The Summer Lazies

The summer lazies have begun. I finished with my teaching in the high school music magnet program yesterday, and was already done with my college students. So now I'm in summer mode - teaching private students, singing church services and weddings, and writing.I haven't actually done much writing except for working on the novelette for TNEO, but the novel is starting to itch my brain again and I know it is only a matter of time before it takes over my life again.It didn't really occur to me to think of it in these terms, but reading these wise words by papersky made me realize that as a writer, I have essentially committed genocide (of my own characters - I should clarify just in case Homeland Security drops by).I'm getting caught up on critiques for TNEO and need to get into high gear on those. I am also preparing a lecture for TNEO and have just started working on that.Today I slept until a positively indecent hour (a result of staying up too late reading Lynn Flewelling's Tamir Trilogy) and then did some yard work with Stephan. He put in a couple more flowering plants in the back bed, which, thanks to his efforts, is looking much less jungle-like. I weeded the side bed and enjoyed the smell of mint, which grows like a weed. I must remember to make some jalapeno-mint margaritas soon.This is certainly baby bird season. Starlings kept screaming at me and Stephan as we worked, then I found a baby starling flailing about on the ground in the shady part of the back bed. It looked even more helpless than the robin, but it was managing to get its little wings out and half-run, half fly. Parent birds sat on the wire and squawked at it (I'm sorry, starlings, but you do not have very pretty voices). I am sure it has managed to get off the ground by now. The baby robin is nowhere to be seen, and I imagine it is still making small flights to higher branches of trees nearby.Tonight we are going out to dinner in a new restaurant.