Week two of fall break has felt significantly different than week one.  Week on was full of movies; week two has been full of board/dice games.  Week one was about wrapping up the first quarter; week two has been about setting up quarter two.  One thing both week have in common is the (mostly) planned maintenance work: car service, dermatologist, regular doctor visit with prerequisite blood work.  I guess this week feels a little heavier because of the last two.  My routine hasn’t quite gelled as much this week, either (maybe because of the Monday holiday?).  But no complaints.  The weeks have gone well.

This was my first time ever not going on the school’s fall-break England trip.  I knew on the last trip that it would likely be my last.  It hasn’t been as sad as I thought it might be, checking for updates and pictures from the trip over the last week.  And I’ve had my own bit of England and Scotland with me via the latest Rivers of London and Impossible Creatures books and The Hardacres and Lynley on BritBox.  I’ve also gotten glimpses of that part of the world via Andrew Root’s latest, A Pilgrimage into Letting Go (which he wrote with his wife).  The book follow’s their family’s pilgrimage to follow the trail of St. Cuthbert along the English/Scottish borderlands (including a quiet stop at Jedburgh, which I’ve visited a few times myself).  So out of sight but not out of mind, I suppose.

I do believe that I’ve become a big fan of “maintenance” work, I just wish I didn’t wait until my late 40s to really do it.  It’s a little bit like “scaffolding” a long-term assignment for students: layering things with regular check-ins instead of waiting until the very end to see what ultimately happens.  Life is more the latter than the former, I’m afraid.  So hopefully better late than never with the “maintenance word” of everyday life.