Difficult week

I had set aside this whole week for 20-minute student conferences with my 93 students, so I was on campus Monday-Thursday for that. Then I stayed an extra day to attend the visitation for Ellen Haneline, the wife of my colleague Doug. Doug Haneline has been a really good friend and colleague, very kind and supportive, and he and Ellen had entertained me and my spouse on occasion. So when Ellen was found dead four days ago, we were all devastated. She was not only Doug's beloved wife, but also the Dean of Allied Health at Ferris. She was an accomplished gardener and cook. She was only 62 years old. An autopsy was performed, but everyone is guessing sudden heart failure.

Additionally, all week I have been reaping the effects of our strenuous deck deconstruction of last weekend. We're waiting for our new supplies to come in, so I have this weekend to recuperate. I need it. My body is bruised all over. I look like a survivor of spouse abuse. Of course, if anyone were to inspect my husband, he too looks abused, so someone would have to assume that we'd had one major knock-down-drag-out that both of us lost! The bruises are enhanced by the plentiful bug bites I have decorating my arms. At first I suspected mosquitoes, but now I've decided that the culprit is what people colloquially refer to as "no-see-ums." I did not see the biters and did not feel the bites until later, when they began to itch madly. I've scratched myself bloody.

I took today's photo this morning. Fog hovered over the pond, and ducks and geese swam about in the haze.