Thursday's List

READING: The Catholicism of Shakespeare's Plays by Peter Milward SJ. This is such a great book, very helpful as a research tool in nailing down all the Catholic themes and "shadow plot" in Hamlet.

POOLSIDE READING: In a Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel of the Middle Ages by Hella S. Haasse, translated from the original Dutch by Lewis C. Kaplan. Valois, Orleans, Berry, Bourbon -- all those famous dukes, plus a little bit of Brittania provided by the nasty Richard II and valiant John IV during the period of the Hundred Years War. This book was first published in the Netherlands in 1949 and has never been out of print. I can see why.

LISTENING TO: my new MP3 player - love!

FAVORITE NEW FIND: I stumbled across a little site called FindingGod.org that has a daily meditation called 3-Minute Retreat. I've done this little "retreat" for the past couple of days and they've both been so good, I decided to add their button to this blog. You can click on it over there to your left. If you're at work, turn down your speakers, because there is music. It is really beautiful music, but still.

HAPPY TO SAY: I have Hamlet nearly all planned out for the entire workshop and am nearly ready to start on the Round 2 questions for HISTO, which won't need to be given out until October, so I am way ahead of the game and feeling very, very good about that. In one week, I'll be ordering the Hamlet tickets!

FAVORITE THING TODAY: went out to breakfast by myself (my husband had to be at work early, so he wasn't available for company) and had a very nice time

HOURS OF SLEEP LOGGED LAST NIGHT: Seven, the longest amount all week.

SCRAPBOOK PAGES THIS WEEK: None again. Too busy with HISTO and Hamlet and the pool and generally enjoying myself. But I did design the cover art for the HISTO binders and I used many scrapbooking techniques for that, so that probably ought to count for something.

THE CAUSE OF MY STRESS: Missing the girls with every fiber of my being, but loving this solitude with every fiber of my being.

PRAYING FOR: All the people involved in the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Film footage the news networks are playing over and over again is just horrifying. I finally turned off the television at about 7:30 this morning because I can't stand the media's eager slavering over tragedy and the way they shove microphones into people's faces and say, "How did you feel when you realized your husband was probably traveling across the bridge?" Sickening. Please join me in a short prayer.