Every five years, Automatticians can take a three month sabbatical. Although I’m almost at 6 years, I’m taking mine now. There has been too much to do in the past year, and I kept putting it off, but I firmly decided to started before I began my sixth year.

Today isn’t my first day of sabbatical. It began the day before Grant’s surgery, and so for reasons here and there, today is the first day I have alone. I return to work January 7, 2019. For the next three months I’m going to read, paint, and I hope to learn to ski.

At the Grand Meetup, many of my friends calmed my fears about the ski lift (well some made them much worse), but I think realistically I won’t have to really tackle a very threatening ski lift before January. I don’t expect to be a very good skier by then, but I do hope to use my time well and get my feet under me. Or keep them under me, as it were.

But that’s for real winter (today’s snow barely counts). Today I read, lolled around the house, did no chores (a difficult temptation), and I’m just settling to paint with GBBO in the background.

Let it begin.