Scene from the 'home office'

This summer, more than most, I have spent a lot of time working and relaxing on our back porch. With the ongoing construction at the McCann Center -- the new McCann is set to open in December and promises to be amazing for all of us on campus -- we had been encouraged to "work from home" as often as possible. I'm a homebody, so such suggestions did not require a lot of arm twisting for me. Got me a laptop, a coffee maker and Alexa for music or sports talk, a few lazy dogs to keep me company, and away we go. This picture from the other day is pretty typical of the scene. I sat down to work and our extremely lazy beagle mix, Mikey, refused to move. So he nestled in with the old man. For some reason, this photo makes me look fat so I weighed myself for the first time in about two months. I did gain a few pounds -- probably due to my obsession with Stewart's lemon doughnuts, which thankfully now are out of season, and also a little less jogging than usual. And forgive me for not donning my usual Marist gear, but I am proud of my oldest son's school, where he is just starting his junior year. Alas, summer's over for me, and I'm back to working at work. Which is OK. It's gonna start getting chilly out here on the porch. Until next summer ...