How was your weekend? Here it was … variable. Coolish on Saturday morning. It felt almost damp. (That’s a meteorological observation where I’m from, and it differs from humidity.) The mercury struggled to get to 67 degrees. The temperature peaked before noon and started falling away soon after. Sunday it was 81 degrees and it finally rained.

Recently a read a paper from a colleague who is an atmospheric scientist. She and her co-authors were discussing how highly variable springs are just the new normal around here now. Climate change in daily life. It’s hurting the crops. Because the agricultural sector needs more challenges right now.

Today we topped out at 69 degrees. Tomorrow we’ll have variable skies and be in the mid-70s. One of these things is late spring. They can’t all be late spring.

Saturday morning we went out for a ride with the neighbors. The guy up front lives just behind us. The woman closest to me in the photo lives about a mile away. There’s at least two other cyclists in between these houses. We could start a little roadie gang.

We should start a little roadie gang. Only, I, being neither fast enough or talented enough, am not the biggest fan of group rides. Three or four people is probably my comfort limit, and I like them to be spread a bit, rather like that photo. Some people are crowders, should bumping, handlebar rubbing riders, and I’m too frail for all of that.

Today, I woke up, sent a reminder note to my online class about their adjusted deadlines, and then went out to the creek. The purpose was to pretend to do a little fly fishing. But, really, I could just sit next to that, walk along the bank, or put on those waders and just go out there and stand in it for the better part of a day and be happy. And hey, that’s what i did.

I caught one good fish, a beautiful 16-inch rainbow trout. Slipped him right back in the water, and he went and told all of his friends to take a good look before trying to eat anything else. His messaging worked. I got a lot of nibbles, a few on the line, but couldn’t bring anything else in the rest of the day.

Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter at all. I’d probably rather not hook them if I’m not going to keep them, and these are catch-and-release. Some people like the gear — and there sure is a lot of it in fly fishing. Some people like the puzzle and the challenge. I could stand right here and listen to the woods and unwind until my toes grow cold from the water and I’ll get everything I need out of the experience.

It’s funny. I’ve been on this little body of water twice and our host is keen to coach me up. I think he thinks I’ve never been fishing before or something. I have now been fly fishing three times. Twice with him. But I grew up with a Zebco and spent a lot of time with bobbers and worms and liver bait and bass lures. Even then, I enjoyed the peacefulness and the company, most of all. But my guy here on this river — they call it a river, I’m not sure it rises to that level — was taking it personal that I wasn’t getting more fish. He’s a big technique guy. He feels the real thrill of bringing them in. I think he’s trying to appreciate every little part of his sport. And he’s a pretty good teacher, even if he has a lousy student. He’s got my casting and line management techniques down to an almost manageable level. There’s a real satisfaction in placing it where you want it to go, as opposed to in a tree. It’s satisfying when the cast feels just right. Just being under those trees is more so.

I’m still living in the happy memories of our wonderful Irish vacation. So, I’m sharing extra videos that we didn’t get to at the time. It was a great vacation. I have a lot of footage. This will go on for some time. Enjoy it with me, won’t you?

This is part of the view at Island Roy.

This is the last week of class. The last week for my two in-person classes. My online class runs another week. I don’t set the schedule and I’m not sure how this works. They start on the same day, the classes end a week a part and the finals are six days a part.

In a practical sense I don’t mind this; I know about all of the things I must grade in the next three weeks. (The official count: a lot.) I wonder if a student taking both online and in-person classes notices. I have one student this term in one of my in-person classes and one online, she hasn’t said anything about it. Maybe the students don’t mind it because, in a practical sense, they have a fair amount to do, of course.

The online students are now working on social media platform audits. This is a four-step process that we spread out over five or six weeks. It is a substantial portion of their grade. With each of their submissions I send them a lot of feedback. We are between steps two and three, with the third being the dress rehearsal, if you will. There’s a lot I try to offer, most importantly it must be done quickly since they don’t have a big turnaround. Also, they have a final to worry about.

This week in my in-person classes I have one final lecture on Tuesday and group presentations on Thursday in my Rits and Traditions class. In criticism we’ll have one final conversation tomorrow about some written content, and one final documentary on Thursday. They’ll both have finals due next week.

Then grading, and some grading, and probably some grading. Also, there are meetings.

So, busy-busy.

Late this afternoon we tore ourselves away from work for a quick 60-minute lollipop route. There was no candy, sadly. It just looks like a sucker on a map. I noted that it felt sluggish, but mostly because the last few miles felt that way. In the early going, I was as happy as could be.

We went down a road we haven’t been down since last July or so. I’ll give you one guess why.

The bridge is still closed, but not closed-closed. If you are properly motivated that sign is just a suggestion. If you go over the bridge right now you’re traveling over firmly packed dirt. It’s just a highway overpass, so it’s probably safe as can be. Hearing all the cars and trucks roar beneath you as you’re on an out-of-order overpass might be unnerving.

It’ll probably be another year before they get done with this project. No one seems to be in a hurry to fix it.

I’m still living in the happy memories of our wonderful Irish vacation. So, I’m sharing extra videos that we didn’t get to at the time. It was a great vacation. I have a lot of footage. This will go on for some time. Enjoy it with me, won’t you?

That beautiful spot is Dún na mBó