As planned I got right up at 6:00 and out the door to see where I am. Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI is really lovely. A treat to be at a conference on the ocean again, and truly, it took me less than two minutes to walk behind the dorm building I’m in and down to the water. There was a lovely nature trail I could follow for awhile, and then I went walking the greater residential neighborhood. It was quite muggy and hot even this early. A busy day ahead, this quiet time, a nice short visit with a deer in the meadow, really centering. I drove out for coffee and errands and kept busy preparing until lunchtime. I am getting lots of time with my friend Maureen Murdock who lives on the west coast, and this is the time in my year when I can get a lot of deep friendship with her. I am having a great time, seeing old friends, meeting new people, feeling the deep creativity and imagination of so many women writers. I just feel lighthearted and joyful. Once I got the tech set up for my classroom with some good helpers, I knew all would go well. I have a very strong cohort for my play lab. So many new writers to work with. I found some blackberries and thought of Wave because he knows that blueberries are July and blackberries are August! Next week we will begin our hikes to find them and eat them and share them with the deer. I wonder if my garden is being watered today? Frank did it last night and I was kind of glad because he saw what the bunnies have done, especially to the tomatoes. Every last one. This will motivate him to help me do better bunny prevention next year. I think we’ll raise the beds and add more fencing. Tonight we had a special event, the author Sigrid Nunez came for an intimate talk via Zoom from her apartment in NYC.