window looks out over the Royal Mile (a crazy and lovely tourist trap) and is an ideal spot for people-watching.

Onwards and upwards! The March awaits.