We spent the afternoon with a porch full of friends for a Stick A Fork In It cookout. Almost all of the food needed a fork, excepting the sangria.

Yeah, it was a very long semester.

And that’s it – we march them in, we march in, we listened to people ramble, then set off fireworks – the University of Georgia Class of 2018 is now on their way.

The reconstruction of the dean’s suite is almost done, another week and I suspect they’ll be moving into their new space, all glass and metal trim. Meantime, the dean holds meetings wherever he can and some of those places are … well … dated.

The campus is always in a state of visible flux during exams as colleges and grounds crews get ready for commencement, when tens of thousands come in to send off the graduates.

Took a few minutes to get out of the building, the onslaught of end-of-semester meetings, gatherings, exit interviews and grading sometimes keeps me strapped into the office chair. A lap around the building and I spotted one of my students writing notes.

Irony? A few hours later, I learned one of them was for me.

The staircase pattern drew me in first, then the brook and dustpan at the bottom … make a pattern, break a pattern.

Spent the day running around, getting ready for my students’ annual cookout. Walked down back and found that late afternoon light just streaming through the trees again.

I’m not going to lie, late spring afternoon light in our yard is a magical thing.